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His expression twisted in pain before it smoothed out.
"Are we going to have fallout?" he asked Haley, as she turned to him.
Noble stared down at her, expecting her to leave him, to rush to her father, the man who stared at her now with such paternal love that for a moment, Noble wondered how the other man bore the cost of having ever let his daughter out of his sight.
Haley sighed. "Noble will catch me, Daddy," she said then, shocking Noble, as well as her father and brothers. "Don't worry. Noble will catch me."
Epilogue
Christmas with Haley was . . . different. For a breed who had never experienced Christmas, it was frankly terrifying. A terrified breed.
He did fine through all the visits, Christmas presents, cookie giving, and more food than he had seen in his entire life.
They went that morning to Sanctuary and delivered cookies. Other breeds smirked as he helped her hand them out. That didn't bother him. Breeds were always smirking. Until they mated.
They exchanged presents with Callan and Merinus, and Haley even gave Jonas a present. After all, she said, Jonas had ensured that plans to rebuild the library were moving quickly.
They visited the elderly, they visited a children's hospital. Not just he and Haley. He could have handled that. No, it was the whole damned McQuire clan, with her father glaring at him and her brothers dropping hints about wedding ceremonies and dates.
Even that damned sheriff got a present, and gave his own version of a warning.
As he had told all three McQuire males: date, time and location were her decision. She was his. No ceremony could make or break that claim. And then the older brother had arched his brow and asked about the engagement ring. Little things, the brother sneered, like asking a woman to marry him.
Hell, he'd heard of it. He just hadn't thought of it. And slipping away from her long enough to find a jewelry store had been hell. Mating a nonbreed was complicated, he decided. It had its perks. Of course, the perk part was being severely limited by family. Thank God the new hormonal treatments he had gotten for Haley were making it bearable for her. Bearable for him was another story.
But when she asked him—she didn't demand, she asked—that he attend church with her, he nearly backed out.
"I celebrate Christmas because of my beliefs," he remembered her saying. "I give gifts in remembrance."
This was her life. This was what made Haley Haley, and he wanted to know all of her. So he went. A breed, his hands stained by blood, his soul in question, and he stepped into a church and found a beauty he hadn't expected.
The entire McQuire clan celebrated. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They ate and laughed, visited and shed tears, and Haley's tiny mother bustled around everyone with a smile and drinks.
And on Christmas Day, they left. They were all glaring at him. The warnings were coming more often. Hell, he'd faced scarier sights than three red-haired Scottish soldiers in his life. They didn't scare him. Yet.
And finally, midnight came.
The tree was devoid of presents now, but it still twinkled merrily. The fire in the fireplace glowed cheerily, and Noble thought he might have had one too many shots of that homemade moonshine the McQuires had acquired.
There was a definite glow burning in him. And when he looked at Haley, curled on the couch watching him, that glow only heated.
And in her lap she held a small, gaily wrapped present. His present he knew.
In his hand, he held hers.
He swallowed tightly as he moved across the room, knelt in front of her, and handed her the little bag the jeweler had put the ring box in.
"You bought me a present?" Joy lit her eyes as she took the bag.
Noble swore he could feel nerves rising inside him, but breeds were taught never to be nervous. It couldn't be nerves.
"Open mine first." Her eyes were bright with excitement. "I want you to see it. I've been dying of anticipation."
He took her present. He'd watched her unwrap presents all day. She did it slowly, she savored it.
He unwrapped his present slowly and savored her excitement.
The long jeweler's box surprised him. When he lifted the lid, he had to blink back a surprising hint of moisture.
