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Yes, she was going to be making more cookies soon, she thought as she heard Noble sigh, almost with longing beside her.
"I know how to bake more," she finally gritted out between clenched teeth.
And why she was that insane, she couldn't imagine.
"You would bake us more?" Mordecai's eyes narrowed on her, as though he suspected her of lying.
She was definitely going to have to add to that grocery list.
"I always bake at Christmas." And it seemed this year, she was going to be baking a hell of a lot more than she imagined.
Breeds. Why hadn't anyone warned her it wasn't just their sharp teeth, biting words, or flare for killing that she needed to watch out for? Someone should have warned her to watch out for their craving for sweets as well.
She wondered if it went to their hips as fast as it did to hers.
She glanced at each one, then grimaced. She couldn't get that lucky.
Chapter 5
Hours later, Haley was baking cookies out of sheer desperation. Chocolate chip cookies, chocolate oatmeal cookies, and chocolate drop sugar cookies.
Haley baked to feel good, to think, and to hide. Tonight she was hiding.
Uriel. She'd heard that name before, she'd read that name before. One of the names associated with a god of death. The Grim Reaper. The taker of life. In this case an assassin.
According to Jonas, the assassin was suspected to be a breed still under the control of the Genetics Council that had created him.
The explosion had all his signatures, but the really telling mark was the so-far-untraceable e-mail sent to Jonas at his Bureau of Breed Affairs e-mail address. It stated that he really didn't want to kill more breeds to get to her, but he would if he had to. And it was signed, Uriel.
She had a professional assassin out to kill her. So what was she doing? She was baking.
The moment Jonas had given Noble the information the demeanor of the breeds guarding her had changed. The six under Noble's command turned hard and cold.
Mordecai had demanded Jonas have his pet released from Sanctuary. So, a full-grown, malevolent-eyed natural coyote was now on her property. Great. Just what she needed.
Weren't they supposed to be impossible to tame?
Noble had changed as well, and that change made her more nervous than the others. The look he had given her had held a promise, a dark, almost forbidden promise, that shook her to her core.
As he and Jonas retreated to the living room to discuss security, Haley retreated to the kitchen to bake. And to try to forget that look she had seen in Noble's eyes. The one that promised her he had given her enough space, and that soon, he would be crowding in even closer.
"Jonas is leaving, Haley." Noble stepped into the kitchen, his black gaze hooded as he flicked over the last sheet of cookies she was pulling from the oven.
Haley nodded slowly. "Fine."
She turned and faced Jonas as he moved into the kitchen.
"We'll have this taken care of soon," Jonas promised her. "We have several leads. Uriel was careless this time. Uriel has been erratic in the past few years anyway, so the successes could barely be counted because of it."
"But someone still ended up dead, right?" she pointed out.
"Only because the victims didn't know they were targets," Jonas stated. "We know. Now, I'll leave you with Noble. You have six men guarding you outside as well as that bloodthirsty animal Mordecai carts around with him. Nothing gets past any of them."
He moved to the back door, shrugging his suit jacket on over the white dress shirt and shoulder holster he wore. Once he had the jacket on, he seemed like any other powerful businessman, until you looked in his eyes.
"Noble, I'd wish you luck with the other thing," Jonas suddenly turned back to them, his gaze amused, his hard face almost smiling. "But I have a feeling you have that covered as well."
He left the house, and Noble secured the door behind him before Haley could comment.
