"Yes, ma'am, I owe you." He nodded. "But I don't owe you the chance to die. And Noble won't walk away from this. He has his team, and he knows what the hell he's doing. He's your best protection."
"And the breed that died tonight," she yelled back at him. "Did he know what he was doing? Did you have an untrained man watching me, Jonas? Did you send a boy to do a man's job?" She knew better. "I knew him. Jason Lincoln. Do you know why he chose that name? Do you know he picked the name Lincoln because of a president who died before any of us was ever born? Did you know he liked comics? That he was flirting with one of the college girls who comes to the library?" Tears were filling her eyes. "Did you know that he wanted a Christmas present?" she whispered painfully. "I bought him a Christmas present." She wrapped her arms around herself and turned away from all of them.
Lifting her hand, she covered her lips and shook her head.
"Patricia has a grandson. He was coming for Christmas. Now he'll be coming to bury his grandmother." She wanted to scream with the rage filling her. "I have to see two friends buried because of me." She turned back to all of them. "I won't see any more. I won't bury more friends. Now get the hell out of my house. All of you."
She stalked out of the kitchen, knowing none of them would pay any attention to her, and that only made her madder. The helplessness that rose inside her was like a tide of red, bleak fury. Whoever wanted her dead knew what the hell they were doing. They knew how to get to her. How to hurt her friends, how to make her suffer.
That bomb that killed Patricia would have killed her if she had gotten into that truck herself. Patricia always parked right beside Haley because she didn't like walking to her car alone in the dark. And Jason. She shook her head as she slammed her bedroom door and locked it.
Jason Lincoln. And he had chosen that name because he'd admired all he knew about Abraham Lincoln. Jason has asked her once if she saw breeds as mankind. Haley had told him she saw them as the best of what man could accomplish, and the best of humanity. His brown eyes had lit with pleasure as he nodded, took his books, and left the library.
And now, she would never see him again. His shy smile would never touch her heart again, just as Patricia's laughter would never again fill her day.
She couldn't bear the thought of never hearing Zane give her another smart-ass comment, or of Noble never reading another carpentry book, or never reading another book of "mistakes" as he always called them. Because history was filled with mistakes, had been his reasoning. And he wanted to learn from them. She sat down on her bed and stared around the neat, pretty room. The canopied bed, with its thick, heavy curtains that she could draw around her when it was really cold. The bedroom set, which had been given to her by her father's parents. The writing desk across the room, which her mother's parents had given her. Bridges to the past, just as her precious books had been.
The thought of dying filled her with terror. The thought of Noble dying, especially for her, filled her with cold, bleak agony.
She couldn't bear it. He would have to leave. She would make certain they all left. The breeds didn't have enough power to invade her home, or her life, without her permission. If they weren't out of her house by dawn, she would call the state police. She would pack her bags and leave town. And then she would figure out exactly what it was going to take to survive.
Because dying wasn't in her plans. At least not for a while. Living was. And there had to be a way to live without risking everyone she loved.
Noble stared at the closed washroom door and silently opened it a crack to make certain Haley wasn't there. Motioning to Shiloh, he sent her inside to watch for the fiery little librarian before he turned back to the others.
"Well, that was interesting," Dane commented as he turned to Noble. "She does do orders quite well. Too bad she wasn't born a breed."
He smiled, a mocking little smile at odds with the cold fury in his brown eyes.
"Contact the state police," Noble warned Jonas. "Inform them we have a situation here. I want Haley placed under the Bureau's 'persons of interest' mandates."
Persons of interest, meaning anyone, breed or human who might have information pertaining to or involving an open breed case under investigation.
"That's pushing it," Jonas pointed out. "If she gets a lawyer, she could beat it within forty-eight hours."
"Then let's not tell her that," Zane warned them before Noble could speak up. "Listen up, boys, let me tell you a little something about Haley. She's more stubborn than those mountains out there, and she's sure as hell got more fire in her than that explosion that nearly killed her tonight. You're not going to bully her as easily as you think you can."
"I have no intentions of bullying her," Noble ground out. "I'll protect her. With your help."
"Noble," Jonas's voice was warning.
"Do you believe you're going to keep him out of it?" Noble stared back at him coolly. "You're not. And you're not going to keep him from trying to protect her. Let's at least use him wisely." Man or breed, sometimes one had to go with gut instinct. Gut instinct warned him that Zane Taggart would walk through fire for someone he cared for, and for whatever reason, he cared for Haley.
"Smart boy." Zane's smile was hard.
"Jonas will give you details, you will stay out of the perimeter he lays out to you. This house is fairly sheltered. No neighbors too close, no reason for them to be on her property. Anyone moving within her property line is fair game. Do we understand each other?"
Gut instinct and trust were two different things. The sheriff might get information, but he wouldn't be aware of the security protocols Noble intended to set up.
Haley's home sat at the end of a block. She owned a little over an acre, the boundary of which was fenced and thick with trees. Across the street were several clear lots, the street that ran by the side of the house was an occupied lot, enclosed by a privacy fence. Behind her property were more homes, closer together. Protecting her might not be easy, but at least here he would know the breeds who should be in place. In Sanctuary, at the moment, there were too many suspects and not enough space to ensure no breed but those he trusted were within sight of her.
"We'll have the information we need on this soon, Noble," Jonas promised, his voice hard now. And they would. Noble knew that the number of people with the information of the witness who had overheard that meeting was small. One of them told someone, or had personally done the killing. Either way, they would be found. '