"And those are for?" But he followed her, because her smile was teasing, warm and filled with joy.

"For the breeds at Sanctuary. Cassie Sinclair told me once that they go nuts for chocolate chip cookies.

So Callan Lyons was kind enough to give me a number for the bags I needed, and I've been filling them for weeks."

He paused, ignoring the tug on his hand. "That's over three hundred breeds at the moment, Haley."

"And just think, over three hundred smiles when they taste my delicious cookies. I make very good cookies."

She did indeed. She made cookies that melted in the mouth and made a breed think of chocolate ecstasy. But Noble wasn't certain if he wanted to share those cookies, and her smiles, with other breeds. But one thing was certain, he wasn't about to dim the pleasure the thought of it brought to her eyes.

As they shared the late dinner, she managed to convince him, and how she did it he wasn't certain, to make sure those on duty were fed as well.

One by one they came in, ate a plate of heaping roast, potatoes, and carrots, with fresh-baked bread.

They were sent off with a handful of cookies.

Even that damned mongrel coyote that trotted at Mordecai's heels was given a bowl of fragrant roast.

And he stared at Haley with adoration as he stuck his snout in the bowl and lapped it up.

It was nearly four in the morning before she loaded the dishwasher, and Noble noticed her hands were shaking. He'd smelled the heat building in her, surprised it had taken so long. Normally, the second phase struck must faster, and burned hotter.

"Enough." He closed the dishwasher and took the dish towel she held from her hand.

A fine film of perspiration dotted her upper lip, and the light sprinkling of freckles glared out from across the bridge of her nose, her face was so pale.

"I think I might need you." She was almost panting, her nipples so hard they were pointed into the material of her robe and the sweet scent of her desire filling the air.

The need had lain dormant inside her for nearly four hours, only to strike in a matter of minutes.

Which was unusual.

"Have you taken the pills I gave you?" He pushed her hair back from her face.

Haley shook her head. "The first one made me feel funny. I didn't like it."

"Funny how?"

She shook her head. "It gave me a headache. I don't like headaches."

"It shouldn't have given you a headache." He frowned.

"Can we discuss this later." Her arm curled around his bare shoulders, her lips pressed into his flesh. "I'm tired of waiting."

"Why did you wait?" He glared down at her. "You fed every breed in the city rather than taking care of yourself."

She stared up at him somberly. "I wanted to know what you felt for the past year. You held back, even after you moved in here. I needed to see how it hurt you."

Noble stared back at her in shock. "Haley, it isn't the same for the males, sweetheart," he groaned, clasping her face with his hands. "The physical symptoms aren't as severe. Baby, why didn't you say something?"

The endearments slipped out naturally. He barely realized he had spoken them, concern filled him, driving past his lust as he stared into her nearly blue eyes. The gray had almost disappeared, to be replaced by a grayish blue that fascinated him.

"Noble, kiss me before I have to kill you," she groaned. "If you'd just kiss me, I'd be okay."

"It's the kiss that makes it burn," he reminded her, clasping her face and holding her still.

"Then make it burn."

He took her lips with a groan. He licked over the sweet curves and picked her up in his arms. Stilling her heat was the greatest pleasure he could know. But this time, it wasn't the bed he wanted to use to still that fire.

Still kissing her, he stumbled his way to the living room. There, in front of the light of the fire, he laid her down on the large rug.

"What are you doing?" She stared up at him as he stripped his jeans, then knelt beside her and eased her robe from her shoulders.

"I want to take you in the firelight," he growled.

"With your Christmas lights shimmering around you and the light of the fire warming you. I want to see you right here, watching me as I take you."

She touched his hair, her graceful fingers threading into it before caressing the nape of his neck.

Her arms arched gracefully moments later as he pulled the gown from her, then she lay there, naked, wanting him, her gaze languorous and filled with desire.

"I used to fantasize about you right here," she told him, her voice low, throbbing with the power of her need. "I imagined you taking me while the fire burned beside us."

He knelt between her thighs, his cock pounding a desperate beat of hunger as he let his hands cup her breasts, let his lips and tongue lick over them.

Her nails bit into his shoulders, and he felt the purr that suddenly dug through his chest.

He had never purred in his life. But as her sharp little nails raked over his shoulders, the sound exploded from him.

And Haley shuddered beneath him.

Noble's head jerked up, his eyes narrowed.

"Just a little one," she panted, describing the orgasm he knew had just exploded within her. Yes, just a little one, but spurred by the sound of his purr.

"You liked that?" He pressed her breasts together and lowered his head again, licking over her nipples as she arched to him.

"A little bit maybe," she breathed.

He drew one of the ripe little points of flesh into his mouth again, restrained the grumble, and watched her face.

She was drifting in her pleasure, dazed by it.

Exaltation filled him at that look. This was his woman.

She carried his mark, his scent, she hungered for him.

Only for him.

He dropped a scattering of kisses down her stomach, moved to the swollen bud of her clit, and drew it into his mouth. He suckled her gently, sweetly.

He licked it, pursed his lips around it, and purred again.

And he watched her unravel for him. The sweetest expression he had ever seen in his life filled her face.

She stared back at him, her eyes dazed and filled with emotion. Her expression almost serene.

"My Christmas present is right here," he whispered. He kissed her thigh, lifted his hand, and touched her face.

She surprised him then. Her lips parted, and she drew his finger in, suckling at it, nipping as he watched her.

The pleasure streaked from the tip of his finger to the head of his cock. Something that simple, a caress that should have never shaken him as it did. Yet it did.

Rising to his knees he pulled his finger back, then stroked his thumb over her lips. He smiled as he moved between her thighs, came over her, and felt the folds of slick, sweet flesh enclosing the thick crest of his cock.

"Watch." He glanced down along their bodies, holding himself up, allowing her to see.

Haley watched as he took her. She hadn't been able to watch the first time, only feel. She wanted to watch this time. Watch as he parted the sensitive folds, his thick flesh pressing into her.

She saw him and felt him. Felt him stretching her, burning her. She watched as he worked inside her, stroking her, pleasure tearing through her with each inch she took.

She couldn't breathe, and she needed to breathe.

She needed to focus, to watch the penetration, to feel him possessing her.

"I dreamed this," she moaned, her thighs opening wider, her hips arching to him. "Dreamed of you taking me like this, Noble."

"I dreamed too, Haley," he groaned, his hips surging slow and easy, impaling her inch by inch with fiery destruction.

Pleasure whipped and tore through her. It burned with a white-hot intensity, cramped her womb, spasmed through her sex, and had her crying out his name. Her hips lifted with his, burying him deeper inside her, feeling the pleasure and something deeper, something binding and all-consuming tightening between them.

"Hard," she whispered, staring, watching her juices gleam on his heavy erection as he pulled back, only to press deeper inside her once again.

In his arms, that wild uninhibited woman she always dreamed of being fought to be free.

"Fuck me." The words passed her lips, words she had longed to whisper to a lover and had never had the courage. "Hard, Noble. Fuck me hard. Fast."

He surged inside her as she cried out at the pleasure. One hand clamped on her hip as she watched his cock draw back, penetrate, over and over, hard and deep, creating a friction, a pleasure she couldn't fight.

"Oh God yes." She writhed beneath him, pulling him to her, her lips at his neck, her nails on his shoulders as she scratched him in her need.

She tried to hold back, not to rake her fingers across his back. God knew, he had enough scars. But he marked her. He bit her. She could scratch. She could cry out his name, and when the rolling, rocking waves of pleasure began to cascade inside her, she could give herself to it, knowing he was there.

Holding her, stilling the fear as she felt the extension becoming erect, the barb of the male breed pressing into her, locking her in place and spilling a fiery sensation inside her that flung her into another strong, deeper orgasm as his semen pumped into her, and his teeth pierced her shoulder.

And he held her. He held her close to his heart, his arms tight beneath her as he shuddered above her, growls rumbling in his throat as she felt something in her chest break free. As though her heart had expanded, as though heat burned from her very spirit, and Haley knew, in that moment, she had loved Noble Chavin far longer than she had ever realized she had.

The first time she saw his black eyes gleam with almost confused amusement. The way she felt when he watched her, the way she watched for him each night. The way her heart had shattered when she feared he had been lost to her.

"I love you," she whispered, and felt the tears that burned in her eyes. "Oh God, Noble, please don't be lying to me about this 'belonging' to you stuff, because I love you."

He jerked against her again, causing her breath to catch as the barb caressed nerve endings rarely subjected to touch. Miniexplosions cascaded through her, little releases that rocked her to the core. There should never be pleasure like this. Pleasure like this was addictive, it could become necessary.