Page 15 of Havoc's Fox

He puttered around in the kitchen, getting a tray of crackers and pâté, along with some olives and a small bowl of blackberry jam. Poured Analise a snifter of bourbon, dropped a few ice cubes into it, then carried it all back into the living room. “Here we go. All the fixings, too.”

“You’re wonderful.”

“You already knew that.”

Analise giggled as she spread pâté on a cracker, smeared it with blackberry jam and took a bite, chewing appreciatively. “Oh, my God, that’s good.”

Christian ate a few olives and stood in place for a few moments looking around his darkened living room.

“It looks like Christmas exploded in here,” Analise said.

Christian laughed. “It does, doesn’t it? Again, it’s Brandt and Tempest I think.”

“I really like her.”

“Really? I thought maybe you were feeling a little put out by her.”

“No, I mean, she was just trying to fix what she feels should be fixed. It wasn’t malicious or anything, she just knows that we’re two parts of a whole. It’s just that in this lifetime, that whole won’t be whole, no matter what anyone else does.”

“I think maybe he wants to be whole.”

“He is whole. Did you see the way he fathers his baby?” she asked, grinning proudly. “He’s such a great dad. And she adores him, which speaks volumes. I always, always knew he’d be an amazing father.”

Christian’s brows both lifted almost to his hairline. “So, you’re proud of him, then.”

“Oh, my gosh, yes! He’s so attentive, and so loving to Harley. She’s a lucky little girl.”

Christian just nodded slowly, aware that she wasn’t even noticing that she actually admitted that she admired something about Havoc. Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, making him turn his head toward the large picture window in the front.

“What is it?” she asked, looking that way herself. “Did you see something?”

Christian stood perfectly still, his eyes scanning the area outside his window, but there was no movement to see. “Probably just a leaf or something. I gotta get curtains. I feel like I’m being watched in here.”

“Same. I love lots of huge windows, but I want my privacy when the sun goes down, you know?”

“I might go run into town and see what I can find tomorrow.”

“You can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked, turning his back on the window to look at her.

“Because it’s Christmas day. And because these are custom windows, you won’t find anything to fit them. You’ll have to special order something. It’ll probably take weeks to come in. Being that it’s Christmas, it might even take longer.”

Christian glanced toward the window again, and without a doubt knew he saw movement again. “Bet I can find a damn blanket large enough. I’m going to take a look outside. You stay here and keep warm, my dear Analise.”

“Okay,” she said, winking at him as she settled in to watch the rest of the movie. “But hurry back, I might need more bourbon, or pâté, or bourbon.”

“You said bourbon twice,” he said as he walked out of the room.

“That one’s my favorite this time,” she called after him.

Chapter 5

Christian stepped outside onto his porch into the frigid cold night of a southern Christmas eve and looked around his front yard. He didn’t see movement of any kind, but he knew what he saw. He saw a Wolf. And that Wolf was watching him and Analise through the front picture window of his home.

“I saw you. You may as well come on out,” he said aloud.

There was no response.

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