The witch turned back around, slumping a little bit as he pouted. “I’m focused!”
Noble watched silently, before realizing he was being stared at. He couldn’t help but sigh when Jahla moved closer.
“Yes?” he asked dryly.
“I know what you are hiding,” she said softly.
He glanced over at her with a brow raised, doing his darndest to stop himself from stiffening up at her words. “Oh?”
“I know, and I’m sure Ollie would realize it too, if he really allowed himself to think about it. But I don’t think he will, and…I don’t think he wants to know why you know all that you do. Or why you knew that bastard who tried to kill him. But I know why. And I’m certain that Red knows, so there must be a reason you are still allowed near him.”
Noble would say he was surprised she’d figured it out, but he wasn’t. Jahla had always looked at him a little too closely, not to mention, she’d been asking questions well before this. The only reason it had taken her so long was that Jahla hadn’t yet had the clues she needed to figure it out. Now, she did.
“And?” He smirked, despite knowing this was just one more step towards Ollie despising him.
“I could ask you for the details, to tell me what you’ve done. I could threaten you to stay away, or even threaten to tell him what I know, but I’m not going to…yet.”
Noble decided to ignore the ‘yet’ part, and just said, “And I do appreciate that. But you clearly want something from me, Jahla, or you wouldn’t have brought it up.”
“You’re not wrong. I do have questions for you, and the answers will determine what I do after this.”
“Ask away.”
It wasn't like he could stop her anyway. As much as Noble would kill to stay in Ollie’s life, he wouldn’t hurt Jahla. And it had nothing to do with her being a woman, and everything to do with her being Ollie’s best friend.
Harming her would hurt his Baby, and that was not something he was willing to do. Noble may have been selfish to stay, but he wasn’t selfish enough to hurt someone Ollie caredabout—more importantly, someone who genuinely cared about the man—just to stay a bit longer.
“Are you still with them?”
“No.”
“Are you planning to hurt him?”
“No.”
“Have you ever?”
“If you are asking me if I had, at one time, planned to hurt him, the answer is still no.”
“If it came down to you or him, and only one of you could survive, who would you choose?”
“Him,” Noble said without hesitation.
“Why?”
“As I said before, he saved me. He was the light out of a very dark haze. He is light itself, and I will be damned if any of him is dimmed because of me, or anyone else for that matter.”
She nodded before taking a deep breath. “Okay. Then I will…keep my trap shut. Even though I know this is going to blow up one day.”
“Thank you…”
Jahla grunted in response and looked away as she crossed her arms. The woman seemed to be holding herself a bit too tightly, and it made him think that she wasn’t as fine with this new bit of information as she let on.
Witch hunter—Noblewas a witch hunter! Jahla had been right! Why didn’t she feel better about being right?! Oh, yeah, her dream!
But just because Noble confirmed that he was a hunter, it didn’t mean her dream, or rather, nightmare, was real or anything…
Though, if it were real—and it’s not—dream Noble’s hair and outfit would suggest the man was far older than he actually looked.
