by Blue Remy
“I was in the Olympics in 2012 and my age was listed, so you didn’t have to ask someone to dig into my background to be sure I’m of legal age to have sex with.”
“She was the Chief of Police’s daughter. Their last name is Johnson, common enough I didn’t associate her with her father.”
“But she was legal, what could he do?”
“Instruct the officers to pull me over every time they saw me on the road, and to stop me and question me if they saw me when I wasn’t driving.” He leaned forward again, but slow, as if he was being careful not to startle me. “I was pulled over within a few miles of leaving home just about every day, and was often pulled over four or five times a day. I was searched and questioned, sometimes for an hour or more. I wanted to sue the city for harassment — I figured I could get a few dozen videos and have a decent case, but my MC wanted me to just move to another state. The city leaders had gotten along with us before, but the entire club lost the goodwill we’d gained with our local officers.” I could see the conflict in his eyes, could smell his anger, but it clearly wasn’t directed at me. “I’m not in the habit of running from trouble, but for the good of the club I agreed my President could put the word out to see if another city might need my services. It turned out Duke and Brain—the President and VP here—were looking for someone to help with the gun store, especially someone qualified to teach.”
“You were a sniper in the military?”
He nodded.
“Don’t they usually hold onto snipers until they’re a lot older than you?”
“They offered me a lot of money at the end of my last enlistment period, and when I turned it down they added about thirty percent to the amount, but I just couldn’t…” He shook his head. “I can kill people from more than a mile away. You get that, right?”
I nodded.
“It was time for me to leave. While I still had my soul.”
“You’re telling me a lot about yourself. I have a feeling you don’t do that very often.”
He shook his head. “My sister is the only female I’ve told any of this to, before you.”
“Does she live in Asheville?”
“No, she’s in Atlanta.”
“Where are your parents?”
“Small town about an hour south of Asheville. They were proud of their son the soldier, but not so much of their son the biker.”
“I’m sorry. You’re the same person — probably a better person, now that you aren’t being ordered to kill people for a living.”
He gave me a wry smile. “So it was the wolf part you had a problem with, and not the biker part?”
I shrugged. “More wolf than biker, but some of both. I have to be careful I don’t do anything to jeopardize my various licenses and clearances, but I assume you aren’t a felon since you’re working in the gun store, and with your ex-military status—especially being a sniper—you have to be incredibly self-disciplined. So, while I’m not sure about the biker part, it’s really more the wolf…” I rolled my eyes. “Somehow though, you’ve made me feel as if the wolf will keep me safe instead of eating me. No predator species has ever managed that, before. I can be around Horse, and the various Wolves in the gun store, but I’m always on edge around them. I have a range at home, but you have the only indoor long-distance range in town, so I bought the membership in spite of the fact there’s almost always a grizzly bear and a few wolves hanging around.”
“Ask your question.”
“How do you know I have a question I’m not asking?”
“Do you?”
“I have several.”
“So ask. You get a pass on asking rude questions since I poked into your past.”
“My deer was initially terrified of your wolf. I overrode the instinct to run, but…does the opposite hold true? Does your wolf smell me and want to rip into my throat?”
“You in particular? No. My wolf smelled your fear and usually wants to attack anything afraid, but he didn’t with you. Maybe it’s because we could smell your resolve, too? Also, even though you were afraid, you had a loaded weapon on your hip and I knew you’d use it to defend yourself. Deer or not, you weren’t easy prey.”
He said I got a pass on rude questions, so I asked the one I’d bitten back earlier. “When I said you no longer have to kill for a living, I got an odd vibe off you. Why? Do you still kill people for a living?”
“For a living? No. I teach classes and work in the gun store for a living.”
“But you still have to kill sometimes as part of… what?”
He looked at me a few seconds before he finally said, “In the military, you get orders to take someone out and no one has to explain. Sometimes you know why they need to die, but often you have no idea who the person is, much less what they’ve done or might do. You’re given several photographs of the target and sometimes you’re told what they’re wearing — and you’re sent to take the target out.”
He hadn’t answered my question, so I waited for him to put his thoughts together. “I found out the chain of command sent me to kill someone not because they were a threat to the country I’d agreed to fight and kill for, but because they were a threat to someone’s political career. Because it was a classified mission, my options for proving this were extremely limited.” He shrugged. “I made sure the politician was sunk on another matter, so his career ended anyway, but that was all I could do to try to make it right.” I could hear and smell his sadness and anger. “A career for a life. Sucks, but I wasn’t going to take away someone else’s father to try to make it even. More death wasn’t the answer.”
“So, you’d still kill now if you felt there was a good reason the person needed to die? Leaving the military just gave you the right of refusal? Is that it?”
“I’m not saying I’ll never answer that question, but I don’t think I want to just yet.”
“When you kill something, it can be said you nix it. Is that what your nickname means?”
He nodded, his eyes wary, and I searched my mind for a way to change the conversation but he beat me to it. “You shot a .22 in the Olympics, but had larger caliber weapons today. It’s almost like you’ve changed the focus but are still in training.”
“I’ve done some IDPA stuff because they keep it practical. Most competitions turn into something that gives you no real-life skills, but the IDPA’s rules don’t allow people to create specialized race guns. You’re competing based on mostly skill and not who can afford the best technology. Mostly, I want to be able to defend myself and my home. Plus, I enjoy being as good as I can be. The challenge of dialing your weapon in so you can hit something at a hundred yards means a ten yard shot is a piece of cake.”
“And if I can walk you through hitting a bullseye at a half-mile tomorrow?”
I did the math in my head, “That’s just under 900 yards, right? I’ve played around on a three hundred yard range a few times. I can’t imagine tripling the distance.”
“Like you said, at a certain point it becomes the person relying on technology, but in this case, without a good deal of skill and knowledge, the technology won’t be much help.” He shrugged. “I know the kind of precision shooting it takes to make it to the Olympics, much less come home with a silver medal. You have to know your weapon inside and out, know which ammunition works best when it’s cold, when it’s warm, when there’s humidity in the air versus dry air. Hell, even the altitude can change the trajectory. All this plays into what a sniper has to consider, too. You already know a lot of what a sniper has to know, you just have to apply it with a slightly different mindset. If I can’t get you dialed in at a half-mile tomorrow, I suck as a teacher.”
“Why do you want to teach me?”
“Good excuse to get close to you?”
His grin told me just how close he wanted to get to me, and I shook my head. “I’m not interested in a relationship, Nix.”
“Your divorce has been final a little over a year. Have you dated anyone since you
got rid of him?”
I shook my head.
“Tell me you haven’t been celibate for a year, sweetheart.”
His eyes were kind, his voice gentle, and my face went hot and I looked down, unsure of what to say. Jinn had been the best ever in bed, it was just too bad we couldn’t make it work outside of sex because no one was ever going to compare to him. I’d had sex about six weeks after the divorce was final, and then cried the next day because all I could do was compare the dude’s crappy technique to Jinn’s enchanted fingers and tongue and cock and… everything. Jinn was magic in bed, and out. No one else was ever going to be able to hold a candle to the way he could make me feel.
The easiest way to explain was to tell Nix, “I was married to an Encantado.”
He was quiet a few seconds and said, “Wolves mate for life. We’re basically sluts before we fall in love, but once we do? We’re true to our mate.”
My eyes teared up and I excused myself to the bathroom. How the hell had he zeroed in on my biggest problem? I’d thought I’d be okay knowing Jinn had sex a couple hundred times a month, and only a quarter or a third of those times with me. Since he loved me and wanted to share his life with me, his needing and wanting to have sex with so many others wouldn’t be a big deal. I’d thought.
After all, Deer aren’t monogamous, either. I was free to have sex with others — and I did. Not hundreds of others, but there weren’t any limits on either of us.
Everything worked beautifully, at first, because for the first year he’d had sex with random people and hadn’t kept going back to anyone. However, once I realized he had a half a dozen people he was regularly having sex with, and one person he was having sex with more than me, I became jealous. I honestly didn’t blame him for not liking that side of me, because I hadn’t liked that side of me, either. Deer don’t normally feel that kind of jealousy, but as soon as I found out he was with her more than me, it’d stung.
I stepped into the handicapped stall so I’d have some room, leaned against the wall, drew my gun from my holster, and held it against my leg. Not because I wanted to shoot someone, but because holding it settles me, centers me. I’ve spent a good portion of my life holding a gun and centering myself before a competition, and the feel of the grip, the weight, the smell — it all works like the bell did to Pavlov’s dogs, except it calms me instead of producing saliva.
When I was no longer in danger of crying, I put it away, used the restroom, blew my nose, and went out to wash my hands. I wasn’t dressed for a date, nor did I have much makeup on, and my hair was in a ponytail. No matter, this was just dinner, right?
Thankfully, Nix kept our conversation to guns and ammo for the rest of dinner.
Chapter Five
Nix
Taking her to my house instead of back to her car was a gamble, but I had to try. The poor thing had practically cried when I’d mentioned the fact wolves don’t fuck around. I wanted her in my bed and I didn’t want to have to wait.
Could I hold up in bed beside an Encantado? The most charming species on the planet, known for their ability to charm and seduce anyone who catches their fancy? Encantados are freshwater dolphin shapeshifters, and the mythology says they must wear a hat in human form because they retain their blowhole. Their name literally means enchanted one, and their skills in bed are legendary. The Encantado she was married to is also a famous musician who’d have his choice of women even if he were human.
Tippy and her former husband had lived in a mansion just north of New Orleans, right on the Mississippi River — which made more sense knowing his species.
And her scent when she told me what he was… regret and grief.
The major networks aren’t a fan of guns, so you have to seek out the Olympic shooting competitions if you want to see them. I’d followed Tiffany Mason through World Cup competitions as well as the Olympics, and to have her sitting in front of me at dinner? It’d been like sitting with a rock star.
She noted I wasn’t taking her back to her car and tapped me on the stomach a few times to get my attention, but I ignored her. Finally, I heard her yell, “Isn’t the gun store the other direction?”
As long as I kept my speed up, she was trapped on the back of my bike. She’d probably be spitting mad when I got her home, but surely I could charm her into looking at my guns while she was there. Or… something.
But then I felt steel at my side and realized she’d drawn on me. Damn, but I wanted this woman in my bed.
I was almost to the interstate but didn’t dare get onto it with a gun pointed at my kidneys. I’d smelled silver on her and I didn’t know if it was a knife, or in the bullets, but it was probably best I didn’t chance it.
She jumped off the bike the instant I stopped in the parking lot. She put her weapon in her pants pocket and kept her hand on it. She didn’t want to draw attention to us but she wasn’t letting her guard down, either.
“Where are you taking me?”
“My house.”
“No.”
“Brain—our hacker—drove your car to our compound and put it in our garage where it’ll be safe and you don’t have to worry about it. I’ll take you back to it whenever you insist, but I’m hoping you won’t insist just yet.”
She shook her head no as she asked, “How’d he drive my car without the keys?”
I grinned. “He’s a hacker.” She shook her head no again, and I said, “Look, I enjoyed our dinner conversation and I wasn’t ready for it to be over yet. Nothing will happen unless you want it to, but you can’t be uptight about sex if you were married to an Encantado — and don’t you owe it to yourself to see if anyone else is going to be able to hold a candle to him in bed?”
I smelled resignation and said, “That’s it, isn’t it? No one else has been able to?”
She looked at her feet and I said, “Sweetheart, you were married to one of the most enchanting beings on the planet, and possibly the most charming of even all of his race.” I touched her chin and lifted her face until her gaze met mine. “I won’t make any promises, but give me a chance? I’m enchanted by you, and I’d be happy just talking guns all night.”
Though I’d be much happier buried to my balls in her.
“You thought I couldn’t stop you, once you had me on your bike?”
I grinned. “I’ll take you home when you insist. You have my word.”
She didn’t say anything so I relented and answered her question. “Yes, I figured once I had you there it would be easier to convince you to stay.”
When she still didn’t say anything I told her, “You walk like a ballerina. Your deer’s grace shows in everything you do, and yet like I said before — you’re no one’s prey.” Just watching her handle her weapons on the internal security cams at the store had me so hard I had to call someone to come relieve the pressure — though I figured it best I didn’t admit to either secretly watching her or fucking someone else while I wished they were her.
“I thought you hadn’t been here long. How is it you have a house on enough acreage you have a two mile gun range?”
“The MC President’s wife is a real estate agent. Part of the package they offered to get me to come to Chattanooga instead of another city who wanted me included her looking for properties they thought I might like. I closed on it two weeks ago and spent a week cutting down enough trees to give me a two-mile line of site. The house is bigger than I need it to be, but I couldn’t resist the land it’s on.” I sighed. “Look, I’m not enchanting but I’ve never had any complaints — I’m a wolf, and a biker, and what you see is what you get. We have a few things in common and I’m not ready to say goodbye yet. Give me a chance?”
“If we have sex, it’ll just be sex. I’m not promising anything more.”
“Deer aren’t monogamous,” I thought aloud. Did this mean she wouldn’t want to settle down with one person? Was that why she’d been okay marrying an Encantado?
“We aren’t having that conversation right now.”
I leaned forward and kissed her forehead. I didn’t go slow to make sure she’d be okay with it, I just did it, and it seemed to have been the right move because she said, “Fine, I’ll go home with you, but if you hurt me I’ll hunt you down and hurt you back, and if you kill me and eat me I’ll give you terrible indigestion before I haunt your dreams.”
Chapter Six
Tippy
I considered his motivations while I rode on the back of his bike. I held on for dear life on the interstate but I had a feeling he was going slower than he normally would. He knew the bike scared me.
He’d seen me shoot in the Olympics, so he had preconceived ideas about who I am before he met me — but that didn’t explain why he was being so aggressive to try to get me to… what was he trying to get me to do? Sleep with him? Or was he taking me home to play some kind of sick game with the deer. He lived in the middle of the woods, a wolf could have a lot of fun with a… no, I hadn’t gotten that vibe from him at all.
And I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit I was intrigued by the fact he apparently thought he was good enough to compare to an Encantado. The supernatural version of my divorce agreement gives me the right to tell any supernaturals I’m considering getting into a relationship with the species of the person I used to be married to. Jinn had actually insisted on making it legal, saying I needed to be able to be honest with people I considered for his old position.
His old position…. Yeah, he’d been charming all right, but he’d known just how charming he was, too.
So, Nix knows I’ve been with probably one of the best people in bed in the human realm at this time, and he had the confidence to still want to fuck me. Just the fact he wasn’t scared away had me curious. I spent some time in Faerie a few months ago and was about to get it on with an incubus, until someone let it slip who I’d been married to and he bowed out. A fucking incubus—a creature who feeds off sex and has had centuries or possibly longer to perfect his technique—decided he didn’t want to have sex with me.
