by Blue Remy
He’d groped me twice while on the range—once on my ass and once at my breast—and then backed off when I asked him to. Now, he was once again the perfect gentleman and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. We’d been together more than twenty-four hours, though, and it was past time for me to leave.
“I think I’m warm enough now, any chance you can take me to my car in your car, instead of on the bike?”
It’d been in the forties yesterday — chilly for a shapeshifter, but still doable on a bike. It was in the twenties now with the forecast saying we’d get close to single digits by morning, and no way did I want to ride on a motorcycle right now. He’d had a four-wheeler at the range, so we could ride back and forth to reset targets when needed, and that’d gotten pretty cold by the end of the day.
“I had someone bring food while we shot. There’s supposed to be French onion soup, salads, and pork chops in the fridge.”
I’d told him this morning I’m not vegetarian in my human form. I have issues eating the animals close to me, so no beef or elk, but I have no problems eating pig. I’ve been chased by a wild boar when I was in deer form and it gives me great pleasure to eat bacon.
“Why are you doing all of this?” I asked again.
“Same answer as before, Tiff. I like you and I’m not ready to say goodbye yet. Let me feed you, and if you want to stay, I’ll be more than happy to help you go to sleep again. If not, I’ll take you to your car.”
“You still see me as Tiffany more than Tippy?”
“I don’t think so. I was impressed with the Olympian, and enjoyed watching the little five minute video they put together showing you training, but meeting you and getting to know you has made you real. Seeing how much we have in common? It’s made me want to see how much more there might be.”
I had no idea how to react or what to say, so I turned around so he couldn’t see my face, and then realized I was heading in the right direction to walk into the kitchen. I started walking as I said, “French onion soup sounds great. Let’s get the pork chops started.”
His kitchen was just as organized as I’d expected it to be — it was almost as if I’d set it up. Everything was placed exactly where it should be for ease of use, and it was a little disconcerting to just know where I’d find something without asking.
He only had commercial salad dressing, so I looked through his cabinets for ingredients and made some out of olive oil and some of his herbs and spices as I explained, “I have major issues with MSG, and just about all commercial dressings have it.”
“Any other food issues I should know about?”
I shrugged. “I think most shapeshifters are more aware of all the poisons humans put into their food supply. You have grass fed beef and buffalo in your refrigerator, and the few fruits and veggies you have seem to be organic. My guess is you don’t do salads so you didn’t know what’s in most store-bought dressing. If you consumed a lot of it, you’d have tossed them, too.”
Our conversation stayed on mostly safe topics for a while, but as we neared the end of the meal he said, “Tell me your biggest sexual fantasy.”
I cringed inwardly, but told him the truth. “All of my wildest fantasies have been fulfilled. There’s nothing else new I want to try.”
Instead of being stymied, though, he chuckled and said, “Something else we have in common. I imagine most guys would see your ex as a hard act to follow, but I have a feeling we’re different enough that you aren’t comparing us in your head as often as you do with other men. Am I right?”
He was dead on. I’d compared them a few times but there was no way to say which was better. They’re so different — it’s like trying to compare pork chops with chocolate cake. And in that analogy, Jinn was the cake and Nix was the spicy salty filling goodness of the pork chops.
Instead of answering him though, I told him, “I’m not staying tonight. Let me know what evening you have off later in the week and I’ll invite you to my house for dinner, but I need to go home when we finish eating.”
Chapter Nine
Nix
I wasn’t sure what to expect as I drove to her house. I’d looked it up on Google street view, and had looked at a half dozen satellite images from above and to the side, but her home was in the woods and surrounded by trees so it couldn’t be seen.
She’d met several of the club members when I’d taken her to pick up her car. Thankfully, Horse had helped me keep the clubhouse a little calmer than usual so they didn’t freak her out too bad, but I’d been getting good-natured ribbing from Duke, Brain, Dawg, and Gonzo about her.
And Horse… well, I was now regretting all the wisecracks I’d made about a bear and a rabbit together. He was having a blast with the deer and wolf jokes.
Google street view didn’t show the twelve foot fence she’d erected around her property, because she’d put it up since the images were taken. It’d shown up on the recent satellite images Horse had procured for me, but seeing it in person made me realize just how much money she must’ve sunk into it.
I had to wonder how much she got in whatever divorce settlement she’d had with Jinn, because I was guessing she’d spent a hundred grand on the fence alone. Maybe more.
The gate opened as I approached, and I noted the cattle grid as I drove over it — designed to keep animals out, even when the gate was open. She’d likely gotten rid of all predators capable of taking down a deer inside her fancy fence, and wanted to make sure none got back in.
In this part of the country she’d most have to worry about dogs, coyotes, and mountain lions — the latter was probably why the fence was so high.
I drove for a quarter mile on a winding, meandering driveway. It was two strips of concrete with grass in the middle, and I had to admit I liked the effect. It felt more like a woodland path than a driveway.
I didn’t see the house when I arrived at her little parking area, at first, which is saying a lot since I’m both sniper and wolf. I parked beside her car and got out of mine before I finally used both scent and vision to spot it — tucked into the trees and looking like something out of a fairy tale. A little creek ran beside it and several weeping willows were around it, almost like a little gnome house amongst tall grasses.
She’d gone from a huge mansion to a small cottage. This alone should tell me about the changes she’d made in her life upon her divorce.
I’d brought a blueberry pie and some peach wine — and I’d done a ton of research on deer shifters, so I was hoping this would be to her liking.
I kissed her forehead as I said hello, and let her invite me in before I found the kitchen and settled the pie and wine on the counter. The inside was a lot more spacious than I’d assumed it would be, but the downstairs appeared to be mostly one big room of kitchen, eating area, and living area. A set of steps went upstairs, where I assumed she’d have a rather large bedroom. If there was a basement then she had a whole lot more room than the outside hinted at.
“You’ve researched deer shifters,” she noted as she glanced at the pie and wine. “How much did the info cost you?”
“Sixteen ounces of blood.”
She looked horrified, and I explained, “I talked to a really old vampire who once had a Deer as his main food source for a few decades.”
“You let a vampire bite you to find out more about me?”
I shook my head. “No, there are lines I won’t cross, but I had no qualms about drawing it with a needle and handing it over.”
She’d cooked a ham, and the smell had my mouth watering in anticipation. I didn’t want to be rude and ask when we were eating, so I asked, “Anything I can do to help with dinner?”
“You can open the wine if you want. I found my way around your kitchen, it’ll be interesting to see if you can do the same.”
We’d talked about how I’d put things where she would’ve, so I looked around and asked myself where I’d put the corkscrew. I walked to the most likely place, opened it, and smiled as I admired one of the n
eatest kitchen implement drawers I’d ever seen.
She’d gone all out for dinner — ham, sweet potatoes, some kind of bacon broccoli dish that made me think broccoli might not be so bad, sweet rolls, slaw, and peach fritters.
I’m not sure what she did with the ham, but it was the best I’d ever had.
“My pork chop dinner pales beside this,” I told her as we dug in.
“It isn’t a competition, though from what I’ve read about the top snipers in the world, it seems y’all like to turn everything into one.”
I grinned. She’d researched me, too.
She rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, totally honest, no games. You good with that?”
“Always.”
“I was serious when I said I didn’t want a relationship. I love this new life I’ve built for myself. My gun shop is just inside another gate accessed from another road, but it’s a short walk to work through the woods. The address for the shop is several streets away from the address for my home, so unless someone looks at a map and sees it’s part of the same property, they won’t figure out it’s me. Most of my stuff is shipped, very few people show up in person.”
“You didn’t go all out on dinner to tell me to get lost.”
“No, but I’m telling you I want to spend time with you in spite of the fact I’m not interested in a relationship, and I’m warning you up front — if you push me into more than I’m prepared to deal with, you’ll be history. We have a lot in common and I loved spending time with you, and the sex was…” She sighed. “It was better than I dared hope. I never thought I’d have good sex again, much less great sex.”
“Well then, while we’re being honest and not playing games — I’ll tell you I wasn’t looking for a relationship either, but I want to spend time with you and I’ve counted down the days until I could see you again. I tend to be pushy when there’s something I want, so please warn me if I’m pushing too hard.”
“Fair enough…” She hesitated, as if she’d rehearsed asking me something and now needed to work her nerve up to ask, and I gave her time to figure it out. Finally, she said, “I realize this isn’t a socially acceptable question for a second date, but I need to know before I’m in too deep.”
I nodded because she seemed to need encouragement, and she went on. “Even if you paid a quarter what your house and land are worth — between your home, vehicles, and weapons, you have to know you’re living way above your means.”
Well, fuck. I wasn’t prepared to tell her how I earned so much money, but I wasn’t surprised she wanted to know. I looked at her a few long seconds as I figured out how to respond, and I finally nodded slowly in agreement. “The only thing I feel comfortable telling you right now is that I have a whole lot of lines I won’t cross. I go by my own moral code for right and wrong.”
“Do you kill people for pay?”
So blunt and up front. I could easily fall in love with this woman, but I sensed the red flags all around me and there was no way to answer this question. I can lie without my scent giving it away, but if I told her ‘no’, she’d eventually learn the truth and walk away because I’d lied. However, if I told the truth right now we might never get started in the first place.
And if I refused to answer, she’d correctly assume it’s because I do.
I stood and walked to her sink and looked out the window at the creek and willow trees. She’d surrounded herself with the beauty of nature, and I wanted her in my life so much, the idea of losing the possibility of what we could be together hurt.
“If someone were aware of an Alpha in another state who forced the women in his pack to have sex with him, and who insisted he be the one to take every female’s virginity on their twelfth birthday, though most had been giving him blowjobs and taking him up the ass long before they were twelve… and if he was attached to the local supernatural community in such a way that to go in and take him out publicly would mean war where a whole lot of people died… but if a sniper could take out the top three people, and everyone is fairly certain numbers four and five will change everything for the better… would you look at the sniper who took them out as a murderer, or as someone who managed to do a job no one else could do without a much larger loss of life?”
“How can you be sure of the facts?”
“I have my ways, and I don’t accept a job until I’m certain. You understand you must never mention the story I’ve just told you, right?” Gavin would be all kinds of pissed if he knew I’d talked to someone about the specifics. It wasn’t at all professional, but in that moment it seemed a better idea to risk my life—to trust her with my life—than to say goodbye to her forever.
I met her gaze and let her see how serious I was. “If it got out I’d told you even that much, your life would be in danger along with mine — but I don’t want to lie to you about who I am or what I do. I want you in my life, and I want to be a part of your life.”
She nodded, but she was responding to some inner thought of her own and not to my words. Finally, her eyes focused on me and she said, “Come sit down and eat. Thanks for being honest.”
Chapter Ten
Tippy
I’d asked, he’d answered.
I’d already known, though. In my heart, I’d already known he was still using his sniper skills. I’d known when I had sex with him, and I’d known when I invited him to dinner. If I pushed him away now because he was honest then I’d be the dishonest one.
So I gave him as much truth as he’d given me. “Part of me wants to be pissed you gave me information that could put me in danger, but that’s just the part of me looking for an excuse to push you away. I’m terrified of losing myself in a relationship again, and yet the way I feel when I’m with you — it gives me hope of finding a healthy relationship. Healthy, as in I get to keep who I am and I don’t have to fold myself into your charm. Healthy because it won’t be me becoming your partner because we both change for each other. I don’t know if it’s actually possible because I can never promise you monogamy, but I’ve looked forward to seeing you as well, and we don’t have to figure everything out right now.”
“He made all of your fantasies come true?”
The question seemed to come out of left field, but I answered it without hesitating. “All of my sexual fantasies, yeah.”
“You have nonsexual fantasies?”
Yeah, coming home to someone who loves me, who knows me. Jinn had loved me as much as he was capable of loving another, but he had so much love for himself there just wasn’t much left for the other people in his life. It wasn’t his fault, and I’ll always love him — I just can’t be in his life anymore. I couldn’t tell Nix any of this though, so I just shrugged and said, “Yeah, but I think maybe we’ve had enough deep sharing for one day.”
***
Nix
The rest of our dinner conversation stayed casual, and yet I still felt as if I got to know her better.
I helped clean the dishes when we finished eating, and cautiously asked if she’d show me her gun shop.
“Sure, I could do with a walk after eating. I’m guessing you’ve probably worked on your own guns some, so you know the basics of what I do.”
I nodded. “I can adjust the trigger pull on most weapons, and the military taught us enough so we could do basic repairs in the field, but I’m not an expert.”
I’d thoroughly enjoyed working with her on my range the other day — she’d been a joy to teach. Now, it was my turn to learn what she had to teach me, and she spent hours showing me cool tricks and answering all my questions.
When she finally locked up and we headed back towards her house, I asked her, “Will you change for me, so I can see you?”
I sensed her fear before I smelled it, and I said, “Sorry, it’s okay. You don’t have to.”
“No,” she answered, “I think I kind of do. I mean, if I’m going to be afraid of you, I should be afraid no matter what form I’m in.”
“Yeah, but let’s hold
off. For today, how about you lock yourself in your house while you watch me change outside. I’ll walk around a small area so you’ll be able to smell my wolf later, when you’re a deer and I’m long gone. I can see you in deer form another day.”
Now I smelled relief and frustration, and she was quiet a handful of seconds before saying, “Yeah, okay, but are we crazy? Or is it just me, cooking dinner for my natural predator?”
“We were both born in human form. We’re both humans first and our animals second, right? We can do this.”
“Tell me about your wildest sexual adventure.”
I shook my head, unsure of what to tell her. “I’m not really into wild and crazy. There are certain things I like to do, and I suppose some of what I’ve done would be seen as wild by most of society, but it seems normal to me.”
We walked silently, side-by-side, and I finally said, “You aren’t going to tell me any of yours unless I go first, are you?”
She remained silent so I told her, “Last week, I fucked someone’s ass while two of my brothers took her mouth and pussy. I dated a human once who was way too uptight to enjoy anal, and I took her to a tropical Caribbean island for a two-week vacation, and she spent about twenty hours a day wearing a butt plug for the first nine days — and an hour or so getting fucked in the ass the rest of those days. The last five days she managed to relax and let me in the way I wanted, so I only made her wear the plug a few hours a day. Once we returned home, if she had too much trouble relaxing to let me in then she’d wear it a few nights.”
“Four in a bed? Is that the most you’ve ever had in a bed at once?”
“We weren’t in a bed — we were on a sofa in a side room at the clubhouse. A few people walked in while we were going at it, most left, but a few stayed and watched a couple of minutes.”
