Page 84 of His Curse

“While I absolutely love your enthusiasm…”My mate nips at my shoulder as he presses his front to my back. “I still want to make sure you are prepared for everything and anything that could be thrown at us.”

In lieu of a response, I take aim at the target, line up my shot and send a few rounds sailing dead center through the chest.

I really don’t need this. Being the only child of the alpha of my pack, a female one at that, my father made sure I could handle myself at all times. As various weapons were created, Father taught me how to use them, and to be honest, I was firing a bow and arrow shortly after I learned to walk. My accuracy is deadly, even after a nearly fifty year hiatus. I love that my mate wants me to be on point and safe, but I really, really think this is unnecessary.

“You do, huh?”Colton’s hands ghost over my hips and to the top of my leggings. “So unnecessary that you wouldn’t be interested in a friendly little bet between mates?”

“Such as…”And now he’s piqued my curiosity. Bastard.

He chuckles. “I don’t doubt your skills, not really, Birdie, but I need to see them for myself in order to feel better. That being said…”Colt rolls his hips against my ass, and hello hard-on. “If you can show me that you can maintain your accuracy and skill level with unfamiliar weapons while having distractions thrown at you, then we will call it a day with the SIG, head back to the cabin, and I will worship your body with my own until we have to go to Vok’s for dinner tomorrow.”

Oh, this man knows exactly how to get me on board.

I lower my hands and meet his eyes over my shoulder. “And if the distractions are too much?”

“If the distractions are too much and you don’t manage to nail kill shots every time you fire, then we go hard at training the rest of the day, you quit complaining, and I’ll still fuck you silly when we get home later.”

“Well…”The only real downside to any of this is possibly postponing exactly what I’ve been itching for since we first started arguing. I mean, I win either way, right? It’s just a matter of how soon I get to have my mate exactly how I want him—naked, ready, and totally at my mercy.

“Sounds like we have a deal, don’t we, Birdie?”

I nod. “We have a deal, Colton, but even if I miss, I expect unbridled worship and no sleep tonight.”

“As you wish, honey.”Something he emphasizes with another roll of his hips and those callused hands slipping into the top of my pants. “‘Fraid I couldn’t do anything else anyway. You standing here holding that gun like it’s a mere extension of your body? I’m so fucking hard right now I’m questioning my entire plan.”

I wiggle my butt against his dick and grin when he groans. “Show me what you got, Alpha. If I’m going to prove that I can shoot to kill with pure chaos happening around me, I’d like to do it before lunch so you can make a meal out of me instead.”

“You got it, Birdie.”

Colton takes a step back, his hands leaving my hips long enough to reach around me and call back the target. I watch my mate take down my rather impressive first try, put up a fresh target, then send it sailing back even further than before. He smirks as I frown at him, but neither of us speak. If he wants to play like that, then we’ll play. I just hope that pissy attitude didn’t keep him up all night because Colt’s going to need a lot of energy for what I have planned for us.

The quickies have been great, completely Earth-shattering even, but like I said, they are not exactly what I’m craving when it comes to my mate, and if I have to show him my gun skills in order to get what I want, so be it.

“You should have what, maybe twelve rounds left after trying to make your point earlier?”

I nod. “As long as that was a fifteen round clip.”

Perfect.He moves behind me again, but doesn’t touch me at all. Just looms there like the stoic, broody, sexy alpha-hole he is. “Take aim, but don’t start firing until I say. And no cheating with rapid release right out the gate. Think about a scenario and work with it. There could be more than just the doctor and staff running around. Make sure you take that into account.”

Another eye roll becauseno shit. I have a feeling it’s going to be complete pandemonium when we get there and you throw in the fact that there are so many innocent people that will be all but helpless until we free them makes being aware of your surroundings critical.

But I just nod and take aim. “I’m ready.”

“I sure hope so.”

Before I can snap back at him for that shitty comment, Colton reaches out and presses a button on the panel to my right. The gun range is mostly outdoors, but there’s an overhang between the stalls and a back wall with various lights and other tracks that run the length of it. I just figured that it was so that multiple people could come out and practice together at all hours, assuming the lights weren’t really necessary while it was sunny out like it is now, but that little press of a button changed things.

The entire range is now shrouded in darkness, a darkness that almost completely blacks out everything but my target, and just when Colton says, “Fire,” multiple red and white lights start flashing, and all kinds of other things begin happening. Cutouts of bodies start flipping down from the ceiling track, some that look like frightened people—civilians, I’m guessing—as well as some that look like crazy men and dangerous women. They drop and move quickly, blocking my aim, cutting in front of me at a rapid pace before they disappear again, and it definitely makes it trickier to get a kill shot on my target, but I don’t let it slow me down. I shoot at the first crazy looking man and pretend it’s Dick, then grin in victory as I get him between the eyes.

This continues for about ten minutes, me firing at the bad guys, avoiding the good ones, and as I squeeze off my last round to hit the paper target in the chest, my mate sets a few clips out in front of me.

“Reload, Birdie, and do it quick. Battles don’t stop and you need to be able to keep your weapon at the ready no matter what.”

With a frustrated huff, I let the used clip drop to the floor and start to reload, the bad guys dropping and sliding closer to my stall. This is a pretty state of the art gun range if you ask me, but I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less after all the things Colton has told me about Kai and the rest of the clan. Safety and defense seem to be their thing, and all considering what they’ve been through up to this point, I can’t say that I blame them for making sure they have nothing but the best.

Once I’m locked and loaded, I continue the exercise. Shoot the bad guys, avoid the good guys, try to nail my paper target, reload, and do it all over again. Two more times I do this, and when I go to put my second to last clip in, that’s when my mate changes things up a bit.

“You don’t stop until I say.”His words are growled, even in my head. “No matter what, you keep going until that clip is empty.”

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