by Robin Roseau
We both laughed.
Thank you, Bronze.
And then we were hugging.
* * * *
There was an ass kicking to follow, and it wasn't Bronze's ass that felt it.
I began well under cover, and I scored points besides. Bronze began firing, and her shots were far more accurate than mine. She hemmed me in, but I fired back, hitting the counter targets to stymie her efforts.
She shifted her position, and she shifted her aim. She caught my foot, exposed to the right of my cover, hitting it three times in rapid order, stiffening the foot and ankle. I swore and pulled my leg in tighter.
In response, however, I managed to hit some of the targets on her side.
The barriers were not physical barriers; they were a force field straight out of a science fiction movie. And they recognized where we were. I managed to hit the targets that put a row of barriers down the middle of Bronze's end of the arena, sticking her on one side and leaving me a clear path to the other side. Bronze could shoot the corresponding targets on my side to turn the barriers back off, but she didn't.
Instead, we got into a shooting match over the barriers on my side. She put two up. I put one down and worked on the next. But her firing was more accurate than mine, and if I could shoot faster, she still held the advantage.
She was shooting far, far better than she had when we'd practiced together earlier in the week. She had been better than I was, but only a little better. But she'd been faking it. Faking it! Oh, I would have words with her about that.
She didn't force me into the cage. But when a barrier, a force field, came up, if I was on the wrong side, it pushed me where it wanted me before settling into place.
And Bronze was using those barriers to slowly push me in front of the cage. I was not going in that cage! I wasn't!
Maybe I had considered being okay if she won, but the reality was simple. I wasn't at all okay with it. I shouldn't be here like this, fighting against my will to avoid having my entire life ripped from me, all because she was lonely. I was not going to lose!
Two can play the game Bronze was playing on my side, and there were barriers on her side that could push her around, too. So I used them, and then as she was getting pushed across her arena, I stood up and began firing rapidly. Most of my shots missed, but I got her twice then ducked down behind my cover and took down several of the barriers she had erected.
She told me later what happened next was her plan from the beginning, but to me it appeared like a change of strategies.
Bronze put up a few of the barriers, and then she took down all the barriers that divided the two ends of the arena.
And then, running erratically, she broke cover, firing rapidly at me as she ran, and she got me twice in the arm before ducking behind cover.
My arm stiffened, straight out away from me, stiff from the shoulder down, but I could still turn my body to shoot. I began firing rapidly, shooting at her, shooting at the targets, and then, firing at her, I stood and began to run towards the exit.
She fired four times. All four hit my legs, and I went down, although I crawled to cover. Then I went back to taking down targets.
Bronze didn't wait any longer. She gave a roar, she gave a mighty roar, and she rushed at me. I shifted my aim and fired at her, hitting her every third shot, but the shots were not concentrated, and my handicap meant I had to hit her repeatedly before her suit stiffened.
But I continued to fire, to fire, to fire.
And as she drew closer, her aim grew erratic, and she began to miss. But she roared again, she roared loudly, and then she leapt over me, firing downward and hitting me in the neck.
The suit stiffened, and then she landed, spun, and fired three more shots in the same place.
I couldn't move my head. I couldn't sight down my arm. I couldn't aim. I couldn't even turn to look at her.
Then she walked over to me, bent down, and pulled the gun from my hand.
I squirmed and struggled as she reached underneath me. I struggled as she picked me up.
"No," I said. "No. Don't do this. No."
She was gentle. She stood and walked to the front of the cage.
"Please don't do this."
She threw me in. I was expecting her to set me in, but she threw me in, and I screamed.
But the moment I passed the mouth of the cage, it was like being thrown into a vat of thick molasses. I slowed and then came to a stop, hanging in mid-air.
At that moment, the stiffness in the suit relaxed. Bronze reached into the cage, snagged one of my arms, and then slowly turned me to face her.
Then she stepped back, lifted her mouth to the sky, and roared her victory cry. She roared, and she roared, and then the audience joined her.
She stilled and walked up to the edge of the cage where I hung, able to squirm, but unable to move from the center. Tears were crawling down my cheeks, and the visor allowed them to escape.
When she spoke, it was in clear English.
"I will take very, very good care of you, my mate. I will love and cherish you. You are my mate, and now I need only convince you to accept what is to me a simple fact."
Sapphire's story concludes in the next volume, Taken.
About the Author
A writer by avocation, Robin has a renaissance interest in many areas. A bit of a gypsy, Robin has called a few places home and has traveled widely. A love of the outdoors, animals in general and experimenting with world cuisines, Robin and partner share their home with a menagerie of pets and guests, although sometimes it is difficult to discern who is whom.
Robin can be reached via email as [email protected]. Robin's web site is http://www.robin-roseau.com.
Works by Robin Roseau
The Madison Wolves Series
Fox Run
Fox Play
Fox Mate
Fox Afield
Fox Revenge
Fox Dish
Fox Lost
Wolf Watch
Wolf Ways
Wolf Women
Fox Fate
Fox Short Stories
Hunting Pups
Fox in the Water
Fox Rematch (set after Fox Mate and Fox Afield)
Fox Opponent
A Foxy Valentine
Other Books in the Madison Wolves Universe
Familiar
Poor Little Witch Girl
Seer
Seer: Thrall
Other Novels and Novellas
Blood Slave
A Charming Brew
Emergency Claus
Fitting In
Free to Love
Galatzi Trade
Galatzi World
In Custody
Lost in the Words
Privateer
Stark's Dell
Submission
Surprise
The Interrogation
Tresjolie
The Ski Bindings Shorts
Short stories of love and lust amongst the slopes.
Snow Fox
Short Stories
Cooking for Love
Southern Night
Captured by the Raptor (writing as Rosetta Robins)
Collected
Copyright 2015 by Robin Roseau
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.
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