Arcane Shot Book I Ruby Night Divine is a gun shop owner. She's also a witch who knows magic can fail. She's experienced it firsthand, with full-blown tragic consequences. Smith and Wesson is a whole hell of a lot more reliable, and nothing's as cathartic as the ability to put a few holes in the things that piss you off. Like Derek Stormwind.
A powerful sorcerer, Derek is determined to get to the bottom of why she pushed him away and ran three years before. He also needs her help. A coven needs training to help them fight a demon and his minions. While Ruby is willing to do it, she's sure it's just a ruse to get back in her heart - and her bed. The thing is, that's where she wants him. Unfortunately, her bed's already made, she's this close to losing her soul, and she fears nothing can save her. Not Derek. Not even Smith and Wesson.
BUY THE BOOK *** BUY IN KINDLE *** BUY IN NOOK *** READ THE EXCERPT
Chapter One
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. The Macbeth quote fit to a fucking T as Ruby stared through the four-power scope of the 50-caliber military grade sniper rifle and saw 100% trouble coming her way, complete with battered cowboy hat, his own Chris Cagle Chicks Dig It theme song and honest-to-Goddess dragonskin boots. How the hell had Derek Stormwind found her?
Okay, scratch that. She’d always known he’d find her. She’d just nurtured an unrealistic hope that he would be like most men and, once he realized she didn’t want to be found, and that she’d made following her trail a real pain in the ass, he’d sniff out easier prey. But Derek Stormwind was definitely not like most men. Which was why she’d rather be stuck up the backside of one of Artemis’s hunting hounds without a flashlight than face the next few moments.
Putting the rifle down on the counter, she uncapped a mini-sized vodka bottle and dashed the contents into her open Dr. Pepper can, then brought the soda to her lips for a healthy swig. Too healthy. She choked, hacking over the part of it that had apparently gone down the wrong tube. Meanwhile, he was crossing the street, seconds away from putting his hand on the brass doorknob and invading her store. Unless she was mistaken and he was in town for a French manicure from the salon next door.
Hell, she needed an extra moment. Flicking a glance down at her feet, she wheezed out the command. “Theo. Kill.”
The elderly mastiff erupted from behind the counter, a bulldozer of rippling muscle and sheer bulk that would have knocked her off her feet, if she wasn’t practiced at flattening herself against the ammo case behind her to give him take-off room.
As Derek came through the door, the dog was clattering across the floor like an approaching herd of marbles, making menacing and somewhat asthmatic noises similar to low level wheezing thunder. A froth of drool hit the display case, spattering the glass and obscuring the array of handguns there. Ruby stuck the soda back under the counter and pummeled her chest with one decisive fist at the same moment the dog launched his considerable weight onto his hind legs and hit Derek’s chest with both front paws.
“You great big baby.” Derek tried to fend off a tongue that Ruby knew was like a lukewarm and slimy hand towel. “Still a crappy security guard, buddy.”
He should look ridiculous, struggling with the dog, but of course he didn’t. He’d braced all that well-sculpted muscle against canine attack, which just emphasized the fit of his T-shirt over his broad shoulders. The way his thighs and ass flexed in his worn jeans basically screamed sex-in-faded-denim. The hat was low on his brow, hiding the brown hair he kept trimmed short. He’d not yet looked her way, but she knew what kind of impact those eyes had when they turned toward a female.
His handsome, shit-eating grin could disarm a woman at twenty paces. But every time Ruby looked into those dark blue eyes, the country theme segued quite decisively into the Khazad-Dum score from Fellowship of the Rings. She could hear Gandalf standing before the Balrog, thundering like the voice of God.
You shall not pass.
Her gaze dropped. Anyone else would think the scuffed-up dragonskin boots were some kind of alligator skin. He had a healthy reverence and respect for dragonkind, particularly the non-shifters. However, when she’d pressed him for an explanation of those boots, he’d simply said, “I had a disagreement with that one.” She’d caught a dangerous glint in his eye, the honor-bound sorcerer crossed with the gunslinger who’d only be pushed so far. She’d told him he was something between Merlin and Wyatt Earp. It had earned her a flash of that devastating grin.
He was one of the most powerful sorcerers she’d ever known, directly or by reputation. He flew so far under the radar that to most he was a myth, or a scary bedtime story. But she’d had him in her bed, and while the feelings he conjured from her there could be overwhelming, they were far from nightmarish. In fact, the only good dreams she had anymore were about him. Which just pissed her off. If she could have banished him from her mind without banishing other important things, things she couldn’t afford to lose, she would have. That’s what she told herself.
Pull it together, Ruby.
When he finally managed to shove the dog back down to all four feet, which put his gigantic head at the height of Derek’s waist, she had her hip propped against the shelf behind the cash register and was eying them both, hopefully with a faint trace of disgust in her coffee brown eyes. “I’m trading him in for a Chihuahua. The littler they are, the nastier they are.”
“Make sure it’s a female. I hear they’re even meaner.” He glanced up at the marquis. “Arcane Shot. Firearms, shooting range, safety courses and permits? A bit of a change from your previous career at Witches R Us outside Carmel.”
She shrugged. “I got tired of running a craft shop for the Wiccan wannabes, who think granola and hugs will change the world.”
“And this will do a better job of that?” He eyed the sniper rifle under her hand.
“Sometimes magic comes through, sometimes it doesn't. But Smith & Wesson is always ready to come to the game.”
“No argument there. I prefer a sawed-off shotgun myself. A classic. Took me awhile to find you. Your magic's gotten stronger."
And darker. She could tell he thought it, but points for him, he didn’t say it. "Told you I didn’t want to be found.” She tried to modulate the energy around her so it was more candy and flowers, less like the ominous stillness and yellow jaundice of a pre-tornado sky. Of course candy and flowers might make his already uncomfortable scrutiny go to full red alert status.
“So you ran away and decided to run a gun shop because...people suck?”
Her lips twitched. He knew how to pull a smile out of her, but this time she firmly told herself not to give him that advantage. “I didn’t run away, but that last part works. Why are you here, Derek?”
He seemed in no hurry on that score. He eased Theo back to four paws, sauntered up to the counter, giving her a nice eyeful of how the man could walk. Damn him. “I understand you followed Raina out here. She still operating her overpriced escort service with succubi and incubi in sheep’s clothing?”
“Still. It’s doing well here, with the military base nearby. Things were getting a little hot for her back on the West Coast. Soldiers are more adventurous, a little less afraid of danger, so her cover’s safer.” She flashed a humorless smile. “I think she’ll last longer out here.”
“She should change professions.”
“She would, but this one pisses you off. It’s a perk to her.”
“That’s a given.” He gave her his easy smile then. That good ol’ boy expression only enhanced the sexual confidence that made any wise woman wary. “I’m here about a job for you.”
The disappointment twisted inside her like a poisoned athame. She cursed at herself. Cerridwen, Circe and Cassiopeia. Female perversity was the bane of her existence. There was nothing more ridiculous than the fact she’d only wanted one thing more than him not to find her, and that was for him to find her. Now on top of that, she was feeling absurdly insulted that he’d come this far to find her merely for a job.
LIKED THE EXCERPT?? CLICK HERE TO BUY THE BOOK
No comments:
Post a Comment