Page 37 of Ruthless Reign

I didn’t dare look at Hardin to see his reaction to my complete and utter uselessness in this area.

I took a deep breath and turned, resolving to try again.

This time, I rested my finger next to the trigger as I brought the weapon up, feeling fire in my back thigh as I engaged the muscles there and in my shoulders. I aimed, trying to see down the tiny sight, using the barrel as if it were a giant pointer. I knew I was taking way too long, but I tried not to let myself care about what anyone else in this room thought.

I needed to do this. I needed to be good at it.

But fuck why was this thing so heavy? My triceps protested the weight of it and my wrists started to feel stuck and aching.

I held my breath and fired.

I was prepared for the kick this time, but it still twinged in my wrists.

I scanned the target for my bullet hole but couldn’t find it.

“Well you hit it. That’s a good start,” Kaleb said somewhere behind me.

I looked harder and found he was right. I had hit it. The upper right corner of the paper was missing. About as far as a human being could possibly get from hitting anywhere meaningful on the target without missing it entirely.

“It’s too heavy for her,” Damien said and I let him peel the gun from my hands, replacing it with another. “Try a few more. You’ll find one that feels right, just remember Rome wasn’t built in a day. Kaleb was a piss poor shot for years. You’re already doing better than he did on day one at the range.”

“Thanks. She totally needed to know that.”

“We’re off, boys,” Damien said and he and Zade went back to their lanes to start collecting and putting away their weapons. “The Jackals wanted a face to face.”

“What for?”

“They want it from the horse’s mouth that we’re not going rolling over and playing dead. Apparently Pope’s word wasn’t enough.”

“Careful.”

“Don’t worry, your Ma’s comin’ with.”

And there it was. I wanted that. As soon as Damien told his son that his mother was going with him, Kaleb visibly relaxed. Because his mom handled shit. He knew that his Mom had his Dad’s back just as much as he had hers. That the two of them together couldn’t be taken down easily.

Like Ava Jade and her Crows.

They made each other stronger. Not weaker.

I turned back to the target with the new weapon. It was light, but the grip felt awkward in my hand. It only took me a second to find the safety switch this time before I refound the right stance, took aim, and fired.

I went through six different handguns before I found one that felt right. I managed to hit inside the first ring on the outside of the target twice with it by the end of an hour of shooting, which was much more than I managed with any other gun.

They let me shoot a bigger one, too, a machine gun. That didn’t go well. I damaged some plexiglass and the wall had bullet tracks in it going fifteen feet up toward the high warehouse ceiling. We decided to wait until we could go out to the desert to try that one again.

I was trash with the sniper rifle, too, but he said I could try again in the field. That the range wasn’t the best place to practice with that.

I got excited when they brought out some blades that looked similar to Ava Jade’s but all I managed to do with those was cut my fingers and nearly stab Kaleb in the foot.

“That’s it then. That’s your weapon, Vixen,” Kaleb announced as he put the others away. “Want to take a few more shots with it before I teach you how to clean and load it?”

My shoulders and wrists said hell no, but my lips said, “Yep,” as I turned back to the target, determined to get within the second ring at least once before we had to leave.

Kaleb’s phone started playing a Primal Ethos ringtone and he answered the call on the third ring. I cocked my head at him in question and he mouthed Corvus to me before walking away to find some quiet to take the call.

I wondered why he was calling but assumed it had to do with the Sons. Damien was still having trouble securing more arms and ammunition. I vaguely remembered Kaleb mentioning that at least perhaps the Thorn Valley chapter could help with sourcing if nothing else.

Squaring off at the target again, I squinted one eye shut, trying to line up the shot before firing.

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