Page 48 of Altered By Lead (Undercover Sinners 2)
"You might be a woman, but you're still one of my soldiers, and if I feel the need to discipline you, then I'll damn well do it however I see fit," he snaps right back, digging himself an even deeper grave. If he'd wanted to gain Natalia's favor, well, he's blowing it right now. I chuckle and light up another cigarette, but nobody's looking my way. "Take off that rifle, and get ready to run. You won't be back here until the sun comes up tomorrow morning."
"Whoa, boss," Colt says, swaggering around the corner with his ass-buddy Weston on his heels. Wouldn't surprise me if the two of them butt-fucked each other for kicks. "What the hell is going on?"
"None of your damn business," Hawke says, without ever removing his attention from Natalia. "Stand down."
"Hawke," Weston begins, and this time, our fearless leader does snap his gaze that direction.
"You want to join her? I'll take you both up the mountain and back. You can run all the way to Crater Lake tonight."
"Boss, we're all geared-up to go hunting, and Natalia needs to learn what it's like to take a life before she ever goes on a mission. If you need to punish her, do it after." Mace moves forward a step, but instead of mollifying Hawke like it usually does, Mace's presence just sets him over the edge.
"You know what? Go out. Hunt. And when you come back, all five of you can shine my boots, lick my ass, and swim the fucking ice-cold length of the Rogue River. If you're such a tight-knit little unit that you're willing to commit flagrant disregard for orders together, you can suffer together, too." He turns and takes off down the front steps, moving over to the driver's side door of the Hummer. "I'm gonna go to town and find a hot girl to fuck my troubles into. Enjoy your hunting expedition, and don't forget to pick up that new freezer from town, carry it inside, and install it. If that venison isn't butchered and frozen by the time I get back, I'll shoot every one of you in the foot and hold your pay for six months. Oh, but make sure Arsen cooks up a stew and has that and fresh bread waiting for me on the goddamn table."
Hawke slams the door, revs the engine, and takes off in a spray of gravel.
Natalia looks equal parts furious and upset, her hands shaking as she reaches up to run her palms over her ponytail.
"You actually think good ol' boy Hawke is going to fuck a random girl in town? When all he clearly gives a shit about is you?" I ask with a laugh.
Natalia scowls at me and straightens out her pink camo jacket.
"I don't care what he does," she snaps, turning away and heading toward the woods, leaving me to admire her tight body as she sashays in the direction of the trees. "He's nothing but my boss, and a pain in my ass."
"I'd like to be a pain in your ass," I murmur, and then I take off after her, pausing when Mace puts a big meaty hand on my shoulder. His dark blue eyes bore into me as we exchange a look.
"If you hurt her, I'll kill you," he says, and I'm sure he's serious about it. I finger my own rifle and give him a look of my own.
"If I don't kill you first," I challenge, and then I take off into the woods with him grumbling behind me.
I might, you know, kill Mace someday.
But I'm not sure that I'd kill Natalia.
That thought intrigues me, but I don't know exactly what to make of it.
After all, what does a psychopath know about love anyway?Chapter 12NataliaI'm lying on my belly in the brush, my gun held out in front of me, and a buck grazing in a meadow in the sunshine. It feels wrong somehow, to kill something that looks so happy and content. I swallow hard and put my hand on the trigger, feeling Arsen quivering with violent desire on one side while Mace is about as movable and cuddly as a rock giant.
We're going to eat the deer, I tell myself, licking my lower lip. And besides, he's lived a better life than any factory farmed animal I've ever eaten. This is a million times more sustainable and humane; the deer population is out of control anyway.
And yet, no matter how logical I'm being, no matter how much I know I need to do this, I'm having a hard time going through with it.
"This is too hard," I whisper, feeling choked up as the deer lifts its head, slowly chewing a mouthful of greenery. He's so majestic and so ... alive. And yet if I tense my finger, he won't be anymore. I mean, provided I make the shot. Even then, what if it's not a clean shot? What if I have to track him through the woods as he bleeds to death, and slit his throat with a knife? Can I do that?
