Celt. (Den of Mercenaries #2)(23)

“That’s your one,” Kyrnon muttered, drifting closer. “Careful there, lovie. Wouldn’t want you to miss out.”

That was easy for him to say. “Then stop distracting me.”

He chuckled, but did remain silent as he waited for her to make the final shots. The next few came quite easier, and when she was finally on her last one, even when she felt him draw closer, she managed to hit the target.

“Impressive,” Kyrnon said with a slight smile.

“Still not enough for the bear,” Tony drawled beneath his breath, staring at them over top the magazine he was now reading. She had forgotten he was even there.

Grabbing the other gun from the counter, Kyrnon barely faced the targets before he had every single one of them shot down in a matter of seconds. With a brow arched at Tony—as though the man was bold for even questioning him—he pulled one of the bears free, presenting it to Amber with a smile.

That effortless way in which he took out the targets had her blinking in surprise, even as she took it from him. “Wow.”

“Beginner’s luck?” he asked.

Glancing over to Tony who wore a disgruntled frown, she shook her head. “Try again.”

“My da taught me how to shoot. It’s like second nature now.”

Throwing an arm around her shoulders, he led her away from the stand and toward the giant Ferris wheel. They were almost there when Kyrnon suddenly paused, his body going tight with tension. It took her a moment to realize it was because of a dog not too far away, its eyes wide, but friendly. The moment the little thing realized it had their attention, a fluffy tail started wagging back and forth.

Kyrnon didn’t seem to care that it looked positively friendly—it made him uneasy.

“You have a thing about dogs?” she asked, glancing back at him as she crouched down to scratch behind the dog’s ears.

“Grisly beasts is what they are,” he mumbled to himself, but though it was clear that he was uncomfortable, he still remained at her side.

It was endearing that he would rather remain there despite his apprehension.

Sadly, the puppy trotted off toward an abandoned strip of chicken on the ground.

“Bad experience?”

He didn’t get the chance to answer before they were at the Ferris wheel and walking through the gate.

“Fecking thing is going to need its own seat,” Kyrnon grumbled as he stepped into the small pod behind her, making her laugh as she made a space for the giant panda.

Only once the door was closed behind them and chain in place did Kyrnon explain his dislike for dogs.

“I was thirteen, a wee lad with a bad temper and fast fists.”

She smiled at the image, thinking of a shorter, less muscular version. And if she thought he was arrogant now, he was probably a lot worse back then.

“I owed a debt to a fella that you never want to owe a debt to. To pay it off, he made me fight a lad twice my size, double the age. Oh, don’t look at me like that, lovie. I can hold my own.”

Amber didn’t realize she was staring at him wide-eyed until he mentioned it with an infectious smile, reaching a hand out to tug her onto his lap. There was enough room for the pair of them on his bench seat, but just enough.

“It wasn’t because I couldn’t win—it was because I refused to lose. He wanted me to take the beating and go down.”

“But you didn’t …”

“Fight or flight—I fight ’til the end.”

“So what happened next?”

“Two rounds in, I knocked him out with one punch, but I couldn’t celebrate the win because Riley was ready to hand me my arse for not bowing down. I took off, not that I could get very far because my body was fecking broken—it was brutal.”

Amber was quickly realizing that this story wasn’t going to have a very happy ending. She had expected a dog biting him when he was a kid, or something similar… but now she had no idea what he would say next.

But she did know she wasn’t going to like it.

“I’m crawling across this lot and the next thing I hear are the sounds of the hounds he sent to catch me before I could escape. I’m almost free, but in the next second, teeth clamp down on my ankle.” As the Ferris wheel stopped on its first rotation, it gave a shuddering jerk, startling the hell out of her as she imagined the dog’s teeth clamping down onto her own flesh. “But I lived to tell the tale.”

“I’m almost sorry I asked,” Amber said with a frown. “That sounds awful.”

And yeah, she could completely understand why he hated dogs.

“Not so bad,” he said, his hands falling to her waist. “It taught me a valuable lesson.”

“Oh?”

“Rule sixty-eight. Never turn your back on a man you wouldn’t trust there.”

“Sounds like a good rule,” she said, tracing her fingers over his shoulder. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. It all happens for a reason and despite it, here I am.”

No matter how uncomfortable the story made her, she was still glad to know it. And, even if it was a bit premature, she was starting to think that Kyrnon didn’t mince his words. He said what he wanted, no matter how it made a person feel.

He was blunt.