Viper (Second Wave Book 1) (25 page)

Viper and Lara looked at each other
and giggled, before being startled by another Sibiox, who did the same thing.
Knowing something was off, Lara sent out a small energy wave.

“They’re the ones who were on
patrol and couldn’t be at the building with the others. They are saying hello.”
Lara said with a sheepish grin at Viper. The first time she was finally alone
with Viper, with all her memories intact, and they were going to be interrupted
by the well-meaning cats.

Viper sighed heavily before
grinning. “I have a feeling curiosity will be a common occurrence, and I should
get used to it. The thing is, I think I could tolerate anything as long as you
are here. With me.”

Lara chuckled as another cat came
through and bowed before disappearing again. “I think you may be right. Abexis
seems to have quite a following.”

Viper laughed hard at the biggest
understatement he’d heard in ages. “It’s not real often that legend and myth
become reality before your eyes. I think I can understand their curiosity and
disbelief.”

“The strangest part of this is, I
spent my entire human life not sure what I believed in so I believed in
nothing. Now… I know why. If I hadn’t been through everything in the last few
days, I would never have believed any of this. It’s all too unreal. So I
understand how they feel. How all of you feel.” Lara said as another cat came
by.

Viper sighed, his plan to be alone
with Lara completely pointless here. Taking Lara’s hand, he led her back to the
vehicle and helped her back inside.

“I think my brothers and I, even
Ratoka, understand a little better than the others. As you know, the Tezarian’s
and Zendarian’s are a little more spiritual than the Valendrans. More connected
to the energy around us. But it’s still a bit of a shock.” Viper admitted as he
pulled back onto the road and headed back to the house. If they weren’t going
to be alone, then he’d at least minimize the amount of people around them.

“Which part? The fact that I came back,
or that I came back with a bad-ass beast?” Lara asked with a grin, her eyes
twinkling as she teased him.

Viper easily slipped into the
familiarity of their mutual teasing. “Hmmm… actually I think it was the fact
that your breasts are so much… ow damn!” Viper said, laughing even though his
arm hurt like hell where she’d punched him.

“That was so uncalled for, you
pig!” Lara said with a grin that spoke of retribution.  

“Shall I kill him for you ancient
one?”

Lara screamed at the top of her
lungs, before turning around and trying to zap the bouncing black object in the
back seat of the SUV with bolts of energy. Viper was struggling to bring the
vehicle under control having jerked the wheel too hard.

By the time Viper had the SUV
parked along the shoulder of the road, the back seat was partially in flames.
Lara bolted out of the vehicle and threw open the back door. When she found
nothing, she and Viper nodded and headed to the back hatch.

Viper held up three fingers and
when Lara nodded he counted them down. On one, Viper opened the hatch while a
black blur slammed into Lara’s chest emitting the most piercing howl she’d ever
heard. It was deafening.

Viper pulled the knife from his
boot and moved to Lara when he realized what it was. “Dog’ee!! Damn it! You
were almost killed you fool! Why the hell were you hiding in the back seat?”

“Dog’ee?” Lara asked, looking
stupidly at the cat she thought they had left with Dread. “Oh my God, stop that
screeching right now!” Lara added, sighing in relief when Dog’ee quieted and
buried his head in her neck. His shaking and sniffling in her arms melted
Lara’s anger.

“Shhh, it’s ok. I’m only upset that
I could have killed you. You can’t scare us like that, Dog’ee. Promise you’ll
never do that again.” Lara demanded as she stroked the trembling cat’s fur.

“Upset? I’m mad as hell! What the
fuck was he thinking? The back seat is smoldering!” Viper growled, incredulous
that Lara was defending the little idiot.

“Don’t! He’s already so frightened,
don’t make it worse.” Lara said glaring at Viper before turning softened eyes
to the cat she was rocking in her arms. “It’s ok baby. I know you’ll never do
that again. Will you?”

“I thought you knew I was there. But
you only paid attention to
him
.” Dog’ee said turning his head to shoot a
glare at Viper.

Viper lost it. “Are you kidding me?
Seriously? That is my mate! The one I haven’t been alone with in hundreds of
years! That’s it! I’m done! Get in the vehicle. Now!” Viper said pushing Lara
and the cat back into the passenger seat.

Lara looked back at him, partly
amused and partly worried for him, as he muttered to himself as he walked to
the driver’s side and launched himself into the seat. With silent determination,
he drove back down the mountain to the office, growling through the Shengari’
the whole way.

He slammed to a stop in a parking
spot and jerked Lara’s door open. When she stepped out of the vehicle, he
looped his hand through her arm and easily pulled her into the building where
Grai and Gibly met them at the entrance.

“Dog’ee come with me now!” Gibly
said, his twitching whiskers and slightly poofy fur a clue to his irritation.

“He really…” Lara was cut off by
Grai.

“He is in no trouble; I assure you.
Follow me please.” Grai said as he held open the door for Lara.

Lara looked curiously at the two
men and the cat before setting Dog’ee down. She watched as he quickly ran off
with Gibly behind the building.

Viper, on the other hand, thought
she was taking too long and grabbing her hand, he pulled her into the building,
with Grai striding beside them.  

“Where are we going?” Lara asked,
her curiosity getting the better of her.  

“You will see.” Viper said, his
face a granite mask of irritation.

Lara wasn’t sure if she should be
worried or not when they entered the portal room. Grai turned to Viper and
handed him a leather-bound item before shaking his arm and nodding his head.

“Let’s go.” Viper said, holding out
his hand to Lara.

A knowing grin came across Lara’s
face as she took his hand. He pulled her past the portal doors before taking a
quick right and plunging them through one.

Lara came through the other side
and stared in surprise at where they ended up. Before she could even process
it, a handsome young man walked up to them.

“If you’ll follow me, Viper, we
have everything ready for you.”

“Come on.” Viper said tugging on
Lara’s arm until she followed him.

Lara tried to figure out where they
were, but they went through the small building so fast she didn’t get much of a
clue. However, the moment she stepped out of the door, she sucked in a breath
and stared around her in awe.

“You wanted a date. This is our
date. A day early.” Viper said with a grin, as he looked into Lara’s stunned
face.

Chapter
Twenty Two

Lara looked around at the stunning
beach stretched out before her as a gentle breeze blew her hair back from her
startled face.

Turning around behind her, she
watched as they left what looked like a one-story mansion and got into a
waiting limo. She looked at Viper with surprise. “Where are we?”  

“We are at a place where we can be
alone, that is all that matters to me.” Viper said with a sigh as he dragged
her down into the comfortable leather seat beside him and into his arms.

Lara giggled. “Yeah, but where is
that?”

“I have no idea, but it’s away from
everyone else.” Viper said, breathing deeply of Lara’s scent mingled with the
ocean breeze. The combination doing wonders to relax his mind and body.

“Viper! Seriously, where are we?”
Lara asked, lightly punching his side.

“If I may, you are in St. Thomas,
and we are pulling into the Alliance property now. I am Gregory, and I stay
down the road at the portal. Rina and Joseph will take care of you while you
are here.” Gregory said with a playful smile, his brown eyes twinkling as Viper
pulled her from the car.

Lara barely had time to wave and
close the door before Viper pulled her up the few steps to the front door where
she assumed Rina and Joseph were waiting for them.

“Viper, Lara! We are so happy that
you have come.” Joseph said, his weathered face shining with a genuine smile of
welcome.

“Come inside! We’ll show you around
and get out of your hair!” Rina giggled like a woman decades younger than she
was as she pulled Lara into the house and the largest foyer Lara had ever
stepped into.

She had no time to look because
even though the woman was at least in her seventies, she was much more agile
than one would expect and moved quickly through the rooms before ending up back
at the front door.

“Now just remember, if you need
anything you just call or send us a message on the comm, and we’ll take care of
everything. Now you enjoy yourselves!” Rina said, winking at Lara.

She and Viper stood in the doorway
and waved good-bye to the couple who were only walking to the other side of the
property to their cottage. The moment they were out of sight Lara turned on
Viper.

“This is a date? This is an island
paradise in the middle of nowhere! How the hell does Grai have a place like
this?” Lara asked moving back inside the amazing house as Viper closed and
locked the door behind them.

“I don’t care if he stole it. It’s
ours right now. No cats popping out of the back seat, no brothers, spiritual
leaders, Valendrans or…” Viper hushed when Lara put a finger over his mouth.

“I get the idea. This is amazing
Viper. Thank you.” Lara said, hugging him tightly around the waist.

“I’m starving, let’s check out the
fridge.” Viper said, trying to hide the slight blush in his cheeks as he led
her into the spacious kitchen area.

Lara took the time to look around
this time and was amazed at how beautiful the house was. It had four full
bedrooms complete with their own baths. The only thing missing in the kitchen
was the professional chef to use all of the state-of-the-art equipment.

She couldn’t help but be drawn to
the wall of windows in the family room that looked out over the water. However,
the growling of her stomach was definitely siding with Viper on food first.

Heading into the kitchen she
couldn’t help but notice the stack of items that Viper was piling onto the
granite countertops.  

“Damn, how hungry are you?” Lara
asked, her jaw dropping slightly at the amount of food.

Viper peeked his head out of the
fridge. “I don’t know what most of this is. I’m trying to find something I
recognize besides the fruit.”

Lara thought about it for a second
and burst out laughing. It would make sense that most of the food would be from
the local area, and she didn’t think that the standard Texas fare was easily
found here.

Taking pity on him when she heard
his stomach growl Lara went over to help him sort through the food. Looking
into the multitude of containers, Lara quickly returned the items to the fridge
that she knew Viper wouldn’t like based on everything she remembered from their
past.

They still had quite a few
containers left on the counter, and Lara grabbed a loaf of bread and quickly
made them some sandwiches. Viper chose cheese curls and chips and grabbed them
a couple of sodas before following Lara out to the patio to eat.

“This is so beautiful. It reminds
me of the time our families took us to Zendar, and we stayed at that house on
Lake Naclisiam.” Lara said leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes,
enjoying the wind in her hair.

“There is much beauty on this
planet now that you are here.” Viper said, meaning every word.

“Awww, thank you!” Lara said,
blushing to her roots. Now was the time she thought. Now she should ask him the
one thing that drove her nuts in the past and even now.

“Viper, why did you never fully
claim me?” Lara asked and regretted it the moment she saw Viper’s face fall,
erasing his happiness immediately.

Lara was getting ready to tell him
to forget about when Viper began to speak.

“I have regretted that every single
day since you’ve been gone. I always wondered if things would have been
different had I claimed you the moment you reached maturity, instead of
waiting.” Viper said softly as he looked out at the waves that were crashing against
the shore.

“I assumed that as long as you were
kept safe and were happy, that there was time to wait. And you never mentioned
it, ever. You never talked about what you wanted our home to be like, or when
you wanted to have children. You never spoke about any future between us, so I
assumed you weren’t ready.”

“See I thought that since we had
grown up together, spent every moment together, that while I was off playing
ambassador with my brothers and attending to duties, you could have some time
to yourself. To learn who you were without one of us constantly around.”