Viper (Second Wave Book 1) (9 page)

“I told you to take care of the two
idiots looking around where they shouldn’t. Why have you not done so?” One of
the uniformed Relian’s snapped at the two high-ranking officers.

“It’s a little harder to off one of
your own than you think. We’re keeping them distracted elsewhere while we get
something set up.” One of the officers said, his tone full of anger and disgust.
The Relian obviously took issue with the attitude and got in the man’s face.

“If you can’t or won’t do what
you’re told, you can easily be replaced. Or have you not heard yet about the large-scale
military draw down? Or how a lot of the highest-ranking military officials are
suddenly being purged?” The Relian asked as the human turned pale. Another
alien grinned evilly and continued.

“Those are not nearly as fun as the
ones where we get to really ruin their lives. Like the idiots we drugged and
set up gambling or with prostitutes. Then there are those that just don’t learn
their lessons well at all. Those have really catastrophic tragedies in their
lives, don’t they Dez?” The alien smiled brightly and turned back to the
original Relian speaker who answered.   

“Yes they do. Those are the ones
who get a fast track home in a box and their families are involved in a
terrible accident, or for some reason; they go home and slaughter their
families before turning the gun on themselves. You don’t want to be one of
those men do you?” The Relian snarled into the officer’s face.

The human tried to stand against
them, but his face fell, and it was obvious that their threats were getting to
him. The faces of his wife and children running through his mind.

“You can’t make me do something
like that. I would never hurt my family.” The man said, most of his defiance
and fire snuffed out by the worry he had for his family. He knew how dangerous
these people were; he'd seen good men’s lives destroyed by them.

“You are not so much a fool to
believe that, or you wouldn’t be standing here. You either take care of the problem,
or we will replace you with someone who is more eager for our favor.” The
arrogant alien said before he and the others disappeared into the surrounding
mountains.

The video clip stopped, and David
whistled low. “If the rest of those discs are like that one, I can see why they
are hunting her. She wasn’t supposed to survive the IED. Damn…”

“According to the notebooks, they
would listen for the messages that would tell them where they were meeting, and
they’d get there and bug the location before they would show up. There are
dozens and dozens of meetings logged here.” Traze explained, flipping through
the notebooks, while Risk nodded, still looking at the other discs.

“What was she going to do with the
tapes? Don’t get me wrong here, I’m just trying to look at this from all sides,
but what if her goal was to blackmail the people involved? What if she wasn’t
trying to expose them? You have to admit; we've come across a lot of humans, greedy
enough and soulless enough to harm their own families in order to get ahead.”
Reven said, ignoring the scathing look that Viper gave him.

Dread knew his brother was on the
verge of losing it and tried to head it off. “I think even you would have to agree;
she went to a lot of trouble to help Viper until we could get to him. Most
people aren’t willing to take an invisible fist to the spine for some cash.” 

“Lara knew they were going to kill
her. She was going out there because she had a plan to get the information out
somehow. I know that for a fact. Lara was not a traitor. She was trying to
expose them.” Viper growled out between clenched teeth, intentionally
challenging Reven, who ignored him.

“You seem a little too emotionally
involved in this, Viper. Is she your mate?” Ivint asked curiously.

The entire room turned to Viper expectantly,
and he tried not to squirm in his seat from the attention. He ignored Dread’s
cautionary look and cleared his throat.

“Yes. She’s my mate.” Viper
admitted while Dread shook his head and wiped a frustrated hand over his face.

“That’s wonderful, Viper!
Congratulations! I’ll have Amun set up the enzyme therapy now while he’s caring
for her so when you are ready there will be no challenges to a child you
conceive.” Ivint offered.

Since Lara was fully human and not
a Valendran hybrid or a gifted human, she would be unable to create an enzyme
that would allow a baby to sustain the Beast parasite that would be passed from
Viper at conception.

Grai T’Alq’s son, Tristan, had
suffered through severe seizures for years that had almost killed him until
Amun was able to create a synthetic enzyme. No one wanted to see another child
suffer, and Viper was grateful that Ivint would consider it. However, he knew
it wouldn’t be needed. Not in this case.

“Thank you, but it won’t be
necessary.” Viper said quietly, while Dread kicked the hell out of his leg
under the table.

“What my brother means, is that it
would be wonderful for Amun to have it ready for when they may be ready for
children. Right now, I think with her condition so… tenuous, that it is best we
discuss this at a later time. It may be wise to postpone the rest of this until
Viper has a chance to rest and find out the condition of his… mate.” Dread
said, grabbing his brother’s arm to keep his mouth shut when it looked like he
would speak again.

Ivint looked at both Tezarian
brothers, curious about their strange behavior since they had come back from
the mountains. He was no fool; he knew that something was going on.

“We will break for a while so that
Traze and Risk can go through the other tapes for us. Get Cristali here, I want
as much information on Sgt. Blain as we can get. We need to know if she has
family or close friends that may be at risk. We will meet back here at seven
am. Understood?” Ivint asked, making sure that everyone nodded their heads.

“Thank you.” Dread said pulling
Viper to his feet and out of the door. When they were gone, Ivint looked around
the room.

“Something is deeply wrong with our
friends.” Ivint pondered aloud.

“Viper is very shaken up, almost…
numb. I don’t think it’s only from his mate being so gravely wounded.” Reven
added, agreeing with Ivint.

“They are hiding something. It was
obvious even at Lara’s cabin.” David said, voicing his thoughts to the group.  

Grai leaned back in his chair and
steepled his fingers. “Finding your mate on another world, far from your own,
can be a little shocking. For the Tezarian’s, who have no population or gender
imbalance problems, it may be even more of a surprise. They could be struggling
to understand how and why it happened.”

“I have no doubts regarding their
allegiance in this war and think that the problem is personal. If they need
time to sort through this issue, then we can easily accommodate that.” Grai was
one of those people who had been floored to find his mate. He could well
understand Viper’s concerns right now, more so with Lara still so seriously
injured.

Ivint considered the situation for
a moment before finally speaking to the room. “The Tezarian’s have been an
important ally and good friends. I am less concerned with their secrecy than I
am the potential dangers to Viper and his mate. Whatever they are hiding; their
fear for the female is very real.”

“Dread’s fear for both of them is
very obvious as well, and I trust his instincts. Put a detail on them at a
discreet distance. Make it clear that they are not there to spy, only to ensure
that they are kept safe.”

“However… if they happen to hear
something that concerns them, they are free to report it only to one of us.
Nothing they hear or see is to ever be spoken of to anyone else. The point is
to protect them not violate their privacy.” Ivint ordered, then called an end
to the meeting.  

Ivint, Reven, and Grai remained in
the room until everyone else filed out. The moment the door shut behind them,
Grai spoke up.

“I’m quite sure that whatever is at
issue here does not concern us. At least not from a defense standpoint. I
believe it is spiritual in nature, and we need to give them peace while they
understand this.” Grai was concerned that the additional attention would only
hamper the bonding that Viper needed to make with his mate.

“Why do you think it is spiritual?”
Reven asked, valuing Grai’s intelligent opinion.

“Because Ratoka has not left. He
has never been away from Zendar this long before. When I have spoken to him of
it and asked what is keeping him here, he has been very evasive. The last time
I was at his home, he had moved even more of his personal items from Zendar inside.
He obviously has no intention of leaving anytime soon if he is having his
personal belongings ferried from his home world.” Grai explained.

“That is curious, isn’t it?” Ivint
said with surprise. It never ceased to amaze him how Grai could so easily keep
up with what was going on with the people under his protection. He had no doubt
that the man’s observations were correct.

“With the potential danger that
Sgt. Blain may be in, I think the detail is still a good idea. Will she be
taken to Dillon when she’s well enough?” Reven asked, knowing Ivint and Grai
had already decided the issue.

“I believe Dillon would probably be
better for her healing and if Grai is right, and it is a spiritual issue, then
they will need to be closer to Ratoka.” Ivint stated simply, as if the matter
was resolved.

“I’ll leave her placement in Dillon
to you and get Jax to set up a detail.” Reven said with a smile. He was looking
forward to speaking with the beautiful and frustrating woman again; he thought.
She had been trying to avoid him for far too long.

Chapter
Eight

Dread half dragged Viper down the
hallway to the MedLab. Amun had told him through the Shengari’ that he had news
regarding Lara, and that he should bring Viper. Dread was hoping like hell that
the woman would be all right.   

He wasn’t sure if he could pull his
brother out of it again if she died. Again. All he wanted to do was get to
Ratoka and find out what the hell was going on. Find out how it was possible
that she was even here. Ratoka is where they were headed the second they left Amun;
Dread thought with a sigh.

Viper walked into the MedLab and
went immediately to Lara’s side. He almost stopped breathing when he saw that
she was no longer so deathly pale. Holding out a trembling hand, he gently
caressed the side of her face while Amun grabbed his comm device and walked
over to him.

Viper could feel the faint, but
steady hum of her energy and knew that she was going to live. He sagged into
the chair at the side of her bed and held her small hand in his own as he tried
to rein in the maelstrom of emotions running through him.

Dread hurried to his brother’s side
and put a hand on his shoulder. It wasn’t only to offer comfort. Viper was so
distraught and emotionally unstable that he was broadcasting his emotions
through his energy. Any beast bonded person in the vicinity of Viper could
easily read what was going on. Dread was using his own energy to help block his
brother’s.

Amun cleared his throat to get
Viper and Dread’s attention. He had felt Viper’s emotional turmoil and knew
that Dread was now blocking his brother’s energy spillage. When Viper looked up,
Amun began.

“We’ve stabilized her and stopped
the internal bleeding. We’re cloning the damaged vertebrae from her stem cells now;
they should be ready by tonight. We need to keep her in suspended animation for
a little while longer.”

“Any movement from now until a few
days after the implantation of the new vertebrae could have catastrophic
consequences to her regaining the ability to move from the waist down. Do you
understand me Viper?” Amun asked, concerned for his friend. He looked
questioningly to Dread, who just shook his head and offered no explanation.

“Yes, I understand. She will be all
right; she just needs to heal.” Viper said, taking deep breaths to try to calm
his emotions.

He expected the worst. He had never
really considered that she would make it, had refused to hope that she would. Viper
had assumed it would be like the last time, and she would die, taking the last
half of his soul with her. It would have made sense because she took the first
half of it with her when she died the first time.

“Can we have a moment alone?” Dread
asked quickly, knowing his brother was going to lose it. Fast.

Amun nodded and shut the door right
as Viper leaned forward and rested his head on the bed beside Lara, and broke
down. Dread rested both hands on Viper’s shoulders and squeezed him gently,
trying to offer him as much support and shielding as he could provide.

The weight of Viper’s emotions were
slowly chipping away at Dread’s composure, and he knew he was going to have to
help Viper pull himself together. He felt terrible for the pain Viper was in, a
scar, hundreds of years in the making, had been viciously reopened without
warning. However, until they spoke to Ratoka, they couldn’t allow anyone to
know the truth. 

Hell, even he was having a hard
time with this. His own deep loss had been bad enough, but the years of he and
Drago trying desperately to keep Viper from the Zatooni ritual had nearly
broken them all before Viper finally pulled through. Although Viper had stopped
considering ritual suicide, he had still never completely recovered. Dread
would not let Viper go through that pain again.

“Viper, you have to control
yourself. She is fine. You didn’t lose her this time. Pull yourself together so
we can get to Ratoka and find out what is going on and how to keep her here.”
Dread told his brother softly.

He hoped that the thought of
keeping Lara would propel his brother into action and knew he was right when
Viper lifted his head and turned to look back at him. The fear and pain
reflected in his green eyes sliced ribbons through Dread’s heart.

“Ratoka will know what is going on
brother. He will know a way to keep her here. Lara will be safe here in
suspended animation. You know that no one here would ever harm her. You need to
calm down so we can go.” Dread said quietly, grateful that he could feel the
intensity of Viper’s emotions lessening.

Viper’s head was swimming with thoughts,
and he felt out of control. Dread’s words penetrated some of the fog, but he
just couldn’t seem to grasp the situation completely in his mind. He needed
Zaxin. His beast would know what was going on. He would know who Lara really
was. Ratoka would know as well.

Viper stood and leaned over the
bed, placing a gentle kiss on Lara’s cheek. “I will return to you soon. Do not
leave me this time while I am gone.” Viper whispered hoarsely into her neck. He
sent several large bursts of energy to her to help her healing before
straightening up and looking to Dread.

“Are you ready?” Dread asked,
combing through the energy around them to make sure Viper was under control.

At Viper’s nod, Dread led the way
out of MedLab and almost walked into Amun and a few of the techs waiting
outside of the room.

“We are going to see Ratoka. Will
you let us know immediately if anything changes with her?” Dread asked the
doctor, ignoring the look of concern on Amun’s face when he looked at Viper.

“Of course, I wouldn’t consider
otherwise. Maybe I should have another look at Viper…” Amun suggested, grabbing
a scanner and moving towards him.

Dread quickly intercepted the
doctor and moved Viper down the hallway. “Thank you Amun. We will return
later.” Dread called out behind him, not slowing his stride as he headed to the
port room that would take them to the portal station in Dillon, Texas.

Not bothering to contact Ratoka
directly through the Shengari’, the man had been ignoring him for hours anyway,
Dread called out on a local path once they hit Dillon to find out where he was
located.

Dread almost growled in frustration
when he heard that Ratoka was up in the mountains meditating and studying the
planet’s energy. It figures the man would be as far away as possible; he thought.

Dread pulled his brother through
the office building, barely acknowledging the greetings of his friends and
fellow Tezarian’s as he looked around for the nearest vehicle he could use. He
was startled when Jaxson Adronatof came up beside him unexpectedly.

“Hey Dread, Viper. I heard your
woman is going to be ok, Viper. Congrats man. Where you headed? Can I give you
a ride?” Jax asked politely, knowing she was going to follow them wherever they
went anyway.

Dread looked around at the empty
visitor lot where they usually kept spare vehicles for those coming through the
portals from other locations that needed a way around town and sighed. Turning
to Jax, he tried to put a smile on his face.

“That would be great, Jax, thank
you. We just need to get to the north mountain.” Dread said, trying to hide his
irritation.  

“I can do that. Let’s go.” Jax
answered, trying not to let it show that she was concerned for Viper. If it was
possible, he looked worse now than when they had pulled him out of the forest.

Jax relayed the information on
Viper’s condition to Reven and almost cringed at his response in her mind.
Without thinking she immediately snapped back at him.

“Don’t snap at me asshole! If you thought
he needed to be seen by Amun again, your ass should have stopped him from
getting into the portal.”

Freaking yell at her because she
was just relaying the information that he asked her for to begin with! Damn
that man was beyond frustrating she thought, glad that he had shut up and not
responded back to her.

She would make the rest of her
observations to the jerk in a report through the damn comm; Jax thought to
herself as she opened up the locks on her car as they approached.

“Get in guys, we’ll be there in no
time.” Jax said, pasting a smile on her face as she tried to shake off her
frustration at Reven.

Jax slid into the driver’s seat and
watched curiously as Dread helped Viper into the back seat and shut his door
before joining her in the front. Taking another quick look in the rear-view
mirror at Viper’s pale face she backed out of the parking lot and headed up the
road to the north mountain.  

“So… how are you feeling Viper?”
Jax asked, trying to make conversation in the uncomfortably quiet vehicle.

“He’s doing great. He’s just a
little shaken up and needs some time to heal.” Dread said, making excuses for
his brother.

Jax looked in the rearview mirror
again and noted that Viper was staring out the window, his gaze unfocused.
“Should we take him back to Amun?” Jax asked, casting a worried glance at
Dread.

“No, he’ll be fine. I’ll get him to
rest when we get back from the mountain later.” Dread assured her, praying they
would get to Ratoka before Jax asked more questions.

Jax turned a corner at the top of
the mountain and swerved to a stop to avoid the tall, thin, robe clad figure
that was standing in the middle of the road.

Jax put the car in park and jumped
out of the vehicle. “Damn it Ratoka! We’ve warned you not to do that shit! The
humans come up here, and they may not have reflexes as fast as mine! So stop it
damn it!” Jax huffed at the strange man.

Dread watched in fascination as the
tiny woman, who barely stood to Ratoka’s lower chest, stood toe to toe with
him, her neck craned back awkwardly as she glared up at him.

Ratoka smiled and took a step back
from the little pocket rocket, as Reven called her, behind her back of course. “I
apologize, dear Jax if I caused you to fear. I can assure you I was in no
danger from you, and I would never attempt such a thing if it were a human
driving up here.”

The man’s apology did little to
calm Jax. She knew he was only appeasing her and would continue to do as he saw
fit no matter how many people told him otherwise. The man drove her crazy.

“Just stop it!” Jax growled at him
before turning to Dread. “Will you and Viper need a ride back?”

“No, thank you Jax. We will return
with Ratoka when he goes back down the mountain.” Dread said, wishing Jax would
just leave already.

Jax narrowed her eyes at the three
men. She knew they were trying to get rid of her. She pasted a smile on her
face and got back in her car. Doing a perfect three-point turn, Jax turned and
headed back down the mountain. Not before calling a few of her friends to keep
an eye on them though.

All three men watched as the car
disappeared around the curve in the road before Ratoka clapped his hands
together. “Follow me.” Without another word, he turned and headed into the
wooded area off the road.

Dread looked to Viper, judging whether
he thought his brother capable of walking around the mountain. His thoughts
were cut off by Ratoka. “He will be fine. We cannot reverse his mistake, but we
can help him. Come.”

Dread turned to look at Viper,
wondering what mistake Ratoka was speaking of. He was grateful when Ratoka took
them a short distance into the forest and sat down cross-legged on a blanket.
Dread helped Viper sit down beside Ratoka, before taking a seat next to them.

“You are confused. Tell me why.”
Ratoka asked Dread, looking carefully at Viper.

“How about you explain to us how
Viper’s dead mate’s soul is in a human? The soul you said was lost over a
hundred years ago.” Dread asked, going right to the point. Which didn’t seem to
surprise the man.

“All things in their proper time. First,
we must deal with Viper’s depleted energy levels, or he will never understand
what we will speak of. There is much to fix because he didn’t listen.” Ratoka
said coming to stand behind Viper and laying his hands on both sides of his
head.

Dread could see the difference in
Viper the moment the spiritual leader laid his hands on him. He would worry
about killing his brother later for not listening to him. Right now they both
needed answers, and he wanted his brother to be alert when they got them.

“Are you well my friend?” Viper’s
beast Zaxin asked him in his mind.

Viper sighed heavily as his beast
finally spoke. The more Ratoka gave him energy, the more the fog lifted from
his mind, and he could think more clearly. He realized now that he had given
far too much of his energy to Lara to help her heal.

His own levels had gotten
dangerously low, and his body had to stop healing his brain injury in order to
perform basic functions.

“I am better now that you are back.
Are you all right?” Viper asked his beast using the energy path in his mind.

“I am well and sifting through your
memories to try to discover what I have missed these past days.” Zaxin
responded, distracted by the events unfolding in his host’s memories.