The dark haired female's eyes flew to Viper, and she started screaming hysterically.
"Stop stop! It's okay Tara." Hope quickly grabbed her female friend and tugged her face so she only looked at her.
"Hope?" The hysterical woman sobbed. "What is that?"
"WHAT IS THAT! I am not a that! This is why we put them in hibernation." Viper groused to himself.
"He's the man who saved us." Hope said and Viper was instantly placated.
She could've said a lot more uncomplimentary things.
"What the hell is going on Hope?" The dark-skinned male said with more than a bit of concern in his voice.
"Did you see or hear about the meteors?" Hope asked and the female, Tara, nodded.
"Well they brought some nasty killer virus to earth. So now a bunch of different aliens are going around trying to rescue as many people as possible."
The comm beeped and Viper walked over to it despite of the two sets of suspicious eyes on his back.
"Report." Viper demanded.
"Viper we have another incoming asteroid that is dividing. We have to leave orbit since we're at capacity. We can't risk an impact."
"See that another ship rescue's the rest of my subeo's family, is that understood?"
"Yes Prognatus."
"What's happening?" Hope asked.
"We need to leave your system, we are at risk from another incoming meteor." Viper stated. Hope just nodded quietly.
"Hope on my honor we will try to rescue your family." Viper replied, hoping to assuage his subeo's fear for her loved ones.
The look on the other human's faces said they understood him. Viper had requested they instantly receive the translator since he knew they'd not go to the hibernation dorm. It appeared they'd assimilated it well. Although the fear and confusion in their eyes meant they understood too well what was happening. It was a shock.
"Am I hearing this right, we are leaving the solar system!" The dark male, John Paul said as he tugged on Hopes hand.
"Take your hands off of my subeo." Viper growled at the male, a breath away from his face in less than a heart beat. He could not believe the male dared to touch Hope let alone grab at her.
Tara shrieked in fright.
The male's dark face turned a shade whiter, and he instantly dropped Hope's hand.
"Viper enough! Why don't you go do something, your job or whatever!" Hope demanded.
"I'm not leaving you here!" Viper rumbled in protest.
He refused to leave Hope alone with this un-mated male. The humans trembled in fear of Viper but not his subeo. Viper was glad she didn't fear him, but not glad at the same time. Hope meant to send him away!
"I'm sure I'll be fine unless more of your people plan on coming to chain me up again!" Hope yelled at Viper.
If someone had punched him, he couldn't have been more stunned. Not only did she reject him, but she dismissed him so openly.
"As you wish." Viper stood up and stormed off though everything in him screamed that he should go back in there and throw Hope over his shoulder then lock the two of them in his room. But his subeo didn't want him touching her.
Hope
Hope watched Viper leave the room angrily. She'd meant to thank him for finding her friends, then he got all snarly. She didn't know what he thought was going to happen but clearly he didn't like John Paul being near her, which was crazy. Her friends were far less of a threat than he was. That man clearly was jealous of other men.
"Girl do you think it's wise to piss of that giant man creature? I almost peed myself!" JP said still clearly shaken.
"Well he's being a brute!" Hope replied.
She then realized it probably wasn't wise to piss Viper off since she'd seen first hand exactly how vicious and violent he could be. But for some reason Hope no longer felt threatened by him. Unless she thought of him coming at her in bed, then her pussy ached, her tummy got all fluttery and her cheeks heated. That image made her nervous as hell.
"He nearly took off JP's head!" Tara cried as she trembled, bringing Hope back to her friends. This was new to them and they were terrified.
"No he didn't, Viper just doesn't like other men touching me." Hope didn't state that she'd truly witnessed him almost take someone's head off.
"What is going on here, and here?" JP gestured flamboyantly around the ship and then at Hope.
"It a long crazy story." She replied with an exasperated sigh.
"Before you start I really need to go to the bathroom. Please tell me they have one." Tara implored.
Hope showed them the facility and how to work it. No sooner had she pointed out the alien toilet then Tara lurched over and vomited. She wiped her mouth.
"Okay, I'm much better now."
"That a girl." Hope said encouragingly as she got them both some water. Hope completely understood.
The three friends sat back down and Hope started her long tale. She described the terrible meteor crash and tsunami. The sight of San Francisco being leveled still shook her to the core. Hope related how Viper found her at the campsite, then trying to escape the spaceship when she thought she'd been abducted. JP and Tara looked shocked as Hope described all the other crazy aliens who were scrambling to rescue them even now.
Hope decided it was best to leave out her encounter with Viper in the cell, she didn't want them to fear him or taint their opinion of the Anguis since they all had to get along.
JP and Tara sat in stunned silence as they took it all in.
"I'm glad we were saved." Tara said quietly.
Hope worried how Tara was coping since she wasn't usually a quiet person. She usually thought through problems out loud.
"We will be fine Tara." Hope squeezed her in a bear hug.
"I think you are leaving out something about that big man." JP said. "Why aren't we all sleeping with the others, why the special privileges?"
Ugh, it was just like JP. He would needle her till he had every detail to his satisfaction.
"Because I fucked him." Hope said bluntly.
Tara gasped.
"You did what?!" JP demanded. "You got some alien strange?"
"Holy shit Hope!" Tara snorted.
Hope was happy she'd been able to shock Tara out of her funky mood.
"Apparently I triggered some crazy alien mating heat in Viper and now we're alien married!" Hope shook her head still in shock herself. It felt good to get it off her chest.
"We let you go on vacation and not just the clinic, but the whole damn world falls apart. You get freaky with some giant alien knight in shining armor and then marry him. You are grounded Hope!" JP ranted.
"I didn't marry him, apparently it just is because his hormones say I'm the one!" Hope told them throwing up her hands in exasperation at the whole affair.
"So did you know what you were doing?" Tara asked.
"No, Viper sort of went all wild and came at me." She admitted.
"I want all the dirty details, and I mean all of them!" JP demanded and Hope groaned.
"Well remember I said I tried to escape." They nodded. "It apparently threw his hunting and mating instinct into overdrive."
"Don't tell me that's what you meant about the cuffs!" Tara screeched.
"I should've known Tara would catch that." Hope muttered to herself. She hadn't planned on admitting that part.
"Yes." Hope replied hesitantly.
"Oh girl that's kinky."
"No its rape JP!" Tara said angrily. "Is that why you have that nasty bite on your neck?!"
Of course the doctor noticed that. Tara was pissed. Hope liked how she was mad on her behalf, but for some reason she didn't want them to think Viper was a monster. He'd rescued them and despite the wild interlude he'd been a gentleman.
"Look I know it sounds really awful but, Viper really wasn't himself and his crew was worried Viper would fatally injure me, since he wouldn't realize I was more delicate than their women if I tried to fight him off."
"Of course you'd fight!" Ta
ra huffed.
"Yes but apparently when their men go into heat, their women do too, so they don't fight the men." Hope tried to explain. "You should have seen Viper. He was like an angry beast when he heard me cry. He almost broke down one of those metal doors."
Hope recalled how Viper was more enraged by her cries and only calmed when she did. It was sort of sweet that he fought to reach her, in an Animal Planet sort of way.
"One of those thick ass doors?" JP pointed and Hope nodded. "Shit he was pissed!"
"Yeah. Anyway I was super freaked out, but then well, it was mind blowing, although I'm completely ruined for other men now." Hope's cheeks heated as she admitted she'd enjoyed part of what had happened.
Just thinking about Viper curled over her back, caging her, his mouth latched onto her as he rutted, had Hope's blood boiling. His bite hurt but the chemical lust had added to her physical arousal creating a perfect storm.
"Did you not hear the part about ALL THE DETAILS!" JP demanded.
"I don't like that you were tied down." Tara ignored JP's dirty inquiry as she examined Hope's bite, probing it gently.
Hope agreed part of it had been terrifying, but she didn't want her friend to fly off the handle at Viper.
"I'm fine. Besides the bite he was rather gentle." Hope fibbed attempting to comfort her friend.
"DETAILS WOMAN!" JP demanded again.
"I am not describing his cock for you." Hope told the man.
"Look if I'm not getting any you can at least throw me a bone and tell me about it!" JP insisted.
"Fine its ribbed for her pleasure, and I came three times so hard my voice broke and I almost passed out. When he came he swelled up so big we were stuck together for hours."
"Shut up, you are fucking with me!" JP pushed Hope's good shoulder.
Thankfully the door chimed saving her from further embarrassment.
"Enter." Hope said.
Acris entered balancing several trays. Hope hopped up to help her.
"No my Uxorem. Please let me." Acris said shyly as she managed to set them down on the table without incident. "Do you require anything else?"
"No, but why don't you stay Acris." Hope asked the shy woman.
"My virum will worry if I am gone long." She stated with eyes on the floor.
"Even though you are with me?" Hope asked "Would you stay if you didn't have to worry about your mate?"
"If that is what you'd like." Acris replied hesitantly.
"Good then it's settled. Stay for a bit and if he's mad, we blame it on me."
"He would not be mad, just worried my Uxorem."
"We'll call him and tell him." Hope suggested.
"Perhaps she was wrong, and the men were just overprotective rather than overbearing." Hope decided as she recalled the way the Anguis men led the woman around with one hand on their shoulder. Maybe that was their version of holding hands.
Acris spoke into the comm and she heard the man on the other side state that if Hope desired her company, it was good for Acris to stay.
"Great, Acris meet my friends John Paul and Tara."
Hope was glad her friends had been given the language implant the moment they were rescued that way they could understand Acris.
"Are you mated?" Acris asked Tara and JP. She appeared more comfortable now that she'd been formally introduced.
"Oh god no honey!" JP stated while Tara repressed a laugh.
Her friends didn't seem nervous around the alien woman. It was probably a good way to get them adjusted to the sight of the Anguis.
"JP prefers male to females." Hope told Acris.
Acris' eyes grew wide.
"I think I misunderstand." Acris stated.
"No you understand dear." JP said. "I prefer to mate with other males."
"Humans can bear young with other males?" Acris asked in shock as her red color undulated.
"No, a certain percentage of our males prefer other males." Tara stated almost clinically.
"We don't have males like this among the Anguis." Acris responded as she considered JP. "You humans are truly different." Acris looked them over but attempted not to stare. "I like your hair." She said to Hope.
Hope smiled at the admission even though Acris shied away thinking she'd overstepped her bounds.
"It's okay to speak your mind here." Hope said encouragingly. "Do you want to touch it?"
Acris reached out hesitantly then ran her hand through it.
"It is soft like silk worm thread."
"I like your skin color, how it changes." Hope admired Acris' subtly shifting hue.
"What is the range of color?" Tara inquired as she sat forward on her bunk.
"All colors." Acris stated as if it was obvious.
"Really?!" JP said shocked and intrigued.
"Would it be rude if I asked you to show us?" Hope asked curiously.
"No, it is fine."
Acris then proceeded to amaze them. She changed into all the colors of the rainbow, sometimes all the colors at once. Even her long dreads shifted color.
"It's so we can blend into our environment." She said as she mimicked the wall behind her, almost disappearing.
"That's wild and neat!" Hope declared.
Things had been going from one crazy moment to the next, Hope hadn't had a chance to ask Viper much about himself.
"This is too strange. What is to become of us?" Tara lamented.
"Do not fear. The Anguis and our allies have rescued several species that are now thriving." Acris said comfortingly to Tara. Acris was clearly a caring woman.
"How did you fight these virus creatures?" JP asked obviously comfortable with Acris.
Hope would need to remind him it might be best to not get too close to any of the women, considering how the Anguis males behaved. JP was just so used to being one of the girls he might forget. Hope didn't want to see him hurt as everyone got accustomed to each other.
"We were fortunate when the Morbo attacked our home world that it wasn't a full invasion and we were in the midst of the dry season. Many were lost but our planet was not as hospitable as the Morbo prefer. We learned quickly that the heat and UV light are their weakness." Acris explained. "Once we recovered a fraction we reached out to our allies, warning them of the threat. The Felidae were threatened next. Thankfully they were able to flee to a colony inside a safer zone."
"That's the feline species?" Hope asked to which she nodded.
"I am sorry this has happened to you." Acris said with genuine sorrow. "I lost half my family when our planet was attacked. I don't know what I'd do if we had to permanently leave our home world."
"Is that where we are going?" JP chimed in.
"I think so or the planet nearby. I'm not really sure." Hope replied, she couldn't recall the specifics. Everything had been too overwhelming.
"You will remain with Prognatus Viper on Anguis Minor, then you will travel to Anguis Prime once the colony is established Uxorem. I'm certain anyone you wish may join you."
"Oh okay." Hope kept forgetting she was tied to Viper, and he held a position of privileged.
"Why do you keep calling Hope Uxorem?" Tara looked to Acris then Hope.
"It means that Hope is second female in the empire." Acris stated.
"Like a princess!?" JP asked in awe.
"Yeah." Hope said waiting for the fall out.
"Seriously woman you were only supposed to go on vacation!" JP exclaimed which Tara seconded.
"Well Viper will get over me and move on." Hope stated with conviction.
She wasn't about to stay married to some alien man she barely knew just because she made his cock hard. And although Viper got all growly and jealous, Hope was pretty sure he wasn't that thrilled with being tied to an alien either.
"I do not understand." Acris said in confusion.
"I'm human, Viper's Anguis. We barely just met. He has no clue what kind of person I am and vice versa. That does not a marriage make."
"But you are already mate
d, besides the pronouncement ceremony it is done." Acris said.
"We are different Acris. My people don't go all hormonal and mate the way yours do. Yes we have lust and it sometimes results in marriage, but most often men and women date, and if they like each other's personality they decide to move on to mating."
"Date?" Acris asked
"We go have dinner or visit a garden several times. You talk and then either you like each other or you don't." Hope did her best to simplify the concept for the foreign woman.
"That is not so very different." Acris stated. Her head was cocked like she was considering the differences between their ways.
"How do your people meet and mate?" Tara asked. Hope could see the doctor's sociological mind at work.
"The sire of your clan or your nidum brothers introduce you to males or escort you to events where there are many un-mated males and females. Then if you are lucky, you find a male who makes you excited and afraid all at once." Acris smiled.
"And?" JP asked.
"The male fights your family and steals you away." She replied wistfully.
"He fights and then steals you. That's barbaric!" Tara exclaimed and Hope punched her arm.
"Don't be rude!"
It was caveman-like but Tara hadn't witnessed just how overwhelmed Viper had become. Hope understood when Acris said excited and afraid at the same time. If her response to Viper was only a fraction of what the Anguis females felt then it must be intense.
Again Hope shivered at the memory of how sexy and yet frightening Viper had been. The way the strange liquid desire had coursed through her when he put his mouth on her. Even his release inside her had been packed with those crazy pheromones. She could still feel the ghostly traces of his erotic drug. Just thinking about it made her nipples tighten and her womb spasm.
"The fight is just a formality, unless of course your family resist the mating. Then things can get intense." Acris continued to explain.
Hope nodded. She'd seen intense first hand.
"And then what, he drags you off to a dark alley?" Tara asked and JP snickered at the comment. They were awful.
"No no he takes you to his home and you stay there until the first few days of mating are over." Acris looked wistful like she was recalling her own mating.
Hope could only imagine the wild fuck fest that probably ensued.
Viper's Hope (Anguis Defenders Book 1) Page 8
