by Mikayla Lane
Viper seemed to think that since she had agreed to come that it was now a race and walked so quickly to an elevator that she only had time to keep up with him. Lara was surprised when he placed his hand on a seriously sophisticated palm scanner, and a different set of lighted buttons appeared at the bottom of the floor menu on the screen.
She watched Viper press the ‘P’ button as Dread and Ratoka piled into the large elevator with them. Once the doors shut it only took them seconds before they opened again on a strange room.
Viper gently pulled Lara out of the elevator and into the portal room. He looked around trying to see it from her eyes. The place had surprised even him and his brothers. Like everything Grai did, he did this big; Viper thought.
Lara looked in awe at the huge mirrors that lined a room that was half the size of a football field. There were at least two dozen mirrors; each mirror stood flat on the floor and reached to eight or nine feet high. They were lined up side by side on each side of the room.
Lara pulled her attention away from the mirrors when a huge, heavily armed man walked up to them and held his hand out to Dread. “Where are you guys off too this late?”
“We’re going to see Drago. I’m sure we’ll be back soon.” Dread said to the man as Viper and Ratoka walked Lara down the middle of the room.
Lara looked closely at the mirror they were standing in front of. There was a plaque of some kind on the very top that said ‘Adaria', and it was so wide that three of them could walk through it side by side.
“What is it?” Lara finally asked when no one volunteered the information.
“It’s a portal. A doorway, to my brother. Will you trust me as I trusted you in the forest?” Viper asked, squeezing her hand gently as his eyes pleaded with her.
He could feel her heartbeat pick up speed and could sense her slight fear. However, there was a hefty dose of curiosity mixed in. Viper felt strangely proud when she pulled her shoulders back and turned determined eyes to him.
“I’m game. Let’s go.” Lara said.
She figured the worst that would happen is that they smacked into the mirror, and she laughed off their alien talk. She was only a little surprised when Ratoka took her other hand.
Lara allowed the two men to lead her towards the mirror, making sure that they were just a slight step ahead of her, so when they smacked into the mirror, she could stop herself before she hit it.
She couldn’t have been more stunned when they slipped through the glass and disappeared, their hands still holding hers, but their bodies gone. Lara started to panic and tried to pull her hands out of theirs when she felt a strong push from behind and was propelled into the mirror.
Lara tried to suck in a breath when she saw nothing except a deep, overwhelming darkness, but there was no air. She tried to scream, then she blinked and was standing in a large bright room. The last half of her scream came out like a strangled cry.
Scared and feeling like a fool as the five men in the room they entered stared at her, Lara turned on Viper. “What the fuck was that? Seriously, you couldn’t have warned me? Oh, by the way, ‘I’m going to let my creepy, ghost-like hand drag you through the fucking mirror into wonderland’ would have been nice!” Lara said, snatching her hands away from Viper and the widely grinning Ratoka.
“And You!" Lara said turning on Dread who came through the mirror behind her. “You pushed me; you asshole!”
“You were fighting.” Dread said, shrugging his shoulders before walking further into the room to the others who were still staring at her.
“Why the hell do I feel like the freak, when I’m the one that was dragged through a damn mirror?” Lara muttered, trying to calm herself. Her heart still felt like it was going to pound out of her chest.
“You are not a freak; they are just surprised to see us. You are the first human to come aboard the Adaria, and they are curious about you.” Viper said, smiling gently at her like she’d bolt and run at any second.
“We came on ship just like this!” Dog’ee said twirling between Lara’s legs.
Dog’ee’s words and the surroundings finally sunk in for Lara. “Where are we?” She asked Viper, lowering her voice so the others wouldn’t hear.
“We are on the Valendran ship, the Adaria. Drago is here seeing to the repairs and upgrades to the vessel we used to get here.” Viper explained calmly, keeping a good hold on Lara’s hand, in case she flipped out on him.
Lara registered Viper’s words as she took another good look around the room they were standing in. It was a lot like the room they had just left only it was a lot smaller and only had four mirrors in it.
The walls were a dull silver, kind of like the brushed nickel fixtures in her last apartment, where she was stationed before deployment. There were what looked like desks and computer screens and screens on some of the walls.
It all looked pretty futuristic to her, but she wasn’t exactly the most tech-savvy person either; she thought. That had always been one of John’s talents. For all, she knew the mirror was just a weird door into another part of the office building.
Lara turned to Ratoka when he started laughing then sobered quickly before speaking to her. “You are ever the stubborn warrior. There are some things, like love, that will always remain with the soul, no matter how many times it is reborn. Choose carefully, child, which ones you allow to overshadow the others.”
Lara stared at the puzzling man for a moment before nodding her head. She knew what he meant. She’d heard all about her stubbornness from her parents and John. Still, she argued to herself; stubbornness was much better than blind stupidity.
Viper shook his head and pulled Lara towards the men. She was surprised when they nodded politely as Viper led her to the door and into a hallway, where a shriek rent the air and Lara’s knees were grabbed hard from the front and back. Viper grabbed hold of Lara just in time to prevent her from being thrown to the floor.
“Nara! Nara!” Came a chorus of voices at her knees.
“Sorry! So sorry!” Lara looked up as a harried looking blonde woman came running towards her.
Ratoka leaned down and pulled up one of the adorable little toddlers to his eye level. Viper leaned down and grabbed the other one, leaving Lara stunned to see that they were beautiful twin girls. She didn’t know much about babies, but these didn’t look older than two years.
The blonde woman, who Lara had no doubt was the mother of the little ones, finally reached them and leaned down to catch her breath before looking up with a smile.
“They were determined to be the first to meet you. I’m Cari Torenson. I’m the mate of Scaden, the commander of the Adaria. And these two little trouble makers are Tessa and Amia.” Cari said before playfully attacking the little ones until they giggled and hid against Viper and Ratoka.
Lara barely heard the woman, the vision of Viper holding the beautiful child in his arms, the smile on his face, held her attention. He looked so natural holding the little girl.
There was no hesitation in his hands like most men she’d seen who were usually switching hands, never confident in their ability with a child. Lara wondered if he had children, or if he took care of a younger sibling. Men didn’t have that kind of confidence with children without having experience; Lara thought to herself.
Viper was surprised that holding the precious little imp didn’t cause the intense pain that usually came when he did. It was too much of a reminder of the years that he and his brothers had raised Kinara.
Between the three brothers and her own brother Jacordan, Viper didn’t think Kinara’s feet ever touched the ground until she was five. And only then because she fought them every time they tried to pick her up.
Dread cleared his throat loudly, damn glad that one of the little ones didn’t ask to be held by him this time. Like Viper, it brought back so many memories of raising Kinara that it was painful. She had been their baby sister in truth, because she was mate to Viper, and they had loved her and Jacordan deeply.
He needed to get this over with so he could turn her over to Viper and Ratoka and walk away until he could get himself together and work out his emotions. He was no help to either of them in his current state.
“Drago is this way.” Dread said, heading down the hallway without looking back to see if they would follow him.
He’d convince Lara this was all real one way or another, then talk to Grai about going on a few missions. He’d tell him it was to give Viper and Lara some privacy; Dread thought. Grai may be a formidable enemy, but when it came to his people, he was a gentle giant and would do anything to make them happy. Dread was honored to be considered one of them.
Cari looked at Dread with confusion, “I guess you guys are in a hurry. Maybe we can talk later.” Cari said to Lara then peeled her squealing little girls from Ratoka and Viper.
Lara just looked on in confusion; her eyes and thoughts more focused on what looked like a huge window further down the hallway. Or a huge picture, she thought. A huge picture of space. Lara had to suppress the giggle that bubbled up in the back of her throat.
Hell yeah, Lara thought sarcastically; I went back down the rabbit hole. Her day wouldn’t be complete without some kind of mental breakdown; she thought, as Viper led her woodenly down the hallway and closer to the picture.
Or window, Lara corrected herself as she stopped in the middle of the large expanse of space and placed her hands on it. It was cool to the touch, but not as cold as she would have thought it should be. Her mind was barely processing the stars passing slowly by when Viper pulled her away.
“We can look at it later. Drago is expecting us.” Viper said, not telling Lara that Drago was yelling at him to hurry the hell up and bring his sister to see him.
It ate at Viper that his brother was happier to see her than he was. He was jealous of Drago’s ability to put aside more than a century of pain so easily while he struggled between dozens of emotions.
Lara’s mind was working overtime as she tried to understand what she was seeing around her as they walked down what seemed like endless hallways and strange elevators until they ended up in what could only be described as the largest hangar she had ever seen.
Once they had stepped through the elevator there had been someone waiting for them with a motorized cart of some kind. Lara was really grateful that she wasn’t going to have to walk any further, her back had begun to ache a little around eight hallways ago, and she didn’t want to end up back in bed to heal.
Lara looked on in awe when she realized that the hangar they were in, not only held craft that were definitely not anything from Earth, but it must encompass the length of the entire ship. And of course, with her luck, Drago’s ship was the last one and farthest away.
They had traveled too fast to get a good look at the craft as they were speeding by, but now that they had stopped moving, Lara jumped out of the cart and stood staring at the ship they had parked in front of.
It was as long as a C-130 military transport plane and as wide as a house and Lara couldn’t help but wonder how it flew and where it flew. Her thoughts fled when she was seized from behind and swung around before being pulled into a comfortable bear hug.
“My sister! I have missed you more than you can imagine! I know; you have no idea who I am. But, I remember enough for the both of us.” Drago’s grin was infectious and Lara couldn’t seem to help but to smile back at the strange man who looked far too much like his brothers to be anyone but Drago.
“She is far too thin brother! You need to feed her better than this! Come, see inside our ship. I’ll take you for a quick spin and show you around.” Drago winked and pulled Lara into the ship. She was so curious about the strange craft that she didn’t fight him and willingly entered the huge ship.
Lara had no idea that Drago had locked the others out of the ship until she heard them banging on the outside of it. She looked over at the huge, grinning man and feeling kind of mean she grinned back.
“Didn’t you say something about a quick spin?” She asked, challenging him.
His roaring laughter made her smile again, and she let him lead her through the ship, catching some of the information he told her as they passed certain areas.
They entered what Lara knew had to be the cockpit of the ship and looked out of the huge view screen at Ratoka, Dread and Viper as they stood in front of the craft trying to flag them down and get their attention.
Following Drago’s lead, Lara ignored them as he sat her in a seat and showed her how to strap herself in. She was glad when the straps self-adjusted to her smaller frame.
Drago sat next to her and leaned towards her with a devilish grin. “They’re going to be really pissed off.”
Lara knew, by the way, he said it that he didn’t care. She felt comfortable with him, and she didn’t feel like he was angry with her like Viper and Dread. A little space between them for a few minutes would be a good thing. Besides if this was a joke or hallucination, there was no harm no foul, she thought turning to Drago and grinning back.
“Fuck it. Go.”
The words had no sooner left her mouth than the men in front of the craft scattered, and they launched so fast she knew that half her insides were still back in the other, larger ship that they’d come from.
Lara knew her insides had caught up with her when her stomach heaved a little when Drago made a fast tour around a planet she had no doubt was Jupiter. Their speed slowed to a nice cruise, and Lara relaxed a little, watching the stars and planets in awe.
“You may look different and have memory problems, but there’s no doubt that our Kinara has returned to us. Viper will be a monster when we get back. Not to mention Dread.” Drago said with a chuckle, then regretted his words when he felt her withdraw.
“Tell me about yourself. What your life is like, how you grew up, I want to hear all of it.” Drago asked, changing the subject.
Lara thought about it for a moment, how angry everyone seemed to be at her, the hallucinations, hell the fact she was in a freaking spaceship cruising through space was a real wake-up call. No, she needed answers she thought.
“No. Tell me about Kinara. What happened to her? How did she die and why are Dread and Viper mad at me?”
Drago nearly choked on the sharp intake of breath he took, at her request. Out of everything she could have asked for, that one would get his ass kicked for years. That’s if Viper ever spoke to him again at all.
“That’s a big request Nara. It’s supposed to be Viper’s place to explain things to you. To help you remember.” Drago said, hoping to discourage her from that idea. He pissed her off instead.
“And that is supposed to make me feel better? I don’t even know why he’s the one delegated to break this news to me! Who the hell are you people?” The more Lara pulled and fought against the straps holding her in the chair the tighter they seemed to get, until Drago undid his own and came over to her.
“Calm down. This does you no good. Relax a second and stop fighting, and they will loosen. When they slacken, hit this button.” Drago explained, bringing her hand to the side of the seat and letting her feel the button.
Lara closed her eyes and forced her body to relax, when the straps slackened, she hit the button and breathed a sigh of relief when they retracted back into the seat.
Standing up, Lara’s eyes were drawn to the view screen and the sleek vessel hovering outside. She turned to Drago and knew immediately who was in the other ship and probably reaming out Drago doing that beast talk thing Viper told her about. It pissed her off even more that they had followed her.
She moved behind Drago and pulled him away from the view screen so that he would have to lo
ok at her and not the other ship.
“Snap out of it. Damn, don’t you see? He’s freaking stalking me, and I don’t even know why! Wouldn’t you be a little afraid to find out something so damn personal from someone who is obviously pissed at you for something you don’t even know you fucking did!” Lara’s voice had risen until she had yelled the last at a stunned Drago.
Drago let out a heavy sigh and lowered his head. Yeah, from that point of view it seemed pretty cruel and messed up. And he couldn’t deny that she was right about Viper and Dread’s anger; he had felt it himself in the docking bay.
Lara could tell by Drago’s pensive expression that she was getting through to him, and she pushed her advantage. “How am I ever supposed to understand if the only truth I will hear is the one that comes from anger? And how am I supposed to feel? Should I hate myself? Did I do something so terrible that I should wish they had let me die?” Lara was stopped suddenly when Drago seized her by her upper arms and shook her roughly.
“Don’t you ever, ever say something like that again. You did nothing that bad. You didn’t deserve to die then, and you don’t now.” Drago said, his voice gruff as he fought with himself over what they were both feeling and what was actually best for her.
“Really? Then why can’t you tell me?” Lara asked, looking at him with tear filled eyes.
She was exhausted, mentally and physically and just wanted some damn answers before she went back to her cabin and finished her original mission. She never expected the answer Drago gave her.
Chapter Thirteen
Drago looked at Lara hard for a moment, as if trying to determine if she could handle what he was going to say. She was just as determined to prove she could handle anything. What he said next still floored her.
“Viper is your mate. It is his duty to help you to remember what you had together when you were Kinara.” Drago said, watching her eyes widen slightly at his revelation.
