Viper (Second Wave Book 1)

by Mikayla Lane

  “There is no longer any blame that needs to be placed! Or do we plan on torturing her forever over a mistake? One made by all of us! We were just as much at fault as she and Jacordan! Or do you plan on forgetting that small detail?”

  Viper looked over at Drago and considered telling him that most of what he was throwing in the trash had just recently been purchased. The wild and angry look in his eyes told Viper that he would be better suited to keeping his mouth shut and replacing the groceries later.

  “I did not say I was blaming her!” Dread said, trying to defend himself against Drago’s accusation.

  “That’s a lie and you know it! You’re angry and hurt and you’re worried about Viper and me. Whether you want to admit it or not, you’re scared. Scared of losing her again and of what will happen to us.”

  “Enough of it already! You may want to hold onto your fear, protect yourself from being hurt again, but I will choose to be a family again. To trust that this time will be different. That I won’t make the same mistakes again and drive her to making the same decisions that cost her the life she should have had. You two can do whatever you want. I will learn of who she grew up to be in this life and love her as my sister.” Drago said, throwing one last item in the trash can before storming out of the kitchen and down the hallway to his bedroom.

  “Why didn’t you tell him he was throwing out all of our food?” Dread asked Viper after Drago was out of earshot.

  “Yeah right! I noticed you didn’t bother to tell him either.” Viper said, getting up and opening the refrigerator door to a completely bare interior. Drago had even thrown out all of the condiments.

  Dread chuckled. “I wasn’t getting in the way of his busy work.”

  “You didn’t want to piss him off any more than he already was.” Viper said, calling his brother on his silence with Drago.

  “There was that too…” Dread admitted with a blush.

  Drago was not only the largest of the brothers, he was also the most intelligent and sensitive. He would destroy anything that threatened his family, but where they were concerned he was a giant baby, wearing his love and affection for them on his sleeve. Until he was angered as he was now.

  The normally quiet and lovable man rarely chose sides among his family, preferring to allow those involved to work things out for themselves. The few times that Drago had chosen sides in the past, he had always been right. That irritated Dread even more.

  “Damn…” Dread muttered to himself, while Viper looked at him oddly.

  “What?” Viper asked.

  “I hate when he is right.” Dread said quietly.

  “About which part?” Viper said with a snort.

  “All of it.” Dread admitted reluctantly.

  Viper sighed and put his chin in his hands. “Yeah, that’s the same conclusion I came to as well. What do we do?”

  “She’s our sister, the woman you love, we have to fix it.” Dread said, certain it would be easy to accomplish if the three brothers could put their effort into making it work.

  “She looked pretty pissed off when she left with Jax. That’s the part of the new Kinara that I think I am having the hardest time dealing with. The part of her that’s so strong and hardened now. A warrior that almost died again with Jacordan and in those woods with me.”

  “I’m so tempted to put her back into another protective bubble to keep her safe, yet it’s what caused her to rebel and go off with the rest of you the last time.” Viper said, his emotions just as confused as his mind on how to fix things with Lara.

  Giving up was not an option. He would not lose her again. Even if he had to fight alongside of her in her new life here. He would not make the same mistakes that caused her death the last time.

  “It was more than that, Viper. If we plan on fixing it this time, you need to really think about the problems in your relationship that created her desire for adventure to begin with. That can only be answered by you.”

  “For my part, I will no longer try to judge who she is now in comparison to who she was then. And try my best to learn who Lara is, the new Lara. The rest, you must figure out on your own brother.” Dread said standing up and putting a comforting hand on Viper’s shoulder.

  “Drago and I are here for you. No matter what.” Dread said before walking down the hallway to his own room, leaving Viper to his own thoughts.

  Viper watched his brother disappear down the hallway, his mind spinning with confusion and fear. He spent hours replaying their life together over and over again in his head trying to figure out where he had gone wrong. It was dawn before he finally thought of a solution.

  *****

  Lara and Jax were comfortably ensconced on Jax’s living room furniture. Each stretched out on a loveseat, a quart of ice cream in each of their hands. It was the most comfortable and relaxed Lara had been since she’d woken up in the MedLab.

  “Did Reven really act that way towards you?” Lara couldn’t help but ask, her curiosity getting the better of her since Jax had made the accusations at Reven in the conference room.

  “No, he was worse than that. I just mouthed off on some of the more mild garbage he’s pulled. Don’t get me wrong, there is not a part of me that isn’t so attracted to the man that I drool sometimes. But his arrogance and attitude are enough to make me want to kill him.” Jax admitted, anger and frustration lacing her words.

  “His world is the one with the gender imbalance problems right?” Lara asked, trying to figure out all the information that she’d heard since awakening.

  Jax sighed dramatically. “Yeah, that’s the one. Sadly, the fools think that things should work as quickly as it does on their planet when they find their mate, without any consideration for how we’ve lived here or how we feel about things.”

  “He seems to care for you a great deal.” Lara said off-handedly, thinking of Viper and his brothers and hoping they were well.

  Jax snorted. “Yeah, he cares enough to try and interfere with my missions, with my being assigned missions and every other damn part of my life he thinks he can invade. To him, this is just another battle skirmish that he’s determined to win.”

  “You really think it’s just the challenge that he’s after?” Lara asked, turning to Jax who didn’t look like she believed what she’d just said either.

  Jax growled in frustration before attacking her ice cream with her spoon. “I don’t know anymore. What I need is a few days away from the man.”

  Lara sighed and nodded her head, putting the lid back on her ice cream and putting it back in the freezer. “That sounds like a good idea. You’d love it at my cabin. It’s peaceful and easier to hide.” Lara said with a small smile, wishing she was there already.

  She was having a really hard time wrapping her mind around everything that she had learned so far. Surprisingly, she believed the alien thing with a lot less doubts than she did the reincarnation thing with Viper. Dreams and memories or not, it just seemed so unreal to her. Like Jax, she just needed a few days away to get her head screwed on right again.

  Lara grabbed Jax’s closed ice cream container and put it back in the freezer before flopping back down on the her loveseat. Grabbing a pillow close to her chest, she sighed heavily as she stared at the ceiling.

  Jax turned her head and watched Lara for a moment, feeling sorry for her. She had a hard enough time with just Reven hounding her heels, poor Lara had all three of the brothers and for some strange reason, Ratoka as well.

  Glancing down at the floor near Lara’s feet, there was even Dog’ee who was following her around, Jax thought with a smile at the adorable cat. She couldn’t imagine the stress Lara would be feeling after all she’d learned today. It was a lot to take in.

  “How are you doing? Mental wise I mean. I can’t imagine what it’s like from your point of view. As weird as it was, at least I grew up around this kind of craziness with the other hybrids working with Banatar. This has to be a major damn shock to you.” Jax said, trying to determine if Lar
a was all right or if she needed to see Amun for some help dealing with things.

  Lara thought about Jax’s question for a minute and the first thing that popped in her mind was how strange she had started to feel in the forest when she met Viper. How could she explain that it felt like ants were crawling across her brain without sounding crazy?

  “Yeah, I’m ok. I just hate that we have to hide out here only to have to deal with them again in the morning. Just when I think I have something figured out, they start talking about something else that throws me back into confusion.”

  “It’d be nice to wrap my head around what I know right now, before piling more on me. It’s a little overwhelming.” Lara sighed heavily, feeling bad for laying that on Jax.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t complain. You guys are the reason I’m alive. A little bit of confusion and irritation is nothing compared to the finality of death.” Lara added, hoping she didn’t make Jax feel that she was ungrateful for all they had done for her.

  “Girl, don’t even think about what could have happened. And trust me, you are handling things really great. Not many people could hold themselves together after finding out they were a mate to an alien species.” Jax said with sympathy.

  Lara laughed for a second. “The talking cats were the nail in the coffin for me. I swear I thought I was insane or in an alternate world.” Jax giggled.

  “They are a little odd at first aren’t they?” Jax asked, causing Lara to giggle.

  “A little? And Traze!! Oh my God, I can’t believe I shot that poor kid! Did you see what he turned into? How many of them can do that?” Lara asked, sitting up with nervous energy and curiosity.

  Jax grunted at the thought of the man-child before sitting up. “He’s a unique one isn’t he? Can’t help but to like the kid though. Anyway, as far as we know Grai and his brothers are the only surviving Relian’s that can still shift form. There may be a handful of others on their home world though.”

  “You haven’t met Koda yet, he’s their middle brother and stays on the ship most of the time. He’s the quiet one. Grai’s… well he’s something else. Incredibly smart and the nicest guy there is, but don’t ever be his enemy. We’re all really damn grateful the guy is on our side because I’m not sure we’d stand much of a chance against him.” Jax said, thinking of what he’d done in front of their faces for years without them even knowing it.

  “He is really intimidating. But he seems like a nice guy.” Lara said diplomatically since she didn’t know the man well enough to form an opinion yet.

  “You just need a chance to hang with us for a while to give you a breather from the testosterone of Viper and his brothers, so you can think more clearly and learn more about us.” Jax said, realizing after she said it that it was perfect

  “What do you think about a couple of days on a training mission with your new team? Far away from here, with no one to tell Viper and crew where you are?” Jax asked with a wicked smile on her face.

  Lara gave Jax a beaming smile. “Can we do that? Just get in your car and go? Won’t they follow? Won’t someone tell them?” Lara asked, afraid to get her hopes up.

  Jax laughed at Lara’s excitement and making up her mind, she sent a call through the Shengari’.

  “No one will tell if Grai and our team are the only ones who know. And trust me, Grai won’t tell them.” Jax said with more confidence than she felt as she waited for Grai to get back with her.

  Moments later, Jax got the response she was looking for and grinned at Lara.

  “Get your stuff, we’re outta here!” Jax said, her own excitement showing as she jumped up from the loveseat and headed into her room to pack her gear.

  Lara followed without hesitation and started packing the items they had just bought earlier into a bag Jax handed her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lara stretched slowly and breathed deeply of the crisp, clean air. She rolled out of bed and faced a yawning Jax. “Good morning.” She muttered before heading to the bathroom they were sharing with the other four women.

  They’d left for the Canadian wilderness within hours of leaving the store. Jax hadn’t been kidding when she said she had the perfect place to get some peace from the Tezarian brothers. She’d ordered all team members to keep their location secret, only Grai knew where they were going, and he had given his word not to tell anyone.

  It hadn’t all been just fun though, Jax had worked them hard for the first two days that they had been there. Since they had to head back tomorrow, they were going to have an easy day today of Jax and Lara going through tracking skills with the team and the cats.

  Unfortunately, Grai could only give them three days before he said Reven and Viper would mutiny, so they would have to leave in the morning. Lara would be sad to go; this had become her new favorite place.

  Lara turned to her ever-present companion and said, “Shower, Dog’ee” and waited until the cat left the room before grabbing a quick shower. She was toweling her hair when Jax came into the shower room and stepped into another stall, turning the water on full blast.

  “I hate that we have to leave tomorrow. It’s been so damn peaceful here. I talked to my friends in Dillon, and they say Reven and Viper are spitting fire at everyone, so we don’t have a choice.” Lara grinned along with Jax at the latter news.

  Lara had learned so much from Jax and her team over the last two days. Not the least of which was that Jax could communicate with animals. When she spoke about her friends in Dillon that she had spying on Viper and Reven, she meant the birds, squirrels, cats, hell anything furry, flying or crawling in the area was a personal spy for the woman. Lara would give her right arm for a talent like that.

  “It’s too bad we can’t stay; this place is the best.” Lara said, brushing out her damp hair.

  She’d been a little doubtful about the place when they first arrived. An old children’s camp, deep in the Canadian wilderness didn’t seem like the best of places for training. But she’d been wrong; it was perfect.

  The gorgeous surroundings of the pristine forest, were the perfect place for mountain terrain training, tracking and learning the assembling and disassembling of traps. The three bunkhouses provided them with decent beds, hot water and real toilets and showers.

  There was a main cabin that housed the kitchen, dining room and a massive entertainment area with a big-screen TV and game console. It was a great way to end a hard day by hanging out with the other team members, cooking dinner together and feeling that sense of camaraderie that she’d missed since she left Afghanistan.

  “I love it here. It’s quiet and Reven isn’t here.” Jax said with a dramatic sigh of relief. Lara just giggled at her.

  Lara had quickly learned that as much as Jax liked Reven, she disliked him just as strongly. Their personalities had been clashing since the moment they met. They were the perfect example of why Lara thought this mate business was a bunch of crap.

  For reasons, she didn’t understand, Lara never told Jax about her being some reincarnation of Viper’s ex-mate. There was just no way that she said it in her head that made her want to say it out loud. To anyone. It always sounded like she was a few bullets shy of a full mag.

  Even stranger was the fact that Dog’ee hadn’t mentioned it either. That cat didn’t care to share your most embarrassing moments with everyone in hearing distance, but he never said a word about her being Nara or having known Viper and his brothers in the past.

  Every time she thought about asking him about it when they were alone, his constant chatter had always left her forgetting. He kind of had that effect on everyone, she’d noticed. Even the other cats seemed to be a little taken aback by her energetic and young friend.

  There were a total of four cats with them. Dog’ee and two of the other cats had collars which she’d discovered were how the animals could talk. The Valendrans had some women who were hybrids of the first Valendran crash survivors and humans, who had some pretty unusual abilities.

  Ja
x could talk to animals in her mind, and they actually listened to her. There were psychics, healers, fire starters, crafters and other crazy shit she’d never heard of before. It was the crafters that had pulled the materials from the earth to form the collars for the cats that enabled them to speak.

  Damn, she thought; she felt like a lunatic just thinking about it all. She’d found pretty quickly though, that the best way to keep her mind occupied was to try to sort it all out. It kept her from wondering about Viper and his brothers.

  Lara wasn’t sure what she hated more, the fact that she actually seemed to miss them and worry for them, or that they had been right. Being around the Tezarian’s, hybrids and Valendrans had felt like coming home for her, and she didn’t want to leave.

  She rubbed the thick gold and silver bracelet that one of the team members had made for her their first night at the camp. Bree was also a crafter and had shown her how she used her gift by creating the bracelet for her.

  At the time, Bree said that she didn’t control what was made or why it was made, but that all items always served another purpose for the wearer. Lara didn’t understand what she’d meant by that, but she’d been thinking about it a lot ever since.

  It started the first night, with the crazier than normal dreams. It was as if her past life, from her earliest memories forward, were playing in her dreams at night like a movie.

  Everything felt so real in the dreams, the scents, the sounds, the scenery, even her feelings were so vibrant and alive that it stayed with her when she awakened. Unfortunately, almost all of her memories revolved around Viper, his brothers and her own brother, Jacordan.

  The more that she dreamt of Jacordan, the more she was convinced that he had been John in this life. It was no crazier than the fact that she finally believed she was Kinara fle’ te’ Brondle. House of Stealth. It made sense to her now that she remembered how it was. On Tezaria.

  Viper and his family were of the House of Death, fle’ te’ Trugh. The line of beast that ran through their family was uniquely talented in different forms of death. Killing things. The brothers could use just about anything to kill. She had memories of watching Drago take one of their playing balls and using it to cut the head off of a target.