Viper Game

by Christine Feehan

  Pepper ignored his warning, her gaze clinging to his. "She's a good girl. You can't let them take her back to the laboratory. They were going to kill her. I had to get her out. You have to promise me you'll hide her. You'll take care of her..."

  "Stop talkin'," Wyatt ordered. "Are you able to slow your heart down? Has she bitten you before?" There were older bite marks on her arm in three places.

  She ignored him. "Please. Promise me if something goes wrong this time, you'll look after her."

  "Damn it, woman. Shut the hell up. Your heart is racin'. You need to slow it down. You know I'm like you. You have to know that."

  She shook her head. "We're not like you. You're the perfect ones. The ones they want to keep. We're their mistakes, the ones they have to get rid of. She can't see this. The baby. I'm going to get very sick fast and she can't see."

  There was something almost mesmerizing about her voice. A kind of velvet seduction even in the dire circumstances and that shook him almost as much as the fact that his grandmother was cooing to a baby who had a venomous bite.

  "Are all these bite marks from her?"

  "They forced her to bite me - and others. She didn't want to. She isn't dangerous, not like you're thinking. They were going to terminate her." The calm facade was fading, to be replaced by desperation.

  "You said that. Stay calm. Were they using you to develop an antidote, or trying to make you immune to the bite?"

  She nodded slowly. "Yes. There were doctors there and they took care of it."

  He knew it wasn't that simple. A bite from a cobra or other venomous snakes was serious. Life threatening. In any case, she wasn't exactly answering his questions.

  "Malichai." He raised his voice again. "I need my medical field kit. The new snakebite spray is inside the snakebite kit. Hurry."

  He tried a slow, charming smile to ease her mind. He didn't want her to think he was a mad scientist - because he was certain she'd been exposed to more than one. "I'm going to try a relatively new product on you. There isn't time to get you to a hospital and they wouldn't have the antivenom for this snakebite here. You know that."

  She had known and she'd known the bite could be fatal - even to her - yet she'd still stepped in front of him, protecting him at a very real risk to her own life.

  Pepper raised her eyes to Wyatt's face. She wasn't going to die, she already knew that, not unless something went very wrong. It wasn't the cobra venom she feared. That wasn't going to kill her or make her all that sick. If it was just that...

  She didn't want him to drag the baby from his grandmother, and if he knew exactly how venomous she really was, he would be like all the others - the ones who had created her - he would kill her.

  She didn't understand the pull of his man, or why his face was so familiar. Why her heart sang when he was close. The scent of him enveloped her and she actually felt safe instead of threatened. She'd never been safe, and she certainly wasn't now.

  "Here's the water, Wyatt," Ezekiel said.

  Ezekiel's gaze was on the child, not the woman or Wyatt. He watched her in the way a hunter watched his prey, eyes fixed and wholly focused. The baby buried her face against Nonny's bony shoulder with a small little shudder of fear.

  "Set the water down and quit tryin' to intimidate a baby," Wyatt said.

  Ezekiel did as Wyatt asked slowly, for the first time turning his head to look at the woman. He put out his hand, toward her arm, her bare skin, as if he had to feel that it was as soft as it appeared. Wyatt actually felt the impact of her go right through Ezekiel's gut. His breathing hitched. Instantly flames burned in Wyatt's belly, igniting like a firestorm, hot and all encompassing.

  "Walk away, Zeke," he said quietly. "Step back and walk away."

  Ezekiel blinked rapidly, as if trying to come out of some hypnotic trance. He stood, almost mesmerized by the woman, unable to look away. "Holy crap, Wyatt." There was awe in his voice.

  Wyatt fought the urge to pull his grandmother's knife out of his boot and slice him from his belly to his chest.

  "Step back, Zeke," he repeated, and this time he put command in his voice.

  Ezekiel obeyed out of respect for rank. He stepped back, still blinking rapidly. Wyatt knew they were all in trouble. This woman was dangerous to all of them. She could tear them apart without even trying - and what would happen if she tried?

  He began to wash the wound carefully. Her skin had gone clammy. She was very pale. He tried not to notice that her skin was softer than anything he'd ever felt in his life.

  "I don't have a lot of time before I get very sick. Give me your word you'll protect her."

  Again he had to shake off the seductive sound of her voice. He seemed particularly susceptible to it, although when he glanced at Ezekiel, he noticed the man was still staring at Pepper as if he might devour her.

  "Why would you believe me? You just put a knife to ma grand-mere's throat," Wyatt said. He had no idea why he was so affected by her calm demeanor, by her insistence they save the child that had put her life in jeopardy, but he was. He wanted to save this woman. She was worth it. He didn't know how he knew that, or why he felt it, but the need was the strongest emotion he'd ever felt.

  "Where the hell is that snakebite kit, Malichai?" He kept the urgency he was feeling out of his voice.

  "Because you're a Fontenot. I've been in the bayou a little while now, and you have a reputation for keeping your word." She coughed. Her eyes drooped more.

  The venom was moving quickly through her system in spite of the fact that she had slowed her heart rate. She had tremendous control.

  "Ginger can't see this," Pepper reiterated. "She's been traumatized enough. Take me out of here."

  It wasn't prudent to move her around. "Malichai! Where the hell are you?" Wyatt glanced at his grandmother. Did he dare leave her alone with a child who could kill with one bite? A baby who didn't know what she was doing?

  "She's extremely intelligent. Her emotions are baby emotions, but she understands..." Pepper coughed. Tried to clear her voice. "I'm feeling nauseous."

  "You know that's just one of the symptoms." Wyatt poured a soothing note into his voice. He'd always been gifted with a voice that could mesmerize if he needed it - although hers had his beat by a mile. When she spoke in that soft, husky, barely there tone, he felt her moving right through his body.

  He'd always been particularly careful of using his gift - especially after he was enhanced. He used it now. "We'll get through this."

  "There're two more. Two babies." She coughed, tried to clutch her throat. "God, it's going to be bad this time."

  He kept possession of her arm to keep her from raising it above her heart. "Stop talkin'. Just stay calm." She was becoming a little agitated, another symptom.

  She tried to talk. The words came out garbled. Her eyes went wider than ever. She shook her head and tried again.

  Wyatt had to take control or he was going to lose her. "Look at me, Pepper. Only at me." He poured command into his voice. "Eyes to me, now." He waited until the strange, dark purple eyes jumped to his face. He could see the fear finally. It was there in her eyes. This wasn't going to be a picnic. She'd been through it before and knew what was coming.

  "I'll get you through this. We'll take care of the little one, that's a promise. Nonny's goin' to find a bottle and give her somethin' warm to help her sleep. And then she'll be right in the other room rockin' her."

  Pepper nodded. She didn't try to talk. Her face was slowly becoming paralyzed. He could see the evidence. Her breathing was very shallow.

  "Malichai will find the kit. The nasal spray is new, but it works. In the meantime, I'm goin' to try somethin' else." He explained, keeping his voice low and gentle. "You're goin' to feel me inside you. Open your mind to mine as best you can."

  He laid his hand over the wound, not quite touching, but only a paper width from the bite marks. He had healed this way before, but wounds of the flesh, wounds that needed repairing from the inside out. He'd never
tried to stop a fast-acting toxin from attacking the nervous system.

  He knew he would leave a little part of himself behind in her - and take a part of her with him. Mind merging was intimate and far different from telepathy. One was a phone call. The other was...

  He forced his mind to the problem at hand. Letting go was the most difficult part. He had things to hide. He wasn't a perfect man. No one wanted anyone to see who or what they were deep inside. Still staring into her eyes, he poured himself into her mind. He felt her shock. Resistance. He pushed past the barriers and immersed himself in her.

  There was terror. Sheer terror. But she had nerves of steel. She didn't flinch or fight. She waited. His hands grew warm. Hot. His arms. His body. He felt the familiar fire, the one that had consumed him from the time he was a child when he'd needed to heal. It was a gift - a great gift.

  He "saw" the venom moving like a slow lava through her body, extending toward her heart, but branching out to reach for her brain, her lungs, her throat. The venom was the enemy. To him, it appeared a white, thick stream. She stayed very still, not trying to hide from him, and he was aware she saw what he did. Just as he felt her terror, she felt his determination to save her, and that steadied her.

  His hands followed the path of the venom, that stream he visualized in her body. Neurotoxins disrupted the function of the nervous system as well as the brain. He couldn't allow that to happen. The venom could cause lack of muscle control and paralysis, as well as interrupting the signals sent between neurons and muscles.

  He didn't close his eyes as he normally would have done, instead he fell into hers. The strange midnight purple eyes with fantastic diamond starbursts that took him in, until he felt as if he might be free-falling through space.

  He wasn't alone. She was right there with him, and he knew he would never feel alone as long as she was close. They could ride through the stars, into the galaxies and visit the Milky Way, but they wouldn't be alone ever again. They were tied together now, by the scorching heat he transferred to her body, by the way the merging of their minds made them one.

  He had always felt different from those around him. He was a little wild and he knew it. He needed the bayou and the outlet of the waterways and swamps. Now, with his psychic enhancement and the cocktail of DNA he'd been given to make him into a supersoldier, he felt edgier than ever, more alone. Until this moment. Until this woman.

  The heat he generated slowly turned the toxin from a white, almost crystalline stream to a glowing orange. The toxin began to separate into individual strands. Strands he could deal with. Strands he understood. He worked at incinerating each component, choosing the deadliest first. Neurotoxins were working to bind themselves at a rapid rate to the receptors in her muscles, preventing the muscles from contracting.

  Even as he poured the healing energy against the neurotoxins, he became aware that Pepper's blood contained molecules that worked to neutralize the cobra venom. While the receptors on her muscles appeared the same, they weren't - at least not all of them, some of them contained an amino acid that differed from the rest. She was feeling the effects of the cobra bite, but the receptors the neurotoxins sought were covered with a bulky sugar molecule, preventing the neurotoxin from attaching itself.

  "I've got the snakebite kit, Wyatt," Malichai announced. "Do you want me to use the nasal spray on her?"

  Wyatt heard the voice as if in the distance. He was completely caught up in the way her body was fighting off the effects of the bite. She'd been enhanced with a cocktail of DNA, and clearly someone had tried to use her body to develop an antidote for snake venom - and it wasn't only cobra.

  He pulled his mind from hers and immediately felt the loss. He had never felt so empty or alone. He sank back on his heels and lifted his hand for the spray. For some reason it was important to him that he care for Pepper himself. Malichai put the canister in his hand.

  Malichai was staring at Pepper with the same stunned look on his face that his brother had. His breathing changed subtly and his eyes swept over her almost possessively. Wyatt stepped between them, trying not to snarl. This woman was going to get someone killed. Her scent was potent, yet it shouldn't be. She should smell of sweat and blood and toxins, not jasmine and rain.

  "Malichai, I need some room to work," he said, gritting his teeth.

  With an effort, Malichai stepped back.

  "Pepper, this works. Several of the soldiers have tried it after being bitten," Wyatt said, using his most soothing voice to reassure her. She was shaking and her skin had gone grayish. Grayish, but still soft as silken sheets. No, even softer. He cursed under his breath. She was getting to him and he already knew what she was, how she was enhanced. He'd been in her mind. He knew her every secret and yet he still wanted to kill his friends to keep them away from her.

  She nodded, her gaze clinging to his. He wondered if she felt as empty and lost as he did without her. He crouched down beside her, wrapped one hand around her wrist and sprayed her with the other.

  Her fingers moved weakly against his hand. He immediately enveloped her fingers in his much larger hand. "We'll need some blankets and a clean bowl."

  "I'll get them," Malichai said. "I saw a linen closet in the hall when I was looking for your bag."

  Wyatt forgot he'd tossed his duffel bag into his bedroom just before they left to find the men who had assaulted his grandmother. No wonder it had taken Malichai a few minutes to find his medical kit.

  "She said there were more babies?" Ezekiel questioned. "Did I hear that right? What son of a bitch would do this to a baby?"

  "There are rumors, Ezekiel, a lot of them. We joined up after the founder of the program had disappeared, but I heard he took babies from orphanages and used them for experiments." Wyatt wasn't going to reveal his brother's wife's information to anyone. She was family. She was sacred. Her past was hers alone, and their family would protect her from everyone.

  Pepper's hand tightened for a fraction of a second, and his heart gave a funny jump. It was difficult to be so close to her physically and not want to feel her merged with him once more. He'd never felt so starkly alone as he did in the moment - not even after Joy Chaisson had left him and he'd realized what a true jackass he'd been, pining for something that had never been real in the first place.

  "Do you think that's what Wilson Plastics is hiding, then?" Ezekiel said. "It's really a laboratory where they experiment on children?"

  Pepper shook her head, or rather tried to. Wyatt felt the movement. Her eyes were wide open and clung to his face. The impact of her eyes on him astonished him. It almost felt like a solid punch to his gut. His chest burned. His heart shifted. Hot blood flooded his veins and pooled low and mean in his groin. The woman was very ill and she still had this much effect on him. Disaster. She was definitely going to be a disaster.

  You're capable of telepathy. I know you talk to the little one.

  There was a moment of silence, as if it took her a moment to process. Sorry. Brain's not working. Hurts like hell. Everything feels slow and hazy.

  He closed his eyes briefly, trying not to feel the intensity of the intimacy between them. Initiating telepathic communication with her was clearly a mistake. She crawled into his mind, into his body and wrapped herself tight. Stay with me, Pepper. Stay alert. I need to know what's happenin.'

  The facility is used to house the rejects. The ones they can't use in the field or are deemed too dangerous to continue with, she explained.

  The babies?

  In vitro. All three have killed with their bites. They're too intelligent for their age, and too difficult for their handlers. No one would take care of them but me. When I found out they were going to terminate them, I escaped, but the other two were caught when we broke out. They were both hurt.

  Do you think they've killed them already?

  No. They wouldn't dare, not with me out. Those two are the only leverage they have to get me to come back.

  He felt the sudden urgency in her and
immediately helped her into a half-sitting position, holding her with one arm and the bowl in place with the other. She was horribly sick, again and again. He was grateful her digestive system worked enough to allow her to be sick. She wasn't going to die, thanks to the antivenom already built up in her system.

  He wondered just how many times she'd been bitten and how many times she'd had to go through this. At seventeen months, the babies would still be getting teeth. Their mouths would hurt. If something scared them, the snake in them would want to strike out with a bite just as Ginger had done.

  He sighed. He knew damn well he was going to have to get those babies out of there. What was he going to do with three little vipers? Well, technically they weren't really vipers, they were elapids, but vipers sounded more... female. He couldn't leave them with Grand-mere, although if anyone could handle them it would be her.

  He'd been steadfastly avoiding his brother Gator. Facing him after all Gator had revealed to him about the infamous Dr. Whitney, who had started genetic dosing to make supersoldiers, would be difficult. Gator wouldn't be too happy with Wyatt's choices. The truth was, Wyatt knew he hadn't been making good decisions from the moment Joy had left him. He'd been a childish idiot, and that didn't sit well with him.

  He handed the bowl off to Ezekiel and took the blankets Malichai brought, tucking them around Pepper's shivering body. "The light is hurting her eyes, can you get rid of it?" If Malichai kept staring at her, he wasn't certain what he would do, but he had to get himself under control.

  She was slipping away from him now, drifting in a sea of pain. "You two may as well go to bed," he said to his teammates - his friends. He needed them gone. He needed just for a few minutes to allow himself to think about what she was and how he was going to handle her. "I'll stay with her."

  Both Ezekiel and Malichai were trained medics, but Wyatt was a doctor - a surgeon as well as a natural gifted healer. He told himself Wyatt was the logical man for the job, but he knew he wouldn't have turned it over to either of the other two. He didn't want to leave her. He couldn't leave her, especially not with another man.

  "Tell Nonny to put the baby to bed, Ezekiel. They both need sleep. I think the baby will understand if you tell her Pepper is doing fine and she'll be okay soon."