Viper (Bones MC 4)
Marteeka Karland
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Copyright ©2019 Marteeka Karland
BIN: 009169-02968
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Editor: Katriena Knights
Cover Artist: Marteeka Karland
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Table of Contents
Viper (Bones MC 4)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Marteeka Karland
Viper (Bones MC 4)
Marteeka Karland
Darcy: I didn’t run away from a sadistic stepfather and a mother who wouldn’t protect me just to be carted off by some strange man. I fought the son of a bitch. Woulda won, too, except the bastard had help.
Viper’s rough around the edges and some kind of badass biker, so there’s no way this is going to work out well. Unfortunately, he calls to me on a purely sexual level. Makes my heart race and my body melt just looking at me. It doesn’t help he’s actually nice to me. He claims to know my dad. My real dad. Says he’s been sent to bring me back. I have no idea if I believed him or not. Just don’t really have a choice but to go along. At least for now.
Viper: I tracked the cunning little wench for three fuckin’ days. In the fuckin’ snow. She’s good, too. She survived on her own in a hostile environment with only a little trouble. That alone would make me respect for her, but then she had to go and kick me in the balls. Had I not been on the ground in agony, I’d have been turned on beyond belief. Now, with her safely under my protection, I’ve got to figure out how to keep my hands off her so her father won’t kill my sorry ass. He’s our intel man and one of my best friends, so I don’t want to cause him grief. But I want Darcy. Badly.
It’s Christmas Eve, and there’s an enemy on our doorstep with a unique gift. One that will leave us all with some hard choices -- Darcy especially. What unfolds next is something none of us ever planned for.
Chapter One
Winter hung heavy in the hills of Kentucky. One thing Viper hated was winter. Not because of the cold, snow, and ice, but because of the absolute silence in the outdoors. It made hunting that much more difficult. Normally, he enjoyed a challenge, but when the prey was human, there could be nothing to give him away. He’d been on her trail for three days now. There had been no sign of a fire or that she’d sheltered anywhere other than a snow dome she’d built to block the wind and keep in as much of her body heat as she could.
She was good, he’d give her that. He’d been in the service with men who couldn’t do what she could, especially given the few resources she had. As far as he could tell, she had nothing but the clothes on her back. One thing was for sure, once he got her back to the Bones compound, she had some explaining to do.
“Anything yet?” Data sounded anxious. And with good reason. Their intel and communications man had only just found out the he had a daughter, and only because her mother had called exactly three days ago -- an hour before Viper and Arkham had been set on her trail -- and informed him. Though the woman had remarried several years earlier, she kept in touch with Data. Why, Viper didn’t know. That was Data’s story and one he’d have to share with his daughter. Apparently, the only reason his ex had told him about Darcy now was because she’d run off, and her mother was done with the girl. Couldn’t deal with Darcy any more. Data’s daughter was her daddy through and through. Though Viper had no idea what Darcy had done, it was enough to make her mother and the woman’s husband abandon Darcy while the couple and their other two daughters -- not Data’s -- went to California on vacation. Data had been livid. Viper had a feeling his next assignment would be to hunt down the girl’s mother and stepfather and teach them a lesson.
“I’m just that little bit behind her, brother. Another hour and I should have her, though.”
“She’s one little girl! You’re a big bad Marine sniper! This shouldn’t be that fuckin’ hard!” Viper raised his eyebrows. Data was normally a by-the-numbers kind of man. He never got excited unless it was warranted. Kind of like when he realized his crew was in the middle of El Diablo’s muscle with only one team and minimal backup.
“Relax, brother.” Arkham sounded almost bored when Viper knew he was alert and watching as intently as he was. “Girl’s wily. Uses the landscape for cover. Even found a snow dome where she slept last night.”
“She can’t last out there forever with no fire. Rein her in!”
Viper knew when a man was on the edge. Didn’t take a genius to know Data was there. “We got this, brother. We’ll have her back at the compound by tomorrow.” It was a hard promise, but one Viper intended to keep. He ground his teeth. One little girl indeed.
Light was fading in the winter sky. Clouds hung heavily, promising more snow after nightfall if not sooner. Nothing stirred around them. Animals huddled down to wait out the coming storm. Even the evergreen trees were still in the slight breeze. The silence was nearly total.
“Got her,” Arkham muttered through his earpiece. “Your four o’clock. She just sat on a fallen log.” There was a pause while Viper looked in the indicated direction. “She’s done, Viper. I’m headed in.”
Sure enough, the girl sat on the long about a hundred yards away. She looked up at the sky, then at her surroundings and put her head in her hands. Yep. She was done.
Viper made his way to her as Arkham came at her from the opposite direction. They were almost on her before she realized she wasn’t alone. Immediately she slipped off the log and crouched into a defensive position, grabbing a rock beside her to use as a weapon.
She didn’t say a word. Viper expected to see fear in her eyes, and perhaps there was. But mostly what he saw was a cold, hard determination.
“We’re not gonna hurt you,” Viper said, hands out in front of him as he approached her.
“I know,” she said, her voice a whisper of sound.
“Viper!” It was the only warning Arkham could issue before the girl attacked. She launched herself at Viper. In reflex, he caught her.
Two things happened when he closed his arms around her. First, Viper recognized she was more than a girl. The woman had curves aplenty, two of which were mashed against his chest, rubbing o
ver him with every movement of her body. Second, the woman was fucking fierce. Viper was perfectly capable of defending himself, but he was hesitant to do anything for fear of hurting her. So she pummeled him with that fucking rock. By sheer luck, she didn’t catch his head with it, only his jaw. Viper retained his hold on her with one arm securely around her waist while using the other to block her blows as best he could. For such a small little thing, she packed quite a punch! Despite his efforts, she still connected several times before Arkham disarmed her. Bastard didn’t help him any more than that. And still, she fought. Apparently frustrated with her lack of progress, Darcy shrieked, kicking out and continuing to hit at him with her fists.
“Knock it the fuck off, woman!” Viper finally set her on her feet and captured her wrists in his hands and wrapped his arms around her, trapping her with his superior strength. “Look at me, Darcy!” Viper used every ounce of command he possessed. In the end, it was probably the use of her name that made her pause in her tirade. “Look at me!” When she gave him a wary look he took a breath. “Your father sent us to find you and bring you home.”
“I’m not going back! I’m old enough to make my own decisions, and I’ll be damned if I go back to that bastard!” Her struggles resumed. She tried to hike her knee up into his groin, but he managed to avoid it, pulling her tighter against him. It was getting exceedingly hard to ignore the lush curves pressed against him. The woman was tempting in the worst way.
“You’ve never even met your dad,” Viper said, struggling to hold her while not hurting her. “I assure you, he’s a good man.”
“Rayburn, my stepdad, is a molesting bastard and my mom is nothing more than his pimp! I’ll kill both of them and you before I go back!”
Viper was so shocked, he relaxed his hold for a second, giving the girl enough leverage to break free. Darcy promptly kicked him in the balls before spinning around to flee again. Arkham caught her, spun her back around, and zip-tied her hands behind her back, ensuring he didn’t get a repeat of what Viper got. Once she was secured, he looped a length of rope around her waist and tied her to a tree.
“That should take care of that.” Arkham turned his attention to Viper, kneeling down beside his biker brother. “You gonna be all right?”
“Shut the fuck up, you smug bastard.” Viper tried to sound menacing, but it was hard to do when his balls were stinging. Didn’t help with him down on one knee looking up at the big man, either.
“Just trying to help a brother out.” Arkham raised his hands in surrender before turning back to their prisoner.
“You gonna fight me, girl?”
“You gonna try to take me back to that hellhole?” She had to look up at Arkham, but Darcy didn’t seem the least bit intimidated. In fact, she looked to be sizing him up, looking for the easiest way to take him down.
“Hadn’t planned on it,” he said.
When Arkham didn’t offer anything else, Viper added, “It’s your biological father who sent us. We’re takin’ you back to the clubhouse.”
She looked from Arkham to Viper. “Biological father. Clubhouse?”
“Yeah.” Viper groaned as he got to his feet. “Look. I’m Viper. This is Arkham. We’ve been huntin’ you for three fuckin’ days, sweetheart. I’d like to get out of the fuckin’ snow.”
“Three days? I’ve only been gone like five.” They had Darcy’s attention now. Viper could see her calming down and really listening to what they had to say.
“Data set us on you less than an hour after he got the news from your mother.”
“Bullshit,” she spat. “My mother hasn’t had contact with my dad since right after I was born. She said he had no use for a kid.”
“Don’t know their story. Or yours.” Viper shrugged. “All I know is a man as steady as a rock under any kind of pressure is on my ass in a big way to get you home and out of danger.”
“Well, he hasn’t been in my life for the first eighteen years. I don’t need him for the next eighteen.”
“You don’t even want to hear what he has to say? Not gonna cost you anything but a few hours of your precious time. You don’t like what he says or think he’s feedin’ you a line of bullshit, you can leave. Hell, I’ll even take you anywhere you wanna go.”
She was silent for a moment as she pondered what he’d said. Viper had to stifle a groan. It was the first time he’d had a chance to really study her. Her stocking hat had fallen free, releasing a riot of bright red curls that spilled around her face and down her back. Her skin was nearly as pale as the snow around her but smattered with a light dusting of freckles across her forehead and the bridge of her nose. Delicate eyebrows rose in a fiery arch above sparkling pale blue eyes. Her appearance matched her temper, but also gave a man black ideas. Like spreading her out right here in the snow and fucking her until they melted the clearing around them. God! Would she have fiery curls on her cunt? In an instant, Viper was hard and aching, his need to claim this woman here and now so strong he had to bite back a growl.
Finally she relaxed against her bonds. “Fine. Kinda cold out here anyways.”
Viper started to release her, but Arkham stayed his hand, shaking his head.
“I said I’d go with you,” she huffed. “Ain’t that enough?”
Arkham raised an eyebrow at her. “Plan on keepin’ my balls intact.” He glanced at Viper. “He might not’ve learned his lesson, but I sure the fuck did.”
Man had a point. Finally, Viper undid the rope, but left the zip tie around her wrists.
“Bastard,” she muttered, but marched gamely between them.
“Got her,” Viper notified Data. “It’ll take us a while to hike out of here. Tell Trucker we’ll meet him before dark.”
“She OK?” Data sounded equal parts relieved and worried.
“Seems to be. I’ll get a better assessment once we’re out of here. Nothing I can do about it anyway if she is hurt. Not until we get to Trucker and the RV.”
There was a pause before Data responded, “Keep me posted.” That sounded more like the Data he was used to. Calm, cool, on top of things.
“Will do, brother.”
It took the better part of three hours for them to make it back to the side-by-side they’d taken into the forest. Viper drove while Darcy sat passively beside him, never once complaining about the cold or the speed with which they traveled. They’d cut her bonds only to tie her again, this time with her hands in front of her for ease of travel. Arkham rode in the back bed of the vehicle.
Once they were out of the woods and on the little road leading out, Viper pushed them even faster. He felt the need to test the woman next to him. Would she tough it out or would she ask him to slow down? She hadn’t said a word or in any way indicated she was uncomfortable, but her eyes squinted against the wind even though buffered by the windshield. She had on clothing appropriate for the weather so she couldn’t be too bad off, but she hadn’t had a chance to put her stocking hat back on and pull the mask down to cover her face. With her delicate white skin, she was rapidly picking up windburn, and all that fiery red hair whipped violently in the wind.
After ten minutes of riding, Arkham smacked the back of his head. Hard. Viper didn’t have to ask to know what the other man meant. With a sigh, he let off the accelerator, slowing the vehicle to a more tolerable speed. A glance at Darcy revealed nothing of what she was thinking, her face a blank mask.
At the entrance to one of the many camping grounds inside the forest, they stopped. Trucker waited outside the RV the club owned. The man smiled warmly at Darcy as she climbed out of the side-by-side. Until he saw her wrists zip-tied together.
“What the fuck, Viper?” Immediately, Trucker whipped out his knife and started to undo her bindings. Arkham hastily grabbed his knife hand and pulled him back.
“Not a good idea, brother,” the big man said. “Girl’s feral.”
Trucker glanced from Arkham to Viper. “You tell Data you’re keeping his girl tied up?”
“No. And you’re not either,” Viper muttered. “Besides, once we’re on the way I’ll cut her loose.”
Trucker sighed, scrubbing a hand through his shaggy beard. “Well, it’s good to meet you, Darcy. Don’t hold this against the rest of Bones. The rest of us are good people.”
Arkham snorted.
Chapter Two
True to his word, Viper cut her bonds once they had her locked in the RV. She hated to admit it, but she was tired, cold, and damned hungry. They bounced around on the narrow road, but Viper still made her a sandwich. He handed her a Coke and a bag of chips to go with it and Darcy’s mouth watered. She had to stop herself from cramming the stuff into her mouth like a starving child, instead forcing herself to eat one bite at a time. She had three bites of sandwich and a handful of chips gone before Viper opened a can of Beanie Weenies and stuck in a plastic spoon, sitting it in front of her along with another Coke. She glanced at him sharply but said nothing. Viper just shrugged. Apparently there was no hiding how hungry she was, so she gave up trying, gobbling the Beanie Weenies like they were the biggest, juiciest bone-in ribeye she’d ever dreamt about.
“Where’d you learn wilderness survival?” Viper sat back on the bench across from her, the table between them. The question was asked casually, but she could tell he was fishing for something.
“Mom was always sending me to camps. Summer. Winter. Didn’t matter. When she was married to Calvin, they kept me gone as much as they could.”
“Who’s Calvin?”
“One of Mom’s exes. They divorced when he figured out, accidentally you understand,” she batted her eyelashes and looked as innocent as a newborn babe, “that Mom was steadily withdrawing money from his bank account. I think she managed to take nearly half his savings before he finally woke the fuck up and realized the Goddamned pussy just wasn’t worth it.”
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