Viper (Second Wave Book 1) (14 page)

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.

No matter how much Dread tried to
pretend that being near Lara was a miracle, and it was; he thought. All he felt
was anger at her. For turning what became a dull pain in the back of his heart
into a full out arterial bleed again. He hated himself for feeling this way,
and hiding it was becoming more difficult the longer he was near her.  

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 look 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.

Lara leaned against the back of the
chair she had sat in while her mind tried to process what Drago was saying.
“So, I was like his wife when I was Kinara?” She asked trying to clarify what
mate meant to them.

“Yes like the human term wife. Only
between the beast species it’s a little more intense than that from what we’ve
learned. It’s a much deeper bond than humans can achieve.” Drago explained,
feeling better about telling her since she seemed to be strangely calm so far.

“I was a beast species?” Lara asked
curiously, much more interested in the beast thing now.

“You were a Tezarian, like we are.
Come, let’s sit away from the view for a while.” Drago suggested, holding his
hand out to her.

Lara didn’t hesitate to place her
hand in his, and she let him take her down the short hall to what was obviously
a dining area. She took the nearest seat while Drago dug around in a cabinet.
When he got to the table, he set a piping hot mug of something in front of her
before sitting down next to her with a mug of his own.

Lara stared into the oddly smelling
mug curiously. She knew she had smelled the fragrance before, but she didn’t
recall where. It was some kind of tea, that much she remembered.

“It’s Sawanata tea, made from the
flowers of the Sawanata tree. It’s a tree native only to Tezaria. It was your
favorite. I guess I was hoping that maybe drinking it would help you remember.”
Drago blushed and looked down at his own mug of tea.

Lara appreciated the effort he was
making, knowing his brothers were going to be furious with him. She reached next
to her and squeezed his large hand.

“Thank you. It’s a good idea.
Science has proven that humans have better memory recall from smells and
taste.” Lara said with a gentle smile before taking a deep breath and taking a
sip of the tea. Her mouth exploded with the strange, yet familiar taste.

There was a distinct floral flavor
and a sweet earthy one that kind of popped in your mouth. She took a bigger sip
this time and was a little surprised when she saw a flash in her mind of a
small girl playing tea with four patient boys. The image was gone as quickly as
it came.

“You remembered something.” Drago
said it as a statement, not a question. The glazed look that had come into her
eyes told him that she had.

Lara knew that she couldn’t reward
what he was doing for her with lies. If she wanted the truth, she knew she
would have to give it as well.

“I don’t know. It was a brief
picture of a small girl playing tea with four older boys. I’m not sure what it
was, but I’ve seen the same children before. In other visions, nightmares or
whatever they are.” Lara watched his reaction carefully, more to see if he
thought she was crazy.

She felt kind of crazy, sitting in
the kitchen of a spaceship orbiting the planets around Earth like it was a taxi
ride. Yeah, definitely a crazy kind of day, she thought. She wasn’t too surprised
when Drago roared with laughter.

When he finally got a hold of himself,
he wiped the tears from his eyes and explained. “Those were some of the most
humiliating times for us. You used to make us play dress up and tea with you
because there were no other little girls around for you to play with. You have
no idea, in hindsight, how much we wished you’d stayed in that phase.”

“Instead, the older you got the
more you found our ‘male’ activities to your liking. It didn’t surprise me when
Dread told me you had become a soldier on Earth. You were better than most of
us in the forest and with traps.” Lara felt a rush of warmth from his kind
words and gentle smile.

“Thank you. This doesn’t seem so
bad with you telling it.” Lara admitted. 

Drago sighed and nodded his head.
He’d finally silenced his brothers and their fury and now felt a little more of
the weight of this responsibility. He was grateful that Ratoka was watching and
listening, along with his brothers and was giving him advice on how to help
Lara remember. He just hoped she didn’t find out that he’d turned on the vids
in the room and was streaming it to the ship his brothers were on.

“You were born as Kinara fle’ te’
Brondle.” Drago began when Lara interrupted.

“House of Stealth?” Lara said,
surprised that the words popped out of her mouth. She had no idea where they
came from.

Drago grinned. “Yes! That’s exactly
what it means. You remember much more than you realize, Nara.”

Lara tilted her head to the side
and looked at Drago. “Nara. That’s what you used to call me isn’t it? Strange
that it’s so close to my name now.”

“Yes, that is what we called you.
Our families lived next to each other and were very close friends. We grew up
together like siblings. You were our baby sister. Viper’s mate. We practically
raised you.” Drago said, a sad smile on his face.

Lara saw quick flashes of different
images pop in and out of her mind as Drago spoke of their families. She saw
dozens of images of the little girl and the boys making sure she was fed,
bathed and clothed. They had even played with her and comforted her when she
was sick or had nightmares.

“What happened?” Lara asked,
feeling a sense of impending doom.

“You grew into a beautiful and
intelligent woman, who was also a stubborn adventure seeking hellion. You and
Viper butted heads all the time. He wanted to keep you safe, and you wanted to
explore with us in space.”

“Rather than have you sneak off and
possibly get hurt on your own, Jacordan, Dread and I would help you go behind
Viper’s back and take you on mini adventures that we felt would be safe but fun
for you.” Drago said, keeping his eyes trained on the contents of his mug on
the table in front of him.

The images flashing through her
mind were of a much older girl, and the boys had grown into strong, handsome
men. In the images, they were always in various and strange situations though.
Some of the pictures even included interesting and sometimes scary aliens. Lara
knew that something must have gone wrong on one of those mini adventures, by
Drago’s body language.

“Something went wrong didn’t it?”
She asked bluntly.

“We had a comet passing by; one
that only came around every century. You wanted to see it from space. So, Dread
and I took Viper to another quadrant for some training and while we were gone, Jacordan
took you up there.”

“We had a deal between us. We never
spoke of the adventures we had with you among ourselves. It was a secret we
kept only between the two people on the adventure. That way, it would be harder
for Viper to ever find out about it. So none of us knew where you were going
that night, other than you and your brother Jacordan.”

“When we came back you were gone.
There was one message from you, telling us that you and Jacordan had made a bad
mistake. Not to come looking for you, or we’d die as well. That you loved us
all. There was more, but I’m sure you understand what I mean without hearing it
all.” Drago paused as if it was hard to remember while Lara’s mind reeled with
the image she’d had when she was in the MedLab.

“They crashed. On the comet didn’t
they?” Lara asked, somehow knowing that the words that had popped into her head
were true. The image of the smoke, the burning in her throat, watching Jacordan
die like she watched John die; she could see it all in her mind.

Drago nodded his head slowly. “We
didn’t know where you were, just that last message. We spent more than twenty
years searching for you. By the time we realized there had been the comet that
night, it took us another ten years to catch up to it and another two to get
your bodies from the surface without getting sucked into its gravitational
pull. Which is what we knew must have happened to you, and Jacordan.”

Lara could see the girl’s body collapsed
on the floor of the ship, the tear in the outer wall allowing her to see the
strange mist and rocky terrain. What sounded like alarms screamed, in the
distance, as if in a tunnel.

“Hey! That’s not a memory I want
you stuck in.” Drago said shaking Lara’s hand and bringing her attention back
to him.

They sat in a comfortable silence
for a moment, each in their own thoughts. Lara sipped the tea, not just because
she really liked it, but she hoped that it was helping her to remember.

“Are you doing all right?” Drago
asked gently as he stood and took her empty mug from her and moved to one of
the cabinets.

Lara thought for a moment and then
burst out laughing. Drago looked over at her with concern, causing her to laugh
even harder. When he moved over to her as if to comfort her, she jumped up and
walked to the other side of the room, crossing her arms across her chest.

Drago couldn’t define the energy he
felt coming from Lara; it was more like a huge mass of undefinable confusion.
He tried to see this from her point of view and couldn’t begin to imagine how
she was feeling right now. So that’s where he started.

“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what
you are thinking or feeling right now. To spend your life thinking that your
world was one way, only to have us come along and tear that apart on you. It
has to be hard for you.” Drago sighed when Lara just snorted at him as she
paced the small length of the room.

What the hell! Lara thought as she
tried to figure out all this crazy shit. If she hadn’t been crazy before this situation,
she was sure as hell was going to be now.

God, it seemed to make so much
sense now, a scary kind of sense. How she always felt like she didn’t belong,
why she was so different. And John! Oh God, Lara thought clutching her stomach
as the pain lanced through her.

She’d gotten her brother killed.
Twice! Lara leaned against the wall as the pain wracked her. “Oh God… oh God… I
killed him. I killed my brother. I killed him twice!”

Drago was stunned by the pain
flowing from her before she slid to the floor and curled in a ball. The deep
sobs that were coming from her tortured soul nearly causing a mutiny among his
brothers and Ratoka on the other ship, who were listening through the open
comm.

Ratoka had thought Drago the best
one to go through this with her because Lara seemed to be more comfortable with
his easy-going manner, than with Viper and Dread. So he wasn’t going to let her
down now.

Drago ignored their arguing in his
mind and sat down on the floor beside Lara and pulled her into his arms. “Shh,
hush little sister. You did not kill him. He made a miscalculation. He made a
mistake, Nara. You had nothing to do with that.”

He struggled with his own memories
and pain, unable to hide the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes when Lara turned
her tear-stained face to his.

Lara was stunned that the huge man
still hurt so badly after all these years. She could feel the pull of her heart
for all of the brothers. She knew, without a doubt that she cared for them,
even though she didn’t really understand any of this.

Laying her head on his shoulder,
she tried to calm her pain and tears while giving him some privacy to grieve as
well. She hated that she was the reason he was reliving this pain with her.

“So what are we supposed to do
here? How do we move on? You can’t expect me to just jump back into this mate
business do you? Cuz in this case, death did us part and having a few…
flashbacks don’t make this fully real for me.” Lara said nervously.

Drago chuckled. “No one is
expecting you to jump into anything. We just want to help you with your
memories and be there for you. We have missed our little sister very much.”

Drago gave Lara a gentle squeeze
and pulled her back into another hug. Lara wasn’t much of a hugger, but he
really did help to comfort her and clear her mind, so she allowed it. Making up
her mind, she leaned away from him.

“I have something I need to do. When
I finish it, then I’ll be able to concentrate more on… this. This whole
situation. Maybe we can try to start over again, as friends. Maybe I’ll
remember more…” Lara said pushing to stand. She moved back to the table and sat
down in the chair while Drago stood as well.

Drago sighed, trying not to let his
frustration grow. She was just as stubborn as he remembered and in this situation,
she needed to listen and let them help.

“Nara, you can’t do this alone. You
can’t fix this until you find out who is behind it. We can help you do that.
Traze and Risk are still going through your discs. With Grai’s contacts, he’ll
have it figured out in no time.”

“Let us help you. We have an army
of people fighting the same fight, willing and more than able to help.” Drago
had ignored the warning by Viper not to say anything about the information Lara
had hidden and knew it was a mistake when Lara erupted in anger.