Viper's Defiant Mate (9 page)

Her left hand rose and she ran one finger along a bent stem. His eyes followed the movement, mesmerized by her gentle touch. The flowers were beginning to stand up a little in the cold water.

“I remind you of weeds?” She asked, confused.

Viper shook his head and reached for her left hand. “No, you remind me of how they grow in the wild. You remind me of the colors and how in the harshness of the sun, dirt, and hard ground, how they stood above to dance in the wind,” he explained with a slight frown as he stared down at the delicate blooms. “You are strong, but beautiful, just like they are.”

He reluctantly released Tina’s hand when she pulled it out of his to wipe at the dampness on her cheek. Regret filled him for making her sad. Confused by his feelings, he sat back and stared at Tina.

“You never answered my question,” she said in a thick voice. “Why would your brother hurt my sister like that?”

“He did not hurt her,” Viper said, shaking his head in disagreement. “He sent me here to retrieve you and your vic… your grandmother.”

“Why?” Pearl asked in a hard tone.

“Because his mate is sad,” Viper said, wincing when Bahadur punched him in the arm and scowled.

“You are about to screw this up,” Bahadur growled under his breath. “You are supposed to use the human word.”

Viper scowled at Bahadur. “I’m trying,” he snapped.

“And what word is that?” Pearl asked, sliding her hand down beside her to where she had set her gun.

“Marriage,” Viper said hastily, quickly pulling a paper from his vest and setting it in front of Tina and Pearl. “Vox has asked that you attend their marriage. They wish to have a human wedding ceremony to seal their bond.”

He watched as Tina’s trembling hand reached out and she picked up the stiff paper Riley had insisted he give to her family. He had forgotten about it until late last night. It had been stuck inside the other papers that he was supposed to give them.

Tina’s voice shook as she read the message out loud.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of

Riley Ann St. Claire, from Denver, Colorado, Earth

to

Vox d’Rojah, King of the Sarafin

When: As soon as you get your asses here

Time: It better be quick because I want to be married before the baby comes

Where: Sarafin, my new home

P.S. I love the big oaf and want you here for the wedding. Shotguns are optional, Grandma Pearl, unless he changes his mind, then I definitely need you

Pearl chuckled when she read the messy, bold writing under Riley’s beautiful, elegant print.

I won’t change my mind! I choose Riley St. Claire for my queen. Signed Vox d’Rojah, King

“Is he really a king?” Pearl asked with a raised eyebrow.

Viper bowed his head. “Yes,” he replied in a firm voice. “And he has ordered me to return with you both, whether you wish to go or not.”

“Great! Now that you have that settled,” Bahadur said with a relieved clap of his hands. “Where is the other female?”

Tina glanced over to where Viper was talking quietly with Bahadur. He glanced at her before he nodded. Tina’s eyes narrowed suspiciously when the other man grinned. She rose up when she saw the flash of light as he disappeared.

“You need to warn people before you guys just vanish,” she said crossly, walking over to the bar and picking up the bag of sugar-free jelly beans she’d bought for Tiny.

Tiny’s wife had told her that Tiny’s doctor was worried about his weight and that Tiny was trying to cut back. The problem was, Tiny had a terrible jelly bean sweet tooth. Tina decided to replace the regular jelly beans she kept for Tiny with the sugar free variety after his wife said that would be great.

“He is limiting himself to eight a day. It is his reward to himself for having a good day,” Karen said with a grin. “I love the big guy the way he is, but the doctor said he had to lose some weight.”

“Why only eight?” Tina remembered asking.

“He has cut back from a half pound bag of regular jelly beans a day to eight of the sugar free ones. Trust me, it has made a huge difference. He is addicted to the damn things,” Karen replied with a laugh.

She tried to tear the corner off and almost groaned in frustration when she realized that she would have to get a pair of scissors to open the package. She started when Viper took the package out of her hands and stared at it with a confused frown. He opened the bag and sniffed it.

“What is this?” He asked. “You are sick?”

“No,” Tina replied. “It is candy for Tiny. He likes to reward himself for a good day.”

She watched as he picked a piece of the candy out of the bag. He sniffed it again before he carefully placed it on his tongue. A look of surprise widened his eyes and he slowly chewed on it.

“It has a surprisingly good taste,” he said. “Why are they different colors? Do they taste different?”

Tina rolled her eyes and reached for the bag. He pulled it back and took out several more jelly beans before he reluctantly handed the bag to her. She emptied the contents into the clear plastic container labeled “Tiny’s Sweet Treats”. She had made sure that she posted a warning under the label ‘Do not eat more than eight pieces per day” after reading the consequences on the manufacturer’s label warned that it might cause intestinal discomfort.

“Yes, they each have different flavors. The colors represent the flavors,” she said, picking up the container and walking back to where Pearl was sitting watching them with a speculative look that raised Tina’s warning alarm. “Red is cherry, green is either sour apple or lime, orange is orange, and so forth. Is Riley and your brother really getting married?”

“Yes,” Viper said, watching as Tina carried the colorful jar over to the table. “What are you going to do with those?”

Tina rolled her eyes as she set the container next to her. “I’m going to put them in my office for Tiny so if he has a sweet tooth attack, he can get one,” she said. “Now, I don’t know about Pearl, but I’d like a few questions answered about your brother, where in the hell my sister is, and a couple of other things.”

“Will you give me another one of your sweets if I do?” Viper asked with a raised eyebrow.

Tina stared at Viper for a moment, trying to remember how many he had already eaten of the sugar-free treats. Her eyes ran up and down his long form. He might be able to eat more than the recommended serving with no problems and if it meant she and Pearl learned more about what happened to Riley, it was worth it.

“Sure,” Tina replied with a sweet smile of her own. “You can have as many as you want. I have another bag of them, but I warn you, it says you should only eat the recommended serving.”

*.*.*

Viper bit back the grin of satisfaction threatening to escape him. Carmen’s trick with the white cloth had worked, Tina had accepted his gift of the flowers, and he had gotten rid of Bahadur for a while. His eyes glittered with triumph. He would have the females back on the
Horizon
before they knew what happened and he would have Tina in his bed, preferably under him.

Mate good,
his cat purred.
She give treat. She like us.

Yes,
Viper agreed as he tossed a handful of the multi-colored beans into his mouth.

Viper sat down at the table, smiling at Tina when she pushed the jar of sweets closer to him. He spent the next hour patiently answering her and Pearl’s questions. The questions he couldn’t answer, he either skirted or made a non-committal response to. He didn’t want to frighten Tina or her grandmother with some of the darker sides to their world, including their current fight against traitors that were still trying to bring down their rule or the fear of whether there was the danger to their very existence.

Instead, he glossed over it. Before he knew it, he had almost finished off the jar of colorful beans. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as his stomach twisted. Even his cat was moaning. Viper opened his mouth to answer a question from Pearl when the door to the bar opened.

He turned in his seat, wincing as a sharp pain pierced him again. It reminded him of the one time when he had Tiliqua Flu. He vaguely wondered if there was an Earth variety that he was susceptible to.

“Are you friends with the aliens now?” Tiny finally asked from where he was standing by the door looking at the three people sitting at the table. “I hope so cause I don’t have no more darts.”

“Come on in, Tiny,” Pearl called out. “You can keep your darts. He came to give us a wedding invitation. Riley’s getting married to a king.”

“Oh,” Tiny said, looking back and forth before he closed the door behind him. “That’s nice, I guess.”

Viper watched as the human male cautiously walked over to the table and sat down. He pushed the jar away from him when he saw the male’s eyes light up with delight. His stomach twisted painfully again and for a moment, he felt like his intestines were about to explode. A slight bead of sweat broke out on his brow and he half wondered if he could make it back to the
Horizon
.

“Are these the sugar free ones?” Tiny asked as he picked up a red jelly bean.

Tina smiled at the male. “Yes, Karen told me about your diet,” she replied. “They are the sugar free ones.”

Tiny nodded and popped the jelly bean in his mouth before he reached over and picked up the lid to it. Viper watched in painful silence as the man carefully twisted the lid on it. He wished to hell he had done that about half a container before.

“You have to be careful with them,” Tiny said with a grimace. “I ate like eighty of them and spent the next twenty-four hours in the bathroom. Those things are better than Ex-lax.”

Viper shifted as the pressure in his lower abdomen increased. “Ex-lax?” He asked.

Tiny nodded. “Yeah, you know, a laxative. Too many of those jelly beans and you’ll be blowing out your plumbing for a while. How many have you eaten?” Tiny asked, looking at Viper’s pale, twisted face.

“Too many,” Viper forced out through gritted teeth as he stared at Tina’s innocent smile.

“Oops,” she said sweetly. “I guess I should have warned you.”

Viper closed his eyes and counted to ten as another twist to his gut told him it was time to return to the privacy of his cabin to deal with the effects of the tasty, but painfully horrible, colorful beans. He opened his eyes and rose from the chair. The movement was enough to make him wince. His damn cat was curled into a ball, snickering between moans.

Mate is sneaky,
his cat groaned.
Good, but sneaky.

Viper ignored his cat’s reflection and carefully stepped away from the table. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he focused on controlling his rebelling intestines. With a surprisingly steady hand, he touched the communicator at his collar.

“I’ll return with the papers this evening,” Viper bit out with a last glare at Tina. “One to beam up.”

*.*.*

Pearl looked at Tina as she melted into a fit of giggles. “That was bad,” Pearl grinned. “I feel for him. I had a small bag of the things once and thought I was dying about a half hour later.”

“They should be labeled lethal weapons,” Tiny said with a nod. “I didn’t listen to Karen when she warned me, either, the first time. I’ve learned since then. As long as I only eat about eight to ten of them, I’m okay, anymore and I’m ready for a colonoscopy.”

“Yew,” Tina said with a shudder. “TMI, Tiny, TMI. Listen, I still have a lot to do before we open,” Tina replied with a tired sigh. “I’m going to take Ruby upstairs for the night and grab a sandwich. I’ll be down in a half hour to help you finish up.”

“We’ve got it covered,” Pearl commented. “The two new guys are working out pretty good. They don’t know shit about mixing drinks, but they can cook, which is fine by me as I hate working the kitchen.”

“Thanks, grandma,” Tina said as she stood up.

“You know that boy can’t keep his eyes off you, don’t you?” Pearl commented, standing up as well.

Tina paused as she bent to pick Ruby up. She carefully straightened and stared at her grandmother. Yes, she had noticed that Viper d’Rojah had a tendency to stare at her. She also remembered his kiss the other day. It had haunted her every waking, and most of her sleeping, moments. She swallowed and glanced down at Ruby. A small smile pulled at her lips when the chicken picked at a thread on her shirt.

“He might not be so enthusiastic after this afternoon,” Tina murmured.

Pearl’s soft chuckle drew a wider smile to her lips. “True, after he blows out the plumbing on his alien warship, none of them might be very happy,” Pearl laughed.

Tina just smiled at her grandmother and turned to retreat upstairs for a few minutes of quiet time. She slowly climbed the stairs leading up to her apartment. A low sigh escaped her. Aliens might be Riley’s cup of tea, but Tina wasn’t ready for even the human kind.

She paused at the door to her apartment in shock as she realized that the sense of panic that normally made her sick at her stomach when a guy got too close to her hadn’t been there when Viper kissed her. There had not been any of the choking fear. Frowning, she thought about what kind of feelings there had been and she was stunned to discover that the only one that she could put a name to was… pleasure.

She had felt pleasure and a sense of being safe and protected. Her hand trembled as she pushed the key into the lock and pushed the door open. She set Ruby down on the hardwood floor and closed the door. This was going to take time for her to absorb. Since the attack in high school, she had suffered panic attacks whenever a guy came too close to her. Now, an alien from another world had changed that.

“Oh shit,” she whispered, leaning back against the front door. “What do I do now?”