Viper's Defiant Mate (4 page)

This time it was Viper’s turn to frown. He swallowed the rest of his drink, feeling the fire as it race through him. The realization that Bahadur was stuck doing the same thing as he was pulled a startled chuckle out of him. The more he thought of it, the more ironic humor he found in it. Unable to contain his amusement at their predicament, the chuckle turned into a deep, rusty laugh. It took several minutes before he could answer Bahadur’s question.

“Vox has sent me to deliver some documents to his mate’s sister and return with the female and vicious grandmother,” he finally replied with a deep sigh. “He sends a prince to babysit a couple of females.”

Bahadur reached for the bottle next to him again and held it out to Viper with a sympathetic smile. Viper took the bottle, emptying the last of the liquid into his glass. He set the bottle on the table next to him and held his glass up to where Bahadur was holding his out. The slight ring of glass on glass echoed through the room.

“To Princes, wayward Curizan Admirals, and unusual human females,” Bahadur chuckled. “May the Goddess look down and have pity on the first two, and give us the last as a reward.”

Viper grimaced at the taste, but pulled his glass back and took a sip of his drink. He wondered vaguely if Bahadur had another bottle hidden somewhere. Satisfaction brightened his eyes until they were glowing when he saw another bottle appear. Tonight, he would not worry about their arrival on Earth. Tomorrow, if his head was going to hurt as he suspected it might from the amount he was drinking, he hoped he just didn’t care.

“May the Goddess make this trip smooth and painless,” Viper said as he raised his glass again.

Not likely,
his cat sneezed in distaste as the burning fire swirled inside Viper.
Human women not what you think. Want me a Riley.

No, we don’t,
Viper retorted silently with a shudder before he filled his glass again and again.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Clifford Knockletter demanded as he shut the back door to the bail bond office.

Douglas Knockletter’s head jerked up from where he was sitting in the chair behind his desk. He emitted a moan as pain radiated out from his jaw and mouth. A cold, damp cloth was pressed against his busted lip. In his left hand, he clutched his missing bottom front tooth.

“What the fuck does it look like?” Douglas growled up at his father. “God, I never thought there could be two vicious bitches in the world like Riley, but there is.”

“Are you telling me a woman did this to you?” Clifford demanded, stepping into the room and sitting down in the chair across from his son. He casually tossed his hat onto the desk and sat back, looking at his only son with disgust. “Who was she and what did she want?”

Douglas sank back wearily in the chair and gazed moodily at his father. He was a hard son-of-a-bitch who ruled Righteous, New Mexico with an iron fist. Two-thirds of the town members were scared shitless, the other one third was either dead or on the payroll.

“Tina St. Claire, Riley’s sister. She came looking for Riley,” Douglas muttered, wincing as he dabbed at the cut on his lip. “She asked about Cuello.”

A low, harsh curse exploded from Clifford’s mouth. He glared at Douglas and leaned forward. His mouth was tight and there was a dangerous look in his eyes.

“What did she say?” Clifford asked in a cold voice.

Douglas shrugged his shoulders. “Not much,” he admitted. “She wanted to know why we were laundering money and who Javier Cuello was.”

“That’s all?” Clifford asked suspiciously, never taking his eyes off of Douglas’ bruised face. “She just came in here, asked about money laundering, Cuello, and then proceeded to beat the shit out of you while you did nothing?”

“No,” Douglas snorted angrily, glaring back at his father. “I was trying to get information out of her about Riley. The bitch hit me with a hammer in the fucking jaw! She hit me so hard she knocked my fucking tooth out!” He snarled, opening his left hand and tossing the tooth onto the desk. “Then, she handcuffed me to the fucking radiator while I was unconscious. Did I mention that she
hit
me in the face with a fucking
hammer
?!”

Clifford’s eyes narrowed on the tooth. Rage and fear coursed through him. Cuello wasn’t a man you messed with. The crazy South American had men working for him that liked to kill for fun. He didn’t hire men who got their asses handed to them on a platter by a woman, much less the chubby brunette that had been walking down the street.

“Did she take anything? Did you tell her anything?” Clifford asked in a quiet, urgent voice, looking back at Douglas. “What did you tell her?”

“I didn’t tell her a fucking thing!” Douglas snapped defensively before a frown creased his brow. “I told her I wanted to find her sister too. I told her… I told her that she could tell her hello when they met in hell.”

Clifford rose up out of the chair and turned to stare at the back wall. Running a hand down his face, his mind raced. They had to find Riley St. Claire and now her sister. The bitches could destroy everything. Riley had taken enough information to at least open an investigation, an investigation that would lead them to the bodies of the dead agent and half a dozen other men.

“Did she take anything?” Clifford asked in a quiet voice, turning to stare down at his son’s worried face.

“I… I don’t think so,” Douglas replied, opening the top drawer in the desk. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a manila folder that his dad had given him that morning. It contained their overseas account numbers. It also contained pictures that they could use as blackmail against Cuello if he tried anything. Pulling it out, he opened it and paled. Frantically thumbing through it, his hands began to shake when all he saw was blank white papers. “Oh, God. No!” He choked out.

“What is it?” Clifford asked.

Douglas swallowed as he looked up at his dad. They were dead if they didn’t get the information back. If Tina St. Claire turned the information over to the police in San Diego, they would never make it to jail. Part of the contained locations, maps, even photos of some very high powered U.S. politicians in very compromising positions.

“She took everything,” he whispered.

*.*.*

One week later:

“Tina, did you get that order in for the beer?” Grandma Pearl’s muffled voice echoed from behind the bar. “Hah! Another treasure trove.”

“It should be here by ten o’clock,” Tina replied, stepping out of her office. “What are you doing now?”

Tina’s eyes glittered with amusement when she saw a flash of red feathers coming out from behind the bar where her grandmother was obviously at. She grinned and bent down to open her arms. A moment later, Ruby, Tina’s pet hen, lay nestled in her arms.

Pearl St. Claire’s short crop of silver white hair popped up from where she had been looking under the bar. Tina bit back a grin when she saw three light brown eggs in her hands. Ruby, a six month old Orpington Chicken, had been a surprise early one morning when Tina went to throw out some trash and discovered the poor chick in a box by the dumpster. Tina figured someone had second thoughts about giving the bird as an Easter present.

She had brought the chick inside and it had adopted her and Pearl, following them everywhere. During non-business hours, Tina allowed Ruby to pretty much run free. During the evenings, she stayed with her in her office or upstairs in her ‘coop’ that Tiny had built for her.

“We now have eggs,” Pearl commented. “This is the third batch I’ve found in the past week.”

Tina watched her grandmother carefully wash the eggs before placing them on a bar towel. At fifty-eight, Pearl looked more like she was in her mid-forties. Her hair was a silver-white and cut short, so she could spike it. She was a tall woman, almost six feet in her bare feet. The warm glow of her blue eyes reminded Tina so much of Riley, that she had to blink back the flash of burning in her eyes.

Pearl was wearing her usual black tank top covered by a black leather jacket with silver grommets on it and black leather pants tucked into knee high black boots. The stark contrast of her pale skin made her look… like a pearl.

“Fresh eggs are good for you. We can sell them, too. By the way, I like your new earrings,” Tina commented as she set Ruby down onto one of the bar stools and slid onto the one next to her. “They have a lot of movement.”

“Silver Forest, darling,” Pearl replied with a frown. “The damn wire to the alarm under the bar was cut.”

“Cut?” Tina repeated in surprise. “Do you think something got caught on it.”

“Hell, no,” Pearl grumbled. “It was sliced with a knife or scissors. When I find out who did it, I’m going to bust their balls. Safety is…”

“Something you take seriously, otherwise you end up dead,” Tina finished with a sigh as she quoted Pearl rule number five. She reached over and ran her hand down over Ruby’s silky feathers when Ruby clucked at Pearl’s tone. “Why would anyone here cut it? They know you had it installed in case some idiot goes bat shit and tries to either bust up the bar or rob it.”

“Yeah, well, someone must have missed the memo,” Pearl snorted. “I want you to check the video and see if you can tell who did it.”

Tina sighed and pushed her thick hair back over her shoulder. She had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off ever since she got back from Righteous, New Mexico a week ago. She cast an apologetic glance at Ruby, thankful the chicken couldn’t read her thoughts. Still, the bar had been a mess when she returned.

It appeared that some biker wanna be’s made the mistake of picking on some of the locals. She had arrived ‘home’ in time to sidestep the body that came flying out of the door. Craig, aka Tiny Johnson their bouncer, was helping Randy and Trey, two of the locals who liked to hang out at
The White Pearl
, escort the instigators out of the bar after a fight broke out at the pool tables.

Pearl hadn’t wanted to file an insurance claim. Instead, she threatened those involved with a lawsuit if they didn’t pay for the damage. It turned out that two of the weekend warriors were attorneys and one was an insurance adjuster. They had quickly paid up to avoid Pearl filing a police and insurance report.

Tina glanced at the four new chairs, two new tables, and complete set of brand new pool sticks hanging on the wall. She had been the one to get estimates, order the items, and have a local contractor come in to fix the holes in the wall.

During the repairs, their phones had stopped working. Tina figured one of the men replacing the sheet rock must have cut through a wire. The phone company had sent out a guy to repair the phones, but now there was an annoying click on it every time she tried to use it. She had finally given up using the landline and started using her cell phone.

If that hadn’t been enough to deal with, two of their employees had unexpectedly quit and she was forced to cover for them on top of everything else. Fortunately, Pearl was a pro behind the bar and could handle it while Tina worked the back. She released a tired sigh.

“What is it, luv?” Pearl asked as she stopped and leaned against the bar so she could look at Tina. “Have I told you how proud I am of you for helping out the way you’ve been doing?”

Tina chuckled and shook her head. “You mean without complaining?” She teased before the smile on her lips faded. Reaching over, Tina gently lifted the sleeping chicken into her arms and cuddled it against her breast. “Grandma, where do you think Riley is?”

*.*.*

Pearl’s eyes clouded for a moment before a mischievous, determined light filled them. She was worried about her oldest granddaughter, but she also had a gut feeling that Riley wasn’t dead. She had known the moment when Teri, Riley and Tina’s mother and her only child, had died. A gapping hole had opened in her gut even before she received the phone call from the Los Angeles Police department.

She had learned a long time ago to trust her gut. It had been a painful lesson, but she would be the first to admit that she could be a little hard-headed. She had fallen like a ton of bricks for Teri’s father when she was barely seventeen. He had been in the Army and their one night together had produced her beautiful daughter. Her parents had kicked her out of the house when they found out. She hadn’t cared. She had faced the world with the defiance that only someone as naïve as a young girl in love could.

It hadn’t been easy, but she had never asked for easy. She had worked any and every job she could to provide a good home for her daughter, but it hadn’t been enough. Teri had fallen into the wrong crowd when she was fifteen. Pearl had done everything she could to help her daughter, but it hadn’t been enough.

Pushing the memories away, she straightened and smiled at where Tina sat stroking a damn chicken that thought she was a dog. For a brief moment, she could see a little of Teri in Tina’s beautiful brown eyes. Reaching across the bar, she squeezed Tina’s arm in reassurance. Their family might be small and somewhat dysfunctional, and decidedly strange, but there was one thing about it that no one could deny… they loved each other, fiercely.

“She’s out there kicking ass is where she is,” Pearl replied in a soft, confident voice. “If I were you, Tina, I’d be feeling more sorry for whoever has gotten in her way.”

Pearl released a sigh of relief when she saw the twinkle come back in her youngest granddaughter’s eyes. Looking around the bar, Pearl let her eyes survey it. She had inherited it from her former boyfriend. She had never married. After her experience with Teri’s father, it was as if a wall of ice had encased her heart. She had met Rodney when she was forty-five and they had been together for almost ten years before he died. He hadn’t been perfect, but he had been a good man and she had cared deeply for him.

“I hired a couple of guys to handle the bar and the kitchen,” Pearl commented as she picked up a tray of clean glasses from under the counter.

Dismay flashed across Tina’s face. “Did you interview them first?” she asked with a frown, setting Ruby down on the floor when she started to wiggle. “Did you get a background check on them? Drug test? Anything, before you gave them the job?”

Pearl flashed a grin over her shoulder as she pushed the door to the back kitchen opened. “Of course not, that is what I have my accountant for,” she chuckled before the swinging door closed behind her.

*.*.*

“Accountants are supposed to handle finances, not human resource,” Tina grumbled before she dropped her head and laid her forehead on her folded arms that were lying on the bar. A low groan escaped her. Pearl was dynamite at running the bar, but she had about a fifty-fifty rate of picking the right employees.

“Make that ten percent okay and ninety percent totally awful,” Tina groaned under her breath.

The sound of the door opening behind her forced her to raise her head. Turning on the stool, her eyes widened when she saw the silhouette of two large men in the doorway. The sun pouring in behind them cast a dark shadow over their features. They were both too muscular to be Craig, who weighed in at over three hundred and fifty pounds, and was more of a round, cuddly teddy bear than a lithe tiger.

Dismay coursed through her when the men stepped into the bar and the door closed behind them. With the blinding light cut off, she could finally see them clearer. Her eyes locked with the man standing in the front. His dark brown eyes had hints of gold in them. Tina resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she saw the slightly elongated pupils. All he needed was to have a tail coming out of his ass to complete his costume.