Viper's Defiant Mate (5 page)

Her eyes swept down his tall frame covered in as much black leather as her grandmother. Her gaze finally returned to his face and she released an inelegant snort as she slid off the bar stool. The frustration of the last week snapped at this final straw.

“Great!” Tina growled under her breath. “Pearl has hired a couple of male strippers this time. So much for all my efforts to pull
The White Pearl
up into a classier joint.”

“Pearl!” Tina snapped as she glared in distaste at the man staring at her with wide, almost shocked, deer-in-the-headlight eyes. “The guys you hired are here. I’ve got work to do. You handle them. Come on, Ruby, we’ve got work to do.”

She didn’t bother to turn when she heard the swinging door opened as Pearl walked back into the main part of the bar. Instead, she focused on retreating to the office located down the hall. Pausing long enough to make sure she didn’t slam the door on Ruby, she snapped the door to her office close with a resounding thump before she turned and clutched her fists into a ball. Leaning back against the door, she emitted a small scream before counting to ten.

“I really wish I was a violent person,” she finally muttered as she opened her eyes and stared at her neatly organized desk before she glanced wearily at the plump hen that was scratching at her blanket in the corner. “I could really use smashing something right about now to help relieve my urge to kill my grandmother.”

Tina shook her head at Ruby. The chicken just sank down into the small nest she had made in the blanket and closed her eyes. For a moment, Tina wondered if she could live off the fresh eggs Ruby was laying if she quit her job. Deciding she couldn’t, she sank down into her chair and tried to forget the startled dark eyes of the man in the other room. Something told her it was going to be a very long day.

Viper stood frozen just inside the door. His eyes staring blindly down the now empty corridor where the human female had disappeared. He stumbled a step forward when he felt a hand push him between the shoulder blades.

“You’re blocking the way,” Bahadur muttered as he stepped around Viper. “What is this place? He reminds me of some of the drinking establishments back home.”

“It is called a bar,” Viper murmured distractedly.

“Who the hell are you and what do you want?” The older female asked as she stepped around the bar. She was drying her hands on a white cloth as she studied them. A part of him registered that this must be the one Riley called Grandma Pearl. If that was so then the other one must be…

“Silence female, we are here to take you with us,” Bahadur stated with a wave of his hand toward the corridor. “I will take this one. You get the other.”

Somewhere in the back of Viper’s mind a small warning bell went off. He blinked several times as he tried to figure out what it was he should remember. Fragments of Riley telling him about her grandmother… Warnings of… His head turned to look at where the older woman stood still, watching them through narrowed eyes.

“Riley said the old woman was vicious,” Viper warned as Bahadur started toward her. “Proceed with caution.”

Bahadur glanced over his shoulder at Viper with a look of disbelief. “Vicious? She is old, human… and female! I could take her with my eyes closed.”

“Yeah, well hun, I’d keep them open if I were you,” Pearl’s cold voice injected. “You’re going to need it to see where you’re running.”

Both men turned to look at Pearl again. This time, a look of doubt came into their eyes when they saw that she had a weapon pressed firmly against her shoulder. The barrel of the weapon was short, but the two holes at the end promised that whatever came out of it was guaranteed to hurt.

“Salt,” Viper muttered. “Riley says she shoots salt, so that it does not harm a person.”

Bahadur’s lip curled. “I told you that she is harmless,” he replied. “Get the other female.”

“Tina!” Pearl yelled at the top of her voice. “Code Red! You sorry ass sons-of-bitches. What have you done with my granddaughter?”

Viper raised his hands up. He jerked his head to Bahadur when he glanced at him to do the same. Bahadur released a sigh and folded his arms across his chest instead. Viper knew he should have refused the Curizan Admiral when he suggested he come with him.

“My brother has taken her as his mate,” Viper stated, taking a step closer to the bar. “She belongs to him now. He has sent me to retrieve her sister and her vicious grandmother. You are the one called Grandma Pearl, yes?”

His hands slowly lowered when he saw the slight lift at the corner of Pearl’s lips. Smiles were good. Females who smiled were happy. They did what a male wanted them to do when they were happy.

“Where is Riley?” The woman asked again. This time she said it in a slow, measured tone. “Who are you?”

Bahadur released an impatient sigh behind him. “Just take the female,” he said impatiently. “I wish to go find me a female to fuck. Adalard has already gone to find the one Ariel made him promise to see. You can explain all of this to them once you have them contained on the ship.”

“Ship,” Pearl snarled. “White slave traders. I’ll show you what happens when you mess with a St. Claire, you arrogant prick!”

Viper fell back a step when he heard the clicking sound of the weapon in Pearl’s hands. His cat was hissing a warning at the same time that Bahadur must have realized that things were not what they seemed. Exasperated with both the Curizan and the old woman, Viper turned to order Bahadur to wait outside.

His cat’s loud hiss of warning exploded through his mind at the same time as his ass lit on fire. The burning scent of an explosive stung his nose and his ears rang as the weapon in the female’s hands discharged. The impact pushed him into Bahadur.

His wide, surprised eyes collided with the astonished gaze of Bahadur. He opened his mouth to admonish the Curizan when his ears caught the sound of another click. In his mind’s eyes the vision of two barrels formed, warning him he was about to feel the wrath of Riley’s grandmother again. Fury poured through him and he gripped Bahadur’s forearms and twisted just as the second charge resonated across the room.

“
Guall’s balls
!” Bahadur hissed as the pellets of rock salt hit him across his back, buttocks, and lower legs.

“Riley said her grandmother was vicious,” Viper snapped as he glanced over Bahadur’s shoulder at Pearl St. Claire.

“Well, don’t use me as your bloody shield!” Bahadur retorted.

Viper’s eyes widened when he saw the older female pull another weapon out from under the bar. This one looked more menacing than the last one. “Look…”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. Bahadur’s body stiffened in surprise. Viper started to grab the Curizan as he began to collapse in his arms, but a sharp thud and an annoying sting made him look down. The blurred image of a dart embedded in his shoulder startled him. Turning his head in slow motion to look at where it came from, he saw the shape of a huge male standing in the corridor that Riley’s sister had gone down. The human male was holding a slightly different type of weapon in his hands than Pearl had used.

I… should… have… listened… to Riley,
Viper thought as he slid down into a numb darkness, a shiver of unease coursing through him as Riley’s grandmother’s words translated into his brain.

“Hot damn! Who needs the police when you have animal control as your bouncer. Good shot, Tiny.”

*.*.*

“You should call the police,” a soft voice hissed. “Let them deal with this.”

“What? And lose the only chance we have to find Riley? Not in this lifetime. The police couldn’t find their ass in a butt-wiping contest,” the familiar voice of the old woman known as Pearl replied. “No, I’ll get the information we need even if it means removing their balls with a nut cracker.”

“Yew, Pearl, give a guy a break,” a deep, masculine voice complained. “Just the thought is enough to make mine hurt in sympathy.”

Viper blinked several times to clear his vision. He bit back a silent groan when he realized he was lying on the floor of a small room. His eyes landed on Bahadur’s still face. He tried to move his arms, but they were tied behind his back. His feet were also bound and there was something sitting on his chest. Glancing down, a low hiss escaped him when he saw a red feathered creature trying to remove one of the fastenings on his vest. The damn thing paused, but didn’t stop.

He was about to say something when Bahadur’s eyes popped open. Vibrant color swirled in his eyes warning Viper that the Curizan Admiral was pissed. A low snarl escaped him at the same time as Bahadur moved in a blur of speed.

“Bahadur, no!” Viper growled.

Rage surged through Viper and he snapped the restraints as if they were nothing more than a piece of string. The movement sent the creature pulling at his fastening flying with a burst of red feathers and loud clucking. Viper ignored it as he rolled and jumped to his feet in time to see Bahadur wrap his arm around the curvy figure of Tina St. Claire. His cat, fearing the Curizan would hurt the female, released a loud, feral snarl. He could feel his cat fighting to get free.

Mine!
It hissed.
Kill Curizan. My female.

Viper vaguely heard Pearl’s loud expletive even as he leaned forward, allowing the change to come over him. Bahadur, realizing that Viper had lost control cursed and thrust the human female away from him. He called on the energy around him and formed a shield just as the powerful cat, easily the size of one of Earth’s prehistoric Sabretooth tigers, attacked.

The force of the huge, black tiger hitting the energy shield knocked Bahadur back against the wall of the small office. Viper snapped his sharp teeth at Bahadur’s neck. His claws raked at the shield the Curizan had hastily formed.

“Control your damn cat, Viper,” Bahadur snarled. “I’m on your side.”

The solid black tiger released a vicious snarled and snapped again. The shield weakened briefly when the tiger swept his tail under it and wrapped around one of Bahadur’s ankles. With a swift jerk, the tiger pulled the other man off balance.

“Goddess’ blood, Viper,” Bahadur snapped as he fell.

Viper’s cat roared in triumphed when Bahadur’s shield slipped and his claws encountered the Curizan’s leather vest. He was just lowering his head when he felt the familiar sting in his left hind quarter. Whipping his head around to attack the huge human male that had shot him the first time; instead, he found his gaze locked with a pair of very frightened, but very determined brown eyes. His back legs collapsed as the drug in the dart took effect.

Viper felt his body rolling to the side as Bahadur pushed him off of him. Viper tried to raise his head, but already he could see the dark edges around his vision. He blinked as he studied Tina St. Claire. Her legs were slightly parted and she was biting her bottom lip as she held the weapon that fired the red darts between the palms of her hands. He had never seen anything more… beautiful.

My mate,
his cat purred.

Guall’s balls,
Viper thought hazily before darkness swept over him again.
I’m going to kill Vox for this.

“Your turn, sweetheart,” Pearl voice echoed through his head right before he heard Bahadur’s curse fade away.

Tina stared glumly at the male lying on his side in the cage that Tiny had brought in from the back of his truck. They had placed this one in the big animal cage while they had locked the other in the hall closet. Luckily, it was still early. The bar wouldn’t be opening until four today.

Pearl was handling the beer delivery while Tiny guarded the closet door across from the bathrooms. They had wiggled the cage into Tina’s office since it was easier, and about as far as any of them wanted to move the big cat… man… whatever he was. Tiny had given her his dart pistol, but warned her he only had one dart left.

“They aren’t going to be happy if they know I done used four darts,” Tiny complained. “I’m only supposed to use them in cases of emergency.”

“Well, I think this qualifies as an emergency, Tiny,” Pearl snorted. “Take my shotgun. I’ve reloaded it, this time with buckshot.”

“I got my own gun,” Tiny said with a shake of his head. “You keep it, Pearl.”

“Tina, you okay watching that one?” Pearl asked, nodding her head at the huge black cat snoring in the cage. “I can watch him if you want, hun.”

“No,” Tina said as she glanced up at her grandmother. “I… I think I hear the beer guy. You always handle the deliveries. I’ll be fine.”

“Shoot him if he tries anything,” Pearl ordered as she stepped up and ran her hand over Tina’s hair. “I’m proud of you, girl. You did good.”

Tina tilted her head against her grandmother’s hand. “Thanks, Grandma,” she whispered.

The only time Tina ever referred to Pearl as Grandma was when she was scared. Tina discovered at a young age that the kids wanted to know why she was living with her grandmother and not her mom and dad. Riley still referred to Pearl as Grandma Pearl, but by middle school Tina had dropped it and just referred to her as Pearl.

Except when I’m scared,
she thought as she stared at the huge male curled up in the cage.
And this definitely qualifies for one of those moments.

Pearl and Tiny hadn’t been in the room when the man who turned into a cat, turned back into a man… or whatever in the hell he was called. Was there such a thing as a Werecat? She wondered vaguely.

“You are very beautiful,” a deep voice said, startling her back to the present.

Tina couldn’t help the scowl that darkened her face. It would appear guys were the same, no matter what they were. They all thought a few sweet words and a girl was supposed to roll over and lose all her brain cells. She had enough of that over the years to last her a lifetime.

“No, I’m not letting you out,” Tina replied before he could open his mouth. “So don’t bother asking. And…,” she added, raising her hand and showing him the dart gun. “If you try to get out, I’ll shoot your ass again.”

*.*.*

Viper grunted as he stiffly sat up, well, tried to sit up. He had to bend over at an uncomfortable angle so his head wouldn’t hit the thick bars at the top. His nose wrinkled at the faint smell of another creature that clung to the cage. His legs were bent at an odd angle as well, making his entrapment a very unpleasant experience.

“Is it possible to at least open the door of this… cage?” He asked with a look of distaste on his face. “It is a little cramped in here.”

He watched as one delicate eyebrow rose and a hint of a smile curved her lips. Smiles were good. Well, they were supposed to be good. He decided he would give her one of his most charming. The females on his world, including his own mother, could never resist it.

Giving her a lopsided grin, he flashed his sharp teeth at her. His head bounced off the top of the cage when he felt the thud of another dart striking him in the chest. Looking down at it, he raised his hand to wrap his fingers around the thin cylinder and pulled it out of his skin.

“Why… Why did you do that?” He asked, looking at her in confusion, even as he felt his body tilting backwards.

“Show your teeth at me again, buddy, and the next time it will be a real bullet,” she snapped.

So much for smile,
his cat grumbled.
You scare mate.

I am really beginning to hate these damn females,
Viper thought as his head hit the hard metal again.

*.*.*

“I don’t think you are supposed to shoot an animal that many times, Tina,” the male was saying when Viper woke for the third time. “The book I studied for the test said you were supposed to calculate the weight of the animal…”

Viper’s head was about to explode, the pounding in his ears drowned out the rest of the man’s words. He remained still, afraid to move lest he disgrace himself by vomiting all over himself, and grimaced as the rest of his body began to pulsing in time with his head. He wondered if Bahadur was having any better luck.

“Well, the other bastard will be down for at least half an hour,” Pearl was saying. “I had to Taser his ass twice. The first time to knock him down, the second to shut him up. These are some strong ass sons-of-bitches.”

A shudder went through Viper. He remembered Lodar, the
Shifter’s
Chief Medical Officer, Vox’s friend, and fellow captive, telling him of Riley using such a device on his brother. He said it was almost as bad as the spray she used on both Vox and Tor, the
Shifter’s
Chief of Engineering.

“Tor said he had never been in so much pain in his life. He stated that his eyes burned like fire and he came close to begging me to just rip them out,” Lodar had told him. “Vox was not in much better shape. The thing called a Taser… Stay far away from it. It sends powerful shocks through us and disrupts our cats. They get very cranky.”

“What are we going to do with them? The bar is supposed to open in ten minutes. Already, the two new guys are giving you looks like you are crazy,” the human male said.

“Bring the other male in here,” Tina ordered. “Pearl, do you still have those handcuffs that Rodney gave you?”

“Handcuffs?” The male repeated in surprise. “Damn, Pearl, I don’t think I want to know what you did with those.” The sound of a slap sounded, followed by the man’s complaint.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Tiny,” Pearl snapped. “Rodney found them for a Halloween costume party.”

“Yeah,” the male named Tiny mumbled. “Like anyone would believe that”

“Go get the other male,” Pearl ordered. “I’ll cover you.”

The sound of a chair squeaking sounded unusually loud in Viper’s ears, but he remained still. A moment later, he heard the shuffle of feet as the male and Pearl returned. He watched as Bahadur’s twitching body was dropped next to the cage. The male leaned over and attached a metal restraint to Bahadur’s right wrist before he attached the other end to the metal bar of the cage.

“Sorry, man,” the huge male whispered. “I just work here.”

“I… will… k… kill… you… all,” Bahadur gritted through his teeth.

“Yeah, well, good luck,” Tiny grumbled. “I’ve seen some weird shit, but nothing these St. Claire women can’t handle.”

“Tiny, cover the door,” Pearl said. “People are going to be coming in. I need to check on the new guys and cover the bar. Tina…”

“I’m good,” Tina replied with a grim smile. “Pearl rule number seven, always stay alert and don’t let your guard down.”

“Was that number seven?” Tiny asked. “Damn, I need to check my notes. I thought that was number nine.”

The exasperated sigh of Pearl St. Claire echoed in the room. “Go,” she ordered. “If you need anything, hun, press the panic button. Tiny and I will be checking in on you.”

“Go, I’ve got this covered,” Tina insisted.

Viper listened as the male and Riley’s grandmother left the room. His eyes were still focused on Bahadur’s tense face. Bahadur’s eyes were closed and his body still jerked in odd spasms, but Viper knew the Curizan was fighting the effects of the powerful electrical shock by the muscle twitching in his jaw and the faint glow around his clenched fist.

Viper slowly rolled over onto his back. He made sure he didn’t make any sudden moves that might startle Tina St. Claire. Their eyes locked again. Neither one of them said anything for several long moments. They just assessed the other. Viper was very careful to keep his teeth hidden when he finally spoke.

“I mean you no harm,” he said in a hoarse voice.

*.*.*

Tina stared into the dark brown eyes. She vaguely noted the yellow-gold specks and slight slant of them. Between his facial features and his accent, he looked like he could have come from somewhere in the Eastern European area. Her eyes flickered to his lips. His teeth were definitely from somewhere else.

Drawing in a deep breath to steady her nerves, she nodded for him to continue. Her eyes flickered past him briefly to Bahadur. The Curizan was lying very still.

“Go on,” she ordered in a husky voice. “Who are you?”

Viper slowly sat up. He had to pull his knees up and place his hands on the floor of the cage to steady himself as a wave of dizziness washed through him. His cat was in worse shape than he was. Images of it lying sprawled out on its back, its legs twisted around in an impossible angle, and its mouth slightly open flashed through him.

You are worthless,
he silently growled at it.

Peering up at Tina through the bars, Viper scowled. “I am Viper d’Rojah, Prince of the Sarafin,” he forced out.

“What are you doing here? What do you want?” Tina asked as she returned his steely gaze with one of her own.

“My brother sent me here,” Viper replied. “I was ordered to deliver some documents to you.”

“What kind of documents? From who?” She demanded.

Viper reached up and ran his hand down over his face. “From your sister, Riley St. Claire. She is my brother’s mate and my… Queen.” He paused when he saw her eyes widen before she gave an inelegant snort.

“Riley… You think Riley is your queen?” Tina asked in disbelief. “Do you really expect me to believe this? Riley couldn’t even get a date to the prom and you think she is some guy’s queen?”

The scowl on Viper’s face darkened. “Not some guy. Vox d’Rojah, King of the Sarafin,” he retorted.

“And where is this Sarafin?” She asked in a calm voice.

“Far away from your star system,” he replied.

“So you are telling me you are an alien? You’re not some kind of Frankenstein lab rat that has been mutated by some crazy mad scientist in a secret government lab somewhere?” She asked, tilting her head to the side to stare down at him.

“Of course not!” Viper snapped. “We are a cat-shifting species gifted our powers by the Goddesses from a distant galaxy.”

“And I’m the tooth fairy,” Tina replied with a sardonic grin. “I would have believed the Franken-rat story first.”

“Perhaps, you’ll believe this,” a voice from behind her suddenly said a second before the gun was ripped out of her hand.

Tina started to rise from the chair she was sitting in by the desk when she felt a slight pressure against her neck. Her body stiffened before her eyes fluttered close. The last thought before she lost consciousness was the fact that her grandmother had forgotten to add rules about alien visitors to her list.