Viper's Hope (Anguis Defenders Book 1) (21 page)

Hope moved to give Justice a hug. She was so freaking happy to see his sweet little face, she could barely contain it. Hope forgot how wonderful their banter was.

"I'm a good guy. My name is Viper."

"He's my friend." Hope told the two children.

"Oh good." Justice relaxed. "Cause I lost my ninja sword." Justice whispered, which was so loud the room heard it.

Hope tried not to laugh as she squeezed him then Charity. Kids were so funny with how they processed the world around them.

"We will have to find you a new one then." Viper said as Hope helped Charity out of the hibernation bed.

"He's not allowed to have it because he hit me with it." Charity told Viper looking very serious.

"Well you shouldn't call me names." Justice informed his sister.

"Justice, Charity." Hope exclaimed, putting a halt to things before they devolved.

"God, I love them." She silently grinned.

They were carrying on without a care in the world. More concerned with who was right than even the 'X-man' character in the room. Hope had to admit Viper was pretty bad ass like that. She herself thought Viper reminded her of one of the characters too, probably since she'd watched the movies and cartoons at her sister's house.

"You must always remember to protect females, never hit them little male." Viper got down on one knee and told Justice.

If you've never seen a male who's sexy and good with children, then you're missing out. Hope's heart nearly melted.

"And we don't call each other names." Hope added to her niece.

"Okay. Hey Viper you have snakes for hair." Charity noticed

"Can I touch them? I got to touch one at the zoo once." Justice added.

Viper nodded as he bent forward on the floor.

"They're not snakes. Its just different kind of hair." Hope said as she scooped Charity up and again squeezed her tight.

Justice reached out and tugged one of Viper's dreads. Hope tried to pull the little boy in for another hug but he evaded her grasp.

"Little stinker!"

He was now way too mesmerized with Viper to be concerned with her. Hope watched as Justice started dancing around.

"Hey buddy do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"I do." Charity replied raising her hand as if she were in class.

"No!" Justice replied, but the way the tow-headed boy crossed his legs said otherwise.

"What if I show you the facilities?" Viper volunteered.

"I'm a big boy I can go by myself." Justice puffed up his chest.

"The bathrooms are different here." Hope informed them. "Are you okay helping them?" She asked Viper.

Tara was here, but she was keeping tabs on the sleeping adults. Hope was glad they arranged a dwelling next to her own for her family. That way she'd be close these first few days when things were the roughest.

"Follow little ones, I will show you the bathroom then if you like I can show you your new room." Viper said.

"Okay! Are we on vacation? I like vacations." The kids bounded after Viper as they went down the hall.

Hope turned to see Tara smiling.

"He's good with kids." Tara winked at her.

"I know, right?" Hope gushed.

"Do you think you are compatible?"

Hope considered the question. She hadn't really thought about it. Things had been too wild.

"I don't know, you're the doctor, you tell me."

Tara looked like she was hatching a plan. Hope suddenly imagined her friend drawing lots of blood from her and Viper in the future with a groan.

"Compatible with who?" Faith yawned. "Hope how'd you and Tara get here?" She asked in confusion as she started to glance around the room.

"It's a long story." Hope leaned down to hug her sister. "We'll explain everything as soon as Cody wakes up."

Faith looked over at her husband in the other unit.

"Hope why are we in some kind of crazy coffin?" Faith looked suddenly to the other empty ones. "Oh my god where are my children?"

"Relax they are fine. They woke up faster than you did and had to go to the bathroom." Hope tried to reassure Faith.

"Tell me right now what's going on Hope!" Her sister started to panic.

"Babe, stop nagging your sister." Cody sleepily mumbled.

"Yeah, stop nagging me." Hope couldn't help tease as she assisted Faith out of her hibernation unit.

"You don't even know what's going on!" Faith groused at her husband as she walked over to Cody on wobbly legs. "Wake up Cody, so I can find out where we are and what's going on."

"I'm awake. Stop shaking me." Cody grumbled.

"Do you remember the meteor shower?" Hope asked and Faith nodded. "Well it brought something awful to Earth, and we had to be rescued."

"What do you mean?"

"The meteors carried a virus that poisoned the earth and we were rescued."

"Hope have you been drinking?" Cody asked skeptically.

"Hey mom, dad look, Viper's one of the X-men. Isn't he cool!" Justice bounded in followed by Viper and Charity.

"I have my own room!" Charity trilled as she held Viper's large hand.

Faith's eyes grew large. Hope could tell by the breath she sucked in that she was going to scream. Hope slapped her hand over Faith's mouth.

Cody jumped out of the hibernation bed but stumbled.

"Get away from my children!" Cody yelled.

Viper understood the man's concern. He instantly let go of Charity's hand and stepped back.

"Don't worry dad. He's not the Boogeyman." Justice moved to his father talking calmly as if he were the adult in this situation.

Cody grabbed his children as Faith batted at Hope's hand.

"Don't scream. This is Viper." Hope walked over to Viper so they would see she wasn't afraid of him. "His people rescued us from annihilation."

Both Cody and Faith's eyes left Viper's face for only a moment to acknowledge her.

It was a long tense conversation as Hope described how Viper had rescued her, a story she'd told a billion times. She was thankful the kids were so comfortable with Viper because it put Faith and Cody at ease.

"Viper's people, the Anguis, were attacked about 15 years ago by a smaller group of the Morbo."

"That's the virus on the meteor?" Faith confirmed.

"Yes, they lost many but we're able to avoid extinction. Unfortunately what they discovered was that the Morbo are very resistant to anything but extreme heat and UV. They swarm fast, infect a host and replicate."

"Like AIDS or Ebola on crack." Tara added.

"What does this thing look like?" Cody interjected.

"I will play you some images later." Viper told them as he glanced towards the kids.

The little ones did not need to see the almost humanoid virus. It looked like something that had been de-fleshed. Hope still shuddered from the video of it leaping onto a victim and stabbing the man with its proboscis tongue.

"Anyway the Anguis and other alien species have been attempting to fight off the Morbo and rescue people like us throughout the universe." Hope finished the basic explanation.

"I am sorry we failed to intercept them sooner." Viper said morosely.

Hope knew he took it as a personal failure. Eradicating the Morbo was a cause that he held near and dear to his heart, with good reason.

"Hope, I still don't get how you got them to find us. You were on vacation in California. Didn't they put you to sleep?" Faith asked.

"Well here's where I tell her the next level of crazy news." Hope sighed.

As it was Faith was giving Viper the look that said 'You're sitting too close to my baby sister.'

"I couldn't tranquilize Hope when I found her. It went against something inside me." Viper said as he looked at Hope with smoldering eyes.

Faith's gaze narrowed.

"Viper and I are getting married." Hope said quickly, like ripping off a bandage.

"I think I misunderstood do you mind repeating that." Faith replied incredulously.

"Faith you heard me." Hope stared at her stubborn overprotective sister.

"You have barely kept a boyfriend for a few weeks at a time and now you're going to marry an alien. Do you even know what you are doing?"

Hope watched as Viper got down on his knees in front of Faith, Cody and the kids. He bowed so that his head almost touched the floor which was saying a lot considering how tall he was.

"I humbly request that you accept our mating and give it your blessing. I would give my life in exchange for Hope's. She will want for nothing and my only desire is to see her happy." Viper spoke solemnly as he placed his fist to his forehead.

The man was about to make Hope cry the way he asked her family for her hand. She wondered if it was a tradition among the Anguis like it was among humans.

Faith looked at Viper with shock and a bit of amusement. Cody nodded approvingly.

"Well Lord knows once you've made up your mind Hope, there's no changing it."

Hope grinned.

"Good luck man, you're going to need it with that one!" Cody chuckled.

"Hey!" Hope cried as she took Viper's hand and helped him up, not that he needed it.

"I get to be the flower girl." Charity announced as she pulled away from her dad and launched herself at Hope. "Right Aunt Hope?"

"Sure thing peanut." Hope replied although she still wasn't quite sure how the ceremony would work out. "Well Sis, Cody, you want to check out the house? Viper and I are in the one next door and Tara and JP are beyond that." She explained as they got up from the seats in the living room area.

Viper started pointing out features of the kitchen slash dinette area that was connected to the living room. Cody was a tech geek and in awe with the food replicator.

"We make communal meals the traditional way too, but this is easy for day in day out." Viper said.

Hope was happy her family seemed to be handling everything well so far. Of course they hadn't taken a peek outside yet, but one moment at a time.

Viper was captivating. She'd gotten used to the fact that all the Anguis men were always shirtless, it made it easier for their shifting color to blend in to an environment. Right now he probably wasn't conscious of the fact that half of him was the tan color of the wall and the other half blue like the drapes. However her niece and nephew were in awe of the fact. Hope enjoyed the sight as well. She admired how Viper's muscles were delineated on his chest. His pecks and abs rippled as he bent and pointed out the waste recycler.

"Man that's efficient. What other gadgets do you guys have?" Cody was enamored.

"Show him the comm-unit Viper." Hope suggested.

"I think my husband has a crush on your fiance." Faith whispered to her with a giggle.

"I heard that Faith. Zip it. I don't have a crush on Viper. I'm in love with the magical box that makes food." Cody hugged and kissed the replicator, making the children squeal in hysterics.

Viper laughed. That deep sexy rumble always turned Hope inside out.

"We were able to retrieve some of your culture's entertainment before the meteors damaged your communication satellites." Viper explained to Cody.

"Oh man I hope so. There's a few video games I'm going to really miss otherwise."

"You guys are coping really well." Tara chimed in.

"Oh no don't be fooled. I'm losing my mind quietly." Faith tapped her head then glanced at her children.

Hope understood Faith was being strong for the little ones.

"I'd worry if you weren't a bit freaked out." Tara replied, always the doctor. "This is sooooo not normal." She agreed with Hope's sister as she waved her hand about.

"I think it would be worse if I didn't have my family with me and you guys weren't here." Faith wrapped her arms around Hope and they hugged tight.

Viper looked over and smiled. It was a broad grin filled with fangs.

"Holy crap Hope!" Faith whispered. She then looked back at Hope's adoring gaze. "You really do have a thing for him don't you."

Hope nodded and smiled.

Justice had wrapped himself around one of Viper's legs, Charity on the other like little anchors sitting on his feet as Viper walked to the entertainment unit on the wall.

Faith laughed at their antics.

"I think that just ruined any chances of me having nightmares featuring your betrothed. It's so weird how he changes colors." Faith shook her head.

"Yeah, we made our friend Acris change all the colors of the rainbow when we first met her." Tara explained.

"Thank you for rescuing us." Faith kissed Hope's cheek.

"It's all I could think of once I calmed down enough to process what was happening. I'm just lucky Viper had the authority to do it."

"She's being modest he's like the prince, and these people have control over several solar systems." Tara crowed. "Your baby sister even has a fancy title."