The Viper's Nest

by Tate James

  Or I sure hoped I would.

  My meditating was the newest idea we’d come up with in an effort for me to control the conflicting and sometimes seriously overwhelming magic swirling inside me. My temper had been running seriously hot, and while I had full control of my Ink Magic, the dragon magic was like trying to handle electricity or something.

  The theory was, thanks to Wesley’s intuition, that the various brands of magic were just dueling it out at the moment, fighting for dominance within my core. Meditating did seem to help with my temper, which in turn helped with my control. But to say I wasn’t freaking halfway out over it would be a lie.

  Waving my hand to the rest of the guys, telling them that I was fine, I made my way inside and up to my room, leaving them to sort out bags and all that crap.

  Once inside, I kicked off my shoes and settled cross-legged in the middle of the king-sized bed. The room was lovely, but it wouldn’t have mattered to me if we’d stayed in a Motel 6. We were here for one thing only. Meet with Jonathan and hear what possible reason he might have for trying to kill us all on more than one occasion.

  My lids dropped shut, and I took some long, even breaths to find my center. There was no mistaking it when I did find it, and it was becoming easier every day to tap into that burning ball of power there. Except now it wasn’t the colorless light it had been when I’d first located it.

  Now it swirled with threads of light from each of my bonded guardians–Austin, Cole, and Vali. They made up only a fraction of my own light, but there was enough to cause friction.

  Time passed, I didn’t know how much, while I stayed there inside my own consciousness trying to unravel the threads of the guys’ magics, trying to separate them from each other and prevent the flare-ups that seemed to happen anytime those threads crossed one another.

  I had no idea if it was the right thing to do. Maybe I should have been trying to squish them all together? There wasn’t exactly an instruction manual on how to handle your dianoch’s borrowed magic, For Ban Dia Dummies.

  The sound of my door opening was what jolted me from my meditation, and I reacted on instinct, hurling a ball of fire at whoever was coming through the door.

  “Good session, then?” Vali asked me in a dry tone as he deftly caught my fireball and extinguished it before I could burn the whole damn hotel down.

  A huge, pent-up breath gusted out of me, and I dropped my face into my hands, cringing.

  What if that had been housekeeping or something? Fucking hell, Kit, get a damn grip! You could have killed someone!

  “I’m sorry,” I groaned, looking up as Vali perched on the edge of my bed and placed a box between us. “I am trying. You just gave me a fright, and I...”

  “Reacted,” he finished for me, nodding. “No need to apologize to me, Regina mea. I know all too well how hard this must be for you. Also, we forgot to mention we had an extra key to your room. Paranoia, you know?”

  Chewing my lip I nodded. “What time is it?”

  “Six,” he replied, and my eyebrows shot up. I’d been meditating for over two hours! No wonder my back was so stiff. “I bought you something.” He pushed the box toward me, and I eyed it curiously.

  “Why?” I inquired, running my fingertip over the expensive-looking silk bow tied around the box.

  He shrugged, but looked sly. “We all missed your birthday and Christmas. While I know they were a while ago, I have been meaning to get you something anyway. When I went out for a walk earlier, I saw the perfect thing and had to buy it.”

  Curious, I tugged the bow undone and carefully unstuck the Scotch tape on the white wrapping paper. It was a weird thing of mine that I hated tearing wrapping paper. Once the paper was removed, it wasn’t hard to recognize the familiar red box with white writing on it.

  “Vali,” I gasped, looking up at him with a grin. “You bought me Louboutins?”

  “I did,” he confirmed. “You seem to have a liking for them, and when I saw these, I knew you had to have them.”

  Opening the box, I saw what he meant. They were perfect.

  Black leather with a peep toe and signature red sole, these pumps also had a gold zipper running down the back of the four-inch heel. They were without a doubt sexy as hell and the perfect present from Vali.

  “I flove them,” I gushed, then realized I’d mashed my words together. “I mean, I fucking love them. Thank you.”

  Moving them to the side, I scooted closer to Vali and kissed him gently. To my surprise, he didn’t try to push the kiss any further than the thank you I’d started it with and quickly pulled back with a tight smile.

  “You’re most welcome Regina mea. But you’d better get dressed, as River and Cole will be getting anxious. The twins have already been to the restaurant ahead of time and scouted it, so you’re all set.” His thumb stroked across my cheekbone, and he made no attempt to hide the scorching hot lust in his eyes, which was reassuring. For a split second, when he hadn’t engaged in that kiss, I’d worried he’d lost interest.

  “Still working on Cole, huh?” I murmured, not bothering to ignore the elephant in the room.

  Vali sighed, running a hand through his thick, dark hair. “We are making progress, I think.”

  My lips pursed, but I didn’t say any more. It was up to them to sort their shit out, and my interference was not going to help, no matter how badly I wanted to move things along with this sexy-as-sin Romanian.

  He stood from my bed and dropped a chaste kiss against my hair. “Stay safe tonight, my queen.”

  I watched him leave the room, then stroked a loving finger over my new shoes again. They were the perfect thing to wear with tonight’s outfit too.

  Hopping off my bed, I stretched, unkinking my spine and rolling my stiff shoulders before hurrying to get ready. While we wanted Jonathan to get there first, it wouldn’t do to be too late and make him think we’d changed our minds.

  Despite the gnawing anxiety in my belly about what tonight might bring, I really did want to hear him out. Foolishly, I supposed, I was clinging to the thread of hope that there was a good reason for everything he’d done. That he hadn’t tried to kill us, and that he wasn’t using me like a fucking weapon to further his own agenda.

  Slim chance, I know. But a chance, nonetheless.

  21

  The restaurant we had arranged to meet at was really only a five minute drive from our hotel, but we took a roundabout route to get there, as one can never be too careful when dealing with spies and magic. By the time we arrived, we were almost half an hour late already, and my palms were sweating like crazy.

  “Deep breath, Kitten,” River advised me, placing a comforting hand on my knee as we pulled into the valet in front of the restaurant. He’d hired a swanky black Maserati and was dressed in his usual impeccable suit. He was unbelievably sexy, but I was too far gone inside my head with worry to fully appreciate the view.

  Cole had arrived separately on a motorcycle so that we would have two options for a getaway vehicle if we needed it. I could already see him waiting for us near the entrance, decked out in his faded black jeans, motorcycle boots, and dark gray T-shirt with a leather jacket over the top. Seeing him dressed like that broke me from my anxiety briefly. It was such a fuck you to the ritzy restaurant, and it was so Cole.

  “You good, love?” River asked, tipping my face gently toward him with a fingertip under my chin. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I’m fine,” I reassured him. “Just... nervous, I guess. Let’s just get in there and rip the Band-Aid off.”

  River held my gaze with his steady golden eyes for a moment longer before nodding tightly and getting out of the car. I took the extra moment as he came around to open my door to suck in another deep breath.

  You can do this, Kit. You’re tougher than this. Just listen, keep your cool, and don’t blow anything up. You can do this.

  My door clicked open, and I swung my legs out, taking River’s warm hand with my own to stand from the low ca
r seat. My dress and stiletto heels didn’t make it an easy task to get out of a Maserati, but I was no novice.

  “Vixen,” Cole greeted me when we reached him under the ivy-covered entrance way. “You look fucking unbelievable.”

  A laugh cracked through my panic, and I gave him a grin. “Thanks, Cutie. You look hot yourself. You both do.” For a brief moment I ran my gaze over the two of them appreciatively and considered what I might do with them both later as a reward for this shit show with my adoptive dad.

  “Shall we?” River prompted, trailing a light hand down my back and making me shiver as I took the lead and stepped inside the restaurant. The dress I was wearing was one of my favorites, and as I’d dressed at the hotel, I’d realized how much I missed getting dressed up for Fox missions.

  The soft black fabric with intricate geometric panels of sheer black mesh that made up my cocktail dress felt like armor. It hugged my curves beautifully all the way to the knee, with a tasteful split at the back making it possible to move. The neckline was plunging, and before we’d gotten into River’s borrowed car, he had given me a black velvet choker necklace that matched the whole outfit perfectly.

  A gift, he’d told me, for missing my birthday. Evidently Vali’s little trip into the Louboutin store had not gone unnoticed. The choker was exquisite too, encrusted with black diamonds and weighing heavily enough that when I moved it felt like a firm hand around my neck.

  “There he is,” I breathed, spotting my adopted father across the room instantly. He was alone at the table, but I easily picked his two agents out as they hovered nearby like vultures waiting to feast on a carcass. They weren’t anyone I recognized from Omega Headquarters, but I knew full well how massive the organization was, so that didn’t shock me.

  What did shock me was how awful Jonathan looked.

  He’d always been a distinguished gentleman, with salt-and-pepper hair and immaculate grooming, but now he looked old. Like he’d just aged ten years in the past three weeks since River and I had overheard his damning phone call.

  “Jonathan,” I greeted him in a cool voice as we reached the table he sat at. He stood politely but made no move to hug me or anything. Not that we’d had that sort of relationship to begin with, but the air between us crackled with tension until I took my seat.

  Both Cole and River joined us at the table, and Jonathan gave them a pointed look.

  “They’re staying,” I snapped, already pissed the hell off that he expected them to wait with his agents. “What you did concerns them just as much as it does me.”

  Jonathan gave me a defeated look and sighed heavily. “Fine.” He waved a hand to the waiter to bring more settings, as the table was only set for two.

  “Would you like to order?” he offered, indicating to the menu in front of me, and my stomach lurched. I doubted I could keep food down if I tried.

  “We’ll just get drinks for now,” River answered for me, “until we see if this is worth sticking around for.”

  My dad’s mouth tightened and his nostrils flared, and I waited for him to put River in his place. But he must have already realized his status as Director Pierre, owner and founder of the Omega Group, meant nothing here. We were not subject to his authority, so to try and assert it would be nothing but a waste of breath.

  Or... that’s what I hoped he had realized as he made a clear decision to keep quiet and let my Alpha order us a bottle of wine.

  No one spoke while the waiter hurried away and then returned with the bottle River had selected. He opened it, then poured a small drop for River to taste, but my British lover simply waved a hand to say it was fine.

  After what felt like the slowest pour of wine I had ever seen in my life, the waiter left the bottle with us and disappeared once more.

  “Kit—” Jonathan started, but I cut him off.

  “Jonathan, I am about two seconds away from snapping and telling you to go burn in hell,” I told him, my throat tight with tension. “So think really fucking carefully before you lie to me.”

  “Kit,” he sighed, his shoulders drooping. “I wouldn’t lie to you.” I snorted, and he corrected, “I mean, I wouldn’t lie to you now. Clearly I have already done so in the past.”

  “Clearly,” Cole muttered, and Jonathan speared him with a withering glare.

  “Let me start,” Jonathan continued, turning his wrinkled eyes back to me, “by saying that it is not what it must seem like from where you’re standing. I made some mistakes in hiding my agenda from you, Kit, and for that I cannot tell you how sorry I am.”

  “You’re sorry you got caught?” I frowned. “This is not a great start, J-dog. I have to be honest. I was hoping for something more along the lines of ‘I’m sorry I tried to have you all killed. Twice.’”

  “I didn’t try to have you all killed,” he retorted, his mouth tight with frustration. “I knew you needed a little bit more motivation to figure out your healing powers, and after seeing it work on Dragomir, it was clear what was required to have you choose and change your guardians.”

  “Right,” I snapped, taking a sip of my wine with a shaking hand. “So you’re admitting to being behind the car bomb and the crash in Seattle?”

  “You already asked this, Kit, and I already admitted it.” Jonathan sighed, giving me that look that parents give their kids when they’re being facetious. That look made me furious.

  “And Vali?” I asked. “You deliberately fucked around and didn’t fetch help, just on the hope that I’d work out how to heal someone?” He gave a short, sharp nod, and I needed to put my wine glass down before it broke under my clenching fingers. “What if I hadn’t been able to do it? No other Ban Dia in four hundred years has been able to heal others. What made you so sure I could?”

  Jonathan shrugged a bit helplessly. “You’re different.”

  My jaw dropped at his watery reasoning. “If you’d been wrong, Vali would have died.”

  “I wasn’t wrong.” He met my furious glare without remorse. “Don’t look at me like that, Kit. Like I’m some sort of psychopath. What I am doing is for your own good. For everyone’s good. You need to be a little less selfish, my girl, and think about the bigger picture in all of this.”

  If it were even possible, my jaw dropped further.

  Selfish? Is he fucking kidding me right now?

  Sucking in a breath, I opened my mouth to launch a screaming tirade on him and the sheer audacity he had to sit there and call me selfish. After everything he’d done. But my words were swallowed when Wesley’s voice sounded in my earpiece.

  “Kit, get the hell out of there. Now.” His warning was heard by River and Cole too, on their own earpieces, and I shot a panicked look at them both.

  “Excuse us,” River said smoothly to Jonathan, standing and taking me by the elbow. “We just need to discuss something in private.”

  My dad frowned and started to object, but River and Cole were already hustling me through the crowded restaurant and toward the kitchen.

  “You have maybe two minutes,” Wesley warned. “There are five or six cars converging on your location.”

  Fury burned hot in my blood, and I wanted nothing more than to stand and fight. Show these fuckers what I was really made of. But the restaurant was full of humans, and we were in the middle of a busy tourist location. We couldn’t take that risk unless there were no other options.

  “Why would he do this?” I choked out, jogging in my high heels to keep up with the guys as they tugged me through the busy kitchen, ignoring the outraged yells of chefs, and out the back door into an alleyway where Cole had parked his motorcycle. “Why would Jonathan set me up? We agreed this was an amicable meeting.”

  “He’s desperate,” Cole growled back. “But that won’t save him if I get my hands on him now.”

  “Doesn’t matter, get on the bike and go,” River ordered. “Don’t let them catch you, love. No matter what it takes.”

  Cole threw a leg over his bike and kicked the engine over as River gr
ipped me by the waist and lifted me onto the seat behind Cole. I’d chosen this dress specifically for the split, allowing for a little more freedom of movement, but even so, it rode up high, leaving my legs exposed as they wrapped around Cole’s denim-clad thighs.

  “No matter what,” River repeated, kissing me quickly even as Cole gunned the bike and we tore out of the alleyway. River would be getting his car from the valet now and hopefully leading at least a few of our enemies off our trail.

  “Shit,” Wesley’s voice sounded in both our earpieces as Cole pulled us out into the traffic of Sunset Boulevard. “There were more that I didn’t catch on my cameras. You’ve got some on your tail already, but River should be able to confuse the ones arriving now.”

  “Got it,” I replied, and Cole gave a small nod to show me he’d heard also. I cast a quick glance over my shoulder, and sure enough, two motorcycles carrying black-clad riders had pulled out into the street from the alley opposite the restaurant.

  Hands gripping tight to Cole’s waist, I held on as he gunned the engine of his bike, weaving expertly between slow-moving traffic and far exceeding the speed limit. Who the hell cared for speed limits during a car chase, though? Or... bike chase as was the case here.

  “I have two SUVs on me,” River advised over our earpieces.

  “We have two bikes,” I replied in a tight voice. The sting of betrayal from Jonathan again was sitting in my throat like a stone.

  “And an SUV,” Cole added, and I saw what he had just seen. A blacked-out SUV had just pulled out from a side street, and we’d narrowly missed clipping them as we passed. Had we not been already in a high-speed chase, it could have been a coincidence, but the blank licence plates were a dead giveaway. As was the fact that they quickly sped up to match our pace as we got clear of the traffic and onto a highway.