Viper's Hope (Anguis Defenders Book 1)

by Stephanie West

  Drogo hesitated, his hands hovering over her face, then pulled back with a sigh.

  She wondered why he hesitated if he wanted to touch her. That was why he brought her here wasn't it? He had the perfect opportunity while she couldn't fight back. Not that she was complaining.

  Drogo spoke again, the words sounding similar to before. They weren't snarled though his language was growly in nature.

  Drogo's moods changed so dramatically Hope's head spun. But the relaxed way he sat and spoke now, again had her fears easing. Something about him made it easy to relax when he was relaxed. Maybe it was the pleasant almost piney scent that emanated from him as he sat so close. Or maybe it was because he didn't paw at her even though he could.

  Drogo nodded as Hope calmed then turned back to the platter of food.

  The plate held some type of meat and vegetables Hope couldn't recognize, but she was hungry enough she really didn't care. She'd only had a latte today and that had been this morning.

  Drogo speared a small piece with a two prong fork and placed it at her lips. Thankfully Hope was able to chew. The meat was juicy and delicious as she swallowed.

  Hope wished she knew why he took her. Surely his plans weren't nefarious if he acted so concerned and was carefully feeding her. Right? She had so many questions, demands and a few colorful words for her abductor but couldn't voice a single one.

  Viper

  The second Ophidian approached Lepus, thinking he'd solve this problem by taking her to the hibernation dorm, her eyes widened and her scent turned from mild fear to terror. Viper snapped and nearly tore out Ophidian's throat for the transgression.

  Viper apologized as he spoke calmly to Lepus. Eventually she relaxed again. It filled him with great pride as her acrid scent lessened, again turning sweet telling him she was no longer acutely afraid. Viper nearly stroked the tension from her brow till he remembered himself.

  He had to resist the pull to touch her. She didn't she understand him, let alone even move yet. It would be unforgivable to take advantage of that fact. Until he could truly communicate with her nothing could be resolved. Then again communicating with her might not help much either. If Lepus she was an Anguis female, she'd understand what he was feeling, but she wasn't. She was human and in her eyes he'd stolen her from her planet. The reason he was compelled to do it probably would come as a shock to her. This was a wholly unexpected complication Viper never expected to contend with. He had to proceed cautiously with the little human.

  It was silly how much it pleased Viper that Lepus ate without any cajoling. Many of their past refugees had resisted eating because they were so stressed. He worried she wouldn't trust him, particularly after he'd lost his temper with Ophidian, but Lepus quickly recovered, though she still seemed wary. He couldn't blame her.

  Viper intently watched her pink lips wrap around each bite as he fed her and nearly groaned. Her mouth making him imagine what other parts of her anatomy might look like?

  Viper grabbed the glass of water and carefully lifted Lepus' back up off the pillows so she could take a sip. A drop ran down the side of her mouth and he wanted to lick it.

  That was one poor idea, in a long line of bad ideas. One touch of his tongue to her skin and the spicy pheromones he was secreting would sink into her flesh. It would only compound the craziness of this situation.

  Despite the severity of all this, Viper still couldn't believe Ophidian thought to remove Lepus. Did he really think taking her away to join the others would solve anything? Had his friend even been listening?

  "To think, just because we're practically brothers, he could approach my female!"

  The thought instantly made Viper angry again. It had taken every ounce of restraint not to rip into his friend. Viper was careful not to let his anger surface. It frightened Lepus. She was calm now, and he intended her to stay that way.

  Viper finished eating what Lepus refused when she was full. It was surprising how very little she ate. But when she pursed her lips as he brought another bite to her mouth he figured it out.

  It was time to get some rest. It really had been an exhausting day.

  Viper positioned Lepus, so that she was hopefully comfortable then laid down on the opposite side of his bed before dimming the lights. Even though it was dark, he could clearly see her blink and then yawn. Viper watched enthralled as eventually Lepus' eyes closed and her breathing steadied.

  Tomorrow he needed to figure out what to do, at the very least try to learn her real name. He needed to convince her to get the language implant without frightening her. Viper didn't relish explaining to her what was happening to her planet. The thought of Lepus' sorrow upset him already. He worried even more about explaining the other reason he felt compelled to take her rather than putting her with her fellow humans.

  Viper didn't know when he drifted off, but when he did a deeply erotic dream invaded his sleep, featuring a pale lush female, with eyes the color of the clearest water. Her delicate arms and legs were stretched across his body, her face buried in his neck. Lepus' small body was so warm as she nuzzled him. Her wonderful scent tempted Viper to take a taste. His tongue snaked out and ran up the length of her neck. Her taste was even better than her scent. Lepus' unique heady flavor was sweet and slightly salty. She tasted unlike anything he'd ever known.

  "Mine."

  Viper reached the base of her ear and teased the lobe. He wanted to bite the tender flesh when he heard her moan. Instead he continued to taste her noting the texture of her smooth soft skin. Viper's chemical lust sank into her and Lepus shifted restlessly against him. Again Viper smelled the exotic musky scent that came from the apex of her thighs. It drove him to lave the crook of her neck feverishly. Lepus pulled her knee up over his leg spreading her thighs and the delicious aroma increased tenfold.

  Viper awoke fully as his eager tongue reached her shoulder again.

  "Shit!"

  Viper hadn't even been fully conscious of what he was doing as he marked Lepus' flesh with his pheromones. Viper groaned as he pulled away and desperately attempted to go back to sleep while the object of his torment lay inches away.

  Hope

  Hope was incredibly warm as she awoke. That odd tingling sensation had intensified, making her feel incredibly jittery. But all of that was forgotten when Hope remembered where she was.

  The light was dim but she could see that she was curled up next to the sleeping alien. She remembered resisting the pull of sleep but exhaustion from the crazy day had crept up on her.

  Drogo's breathing was steady, though she couldn't tell if his eyes were closed or not. If she was ever going to escape, now would be the time.

  Hope wiggled her fingers, then her toes. Everything seemed to be in working order so she inched towards the edge of the bed and got up painfully slowly.

  Hope paused and looked down at Drogo. It was such a shame their interaction hadn't turned out differently. The man was compelling. Too bad he'd abducted her.

  Hope shook her head, clearing the strange notion from her brain.

  "I need to get the hell out of here and attempt to warn everyone."

  Hope instantly realized that would go over like a ton of bricks.

  "One thing at a time."

  She couldn't find her shoes so she gave up and headed towards the door. Hope was grateful when it opened without a sound. She slipped into the hall and quickly headed the direction she remembered Drogo travelling.

  "It must be nighttime since no one is about." Hope mused as she retraced her path back to the spaceship's entrance.

  "There's the portal. I'm home free."

  Except the damn door refused to open, and Hope didn't know how to force it. She stared at the control pad next to the door, but it was no help. She couldn't read the strange symbols and there was nothing intuitive that indicated it would make the door open.

  "Open sesame." Hope pounded on the door in desperation, tears of frustration leaking down her cheeks. "Let me out you fucker!"

&
nbsp; A sound down the hall made her panic. Someone was coming! Hope raced in the opposite direction stopping at various locked doors, till one opened.

  The massive room was filled with boxes of cargo but thankfully no aliens as Hope quickly glanced around before she ran over to a pallet of stacked boxes. Hope wedged herself between them and the wall. She didn't know what else to do but hide till she could figure a way out of this mess.

  In less than twenty-four hours she'd been faced with a series of impossible events. It was all starting to take a toll on her. Hope sobbed quietly as she huddled on the metal floor of the ship.

  "Stop crying Hope." She admonished herself as she shook her head frantically.

  She was mad at herself for crying. And then she was mad at herself for not giving herself a fucking break considering all this crazy bullshit.

  "I doubt anyone would've done any better coping with any of this crap." Hope coached herself as she dashed away her tears.

  At the moment nothing could've shocked her any more than she already was, not even if Big Bird followed by the Seven Dwarves walked through the door. But still her emotions were all over the place.

  Hope pulled her knees up to her chest to prop her head as she listened to the foreign sounds of the alien vessel. The metal floor was cold, but she was strangely warm all over. Her skin was flushed, and she felt overwrought with adrenalin.

  "I hope I'm not having a stroke or a heart attack or something." Hope bit her lip as she tried to assess her unusual symptoms.

  Canebrake

  "Call medical! Viper is tearing up his quarters." Canebrake yelled at Ophidian through his comm as he stood outside the enraged males quarters.

  The sound of destruction and fury from within was horrific. Why had the Prognatus lost his mind?

  "Don't approach him!" Ophidian yelled, but it was too late the door opened and Viper charged Canebrake growling out his feral rage.

  Viper knocked Canebrake back against the wall, baring his elongated fangs. Viper tilted his head, sniffed the air and started to stalk away, huffing loudly. The male was out of his mind. His usually round pupils had shifted into thin slits. Viper's procudit fangs and the clavum spikes on his arms were fully extended. He raked his claws along the wall in agitation.

  "Is the human female in his room?" Ophidian demanded through the comm.

  Canebrake glanced inside.

  "No."

  "Dammit." Ophidian replied. "We need to find her before Viper tears the ship apart!"

  Canebrake barked orders to security into his comm as he followed his crazed leader. Canebrake pulled his stunner and fired.

  The first shot did nothing but anger Viper. Viper turned and charged Canebrake.

  Thank Kadru his second shot did the job taking the seething male down before he could tear out Canebrake's throat.

  It was unbelievable. Just a single shot should've been strong enough to drop even the mighty Hecca beast, let alone an Anguis male. What the hell!

  "What did you do?" Ophidian demanded as he raced around the corner.

  "I stunned him. He should be out for a bit." Canebrake replied with more than a bit of aggravation.

  "Doubtful. He's going to be up soon and as mad as ever if we don't find that female!"

  "I don't understand. Why?"

  "She's his subeo!" Ophidian stated with a shake of his head.

  "How is that possible?" Canebrake asked in shock. How could an alien female be the Prognatus' subeo?

  "I don't know but Viper told me what was going on just before lights out. He almost ripped my head off when I suggested we move her to the hibernation dorm." Ophidian grimaced "This is not good. We need to find her and secure them both. If she tries to fight him while he's like this he'll accidentally kill her. The human won't understand and she's not built like our females. He'll probably tear her throat out as he attempts to make her to submit." Ophidian bristled.

  "We could tie her down." Canebrake suggested.

  "That's fucking awful!"

  "Is it worse than being dead?! You've seen how weak these humans are." Canebrake spat back.

  "I don't like it! But I don't know what other options we have." Ophidian admitted in regret. "Find the female and put her in one of the secure cells. I'll lure Viper into the adjoining one. Shit I really don't like this. Viper is going to kill me!"

  "We've got movement in cargo bay three." Canebrake relayed the security report.

  4 Taming the Beast

  Hope

  A strange smell filled the room making Hope sputter and cough. Her vision started to blur and close in as her head nodded to the side.

  "Oh god they found me. I'm being drugged!" Hope realized with mounting fear.

  "NOT AGAIN!" She cried out.

  Hope desperately tried to hold her breath, but it was futile. Panicked, she started to hyperventilate instead, which only made it worse. Her head lolled forward feeling too heavy for her shoulders.

  "I just need to keep my eyes open."

  Everything was getting dim.

  Hope came to confused and lethargic. Someone was loudly banging on metal and growling, viciously, as her eyes fluttered open.

  "Who's messing with my wrist?" She wondered groggily.

  Hope pulled away but found that she could only tug her hand back a few inches.

  Hope's eyes flew open to find herself face down on a padded cushion, with her hands restrained by her head, and her ankles chained near her hips, forcing Hope to lay in a crouched position on her elbows and knees. It dawned on her in horror that she'd been stripped nude.

  For the first time during this whole ordeal Hope cried out in abject terror.

  The thunderous banging increased, and the growls turned to roars so frightening Hope almost fainted. She could see a metal door ahead that was deeply dented in several places. Several more dents being added to the first as some wild creature demanded to be set free.

  Someone shuffled nearby and Hope heard a rumbling voice, but it wasn't Drogo. Where was he?

  "Let me go! Please." Hope pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears.

  They spoke and Hope listened trying to figure out what was going on, but she could barely hear over the blood thundering in her ears as her heart beat staccato in her chest. Hope was going to pass out if she didn't calm down. She tried to breathe slowly, but it didn't work. Instead she cried desperately as she tugged harder at her bonds, attempting to get free.

  The crazed animal on the other side of the door screamed in rage.

  The voices receded and Hope heard a door bang shut. They had abandoned her with an enraged monster in the cell next door. With mounting terror Hope wondered what manner of beast could beat through a thick metal door like that.

  The abused door in front of her groaned as it cracked open several inches then halted, the deep dents preventing it from sliding into the wall.

  A scream ripped past her lips as Hope realized the aliens were sacrificing her to the crazed beast.

  Hope curled into a tight ball, tucking her bare ass against her heels, and pulling her elbows in to her breast as she pressed against the mat. It didn't matter, she was prone, unable to flee the thing on the other side of that door.

  A feral roar echoed through the small cell as clawed hands speared through the opening and began ripping back the door as if it were nothing more than a tin can. The creature on the other side panted and snarled as it forced its will upon the portal.

  Hope watched with wide eyes as first a spiked forearm then leg emerged. When the creature's face appeared, Hope gasped in shock.

  She almost didn't recognize Drogo as he pushed himself through the opening. His eyes were intense as they focused on her. The dark green was ringed with a brighter green that glowed, his pupils long narrow slits. Upon seeing her Drogo froze, the frightening growl in his chest subsided to a chuffing sound.

  Something wasn't right with him. He'd been aggressive before but now he appeared more animal than man. He hadn't even been this way when he gripped that
other alien's neck. He'd dented a metal door over dozen times and made noises that had even his own people nervous. He was going to kill her.

  "Please!" Hope pleaded, her sob choking her as she tugged at her wrists.

  Drogo sniffed the air with deep huffing breaths as he stalked towards her, his massive body swaying in a predatory way. He crouched by Hope's head and took her outstretched hand. His grip was firm and warm as he tugged at the cuff.

  Hope cried out as it pulled painfully at her wrist.

  Drogo froze his eyes boring into hers. Hope could tell he didn't hurt her intentionally but a few smarting tears still pushed at the corners of her eyes, mixing with the rest.

  Drogo's face was at the edge of hers, he rubbed his nose against Hope's cheek followed by his cheek, caressing hers. His face nuzzled her hair and burrowed into her neck.

  Hope bit her lip trying not to panic that his large canines were at her throat as she felt his mouth open.

  This was it, he was going to tear her throat out. She sobbed but didn't dare move.

  Instead Drogo's tongue explored the crook of her neck, laving the sensitive skin beneath her ear before flicking the lobe. Hope couldn't help the shiver that worked through her as her blood heated and that odd tingle returned.

  The things his tongue did weren't unpleasant but the substance in his kiss compounded the sensations. What was he doing to her with the strange chemicals he exuded? She wasn't sure she wanted this, and yet her body responded, pushing her fear of death to the back of her mind.

  "Please." Hope pleaded more to herself than anything.

  Drogo growled softly as his hand reached out and brushed along her bare side. His touch was firm as he explored, finding her breast. Drogo followed his hands with his face, nose and tongue, lapping at Hope's ribs then the swell of her breast.

  She would have asked what he was doing, but it was becoming clearer by the moment. He hadn't been all hands the night before, he'd resisted touching her. But now he wasn't acting like the man she met, it was like some animal possessed him. What happened to Drogo and why was she being served up to him on padded platter?