Viper Game

by Christine Feehan

  The floor trembled. The walls breathed. In and out. Ezekiel stopped moving and spun to face him, his alert gaze noting the direct, focused stare. Very casually, he reached out to his brother and drew him away from Pepper and behind his own body. The smile faded from Pepper's eyes.

  "Wyatt. You're up. Good to see you on your feet," Ezekiel greeted.

  "Just in time to witness the cozy little domestic scene," Wyatt spat back, his fury rising in direct proportion to the tension in the room.

  The three babies stopped twirling and looked at him, puzzled. There was no way they couldn't feel that mounting tension.

  "Mordichai capped the babies' teeth earlier this morning," Ezekiel said. "We were entertaining them in the hopes that if it was too painful, we could distract them."

  Wyatt's eyes dropped to his children. Every morning, for the last two weeks, they'd played on his bed, Pepper making certain they didn't get too lively and hurt him. He'd gotten up often, this certainly wasn't his first time, but this time he was much steadier and knew he was well on the way to mending.

  He noted all three girls had wet circles around the clothing at their necks. A wide wet circle. On their pale skin was a growing rash, rings of red dots. Instantly he was frowning, his alarm kicking in. They were all still cutting teeth and they drooled, but not like that. Not so severely. There was a faint hint of color in the saliva.

  He dropped down on one knee, wincing as his thigh pulled and throbbed. Instantly all three girls ran to him. It had taken a lot of work to get Thym to trust him, but she finally had capitulated, mostly, he figured, because he didn't push himself on her. She still kept aloof from most of the others. He was gratified when she wound her arm around his leg.

  "Does your mouth hurt?" he asked, infusing gentleness in his tone, breathing away the dark, angry jealousy that was growing inside of him like a fierce beast.

  The three little girls looked at one another. He felt the energy swirling around them as they communicated telepathically. He wanted to groan aloud and glanced up at Pepper to see if she understood what kind of trouble they were in with three girls who could talk silently to one another behind their parents' backs.

  The moment his eyes met Pepper's he knew she was aware of the monster growing inside of him. He'd tried to warn her he wasn't the sweet guy she believed him to be. All along he'd told her, but she persisted in looking at him through rose-colored glasses. He had to live with her heat cycle and men throwing themselves at her, she could see what was inside of him, snarling and clawing to rip apart anyone who got near her. Then he took in her clothes.

  "What the fuck are you wearin'?" he demanded, angry all over. Fury took over, absolute fury. His gaze dropped over her body, and need slammed low and wicked, a powerful punch to his groin. He nearly saw stars.

  She looked like a million bucks, sexy as hell. Her skirt clung to her hips and flared out to swing around her calves and clung to her bottom lovingly. There was a slit up the side exposing far too much leg. And the camisole top was bordering on indecency. Worse, she was wearing the boots. The ones with the stiletto heels, the ones that clearly shouted "fuck me" to any male within a five-mile radius.

  "Where in the sweet hell did you get that outfit?"

  The tops of her breasts were barely there, but they were there, the swell creamy and pale and just asking for a man to touch. His breath left his lungs in a rush. He could only guess at how long Malichai and the others had been ogling her and what state their bodies were in.

  "Go change. Right now. Get the hell into the bedroom and change your clothes." He bit out every word, enunciating each between his teeth.

  She looked hurt. "Nonny went to town, Wyatt," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "She picked up more clothing for us." Her hand smoothed down the skirt, color creeping up her neck and into her face. She looked uncertain, her gaze shifting toward Ezekiel and Mordichai. "I thought..." she trailed off.

  His gaze dropped to the boots. "Why the hell would you even think to wear them?"

  "You said the girls shouldn't go barefoot in the swamp and if I did, they would, so I'm trying to get used to something covering my feet."

  "That's what you're doin', is it?" he sneered, wanting to slam his fist in Mordichai's face because the man wouldn't stop looking at her.

  "There's nothing wrong with the way you look, Pepper," Ezekiel said. "Wyatt's just being a pinhead. What's wrong with the girls, Wyatt?"

  The warning note in his voice triggered more aggression in Wyatt, but Thym's little hand brushed his arm, bringing his attention back to his daughter. She signed.

  Pepper gasped. "She's says it stings and burns around her neck where it's wet. All of them say that. I didn't realize..."

  "Because you were too busy havin' fun bein' the center of attention," Wyatt snapped. "Zeke, they need those caps off now. Right now. That venom is lyin' against their skin." He turned Thym toward him. "Damn it. She's gettin' a rash. They all are."

  He raised his furious gaze to Pepper. She looked as if he'd slapped her.

  "We'll take care of it right now," Ezekiel said. "Come on girls. Let's get those caps off your teeth."

  "I'll bathe them as soon as you do," Pepper said.

  "Nonny can help you," Wyatt snapped before either man could volunteer.

  Wyatt, Ezekiel said, choosing to only include him in their private communication. Just so you know, you're being a bastard.

  Ezekiel reached down and lifted Ginger and then Elle into his arms. "Pepper, you'll have to bring Thym. She only goes to you, Nonny, or Wyatt." He stalked out, followed by Mordichai.

  Wyatt could hear the quiet censure in his friend's voice, but it didn't stop the monster in him. She was going with the two men. They were both affected by the biochemical spilling from her body, the enhancement that made a sensual, sexy woman all the more potent. Ezekiel tried hard to ignore it. He knew the cost on her, but Mordichai had only arrived the week before.

  Swearing in his native language, Wyatt turned away from them, disgusted with himself and his lack of discipline, angry with Pepper because she couldn't avoid the men, frustrated that she'd been avoiding him, sleeping in the nursery with the babies because of his injuries. He wanted to put his fist through the wall.

  Pepper waited, her eyes on him, not moving to take Thym from him. He stayed where he was, afraid if he moved, important parts of his anatomy might shatter. He was being a bastard. Ezekiel knew it. Mordichai knew it. Hell. Even he knew it. The only person in the room who didn't seem to know it was Pepper. She just stood there, entirely focused on him. Hurt and guilt in her eyes. She looked... shattered. More shattered than his damned cock would be if he moved. So he moved.

  He stood up, the pain in his thigh helping to take some of the action out of his cock, and went straight to her. She didn't move, holding herself still, her gaze clinging to his. He could almost see the thoughts running through her head. She wanted to run. Get away from him. Not because he was a fucking bastard, but because she thought she was too flawed to be around his family and friends.

  "You're not leavin' me, Pepper. This isn't about you. This is about me. There's nothin' wrong with the way you look. You're beautiful and sexy and I love that. Don' listen to me when I'm bein' a bastard. Kick my shins or somethin'. You do when I'm bossy. Kick 'em when I'm not nice."

  She shook her head and looked down at her hands. "It's happening again, Wyatt, and I can't stop it," she whispered, her voice low. "I told you it would happen. It's always going to happen. It will never stop and eventually, you won't be able to control whatever's in you and you'll hurt or kill one of your friends. You'd never be able to live with that, and neither would I."

  "I'll learn." He made it a promise. Not just to her. To himself.

  She swallowed hard and reached down to pick up Thym. "You know you'd be better off with me gone. It's going to be hard enough to raise the girls without that kind of threat hanging over their heads. Their father in jail or dead because of their mother."

&nb
sp; His heart seized and for a moment he couldn't breathe. The fact that she even indicated he could raise the girls alone meant she had been thinking of leaving for a few days, had actually made up her mind to try to separate herself from the children. He knew how much she loved them, so he knew how serious she was.

  "If you dared to leave me, Pepper, I'd find you. There's no place on this earth that you could go that I wouldn't track you down. We'll work it out. That's what couples do. They work shit out."

  She shook her head, her mouth curving into a humorless smile. "We aren't a normal couple and this isn't normal shit. This is dangerous and you know it. I can't stop what's happening to me and you..."

  He stepped into her space, so close he breathed her into his lungs. So close the heat of his body radiated to her cooler one. He knew that was part of the reason the girls accepted him so readily. He was hot and they were always cold. Before his injuries, Pepper always burrowed close, now she wasn't coming near him.

  "We would have taken care of this problem a long time ago if you'd stopped hidin' in the nursery," he pointed out.

  That rocked her, another body blow. "You almost died. Right in front of me, you almost died. It was terrifying. I tried to be so careful and follow orders, when all I wanted to do was lie next to you and hold you."

  "What the hell? Whose orders?" he demanded.

  Nonny came in and took little Thym. She glared at Wyatt. "Not too old to wash out your mouth with soap, boy," she cautioned. "Especially when you talk like that in front of the young'uns."

  "Sorry, Nonny," he muttered because it was automatic, but his mind and his gaze didn't leave Pepper. "Whose orders?" he repeated. His voice had dropped another octave. Low. Threatening.

  She swallowed, frowning a little. He liked her frown. On her it was sexy. Especially the way she bit her lower lip. "Wyatt..."

  "No one gives you orders but me. No one, Pepper. You're not a member of the team, and you're not Nonny's child. You belong to me. No one else has the right to give you orders. No one tells you what to do. You have free will, Pepper. Even to tell me to go to hell if that's what you want to do." He was furious all over again, but for her not at her. "Now tell me who gave you the order to steer clear of me."

  A faint smile touched her mouth. "You just said no one can order me around, not even you, but you've got your bossy..."

  "Mon Dieu. Fils de putain! Just fuckin' tell me." His head was going to explode.

  "Trap. He did the surgery on you and he was worried about the wound in your chest. He said it was difficult and he didn't want the little ones jostling you. I figured if they couldn't, I couldn't."

  She swept her hand through her hair, the action drawing his attention to her breasts. His cock jerked hard and her eyes dropped to the front of his jeans.

  "You come to me when you're like this. Always. I don' give a damn what anyone else says. This is between us, no one else. They don' know what's right for us, what we both need." His gaze burned into hers. "Make no mistake, Pepper, both of us have needs, not just you."

  "Because of me," she said, desperation in her voice.

  She was making him crazy. Totally crazy. She still was thinking about running from him. Intellectually he understood. She blamed herself for his crass, idiotic behavior, that it had everything to do with her and not with him. Emotionally, he didn't understand at all. His cat DNA told him she belonged to him exclusively and she wasn't damn well going to leave him. The man, the hot-blooded Cajun, wasn't about to let the best thing he'd ever known walk out of his life.

  He caught her wrist and turned, taking her with him down the hall. She tugged against his hold a couple of times, and he glared at her over his shoulder.

  "Don'." It was all the warning he was going to give her. They'd had the conversation.

  Once inside his room, he slammed the door shut and hit all three locks. Three, because the little ones seemed adept at getting through locks and he hadn't wanted any interruptions. He'd had Malichai install the locks the third day after he was knifed, expecting his woman to be sleeping in his bed.

  He dropped her hand and leaned his back against the door. "You promised to talk to me. You gave me your word that we'd work things out. At the first sign of trouble - and we both know we'll clash at times - you're considerin' runnin' out on me." It was an accusation, plain and simple.

  Her long lashes swept down. Yeah. She'd not only considered it, she'd planned it. He forced himself to take a breath. He shook his head. "You really are clueless, aren't you, Pepper? You have no idea of your own self-worth. You aren't a weapon to me. You're a woman. My woman. I'm going to act like a bastard sometimes. You need to learn how to defuse that shit."

  She pressed her lips together. His heart reacted. Clenched hard.

  "I can't make it stop. I tried everything. I tried staying as far away from the men as possible. I could see I was making them uncomfortable. They've all been good to me and they're your friends, but I couldn't make my body settle down. I noticed if I had physical contact of any kind, the most accidental, they winced and looked away from me. I can't make it go away, Wyatt. I'm not doing that to you."

  "Damn it all, woman, I make it go away. That was the deal we had. You come to me when you even start to get uncomfortable and I handle it."

  "You were incapacitated."

  For the first time faint humor took hold. "Babe, I'm never gonna be that incapacitated. And if I am, I've still got a mouth and fingers and so do you. Don' listen to Trap, or anyone else when it comes to us. You share your concerns with me and no one else. And you don' run. You don' even think of runnin', not even when I'm bein' the biggest bastard in the world. You handle it."

  "And when you're not here?"

  "I told you, we'll find another way. But you stick with me. You stick with our girls. We're goin' to make a life for ourselves, and Braden and Whitney can go fuck themselves."

  "Your mouth is terrible, Wyatt."

  "And why do you think that is, Pepper?" he challenged, and folded his arms across his chest.

  He didn't bother to hide his heavy erection from her. He was blatant about it. But even as he casually unzipped his fly and loosened his jeans to give his body a little relief, he knew she needed more. Something to hang on to when he was being a complete and utter bastard. Her eyes dropped to his groin as his cock sprang free. Her eyes shimmered with sadness when she looked up at him again.

  "You don' know what you are to me, do you?" He dropped his voice even lower. Confessing should have been difficult. What man wanted a woman to know she held all the cards? It wasn't. He was asking a lot from her. He knew he was never going to be a picnic. Not ever. He'd try to tamp down his temper and learn not to let the monster loose. It was shameful and a little embarrassing to lose that kind of control. More, he didn't like hurting her.

  "Here's the thing you should know and always hold in your head, especially when I'm being difficult," he said, his eyes on hers. "You're it for me, Pepper. You always will be. The air that goes in and out of my body, as necessary as that. My very breath. More even. You're my life. That's why I can't give you up or let you run away from this. I figure you're strong enough to live with me the way I am. I know I can live with you. I have to."

  Her eyes went dark like the midnight sky. The look he loved, all soft and feminine. The starburst began to take form through all the dark purple.

  "You're the reason I'm goin' to come home after I go out with my team into a hot zone. You're the one that's goin' to keep me safe, because I'll know you're here waitin' for me. I'll always know that when I'm not here to take care of you and the girls, you can kick serious ass if you need to. There are a thousand more reasons why you're necessary to me, and sex has nothin' to do with any of them." He flashed her a soft grin. "That's a bonus. A huge one, but still a bonus."

  "I'm not running, Wyatt," she said quietly.

  "Are you goin' to learn to handle the monster in me?" He slowly slid the buttons of his shirt open and pulled the material from h
is body. The moment his shirt was gone, he fisted his heavy, hungry cock.

  She nodded slowly, her eyes on his chest, assessing. The wound was far from healed, but it was healed enough.

  "No matter what happens, it's you and me. Got that? No matter how scared you get, or how worried about the things you don' know, it's still you and me. When I say mean, hurtful things, you're goin' to handle it. Hit me over the head, yell at me, kick me or fuck my brains out, you handle it because no matter what, it's you and me. You understand?"

  She bit her lower lip, instantly centering his attention there. He loved her mouth. He'd lain in bed - alone - thinking about her mouth every minute of the day. Thinking about what her mouth did for him and how it led to other tight, scorching hot places on her body that showed him the way to paradise.

  "I understand," she said, her gaze continually dropping to his hand wrapped around his cock.

  He let his fist glide over the shaft just to watch her eyes change. Smolder. He loved that burn.

  Her chin lifted and she gestured toward his groin with it. "Do you think I want to have sex with you right now? Especially after the way you acted? I've learned what sugar and honey is, and Wyatt, I'm not feeling particularly sweet right now."

  He grinned at her. "I don' mind it when you're hot as hell, baby, that's good too. And you want to have sex. You're burnin up, I can feel that heat comin' from between your legs from here."

  "With you," she reiterated.

  For one second he saw red. Actual red. His hormones went crazy. He wanted to tackle her and take her right there on the spot, show her she belonged with him, to him, that the more she challenged him, the less she was going to win. He breathed through the reaction, although the need to dominate settled heavy on him.

  "Who else, babe?"

  "No one else, you idiot."

  The crazy, insane monster striped in black and red settled back. "So this is your way of tamin' the beast, because, sugar, let me explain to you, it isn' workin'."