Viper (Naga Brides Book 1)

by Naomi Lucas

  Soft fur tickles my cheek, and denying my comfort—the most comfort I’ve felt in days—is utterly useless. Vruksha scares me. There’s no denying that. There’s a glint of something dark in his black eyes… that I can’t get past. But he hasn’t used his strength against me, and that’s saying something.

  Human men love having power and rank for the very reason I’m beginning to trust Vruksha. If the wrong man had what Vruksha had and a woman at their mercy, they would take advantage, exploit the situation. I know because it’s happened to me.

  I’ve worked for many captains, and some of them were only captains for the power they can wield having that position. But I’m not particularly beautiful, and so their attention never remained on me for long.

  I can’t shake the nervousness, that it’s all a trap, and that once I begin to give in, Vruksha will do the same.

  Because there’s literally nothing in this world stopping him from doing whatever he wants to me. I shiver.

  He wants to see me naked.

  Has anyone seen me naked? I tug the pelt against my mouth. I don’t think anyone has. I’ve been with men before, but not so vulnerably. I could never risk being vulnerable when there was no telling if the men I let into my bed might someday be my subordinate, or worse, a future boss on the ship I made my home. Sex was about relief, and nudity didn’t play into that. Not for me, at least.

  I never knew if someone would record me or take a picture to use against me later. Staying as clothed as possible was prudent.

  But Vruksha wants me naked. He wants to see what he thinks he owns. I scrunch my face. My back tingles, knowing he hasn’t moved and is still watching me.

  I wish he’d go away. I can’t rest knowing he’s right there, waiting for my answer. I also know I can’t stay like this forever. I can’t sleep forever.

  Do it. Let him see you.

  He’s going to see you eventually. You can’t stay in dirty clothes forever either. And though Vruksha has allowed me to use the bathroom in private so far on our trek, I don’t know if that will change going forward.

  It might take weeks for me to escape this hole.

  I hear him move, and then I hear him leave. I sit up, twisting to see where he’s going. His tail slips out of view as he ascends the dark stairway. I relax, pulling the pelt over my shoulders. I didn’t know how much tension was in my muscles with him so near.

  I still feel his tongue on my cheek from days ago.

  Warmth tickles my belly.

  But naked?

  Maybe letting him see me won’t be so bad. Perhaps he’ll find me disgusting, we are different after all. I don’t have a tail, scales, or fangs like he does. Once he sees me naked, he might come to his senses, realizing fully that I’m not of his species and he doesn’t really want me.

  My heart twists at the thought, making me frown. I force it away. I don’t want him to want me.

  I nod, knowing it won’t convince me even when I do.

  But if he doesn’t want me? I pull my pelt closer. If he doesn’t want me and I can’t make it back to the facility, what happens then?

  For some reason, that question scares me just as much as everything else right now.

  I’ll have to figure out a way to survive on my own, and without catching the attention of other, more terrifying naga males who may not be like Vruksha at all. Like the black striped one from the orb’s screen… or the one with a hood—Zaku, I believe—from the plateau.

  My eyes glaze over as I stare at the stairway, realizing I’m waiting for Vruksha’s return. He took his spear, which means I could be waiting a while.

  My fingers go to the buttons of my jacket, tugging at them.

  He’s not going to show me the technology without me in return. I need the technology for leverage when I get back to The Dreadnaut. I need him to want me too... if my original plan fails.

  I’m going to give him what he wants.

  I suck in my stomach when the thought solidifies.

  Seeing me naked isn’t that much to give… He could have asked for much more, and he still might, if I keep denying him, and asking questions he clearly doesn’t like answering. If I don’t give him something, he might make me pay for every inch of his hospitality going forward.

  I hear a noise and my heart ramps.

  He’s back sooner than I thought he’d be.

  I sit up straighter when he appears, when he finds me and his eyes smolder.

  He’s beautiful. I can’t get past it. All ruby and ribbed, so sleek with the way he moves. His prowess intrigues me. It’s evident in everything he does. He knows how to survive.

  I feel… lucky to have been chosen by him. Appreciative now that I’ve had food, warmth, and sleep. From what I thought my circumstances would be days ago, this isn’t nearly as bad.

  Truthfully, I thought I’d be dead by now, or broken and wishing for death.

  But there are still pieces of Vruksha that force me to temper the pull he has over me, refusing to accept that I even feel a pull at all. Like his fangs. Sometimes I think I see them drip with something, and I know that something isn’t saliva…

  Or the blatant lust in his eyes.

  Has he ever been with a woman before? Before they all vanished? Why did they vanish?

  He’s staring at me again like he’s waiting for an answer.

  My hands shake when I manage to say, “You only want to see, right? Nothing more?”

  His nostrils flare, his eyes dipping to my body hidden behind fur. “I want to spend my spill inside you.” His voice is dark, gruff. “But I will accept seeing you tonight.”

  His words make me shudder. They also warm my cheeks. I’ve imagined what it would feel like with him inside me… How could I not?

  Gooseflesh rises on my arms.

  “Okay,” I say.

  I release my grip on the pelt and let it fall. My hands move to the buttons of my jacket again. Better get this over with before I think about it anymore.

  “Wait,” he jerks forward.

  My fingers pause.

  Vruksha stalks closer, and I stiffen, but he stops several feet away, coiling his large tail under him. “I want you to stand.”

  Stand? “You’ll show me the Lurker tech if I do?” I need to make sure.

  “Yesss,” he hisses long and low. “Little human, I’ll show you whatever you want.”

  His voice is eager.

  I rise to my feet, praying for calm. My fingers find my ripped jacket again. This time, when I unclasp the buttons, he doesn’t stop me. His eyes are glued to me instead.

  If I didn’t know I was in a hole, on Earth, all alone with a strange male, I would think I was on a stage about to strip for all the rowdy men on The Dreadnaut. There were sex workers who did that very thing…

  But it’s just me and him—and the flimsy trust we’ve built. Too soon, I’ve reached the last button. I grab the lapels of my uniform jacket and tug it off, letting it fall to the floor.

  Next, I reach for the clasp of my pants, loosening them. Vruksha hasn’t moved, hasn’t breathed. Heat flushes my cheeks knowing how intensely he’s watching me.

  I push down my pants to gather around my boots.

  My belly swarms with nectarflies as his eyes roam over my bare legs. I kick off my boots, toeing the pants out from under me.

  “No scales, not a single one,” he murmurs. “How can you survive without basic protection?”

  I don’t answer. I can’t answer.

  I bring my now trembling fingers to the bottom of my top, clasping it. Before I can change my mind, I lift the fabric over my head and drop it onto the ground where my pants and jacket lie.

  The scales on Vruksha’s tail shift, straightening outward. His eyes sear my naked flesh, flashing over my body like lightning. I place my palms flush to my stomach, waiting for his response.

  “I’m not young,” I whisper, unsure why. “Not the type of woman most men want anymore.” I hurriedly add, “But I’m not old either.” I’ve seen thi
rty-three standardized years, and where most women my age have already had children and are raising a family, I chose a career in a higher caste instead.

  But he may not know that. My body isn’t perfect and sweet like it once was. I stay fit because my job demands it, but if I had it my way, I’d never leave my rooms on the Dreadnaut, reading and drawing all day, every day instead.

  Those simple desires are denied me. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve made the right choices… I mentally shake the thoughts away.

  “The rest,” he demands when I pause. “I want to see everything.” His forked tongue lashes out and steals all my thoughts momentarily.

  You can do this, Gemma. He won’t slip his tongue between your thighs when you’re not looking.

  Or will he?

  He won’t, I tell myself. I have not been able to wash since the day I was bartered away. I’ve never gone more than a day without being sanitized and scrubbed. Three days of being unclean? My nose wrinkles. Yesterday’s morning dew is all I’ve had to scrub my skin since being here. Once he sees my scrapes and bruises, he won’t want to look upon me further...

  His eyes catch mine. “I want all of you,” he says, gentler this time, as if he read my thoughts. “I want to see what is mine.”

  Bringing my hands to my bra, to the clasp in the front, I unhook it. I let the bra fall down my arms, using one of them up to hide my breasts. My heart is racing. His hands fist at his sides.

  “Drop your arm,” he orders. “Drop it or the exchange is off.”

  Anger rises, but I do what he says, letting my arms fall.

  Air brushes my nipples, my exposed skin, making my shivers worse.

  I pray he’s not a liar.

  Because if he is, there’s nothing but the thin fabric of underwear, now several days worn, stopping him from taking me. I feel so unclean that no man or woman on the Dreadnaut would even get close to me right now.

  But Vruksha is not a man—or a woman—he’s a primitive alien.

  His member emerges from his scales, thick and throbbing. I take a step back.

  “Don’t,” he rasps, shifting forward.

  “You promise you wouldn’t touch me.” I shrink further as he nears to a hairsbreadth from me.

  “And I won’t—but I will look my fill, and show you how it makes me feel, unless you do not want the same allowance when it comes to your tech?”

  My cheeks burn. I can’t muster any words.

  It’s not fair.

  “Now, the rest.”

  His body heat blankets over my skin. He’s that close. This fierce, alien male. If I trip, I’d land on him, in his arms. If I stumble, it would be into him. If I breathe too hard, we’d touch. And if we did… I don’t know what would happen. I focus on the bulge of his biceps, on the scars there I missed before.

  The way his tail has curled back around me when I wasn’t paying attention. He still isn’t touching me but…

  The hardness of his member, clearly deciding it does want me.

  The wildness in his gaze.

  I stick my fingers under the band of my underwear and slide them down my legs, almost taunting. When they’re with the pile of the rest of my clothes, I straighten to my full height and lift my chin.

  “There,” I snap. “There’s nothing between us anymore. We’ve seen each other.”

  I don’t know if it’s because I’m hyper-aware of the difference in power between us or because I hate him that I’m angry all of a sudden. It’s definitely not the tickling, knotting, increasing heat dancing within me. The excitement of the risk I’m taking. His wicked beauty.

  Vruksha’s throat bobs. “You are…” he trails off.

  “I’m?”

  “Fantastical.”

  My mouth drops at his odd choice of word. Fantastical? A fantasy? I’ve never been anything close to that to anyone in my life. No man, human or otherwise, has ever approached me like Vruksha, like he may die if he doesn’t have me. But fantastical? No. I’m diligent, disciplined, and loyal. A perfect fit for the position I’ve earned. Not fantastical…

  Fantastical people become stars and models They are beings everyone in the universe envies. They are a caste all their own. They get to paint and draw pictures all day. They get to read and write their own novels during war.

  No one envies me, no one wants my job with the stress of humanity’s doom on their shoulders.

  My eyes hood and I reach up to wipe them, finding my lashes wet.

  I quickly rub them dry before Vruksha sees. I blink several times, clearing them, keeping my face downcast. I don’t want to be here, where he can see me vulnerable. I want to hide in the big, fluffy pelt at my feet and vanish. And it’s not my nudity that I don’t want him to see. I don’t want him to see my tears, not again.

  He might not think I’m fantastical anymore if he does.

  “Female,” he begins.

  I stop him before he can say anymore. I step into him and hide.

  He stills, and his member presses between our bodies, hot against my belly. He’s warm, and here I can hide against him and pretend things were different.

  His arms don’t go around me, and that’s okay. I don’t need him to hold me; I just need him to hide me, at least for a little while. I lift my arms and curl them around his back, resting easier into him. His scales are velvety under my skin, under my fingertips, and I pet the ones on his back that I can reach.

  “Thank you,” I tell him, knowing he won’t understand. How could he?

  His arms go around me, pressing me into him. It’s awkward but I don’t mind.

  I don’t even mind the pulsing of his cock sandwiched between us. Somehow, I trust him.

  “For what?” he rasps, clearly confused with what I’m doing.

  “The compliment,” I whisper.

  We stand like this for a time, and I take in his scent. It’s musky and raw, and something I can’t place, but it warms me. It makes my skin prickle sometimes. It reminds me of this planet and all its mysteries. It suits him, I decide. I breathe him in, nearly shuddering when I do.

  It’s not a bad scent.

  His cock remains hard, and as the minutes tick by, I grow increasingly aware of it. I can’t hide against him forever. My tears dry up, and I swallow.

  His hands slide down my back, pressing me harder into him, into it. A rumbling, breathy noise comes from his throat, and I can’t help going rigid in his embrace. More of his scent floods my nose, making me warmer… everywhere.

  I jerk away.

  His nails scrape across my skin as I do, and he hisses, “Female.”

  “I can’t,” I gasp, covering my body.

  That hint of darkness glints in his eyes, and my throat closes up. He stalks forward, gliding, and I back up until I’m pressed into some sort of metal crate.

  “You have been playing games with me,” he growls. “I will be your fool no more.” He pulls my arms from my body.

  Eleven

  No Place Left to Hide

  Vruksha

  Her fingers tickle my back.

  Chosen.

  She wants me.

  She comes to me bare and presses her warm body to mine, and even pets my scales. Her breath fans my chest. Her cheek rests upon me. But it’s the soft touch of her fingers on my scales that steals my mind.

  Gemma has come to me.

  I hold back a roar of triumph. I want to rush to the surface, shouting to all the other males who did not claim a mate, that she is mine.

  Chosen.

  I wrap my arms around her small, trembling frame.

  A groan of pleasure rumbles through me with her body tight against mine. A groan of worry joins it, knowing how delicate she truly is and how the only way I can keep her is if I protect her with everything I have. I vow it too. I will die for her. After spending so many countless moments alone, this is worth dying for. I’ll never be alone again.

  I squeeze her in my arms

  She tears out of my hold.

  She slips from m
y hands and gifts me a look of stunned surprise.

  “I can’t!” she cries.

  I blink back my shock, and my frustration rises as she flees from me. My fingers twitch with loss. Does she think I’m a fool? Does she think she can tease me with what I want most and then take it away? My gaze sharpens.

  Or is this a mating dance?

  I move forward to reclaim her, to end this contradiction once and for all. “I am done with your gamesss,” I hiss.

  Her eyes widen, and they glisten like they’ve been wet. I trail her face. Her cheeks are ruddy, and her hair is a mess tumbling down her shoulders and over her pale, scaleless body.

  She covers her breasts and mound with her arms and hands. “I’m not playing games.”

  I realize… She came to me when I told her what she was, what I see her as… I swallow my frustration, trying to understand.

  “Why did you embrace me?”

  She shakes her head.

  “Why?” I demand.

  Her eyes shift elsewhere, her body pushes back onto the metal crate she’s nearly perched on. She doesn’t want to answer me. Gemma Hurst, the Communications Director...

  Humans do not communicate at all!

  “Why?” I ask, louder this time.

  “I—wanted to hide,” she answers. Her gaze has landed on my tail and she’s staring hard at it.

  “Hide? What do you need to hide from?”

  “Everything.”

  Cocking my head, I study her. She looms with uncertainty, her skin rising with prickles as my eyes caress her naked curves. Her thick, shoulder-length red waves have gone limp, but her hair retains its gleam. I have an urge to pull it back and have her face clear before me. I don’t want her to hide. She should never have to hide, not while she’s with me. My voice lowers, softens. “Hide from everything? Why would you need to do that?”

  Is she in some sort of danger?

  Her arms tighten across her chest. Tearing them off her body and tying them behind her back so she may never cover herself from me again would be a service to us both.

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “You can hide here. With me. No one can find you here, and if they do, I will kill them. You have nothing to fear.”