He slowly walked forward, keeping his eyes on Tina. He knew the exact moment that she felt his presence. She stiffened and turned as if in slow motion toward him. He could see the hurt and confusion mixed with anger at his betrayal at not telling her what would happen to her.
Pearl turned and glared at him. He heard her murmur to Tina. Tina looked back at him and shook her head before glancing away.
Pearl looked around the room. Viper vaguely heard her ask for her shotgun. Vox had been smart in having the damn thing taken away from Pearl before she came into the palace. His older brother obviously didn’t want to take a chance of getting his ass bruised up in the off-chance that Riley’s grandmother didn’t like him.
“Where’s my goddamn gun!” Pearl called out in aggravation.
“Vox isn’t here yet,” Walkyr whispered with a grin. “We gave him a mission.”
Viper nodded and slowly counted. Right now, he didn’t have the patience to deal with Pearl’s hostilities toward him. He breathed through his nose in an effort to keep from just saying to hell with everything and taking off with Tina.
He thought things were going to calm down until he saw Riley peeking in again, she bit at her finger nail as she looked to see if Vox had shown up yet. Pearl must have seen the worry and the uncertainty as well.
“Where’s my gun?” She demanded again.
“I am not giving you that damn gun! You are dangerous enough without it,” Viper ground out as his own tempered frayed at Vox’s absence.
He wanted, needed, to get Tina away from everyone. The strain on his and his cat’s control was quickly becoming dangerous. He needed to get Tina alone soon so that he could explain that he had never meant to hurt her feelings and that he knew they could be happy if she would just give him a chance.
Things moved quickly the moment Vox appeared. Viper barely remembered any of it. All he had eyes for was Tina. The red haze of fear that was slowly choking him made him snap out. A vague part of him heard his voice, but it was if it was coming from someone else. He immediately realized that he had pushed Tina too far when the words ‘Make me,’ slipped past his lips in a menacing snarl.
He looked down in time to realize that Tina was holding the device Pearl had used on Bahadur back on Earth. He closed his eyes, wishing he could stop time and rewind it. For a moment, as the world around him lit up with the force of the shock that coursed through his body, he thought he might actually be able to do it.
A small part of him acknowledged that this was what he got for being such an arrogant ass at times. He lay on the ground, twitching as his brothers gazed down at him in fascination. He could hear the sounds of crashing and the faint sounds of Vox’s roars. It took all of his self-control to turn his head when he felt something peck at a strand of his hair. He found himself face to beak with Ruby. The Orpington was completely oblivious to the rampaging tigers.
Closing his eyes, Viper decided he would just lay there until it was all over. A sigh of resignation ran through him when he felt Ruby’s warm body snuggling up close to his head. For a moment, the humor of the situation suddenly occurred to him. He was lying twitching uncontrollably on the floor at his brother’s wedding with a chicken, tigers, his furious mate, and her gun-toting grandmother. It didn’t help that Pearl was commenting it was the best wedding she had ever attended.
I would hate to see what the worst wedding was like, Viper thought wearily.
*.*.*
Three days later, Viper stood outside in the palace gardens staring blindly across the colorful landscape. He started when he felt an arm wrap slide through his. Turning his head, he stared down into the worried eyes of his mother.
Rosario smiled and turned her head to gaze out of the sunlit garden as well. They stood like that for several minutes before she spoke. Viper felt some of the despair he was feeling slowly dissolve.
“I like your mate,” she murmured in a quiet voice. “She is different from Riley.”
Viper nodded. “I don’t think our world could handle another Riley,” he muttered before he winced at his words. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded. She is perfect for Vox.”
Rosario chuckled as they started walking along the path. “Yes, she is,” she admitted. “Vox would have walked over any other female. Pearl is a delight as well.”
Viper bit back the words he would use to describe Pearl. Stubborn, menacing, dangerous, pain-in-the-ass, smart, loving, loyal, and fiercely protective finished off the list. He released a deep sigh as he remembered the Unbreakable Rule. She did exactly that.
“She is a good woman,” he finally said. “She cared for Riley and Tina. Tina has not told me what happened to her parents. I am lucky to have you and father.”
Rosario squeezed Viper’s arm. “You have always been a great warrior,” she said. “You are quickly growing into a great mate.”
“I don’t feel like it,” Viper whispered. “I don’t know how to get through to her. I need her.”
Rosario stopped. The path in the garden forked. One section led to the pond in the center and the other led back around to the palace. She turned and gazed up at her son.
“She needs you, as well, Viper,” Rosario replied with a smile that held love and understanding. “Being a mate is not easy, but it is the most wonderful gift you can receive. Listen to her, love her, and guide her in her new life. She is scared.”
“I would be, too,” Viper admitted. “I am now. I’m terrified of losing her.”
“Tell her,” Rosario murmured as she rose up on her toes to brush a kiss against his cheek. “She needs to know that even warriors can be afraid sometimes.”
Viper watched as his mother stepped back and turned to go down the path back to the palace. For a moment, he felt like a young cub that had gotten lost in the garden and it had suddenly become a strange and dangerous place.
He felt the pull of his mate. Turning, he closed his eyes and reached for her. Her loneliness touched him and he could feel her fear. Opening his eyes, he started down the path toward the pond. He pulled a small blade from his side and stopped every few steps to cut one of the blooms flowering along the gravel path. By the time he reached the end of the path, he had a colorful bouquet of flowers clutched in his hand.
Viper reached into his vest with his free hand and pulled out the white cloth Carmen had given him. Stepping out into the opening, he paused to gaze at where Tina sat on the grass in the shade of one of the trees. She was staring out over the pond.
He walked quietly across the grass and stood silently beside her. A wave of uncertainty flashed through him. He was not used to these feelings of confusion and doubt.
“I don’t really remember my mom,” Tina whispered. “She left when I was little. Pearl said my mom had lost her way. That she forgot the Unbreakable Rule.”
“What about your father?” Viper asked quietly, sinking down to the ground beside her. “Why did he not protect you and care for you?”
Tina’s lips curved up at the corner into a small, sad smile. “I think he was lost, too, when he met my mom. He didn’t know about me until about a year ago. By then, he had found a different path to follow and I wasn’t part of it. Through it all, there was grandma and Riley. The three of us against the world,” she said with a soft laugh. “Riley with her mouth, Pearl with her shotgun, and me with my fists. We were ready for whatever the world threw at us.”
“Until,” Viper murmured.
Tina turned her head and looked at him with haunted eyes. “Until I learned that the world was a bigger, badder place than the three of us,” she replied in a soft voice before she turned back to look at the water. “I didn’t like it anymore.”
“What happened?” Viper asked, reaching for her hand.
He watched as she took the white cloth he had crumbled up in it. She smoothed it out before wrapping her fingers through his. A slow, shuddering sigh escaped her.
“My high school years were not the best,” she admitted. “I wanted to be more than the nas
ty names the girls called me. I was smart. I studied and I was good at math. Those were not the qualifications for being popular in school. We were living in Los Angeles, as well. Pearl had a good paying job as the manager a printing business. One day I came upon a group of boys beating up a girl. They were going to kill her, something told me that. I went it screaming and yelling and fists flying.”
“This girl, it is your friend Toni, yes?” Viper asked.
Tina nodded and released his hand to pick at the white cloth she had smoothed out. “Yes, it was Toni. She had been set up by some of the ‘in’ girls at the high school. There was a gang that thought they could muscle in on the Di Stefano Empire. They didn’t realize that they were playing hard ball with the pros. I didn’t recognize Toni as we didn’t move in the same circles. I just saw someone that needed help. Fortunately, there was an incident a block over and the cops heard my screams.”
“There is more,” he said when her voice faded.
Tina nodded. “A couple of days later there was a drive by shooting and four of the boys were killed,” she said. “It happened just a few blocks from the school. Pearl doesn’t know, but I saw the man slip the money under our door. It was a ‘thank you’ from the Di Stefano family. The thing is, if you accept a payment, even one you didn’t ask for, it pulled you into their family. Once it became known I was under the Di Stefano protection, I became a target. The gang wanted to make an example of what happened to those that supported them. I was that example because I stopped them from killing Toni. They couldn’t get to her, but they could get to me. A group of them caught me on my way to the library.”
Viper waited, desperately wanting to pull Tina into his arms, but something told him she needed to finish what she was telling him first. Pearl’s words came back to him in an explosion of awareness.
“Yes, something happened… a long time ago. It scared her bad enough that she never talked about it and let it take over her life. If you are the one meant for her, she’ll open up. It might take a while, but she’ll tell you. If she doesn’t, then maybe you aren’t the man for her. She needs someone she can trust.”
Tina was showing him that he was the one meant for her. She was telling him in her own way that she trusted him to protect her, care for her, and be there for her. Viper could almost feel another thread connecting them as he realized the gift she was giving him.
“They pulled me around back and began beating me. I fought back, but it wasn’t much of a fight. What I had learned by reading books on boxing were nothing compared to the way they fought. They ripped at my clothes and threatened to carve their gang symbol into my skin,” she murmured. “What really got to me was they were laughing. They thought it was funny to hurt someone else. They thought it was cool to rape and kill. As I lay on the ground, they kept laughing and kicking me and taunting me. I realized that I didn’t like the world or the people in it very much anymore. They either hurt you or left you and I didn’t want any part of it.”
“What happened?” Viper asked in a voice devoid of emotion.
“Pearl happened,” Tina sniffed. “She was worried when I didn’t show up at the library. She was going to surprise me for making the honor roll and take me out to dinner to celebrate. She drove around back and saw what was happening. I spent two days in the hospital. When I was discharged, she packed everything up and we moved to San Diego. I took the test at the local community college and graduated with my high school diploma. A few months after we moved down, Toni showed up looking for a place to stay. Pearl took her in. What happened to me was nothing compared to what Toni had lived through.”
“But…” Viper encouraged.
Tina lifted the white cloth to wipe the tears that had escaped. “I guess I have to accept your surrender since I’m using your flag,” she laughed self-consciously.
Viper reached out and cupped Tina’s cheek. Turning her to face him, he leaned closer. He waited.
“But, those kids laughter wouldn’t go away,” she whispered. “I could hear it in my sleep. About a year ago, I went down to the local gym. I saw this guy fighting in a way I had never seen before. There were four guys coming at him and he was beating them all. I wanted to be able to do that. I never wanted to hear the laughter again. I… didn’t want to be broken any more.”
Viper leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. He waited until she returned the kiss with one of her own. The small, desperate touches of their lips spoke of a deeper need.
“I love you,” he whispered. “I was the one broken, but you have healed me. You have filled in the missing pieces that I didn’t even know were missing. Together….” He paused and looked deeply into her eyes. “Together we are whole.”
Tears glimmered in her eyes for a moment before she looked down at the crumbled white cloth. Her eyes flickered to the bouquet of flowers lying on the ground beside them. She gave a watery laugh and nodded to them.
“Are you giving me weeds again?” She teased, looking at him with a crooked smile.
“Yes,” he said reaching for them. “They are wild and beautiful and they stand up against the strongest wind. They remind me of you.”
“They’re beautiful,” she whispered, fingering a delicate bloom.
“Almost as beautiful as you,” he replied, lifting her chin with his finger. “I claim you as my mate, but I ask you to be my wife. Will you marry me, Tina, in the ceremony of your people, before your family and mine?”
Tina snorted and laughed, but nodded her head. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes. I love you, Viper. I missed you.”
Viper pulled Tina into his arms until she was sitting on his lap. He held her like he would never let her go. Burying his face in her shoulder, he breathed in a deep, calming breath. They would take it slow. He would teach her about her new life and she would teach him how to not be an arrogant ass. The biggest thing was they would be together.
“Come on,” he suddenly said, sliding her off his lap so he could stand up.
Tina looked at him, startled, but placed her hand in his. “Where are we going?” She asked breathlessly when he bent to pick up the flowers and handed them to her.
“To plan our wedding,” Viper said with a huge grin. “This time, though, I don’t want to be lying on the floor.”
Chapter 22
Tina grinned up at Viper as he carried her up the steps leading up to his forest home. By the time they reached the palace, Tina had decided that she didn’t want a big, elaborate wedding like her sister. She had stopped Viper and asked him if he would consider eloping.
His hot kiss after she explained what it meant told her he not only would consider it, but that he was definitely happier with the idea. They weren’t able to completely sneak away, though. Pearl came in as she was packing the clothes that Rosario had delivered for her. If she thought her grandmother was an amazing woman before, she knew it for certain when Pearl started throwing her clothes into the bag faster than she could.
“That boy loves you,” Pearl snorted. “I could see his smitten face the first time he saw you.”
Tina shook her head as she dumped additional items into the bag. “He’s not a boy, grandma,” she laughed.
Pearl grinned. “I know that, but it irritates the hell out them when you call them that. Vox’s face turns this really funny shade of blue. I swear he looks like he’s about ready to blow a gasket whenever I call him it,” she chuckled.
Tina paused as she stared at Pearl for a long moment. “You’re happy we came, aren’t you?” She asked in a soft voice.
Pearl’s eyes softened as she gazed back at Tina. “You’re damn right I’m glad,” she said. "To see you and Riley happy, to be a gram, to know that both you girls will be safe and cared for is all I ever wanted. I know I wasn't the perfect mom, but I loved your mother. I tried to fix the mistakes I made with her. I'm glad I lived long enough to see this."
Tina laid her hand on Pearl's arm in concerned. "Are you okay?" She asked, unable to keep the concern out of her voi
ce. "I know you had some doctor's appointments recently. You said that it was just a normal check up."
Pearl chuckled and patted Tina's hand. "I'm a tough old bird," she said as she turned to pick up a beautiful night gown. "You don't want to forget this."
Tina blushed and snatched it out of her grandmother's hand. Carefully folding it, she couldn't stop the excited smile that curved her lips. No, she didn't want to forget it, even if she was hoping she wouldn't get a chance to wear it.
*.*.*
Three hours later, Viper paused outside the small home he had built in the thick forests an hour outside of the Sarafin capital city. He had built the rustic home by hand, needing the time between missions to decompress. He enjoyed working with his hands in the solitude of the woods. The beauty of the massive trees, thick vegetation, and abundance of wildlife always gave him a sense of calm. There were times when he would spend days in the form of his cat, roaming the forests and enjoying the freedom and agility of his primitive side.
He smiled down at Tina's excited face. He decided to use one of his air bikes instead of a shuttle for their journey. Pearl's eyes had held the same excitement when she saw it. He had cringed when he first saw Pearl as she was carrying a large bag over her shoulder. He had been afraid that she planned on going with them. Both women had laughed at the undisguised relief on his face when he discovered she was merely helping Tina carry her luggage. She had surprised him by reaching up and kissing his cheek before giving Tina a big hug and telling her not to worry about Ruby. She would love to chicken sit until their return.
"It isn't as big as my rooms back at the palace," he said nervously as the door opened. “I can add on to it if you wish.”
Tina tenderly turned his face toward her. “We don’t need more room… for a little while,” she added shyly.
A low purr escaped him as her meaning sank in. While he would love to start a family eventually, he wanted to spend time with Tina alone first. There was a lot he wanted to show her, starting with their bedroom upstairs.