Viper (Second Wave Book 1) by Mikayla Lane Read Free Book Online Page B

animal friends, but would come in handy to slow down the assholes
that were after Viper. She just needed to buy them enough time for Viper’s
people to get to them. She figured once he was gone, the threat would most
likely follow him, and she could go back to her original plans.
    They’d gone another half-mile when
Lara slowed to a stop. “Wait here a minute.” She said, dropping her pack on the
ground.
    Curious, Viper nodded his head and
listened as she moved off into a darker blur of the forest. He assumed it was a
more dense area due to the variations of the shadows. He watched as Lara moved
around for a few seconds before heading back to him.  
    “What was that about?” Viper asked
as Lara picked her pack back up and led them forward again.
    “My grandfather maintained the
family’s old homestead here in the forest. It’s been my place since I was six,
I’ve maintained it ever since then. On our first trip there, he pointed out to
me some of the… security measures that our ancestors had put in place to
protect them from attack either from natives or unsavory wanderers.”
    “He made his own upgrades over the years,
and I added some of my own. That’s where we’re heading, so I’m setting them as
we go. We won’t be lucky enough to get them all before they start looking out
for the traps, but we’ll get a couple and injure a few more before they get to
us.” Lara said simply, seeing no reason not to tell him what she was doing.
    She figured it was better he be
warned anyway. In case anything happened and she didn’t make it out, he would
know to look out for them.
    Viper was getting worried now, the
tone of her voice and her energy was too fatalistic. “What did you see? I need
to know.”  
    Lara let out a soft sigh; the breath
puffed the stray hairs around her face out adorably, and Viper couldn’t help
but reach out to the blurry image and push the strands back behind her ear.
    “Please… I need to know.” Viper
said again softly as he let his hand trail to her shoulder and rest there a
moment. He could feel her energy spark and flash against his own, her emotions
screaming through her energy to him unchecked.
    Viper could feel her panic,
confusion and indecision as she stepped away from him and began to lead him
forward again. He was deeply disappointed that she didn’t trust him enough to
tell him what she had seen.  
    If he was honest with himself
though, he could understand why she was hesitant to trust him. He was just as
confused about this whole damn situation as she was.
    They spent the next several hours
hiking in silence, the only breaks they took were the times they stopped long
enough for Lara to set one of her traps.
    They were less than an hour from
the cabin when the first shot rang out, followed by a short burst of rapid
fire. Turning to the sky, Lara stood and watched as a huge flock of birds
erupted skyward at once.
    “They are a good four miles behind
us, but they are heading this way. We need to get to the cabin. We will stand a
better chance there. Can you jog?” Lara asked, turning to Viper.  
    “I’m guessing they hit the first of
your traps?” Viper asked with a small grin.
    Lara was glad that he couldn’t see
her blush. “I think they bypassed the first one, or saw it. That was definitely
the second one. Can you walk fast?”
    “I can jog. Let’s go.” Viper said,
nodding his head to Lara.
    *****
    Dreadhawk fle’ te’ Trugh, Viper’s
brother, turned towards the sound of the shots fired.
    “That’s coming from South West, not
North West, like he said in the cave.” Niklosi Jevasari, Valendran tact team
member said, looking to his teammate Decano for confirmation.
    “That’s correct.” Decano agreed,
before turning to Dread. It was his brother; he was leading this rescue mission,
and it would be up to him to decide if they would follow the sounds of gunfire
or stay on the North West course.
    Dread turned concerned eyes to
Gibly, the Valendran