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

argued, even though he knew that once her mind
was made up, she couldn’t be swayed.
    “I know what I’m doing, and I have
every intention of making sure that you make it until your brother gets here.
You’ve trusted me this far, trust me now.” Lara said staring at Viper’s
unfocused gaze. No matter what he said, she was going on the roof anyway, but
she was hoping that he would trust her.
    Lara had no idea why it mattered so
much to her, but it did. For some reason, she felt as if she should have it and
as much as it galled her to admit it, she trusted him. She had no idea why; she
thought. It’s not like he’d done anything but tell her crazy stories, but when
he touched her… it was like coming home.
    Just being here with him, in her
private place, the one no one had ever been to, felt right. As crazy and
screwed up as that sounded even to her. She was drawn to him, in a way she’d
never felt before, not even with John. Right now, she needed to keep him alive;
Lara reminded herself.
    Viper could feel the hesitancy and
hope bleeding through her energy to him. He knew why she was asking it of him
and he would never lie to her. He never could.
    “I do trust you. It is them I do
not trust, and I worry for you. Please stay inside with me?” Viper asked,
trying not to let her see how much he was concerned.
    “I can’t. If we’re going to make it
until your friends get here, then I need to be on the roof, and I need to get
up there now.” Lara said watching way Viper’s face fell. She didn’t know why he
was so concerned for her, but she thought it was nice. There hadn’t been anyone
who had cared in a long time.
    Lara could almost feel Viper’s
sadness, or at least her mind convinced her that she felt that way. Taking one
of his hands in her own, Lara looked up at him.
    “When we get out of here, you owe
me a steak dinner. With all the trimmings! You’re not getting away cheap.” Lara
grinned for a minute before looking away from his unfocused gaze. She tried to
pull away from him, but his hand held tightly to her own. When Lara looked back
up, his green gaze held her there.
    “When we get out of here, I will
make you a whole cow if you like. More importantly, I would like you to trust
me with your secret. We may be able to help.” Viper said, unable to stop
himself from using his other hand to brush her falling hair behind her ear.
    Lara chuckled. “A whole cow might
not be a bad idea.” Lara looked away from him and slowly pulled her hand from
his.
    “Lock the door behind me. Keep
firing as long as you can. Use the tunnel if you need to… live to fight another
day. Someone has to.” Lara said, then moved to the windows. She opened them
from the top down and popped out the screens.
    Viper stood back and watched as she
pulled the shutters closed over the windows and barred them from inside. With
only the long slit in each shutter to let in light from outside, the small
cabin was cast in an eerie glow from the three lanterns that Lara had lit when
they had gotten there.
    “Lara…, please be careful. Live to
fight another day with me.” Viper said as Lara opened the door to go outside.
He could barely make out the small smile on her blurry face before she nodded
and closed the door.
    “Now bar this thing so I can get on
the roof.” Viper heard Lara say from the other side of the door. Making his way
to the door, Viper locked and barred it, like Lara showed him.  
    As soon as the bar creaked into
place, Lara went to the side of the cabin and climbed the ladder to the roof.
Rolling onto her stomach, Lara leaned over the edge of the roof and released
the latches holding the ladder to the house and pulled it up onto the roof with
her. No one was getting up there; she thought as she quickly moved to the back
side of the roof and got ready for yet another war. This time on her turf.
    *****
    Dread shook his head at the dark
one that was impaled by at least a dozen arrows. “Who the hell did Viper