Page 150 of Viper

Chapter 46

Delilah

It’sbeenfifteenhourssince I stabbed and killed 57 in Cora’s garden. I’ve counted every single one as they passed, waiting to see if some part of me is going to change.

Nothing did.

I’m still me.

Just darker, too full of knowledge now.

Striker came to check on me several times throughout the night and this morning, demanding I eat, but exhaustion and some deep need to be alone weighed down every limb, making it impossible to get out of bed. To speak. To do anything other than float in darkness, remembering Reaper’s words and his touch. The way he took every piece I surrendered. The way he gave ‌so much of himself. But it all mixed up like some nightmarish dream with the gurgling sounds of a man as he died and the crushing reality that I killed someone. Watched Reaper and Striker hack off his hands.

A faint thudding sound crashes through my room and my thoughts, followed by a loud crack of thunder. My body jolts, andI grip the sheets, bringing them up to my neck as my gaze shifts from the rain-slicked window to my bedroom door. I toss back the sheets and pull a thick wool sweater over my sleep dress as I head for the door. Striker didn’t bother locking it when he left. Maybe he figures I’m too rattled to leave the room.

Or maybe he thinks I’ll listen.

Seems he forgets who I am.

Carefully, I crack the door open and peer out into the dim hall. Rain pelts at windows lining the hall, obscuring the outside world. Checking left and then right to ensure no one is around, I dart to the stairs and peer over the railing to the foyer.

The front door stands wide open, letting in damp cold winter air. Muffled voices and the distinct slick slide of van doors closing break through the patter of rain.

Are they going somewhere?There is no way they would leave me here alone. Not after what happened.

My bare foot hits the first step, my hand slipping down the banister as I slowly descend. When I reach the last step, I lean forward, gripping the railing, trying to see into the library and the large sitting room on the other side of the wide foyer, but spot no one. Outside the open door, beyond the fountain, three black vans line the driveway, parked next to the sleek black car.

Someone shouts, but his voice is muffled, so I can’t make out the words. An engine turns over, then another, followed by another. The first van lurches forward, then drives toward the muddy road along the jagged cliffs.

My heart skips, and I rush toward the door. Frigid air blasts my face as I come to a stop, resting my hand on the doorframe as the three vehicles file away and disappear from view.

Goosebumps break out over my arms, and a shiver wracks my shoulders as I take a step out onto the porch. Icy cold burns my feet, but I take another step, wrapping my sweater aroundme tighter. When I reach the stairs leading down to the drive, I stop at the edge. Rain falls in a thin curtain from the roof onto the top step, splashing my toes.

“You’re going to catch your death out there, Sweetheart.”

His voice, steady and low, slides through the rain’s roar and seizes every atom. My mind jumps to Cora. My jaw sets as fear snakes down my spine, then bites at my neck. I whirl around, heart hammering, terrified of what his return means, but the second my eyes land on him, every thought comes to a complete stop.

He stands framed in the doorway, shoulders squared, arms crossed, head cocked to the side, his fanged skull mask dull in the grayish light, but his eyes alive, almost sparkling.

“Viper,” I breathe, mist forming around my mouth.

A vicious growl leaves him, and he stalks forward, cupping my face and rubbing a thumb over the cut on my lip, then the faint bruise on my cheek.

“If I could bring him back and fucking kill him again, I would,” he says. His arms drop to his sides, back straightening, reading the panic flickering across my face. “Don’t worry. She’s okay,mo leannan. Our little Vixen is safe.”

My body sags with relief. I absentmindedly touch the cut on my lip and gesture behind me. “Where did they go?”

“Away from you.” The absolute rage pouring from him, cracks through the hard steel barrier I’ve constructed around my heart. All the days of strain, the constant nagging fear, the agonizing not knowing, burst free as something inside me cracks open.

I place my hand on my chest, digging my fingers into the skin over my heart, trying to contain it. I didn’t realize how incomplete I felt with him gone. Viper has been my anchor in some of my most vulnerable moments. In the woods, I clung to his hard edges, inhaling his clean scent when they pulled mytruth from me. It was he who reminded me they needed my consent before they touched me again. Viper is the one who held me close, made me feel beautiful and desired in my sun-flooded bedroom when I gave myself over to him, letting him have me in the most vulnerable of ways. He armed me with a blade so I wouldn’t feel so helpless.

Reaper and Striker have been my guide through this past week, but I didn’t have Viper and his bold, yet gentle reminder, I was safe.

Viper takes my hand and pulls me back into the house, shutting and locking the door behind us. He tugs me forward, urging me toward the library. I follow, still pressing my palm to my chest like it will hold all the fragments of my heart in place. They keep tugging at it, chiseling it down until I don’t think it belongs to me anymore.

“She’s okay?” I whisper. “Where is Cora?”

“Safe,” he says again. “No more talking.”