King Cobra (Naga Brides Book 2) Read online

  It’s so striking it should hurt. And yet, I just stare at it because it’s something to distract me as he winds up the mountain.

  To his home. To where he’s taking me.

  You can survive this, Daisy.

  Six

  An Ancient Castle and High-tech Trappings

  Zaku

  The Python forced her.

  It’s all I can think about. I want to topple the trees, tear out throats, and crush bones. I want blood in my mouth and my gore under my claws. It was dark when I came across him, and I had not taken the time to interrogate him, nor check if his member was out. If it was wet with human juices.

  I’d smelled blood, only his blood. I did not think...

  I had thought my female hurt him because she refused to be his. Perhaps that is what she means by “forced.” But the way she whimpers, the way she turns from me, and what is clearly between us, tangles my mind with doubt. It brings back memories of the naga females who were forced to mate males against their will. The fear they had of all males afterward, the paranoia, and the sadness.

  A dark, agitated, and furious rumble vibrates in my chest.

  If that is what my female has suffered on her first night in my world, I have failed far more than I’d thought. Doubt niggles in the back of my skull. Perhaps Krellix was right…

  Maybe we should have let the females choose.

  I instantly dismiss the thought. I would not stand it if my female chose another over me; I would kill him and take her anyway.

  If the Python forced her, then he committed the only crime we have.

  The worst thing a naga could do.

  I thought I was rid of them. The ones who destroyed us. I thought there were no nagas left who would risk doing such a wretched thing as raping a female. The dishonorable ones should’ve been gone from these lands. I’ve killed so, so many... The ones who cared nothing for life and only thought about themselves and their needs. It was because of these savage nagas that the naga females left. One forced mating could result in gestation, and gestation has always led to death.

  Not humans, though. I cradle Daisy closer. I will make sure the Python is dead, that his meat is given back to the land. It’s my duty to keep the others in line.

  Scanning my surroundings with fervor, if any naga happens to be trailing us, he will die. My trust is gone.

  Glancing down at my mate, I am certain if I spill my seed inside her, she will survive the litter that will result from our union. I have a human medical pod in my den to ensure her survival.

  I’ve prepared—for years, I prepared—with hope that eventually she would come to me. I had nothing else to do but wait and prepare.

  The naga females journeyed to the west, long ago. My mother had been dead for decades by the time it happened, and I had just matured, the only one she birthed before she perished. There is not a day that has gone by that I don’t carry the weight of her death.

  I didn’t realize then what I do now. How dearly the males left behind would miss them. If I had, I would have followed the other females west. Some tried to follow, only the females killed them or forced them to turn back. Brothers, fathers, friends…

  However, if I had followed, I’m sure they would have let me join them. I am a king, after all. Nothing is higher than a king. A king is beloved by all.

  My mate has been quiet for some time, and I don’t know if I like it or not. She gazes off into the distance, her face emotionless.

  What did the Python do to her? Did he force his member inside her? Did he spill?

  Disgust fills me at the thought.

  I should have made sure he died. I should have taken the time to kill him or at least cut off his tail so he would suffer, crippled, until death finally came, until the monsters of the forest found him and finished him off.

  “I will gift you his head,” I growl, swallowing the venom leaking from my fangs.

  Her chest rises as she inhales deeply before her breathing returns to normal. It is the only response I get from my declaration. I tear my eyes away from her.

  Seeing the broken path to my den ahead, I hasten only to stop, knowing that if another naga is still hunting for a mate and knows one is with me, he may have staked out my den. It is what I would do if I were not a king and had to use other, trickier means to get what I want.

  Daisy looks up at me, then around, noticing I’ve stopped.

  “Do not make a noise,” I warn, lowering my voice.

  I scrutinize the few trees and boulders one might hide behind as I start heading for my den again. Unlike most nagas, my home isn’t tucked away, fully hidden from the world. It’s out in the open, built into the side of the tallest mountain, and can be seen from certain vantage points from miles away. Though it is camouflaged to a degree, the glass walls sometimes glint while looking upon it far in the distance.

  Someone important lived here once, someone who wanted to oversee all the land below.

  Someone with wealth and power. Because that is what this old human home is, a place of vast power. Through a secret tunnel, one connected to the room my nest is in, is a relay. A piece of technology—a machine—that is still working from the old world. I don’t know how it works but based on research I’ve done from the books in this place, it helps connect all the technology in this region together.

  Many males have journeyed here at one point or another, seeking to take my den from me. All have failed. And they do not even know of the power source I reside over. They do not know that their precious information orbs would stop working if I wanted them to. They do not know that I keep the Earth from dying.

  Me alone.

  They do not know how generous I am. Only Vruksha knows, somewhat, and it is because we once hunted down dirty rapists together.

  Though my home is out in the open, it is secure, and I am not an easy male to beat in a fight. Skulls litter the ground around the entrance, a warning to any who seek to take something from me I am not willing to give away.

  As I near, I see nothing waiting for us in the shadows, nothing except rocky steps, tall grass, skulls, and piles of bones. I finally relax when I reach the security panel at my den’s entrance. Typing in a code, the door opens.

  I carry my mate into my home.

  Triumph washes over me when the door shuts. Sliding to the seating area in the large living space, I lower her upon it. She pulls her arms and legs into her, curling up as if she’s trying to make herself small.

  She is already tiny enough. She does not need to be smaller!

  My nostrils flare.

  I reach out and thread my fingers into her hair. “I am not like the Python.”

  She turns her head so she doesn’t have to look at me. “And the bones?” she asks numbly.

  I hiss. “Filth I have purged.”

  When she shrinks further, I realize I’m going to have to prove it to her. She doesn’t know me, nor my people. She doesn’t know if she can trust us. She didn’t even recognize the fruit I offered her. She jumped into a frigid lake at first light…

  Tonight, I decide, I will go back out and collect the Python’s head.

  “Rest,” I say, pulling back. “I’ll feed you.”

  Staring at her for a moment longer, until I’m certain she won’t meet my eyes, I head for the kitchen. Lights turn on when I move through the wide central space of my upper den. The front of the entry space is made of glass and can be seen into by anyone who braves to get close enough. The inside is minimally decorated. The humans who built this place did not like things. Which is why I don’t mind leaving Daisy’s side. There is little she can hurt herself with, and there’s no escape.

  White and silver, sleek with old tech appliances, the kitchen, like the rest of my home, has glass walls and a view of the mountains and forest below. Most of my den does. The walls to the outside are either glass or the rocky mountain interior.

  I hear movement, and I see my mate sprinting to the exit, yanking the handle. She shrieks when the door
doesn’t budge, slamming her fists against it.

  “It’s locked,” I rumble.

  She runs to another door, throwing it open and ducking inside. Something crashes from within, and she shrieks again, angrier this time.

  My hands clench as I hear a sob, and she comes out of the room a few minutes later. She looks at me only to avert her eyes, striding from one room to the next in the hallway off the living area. She’s not going to find anything but spare rooms. This place is like a labyrinth of nothing. Quiet, perfectly preserved, nothing.

  It has barely changed since I took ownership of this place. The house won’t let it change. I have destroyed it before—during times of wrath. The robots that live here just rebuild it. They are as much a menace as they are generous to the house’s inhabitants.

  There is another frustrated scream.

  Trying to calm, I force my hands to uncurl and go to open the kitchen’s icebox. Inside are slabs of raw meat from my recent kills. I place the juiciest one on the counter as she heads for the last door in the back hallway.

  The red one. It’s thicker than the others and has a lock like the front.

  She’s no longer running now that it’s clear I’m not going to stop her. This den is hers now as much as it’s mine.

  I silently slip up behind her as she tugs the handle to the immobile door.

  “My nest, little human, is beyond that door. It’s locked for that reason.”

  She startles and faces me, pressing her back to the door. Her eyes are wide with renewed fear.

  With my hands slippery with meat juices, I reach beside her and type a code into the panel next to the door. The door opens, and she slinks back onto the threshold, watching me warily.

  “Our nest,” I declare, “lies within the spaces the robots have chosen to block off from outsiders.”

  Whoever once lived here… was an unusual being. The secrets of my home are why I decided to stay. That, and the robots have decided I am the home’s new master.

  Her eyes hood as she turns to look within. Tension radiates through me. I’ve waited for this moment for years. For her, and her alone, I’ve helped preserve the best nest in all the world. I want to see that spark of wonder finally hit her eyes when she realizes she is beloved. No one but me has gone through this door since I claimed this space.

  My mate is the most beautiful. Beautiful creatures should be worshipped and surrounded by the best. It is the least a king can do for his queen.

  She glances at me, and though she scents of sweat, her skin is grimy, and her hair a tousle of tangles, I still see her beauty beneath it all. She doesn’t look queenly right now. She needs a bath.

  I did not see, nor smell, spill on her from the Python. It may have washed off at the lake.

  Was that...why her hands were between her legs?

  I grit my teeth, sickened and horrified that I touched my member while she cleaned him off of her. I need to make sure she is entirely clean of him and his repulsive fluids. I want her adorned in my wealth, and as pure as the first moment I laid eyes on her. Right now, she is dirty, and it was not me who has made her that way. I don’t like it.

  If I want her dirty, I’d make it so. I don’t, I want her beautiful, surrounded by beautiful things, and fresh to touch.

  I will not only bring back his head, but I will also bring back his member, his spine, and his hands. I will rip him apart.

  “Your nest,” she whispers. “Not mine.”

  “Take a look,” I encourage her, hiding my fury.

  She trembles, peering down the dark, windowless hallway and the winding stairs at the end. Until she goes down those stairs, there’s nothing to see except for some pictures hanging on the walls. She turns back and evades me, denying it, us.

  Hissing low, I bristle.

  She doesn’t seem to notice as she sidesteps and heads for the kitchen. Agitated and curious, I trail her. She stops when she sees the meat.

  “Food,” I growl, passing her, rubbing my tail over her legs, marking her.

  She jumps away. “What is this place?”

  Does she not listen? “My den.”

  Watching me intensely, she crosses her arms, making her jacket leak with water. “How is this possible?” she says, near cowering, keeping the counter between us. “Everything is—” her eyes flick around “—brand new. This doesn’t look like a… home.”

  Using my claws, I cut the meat into slabs. “The robots preserve it.”

  Her eyes dart left and right. “Robots?”

  I call out, “House, initiate cleanup.” Buzzing sounds fill the space and several wall panels open to the left of me. She turns as tall, thin machines with extendable arms and screens come out. They spread out as red lasers shoot from their limbs. They probe and pick at things, straightening them or dissolving them from existence. They come out on their own to keep the house the way they want it. They also come at my command.

  She watches the robots, her mouth dropping open as one comes up to her and lasers the stone tiles at her boots. The water that dripped there sizzles and evaporates. I move around the counter while she’s distracted.

  Stepping back, she lands against my chest.

  I embrace her, but she flings herself away.

  Clenching my hands, I hold in my growl. “House,” I call out. “Obey her.” I indicate my mate. “Make her a master of this place.” I turn to her, lowering my voice. “Tell them to stop if you do not like what they’re doing.”

  “Stop!” she sputters out, and at once, all of the robots halt what they’re doing. She moves further away as she takes notice. The more I watch her, the more her responses confuse me. “You’ll let them respond to me?”

  “Yes.”

  She reaches out and touches one of the robots only to pull her hand away soon after. “They will not hurt you, nor will they hurt anyone else. They will protect this place, though, keep it how it is, and that is all.”

  “Unlock the front doors,” she says.

  One of the robots heads for the door.

  I grab her arm before she can bolt after it. “Stop!” I yell, making the robots pause. “Never respond to that command. Turn off,” I order them next, and they retreat to their spots in the walls. Pulling Daisy into my chest, she struggles futilely. “Stop,” I command again. When she continues to thrash, I spin her and grab her wrists.

  “Do you understand what would happen if you run? You are far from the plateau and your human ship now. The forests are no longer clear for the hunt. The predators will have returned by now, brought in by the lure of fresh blood in the air. This mountain is home to bears, giant felines, and far worse. Even if you do not trip and fall by descending in your current state in the dark, you will inevitably face them. What will you do then?” I scan her small form. “You have no weapon, no armor, you have no scales, claws, or even fangs to defend yourself.”

  Her face has gone white, and I loosen my hold on her wrists. “How can you say that? Your walls are made of glass. Nothing about this place is safe,” she breathes. “How do you know my name?”

  I let go of her and grab the metal dining table, lifting it above my head. With all my might, I throw the table against the nearest glass wall. A loud clang pierces the quiet space of my den as the table strikes the glass and clatters to the floor.

  The glass holds.

  Snagging the table with my tail, I bring it back to me, right it, and settle it back into place before the robots get to it. “See? It holds. It will always hold. Many have tried to take this place from me,” I rasp, “and all have failed. I leave their heads, their bones, outside as a warning to others. I am Zaku, King Cobra, king of this mountain, king of the forest, and king of all you see before you now fading in the darkness the moon brings. No one has fought me and lived. No one.”

  She freezes with my words.

  “Now, female, you will eat, or I will force you. I will make you beautiful again.”

  I turn on her and take her stunned form into my arms.


  Seven

  The Second Night

  Daisy

  He never told me how he knows my name...

  Sitting stiffly, I stare down at my hands in the water. Warm, clear, luxurious water that fills the giant tub I’m in.

  Warm water.

  A tub that’s within the most decadent bathroom I’ve ever seen. Creamy stones make up the floor, leading to a jet-black stone basin in the center. One wall is entirely curved and made of glass, but I can’t see anything out of it right now. It’s dark outside, and the bathroom is lit up in a golden glow.

  Like the rest of Zaku’s home I’ve seen so far—glassy, sleek, bright, and beautifully open—the bathroom is much the same. It’s off one of the side rooms, and Zaku led me here after I refused to eat any more than a couple of bites from his hand. I had let him lead me, having exhausted my pride with the shame of being fed like a child.

  He could hurt me here as easily as he could hurt me anywhere in this place. It doesn’t matter which room he wants me in.

  The alien forced me to eat and demanded I bathe. He calls me beautiful. He calls me a queen. I grab my head as it spins.

  He tried to get me inside a medical pod, which was in one of the side rooms, saying it would help me heal. He did this with a scowl on his face and his eyes staring at my legs. While I’d go in any pod on The Dreadnaut, I’m not about to go inside ancient technology.

  Zaku hissed and took me to this bathroom instead.

  He forced me to eat from his hand. I try shaking the whole episode from my head.

  Instead of forgetting it, I recall the way his eyes darkened as he pressed the meat to my lips, when I relented and took a bite. I drop my hands from my head and scrub my lips clean, pumping more soap as I do.

  There are gleaming silver spouts beside me, and each one is labeled in Old Human. The common tongue’s origins are Old Human. Soap, shampoo, and something called conditioner. Testing the conditioner between my fingers, I sniff it. Vanilla fills my nose. It’s nothing like the chlorinated, chemical stuff I’m used to.