Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (16 page)

“You will not move!” He snapped out.

“Will you quit changing back and forth!”
Riley snapped back, startled. “First you are a man, then you are a
cat, then you are a man, then you are a cat, now you are a man
again! Do you have a frigging personality disorder or what?”

Vox opened his mouth to snap back a reply but
he never got a chance before the first group burst through the
door. He turned, raising his laser sword and rushed forward with
Banu, Tor, Lodar, Adur, and Titus right beside him. An emergency
hatch near the far wall blew upward with enough force the lid
sealing it flew through the air barely missing Fred who had been
standing to the right of it. The fact he was so short was probably
the only thing that kept him from being killed. Even so, he fell
backwards. His hands shook as he fired on the purple male coming up
through the hole.

“Fred, look out!” Riley cried out as another
male popped up behind the one Fred shot.

Riley didn’t think twice, she lifted the
laser pistol in her hand, flip the activation button and shot,
hitting the male between the eyes. She stood up to go help Fred
when Vox turned with a loud roar. She froze when she saw his face
twist in a savage rage.

“Riley! Sit your big ass down in that chair
and don’t move or so help me I’m going to smack it,” Vox roared out
over the noise of battle.

Riley fell back into the chair in shock and
disbelief. He had done it again! He had told her she had a big ass.
Tears of anger and hurt pooled in her eyes before she settled to
burning fury. That was it. His ass was toast as far as she was
concerned. He had told her she had a big ass at least three times
if not more. She knew her ass was big but there was no need for him
to rub it in her face every chance he got. Not only that, he had
said it so everyone, friend and enemy could hear. So help her, she
was going to shoot his hairy alien ass the first chance she got.
Let him see what it felt like to be on the wrong side of Ms. Riley
St. Claire! She would show him.

Riley turned in her chair and crossed her
arms refusing to watch what happened. She would shoot anyone who
came near her and if the battle ended badly, well she would figure
out what to do then. She stared down at all the glowing lights on
the panel in front of her. She started when she saw one suddenly
light up. Reaching to push it, her mouth dropped open when a deep,
sexy male voice came over the line.

“This is the
Horizon
, do you need
assistance?” The deep voice asked as soon as a communications link
was pushed.

Riley glanced behind her at the mayhem of
bodies flying through the air. Luckily, it looked like the only
ones doing the flying, or falling, appeared to be purple. She
shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the console panel. It
looked like the guys had things under control, at least for
now.

“I’m sorry we can’t come to the phone right
now but if you would like to leave your name and number after the
beep we’ll be happy to return your call as soon as possible.
BEEP….” Riley replied.

Vox’s head turned when he heard Riley’s husky
voice talking to someone on the communications console. With his
luck, she was probably having a conversation with the Marastin Dows
letting them know that they were vastly outnumbered. His gaze
turned to a female Marastin Dow as she slipped past Fred who was
battling two of the damn creatures. He pulled a knife from the
chest of one of the dead warriors and threw it, striking the female
in the chest.

“Riley, who in the Gods are you talking to
now? You are just supposed to sit there! You aren’t supposed to be
touching anything,” Vox roared out as he swung his fist and
connected with the jaw of another male.

“It’s someone called the
Horizon
,”
Riley replied with a wave of her hand.

“Who in the hell is
Horizon
?” Vox
asked as he sliced through the stomach of another male. Guall’s
balls, how many more were there going to be? They were having
trouble moving around the bodies piling up.

“How the bloody hell am I supposed to know
who the hell the
Horizon
is? You just ordered me to sit here
and not move, damn it!” She yelled back.

“Well, stop pushing buttons! The last time
you did that you blew up the asteroid we were on and we ended up on
this piece of dragon dung!” Vox huffed out as he tucked as a blade
flew at him.

“Well, if you don’t want me pushing the
fucking buttons then don’t put me where I can reach them!” Riley
said turning around and glaring at Vox before she stuck her tongue
out at him for added measure.

Laughter sounded from the console behind her
reminding Riley that she had never cut the transmission. “I repeat
this is…” The deeply amused voice started to say.

“I know who in the fucking hell you are,”
Riley bit out in frustration. “I heard you the first time. We are
just a little busy at the moment and there’s a big pussy pissing me
off right now. Will you just leave a frigging message and I’ll have
him call you after I declaw his ornery ass?” Riley said before she
cursed in rage as Vox sliced through the throat of one of the
purple guys who was just a few feet from her. It was so close,
blood flew through the air almost getting on her handbag. “Vox, I
swear you need to be neutered! If you get blood on my handbag I’ll
do it with the first dull knife I can find. Do you have any idea
how much I paid for that damn thing?” She had almost forgiven him
for ruining her ultra-expensive jacket but she would never forgive
him if he ruined her handbag. She had paid almost three hundred
dollars for it just days before she moved to New Mexico.

Perfect, now the big hairball has shifted
into his kitty cat again,
Riley thought peeved. She was about
to make another derisive comment when she saw a huge purple guy
trying to sneak up on Bob through the hatch in the floor. She
twirled around to line up a shot but Bob was in the way.

“Bob! Look out behind you sweetie. There’s
another ugly purple guy coming up through the hatch.” She turned to
see who could help him since that guy appeared to be twice the size
of the others. “Fred, be a sweetheart and give Bob a hand.” She
cursed when she saw that Fred had a deep cut on the brow of his
right head. “Lodar baby, I think Fred might have a little cut on
one of his heads. There is blood all down the side of it. When you
get a chance can you look at him?” Riley called out to Lodar who
was fighting two others on the far side of the bridge. “Tor
darling, why can’t you just zap their asses out into space? I
thought you knew how to do things like that,” Riley called out,
pushing a wave of hair back when it fell into her eyes as she swung
back and forth in the chair. She swiveled back around when she
heard Lodar’s muffled voice. “What did you say, Lodar? I couldn’t
hear you because a certain hairball was making too much noise when
you spoke,” Riley replied, ignoring Vox’s loud roar at her
criticism of him. “Oh yes dear, I’ll tell Fred you’ll see him as
soon as you finish fighting,” she replied before swiveling again so
she could locate Fred in all the chaos going on. “Fred honey, Lodar
is busy but he’ll see you as soon as he is done killing the bad
guys,” Riley called out cheerfully. It looked like there were fewer
purple people eaters than there had been just minutes earlier. Her
cheerful mood evaporated when Vox sliced his claws across the back
of one of the purple bad guys. Blood flew through the air again,
this time landing in a splattering along her thick, green skirt.
Dark stains appeared and Riley shuddered in horror. “Vox, damn it,
you are totally on my shit list! You got blood on my skirt, you
jerk! Go kill someone on the other side of the room. I can shoot
the bastards near me! I don’t need your help!” She yelled angrily
as she reached into her purse to get a Tide pen out to see if she
could get rid of the blood before it stained her skirt. It was the
only heavy one she had with her. All the others were too thin to
wear since the guys didn’t believe in turning on a damn heater.

Riley’s frown turned to amusement when she
heard the laughter from numerous voices coming from the console.
She heard the deep voice speaking to someone else on the other end.
“I think we have found our missing hairball,” the man said between
chuckles. “I’m just not sure who he needs rescuing from, the
Marastin Dow or the female who is manning the communication’s
console.

“I heard that, honey,” Riley replied with an
exaggerated mid-western drawl. “I would place all bets on that
bossy, arrogant, demanding…” Vox’s loud roar of rage interrupted
her descriptive response. She turned and glared at the huge cat
that was glaring back at her in fury. “Well, if you don’t like what
I have to say about you then you can just dump my ‘
big
’ ass
back on my planet!”

Riley refused to back down. She was royally
pissed at him and he was about to find out just how
unpleasant
she could be when she was pissed. She had enough
self-esteem problems without him broadcasting to half the solar
system that she needed to lose weight. She was happy with the way
she was and he could just shove it up his hairy ass if he thought
she was going to let him put her down. She had to deal with that
from enough people when she was growing up.

She turned when she heard the voice of a
woman on the other end of the console. Her face flushed when she
heard the woman introduce herself as Carmen Walker from Wyoming.
She clenched her jaw as a wave of emotion swept through her. Tears
stung her eyes before she forced them back. Her chance to go home
might just be on the other end of this console and she was going to
grab it with both hands. If Vox didn’t like her the way she was,
well, that was probably for the best. It was better to stop these
annoying feelings coursing through her before things went any
further, anyway.

Riley was just telling Carmen she hoped she’d
had a better time of it than Riley had when Bob’s deep melodious
voice spoke out in protest. He was asking her if it had really been
all bad. Riley released a resigned sigh before explaining to Bob he
had been a dear. “…. I was referring to that annoying pile of cat…”
this time her voice faded because Vox had shifted back into his
two-legged shape again and was walking toward her with a look that
promised retribution.

“By Guall’s balls Riley, I’m going to spank
your ass until it is bloody red if you don’t stop giving me a hard
time,” Vox snarled out impatiently as he thrust the dead body of a
Marastin Dow away from him and headed for her.

“Don’t you mean my ‘
big
’ ass, you
moron,” Riley replied sarcastically, determined to make him more
than willing to toss her ass on the nearest spaceship heading
toward Earth.

Her eyes widened when his face darkened and a
low, dangerous snarl escaped him. His eyes glittered with
determination. Riley could have handled it if the determination
written on his face promised he was tired of her smart mouth.
Instead, the look smoldered with a deep passion that scared her
more than any amount of anger could have.

“Female, I am going to…” Vox’s voice faded in
disbelief when Riley raised her arm pointing the laser pistol Banu
gave her at him. She remembered at the last minute to flick the
charge to the lowest setting before she aimed it at his arm and
pulled the trigger. Vox’s loud curses filled the air. “You shot
me!” He roared out in astonishment, freezing and looking at her as
if he couldn’t believe she had really pulled the trigger. If it
wasn’t for the burning on his arm, he wouldn’t have thought she had
it in her.

“But not where I was aiming for,” Riley
snapped back defensively. “So help me Vox, you better stay away
from me until my temper has cooled or I won’t miss where I’m aiming
for the next time I shoot you.”

“Vox, do you need assistance?” A different
male called out from the console.

“Yes! I need you to come and ….” Vox growled
out taking another menacing step toward Riley, his mouth set in
fierce determination. He was going to whip her ass good for this
little stunt! He groaned when she aimed and fired at him again when
he took another step toward her, almost grazing him in the leg.
“Come on, Riley. I didn’t mean anything when I said you had a big
ass. I like big asses,” he stopped when he saw her standing up and
taking aim between his legs with fury glittering from her eyes.
Shit, she was really pissed off at him this time. “I…” He started
to say before he jumped to the side when she fired again. “…. Shit.
Will you quit shooting at me!” He yelled out, moving behind a chair
before he finally took refuge behind Tor and Lodar who were too
busy laughing their asses off to move fast enough to get away from
him.

Vox peeked out from behind his chief engineer
and his medical officer with a low moan. “I thought you two were my
friends,” he muttered as he looked at Riley who was busy adjusting
the charge on the pistol in her hand.

“We are, otherwise we wouldn’t let you hide
behind us,” Lodar chuckled. “I think this is a fitting payback for
the hell we’ve been going through knowing Riley is your mate. You
have no idea the effect she has had on all of us, including Fred
and Bob! I need a good fuck so bad I’m about ready to take a
Marastin Dow female as a captive.”

Vox ducked back behind Tor who was shaking
with laughter when Riley looked around the room to see where he was
hiding. “I would kill you two for that comment if it wasn’t for the
fact I need you two standing so she doesn’t kill me!” He snapped
out ruefully.

Tor chuckled again. “Well, you have to admit
you can’t complain about being bored anymore.”

Vox glared at the back of his friend’s head
wishing he could smack it but knowing if he did that Tor might move
and give Riley a clear shot. He opened his mouth to make a
smart-ass comment but the freighter gave a horrendous groan at that
moment. The lights flickered on and off before finally staying off.
Vox had no trouble seeing in the dim lighting but he knew Riley
would. He made his move, pushing Tor and Lodar out of the way and
springing for his aggravating mate. His large hand wrapped around
the laser pistol, pulling it to the side where it fired into one of
the control panels. Smoke rose and alarms sounded as an automated
voice came on announcing that the life support system was in
critical failure, immediate evacuation was recommended.