Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (23 page)

“And if I had more time, I would make him pay
for a replacement,” Riley growled out.

Determined to leave in style, she pulled her
makeup bag out and added a dramatic touch of varying shades of blue
around her eyes to make them pop before doing a heavy outline of
black liner and mascara. Bright, glossy red lips and a swipe of
blush and she looked like one very bad bitch. Grabbing her hair
gel, she poured a generous amount into the palm of her hand and ran
it though her wavy strands. Pulling her brush out, she quickly
pulled her hair into a tight, slick bun. She pulled out the crystal
hair clip and fastened it to hold it in place. She studied her
reflection for a moment before adding a pair of huge silver hoops.
Damn, she made the ‘bad girl’ look good even if she was an
Amazon!

She would like to see any of those guys give
her the ‘look’ like they did when Vox brought her aboard. Turning,
she snatched up the mini Taser and slid it into the back of her
waistband under her jacket before pocketing the pepper spray.
Finally, she slung her large handbag over her shoulder. She was so
totally ready to go kidnap someone and get the hell out of
here!

Riley ran one hand over her slicked back hair
one more time before heading for the door. It opened as soon as she
brushed her hand over the panel. With a self-satisfied smile on her
blood red lips, she strode out of the room like she own the place.
Two men walking toward her stopped in shock as she approached them.
She ignored their stares and added a little more sway to her hips
as she approached. Just as she reached them, she thrust her hands
out, palms flat against their chests and shoved them to the
side.

“Out of the way, boys,” Riley snarled in a
husky voice. “Momma is looking for an exit and she is ready to bust
any balls that get in her way.”

The two men stumbled back in shock and
watched as Riley walked away. Their eyes glued to the tight black
leather covering her lush, rounded ass. Both men growled low with
desire as they watched the seductive sway of her wide hips.

They turned, looking at each other before a
huge grin creased their faces. “Mine!” They both growled out at the
same time.

*.*.*

Vox ran his hands through his hair again as
he listened to Viper cover the events that had happened since he,
Tor, and Lodar had been kidnapped. Gods, he could barely keep his
mind on the tasks at hand. His mind kept drifting back Riley. He
couldn’t forget the passion in her kiss, the way she looked spread
out on his bed with her hands bound, and the thrust of her
beautiful breasts. He remembered how they overflowed his hands as
he sucked at the taunt peaks when he claimed her. It had been too
long since he had even a moment alone with her. He needed her.

“Vox!” Viper snapped. “What is wrong with
you? You have been groaning for the past several minutes. Do you
need a healer?”

Vox jerked and looked at his brother in
irritation. “No, I don’t need a healer. I need Riley!” He retorted
in frustration. “I need to mate with her. I haven’t been able to
think straight since I first saw her,” he admitted reluctantly.

Viper frowned darkly. “Does she have some
type of control over you?” He demanded, looking hard at his older
brother.

Vox shook his head. “I don’t know. She is my
mate. I’ve heard talk of when we found our mate we would want them
with a need unlike anything we have ever felt before but I never
really believed it. I know how father is with mother but I just
thought it was him and her. Now I am not so sure. All I can think
about is being with her,” he said rubbing his hand over the back of
his neck before clenching his fist and laying it on the conference
table in front of him.

“How did you meet her?” Viper asked with a
deceptive calm.

Viper was really worried about Vox. Never
before had he ever seen his older brother act like this, especially
around a female. He had never seen a species like her until he
caught sight of Creon and Mandra’s mates. They looked different
from the one Vox had but their features were close enough he was
sure they were the same species. He wondered if this was an unknown
alien species’ way of infiltrating their worlds and taking them
over. He would need to contact their parents and brothers and warn
them of Vox’s unusual behavior. It might be necessary to eliminate
the female if she posed a danger.

Vox leaned back and looked at his younger
brother with a small grin. “She was giving the Antrox running the
mining asteroid a piece of her mind. She was the most beautiful
thing I had ever seen. Her eyes were flashing fire, her body was
made for loving, and her voice was like ….” Vox shook his head at
his brother’s open mouth look of disbelief. “I knew she was my mate
immediately. There were five of us in the Choosing Room. She chose
us all. When the Antrox tried to tell her she couldn’t, she gave
him one look and the next thing I know we were all escorted to her
living quarters.”

“She chose five mates?” Viper asked in
disbelief. “How could she choose five?”

“She is Riley St. Claire from Denver,
Colorado and she can do whatever she wants,” Vox grinned as he
repeated his mate’s words. “When I tried to claim her she knocked
me on my ass – twice! She was magnificent.”

“So, how did you escape? You said you would
tell me when you got on board,” Viper asked in confusion.

“Riley,” Vox said with another shake of his
head.

Viper listened in disbelief as Vox explained
about the tools, Riley getting hurt and having to go to medical and
what happened the next morning. He found it impossible to believe
that a female could do the things that Vox was saying. Sure, he
knew of the females who had betrayed them. He currently had two of
his brother’s females locked up. Still, they used their bodies and
wiles to fight. They didn’t go shooting, blowing up, or fighting
against males. His suspicions that this species might be a deadly
opponent and need to be eliminated was growing. They could be
extremely dangerous if they were allowed to run free or even mate
with the most powerful members of their species. His thoughts
turned to the fact that all five of the Valdier royals were mated
to such creatures. Their takeover had already begun.

“You cannot mate with her,” Viper said coldly
looking at his older brother with determination. “She needs to be
either contained or eliminated.”

Vox surged out of his seat, reaching out and
grabbing his brother around the throat in a deadly hold. “She is my
mate. No one will touch her. No one will harm her. She is your
queen and you will not forget that,” he snarled, his teeth growing
longer as his cat rebelled against the other male.

“You are not thinking clearly,” Viper growled
hoarsely, ignoring the tightening on his throat. “I swore to
protect our King and our people. I will not let an unknown species
threaten either of them.”

Vox stared into Viper’s dark green and yellow
eyes and swore. “She is no threat.”

The door opened just as Vox let Viper go. “My
lord, the female has kidnapped Nahuel. She is demanding he take her
to an unknown planet.”

Viper rubbed his neck and threw his brother a
disgusted look. “No threat?”

“Shut up, Viper,” Vox grunted out as he
headed out the door. “She is always doing things like this.”

*.*.*

Riley wasn’t sure her ‘bad ass’ girl outfit
was working. Instead of scaring the men away they seemed to be
multiplying – exponentially. The two she had encountered originally
were still following right behind her and if she wasn’t mistaken,
they were purring.

“Will you two go take a hike off a short
bridge?” Riley snapped out as she turned and walked backwards. “Go
on, shoo, get out of here, go fetch a stick or something.”

Tadzio grinned as his eyes dropped to the
deep Vee on Riley’s shirt. His eyes were glued to the abundant
cleavage showing. His eyes rose to look at her glistening lips.

“The only thing I want to fetch is you,” he
growled out. “Do you have milk in those?”

Riley was so stunned that she stopped walking
backwards in shock. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him in
disbelief. What was it with men and boobs? She totally could not
understand their fascination. They had them too but that didn’t
mean women went around staring at them.

“I know you did not just ask me something so
rude!” She snapped out indignantly.

“Yes, he did,” Nahuel replied with a
grin.

Riley’s mouth snapped shut at the same time
as her eyes narrowed dangerously. She rolled her shoulders as her
hand slipped to the waistband of her pants. It looked like the mini
Taser was going to be used sooner than she thought. She took a
seductive step toward them as a small crowd of men gathered around
her.

Biting her lower lip, she pushed it out so it
pouted as she looked both men over carefully. “Would either one of
you two gorgeous hunks happen to know how to fly one of those
shuttle thingies?” She asked in her best Marilyn Monroe voice.

Nahuel’s eyes glazed as he watched the
voluptuous female walk slowly toward them with a roll of her hips.
“I am one of the best pilots on board,” he answered in a hoarse
voice.

Riley walked up to him and ran her fingernail
down along his cheek over to his nose where she tapped it gently.
Leaning into him, she let him feel her warm breath on his lips as
she answered him. A smile curved her lips as her other hand moved
to the beltbelt loop on her pants where she had hidden the wrist
cuffs Vox had used on her.

“Well, I guess today is your lucky day,”
Riley breathed out huskily. “Yes, they do produce milk but only on
special occasions.”

Nahuel’s eyes rolled in delight just as Riley
slapped the wrist cuff on one of his wrists before she ducked under
his arm, twisting his arm behind him at the same time as she kicked
the back of his knees, dropping him to the floor and slapping the
other one on. When Tadzio took a step forward, she lifted her hand
and touched his chest squeezing the trigger on the newly recharged
Taser. She would have to remember to thank Tor for the neat little
recharger he had given her. It had come in handy.

Tadzio jerked and dropped as spasms went
through his body. Riley jerked Nahuel up and pressed the Taser into
his lower back in warning. It took a couple of seconds for the men
surrounding her to realize what she had done. When they did, they
jerked back defensively.

“Now, if you don’t want to enjoy the same
level of discomfort as your friend, you will do as you are told.
You are now my prisoner. I want you to take me home,” Riley said in
her normal voice. She grinned at the huge alien she had captured
with excitement as she didn’t really think it would be that easy.
“Come on, chop – chop. I’m not getting any younger.”

Tadzio groaned as his body jerked again.
“What did you do to him?” Nahuel asked looking down at his friend
with narrowed eyes.

“Oh, he’ll be alright in a little while. I
did the same thing to Vox. I think it took about an hour or so. He
recovered from that much faster than he did the pepper spray. Poor
Tor was miserable for hours afterwards even though he kept telling
me he wasn’t. Oh, can you remind me to thank Tor for the charger.
My poor Taser would have been dead if not for him,” Riley replied
cheerfully. “Now, let’s go. I need to get away before the big
hairball finds out I’ve escaped from his living quarters.”

“You are too late. The ‘hairball’ already
knows,” Vox growled out loudly as he came down the corridor toward
her.

“Great! Just great! I finally have everything
going my way and what happens? Busted! That’s what! I swear I hate
being the supporting character,” Riley grumbled as she tried to
shuffle Nahuel so he was between her and Vox. “If I had been the
heroine I would have not only been on a super charged shuttle
heading home, I’d have a ton of gold and be eating caviar on little
toasted crackers.”

Several of the men standing around choked
back a chuckle as they listened to Riley talking to herself. They
had her surrounded so they knew there was no way she would escape
but they could tell that she really believed she had the upper
hand. Now, they watched as the fiercest warrior on their planet
faced off with the unusual female.

“Riley, let him go,” Vox growled out.

“No! I caught him fair and square. He’s
mine!” Riley snapped back.

“If she really has milk, I am totally willing
to remain in her captivity,” Nahuel offered with a grin.

Vox snarled at Nahuel. “Her milk is
mine!”

“Hello! Do you two have any idea how
embarrassing it is to be talked about like I am some kind of a milk
cow? No one is going to be drinking any milk from me. Now get your
minds out of the gutter and shut up already!” Riley’s voice rose at
the same time as her temper and the burning inside her as the damn
thing hiding under her skin threatened to break free again. She
looked furiously at Vox. “I want to go home! I captured me a pilot
so I should be able to just go.”

“I already told you no,” Vox snapped back as
he took a step closer to her. “What have you done to your hair?” He
demanded studying her face and realizing she looked – sexy as
hell!

“Why?” Riley asked forgetting that she was
supposed to be holding onto Nahuel for a moment and running her
hand over the slicked down strands. “I call this my bad girl hair.
I wear it like this when I go to the bar sometimes. Don’t you like
it?”

The moment she released him, Nahuel jerked
forward and turned away from her. He grinned as he snapped the
restraint on his wrists. He had learned that trick when he was in
basic training.

Vox’s deep snarl ripped through the corridor
as his cat reacted to the creature wrapped around his mate’s neck.
Vox shifted between one jerky step and the next as his cat took
over. He vaguely heard Riley’s scream followed by his brother
Viper’s roar to stop but none of it mattered. The beady-eyed
creature stared in challenge, as if daring him to take Riley from
him. Vox’s teeth sank into the neck of the creature just as his
massive paws knocked Riley over Tadzio’s inert figure. He pulled,
listening with satisfaction as the creature came apart in his
mouth. The creature tasted foul but he didn’t stop until he had
torn it to tattered pieces. Only then did he realize that Riley
wasn’t yelling anymore. It was her heartbreaking sobs that finally
broke through the haze of rage coursing through him.