Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (3 page)

*.*.*

Riley drew in a deep, calming breath to
steady her nerves in preparation of meeting her five new ‘mates’.
She was shaking like a leaf on the inside but she had learned a
long, long time ago not to let it show. She put her hands back on
her hips, drew in another deep, steady breath, and tossed her heavy
mane of blond hair over her shoulder before turning around to face
the five males again.

At five feet ten inches tall, she was a big
woman. When you added in the fact that she was a solid size sixteen
on a good day with Double-D cup breasts, she was Zena on steroids.
She had learned to live with her big-bone stature a long time ago.
She didn’t have much choice since she practically towered over
everyone she ever met between the ages of four and eighteen when
she was growing up. She had reached puberty early and had to live
through all the Amazon and She-giant jokes that any sensitive young
girl would have to endure. Only other sensitive young girls didn’t
have Grandma Pearl raising them. Grandma Pearl showed Riley how to
punch anyone who made fun of her in the nose. When the fourth
school’s social worker threatened Pearl with Children Services to
take Riley and Tina away from her, Pearl showed Riley how to use
her mouth as the weapon of choice after that. Riley had excelled at
that much better than she had the physical form of retaliation.
Over the years she had plenty of opportunity to perfect her
‘talent’ as her grandma called it.

Releasing the breath she had been holding,
Riley smiled brilliantly at the five alien males staring at her.
“Well boys, it looks like Auntie Riley is going to have to set some
ground rules while we are together,” she said, looking at each one
of the males carefully to assess how she was going to handle
them.

Alien number one was about three and a half
feet tall, had two heads, and looked like a combination of a lizard
and ET. He was cute in his own special way. Each head had large,
black eyes on it that moved nervously back and forth between her
and the other four men. He was a dark green with areas of tan,
black, and red on him running in long lines down his body. He was
wearing a small leather vest and cloth, plaid colored pants with
child-size boots to match. He must have decided she posed less of a
threat than the other males because he emitted a weak squeak and
scurried for a corner of the room. She also decided he looked like
a ‘Fred’.

Her eyes moved to the next alien creature.
He, she was assuming it was a he since the Stickman called him one,
was almost eight feet tall. He towered over all of them, including
the other three males standing next to him but he just wasn’t all
that scary. He reminded Riley of the big tub of Jell-O in the movie
Aliens vs. Monsters. He was green instead of blue but he had ‘Bob’
written all over his wiggling body. He even left a light liquid
that she hoped wasn’t radio-active or anything behind him. He
appeared to be wearing some type of robe over most of his body. She
didn’t even want to think what might be under it. It was his eyes
that gave her the feeling he wouldn’t hurt her. They were big,
round and the color of peach gumdrops with tiny black pupils in the
center. He was emitting a low humming noise that struck her as if
he was terrified. She wasn’t sure what he was so scared of. So far,
she felt like everything was going pretty damn good considering she
had been kidnapped by aliens. At least daddy and Dudley Dip-shit
back in New Mexico couldn’t find her here.

Her eyes finally moved over the last three
males. She felt like she needed an old fashion fan like the women
in the movies used to fan themselves to keep cool because she could
definitely feel the heat increase when she looked at them. The
first one was hot! He had his long hair pulled back at the nape of
his neck. It was a long, golden blond with different shades
coursing through it. He had patterns on his chest and left arm that
looked like spots and was wearing a black vest, black pants and
black boots. Against his lighter color they really stood out. His
dark golden brown eyes remained focused on her as she assessed him.
He looked more curious about her than ‘interested’. Riley was
thankful for that because she had a feeling that her mouth and her
one physical ability to bop someone on the nose wouldn’t stop him
for long if he decided to sink those sharp teeth of his into
her.

Alien number four was the same height as the
first one. She figured based on her own height they were probably
about six feet four inches or so. It should have been nice to
finally meet some guys who she actually had to look up to except
for the fact they were aliens! Alien number four was looking at her
with the same curiosity as number three had. He had more of a
reddish-brown colored hair and a darker tan. His hair was short and
had stripes of darker reds and browns running through it. His eyes
were a light greenish-tan color with specks of dark green in them.
He was dressed in the same type of clothing as the other guy. Riley
assumed it must be a uniform of some sort. It was kind-of a biker
outfit that the guys back home dressed up in on Sundays when they
put their three piece suits up for the weekend. Only, she got the
feeling these guys dressed like this all the time and this wasn’t a
costume to just look bad for a day. She got the impression from all
the muscles on the guys that they were bad all the time.

Her impression proved correct when she
finally looked at alien number five. She had avoided looking at him
in the hope he was somehow less intense than the first time she saw
him standing on the platform in the ‘Choosing’ room. If she thought
he was hot from a distance, he was scorching up close! It took
everything inside Riley not to reach out and touch him just to see
if he burnt her fingers. Thankfully, Grandma Pearl’s wonderful
teachings saved her from that impulsive behavior. Pearl drilled in
to both her and Tina not to play with fire. Ever! Pearl explained
that fire came in many different forms and most of them had two
legs, one head that hung between them, and no brains to speak of.
Riley thought her grandmother was like that because she and her
daughter, Riley and Tina’s mom, had been left to fend on their own
after the loves of their lives got them pregnant and left town. It
didn’t take long for her to realize it happened to others, as well.
Pearl pointed out to Riley and Tina just how often when their
friends or just girls that lived in their neighborhood would ignore
the signs. One by one, Riley saw the girls in her neighborhood fall
for the ‘bad’ boy only to be left at the first sign of another
pretty face in the neighborhood, more than often with a baby to
raise on their own. Riley decided at twelve that she was not going
to be one of those girls. Of course, that was also the same time
that the dirty old man who ran the grocery store on the corner
propositioned her. No, she was going to have a ring on her finger
before she said ‘yes’ to anything. She wasn’t going to get stuck
raising a kid on her own like her grandma had or her mom would have
if she would have stuck around. As far as Riley was concerned, the
guy could put up or shut up.

It was funny, in a way,
Riley thought.
That was about the only thing Tina and I ever agreed on without
ending up in a major yelling match first.

Riley looked back at the huge male glaring at
her.
Alien number five was not just screaming
bad-to-the-bone,
but he had an international market on
it,
Riley thought before a giggle escaped her.
Make that an
intergalactic market,
she corrected silently as she saw his
face darken at her laugh.

He was the same height as the other two but
seemed taller for some reason. Either way, he still towered over
her by almost six inches. His black hair cut short, almost military
style. His upper chest was visible through the same black vest the
other two were wearing. He had darker spots across his chest that
looked almost like a leopard, not that she had ever seen a real
leopard before. Riley let her eyes roam down the eye-candy
appreciating the tight fit of his.... her eyes widened when she saw
the very distinctive bulge in the front of his pants. Her eyes flew
up to his in surprise and she fought to draw in a breath.

Somebody was horny,
she thought in
dismay staring into the intense, burning tawny colored eyes.

“Okay.....” Riley said rubbing her hands
together. “First rule, that is your side of the cave and this is
mine. You stay on your side and you remain in one piece. You come
on my side and I cut your dicks off and feed them to you for
breakfast,” she said with a small smile and raised eyebrows. “I
claim dibs on the bathroom for exactly thirty minutes every morning
and one hour every night, alone,” she added as she turned and
walked over to where her suitcase had been dropped next to the
bed.

She bent over to unzip one of the side
pockets. A low, rumbling growl behind her had her reaching in
quickly to grab the item she had been hoping to retrieve since she
had first been taken. Her hand wrapped around the small, leather
wrapped device with a relieved sigh. She turned just as the huge
male took a step toward where she was bent over. She looked up into
the glittering eyes and swore silently. It looked like she was
going to have to prove she would follow through on her
instructions.

“Get back on your side of the room. NOW!”
Riley growled out, clutching the small device in her hand. “You
stay! Bad alien. You are not to come on this side of the room!” She
said fiercely, pointing her finger to the side where the other
males stood.

“You are mine!” The huge male growled out as
he took another menacing step toward her. “I claim you.”

Riley’s temper flared at his outrageous
claim. “Last warning, get your ass back on your side of the room or
I’ll do it for you,” she snarled back, straightening to her full
height.

Vox grinned showing off his pearly, white
sharp teeth. “I’d like to see you try,” he smirked, taking another
step toward her until he was within arm’s reach of the female he
knew was his mate.

Riley smiled and a sparkle of devious delight
glittered in her eyes as she looked up at the huge male towering
over her. “Oh darling, you
really
shouldn’t have said that,”
she said right before she pressed the device she was holding
against his chest and pressed the button on the small Taser.

Vox’s eyes widened briefly before a curse
tore through him as his body jerked. His chest burned as the
explosive shock jolted him backwards where he collapsed on the
hard, stone floor. His body twitched as his muscles reacted to the
powerful shot of electricity that it received. His jaw clenched
tightly as he fought the painful effects but it was useless. He had
absolutely no control over his muscles. It was ten times more
painful than the shocks from his collar or from the stunning rods
he had received from the Antrox. He forced his eyes to follow the
female as she put her hands back on her hips and tossed her head
back with a glare at his men who were growling at her. Tor and
Lodar snarled in rage as they grabbed him by his arms and pulled
him away from the female who was standing back near the bed hissing
at them and snapping her teeth. His eyes flickered to hers and he
saw the brief flash of fear before she concealed it.

“How are you feeling?” Lodar asked
quietly.

Vox grimaced as he rubbed his chest. Twin
burn marks stung as his hand moved over them. His eyes followed the
female as she worked to hang a curtain wall with the items the
Antrox guard brought in almost thirty minutes before. She was
humming under her breath a tune he had never heard before. It had
taken him almost an hour to recover the full use of his limbs
without feeling like he was going to fall on his face. He tugged at
the collar around his neck and cursed when he felt the small shock.
His muscles reacted to it instantly as they were still a little
twitchy from the heavy jolt they had received a short while
ago.

“Pissed!” Vox growled out lowly as his eyes
followed the movement of the female as she bent over again.
“Guall’s Balls, if she bends over one more time,” he swore as he
felt his cock rubbing painfully against the front of his pants.
“She is my mate,” he muttered in a low voice to both his men.

Tor and Lodar looked at Vox in astonishment
before turning to look curiously at the figure of the female trying
to build a wall with blankets in the narrow room. After she had
touched Vox and knocked him on his ass, she had the Gelatian move
the bed closer to the wall. She proceeded to pull a piece of white
rock out of the huge bag she had draped across her body. The bag
had all types of different stones and images on it and it had taken
her several long minutes to find what she was looking for. After
she found it, she had gotten down on her hands and knees and drawn
a heavy white uneven line down the middle of the room.

She had looked so proud of herself when she
finished that none of them, save Vox who was still lying on the
floor twitching, knew what to say. She had proceeded to tell them
who she was and that they were to stay on their side of the line or
she would rip their heads off and shove it up their asses. What was
incredible was she had said it while giving them a beautiful,
dimpled smile. Tor and Lodar had looked at each other and finally
had to turn their backs to her so she wouldn’t see them laughing
silently. The thought that a line drawn in white would keep a
Sarafin warrior from crossing it if they wanted to was more than
they could handle without laughing, at least until they looked at
Vox who was still sprawled out in a twitching mess on the floor.
Moments later, an Antrox guard delivered the items she had
requested with a confused frown. She had blown the guard a kiss
after she grabbed the items and deposited them on the bed. The
guard paled as he glanced down where Vox was lying on the floor
jerking. He left quickly after that.