Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (34 page)

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Vox motioned with his hand for the four
warriors on each side to circle around the crate. There was nowhere
for Antrox 157 to go. He was dead, he just didn’t realize it yet.
Vox looked up and with a swift leap, he landed on silent feet on
top of the crate. Running along the edge, he could see the Antrox
jerking nervously back and forth trying to keep the openings to the
crates in his view. He never looked up. If he had, he would have
used the laser pistol on himself instead of worrying about the
other warriors. Vox dropped down behind him when 157 turned again.
He reached his hand around and gripped the thin creature’s wrist,
snapping it like it was a twig. Antrox 157’s screams filled the
cargo bay before they were silenced as Vox lifted the creature up
and slammed him against the crate with a grin.

“Now, you die,” Vox said letting his right
hand shift. “Slowly,” he added before he ran one razor-sharp claw
across Antrox 157’s stomach. “You will never harm my mate again,”
Vox said dropping the Antrox when he heard Lodar’s desperate cry
for him.

Vox spun around, squeezing through the
opening of the crates. He stopped in horror when he saw Lodar
kneeling over Riley, his hands covered in blood. He moved with
jerking, running steps toward her. Dropping down next to her, he
cupped her face turning it toward him.

“What have you done now?” He croaked out.

Riley tried to smile up at Vox as he stared
down at her face with worry. “Guess I’m not okay,” she whispered
weakly. “This sucks.”

“Yes, yes, it does,” Vox said tenderly. “You
are not supposed to get hurt. I do not like it when you are
hurt.”

Riley’s eyes filled with tears. “I… don’t
want to… die,” she choked out. “I thought… I was… the heroine this
time.”

“You are,” Vox whispered as he stroked her
cheek with trembling fingers. “You will always be my heroine.”

Riley smiled softly before her eyelids
flickered and closed peacefully. She looked so beautiful. Her hair
was spread out in a curly mass of waves around her, making her look
just like he had made love to her. Her eyelashes lay like
crescents, begging him to kiss them until she woke up.

Vox looked at Lodar in panic. “Help her,” he
begged his friend. “You have to help her.”

Lodar shook his head. “I would need to get
her into a regen bed,” he said. “There is none of this ship and she
won’t survive if we move her.”

Vox shook his head in denial. He couldn’t
lose her. He just couldn’t lose her and their son. His shoulders
shook as the magnitude of the situation flowed through him. Never
had he expected to find his mate. Never had he expected to love
someone so much she would become the very fabric of his
existence.

“Sir, look!” One of the warriors exclaimed as
he picked up the spilled contents of Riley’s oversized purse that
she carried everywhere. “She has everything in here!”

Lodar glanced up, his eyes widening when he
saw the portable regen device the Curizans had developed and kept
secret. His breath escaped him in a disbelieving chuckle. Only
Riley would have a top-secret medical device the Curizans prized in
her purse.

“Give that to me!” Lodar demanded, holding
out his hand and waving his fingers urgently at the man. “What else
does she have?”

“Everything!” The warrior laughed. “She has
medicine in here that will take care of everything from a toothache
to ulcers to internal bleeding,” he replied bundling up all the
small vials of medicine Riley had taken from the medical unit on
the asteroid.

Lodar pulled the portable regen open,
attaching the probes to her temple to keep her brain functioning
before he used the scanner to start the healing process. He ordered
one of the men who worked with him in medical to begin using the
vials she had taken to stop her internal bleeding and prevent her
from getting an infection. They worked steadily while Vox knelt
beside Riley, talking to her about all the things he was going to
do to her when she woke up.

Twenty minutes later, his voice was hoarse
from relating every threat and punishment he could think of. He
blinked furiously when Lodar told him Riley and his son would make
it. He looked at his friend’s exhausted face and tried to thank him
but his throat was too tight to get the words out. He felt the
dampness on his cheeks, and for once, didn’t care that his men
could also see it. He was going to have to punish Riley for this
too. He had never cried in his life and now she had made him do it
twice in as many days.

“You can’t punish me,” Riley murmured
huskily, her eyes still closed. “Your dad said you had to give me
whatever I wanted. By the way, I spent a fortune of your credits at
the market.”

Vox’s head jerked down to stare at his mate’s
beautiful, flushed face. “You did? What did you buy?” He asked in a
husky voice.

Riley’s brilliant, baby blue eyes opened to
stare up at him. “I bought the most beautiful oversized purse
you’ve ever seen and the most God-awful jacket. You aren’t allowed
to kill this one. I love it.”

Vox’s relieved laughter echoed as he threw
back his head and shouted with joy before he gently drew Riley up
into his arms. “You can buy whatever handbag and hideous jacket you
want. I promise not to destroy it.”

Riley’s eyes softened. “Can we go home now? I
don’t like this place.”

“Yes, my mate. We can go home now,” Vox
promised.

“Where’s my God damn gun!” Pearl snarled.
“I’m going to fill his ass with lead if he doesn’t get it down
here! Forget the salt. You damn creatures just lick that shit up,
even if it’s in your own ass.”

Viper clenched his fists tightly at his side
and counted to twenty backwards. It was one of the few things that
helped prevent him from putting his hands around Riley and Tina’s
grandmother’s neck. Even so, it was still very, very tempting.

“He will be here for the ceremony,” Viper
growled out. “And I did not lick my own ass.”

Pearl looked at Viper with an expression that
clearly said she didn’t believe him. Tina stood to the side,
refusing to look at him which was even more infuriating. He would
have thought saving her life would have made her more receptive to
him, but no! She kept a wall of ice between them so thick, he
really did feel like his dick might freeze off. If it hadn’t been
for that one night….

Viper cursed again when Pearl asked for her
shotgun. “I am not giving you that damn gun! You are dangerous
enough without it,” he snapped.

“Don’t you dare talk to my poor, defenseless
grandmother like that!” Tina said, glaring at Viper in anger. “If
she wants her shotgun, you should give it to her. It is her
property after all,” Tina pointed out in a frigid voice.

“Yes – that she keeps pointing at me every
opportunity she gets,” Viper snarled back. “Let her fill your ass
with rock salt and see if you like!”

Pearl chortled at the thought. “I bet he
would volunteer to lick it off, Tina girl. Want to see if he
will?”

Tina blushed a bright red and glared at her
grandmother before sniffing and turning her back on both of them.
“You’re right, she doesn’t need her shotgun,” she muttered under
her breath.

Aryeh, Rosario, and Illana chuckled as they
watched Viper run his hands through his hair in aggravation. All of
them stopped and turned when they heard the music of the wedding
march begin. Vox rushed down the aisle to stand next to his
brothers who were lined up, chuckling under their breath.

“Did you get it?” Walkyr asked quietly.

“Yes, she really, really wanted it,” Gable
added.

“She said she wouldn’t marriage you without
it,” Qadir added with a huge grin. It had been his turn to come up
with something for Vox to hunt down and he had made sure it hadn’t
been easy.

“Guall’s balls,” Pallu muttered trying to
keep a straight face. “If Riley doesn’t kill him, her grandmother
will. You are late for your own marriage ceremony.”

The four brothers laughed as they glanced at
Pearl who was standing waiting for her granddaughter to walk down
the aisle on Bob and Fred’s arms. They had never seen anything like
the slender older woman with white spiked hair. She was wearing
more leather than all four of them put together. Pallu looked at
his brother Viper who was staring – still – at the petite dark
haired female on the other side of Pearl. Viper was the only one
who wasn’t celebrating. Pallu’s eyes widened as he saw the brief
look of sadness in his brother’s eyes as he gazed at the little
human female before he covered it. There was more to the story than
just Viper returning with Riley’s family.

All eyes moved to the back of the room as
Riley appeared dressed in a flowing white lace gown covered in tiny
blue stones the color of her eyes. She glowed with happiness as she
walked down the aisle toward Vox who was smiling just as broadly.
The swollen roundness of her stomach sticking out in front of her.
Bob and Fred walked slowly as the music continued to play. Once
they reached Vox, Bob and Fred held out each of her hands to
him.

Vox growled loudly before he grinned. “I do.
We marriaged now. I want to go back to our living quarters.”

Riley’s face creased into a frown and she
stamped her foot. “Oh no, you don’t! You are not getting out of
this. I want it done right,” she growled back before turning to
Titus. “Titus, get your ass up here and say the things I told you
to write down. This big ox is going to agree with every one of
those vows or I want my Taser and pepper spray back.”

“I’ve got a new Taser, Riley, if you need
it,” Pearl volunteered, pulling it from the waistband of her black
leather pants.

“Oh Gods, no you don’t! I thought I took all
of those damn devices from you,” Viper roared, reaching for
Pearl.

“Don’t you manhandle my poor, elderly
grandmother, you jerk,” Tina erupted in fury, grabbing the Taser
before Viper could and pressing it against his chest in warning.
“Now get back in line so Riley can have her wedding.”

“Make me,” Viper snarled menacingly.

“Okay,” Tina said and pressed the button.

Viper jerked as the shock hit him, stumbling
backwards before collapsing onto the floor in a quivering jerking
mass of twitching nerves. His loud curses filled the small chamber
they had converted for the wedding. All four of his younger
brothers stood around him with their mouths hanging open, trying
not to laugh.

“Oh, to hell with it,” Riley said in
resignation. “I do. Let’s go to the reception. Maybe it will go
better than the wedding,” she muttered over the noise of all the
brothers suddenly asking Tina and Pearl about Tasers.

“How about we skip the reception and get to
the wedding night?” Vox asked with a hopeful grin. “I have
something for you.”

“What did you get me this time?” Riley asked,
rolling her eyes and chuckling.

Vox reached into his pocket and pulled out a
small, squeaking animal. “A mouse!”

In a matter of seconds, a huge, very pregnant
white tiger was knocking over chairs and tables as she chased the
poor Sarafin replica of a mouse around the room. She wasn’t alone
though. The other cat-shifters had joined in the fun, thinking it
was part of the marriage ceremony to chase the mouse. Soon Pearl,
Tina, Bob, Fred, their mates and a handful of other guests were the
only ones left in their two-legged form.

“Well hell, I think that was the best damn
wedding I’ve ever attended. I’m glad that boy chose my Riley girl.
He’ll keep her on her toes,” Pearl chuckled. “Now, is anyone up for
some grub?”

To be continued…. Viper’s Defiant Mate.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan Smith has always been a romantic and a
dreamer. An avid writer, she has spent years writing, although it
has usually been technical papers for college. Now, she spends her
evenings and weekends writing and her nights dreaming up new
stories. An affirmed “geek,” she spends her days working on
computers and other peripherals. She enjoys camping and traveling
when she is not out on a date with her favorite romantic guy. Fans
can reach her at
[email protected]
or at
http://sesmithfl.com
.

Additional Books:

Abducting Abby
(Dragon Lords of
Valdier: Book 1)

Capturing Cara
(Dragon Lords of
Valdier: Book 2)

Tracking Trisha
(Dragon Lords of
Valdier: Book 3)

Ambusing Ariel
(Dragon Lords of
Valdier: Book 4)

Cornering Carmen
(Dragon Lords of
Valdier: Book 5)

River’s Run
(Lords of Kassis: Book
1)

Star’s Storm
(Lords of Kassis: Book
2)

Tink’s Neverland
(Cosmos’ Gateway:
Book 1)

Hannah’s Warrior
(Cosmos’ Gateway:
Book 2)

Tansy’s Titan
(Cosmos’ Gateway: Book
3)

Gracie’s Touch
(Zion Warriors: Book
1)

Lily’s Cowboys
(Heaven Sent: Book
1)

Choosing Riley
(Sarafin Warriors Book
1)