Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (13 page)

Vox rose to his feet, grabbing the front of
Lodar’s shirt in one of his fists. “Like what?” He growled out in
frustration.

Hell, he was too damn aroused to care that it
was Lodar telling him what his mate wore under her clothing. His
curiosity was about to kill both him and his cat. The idea of his
mate wearing something that looked like his cat was enough to make
him want to hunt her down and strip her to see for himself. His cat
was panting, wondering what Riley would look like in cat form.

“Lodar, tell us! This is killing me,” Tor
muttered.

“It is this little thing with two, pretty
little bows on each side and one long little strip of material up
the back. I asked her what it was for and she told me it was called
a thong. She liked to wear them because they didn’t leave panty
lines under her clothes. I asked her if she would model it for me
but she just rolled her eyes and told me to get out or she was
going to put me in the laundry unit so she could clean my dirty
little mind,” Lodar chuckled as Vox’s face turned dark with
envy.

“Damn, my cat and I have been dreaming every
night about drinking milk,” Tor muttered as he turned away to hide
how aroused he was. “Now we are going to be dreaming about her
wearing nothing but those little pieces of cloth.” He threw a
pained expression at Vox who turned to glare at him. “Sorry Vox.
It’s been too damn long since my cat or I’ve had sex.”

“Well, quit thinking and dreaming about my
mate,” Vox ordered roughly. “Dream about another female.”

Lodar barked out a resigned laugh. “Yeah,
like Titus’ purple mate?”

Tor shuddered and felt his desire cooling at
the idea of the slender purple female. There was just nothing sexy
about making love to a stick. Now, after meeting Riley, he wondered
if even the females back home could stir his cock the way they used
to. The Sarafin females were attractive and they were definitely
always in the mood for a sexual romp but they were hard and
muscular due to their cat. Now, he wanted something he could
actually cuddle up to without getting bruised. He looked at Vox,
barely hiding his grin. Vox’s nose was still a little swollen from
where Riley had boxed him yesterday. Well, there might be some
bruising involved but it would definitely worth it.

*.*.*

Riley shivered. She was freezing her ass off.
She needed to talk to the guys about working on the damn heater.
She pulled her suitcase out from under the bed and unzipped it. She
didn’t unpack her things. The biggest reason why was she was afraid
they may have to evacuate the old tub they were on in a hurry and
she wouldn’t have time to repack everything. She dug around until
she felt the soft fur lining of the jacket she had bought herself
for her birthday two years ago. It would have cost her a pretty
penny at that boutique where her sister worked if it hadn’t been on
the seventy percent off rack. Even with Tina’s employee discount it
had still cost her a small fortune but she loved the damn thing. It
was gaudy to the point of being chic. The rich, dark purple dyed
rabbit fur offset the glittering silver sequins all over it. The
damn thing practically glowed in the dark and when she wore it to
the bar with a pair of her black leather pants she screamed
‘unavailable rich bitch’. Of course, the one and only time she wore
it to the bar Pearl had threatened to shoot the damn thing. She
said nothing that ugly should be allowed to live.

Riley had ignored her dear grandmother and
put it down to jealousy that Tina had shown it to her instead of
Pearl who seemed to only like black leather and metal. Riley had
drooled over the damn jacket every time she picked Tina up after
work for almost a year. Tina must have hidden it so that the owner
would finally mark it down from the twelve hundred dollars it had
originally been marked at because she knew how badly Riley wanted
the damn thing.

She gave a thrilled grin as she slid the
quilted jacket on, rubbing her cheek against the soft rabbit fur.
Yes, she was an animal lover but she figured if she convinced
herself that the damn thing died of old age or something similar
she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about where it came from. Hell, as
far as she knew it could have been road kill. The only thing she
cared about was that it was soft, flamboyant and hers!

Riley zipped the jacket up and pulled the
collar up until it covered her ears. The fur lining practically
covered her face and she was able to bury her nose in it to keep it
warm too. She couldn’t wait to see how the guys reacted to it. The
men in the bar had just stared at her all night like they thought
she was some movie star or something. Of course, her grandmother
said they didn’t know whether she needed help from the alien
attacking her or if she was the newest hooker on the street. Riley
had blown her grandmother the middle finger kiss and told her that
her ‘John’ had given her the night off. Tina had groaned,
mortified, while Pearl had laughed so hard she had to excuse
herself so she wouldn’t piss all over herself.

“Some grandmother I have,” Riley muttered as
she walked down the corridor to the dining quarters. “She pisses
her pants because she knows her granddaughters are virgins! Most
grandmas would be proud of that.”

“Hi Riley,” Fred said coming up behind her.
“What is attacking you? Did it come off the ship?” He asked
frightened, looking at the glittering silver and purple jacket she
had wrapped around her snugly.

Riley rolled her eyes at Fred. “Yes, there
are thousands of them on board. You better not lay down for too
long or one of them will take over your body as well!” She grumbled
not looking at him as she turned to continue on her way. “Is it
attacking me? He’s a freaking comedian and I didn’t even know
it!”

She sighed as she entered the dining quarters
and found no one was there. Maybe she could just fix herself
something quick and take it back to her room where she could bundle
up in the nice, clean blankets that she had piled on her bed. Shit,
she could see her breath now. What was their frigging problem? Did
they forget to pay the damn heating bill or something? Riley
shrugged her shoulders just thankful she had something to keep her
warm. She plugged her ear buds into her iPhone, adjusting the ear
pieces so she could listen to Enigma as she fixed herself something
to eat. She was totally oblivious to the fact that Fred had
disappeared.

*.*.*

“How long before you can meet up with us?”
Vox asked his younger brother, Viper, who was commanding his
warship the
Shifter
.

“It will take us two, possibly three days to
get there. We have been raiding every damn Antrox mine we can find.
I didn’t realize the greedy insects had so many. We’ve been to four
star systems so far looking for you and have raided at least two
dozen,” Viper said leaning back and grinning. “So, how did you
escape? I would love to have seen the Antrox expressions as you
gave them hell.”

Vox flushed, not wanting to explain to his
brother just yet that his new mate had been the one to save them,
even if she did blow the damn mining asteroid to smithereens in the
process. He shifted uncomfortably wondering how his parents and
brothers were going to react to Riley. His parents had recently
reminded him that he was destined to mate with a Valdier princess.
That had been part of the treaty his father and the old Valdier
king had signed to ensure peace between the two species. Now, he
was about to blow the treaty to hell because he had no intentions
of mating with anyone other than Riley.

“Remind me to tell you about it when you pick
us up,” Vox muttered in frustration. “Just meet up with us as soon
as possible. I’m not sure how long this piece of dragon dung will
hold up. We have it patched together with our piss and sweat.”

Viper laughed. “There is a Valdier warship
closer. I’ll notify them that you may need assistance before we can
arrive. It is Creon’s warship. They could be there within a
day.”

Vox nodded in resignation. “That might be
best. I need to speak with Creon Reykill about a personal matter
anyway,” he muttered. “I will contact you later.”

“Gods be with you, brother,” Viper said
signing off.

“I hope they will be,” Vox said as he thought
of how he was going to approach the youngest Valdier royal and ask
for his help in breaking the treaty between their people without it
causing a war.

Vox looked at Titus and Adur and rubbed the
back of his neck wearily. Gods, he was tired. He hadn’t slept well
since he was captured and with trying to keep the damn freighter
from falling apart he hadn’t had a chance to even think about it in
over two days. He sat back in the chair near the communications
console and listened as Titus and Adur talked about what still
needed to be done when he heard the sound of Fred’s little feet
scurrying towards them.

“Vox! Vox! You have to help! Riley! Help her!
She has been attacked!” Fred said breathlessly as he skidded onto
the bridge where Vox, Adur, and Titus were. “A strange creature! It
has Riley in the dining quarters!”

Vox’s loud roar shook the room as he shifted
into his cat. He sent Fred flying into Adur as he rushed through
the door. His claws clattered against the metal flooring of the old
freighter as he rushed down the long corridor. He vaguely heard
Titus yelling for Lodar and Tor to meet them in the dining
quarters, that Riley was being attacked. Bob heard the loud roars
as it echoed through the old freighter to where he was working on
sealing off another section of the ship so they would not have to
maintain its environmental system. His huge body shook with rage
when he heard that something was attacking Riley in the dining
quarters. He turned quickly and moved as fast as his big body would
let him through the narrow corridors.

Vox’s blood boiled at the thought of some
unknown creature attacking his beautiful, vulnerable mate. He would
tear it to shreds. He would teach whatever creature it was that no
one messed with his delicate, fragile mate. He rounded the corner
leading to the dining quarters, skidding around it so fast his
shoulder left a deep dent in the wall where he hit it. He slowed as
he saw Riley coming out of the room. She had a tray in her hands
but that was not what caught his attention. It was the mass of
purple threatening to strangle her. The thing had glittering scales
all over it. Vox’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the purple
tentacles embedded in her ears. The thing was trying to take over
her mind!

Vox leaped to rip the thing off of Riley at
the same time as she looked up. Horror and fear flashed through her
eyes as she screamed. The tray in her hands flew through the air
over her head at the same time as Vox hit her chest, knocking her
backwards and down to the hard metal floor. He used his teeth and
claws to slice the creature off of his mate, tearing and slashing
in desperate fear that it might be too late to save her.

He shifted when he had most of the creature
torn apart enough so he could use his hands to finish pulling it
from her body. Riley’s screams of panic continued to tear a hole
through his soul. Grief and rage made his fingers clumsy as he
pulled the last bit of purple fur away from her face and neck. With
trembling fingers, he gently pulled the remains of the tentacles
from her right ear, the other had already fallen out.

“Riley, speak to me,” Vox whispered hoarsely.
“My
lumi
, please speak to me. Tell me if it is still hurting
you.”

*.*.*

Riley breathed in the scent of the hot soup
she had programmed into the replicator that Lodar had shown her
earlier how to use. She had decided she better stick with something
simple like he suggested and decided on a broth and hot tea.
Anything hot to warm her up since she was beginning to shiver even
with the jacket on. She tugged on the fur lining, pulling it up
around her ears and adjusted her ear buds so they wouldn’t fall out
before she picked up the tray she had found.

Yes sir,
she thought as she lifted the
tray to her nose to smell the fragrant soup.
Something hot for
the belly and a bunch of nice, clean blankets piled high waiting
for me in my own room. Now all I need is a good movie or book to go
with it.

She was humming along with the song she was
listening to, her eyes focused on the tray so she wouldn’t spill
any when a low rumbling sound made her eyes jerk up. Her mouth
opened in surprise and horror as she saw the biggest damn cat in
the universe glaring at her in rage. A high scream worthy of any
King Kong heroine burst from her lips as it launched itself at her.
She jerked her hands up, throwing the tray over her head as she
tried to protect her face from the massive teeth in its mouth. She
closed her eyes and screamed even louder and longer the second time
as the huge cat hit her square in her chest, knocking her backwards
until she was lying on the floor. She could feel its teeth and
claws as it ripped into her jacket. She continued to scream, unable
to stop as the huge cat tugged and pulled until the material of her
jacket fell away from her body. A final quick tug pulled the
remaining ear bud out of her ear. Riley felt the change in the body
above her at the same time as she felt the freezing air of the
freighter.

“Riley, speak to me,” Vox’s husky voice
resonated through her at the same time as frantic fingers kept
pulling at the tattered remains of her beloved jacket. “My
lumi
, please speak to me. Tell me if it is still hurting
you.”

It took a minute for his words to process in
her stunned brain. What the hell was he talking about? If what was
still hurting her? She slowly opened her eyes to stare into the
frantically worried tawny color eyes above her. A shiver coursed
through her as the icy metal under her seeped into her already
chilled body. Huge warm hands pulled her up into equally huge and
warm arms. One big palm pressed her head against his chest as the
other pushed the remains of her jacket away from her. Riley’s heart
began to slow even as the heart under her ear beat with a
thundering roar, as if he had just run a marathon.