Vox slowed as he came to tower over her. He shook his head as he took in her delicately raised fists. He could see the redness on her knuckles where she had hit him. His eyes roamed over her face as she stared up at him with wide blue eyes. The fierce determination on her face showed she really believed what she was saying. His eyes paused on where she was biting her lower lip. His body jerked in response as he remembered her soft kisses on his face, neck, and chest while he made love to her. He could see the pulse beating rapidly in her neck, begging him to taste her sweet blood again. As he stared at the rapidly beating vein, it dawned on him that she was terrified.
Take mate, his cat hissed at him. Mate fight, but I want my mate.
She’s scared, Vox murmured. She acts tough, but she is really very scared.
We protect. We teach her to love us, his cat snarled back, pacing. I feel my mate. She is close.
I know, Vox replied carefully. I think that is one of the things scaring her. I will not let her go.
Good, his cat purred. I need her.
So do I, my friend. So do I, Vox replied.
"Riley, I won’t let you go," he responded quietly.
He reached for her in a move so fast it startled her. She reacted without thinking, swinging her arm around. Poor Fred was standing off to the side so when Vox grabbed her one wrist, she turned, knocking him upside his right head which knocked it into his left one. He howled in pain as Riley turned again to hit Vox in the stomach. Vox pulled her arm around behind her back, twirling her and her fist became stuck in Bob’s rounded belly instead.
"Now look what you’ve made me do!" she cried out, struggling to break the hold Vox had on her arm which was behind her back. "I’m stuck. Let me go!"
"Let her go!" Carmen’s voice rang out from the doorway behind Bob, who was trying to pull Riley’s hand out of his stomach.
"Carmen," Creon warned as he grabbed his mate who was moving into a defensive stance. "Let him take care of her."
"She told him to let her go. This is her decision," Carmen snapped back at Creon before turning back toward Vox. "She doesn’t want to go with you. She wants to return to her family back on Earth."
Vox glared at Carmen over his mate’s head. "She is mine!" he snarled back. "She goes with me."
"For the last time, I am not yours! I am Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado, and I am going home—alive, in one piece, without things bursting out of me or changing me into a zombie, or making me want to eat dead people," Riley cried out in frustration as Bob finally freed her hand from his stomach. "Oh, Fred, baby, I’m so sorry I hit you. Vox shouldn’t have moved."
"That’s okay, Riley," Fred said shuffling backward away from where she was still trying to break free from Vox. "It doesn’t hurt that much."
"Riley, if you want to stay, I’ll help you get home," Carmen said, taking a step closer.
"Yes, I want—" Riley started to say before she found herself lifted into a pair of arms that closed around her like steel bands.
Carmen’s outraged cry echoed with Riley’s as Creon lifted her into his arms as well. "Get her to your shuttle now, Vox," Creon growled out as his own mate began to struggle.
"Creon, so help me I am going to put your ass down for this," Carmen snapped out as she tried to break free of her mate’s hold.
"I am not going with him, damn it!" Riley yelled, getting one of her hands free and pulling on Vox’s short hair as hard as she could.
"That’s it! Viper, get me some restraining cuffs," Vox yelled out over his shoulder at his brother, who had been watching the whole scene with disbelief.
"Here you go, brother," Viper said, looking on as his brother lowered the voluptuous alien female down to the floor of the docking bay. "Are you sure you want to bring her?" he asked as he handed his brother the restraining cuffs.
Vox growled as he straddled his mate, holding her face down with one hand between her shoulder blades while he used his other hand to grab at her flailing wrist. He pulled first one, then the other around and cuffed them. The thought of taking her like this burned through him with such ferocity that he had to close his eyes and recite another training script before he could rise up off her.
"Bob! Fred! Do something!" Riley wailed as she was rolled over and picked up again. "You have to help me!"
Bob put a hand out to stop Fred when he took a step toward Riley. "He will be a good mate for you, Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado. I will always be there should you need me."
"I need you now, you big bowl of Jell-O." Riley sniffed. "You have to help me get back home."
Bob smiled gently and moved closer to where Vox was tenderly holding her now quiet form. He reached out and touched her cheek with a plump, green finger before stepping back again. He looked fiercely at Vox who fought back a grin that the huge, gentle Gelatian would think to threaten him.
"I am sending you home, Riley," Bob said, still looking at Vox. "I am sending you where you should be."
Riley’s face turned mutinous as she glared at the huge green creature who she thought had been her friend. He was just like the rest of the male species. They took what they wanted and didn’t give a damn about the consequences. A fat tear rolled down her flushed cheek as she glared at Bob with a look of betrayal.
"I thought you were my friend," she sniffed. "I should have known better."
Bob looked down sadly at Riley. "I am your friend, Lady Riley. That is exactly why I am doing what I am."
"But…" Fred’s right head started to say before his left head turned and hushed him.
"Bob’s right. Riley is Vox’s mate. We cannot interfere," Fred’s left head said sternly.
"I don’t need either one of you!" Riley said hoarsely. "I can get away on my own. You just wait. The first trader I find I’m going to kidnap his ass and make him take me home. You just wait and see! I’ll be home before you know it!"
"I hate to break up this little party, but we’ve got to go! I just received a message from Adalard that they need help. Mandra has gone in after Raffvin," Ha’ven said grimly, coming up behind everyone.
"Vox," Viper said, drawing his older brother’s attention back to the situation at hand. "We must go."
Vox nodded grimly, cursing Creon’s brother for confronting their uncle on his own. He had read the reports sent to Creon about the destructive weapon Raffvin had that could destroy their symbiot. If Mandra was killed, it would mean the death of Carmen’s sister, Ariel, as well. It was foolish for him to take such a chance, but Vox knew he would have done the same thing if given half a chance. The Shifter would travel beside the Horizon to Raffvin’s hidden base. He was determined to make the traitorous Valdier royal pay for what he had done not only to him, but to his friends.
Chapter 16
Riley twisted around until she was in a sitting position on the bed. Vox had continued to ignore her protests as he and the other men boarded the shuttle that took them to the other warship. Riley had been quiet when they had exited the shuttle simply because she was too scared to say anything. There were hundreds of tall, deadly looking men working on the huge ship. Well, they were working until they saw Vox carrying her possessively in his arms. If she thought Viper and some of the other warriors were intimidating, it was nothing compared to a ship load of dark, suspicious, and intense stares. Only Lodar and Tor were at ease, joking as one carried her huge handbag and the other rolled her bright pink suitcase behind Vox as he carried her down corridor after corridor. She had gotten so confused she knew it would take her a month to figure out how to get back to the docking bay.
He had quickly deposited her on the bed. His fierce look and the grim tightening of his lips should have warned her he wasn’t going to undo the restraining cuffs he had put on her. Instead, he had attached them to a metal bar at the head of the bed. She had called him every single name she could think of from a hairy-ass horny toad to a grub-eating parasite. Tor and Lodar had chuckled until she started in on them. Vox growled out under his breath at them, an
d the two laughing hyenas disappeared, leaving them alone.
"I have to check on the ship, meet with my brother, and go over a few other things before I return," Vox said, brushing her wavy hair back from her face. "I cannot take a chance of you getting into anything."
"The least you can do is let me go!" Riley snorted angrily. "You can lock me in the room. You don’t have to leave me hooked to the frigging bed!"
"I am not willing to take the chance of you figuring out how to get out," Vox replied. "I will not be long," he added brushing the back of his knuckles along her flushed cheek.
"I don’t care how long you take! You can just forget I’m even here. I hope you get lost. I hope you—"
Vox cut off her words the only way he knew how, with his lips. He held her head still between the palms of his huge hands while he devoured her. His need for her threatening to override his sense of responsibility to his men. He drove his tongue deep into her mouth, dueling with her tongue as she fought back with a ferocity that ignited his blood to boiling.
He reluctantly pulled back and pressed his lips to her forehead. "You fire my blood, Riley. I have never felt this way before about another female in my life," he whispered.
Riley pulled back and gazed up into his eyes to see if he was just saying that to make fun of her or if he really meant it. The look in his eyes was so intense she drew in a shocked breath. He looked like…like…like he loved her! It was the same look some of the male leads had for the heroines in the movies.
"I will return soon," he repeated, brushing a hard kiss over her lips and leaving her lying on the bed, stunned.
That had been one nap and several hours ago. Riley now believed that she had been totally mistaken about the look in his eyes. It had not been love; it had been lust. Just like every other guy she had ever met. She worked herself into a fine temper as she lay there. She also needed to pee! Since it didn’t look like Vox was going to be returning anytime soon she figured it was time to get herself out of the pickle she was currently in. It wasn’t like this was the first time she had been in this situation. Well, not exactly this situation but not the first time she found herself handcuffed. No, that privilege was for the idiot cop who thought he could offer her a deal in exchange for a speeding ticket when any fool could have told him that speeding was an impossible task for her little Ford. She had kneed the guy in the balls when he did a pat down on her.
"I am so going to kidnap me a trader," Riley muttered. "I don’t care who it is. I’m going to head home. If I need counseling when I get there, who cares! Everyone has a counselor now a days. It is considered the ‘in’ thing."
Riley worked one of her earrings off and gave a regretful sigh that she was about to destroy it. Straightening the long metal loop, she worked at the lock until she heard the slight click. The cuffs fell off. Riley breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God, Tina had shown her how to pick locks. Her little sister might have a metal bar up her ass most of the time, but she was a very avid reader. Tina had checked out a book on how to pick locks from the library one summer. She and her little sister had spent the rest of the summer picking every lock they could just to see if it really worked.
Riley slid off the bed and hurried into the bathroom. A loud sigh of relief escaped her as she relieved her overfull bladder. Hell hath no fury like a woman denied a bathroom when she needs it, she thought savagely. She would love to tie his ornery ass up and see how he liked it!
As soon as she was finished, she marched over to her large handbag and began rifling through it. She laid her mini Taser and pepper spray on the bed before she unzipped her suitcase to find something suitable to wear for her great escape. She pulled out her black leather pants and a black T-shirt from the bar with the slogan "Bike, Boobs and Beer—I have it all at The White Pearl." She quickly dressed in her weekend-at-the-bar outfit. She even attached the spiked dog collar she had picked up for Halloween last year. She pulled her black, stiletto ankle boots out and pulled them on. She knew she looked hot in this outfit. Craig, her grandma’s three-hundred-pound bouncer, always groaned when he saw her dressed like this. He knew he would be ultrabusy when she did. Last, she pulled out the jacket her sister had gotten her for her birthday a few months ago. It was a fake, black mink jacket complete with a fake mink head draped over the left shoulder. The beady little glass eyes dared anyone to mess with her for fear of taking its place around her neck. She slid the jacket on, figuring she would need it. It was the only one that really went with the leather pants besides the one jacket Vox had already destroyed.
"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 bloodred 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 each face. "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 taut 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 need 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.
Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart Page 99