Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (7 page)

Riley frowned back at him in confusion. Why
was he suddenly so intense? Everybody knew you were supposed to cut
the red wire. She frowned again biting her lower lip.

Or was it the black one?
She suddenly
thought trying to remember which wire the guys in
The Abyss
and
Speed
always said they were supposed to cut.

“Damn it, now I can’t remember!” She said
crossly. “I’m trying to remember if the guys in the movies said you
always cut the red one or the black one,” she said looking at Vox
with confused eyes. “I’ll have to watch
The Abyss
again.”

“Who is this
Abyss
?” He asked
cautiously as Lodar and Tor came up behind him.

Riley looked up at the other two men then
over to Bob before looking down where poor Fred was still out cold.
Her eyes moved back until she was looking worriedly into Vox’s dark
tawny ones.

“He’s going to be alright, isn’t he?” She
asked hesitantly, glancing back at Fred before looking again at
Vox. “I mean, I cut the right one, didn’t I? He isn’t hurt, is
he?”

“Riley,” Vox said squeezing her wrists gently
to get her attention as her eyes drifted to the Tiliqua again. “How
did you know which wire to cut?”

“From all the movies I’ve watched,” she said
looking at the other men. “I mean, I’m pretty sure it was the red
wire they always cut. You see, in the movie
The Abyss
the
hero has to go to the bottom of the ocean because the bad guy was
being a butthead about the aliens that came to visit them. He has
to stop this bomb from blowing up the aliens that live there only
he can’t really see what color the wire is and the good guys back
on the underwater station are telling him to cut the red wire. Only
I can’t remember now if they said the red wire. It could have been
the black one. Anyway, he can’t really tell what color the wire is
because he is using this green glow stick thingy like we used to
play with on Halloween. That’s when we all dress up in costumes and
pretend to be monsters and stuff so we can go get some free candy
only I always dressed up as a ghost because Pearl couldn’t afford
costumes for me and Tina so she used some old sheets,” she
explained. “Does this make sense?”

“No,” all four men said before Vox growled at
the others to be quiet.

“No,” Vox said, looking into Riley’s confused
eyes.

Riley sighed in frustration before
remembering she had been watching
Galaxy Quest
on her iPad
earlier. She tugged on her wrist so she could grab it and show them
what she was talking about. Vox held her firmly for a second before
reluctantly releasing one wrist. He kept his eyes glued to her
while she reached for the device she had been so focused on over
the past couple of days. If she tried anything, he would make her
death as quick and painless as he could. Pain sliced through him at
the thought of hurting the delicate beauty in front of him. His cat
hissed in revolt, clawing at his insides in rebellion.

He watched as she pressed a button on the
device and it lit up. “This is a movie,” she was saying as she
flicked her finger along the smooth surface. “I love
Sci-fiction/fantasy type movies. Sometimes I’ll watch a good horror
one but I always get nightmares from them so I have to be careful.
I had nightmares for three days after watching Stephen King’s
The Mist
!” She explained as she pressed another button and a
strange creature appeared on the screen.

Vox watched it for a minute before
understanding dawned. She was referring to entertainment holovids.
The human on the small screen was working on an obviously fake
control panel before he and a human dressed in some type of costume
disappeared behind the console. He listened as Riley giggled. Her
eyes were glued to the screen, mesmerized.

“Gods blood,” Tor muttered over Vox’s
shoulder before a chuckled escaped him. “She used something like
this as a reference for knowing which wire to cut?” He said with a
shake of his head. “It’s a miracle Fred’s head wasn’t blown
off!”

“That’s okay,” Riley responded absently,
still watching the movie. “He has a spare one,” she murmured
distracted.

*.*.*

Fred glared at Riley again over the heads of
the other men in their room. Titus, his brother, and two other men
had appeared in their room a couple of hours after they had removed
the other collar on Fred who finally came to in a very grouchy
mood. Vox had also removed the ones on Lodar, Tor, and Bob. They
had left the one on Vox but had disconnected it so it was no longer
a threat. This allowed him the freedom to move around the prisoners
living quarters without attracting attention.

Tor was in the process of disconnecting the
collars so the other men would not have to worry about being killed
when they escaped. Riley sat curled up on the end of the bed
watching everything with a wary eye. She knew she should be excited
about the idea of getting off this rock but she was still pissed at
Vox. It had taken several minutes for her to finally understand the
big oaf thought she was some kind of spy or something when he kept
grilling her about where she got her tools from, how she had been
captured, and why was she allowed to choose five mates when all the
other women only had one. He had barked out one question after
another, holding her wrists tightly in his large hands the entire
time until she finally had enough of it and struggled to pull away.
When she confronted him, he admitted he thought she was some kind
of spy brought in to trick him. He also admitted he had been
prepared to kill her if she had been

She wasn’t so sure she wanted to go with him
and his men when they made their escape. She was thinking she might
have better luck with the next guy she chose. It didn’t help that
Fred was still mad at her either. Both of his heads had ripped her
up one side and down the other when he woke up. It had taken Bob’s
calming voice and her swearing she never meant him any harm before
he had sulked over to the corner where he sat shooting glares at
her from both sets of eyes.

Riley decided she couldn’t stand the glares
Fred was giving her any longer. She had grown attached to the
little two-headed lizard and it hurt that he was shooting her such
heated looks of displeasure. She scooted off the bed, trying to
ignore the way Vox’s eyes followed her every movement as she edged
around the crowded group and went over to where Bob and Fred were
huddled in the corner. She slid down the wall until she was sitting
on the floor next to them.

“Fred,” Riley said quietly, touching the
Tiliqua who had turned a cold shoulder to her as soon as she came
over to where he was sitting. “I’m sorry. I would never hurt you,
you know that don’t you? I think of you as a very, very dear
friend,” she said, running her fingers gently along the side of one
of his faces.

Both heads turned to her with a scowl. “You
could have killed me, Riley!” Fred bit out coolly.

“But she didn’t,” Bob muttered. “Be nice to
her, Fred. She feels bad enough.”

Riley glanced up at Bob and gave him a
grateful smile before looking back at her little friend. “Will you
go home once you leave here?” She asked quietly, picking up a small
rock lying next to her and playing with it.

“Maybe,” Fred said with a sigh. “I’d never
been off the Spaceport before. I think I would like to see more
before I return. It will give me time to figure out what to do
should I decide to return to my father’s business,” he
muttered.

Riley looked down at the rock. Hot tears
burned her eyes at the idea of losing the small group of alien
males. They were the only creatures she knew and she had grown
attached to them. Her eyes flickered to Vox for a moment before she
quickly looked back down when she saw him staring at her
intently.

“I’ll miss you both,” she admitted quietly.
“You’ve both become good friends. I just want you to know it has
meant a lot to me.”

Bob moved his big body so he was in front of
her. His huge, green arms folded over his gelatinous chest. He
waited patiently until she looked up at him.

“What are you planning now?” He demanded.

Riley’s eyes grew large before she shielded
them. She was used to losing friends. If her mouth didn’t drive
them away, her moving on did. It was just; she wasn’t sure where to
go. None of the locations she was likely to end up in where
programmed into her phone.

Hell,
she thought depressed.
Even
Google wasn’t going to be able to help me here!

“I figured I’d stick around here for a while
longer,” she started to say before tears thickened her throat and
she had to clear it. She forced a smile to her face before she
continued. “I hope you both have a safe journey to wherever you
decide to go.”

“We will not leave you behind, Lady Riley,”
Bob said in his deep, melodious voice. “The warrior king will not
leave you. You are his mate.”

Riley’s eyes flickered up but she couldn’t
see Vox because of Bob’s huge body. “Yes well, it isn’t his
decision. Besides, I think I’m allergic to cats so it wouldn’t work
out anyway. I’ll just stick around here and see if I can’t find me
a trader or someone heading back toward Earth. I’ve got some
business there I need to finish, not to mention, my family is back
there,” she said lightly.

Bob’s huge body shook as he chuckled. “Little
female, you should not try to fight. It will do no good. If the
Sarafin warrior king wants you, you are his. But, if you do not
wish to stay with him, I will do what I can to help you. I owe you
a life debt for choosing me as a mate when others would have let me
die.”

“As do I. You know that big Sarafin warrior
will kill us both if we try to take Riley away from him,” the left
head of Fred said with a scowl as he looked at Bob. “I don’t care.
I will do what I can to help you if you want to leave him,” the
right head added gruffly to Riley. “Let us hope if he kills us, it
is quick.”

“You both are just so sweet! But neither of
you owe me a thing. Don’t you boys go worrying about little ole me.
I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for the past
twenty-four years,” Riley said with a watery smile. “So, when is
this elaborate plan of escape supposed to take place? I didn’t
understand half of what they were saying. Do you need a
distraction? I excel at creating distractions,” she added with a
mischievous smile.

“No!” A deep voice growled as the door to
their living quarters opened.

Riley rose from where she was sitting. Bob
slithered to one side revealing Vox. Behind him, the other men were
quietly exiting the room. Soon, it was just the three of them. Tor
and Lodar had followed the men out.

“You will stay here with these two for now,”
Vox growled out in a soft voice. “I will return before it is time
to leave. You will be ready to go with us.”

Riley shrugged her shoulders and tossed a
length of curly blond over her shoulder nonchalantly. “Yes well, I
was telling the boys I think it would be best if I just caught the
next ship out with a trader who was heading toward good old Earth.
You know, it would just be easier for you guys to escape without
having little ole me holding you back and getting in the way,” she
said with a bright, fake smile.

Vox stared at Riley intently before he jerked
his head at Fred and Bob. Both knew it was an order to leave. Riley
watched nervously as her two friends moved reluctantly toward the
exit. Fred’s right head turned and he gave her a look of apology
before he stepped out of the room behind Bob.

Riley folded her arms over her chest and
waited. “Okay, say what you’ve got to say but it isn’t going to
change my mind,” she said stubbornly.

Vox took a step closer, crowding her until
she was backed up against the wall. “You will be ready to go when
it is time,” he said with a determined thrust of his chin.

She was afraid to move her arms because it
would allow him to move even closer to her if she did. She frowned
up at him. She was still mad at him. The big oaf was really too
much! He had the nerve to think she was some kind of intergalactic
spy hired by God-knows-who. He had been prepared to kill her
without a second thought while he was the one sleeping with Spy One
and Spy Two back home! On top of that, she finds out that he and
his friends are a bunch of alien kitty-cat shifters. And the icing
on the cake was him telling everyone he was ‘claiming’ her without
even a take-her-out-to-dinner date!

Oh hell no, I’m not going anywhere his
furry ass is going. I’m going to find the first trader I can and
kidnap him even if I have to threaten his ass in order to get back
home
, Riley thought with determination.

“No, I won’t. I’ve decided to find me a nice
little trader to kidnap. Once I do, I’ll have him take me home,”
she replied with a stubborn tilt to her chin. “You boys go on and
do your thing. I hope you find whoever it is you plan on killing.
I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time. Me? I’ve got business back
on Earth to take care of involving a few dead bodies of my own,”
she said with a confident nod.

Vox’s hands reached out and gripped her hips,
moving them slowly up to her waist. He savored every delectable
inch as he slid his hands across her soft flesh under the purple
top she was wearing. He pulled her closer to him, trapping her
folded arms against his broad chest. He leaned into her, running
his nose up along her neck as she straightened in an effort to get
away from him. His cat purred in delight. Vox groaned, running his
tongue along the slender column.

Riley shivered as the rough sandpaper of his
tongue ran along her smooth skin. “What do you think you are
doing?” She asked in a strangled voice. “You…. Your chest is
rumbling.”

“My cat wants you,” Vox whispered against her
neck. “So do I. We’ve both been denied too long,” he growled softly
against her throat, nipping it gently.