Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (8 page)

“Ouch,” Riley choked out hoarsely. “Well, go
lick on someone else! I’m not interested.”

Vox ground his hips against her, pushing his
thick, swollen cock up against her. He slid one hand up to cup her
chin and turned her face until she was forced to look into his
blazing eyes. He studied her for a moment before a slight grin
pulled at the corner of his mouth.

“Liar,” he murmured. “I can smell your
desire,” he said before pressing his lips to hers in a deep,
passionate kiss.

*.*.*

Vox had listened with half an ear to Riley,
Bob, and Fred as Titus and Tor worked out how to overtake the
guards in the control room. Adur, the Curizan warrior, and Titus’
brother, Banu, would slip up through a narrow conduit maintenance
tunnel they had discovered months ago and take out the guards in
the control room. Cross, the Valdier warrior, would secure the
arrival bay along with Tor and Lodar. Vox and Titus would secure
the supply ship and prepare it for flight. They would need to do a
fast refuel. Fred was small and fast enough to get through the
tunnels unseen. His father owned a refueling station on one of the
Spaceports. He would take care of the refueling before joining
them. Bob would take care of making sure Riley was protected and
where she was supposed to be. Vox had already warned the huge
Gelatian he better make sure Riley was on the supply ship and in
one piece or he would be coming after him personally.

When he heard Riley say she wasn’t going to
go with them, he knew he had to convince her there would be no
discussion in this matter. There would be no room for hesitation as
they needed to get off the asteroid as soon as the defense shields
were down. If they didn’t, they would not be given another chance.
His gut, and his cat, were telling him that time was running
out.

He knew he had hurt her feelings when he
accused her of being a spy. He could smell the hurt radiating out
from her. When he had admitted he would have killed her if she had
been, she had shut down on him completely. It was as if an icy wall
suddenly formed around her emotions.

He pulled away reluctantly. Opening his mouth
to explain to her that it was a fruitless endeavor to fight the
attraction, his words froze as pain exploded through him. His eyes
watered almost as bad as when she had sprayed that weapon of hers
in his eyes as her head connected with the end of his nose in a
blow that had him stumbling back a half step.

His hands released her as he grabbed his
offended nose. “What in the Guall’s balls did you do that for?” He
bellowed out, falling back another step when she angrily pushed
against him.

“You can
smell
me?” She demanded
elbowing her way around him and back toward the bed where she had
her pepper spray hidden under her pillow. “You can SMELL me? Is
that supposed to be a compliment? If so, that’s right up there with
did you use any deodorant or when is the last time you took a bath?
I do NOT stink!” She was so going to spray his ass.

“Riley, I did not mean you stink. You smell,
that is different,” Vox’s muffled voice came out from behind his
hand. “What are you doing?” He asked warily as she turned with a
determined look on her beautiful but very angry face.

“I’m going to pepper spray your sorry ass,”
she growled, holding the small leather cylinder out in front of
her. “Then, I’m going to make a throw rug out of it! I. DO. NOT.
SMELL!” She yelled out in fury.

Vox edged around her wondering how he had
gotten himself in this position. Holding his hand out, he stepped
lightly to the side heading toward the entrance to their living
quarters. His cat hissed at him again for making a mess of the
situation.

How in the Guall’s ball was I supposed to
know she would take offense?
He muttered to his cat in
frustration.

“Riley, I smell desire,” he began before he
ruefully admitted, “or at least I did.”

“I’ll show your sorry ass desire,” she said
as she advanced on him shaking the cylinder menacingly. “Let’s see
if you can smell this!” She snarled depressing the button on the
spray cylinder at the same time the door opened.

Vox jerked to the side, covering his face in
defense. Unfortunately, Tor wasn’t as fast. His roar of pain echoed
down the long corridor. The sound bounced along the walls, drawing
others from their rooms. Several Antrox guards hurried down the
corridor. They stopped when they saw Tor withering writhing on the
floor in agony. Riley bent over him trying to pat him on his
shoulder as he rolled back and forth.

785 and 157 came hurrying down the corridor.
“What has happened?” 785 demanded, stopping and releasing a sigh of
frustration when he saw Riley’s blond head.

“Oh baby, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt
you,” Riley cooed to Tor who was curled in a ball trying to rub his
eyes. “I was trying to hurt the big oaf. If he would have stayed
still you wouldn’t be hurting. I’m so sorry, darling,” she said
trying to get him to turn so she could see how bad it was.

Riley looked up and glared at Vox. “Well,
don’t just stand there like an idiot! Go get me a wet cloth,” she
demanded.

Vox nodded knowing how much pain his poor
friend was in. He hurried back into their living quarters to
retrieve the needed item. Riley looked up and scowled at 785 and
157.

“What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy
taking care of my mates?” She snapped, glaring at both of them.

785 sighed and nodded to the guards. “If this
is the way she takes care of her mates it might not be necessary to
kill them. She will do a better job than we can,” he said, the
semblance of a smile almost curving his thin, flat lips. “Have the
guards return to their post.”

157 looked at the Sarafin warrior rolling in
pain and whimpering on the floor while the larger one moved back
and forth doing the bidding of the female. He shook his head in
wonder. Perhaps 785 was right. The female was doing a better job of
controlling the males than even he expected. From the reports he
had read, he would have never believed the Sarafin king would be
jumping to the commands of a female.

157 nodded to the guards. He glanced back
once more as the blond haired female leaned over the male on the
hard floor. His mind was working numbers. With her unusual looks he
calculated the number of credits he could get for her. If she could
handle five mates, including three Sarafin warriors, she could
handle much, much more. His flat lips thinned as an idea
formed.

Yes,
157 thought.
She would bring
in a lot of credits as long as I can keep her quiet long enough to
sell her.

He knew just the trader to contact. There
would be no questions asked, the credits would be deposited to his
hidden account, and he would have enough to buy his own mining
operation. If all went as planned, the strange female would be
available because by tomorrow evening her mates would be dead.

“I am much better, Lady Riley,” Tor said
trying to gently move away from Riley’s fluttering hands. “My
eyesight is almost clear again.”

“Are you sure?” Riley asked biting her tender
lower lip that she had been worrying for the past several hours.
“They still appear to be tearing a lot.”

Tor would never admit that they still burned
like the fires from the hot mountains back home or that his nose
and throat weren’t in much better shape. He took another sip of the
cool water that Lodar handed him. He glanced at his friend and gave
him a nod of thanks.

“I hope Vox took that little cylinder away
from her,” Lodar murmured in a low voice as Riley turned away to
check on Bob and Fred who had just returned. “I don’t want to take
a chance on her using it on me.”

Tor wiped at his eyes with the cool, damp
cloth again. “It burns like the fire moon! My throat and nose are
on fire too. What did Vox do this time to upset her?”

“He said she smelled,” Lodar responded with a
grin. “She did not appreciate his observation.”

Both men watched as Vox followed Riley around
trying to get her to sit down and listen to him. It was almost
comical the way he pleaded with her to just hear him out. Lodar
chuckled when she swatted at their friend and leader. He had never
seen anything like it before. The human female was totally
oblivious to the fact she was running circles around one of the
most dangerous men in the known star systems. There wasn’t a female
alive that he knew of that wouldn’t envy her position.

“Do you think he’ll be able to catch her when
this is all over?” Lodar asked curiously.

“More power to him if he does,” Tor said
hoarsely before taking another long swig of water. “She is almost
as dangerous as the Curizan and Valdier were during the wars. More
so if you take into account she has no idea half the time of what
she is doing.”

“Do you think all females of her species are
like this?” Lodar asked admiring the way her tight pants stretched
over her ass as she bent down to pack something in her strange pink
case.

Tor’s eyes followed Lodar’s over the curve of
Riley’s rounded ass. He felt his cat purr. Maybe he wasn’t as
immune as he first thought. His red eyes moved to Vox who had
frozen in place as he followed her, his eyes glued to the same
place as the other males in the room. When Riley straightened, she
reached up and tucked her mass of curly hair back up in the bright
pink scrunchie. The movement pulled the thin top she was wearing up
revealing the pale skin of her slightly rounded stomach and pulling
the top tight across her ample breasts.

*.*.*

Riley froze as she was putting her hair back
up into its messy ponytail when the whole room erupted into echoes
of low rumbling purrs. She turned startled baby blue eyes on the
three huge cat shifting males who had their eyes glued to her.
Three pairs of eyes, one a golden brown, one a very reddened
greenish color, and the other a dark, tawny color all stared at her
breasts as they thrust upwards as she wound the scrunchie around
the mass of curls she was holding.

She rolled her eyes. “You have got to be
kidding me!” She muttered. “I swear to God all guys who aren’t gay
have a one track mind!”

She quickly finished putting her hair up
trying not to turn as pink as the scrunchie as she watched their
eyes follow her breasts as they bounced up and down. She didn’t
care how much support the manufacture promised, when you were as
big as she was there was still going to be some bounce. She lowered
her eyes refusing to give into the desire to cross her arms
protectively in front of her. The only thing that did was push the
watermelons she carried around up. Instead, she clapped her hands
loudly.

“Hello?” She snapped, shooting an evil eye at
Lodar and Tor. “It’s rude to stare!”

Lodar cleared his throat as Vox turned to
glare at his two friends. “Yes, well…. I…. we…. They are
beautiful,” he finally choked out with a sheepish grin. “And very
difficult to miss.”

“I wonder if they contain milk.” Tor asked,
unaware he asked the question out loud. “I would love to drink from
them if they did,” he sighed.

Riley’s mouth dropped open as what Tor said
sank in. “Oh. My. God. You did not just say that,” she sputtered
before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. “Do they…. Oh my god,
that is priceless,” she continued to giggle, wiping the tears from
the corner of her eyes with the end of her shirt totally unaware
the movement pulled the cloth up exposing her creamy flesh
again.

Vox’s loud roar ricocheted throughout the
small room as he tackled Tor. The force of his shoulder hitting his
chief engineer’s chest knocked both of them backwards through the
air several feet before they hit the hard floor and slid almost to
the far wall. Vox’s sharp teeth gripped Tor’s throat in a
stranglehold while his claws dug into Tor’s shoulders, pinning him
to the floor.

“Bad kitty!” Riley shrieked out from behind
him. “Let him go! You are a very, very bad kitty. You let go of him
or I’ll neuter your ass. Vox, release him this instant. If you
don’t I swear I’ll go to the guards and tell them I need to borrow
their stun gun thingy. I mean it. I’m out the door in three, two,
one…..”

Vox released Tor with a jerk and swung around
to face Riley so fast she stumbled backwards. Her heel caught on
the uneven flooring and she lost her balance, falling to the floor
heavily with a sharp cry. She rolled over into a ball as
excruciating pain exploded through her wrist as she tried to break
her fall. She landed on it hard. Riley bit her lip as she pulled
her left arm up against her, cradling it to her chest as she sobbed
in pain.

“Riley?” Vox said hesitantly as he moved to
kneel next to her curled up figure. “Riley, I would never hurt
you,” he said gently as he tried to get her to look at him.

Another soft, pain filled sob escaped Riley.
“My wrist,” she whispered. “It hurts so bad.”

Vox turned his head, looking over his
shoulder. “Lodar,” he demanded hoarsely as worry engulfed him.

Lodar nodded as he stood up from where he was
checking the puncture wounds on Tor’s neck and shoulders. They
would heal. They got worse when they were training or just
wrestling with each other. If Vox had been serious about killing
Tor, he would have ripped his throat out. The marks were just a
warning to Tor to be careful expressing his thoughts out loud. It
was obvious from the smell of Riley’s fear when she saw what had
happened that she didn’t realize that. Now, the smell of her pain
was overwhelming to the three warriors. It was a dark, musky scent
that brought out a protectiveness and need to care in all of
them.

“Riley, let me look at your wrist,” Lodar
said gently as he knelt down next to her.

Riley bit her lip and shook her head even as
she looked at him with her big blue eyes swimming in tears of pain.
“I don’t want you to touch it. You might make it hurt worse,” she
whispered as her bottom lip trembled and a lone tear course down
her pale cheek breaking his heart.