Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (9 page)

“
Guall’s ball
Lodar, help her,” Vox
demanded fiercely, unable to handle the thought of his beautiful,
stubborn mate being in pain.

Lodar’s lips tightened as he heard the
desperate growl in his leader’s voice. “Riley, I need to see how
bad it is,” Lodar insisted as he reached down and gently rolled her
over onto her back.

Fred hurried over with the pillow from the
bed and carefully lifted Riley’s head so he could slide it under
her. The little two-headed Tiliqua sat down next to her on the
floor and tenderly brushed her hair back from her forehead,
ignoring Vox’s low growl of warning. His right head turned and he
glared defiantly at Vox.

“You hurt our mate,” Fred growled back. “You
scared her!”

Vox flushed a dark red but he lowered his
eyes to Riley’s pale, tear-stained face. “I didn’t mean to frighten
you, Riley,” Vox murmured softly as he reached out one of his big
fingers to tenderly wipe the tears that ran down from the corner of
her eye.

Riley’s lips trembled as Lodar carefully
lifted her arm. “You were hurting Tor,” she whispered as fresh
tears filled her eyes as she stared up at him.

“He wasn’t really hurting me,” Tor said
leaning over Vox’s shoulder, oblivious to the blood covering his
neck and shoulders. “We do this all the time, Riley. He didn’t mean
anything by it. The Sarafin often use their claws and teeth. If he
was really going to hurt me, he would have ripped out my
throat.”

Riley’s hiccuping wail filled the small room
at Tor’s words. “You are not making her feel better,” Bob said
pulling Tor away as he moved closer to Riley. “Go clean the blood
off of you.”

“I think it is broken,” Lodar said in concern
as he carefully examined the discoloration and growing swelling.
“She needs immediate medical attention I cannot give her here. We
will need to summon a guard.”

“I will go with her,” Fred said as he
carefully brushed her hair to the side.

“No,” Vox snapped out, glaring at the small
Tiliqua. “I will go with her.”

“You…. You can’t,” Riley hiccuped. “They will
see that your collar isn’t working. That goes for all of you,” she
whispered. “I’ll have to go alone.”

“No,” all five men said stubbornly.

“I will go,” Bob said softly. “They do not
look under my skin to see if I have my collar on. I am also the
least likely to be considered a threat next to Fred.”

Vox’s mouth straightened into a tight line of
frustration. Riley was right. They would need to reactivate his
collar and that was still no guarantee they would let him go with
her. He had noticed the extra security surrounding them. Bob was
the least threatening next to Fred. He stood up, growling out in
frustration and anger. Closing his eyes and drawing in a deep
breath, he turned to see Riley struggling to sit up.

He immediately knelt down next to her,
sliding his arm around her and snarling silently at Fred who was
trying to help her. He felt a moment of intense joy when she
relaxed back against him before it was dashed again back down to
the bottom of the mines when she turned her pain-filled eyes up to
glare at him in reproach. He tried to look remorseful but something
told him she wasn’t buying it.

“Stop snarling and growling,” Riley snapped
as pain racked her. “That’s what got me in the position I’m in
now!”

“Riley, you need to learn not to come up on
me when I’m disciplining my crew,” Vox tried to explain as he
gently held her in his arms.

“I will most certainly come up on your hairy
ass if you try biting one of my mates again,” Riley snapped. “Only
next time, I’m going to get one of those stunning rods so I can
shove it up your stubborn backside, you moron! You. Do. Not. Ever.
Sink your teeth into Tor, Lodar, Fred, or Bob again, do you
understand me mister?” Riley demanded stubbornly thrusting her
quivering chin out. “Do you?”

Vox stared down into her big blue eyes and
felt like he was a drowning cat. He would promise her the moons,
the star systems, and Tor’s pelt for a rug if she asked. His head
lowered on its own as he fell into the beautiful blue oceans of her
soul.

“I promise,” he whispered. “As long as he
promises to never imagine drinking milk from your beautiful big
breasts again. That is my fantasy.”

Riley’s eyes widen before she reacted out of
pure frustration. She threw up her good arm and popped Vox right on
the end of his beautifully shaped nose as hard as she could. It
wasn’t until she was connecting that it dawned on her that was
probably not the best decision she could have made considering he
was holding her up in the air and she already had a broken wrist.
Thankfully, Lodar was standing close enough to catch her as Vox
howled in pain and rage. Riley’s scream of pain mixed with Vox’s as
her arm was jostled in the exchange. The sound was enough to draw
the attention of the guards as their door opened just as Lodar
tripped over poor Fred who was trying to get out from under
everyone’s feet. Lodar hit the floor with a wailing Riley while
blood poured from Vox’s nose.

157 looked down at the sobbing female who was
being held in the arms of one of her Sarafin mates before jerking
to the other Sarafin warrior. The Sarafin King had blood pouring
down his face while the third Sarafin warrior was sitting to the
side wiping blood from his throat. 157 finally looked down at the
small Tiliquan who was rubbing one of his injured feet. The only
one not injured was the huge Gelatian.

“I do not even want to know what is going
on,” 157 muttered shaking his head.

Lodar tucked his head so the Antrox guards
couldn’t see his collar wasn’t glowing. “Our mate broke her wrist.
She needs medical care,” he said, rising with Riley in his
arms.

Bob moved forward quickly, putting his larger
body between the warriors and the guards. He reached out and
scooped Riley into his arms and turned. Moving closer to 157 and
the guards, he crowded them forcing them back toward the door.

“I will carry our mate to medical,” Bob said
quietly. “The others are in no shape to do so.”

157 tried to look around the massive figure
in front of him but finally decided it wasn’t worth the effort. He
was tired of being called down here. He would be glad when the
final payment of credits was received and he could dispose of the
males once and for all. By tomorrow, he would be a very wealthy
Antrox. He had contacted the trader who dealt in supplying sex
slaves for the pleasure houses on the nearby Spaceport. He had been
promised a large sum of credits and immediate pickup. By this time
tomorrow, the males would be dead and the female gone.

157 turned to the two guards standing behind
him. “Take her to medical and make sure she is completely healed.
If necessary, keep her there the rest of the evening,” he
ordered.

Bob ignored the three low growls that escaped
the men behind him. “I will remain with our mate and make sure she
is safe. She will be returned safely,” he spoke loudly enough to be
heard by everyone.

“I…. I need my things,” Riley cried softly.
“I…. I can’t leave my things. They are all I have left.”

“I will bring them to you, Riley,” Fred
promised. “I won’t forget.”

Riley looked over Bob’s head and smiled a
watery smile at her little friend. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

“Riley,” Vox started forward, still holding
his nose which had finally stopped bleeding.

Riley’s eyes watered and she shook her head
gently. “Go,” she whispered quietly looking at him with sorrow in
her eyes. “It is better this way,” she murmured before she laid her
head tiredly on Bob’s shoulder. “Please take me to medical. I
hurt.”

Vox watched as the small group left the room,
the door sealing behind them. A dark emptiness filled him and his
cat as both of them felt the loss of their mate. Vox’s low,
animalistic roar echoed through the level as he and his cat called
for their mate to return to them.

“We will not leave without her,” Tor said
quietly coming up behind his friend and placing a reassuring hand
on his shoulder.

Vox turned dark, burning eyes on Tor and
Lodar. “You bet your cat we won’t,” he vowed.

Riley felt much better several hours later.
Bob had carried her up through the mines to a special lift that
moved through the center of it. Riley vaguely saw the door to the
control room as they passed it heading to the medical unit. The
only reason she recognized it was because several Antrox guards
were leaving the room and they had to wait along the side of the
corridor since Bob was too big to move past them at the same
time.

The medical unit was a very small, depressing
looking room with only one bed in it. The healer was a dark red,
leathery looking man with little tufts of white hair hanging about
his head in all different directions. Riley wasn’t so sure she
wanted some guy that looked that weird working on her but she was
in too much pain to complain when Bob gently laid her down on the
small, single wide bed.

The healer insisted that Riley stay the night
telling her and Bob that Antrox 157 wanted to make sure she was
completely healed before he was allowed to release her. Riley
didn’t think it was really necessary but decided it was probably
for the best after everything that had happened. After the old, red
leathery skinned man put her arm in that strange looking machine it
felt almost as good as new. Bob had been a darling through it all,
especially since Riley didn’t handle being hurt very well. The huge
Gelatian had refused to leave her alone. He had held her good hand
in one of his and talked quietly to her the whole time in an effort
to take her mind off of what was happening. Fred, true to his word,
had appeared a little over an hour later with all of her things.
Her large, pink suitcase and her oversized purse had been hooked
together and Riley couldn’t suppress the giggle that escaped her as
she watched the small Tiliquan struggle to roll it into the medical
unit.

“Vox wants to know how you are feeling,” Fred
muttered under his breath as he sat down wearily on her suitcase.
“This is very heavy, Riley. What do you have in it?”

Riley chuckled again as she watched both of
Fred’s heads droop tiredly. “A little bit of everything. I don’t
have much as I tend to move around a lot but what I do have, I
cherish. It is mostly clothes and shoes but I also have a few
mementos that I didn’t want anything to happen to. You never know
when you might need something so I try to be ready for just about
anything that can happen.”

“Vox will be very upset that I took your
things. I had to sneak it out when he and the other two went to
meet with Titus and Banu. The good thing is you are closer to the
shuttle bay here. It will not be as far or as hard for you to get
there tomorrow,” Fred said quietly.

Riley lowered her head so Fred couldn’t see
her eyes. The incident earlier made her even more aware of the
differences between her and those around her. She bit her lower lip
and winced. Lip biting was becoming a very bad habit she had picked
up just since she arrived on this huge chunk of rock. If she wasn’t
careful, she wouldn’t have any lips left by the time she got
home.

No, it is better for everyone if I just
find my way back home with the next trader or whoever is heading
that way,
Riley thought in resolve.
The last thing I need is
some huge cat sticking his claws or teeth into me.

“Fred, I’m really tired. Why don’t you and
Bob go on back down,” Riley said looking at her little friend with
big, sad eyes. “You probably still have things that need to be
taken care of before tomorrow, anyway.”

Bob moved forward with a frown, at least she
thought the crease between his eyes was a frown. “I will stay and
guard you, Lady Riley,” he insisted.

Riley rose and tenderly touched the huge,
green gelatinous figure. “No,” she said with a determined shake of
her head. “I will be fine here. The healer said I needed to stay
the night and rest. I wouldn’t be able to sleep well if you stayed
as I would be too worried about you. The room is too small for the
two of us anyway. Go back to our rooms, the others may need
you.”

Bob looked down at Fred then back at Riley
for a moment. “Do not go anywhere!” He said sternly. “I will get
the guards to return me first thing in the morning.”

Riley gave Bob a weak smile and rose on her
tiptoes to give him a light kiss. The huge green figure shook as
she brushed his soft, slick cheek and he turned a slightly deeper
shade of green. Riley looked at him funny before she turned to look
at Fred who was staring up at her intently with both sets of eyes
narrowed in suspicion.

“You are not going to try anything, are you
Riley?” Fred asked quietly as she knelt down in front of him.

Riley ran her hands over both of his heads
before leaning her forehead against his right one. “Now what makes
you think I would try to do anything?” Riley teased lightly before
she gave him a kiss on both sets of cheeks. “You be safe for me,
Fred. I think you are one of the most wonderful mates a girl could
ever have.”

Fred turned a wide assortment of colors
before he finally settled on a light shade of red. A huge grin
curved both sets of lips as he stared at her with more than a
slight case of hero worship. He reached out and wrapped his arms
around her, holding her tightly for just a minute before he took a
hurried step back.

“Don’t tell Vox I hugged you,” he whispered
anxiously. “He might decide to take a bite out of me!”

Riley’s light peal of laughter echoed through
the room. “I won’t, I promise. Besides, if he does I promised him a
stick up his butt!” She added with a wink.

“Kitty on a stick,” Bob pondered for a moment
before his deep, melodious laugh echoed with Riley and Fred. “Now
that I would like to see.”