Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (102 page)

"Don’t even go there, Riley
St. Claire! You will not think of his stupid you-know-what!" she muttered
under her breath as she worked herself up into a fine fury. "It is time
for them
to get their asses off
this
rock so I can find me my own spaceship
heading back home."

Riley
slammed the drawer shut and walked over to her bright pink suitcase. She tucked
the strap of her oversized purse over one shoulder, grabbed the handle of her
rolling suitcase with the other, and firmly gripped the pistol she had found in
her right hand. It was time to liberate the prisoners of this stupid mine!
Riley raised her hand, tossed the massive wave of blond curls over her shoulder,
and marched out the door, laser pistol blazing at anything that moved.

* * *

Vox cursed as he worked beside
not just Tor, Lodar, Bob, and Fred, but alongside Titus and the others as well.
They had been rounded up earlier than usual and marched to a different part of
the
mine
than they had worked
in before. Vox had known something was wrong immediately. First, the guards had
refused to let Bob go back up to be with Riley. Second, they had been rounded up
not only early but not given the normal tools for work. Finally, he knew they
were going to be terminated when he saw the others already waiting for him and
his men. All their carefully laid plans were worthless in the face of the
twenty Antrox guards surrounding them. The only thing that gave them half a
chance was the fact their collars were deactivated.

Vox dropped the large rock he had
picked up when he saw Antrox 157 walking toward the group. He flexed his
shoulders as rage poured through him. He was going to kill every one of the
damn insects on this asteroid, and then he was going to kill him a Valdier
royal. Vox’s eyes narrowed on the smug expression of the normally passive face
of the Antrox.

"Where is my mate?" Vox
growled out menacingly.

157 raised his hand to stop the
guards who took a step toward Vox with their stunning rods raised. 157 looked
Vox up and down with a look of pure enjoyment. He was looking forward to
explaining exactly what would happen to the Sarafin king’s mate.

"She is in the process of
being acclimated to her new position. She is an unusual species, and I was
fortunate enough to acquire a large sum of credits for her. She will not be
quite so demanding in her new position, but I am sure she will be in quite a
lot of demand," 157 said, actually snorting at his own joke.

"What have you done with her?"
Vox demanded tensely.

He would
rip
the Antrox apart, limb by limb, if one curly, blond hair on Riley’s
head had been touched. He would slowly gut the slimy bastard and listen as he
begged for his miserable life. Then he would shove the credits the creature
loved so much down his throat and watch him
choke
to death on them.

"She has been sold to a trader
who supplies for the pleasure houses on the Grigillian Spaceport. It was decided
if she could handle three huge Sarafin warriors and those two, she could handle
even more. The trader has assured me she will bring prime credits," 157
added gleefully, his eyes glowing with greed at the idea of the number of
credits he would shortly be receiving.

Lodar and Tor reached out and
grabbed Vox by the arms when he roared out in rage. "You’ll never live to
see those credits, you miserable insect. I am going to rip off your fucking
head and shove it up your ass," Vox snarled, fighting as Titus, Banu, and
the others moved to help restrain him.

"No, you will be dead,"
157 said with a smug smile. "That is where my other credits will come
from. If it was not that I am a businessman, I would have offered to kill you
for free. But, I am a businessman first. Your lives have been terminated per
the Valdier royal Raffvin Reykill."

Vox felt the change sweep over him
as the others tried to get him to calm down. He watched even as his vision
began to change as Antrox 157 lifted a long slender palm for the device that
would kill them all. The Antrox was so focused on pressing the button on the
device in his hand that he did not pay attention to the ripple of fur running
up and over Vox’s arms, chest, and shoulders. He didn’t notice Vox’s face as
his teeth began to elongate and his facial features shifted and transformed
into that of the power cat that he was. It was only when 157 glanced up with a
look that changed from triumph to horror in one heartbeat to the next as he
pressed the button and nothing happened that he realized all was not as it
should be.

157 pushed back, grabbing the
guards around him and shoving them in front of him even as he screamed for them
to use the stunning rods to hold the males back. It was too late. Vox was
already clamping down on the skull of one guard while Tor, Lodar, Titus, and
Banu did the same. Adur spun around, grabbing one of the long stunning rods and
began using it just as Cross shifted into his dragon form and blew a long
stream of condensed blue flames at the retreating figure of 157 and several of
his guards.

Vox spit out the remains of another
guard just as
the
alarms began
blaring. He quickly shifted back into his two-legged form, turning in a
confused circle for a moment as the red lights swirled around him. Loud shouts,
followed by screams, could be heard in the distance.

"What
in
Guall’s balls is going on?" he snarled out, turning to look at
Titus and Banu.

"That is the emergency release
system. It deactivates all the systems, including the collars," Titus said
in shock. "Do you think our people found us?"

"Or perhaps the Valdier lords?"
Cross said hopefully.

"Hello. Can everyone hear me?
Hel-lo! Vox, Tor, Lodar?" Riley’s husky voice came over the sound system. "Damn
it! How do you turn the alarms off? The damn things are giving me a headache.
Oh no, you don’t, you nasty little insect!"

Vox jerked when he heard the loud
sound of a laser pistol firing. "Riley?" he whispered hoarsely before
his voice faded again in shock.

"Take that, you son of a bitch!
Who’s
your momma now, asshole?"
Riley crowed into the
mic
. "Fred,
Bob honey, if you can hear me, I have all the doors open. I have to tell you,
you’d better hurry. Those spaceship thingies are really flying out of here
fast. I don’t know if there are going to be any left if you don’t get your
asses up here now. Uh-oh, I don’t think those two know how to drive one. Oops,
nope. They didn’t."

Tor shuddered as the loud sound of
screeching could be heard followed by an explosion. "She must be in the
control room. Let’s get out of here!"

Vox didn’t wait for his second in command
to repeat himself. He turned and took off as fast as he could. He could hear
Fred encouraging Bob to hurry. The little Tiliquan could keep up with them, but
the Gelatian were not known for their speed. Vox yelled out a tense order for
Banu and Cross to stay with Bob. The two warriors nodded, falling back to cover
the large male who was struggling to follow them.

"Go," Bob groaned out. "Go,
I will remain here."

"We have our orders, my
friend," Cross laughed as he swung around to watch as a group of Antrox
tried to escape several former prisoners who were not in the mood to let them
go. "Besides, something tells me if you are not on board the spaceship
there is no way that we will get the female on board it."

Bob thought of Riley’s beautiful
sad eyes last night and knew she didn’t plan on being on the same ship that
they were on. His huge body shuddered as determination swept through him. She
was a remarkable female! She had chosen him even though she didn’t have to. She
had befriended him and cared for him when even the females of his own species
wouldn’t have thought twice about casting him aside for a stronger male. And
she had set not just him and her other mates free but every prisoner on the
mining asteroid. If she could fight for what she wanted, could he do any less
for her?

"I have a mate to get out of
here," Bob mumbled out, picking up speed ever so slightly.

The sound of an automated voice
suddenly sounded around them. "Self-destruct has been activated. Countdown
is set for ten-point-two-nine and counting. Evacuation of all personnel is
recommended immediately."

"Then, I suggest we do not let
her wait, my big green warrior," chuckled Banu. "Onward to freedom
before she kills us all."

Chapter
8

Riley shot two guards the minute
she exited the medical unit. The leathery, red-skinned healer had been coming
down the corridor from the control room. The second he saw her shooting, he
turned his wacky self around so fast he actually fell down. Riley took off as
fast as she could
,
pulling her
big, pink suitcase, and shot his ass as he was entering the control room. She
had quickly disposed of him and the three guards inside. Normally she would
have had second thoughts about killing anything. Hell, she was known for
rescuing and nursing the injured lizards back home before releasing them back
into the wild. Since she had never had to save a praying mantis before, she
decided those miserable creatures didn’t count, and the healer was just too
freaky to let live. Those thoughts helped ease her conscience so she could
concentrate on trying to figure out what
in
the hell to do next.

"One of these days, girl,"
she muttered out loud to herself. "You are going to have an actual plan
before you start shooting."

Riley’s nose turned up in disgust
as she shoved the last of the dead bodies outside the door. There were some
things she could handle; being in a room with dead guys was not one of them.
She cursed again when she couldn’t figure out how to close the door to the room,
so she stood back and shot the panel out. Her loud moans filled the air when
instead of closing, it remained frozen opened.

"Oh, for crying out loud!"
she groaned in frustration. "It worked in the movies, damn it all to hell!"
There was nothing she could do about the door except shoot anything that tried
to come through it now.

She turned and looked at all the
lights flashing on the console with a confused frown. Glancing out the huge
section of windows that overlooked two separate landing bays divided by a huge
wall of rock, she figured she could at least watch as her guys took off. Since
she couldn’t see them down there yet she figured they might need a little help.
She had absolutely no idea what to do but figured if she started pushing enough
buttons something was bound to work sooner or later.

"Well, I told them I was great
at causing a distraction," she muttered darkly as she began pushing as
many buttons as fast as she could. "Oops, maybe I shouldn’t have pushed
that one," she whispered under her breath when
the
lights flashed on and off in the landing bay.

Riley pushed another button and
realized she could hear herself breathing over the PA system. She could warn
the guys they needed to get their asses up here toot sweet if they wanted a
spaceship. At the rate the other prisoners were leaving, they were going fast.

"Hello. Can everyone hear me?
Hell-
lo! Vox, Tor, Lodar?" she called
out, hoping they could hear her over the stupid alarms that had gone off when
she was pushing buttons. Unfortunately, she couldn’t figure out how to turn
them off. "Damn it! How do you turn the alarms off? The damn things are
giving me a headache," she muttered before she turned to see one of the
Antrox guards trying to sneak up behind her. "Oh no, you don’t, you nasty
little insect!"

Riley
let loose with several shots, adding to the growing pile of dead bodies. "Take
that, you son of a bitch!
Who’s
your momma now, asshole?" Riley crowed before she realized she still had
the communication system open. "Fred, Bob honey, if you can hear me I have
all the doors open. I have to tell you. You’d better hurry. Those spaceship
thingies are really flying out of here fast. I don’t know if there are going to
be any left if you don’t get your asses up here now. Uh-oh, I don’t think those
two know how to drive one. Oops, nope. They didn’t," she croaked out as
she watched the dark night of space light up when two departing ships exploded.

* * *

Several Antrox guards turned,
startled, and looked up at the control room as the lights in the landing bay
flashed on and off. Antrox 785 looked up in disbelief when he saw the strange
female standing at the controls instead of his men. Riley glanced down at him
at the same time as he turned all the way around to stare in disbelief. Antrox
785 watched as if in slow motion as she gave him a huge smile and raised her
hand, her middle finger pointing straight up, before blowing him a kiss. He
could feel the deep flush of shock and outrage that his mining operation was no
longer under his control.

"Get me the guards on Level Five,"
he growled out at the same time the alarms sounded, stating all systems had
been deactivated. "Wait!" he ordered sharply. "On second
thought, get my personal ship ready immediately. It is time I retired," he
muttered to his personal guards.

"Antrox 785, what of the
others?" his guard asked stiffly.

"The prisoners have been
released," Antrox 785 stated coolly, looking at the guard. "Do you
wish to search for the others?"

The guard looked back up at the
female in the control room who was currently firing a laser pistol at someone.
He looked back at Antrox 785 and bowed his head. Turning, the small group
hurried to one of the tubes leading up to Antrox 785’s personal space craft.

Antrox
785 turned before he walked up to the tube to look one last time at the strange
female who had brought an end to his sixty years of profit. Luckily, he had
always known that something like this could happen and had prepared for it. He
shook his head as he turned to follow his guards. Before he retired, he first
would have liked to have killed the trader who brought her
here
. A small smile curved his thin lips as
he thought about how much Antrox 157 wanted to be promoted. He hoped he enjoyed
his new position.

* * *

Riley screamed as two more guards
fell. This time not from her but from one of the escaped prisoners who decided
he wanted to take her with him. She raised her arm and fired on the huge orange
man again. He grunted but continued to creep toward her even though he was
bleeding from several places including where she had just shot him in the
shoulder.

"Oh, for crying out loud!"
Riley snarled as she aimed the pistol between his eyes. "Will you just
fucking die already!" she snapped out as she fired again. The huge orange
figure flew backward landing on the growing pile of bodies outside the door.
This time, he didn’t get back up.

Who the hell needs a door when I
can just make one out of dead bodies,
she thought
in disgust.

Riley turned to slam her hand down
on the last button in frustration and anger. This one had been hidden under a
huge clear lid. The little nagging thought in her head that maybe it was
covered for a reason didn’t go off until the voice of the automated system
announced that the self-destruct had been activated.

"Well, shit a brick!"
Riley groaned in despair.

Tears filled her eyes as she
watched another spaceship depart. There was only one left, and it looked like
it had been left behind for a reason. She wasn’t even sure if it could fly. Her
hand pressed against the glass, her fingers spread as she watched Cross, Banu,
Bob, and Fred hurrying across the landing bay toward the last spaceship. A
moment later, she saw Adur and Titus making their way up the tube as well. She
must have missed Vox, Tor, and Lodar. She was sure they had already escaped in
all the confusion.

"Good luck, my strange
friends," Riley whispered sadly as she watched them disappear. "I’m
glad you are getting away."

She pulled away from the glass. The
sounds in the background of the countdown seemed to match her heartbeat. Riley
stepped away, pulling her purse and big, pink suitcase with her as she moved
over to the wall, where she slid down until she was sitting on the floor. She
pulled her knees up to her chest and smoothed her huge purse down against her
side.

Riley rolled the laser pistol in
her hands absently before taking a deep breath. She wasn’t going to wait until
the place exploded around her. If she was going to die, it wasn’t going to be
by having her head explode from decompressing in space. No, she would take her
own life in the last few seconds. A quick blast to the heart and she wouldn’t
feel the dark emptiness that would become her tomb.

"Hell, Riley girl," she
whispered as tears coursed down her cheeks. "You are really getting
morbid. At least it is better than being buried in concrete under the shed in
Righteous, New Mexico." She giggled, on the verge of hysteria. "Here
floats the body of Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado. She forgot that the
self-destruct button is always covered. The idiot! So much for twenty-four
years of good B-rated movies. This totally sucks!" Riley groaned as she
pulled the pistol so it was pressed tightly against her chest. "I can’t
believe with my family history that I am probably the only female in the
history of the St. Claires to die a frigging virgin!" She sniffled sadly.

She closed her eyes and drew in a
shuddering sob. She could do this.
Just don’t think about it.
Instead,
she thought about
the
things
that brought a warmth to her heart and calmed her. Images shimmered into her
mind as she thought back to the things that really mattered to her. A wobbly
smile curved her lips as she remembered her Grandma Pearl laughing and wiping
down the counter at the bar as she listened to Riley telling her about her
latest retorts to the bullies at school. She thought about her sainted sister
Tina rolling her big blue eyes at her when their Grandma got called to school
again because of Riley fighting or mouthing off. She thought of Vox’s beautiful
tawny eyes glaring at her with hot desire as he tried to get her to rest
instead of working alongside them down in the mines. Her body began to shake
uncontrollably as her finger tightened on the trigger; then she jerked in shock
as pain exploded through her.

I
didn’t think dying would hurt so much
, she thought
as the breath exploded out of her.

* * *

Vox let out another loud snarl as
he slashed at anything in his way. Tor and Lodar were right beside him clearing
a path. He didn’t care who it was. If they were in the way, they were dead. His
only thought was to get to Riley, his mate, his everything. How he ever thought
he could kill her if he had to made him realize just how stupid he really was.
The thought of her being in danger was enough to drive him insane. He would
never have been able to kill her. He would have had to lock her up somewhere if
she had been a spy. Hell, he might do that anyway after this crazy stunt of
hers. He was damn sure going to whip her delicious ass for scaring him so
badly.

He had roared for the others to go
secure a ship for them while he, Tor, and Lodar shifted into their cats and
went after Riley. They could move faster and clear a larger path in that form.
Vox burst down the corridor that housed the medical unit and control room, his
sharp claws digging gouges into the stone floor. He slowed as he saw the pile
of bodies outside of the control room door which stood open. He pulled back on
his cat, slowing it down. It hissed at him, fighting for control as fear
threatened to overwhelm caution.

Vox moved silently toward the door.
Tor and Lodar had shifted behind him and were moving up the sides, checking
each room for any guards that might remain. His ears twitched back and forth as
he picked up Riley’s husky, tear-filled voice. His cat picked up speed at the
sound of its mate. He jumped over the pile of dead bodies and froze, his eyes
narrowing on where Riley was sitting with the laser pistol pressed against her
chest. Time seemed to stand still as he watched her draw in a deep, shaky
breath. A silent curse tore through his mind as he realized what she was about
to do.
With
a burst of speed he
hit her sideways, whipping his huge paw out and knocking the pistol out of her
hand as he stumbled over her, rolling as the pistol fired mere inches from her.

He knew he hit her hard enough to
knock the breath out of her, but he had been so frightened he could barely
restrain himself. Gods! He had almost lost her again. He didn’t know if his
heart would ever beat calmly again. He shifted, rolling until she was trapped
underneath him. His hands were framing her face as he
frantically
looked down at her.

"Riley," he croaked out
desperately. "Where are you hurt?"

Riley opened her mouth as she
stared up in a daze at the huge figure above her. She couldn’t breathe. He had
her pinned under his huge body and had knocked the frigging wind out of her.
She finally drew in a huge breath as dark spots began dancing around the edges
of her vision.

"You aren’t supposed to be
here," she said confused. "You were supposed to have already escaped."

"Are you hurt?" Vox
tenderly growled out again as he ran the palms of his big hands down over her
hair and cheeks.

"No, I don’t think so,"
Riley said before she let out a loud squeal as she found herself flung over Vox’s
huge shoulder as he jumped to his feet.

"Good! Once we know for sure,
I’m going to tan your ass for this little stunt, female!" Vox growled out
turning back toward the door.