Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (103 page)

"My suitcase! Don’t forget my
purse either!" Riley cried out looking over at her big, pink suitcase from
upside down. "I need it!"

"I’m on it," Tor said,
hurrying into the room and grabbing the huge case and heavy handbag with a
grunt. "Damn, Riley, this is heavy. What do you have in it?" Tor
asked as he jogged down the corridor behind Vox.

"Can we talk less and run
faster?" Lodar asked coming up the rear. "We have less than two
minutes to get far enough away from this rock we don’t get blown up with it."

"Sor…ry…ab…ou…t-th-tha-that!"
Riley finally got out as she bounced up and down. "I…hit…the…wronnnggg…butt…on.
Damn it, Vox. Will…you…quit…bouncing…me!"

Vox’s large hand tightened around
Riley’s legs while his other one landed on her ass with a satisfying whack. He
couldn’t help the grin that lit up his face at her outraged yelp followed by a
long string of colorful curses and threats. He let his hand rest there,
enjoying the soft, heated flesh under his palm.

Gods,
but I love
this female!
he thought, almost tripping as he bolted down the steps and charged
across the landing bay.
I love her!

He never thought he would feel this
emotion for a female, but he realized he did. His cat rolled deep inside him in
disgust as the revelation spread
warmth to
every inch of his huge frame. He never expected love to feel like
this! He felt wonderful and terrified at the same time. He, Vox d’Rojah, ruling
king of the Sarafin was terrified of a little alien female from a species he
had never even heard of before. She scared him to the marrow of his bones, and
he loved it. She drove him nuts, was totally oblivious to just who he was and the
power he had, and he never knew what in Guall’s balls she was going to say or
do next. He was also terrified that something might happen to her. He and his
cat needed to protect her, even if it was from herself. Speaking of which—

"What in the hell
did
you think you were doing?" Vox
growled out as he charged up the loading tube to—"What in the hell is
that?" he croaked out in dismay as he got his first good look at the
dilapidated freighter.

"It is the only thing left,"
Banu snarled out. "Move your asses. Titus and Adur have the engines primed
as much as they could without blowing them. We have less than a minute to get
as far from this place as possible."

Vox’s curses echoed as Banu sealed
the door behind them and barked out to Titus to get them the fuck out of there.
Vox reached out and grabbed the bar along the side of the passageway as he felt
the old freighter groan and shake as Titus and Adur pushed it to the maximum.

"Go! Go! Go!" Lodar
muttered under his breath as he hung tightly to the bar next to Vox.

"I’m going to go see if I can’t
get this rusted piece of dragon dung to move faster," Tor snarled, holding
onto the bar as he worked his way down the corridor.

"Ah, hello," Riley said,
blowing her hair out of her face. "Is it possible to be put down now? The
blood is, like, flowing to my head, and I am definitely getting a headrush
here. Not to mention, you have a very uncomfortable shoulder considering how
much meat you’ve got on you. Let me tell you, muscle is not soft!" she
complained.

Vox snarled at Banu who had his
eyes glued to Riley’s ass. "Mine!" he snapped to the younger Sarafin
warrior.

Banu grinned at Vox. "If we
are about to die at least give me something nice to look at," he said with
a shrug.

Cross grinned at Banu. "I
couldn’t agree with you more, my friend. If I have to die I wouldn’t mind
having her in my arms."

"What are they looking at?"
Riley said, trying to walk herself up Vox’s back with her hands. She turned and
looked at Banu and Cross who were grinning mischievously at her. "What is
nice?"

"They are staring at your big
ass," Vox snapped in irritation. "It is mine!"

Riley’s eyes widened before they
narrowed to dangerous slits. "I know you did not just say I have a big
ass, you hot-headed, no-good, two-timing piece of kitty-litter trash!" she
snapped. "Put me down right this minute."

Vox slid Riley’s succulent body
down along his own solid form with a loud purr. Gods, she had curves on top of
curves and was so soft he could feel his hands sinking down into the creamy
flesh as his hands slipped under her shirt. His cat rumbled in delight as her
sweet scent overwhelmed his senses, and his eyes actually rolled back in his
head when her huge breasts caressed his cheeks.

"Gods, female, you are potent,"
Vox purred against her ear as he leaned into her.

Riley opened her mouth to let him
have it, but before she could the entire freighter shuddered violently,
creaking and groaning as the asteroid exploded. Her arms flew out, wrapping
around his neck at the same time as she tried crawling back up his huge frame.
She had too much to live for to die now. She had to find a way home, she had to
lose her virginity, she had a big, gorgeous-smelling lummox to kill.

Vox turned, pressing Riley’s
shivering figure between his body and the wall. She had her long legs wrapped
tightly around his waist, and her face was buried in his neck. He didn’t know
whether the groan that escaped him was because he could feel the old freighter
struggling to move through the shockwave or because he could feel the heat of
his mate’s pussy pressing against his cock which decided it didn’t care that
they were in mortal danger right now. He pressed her against the side of the
corridor as his arms strained to hold onto the metal grip bar.

"Brace for impact!" Titus’s
voice came over the communication system. "Adur, see if this piece of crap’s
shields can be increased to the stern. We have debris coming at us."

"Shields are at ninety
percent. I’m rerouting power from life support to give it additional power,"
Adur muttered tensely.

"I’ve got the engines primed,"
Tor’s voice came in. "Give it full thrust, Titus. She can handle it for a
short period. Just get us the fuck out of here."

"Hang on," Titus yelled
as he pushed the freighter past its specifications.

Banu cursed as he was jerked almost
off his feet as the freighter lurched before surging forward. Cross reached out
and grabbed Banu, pulling him upright at the last second. Banu muttered a quick
thanks under his breath as he grabbed for the bar again. Vox whispered quietly
in Riley’s ear as she whimpered. His heart beat heavily against his chest as he
turned his face into her silky hair and pressed his lips against her.

"It will be all right, Riley,"
Vox promised in a soft, husky voice. "I promise I won’t let anything
happen to you. It will be all right. I’ll keep you safe."

Riley didn’t answer. She just
closed her eyes and held on as tight as she could to the anchor holding her.
She could always kill him later, but for now she needed his strength and
calming presence to keep her from having a complete meltdown.

Riley pressed her lips against his
neck, hoping for that plane of total oblivion until the wild ride they were
having was over. She had always hated roller coasters. She never understood why
anyone wanted to go on something that scared the shit out of them and think it
was funny. That was why she kept the damn old Ford she had. It couldn’t go
faster than fifty miles an hour without shaking apart. Slow was good; slow was
safe.

Vox chuckled as he listened to
Riley whispering. That was something else he loved about her. She was totally
open, there was no deceit in her. But most of all, she could make him laugh
even in the face of danger.

"Yes, my sweet mate," Vox
murmured. "Slow can be very, very good. But I still want to show you how
wonderful fast can be as well."

Chapter
9

Vox muttered another curse as he
wiped the sweat from his eyes. He and Tor had been working on the engines for
the past two days. He had to hand it to his chief engineer, the man knew his
engines. He had rebuilt the main engine while Adur and Cross worked on the
defense systems with a little help from Bob and Fred. The damn Curizan was just
as impressive when it came to his knowledge of electronics. He knew the species
loved their toys. Hell, Ha’ven, the Curizan prince, and his brother, Adalard,
loved to show off the damn things they had invented. They had a racing bike he
really wanted, but Ha’ven refused to give him another one after he crashed the
first one into a tree less than an hour after Ha’ven gave it to him.

"So, is Riley talking to you
yet?" Tor asked as he walked up to where Vox was working. He was wiping
down another sleeve that needed to be fitted into the new cylinder that
attached to one of the boosters.

"No," Vox grunted out as
he slammed the cover
closed
on
the panel he had been working
on
. "Why she is upset that I said she had a big ass I’ll never
understand. I love it, but she won’t listen to me when I try to tell her that I
like her being big and soft," he complained as he looked up in frustration
at Tor.

"Well, Adur is having to
adjust the environmental systems to handle the extra power he needs for the
shields and weapons systems. It is going to get chilly in here. We can handle
it since we run hotter, but our mate will need to be kept warm. Maybe she will
be more receptive to some cuddling," Tor said turning away with a grin as
Vox snarl at his use of the words "our mate."

"She is
my
mate,"
Vox responded in a low voice. "I will be the only one to keep her warm."

Tor grinned at his friend and
leader. "I am not the one you have to convince." He chuckled as he
worked the sleeve onto the booster module and tightened it down.

Vox ran his hand over the back of
his neck tiredly. Once they had made it far enough from the exploding mining
asteroid to be sure they would be safe, Riley had demanded that he release her.
She had smacked his chest and informed him with an inelegant sniff that she did
not have a "big" ass, she had a maturely figured one and he better
never forget it! She had then grabbed her large pink case that Tor had dropped
and marched off to find her a room of her own. He hadn’t seen her since as Tor
needed assistance trying to keep the damn piece of dragon dung they had
appropriated from falling apart around them. Banu and Titus were working on the
system
controls, while Adur,
Bob, and Fred worked on the weapons. Lodar was working on the single replicator
that was malfunctioning and inventorying the medical supplies.

"Well, I think I have the
replicator working temporarily," Lodar responded tiredly as he walked into
the engine room. "Just don’t order anything elaborate. There is no telling
what the damn thing might do. Oh, and don’t get hurt. The equipment on this
piece of shit is downright barbaric. I wouldn’t operate on my worst enemy with
it. There isn’t even a stolen Curizan portable regen machine—which, by the way,
I would give my right arm to appropriate—and all the medicine is out of date by
at least twenty years."

Vox
grimaced
. "Have you heard if Titus or Banu were able to get the
communications system up yet? I want to contact the
Shifter
."

Lodar shook his head and lean back
against the wall. "Not yet, but Banu thought they should have it fixed in
another couple of hours. They are having to dismantle some of the non-essential
control panels to get the parts they need to fix it. We are going to be
operating on the bare minimum until we get off this death trap."

"Have you seen Riley?"
Vox finally asked reluctantly.

Lodar laughed. "Yes, she has
been like a small storm sweeping through the upper living and dining quarters.
The only thing that works on this bucket of rust is the laundry unit. She has
washed every piece of cloth on this thing. We all have nice clean linen on the
beds that are available, any clothing she found was also washed and neatly hung
up for our use, and she has refreshed all her clothing," Lodar added,
raising his eyebrows up and down with a wicked smile.

Vox’s eyes narrowed. "Why did
you do that?" he demanded.

"Do what?" Lodar asked
innocently.

"The eyebrow thing," Vox
growled in a low voice. "What did she wash that makes you smile like that?"

Tor stopped what he was doing so he
could hear what Lodar had discovered. It had to be good if Lodar got that look
in his eyes. It really took a lot to get a reaction out of his friend.

Lodar leaned forward excitedly. "She
has these
undergarments
she
wears that are all lacy and sexy. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
There was this one set that looked like your cat’s coat, Vox. It had the same
coloring and spots. I would kill to see her in it. There were two pieces to it.
The top had these sheer cups that molded to her breasts, and they were like…"
Lodar held his big hands out with his fingers spread wide. "I swear they
would overflow both my hands easily! The piece that she wears over her mound
was like…" His voice faded as his eyes glazed over.

Vox rose to his feet, grabbing the
front of Lodar’s shirt in one of his fists. "Like what?" he growled
out in frustration.

Hell, he was too damn aroused to
care that it was Lodar telling him what his mate wore under her clothing. His
curiosity was about to kill both him and his cat. The idea of his mate wearing
something that looked like his cat was enough to make him want to hunt her down
and strip her to see for himself. His cat was panting, wondering what Riley
would look like in cat form.

"Lodar, tell us! This is
killing me," Tor muttered.

"It is this little thing with
two pretty little bows on each side and one long thin strip of material up the
back. I asked her what it was for, and she told me it was called a thong. She
liked to wear them because they didn’t leave panty lines under her clothes. I
asked her if she would model it for me, but she just rolled her eyes and told
me to get out or she was going to put me in the laundry unit so she could clean
my dirty little mind." Lodar chuckled as Vox’s face turned dark with envy.

"Damn, my cat and I have been
dreaming every night about drinking milk," Tor muttered as he turned away
to hide how aroused he was. "Now we are going to be dreaming about her
wearing nothing but those little pieces of cloth." He threw a pained
expression at Vox who turned to glare at him. "Sorry, Vox. It’s been too
damn long since my cat or I’ve had sex."

"Well, quit thinking and
dreaming about my mate," Vox ordered roughly. "Dream about another
female."

Lodar barked out a resigned laugh. "Yeah,
like Titus’s purple mate?"

Tor
shuddered and felt his desire cooling at the idea of the slender purple female.
There was just nothing sexy about making love to a stick. Now, after meeting
Riley, he wondered if even the females back home could stir his cock the way
they used to. The Sarafin females were attractive, and they were definitely
always in the mood for a sexual romp, but they were hard and muscular due to their
cat. Now he wanted something he could actually cuddle up to without getting
bruised
. He looked at Vox, barely hiding his
grin. Vox’s nose was still a little swollen from where Riley had boxed him
yesterday. Well, there might be some bruising involved, but it would definitely
be worth it.

* * *

Riley shivered. She was freezing
her ass off. She needed to talk to the guys about working on the damn heater.
She pulled her suitcase out from under the bed and unzipped it. She didn’t
unpack
her things. The biggest reason why
was she was afraid they might have to evacuate the old tub they were on in a
hurry, and she wouldn’t have time to repack everything. She dug around until
she felt the soft fur lining of the jacket she had bought herself for her
birthday two years ago. It would have cost her a pretty penny at that boutique
where her sister worked if it hadn’t been on the seventy-percent-off rack. Even
with Tina’s employee discount it had still cost her a small fortune, but she
loved the damn thing. It was gaudy to the point of being chic. The rich, dark
purple dyed rabbit fur offset the glittering silver sequins all over it. The
damn thing practically glowed in the dark, and when she wore it to the bar with
a pair of her black leather pants it screamed "unavailable rich bitch."
Of course, the one and only time she wore it to the bar, Pearl had threatened
to shoot the damn thing. She’d said nothing that ugly should be allowed to
live.

Riley had ignored her dear
grandmother and put it down to jealousy that Tina had shown it to her instead
of Pearl who seemed to only like black leather and metal. Riley had drooled
over the damn jacket every time she picked Tina up after work for almost a
year. Tina must have hidden it so that the owner would finally mark it down from
the twelve hundred dollars it had originally been marked at because she knew
how badly Riley wanted the damn thing.

She gave a thrilled grin as she
slid the quilted jacket on, rubbing her cheek against the soft rabbit fur. Yes,
she was an animal lover, but she figured if she convinced herself that the damn
thing died of old age or something similar she wouldn’t have to feel guilty
about where it came from. Hell, as far as she knew it could have been roadkill.
The only thing
she
cared about
was
that
it was soft, flamboyant, and hers!

Riley zipped the jacket up and
pulled the collar up until it covered her ears. The fur lining practically
covered her face, and she was able to bury her nose in it to keep it warm too.
She couldn’t wait to see how the guys reacted to it. The men in the bar had
just stared at her all night like they thought she was some movie star or
something. Of course, her grandmother said they didn’t know whether she needed
help from the alien attacking her or if she was the newest hooker on the
street. Riley had blown her grandmother the middle-finger kiss and told her
that her john had given her the night off. Tina had groaned, mortified, while
Pearl had laughed so hard she had to excuse herself so she wouldn’t piss all
over herself.

"Some grandmother I have,"
Riley muttered as she walked down the corridor to the dining quarters. "She
pisses her pants because she knows her granddaughters are virgins! Most
grandmas would be proud of that."

"Hi, Riley," Fred said,
coming up behind her. "What is attacking you? Did it come off the ship?"
he asked, frightened, looking at the glittering silver and purple jacket she
had wrapped around her
snugly
.

Riley rolled her eyes at Fred. "Yes,
there are thousands of them on board. You better not lie down for too long or
one of them will take over your body as well!" she grumbled, not looking
at him as she turned to continue on her way. "Is it attacking me? He’s a
freaking comedian, and I didn’t even know it!"

She
sighed as she entered the dining
quarters
and found no one was there. Maybe she could just fix herself
something
quick
and take it
back to her room where she could bundle up in the nice, clean blankets that she
had piled on her bed. Shit, she could see her breath now. What was their
frigging problem? Did they forget to pay the damn heating bill or something?
Riley shrugged her shoulders, just thankful she had something to keep her warm.
She plugged her earbuds into her iPhone, adjusting the ear pieces so she could
listen to Enigma as she fixed herself something to eat. She was totally
oblivious to the fact that Fred had disappeared.

* * *

"How long before you can
meet up with us?" Vox asked his younger brother, Viper, who was commanding
his warship, the
Shifter
.

"It will take us two, possibly
three days to get there. We have been raiding every damn Antrox mine we can
find. I didn’t realize the greedy insects had so many. We’ve been to four star
systems so far looking for you and have raided at least two dozen," Viper
said, leaning back and grinning. "So, how did you escape? I would love to
have seen the Antrox’s expressions as you gave them hell."

Vox flushed, not wanting to explain
to his brother just yet that his new mate had been the one to save them, even
if she had blown the damn mining asteroid to smithereens in the process. He
shifted uncomfortably, wondering how his parents and brothers were going to
react to Riley. His parents had recently reminded him that he was destined to
mate with a Valdier princess. That had been part of the treaty his father and
the old Valdier king had signed to ensure peace between the two species. Now,
he was about to blow the treaty to hell because he had no intention of mating
with anyone other than Riley.

"Remind me to tell you about
it when you pick us up," Vox muttered in frustration. "Just meet up
with us as soon as possible. I’m not sure how long this piece of dragon dung
will hold up. We have it patched together with our piss and sweat."