Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (104 page)

Viper laughed. "There is a
Valdier warship closer. I’ll notify them that you may need assistance before we
can arrive. It is Creon’s warship. They could be there within a day."

Vox nodded in resignation. "That
might be best. I need to speak with Creon Reykill about a personal matter
anyway," he muttered. "I will contact you later."

"Gods be with you, brother,"
Viper said, signing off.

"I hope they will be,"
Vox said as he thought of how he was going to approach the youngest Valdier
royal and ask for his help in breaking the treaty between their people without
it causing a war.

Vox looked at Titus and Adur and
rubbed the back of his neck wearily. Gods, he was tired. He hadn’t slept well
since he was captured, and with trying to keep the damn freighter from falling
apart, he hadn’t had a chance to even think about it in over two days. He sat
back in the chair near the communications console and was listening as Titus
and Adur talked about what still needed to be done when he heard the sound of
Fred’s little feet scurrying toward them.

"Vox! Vox! You have to help!
Riley! Help her! She has been attacked!" Fred said breathlessly as he
skidded onto the bridge where Vox, Adur, and Titus were. "A strange
creature! It has Riley in the dining quarters!"

Vox’s loud roar shook the room as
he shifted into his cat. He sent Fred flying into Adur as he rushed through the
door. His claws clattered against the metal flooring of the old freighter as he
rushed down the long corridor. He vaguely heard Titus yelling for Lodar and Tor
to meet them in the dining quarters, that Riley was being attacked. Bob heard
the loud roars as it echoed through the old freighter to where he was working
on sealing off another section of the ship so they would not have to maintain
its environmental system. His huge body shook
with
rage when he heard that something was attacking Riley in the dining
quarters. He turned quickly and moved as fast as his big body would let him
through the narrow corridors.

Vox’s blood boiled at the thought
of some unknown creature attacking his beautiful, vulnerable mate. He would
tear it to shreds. He would teach whatever creature it was that no one messed
with his delicate, fragile mate. He rounded the corner leading
to
the dining quarters, skidding around it
so fast his shoulder left a deep dent in the wall where he hit it. He slowed as
he saw Riley coming out of the room. She had a tray in her hands, but that was
not what caught his attention. It was the mass of purple threatening to
strangle her. The thing had glittering scales all over it. Vox’s heart skipped
a beat when he saw the purple tentacles embedded in her ears. The thing was
trying to take over her mind!

Vox leaped to rip the thing off
Riley at the same time she looked up. Horror and fear flashed through her eyes
as she screamed. The tray in her hands flew through the air over her head at
the same time as Vox hit her chest, knocking her backward and down to the hard
metal floor. He used his teeth and claws to slice the creature off his mate,
tearing and slashing in desperate fear that it might be too late to save her.

He shifted when he had most of the
creature torn apart enough so he could use his hands to finish pulling it from
her body. Riley’s screams of panic continued to tear a hole through his soul.
Grief and rage made his fingers clumsy as he pulled the last bit of purple fur
away from her face and neck. With trembling fingers, he gently pulled the
remains of the tentacles from her right ear, the other had already fallen out.

"Riley,
speak to me," Vox whispered hoarsely. "My
lumi
, please speak
to me. Tell me if it is still hurting you."

* * *

Riley breathed in the scent of
the hot soup she had programmed into the replicator that Lodar had shown her
earlier how to use. She had decided she’d better stick with something simple
like he suggested and decided on a broth and hot tea. Anything hot to warm her
up since she was beginning to shiver even with the jacket on. She tugged on the
fur lining, pulling it up around her ears and adjusted her earbuds so they
wouldn’t fall out before she picked up the tray she had found.

Yes, sir
—she thought as she lifted the tray to her nose to smell the
fragrant soup—
something hot for the belly and a bunch of nice, clean
blankets piled high waiting for me in my own room. Now all I need is a good
movie or book to go with it.

She was humming along with the song
she was listening to, her eyes focused on the tray so she wouldn’t spill any
when a low rumbling sound made her eyes jerk up. Her mouth opened in surprise
and horror as she saw the biggest damn cat in the universe glaring at her in
rage. A high scream worthy of any
King Kong
heroine burst from her lips
as it launched itself at her. She jerked her hands up, throwing the tray over
her head as she tried to protect her face from the massive teeth in its mouth.
She closed her eyes and screamed even louder and longer the second time as the
huge cat hit her square in her chest, knocking her backward until she was lying
on the floor. She could feel its teeth and claws as it ripped into her jacket.
She continued to scream, unable to stop as the huge cat tugged and pulled until
the material of her jacket fell away from her body. A final quick tug pulled
the remaining earbud out of her ear. Riley felt the change in the body above
her at the same time as she felt the freezing air of the freighter.

"Riley, speak to me." Vox’s
husky voice resonated through her at the same time as frantic fingers kept
pulling at the tattered remains of her beloved jacket. "My
lumi
,
please speak to me. Tell me if it is still hurting you."

It took a minute for his words to
process in her stunned brain. What the hell was he talking about? If what was
still hurting her? She slowly opened her eyes to stare into the frantically
worried tawny color eyes above her. A shiver coursed through her as the icy
metal under her seeped into her already chilled body. Huge warm hands pulled
her up into equally huge and warm arms. One big palm pressed her head against
his chest as the other pushed the remains of her jacket away from her. Riley’s
heart began to slow even as the heart under her ear beat with a thundering
roar, as if he had just run a marathon.

"Please, my love, please be all
right," Vox whispered cradling her against him fiercely. "It will not
harm you again. I promise."

"Vox, let me look at her,"
Lodar said urgently coming up behind him. "I need to see what damage the
creature may have done. It was wrapped all around her."

"Adur, Cross, and Banu can
help me search the freighter for any more of the creatures," Tor said
harshly. "We should have done that in the first place," he added with
disgust.

"Perhaps that is why no one
else wanted this ship," Fred whispered, looking up at Bob who was standing
behind him.

"I have sealed off the two
lower levels," Bob said. "If there are any there, they will not be
able to get to us and with the environmental systems shut down they shouldn’t
be able to survive for long."

"I have not seen any other
purple and silver creatures, but if I modify the scanners I might be able to
pick them up on it," Titus added.

"I can help you," Cross
said, looking down at the remnants of the beast that had attacked Riley. "I
have never seen anything like this before," he murmured as he pushed a
piece of the purple fur with the tip of his toe.

Riley listened as the men talked
back and forth between each other. Each piece slowly fitting together in her
brain to make the puzzle clearer until the image of her jacket, totally
shredded, loomed like a beacon in the mass confusion. At first, just a little
giggle escaped as she thought about Fred’s reaction when he first saw it. His
comment and her offhand, sarcastic response floated through her memory. The
more she thought about it, the more she realized that they actually thought her
jacket had been alive. That it was some type of alien creature that ate aliens!
A little hiccup escaped her as she fought the surge of adrenaline-laced
hysteria
at
having the shit
scared
out of
her all because
of her beautiful but dead birthday present.

Vox stroked Riley’s back tenderly
as he felt her beginning to shake. He looked at Lodar with wide, worried eyes.
Lodar nodded as he moved in closer so he could examine her without having to
pull her too far from his friend.

"Riley, it will be all right,"
Lodar said calmly. "We won’t let anything happen to you. I just need to
take a closer look at you. Can you tell me about what happened?"

Riley turned her face into Vox’s
chest and burst out into uncontrollable laughter. It was just too much! They
were totally freaking out over a gaudy piece of cloth. She shook her head,
knowing she wasn’t going to be able to speak rationally yet. She was too busy
having a hysterical moment.

"Just…
just…a…moment," she breathed out in a muffled
voice against Vox’s warm skin. Hell, he was ten times warmer than her jacket!
She snuggled closer and was rewarded when Vox’s arms wrapped even tighter
around her, pulling her so close she was practically molded into him. "You…
You… You…killed my…my…jacket," Riley giggled.

"I killed your what?" Vox
asked, confused, looking at Lodar to see if he understood what she was trying
to say.

Lodar shrugged and touched Riley’s
wild wave of curly hair. "What did you say, Riley? We couldn’t understand,"
he asked gently.

Riley tilted her head back until
she was looking up at both men. Her eyes danced
with
merriment as she fought back the uncontrollable laughter
threatening to escape her. Her face warmed as she saw the other men looking on
with concern.

"Vox,
you dolt, you killed my favorite jacket!" Riley burst out laughing. "This
is priceless! You thought my jacket was attacking me, and you killed it! My
Grandma Pearl was right. She said that it looked like an alien attacking me and
threatened to shoot it the one time I wore it to the bar. But hell! I never
really thought that would ha-ha-
happen
!" Riley crowed before she buried her face into Vox’s warm
chest again as her body shook
with
glee.

* * *

"Not one damn word,"
Vox growled out, looking down at Fred. "Do not say one damn word!"

Fred tucked both of his chins down
into his chest and nodded before scurrying away. Vox watched the little
Tiliquan move rapidly down the corridor. He was probably going to go apologize
again to Riley for getting her jacket killed.

"You should go easy on the
little guy," Adur said, trying to keep a straight face. "After all,
we all thought the damn thing was alive."

Banu and Titus turned around
quickly, trying to hide their grins. Cross didn’t even bother turning around.
He just grinned. He couldn’t wait to see what happened next. He had to admit,
ever since they had been introduced to the young female, life had been very,
very interesting.

Vox growled darkly at all of them
before he got up and strode off the bridge. Why, oh why, did he continue to
screw up whenever he was around Riley? He had always been so in control, so
commanding, so not an idiot before he met her. Hell, others trembled in fear of
him! Riley trembled, but it was because she was either madder than hell at him
or laughing her ass off at the idiotic things he did.

Vox paused and took a deep breath.
Well, that was about to end. He was going to show her that he was not some
idiot! He was the Sarafin king! He ruled over some of the fiercest warriors in
the known star systems. He was a male that females from numerous different
species begged to make love to them. It was about time that Riley realized
that. She was his damn mate, his queen. It was time he claimed Ms. Riley St.
Claire from Denver, Colorado and showed her he wasn’t going to take no for an
answer any longer.

Chapter
10

Riley snuggled down into the
thick pile of blankets trying to get warm. She could swear ice was beginning to
form on the inside of the walls. She understood they needed to have shields and
things like that, but none of that would do a damn bit of good to them if they
were all dead from hyperthermia. She hated cold weather! That was why she had left
Colorado and stayed to the south as much as she could. She should have just
gone to live back in San Diego where her Grandma Pearl and Tina lived, but she
had wanted to see if she could make it on her own.

Tears pooled in her eyes and
overflowed as she thought about what a mess she had made of her already crazy
life. Was it too much to ask for just one thing to go right in her life? She
pulled the covers over her head and turned her cellphone on. She was going to
have to talk to Tor about recharging it and her iPad again. She didn’t know how
he did it, but she was grateful that he had figured out a way to keep them
charged for her. It was the only link she had to her life back on Earth.

She pulled up a video of her sister
and Pearl at the bar. She had recorded it on Tina’s birthday several months
ago. Her Grandma was relating some silly story that happened the weekend before
when a bunch of biker wannabes encountered the real thing. They had sat around
laughing, drinking beer, and having a good time. Tina and
she
had been getting along better lately.
Riley had a feeling it was because they had confided to each other that they
were terrified of ending up being like their mom and Pearl. All either one of
them really wanted was to fall in love, have a happy home, a couple of kids,
and the mangy mutt that would come along and adopt them.

"Pearl, have you heard from
momma lately?" Tina was asking Pearl.

"Now don’t you be asking about
that wasted piece of fluff," Pearl said gruffly. "She made her
decision when she left you girls and decided not to come back."

"But," Tina started to
say.

"She’s gone, Tina," Riley
heard her videotaped voice say. "Let her go."

Riley bit her lip now as she looked
at the sadness in her baby sister’s eyes. Tina was only two years younger than she
but had never given up hope that their mom would one day come home. Riley and
Pearl knew that would never happen. Riley had used her contacts at the bail
bond company she had been working for to look up information on their mother.
She found out their mom had died when she was ten and Tina was eight, of a drug
overdose in Los Angeles. Riley had traveled up to the City of Angels to visit
the grave. Pearl had their mom cremated and her ashes placed between her
great-grandparents.

Riley had confronted Pearl, wanting
her to tell Tina, but Pearl had been adamant. "Your momma has caused
enough pain and sorrow. Let your sister have her dream for a little longer. She
will find out eventually. I’m just not ready for her to find out yet."

Riley had reluctantly agreed simply
because it was Tina’s twenty-second birthday, and she didn’t want her sister to
remember finding out their mother was dead on her special day. Tina had always
been the more sensitive of the two of them. Riley wasn’t really sure who Tina
took after, but it was probably her dad. Riley had never found any information
on him or her own father. Riley knew she had Pearl’s smart mouth while Tina
just became quieter when she was confronted. Riley figured she took after her
father in size. There was no doubt about that. Tina was petite like Pearl and
the pictures they had of their mom when she was a little girl, and had their
mom’s straight, dark hair.

Tears poured down her cheeks as her
iPhone finally cut off. She sniffed and let them come; quiet sobs poured out of
her as she thought of her small family back home that she would more than
likely never see again. She figured she deserved a good cry every once in a
while. No one could blame her for that. She drew in a deep breath when she felt
the bed she was lying on suddenly sink down. The covers were pulled free from
around her head until she could feel the freezing air on her damp cheeks. She
looked up into dark, tawny eyes filled with concern.

"Can I hold you?" the
deep voice asked quietly.

Riley’s eyes filled with more
tears, she bit her lip and nodded slowly. She pulled the pile of blankets back
so Vox’s huge figure could crawl under them with her. She waited as he pulled
his boots and vest off. He tossed them onto a nearby chair before he crawled
under the covers with her. She didn’t care that she had promised herself that
she would stay away from his ornery ass. She didn’t care about anything but
feeling safe, protected, and warm for a little while. She needed to be held and
he was offering. She would have been the biggest fool in every known star
system if she turned down a heater better than any electric blanket, not to
mention she was just feeling very fragile and lost right now and needed
something she could hold onto. She would kick his stubborn butt out after she
had a good night’s sleep and was feeling better.

Riley curled up as close as she
could next to Vox’s warm body without actually pulling him on top of her. She
let out a deep sigh of contentment as he wrapped his strong arms around her
waist, pulling her even closer. Her head rested on his broad shoulder, and she
rested her hand over his heart.

Vox held her close. After a few
minutes he noticed her breathing had slowed down, and her body had melted
against his as she slipped into a deep sleep. A chuckle shook his body
slightly. This was the last thing he expected. Why he should be surprised or
have expected anything less was beyond him anymore. He had planned to claim his
mate. He had expected a fierce fight, followed by some new bruises, before he
would wrestle her down and make love to her so much she would have to concede
that she was his mate. Instead, he had entered the room she had claimed only to
hear her muffled sobs. They had broken through his fierce determination and replaced
it with something inside him he had never experienced before—tenderness. When
he had drawn the covers back and she looked at him with her big, baby blue eyes
shimmering with tears and sadness, his heart had actually hurt. It had melted
into a mushy puddle when she gazed up at him with such heartfelt need when he
had asked if he could hold her. He bit back a silent groan as he felt her soft,
plump flesh melt against his body. Her hand moved up to curl in the hair at the
base of his neck just as she rolled over enough to bury her nose contently
against his chest, a soft snore escaping her. His body pulsed for a moment
before he felt it relax as his own tiredness overwhelmed him. He turned his
head so he could rub his cheek against her hair.

It feels so good to hold her,
he thought sleepily.
I’m never going to sleep without her
against me again.

Vox
gave up on trying to stay awake. He would claim her when they were both well
rested. It would be more fun anyway. A smile curved his lips as he realized
this was the first time he had been able to hold her without getting hurt. He
was making progress after all.

* * *

The violent shudder of the
freighter woke Vox before the sound of the alarms did. He paused for just a
moment before he jerked into a sitting position and looked around in confusion
for a moment. He ran his hand through his hair as he felt the freighter groan
again.

"Vox!" Titus’s voice
boomed out over the communications console. "Get your ass up here! We’re
under attack by two fucking Marastin Dow pirate ships! The shields are failing."

A soft moan sounded next to him,
and a slender, pale arm reached out and grabbed for the covers. "Tell them
to come back later, I’m still sleeping," Riley muttered before she rolled
over, dragging the covers over her head.

Vox’s chuckle turned into a loud
laugh as he surged to his feet. His mate was not a morning person. He would
have to let the fucking purple pirates know that if he let any of them live. He
pulled his boots and vest on before he turned around to his mate who was
snoring away under the covers.

"Riley, you have to get up,"
Vox growled out as he felt another shudder before the sounds of hooks scraping
against metal resonated through the freighter. Shit, they were about to be
boarded. "Riley, get your ass up now! We are under attack."

Riley jerked into a sitting
position, fighting to drag the blankets off her head and push her wild mass of
curly hair out of her face. She scowled deeply in irritation at Vox. She
grabbed one of the blankets and dragged it around her shoulders.

"Well, you are the stupid
warriors! Go kick them off. I am not in the mood to deal with anyone until
after ten o’clock in the morning, a good breakfast, and three pots of coffee.
You go on, I’ll follow in a bit," she said before she started to
slide
back down under the pile of blankets
again. "Besides, it’s too damn cold to fight. Tell them the heater is
broken."

"Vox, we could really use your
help," Adur barked out. "They have breached one of the lower levels
that wasn’t sealed off."

Vox let loose a long stream of
curses. The damn purple bastards were only a level below them. He had to get
Riley out of there now! Those bastards always killed anything that wasn’t of
value. If they saw Riley, they would know she was very valuable. They would
kill everyone else to get to her.

Vox leaned over and ripped the pile
of covers off Riley, flinging them across the room with a flick of his wrist.
His breath slammed out of him, and his eyes widened as he gazed down at where
she lay glaring up at him. His throat worked up and down as he fought to get a
sound pass the lump in his throat. His eyes glazed as he took in her lush
figure in the sheer blue lacy cloth. The front had a deep V that went all the
way down to her softly rounded stomach. There were slits on each side that
parted, leaving her legs bare and only a narrow length of the fabric lay
between her legs. His eyes roamed her full figure, noting the darker rose color
of her nipples that poked up, lifting the sheer material and leaving very
little hidden from his view. He could see the slightly darker patch of curls
between her legs.

It was official. He was an idiot.
He was the biggest, stupidest male in all the known star systems. He had fallen
into her bed, wrapped her in his arms, and slept like a baby while she was
wearing… He swallowed again as she rolled over onto her hands and knees in an
effort to get out of the bed. His cat went nuts. Before he even realized it, he
was draped over her back molding his groin to her ass and rubbing his pulsing
cock against the shadowed line while his hands kneaded her hips. His loud purr
rumbled through the room as he rubbed himself back and forth against her.

"What in the hell?" Riley’s
voice faded as she looked over her shoulder at Vox’s glazed eyes. "What do
you think you are doing?" she demanded hoarsely as she felt his swollen
cock pressing against her.

"Mine!" he purred in a
deep, low voice.

The door opened behind them, and
Lodar stuck his head into the room. His eyes widened when he saw Riley pinned
on her hands and knees with Vox’s hands glued to her hips. From where he was
standing all he could see was creamy flesh and a hint of sheer blue lace.

"Aw, gods, Riley," Lodar
groaned out loud. "You are killing me! Vox, you are going to have to wait.
The Marastin Dow have broken through the first door, and they are heading this
way."

"Gods! She is gorgeous,"
Cross murmured in a low voice, peeking over Lodar’s shoulder with wide eyes at
Riley’s lush figure. He could feel his dragon sitting up and taking notice. It
was a good thing his symbiot was back on Valdier with the Hive. If the damn
thing reacted the way the man and the dragon did, Vox might be in trouble.

Vox jerked back to the fact the
alarms were blaring around them and glared at Lodar and Cross. His eyes
narrowed when he saw the glazed look on their faces as they stared at the sheer
cloth covering Riley’s breasts as she turned and sat down again on the bed. He
stepped in front of her so he was blocking her.

"Get out!" Vox roared in
outrage.

Lodar jerked back, running into
Cross, and nodded. He turned to leave but couldn’t resist one more peek at
Riley sitting on the bed with her hair all disheveled and wearing an outfit he
would never forget for the rest of all his lives. He shook his head and hurried
out when Vox took another threatening step toward him.

"Vox—" Cross started to
say in a deep, husky voice.

"Get out before I kill you
both," Vox snarled.

"Just hurry," Cross
muttered before he turned and followed Lodar with a shake of his head.

Vox turned and glared at Riley. "Get
dressed. We don’t have much time. I need to get you somewhere safe."

Riley glared at him and pointed to
the door. "You get your happy little ass out of here, and I will. I’m not
getting naked with you watching me!"

Vox growled out a warning in a low
voice. "This is not the time for modesty. Get dressed now, or I will dress
you."

Riley stood up and walked over to
where she had laid out her clothes the night before. "Turn around and I
will," she said stubbornly, putting her hands on her
hips
and glaring at him.