Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (109 page)

Creon stared intently at his huge,
spotted friend. "Define distress."

Vox grimaced as a wave of pain
swept through him. "It is much like you and your dragon," he said. "We
feel intense pain, need, and anxiety. Riley will have already begun the
transformation. I did not tell her about it. I was afraid if I did she would
not be very happy," he grinned briefly. "Riley can be very difficult
when she is not happy."

Ha’ven threaded his fingers through
his hair and looked at his friend in sympathy. "Gods, Vox, if I had known
it would be this difficult for you I would never have given her that damn
locator. I was just playing around."

"I know. That is why I didn’t
beat your ass into the ground," Vox replied. "But, I will if you ever
help her to get away from me again. You know, she is pretty good at that on her
own. She put me on the ground twice already."

"If
you tell us how she did it, we’ll help you catch her," Creon laughed. "I
would pay good credits to hear how she was able to put the mighty king of the
Sarafin down on the ground. You know, she is not the most coordinated female I
have ever met."

* * *

Carmen came to see Riley later
that evening. She explained Vox’s warship, the
Shifter
, had arrived. If
anything, that made Riley want to stay locked in the living quarters even more.
All she wanted to do was sit and cry. In fact, that was all she had been
wanting to do since she moved into the stupid room. She had thought being away
from Vox would have helped her put things in perspective. She was human and
returning to Earth; he was an alien and would go off and kill other aliens.
Instead, she was suffering from PMS, menopause, and newly discovered sexual
frustration on top of feeling like she was about ready to pop out of her own
skin when anything brushed against her. Hell, even her clothes were driving her
crazy. This morning when she had gotten dressed she had actually hissed when
she put on her bra! Who the hell hissed about a bra?

"Are you okay?" Carmen
asked as she took in Riley’s flushed face. "You look like you might be
running a fever."

Riley’s eyes teared up. "Ever
since Vox made love to me I’ve felt funny. I don’t know what is going on. I’m
having hot flashes, my skin is so sensitive I want to scream, and it…it…"
Her voice hiccuped as she tried
to
talk over the lump in her throat. "I feel like something is
crawling around inside me," she wailed.

Carmen’s eyes grew round as she
listened to Riley’s choked explanation. Her mouth tightened as she remembered
Creon forgetting to tell her about a vital piece of information when he had
claimed her. She suspected what Riley was going through was very similar.
Carmen put her arm around Riley and guided her over to a chair. Pushing her
friend down, she sat across from her.

"I didn’t understand what it
would mean when Creon claimed me," Carmen began. "I don’t know what
it is like for the Sarafin species. I can only tell you what happened to me.
When a Valdier warrior and his dragon claim a female they release something
known as the dragon’s fire into the female. It changes her. I didn’t understand
at first. It felt like there was something moving under my skin." Carmen
smiled in understanding when Riley brushed her damp cheeks and nodded. "Then,
I heard another voice inside me. It turned out to be my dragon. I suddenly
remembered seeing scales rippling across my skin when Creon and I were making
love. When I heard the voice, everything fell into place. Creon had changed me
somehow. I was now able to transform into a dragon as well. I was his true
mate," Carmen said before she looked over to stare out into the darkness
of space. "It is still unbelievable to me how much my life has changed."
Carmen looked back at Riley with sad eyes. "I was waiting to die. My only
focus was to return to Earth to do it."

"Do you still want to go back?"
Riley asked, sensing there was a lot to Carmen that she didn’t know.

"A part of me does,"
Carmen admitted softly. "I need
closure
for my life before. My husband…" Carmen paused and took a deep
breath,
laying
one of her hands
across her stomach. "My husband was murdered in front of me. I was
pregnant and had been shot several times. I lost them both. I wanted—needed—to
kill the man responsible. I knew that I would die as well." Carmen looked
at Riley with a haunted expression in her eyes. "I wanted to die before.
Now I have Creon, and I’m expecting again. I have a chance at starting over."

"What about your family? Do
you have anyone else back on Earth who will miss you?" Riley asked,
pushing her own fears and problems aside as she felt the depth of pain in
Carmen’s words.

Carmen shook her head. "No.
Well, except for Trisha’s dad. My sister is mated to Creon’s older brother. She
is all the family I have left."

Riley bit her lip and looked warily
at Carmen. "Do you think that Vox did something to me? I know they can
turn into a big pussy cat, but surely that doesn’t mean he did anything to make
me turn into one."

Carmen chuckled reluctantly as she
looked at Riley’s pensive expression. "Truthfully, I don’t know. Vox,
Titus, and Banu are the first Sarafin warriors I’ve ever met. It is just the
things you are saying you are feeling sound an awful lot like some of the
things I was feeling before I turned into a dragon for the first time."

"Great! So what happens when I
get home and turn into a big hairball? I really don’t see the local humane
society as being a great place to visit," Riley growled out as she started
heating up again. This time not because of the changes but because of a certain
something a soon to be dead hairball forgot to mention!

Chapter
15

Riley let out another stream of
curses as she bounced on Vox’s shoulder. The huge moron and the two traitors
had tricked her. Ha’ven had reprogrammed the device he had given her, and Creon
had tricked her into coming down to the dining quarters on the pretense Carmen
wanted to meet with her. Instead, Vox had been waiting. He had lived up to his
promise that if he got his hands on her again he wasn’t going to let her go. He
had snuck up behind her. The next thing she knew, he had twirled her around so
she could see the determination in his face before he bent over and tossed her struggling,
cursing body over his broad shoulder.

"Let me go!" Riley yelled
out as she clawed at her hair to get it out of her eyes. "Damn it, Vox, I
am not talking to you!"

"You could have fooled me!"
He chuckled. "You have threatened me with every possible means of
dismemberment. I did not know a female could even think of some of the ways you
described."

"I can easily think of a few
more," Riley snapped in irritation. "Let me down, you moron. This is
totally messing my hair up and I’m wearing a skirt, you creep. I don’t want
everyone seeing my underwear."

Vox’s chest rumbled with a purr as
he ran his hand up her leg and under her skirt to touch the soft skin of her
ass. He grinned in delight as Riley burst into another round of curses and dire
threats of what she was going to do to him the moment she got free.

"Stop that!" she squeaked
in outrage even as her body heated up as he slid his hand over the cheek of her
ass.

Vox breathed in deeply, sighing in
pleasure as he picked up her reaction to his touch. She still wanted him even
if she refused to admit it. He was not going to let her remain under the
misconception that she would be returning to Earth. Creon had told him what
Carmen had shared about her conversation with Riley. He needed to get her onto
the
Shifter
and back to Sarafin as soon as they met up with Creon’s
brother, Mandra, and took care of Raffvin. Once he had her back on his planet,
he would seal her in his quarters and make love to her until she accepted her
fate.

Riley sniffed in frustration, tears
burning at the back of her eyes. She was so damn confused! She thought she had
her emotions, and her body, back under some small amount of control, but the
moment he touched her it was like she had grabbed the wrong end of an electric
fence. Her whole body came alive, inside and out. Hell, right now it felt like
whatever had been moving around under her skin was trying to brush up against
Vox.

She drew in a deep, calming breath.
The scent that exploded through her had her practically writhing with need,
which really pissed her off. Since when could she smell everything so much
better? The warm, musky masculine fragrance made her think of cool forests,
soft grass, and hot bodies tangled around each other. Just the thought of it
turned the burning need in her up another couple of notches. She was so going
to kill his ass for making her feel this way!

"Guall’s balls, Riley. I need
you," Vox’s husky, deep voice muttered. "As soon as we are on my
warship I am locking us in my living quarters," he promised as he moved
with long strides down the corridors, ignoring the warriors who stopped to
stare.

Riley trembled at the dark promise.
"I can’t go with you. Cal and Mel said Creon is taking them back to Earth.
I have to go back!" she wailed, trying to fight her own desires.

"Never! I am never letting you
go. My cat and I have claimed you. You are now my queen," Vox growled out
in fury. "I will never let you return to your world."

Riley bit her bottom lip. She
couldn’t go with him! There were too many things she still needed to do. She
had
a
family, damn it. It might
be small and dysfunctional, but it was still her family. She and Grandma Pearl
and Tina might fight like roosters in a cock fight, but they were still very
loyal to each other. Then, there was her ex-boss and his insane father. She had
a moral and ethical responsibility to stop them from hurting others, didn’t
she? Finally, there was the fact that she didn’t want to turn into a hairball
and eat people. She liked fur but turning into a walking coat complete with a
tail was not on her bucket list of things to do before she died. Which was the
added bonus to her reasons—she was bound to end up dead. It happened in every
single movie she’d watched! No, she needed to stay where she was at and think
with her head, not her heart.

Riley gasped when she was suddenly
lifted off Vox’s shoulder. He slid her down his long, hard length until her
feet touched the floor. She used her one free hand—he refused to let her other
one go—to push her heavy mane of hair out of her eyes. She looked around,
disoriented, before she noticed they were in the same docking bay they had
arrived in several days earlier. Now, though, there was a strange-looking
shuttle with a long, narrow nose that gradually widened toward the back. A small
group of men stood talking with Lodar and Tor. One of the men turned to look at
her through narrow, intense eyes. Riley stumbled back a few steps before Vox’s
grip on her wrist stopped her.

"That is my younger brother,
Viper," Vox stated, looking down at her with a sharp-toothed smile. "I
think he just found out about you."

"Great," Riley hissed. "You
carry me in here like a damn rug over your shoulder, messing up my hair and
putting your hands where they don’t belong, then introduce me to family. That is
so totally wrong on way too many levels."

Vox turned her around to face him.
His face was cut in stone as he looked down at her defiant one. He could see
the flash of fear in her eyes before she covered it up with that stubborn look
she got. His heart melted a little when he realized that she was terrified but
trying hard not to show it.

"You do not have to be afraid,"
he murmured quietly. "No one will hurt you. You will learn to adjust once
you are on my world."

Riley’s eyes flashed at the
reminder that she wasn’t being given a choice.
Well,
she thought
savagely,
since when have I ever let that stop me?
All she needed to do
was get back to her living quarters and lock herself in her room until they
reached Earth.
And,
she thought savagely,
I won’t be coming out until
I see the big, blue marble for myself. No more trusting the two Cheshire cats!

"I am not afraid because I am
not going anywhere with you," she hissed out as she kicked her pointed-toe
boot into his shin.

"Son of the gods," Vox
yelped as he jumped back.

Riley used her free hand to yank
down on the weakest spot of his grip breaking free from his hold. That was a
clever move that she learned in a Crisis Prevention Intervention class that she
took with a bunch of teachers. She drew her hand back as Vox reached for her
and popped him as hard as she could on the tip of his nose just the way her
Grandma Pearl showed her. She cried out when she realized she forgot to keep
her thumb on the outside of her hand, but it still had the effect she was
hoping for. Vox’s head snapped back, and she knew he would have tears in his
eyes.

Riley vaguely heard several of the
men who were standing next to the shuttle yell out as she made a dash for the
doorway. She could hear Vox snarling out loud curses. She was almost to the
doorway leading out of the docking bay when Bob and Fred came through it,
blocking her escape.

"Move! Move!" Riley
screeched as she looked over her shoulder to see Vox turning to glare at her
with murder in his eyes. "Oh shit! Move!"

"Riley, what did you do to him
this time?" Fred asked looking back and forth in terror as Vox started
stomping toward them with blood trickling from his nose. "He doesn’t look
like he is happy with you."

"You think I don’t know that?"
Riley growled out. "Bob, get out of the way."

"Riley, you are his mate…"
Bob started to say before his voice died.

Riley glanced over her shoulder
before she let out a loud groan. Turning, she raised her fists up and glared at
Vox defiantly. He didn’t look pissed, he looked like a volcano about to blow
its frigging top!

"Vox, you just stay away from
me," she bit out. "I don’t want to have to hurt you but so help me I
will if you don’t leave me alone! I am not your queen, I’m not your mate, I’m
going home!"

"I…am…going…to…whip…your…ass…for…this,
Riley," Vox gritted out slowly between his clenched teeth.

Riley stumbled backward as she took
in his dark face. Maybe the bop on the nose had been a little too much. She
might have been able to get away with just the kick. Right now, she was cursing
the fact that she didn’t have her mini-Taser or pepper spray on her.

Note to self,
she thought frantically.
Never go anywhere without it.

"Just let me go," she
responded softly, trying to get him to understand that this really wasn’t a
good idea. "I’m nothing but a pain in the ass, just ask my grandma and
sister. They were forever telling me I was a headache waiting to happen. I don’t
belong on your world. I’m not queen material. Hell, I’m not even girlfriend
material!" she added with a self-deprecating smile. "Just ask any of
the guys who thought I was. Not a single one lasted more than a week."

Vox slowed as he came to tower over
her. He shook his head as he took in her delicately raised fists. He could see
the redness on her knuckles where she had hit him. His eyes roamed over her
face as she stared up at him with wide blue eyes. The fierce determination on
her face showed she really believed what she was saying. His eyes paused on
where she was biting her lower lip. His body jerked in response as he remembered
her soft kisses on his face, neck, and chest while he made love to her. He
could see the pulse beating rapidly in her neck, begging him to taste her sweet
blood again. As he stared at the rapidly beating vein, it dawned on him that
she was terrified.

Take mate,
his cat hissed at him.
Mate fight, but I want my mate.

She’s scared,
Vox murmured.
She acts tough, but she is really very scared.

We protect. We teach her to love
us,
his cat snarled back, pacing.
I feel my
mate. She is close.

I know,
Vox replied carefully.
I think that is one of the things scaring
her. I will not let her go.

Good,
his cat purred.
I need her.

So do I, my friend. So do I,
Vox replied.

"Riley, I won’t let you go,"
he responded quietly.

He reached for her in a move so
fast it startled her. She reacted without thinking, swinging her arm around.
Poor Fred was standing off to the side so when Vox grabbed her one wrist, she
turned, knocking him upside his right head which knocked it into his left one.
He howled in pain as Riley turned again to hit Vox in the stomach. Vox pulled
her arm around behind her back, twirling her and her fist became stuck in Bob’s
rounded belly instead.

"Now look what you’ve made me
do!" she cried out, struggling to break the hold Vox had on her arm which
was behind her back. "I’m stuck. Let me go!"

"Let her go!" Carmen’s
voice rang out from the doorway behind Bob, who was trying to pull Riley’s hand
out of his stomach.

"Carmen," Creon warned as
he grabbed his mate who was moving into a defensive stance. "Let him take
care of her."

"She told him to let her go.
This is her decision," Carmen snapped back at Creon before turning back
toward Vox. "She doesn’t want to go with you. She wants to return to her
family back on Earth."

Vox glared at Carmen over his mate’s
head. "She is mine!" he snarled back. "She goes with me."

"For the last time, I am not
yours! I am Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado, and I am going home—alive,
in one piece, without things bursting out of me or changing me into a zombie,
or making me want to eat dead people," Riley cried out in frustration as
Bob finally freed her hand from his stomach. "Oh, Fred, baby, I’m so sorry
I hit you. Vox shouldn’t have moved."

"That’s okay, Riley,"
Fred said shuffling backward away from where she was still trying to break free
from Vox. "It doesn’t hurt that much."

"Riley, if you want to stay, I’ll
help you get home," Carmen said, taking a step closer.

"Yes, I want—" Riley
started to say before she found herself lifted into a pair of arms that closed
around her like steel bands.

Carmen’s outraged cry echoed with
Riley’s as Creon lifted her into his arms as well. "Get her to your
shuttle now, Vox," Creon growled out as his own mate began to struggle.

"Creon, so help me I am going
to put your ass down for this," Carmen snapped out as she tried to break
free of her mate’s hold.

"I am not going with him, damn
it!" Riley yelled, getting one of her hands free and pulling on Vox’s
short hair as hard as she could.

"That’s it! Viper, get me some
restraining cuffs," Vox yelled out over his shoulder at his brother, who
had been watching the whole scene with disbelief.