Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (115 page)

And they won’t be around her
neck or on her fingers,
he thought as an image of
her huge breasts cupped in his hands formed in his mind.

He was so lost in the images of
Riley in nothing but jewels and heels it took a moment for him to realize there
was an awful lot of yelling going on, and it wasn’t all coming from his father.
He shook his head and hurried over to where Riley and his father were standing
practically face-to-face in challenge.

He stepped up behind Riley, wrapped
his hands around her waist and tried to pull her back behind him. He grunted
when she elbowed him in the stomach and barely missed driving a spiked heel
into the toe of his boot. He danced to the side with a scowl and looked over
Riley’s shoulder at his father who was glaring at his mate with a red face.

"What is going on?" Vox
snarled out darkly, furious with his father for upsetting his mate.

"You will send this piece of
rubbish back to whatever world you found her! She is not your mate. You are
already promised," his father snarled.

"I
know you didn’t just call me a piece of rubbish, you two-bit piece of cat shit,"
Riley snapped back, raising a finger and shoving it into Aryeh’s chest. "I
am his mate and he is mine! If you don’t like it, tough shit! I chose him.
Possession is nine-tenths of the law and, baby doll, he’s all mine," she
added with a menacing hiss of warning and a little shake of her head.

* * *

Aryeh stared in outrage and shock
at the unusual female stabbing him in the chest with her sharp fingernail. He
had never had anyone, even his own mate, treat him with such outright hostility
before. His pleasure at finding out his oldest son had been rescued and
returned was overshadowed by the threat of traitors within the palace walls and
now his discovery Vox was mated to an alien female from an unknown species. As
far as Aryeh was concerned, the female could join the other traitors in the
dungeon.

Two of the traitorous females had
been apprehended, but the male who had been working with them had not been
captured yet. There was also the concern there might be others. One of his
younger sons was working to discover who else might be involved. Aryeh wanted
to talk with Vox about his two former bedmates to see if he could
discover
what type of information they might
have obtained.

When he was informed that Vox had
returned and taken his mate to his living quarters to settle in before he would
be available, Aryeh had been shocked. He had not realized that Vox had stopped
on Valdier to claim the Valdier princess Clarmisa who had been promised as his
oldest son’s mate. His shock changed to outrage when he discovered it was not
the princess, not even a Valdier, but another whom Vox had claimed. He listened
in growing fury as his advisor explained that his oldest son had mated with a
delicate, unknown species that had been on the Antrox mining asteroid where Vox
had been held during his captivity. Aryeh had stormed out of his office
determined to find out for himself who this female was and eliminate her if
necessary. He would not let the treaty be broken by a piece of female ass that
had caught his oldest son’s attention.

"You will return her or I will
slit her throat," Aryeh said coldly, looking at Vox with determination. "You
are promised to a Valdier princess. This…this thing is not even worthy of being
a bedmate, much less your queen."

"You arrogant son-of-a-bitch,"
Riley snarled back. "I’ll show you worthy."

"Riley," Vox bit out in
exasperation. "Don’t you dare!"

He struggled to hold her back from
attacking his father. He knew it was an impossible battle when he felt the soft
fur of her cat ripple over her arms where he held her. He growled deeply,
trying to get her cat under control, but it was too late. Before he could stop
her, she had shifted and knocked his father back through the door of their
living quarters into the outside corridor, pinning him on his back as she
snapped at him in warning.

Aryeh’s eyes widened in disbelief
as he stared up at the very pissed off white tiger sitting on his chest. The
female was hissing and snarling in warning, but it was the look in her bright
blue eyes that held his attention. She looked like she wanted to cry even as
she snapped at him in warning.

"Aryeh, I believe our new
daughter is not happy with you," his wife chuckled from behind him. "I
like her. I don’t believe I have ever seen anyone put you on your back before."

"She put me on the floor
twice," Vox said with a grin to his mother. "She is very resourceful."

"
She
is listening to
you talk about her," Riley said suddenly, sitting on Aryeh’s chest with
her arms folded. "And don’t even think about growling at me again. I am in
no mood to deal with your royal-assness!" she snapped at Aryeh with a
frown. "Besides, you’ve totally made me mess up my hair! I swear, between
you and Vox you both should have been neutered when you were babies."

Rosario chuckled as she moved
forward and held out her hand to Riley. "Hello, daughter. Welcome to
Sarafin."

Riley grinned, reached out her
right hand and placed it in the slender palm that was offered. "Hi, I’m
Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado. It’s a pleasure to meet you," she
replied with a dimpled grin.

A dry cough suddenly lifted Riley
up a few inches. "Do you think you could get off me now?" Aryeh asked
drily.

"Do you think you can be more
polite?" Riley asked with a grin at Vox’s dad. "You know, I think Vox
takes after you more than his mom."

Aryeh grimaced and shook his head
in disbelief. His gaze moved to his oldest son who was staring at the female
sitting on him like he was a couch, as if she was the most precious thing in his
world. His eyebrows rose when he realized that she
was
the most
important thing when he caught her scent. He smelled—a cub!

"She is breeding!" Aryeh
hissed out in surprise.

Vox reached down and quickly pulled
Riley into the protective circle of his arms. "Yes, I have given her my
cub. She is my mate and our new queen. You will treat her with respect and not
threaten to harm her," he growled out to his father. "I don’t want
you scaring her."

Riley looked down at the huge bear
of a man lying stunned on the floor. She gasped and moved closer to Vox when
Aryeh flipped up, landing on his feet silently in front of her. Eyeing him
warily, she watched as his nose flared again as he drew in a deep breath.

"Her species shifts like ours?"
he asked curiously.

"No, my cat gave her part of
our essences," Vox replied quietly. "We are one."

Rosario and Aryeh’s shocked gasps
filled the air. "Vox," his mother started to say, looking worriedly
at her oldest son.

"It is done," Vox replied
in a deep voice. "She is mine."

Riley looked back and forth between
the shocked, pale faces of Vox’s parents and the deep seriousness on Vox’s face
with growing alarm. "What? What is wrong?" she asked in a shaky
voice. "What has he done that he shouldn’t have?"

Rosario smiled gently at Riley before
taking a step closer to their living quarters. "He did exactly what he
should have done, daughter. Come, let us have some refreshments, and I will
explain it to you since my son appears to have left out a great deal of your
new world."

Riley bit her lip and looked back
and forth between Vox and his mother. "Am I going to want to kick his butt
after you are done?" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh, most assuredly,"
Rosario laughed as she stepped through the open door. "I have no doubt."

Chapter
21

Riley grinned as much as she
could in her shifted form as she raced across the meadow with Vox in hot
pursuit. She had been on Sarafin for over two months now, and she was loving
it! Her first meeting with Vox’s parents might have started out shaky, but now
she could do no wrong and Vox couldn’t seem to do anything right—at least as
far as his family was concerned. They expected him to cater to her every whim
whether she had a whim or not.

If she didn’t know better, she
would think his brothers were having fun making them up just so they could see
their older brother running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Not a
pleasant analogy but truthful all the same. He had come in yesterday morning
soaked to the skin and covered in sand from scouring the beaches for little
blue stones the color of her eyes. When she had asked why he had done it, he
said Pallu, his youngest brother by several years, swore she had mentioned she
wanted some.

His other three brothers had sent
him on different scavenger hunts as well, laughing in delight when he returned,
at times bruised and bloody from his journeys. He was about to leave on another
hunt that morning when Riley begged him to take her instead to the ancient
walled city where she heard Fred and Bob were visiting. They had come from the
Curizan home world to visit and sell some of their wares.

He had guided her to a strange-looking
device that looked like an oversized jet ski. After he helped her climb on, he
told her to wrap her arms tightly around him before he powered it on, and they
slowly rose up into the air. Her excited laugh drew chuckles from the
surrounding guards who would follow them. Soon, they were gliding through the
thick forests.

It had taken them a couple of hours
to cover the distance between the two cities. Vox explained they could have
made it sooner, but he wanted to show her a little of his world. Riley had
grinned in delight as he glided through the thick forests, past thundering
waterfalls, and over vast fields of flowers and farmland. Before she realized
it, they were landing in a small meadow on the outskirts of the huge walled
city.

"We will leave the gliders
here. The city is often crowded with visitors from other worlds, and I thought
you might like to stretch your legs after the long ride," Vox said quietly
as he helped her off the sleek machine.

Riley groaned as she rubbed her
palms down along the back of her thighs. "Thank you. I think my butt has
fallen asleep," she replied with a grin.

"Shift and we can run for a
bit," Vox chuckled.

Riley didn’t need to be told twice.
She called to her cat, teasing it that she thought she saw a mouse. Within
seconds, her cat stood stretching in front of Vox. With a playful
swish
of her tail, she took off running in
delight across through the high grass. Vox quickly shifted and followed her
while the four guards with them secured the gliders.

A half hour later, the loud roar of
Vox’s leopard behind her called out to her to slow as they neared the outskirts
of the city where Bob and Fred were currently visiting with Titus and Banu.
Riley had learned that this ‘zone’ was under the protection of the two
brothers. She was excited about seeing them as well but not as much as she was
about seeing Bob and Fred. She owed Bob an apology for being mean to him the
last time she saw him.

"Riley, shift," Vox
called out from behind her.

Riley stumbled as she shifted in
mid-stride. She was getting better at it but she was still a little clumsy. She
turned and smiled brightly at Vox as he strode toward her. He still took her breath
away just watching him. She had a feeling it would always be like that. She
glanced down at the glimmering ring on her finger. After she had explained what
a "marriage" was and the symbol of a ring, Vox had disappeared for a
short period only to return with a bouquet of flowers—roots, dirt, and all—and
a handful of rings. He had knelt down in front of her and asked her to "marriage"
him. Her eyes softened when she remembered his intense stare as he waited for
her reply. They had made love right there on the floor of the living room,
rings, flowers, and dirt scattered around them unseen. Later, she had picked
out a simple ring that had swirling bands of color that changed as it caught
the light. It was set in platinum if she wasn’t mistaken and took her breath
away. It fit her perfectly, and she couldn’t help but gaze at it every chance
she got.

Vox had not been finished with her
though. He said that Viper was on his way back with Tina and her Grandma Pearl.
She had been so excited about the prospect of seeing them she missed the
underlining sound of strain in his voice as he told her.

"He said he is still picking
salt out of his ass," Vox had said in amusement. "You were not joking
when you said your Grandma Pearl would fill his ass full of it. Viper discovered
salt pellets will penetrate our fur. He also said your sister is excited about
seeing you. They will be here for our marriage ceremony."

He did not tell Riley what Viper
had really said about Tina. He was not sure Riley would appreciate some of the
more colorful words, much less the threats, Viper had been shouting when he had
talked to him last. Opinionated, stubborn, vicious, hard-headed were just a few
of them, and those were the nicer ones. He also did not tell her how close she
had come to losing her little sister. The information Riley had about her
former boss and his father proved to be more dangerous than his mate realized.
He had sent copies of the information to Viper so it could be turned over to
the proper authorities on Earth. After listening to what happened when that
information was
shared
, he
shuddered to think about what would have happened to his mate if the trader had
not kidnapped her. He had no doubt she would have perished. Viper had been in
an uncontrollable rage as he related what had happened and how he had to take
matters into his own hands, otherwise Riley would have lost both Tina and her
Grandma Pearl.

"How much further? Are we
almost there? Do you think Bob and Fred will be excited to see us? Oh, I hope
they are doing well," Riley said as she bounced up and down.

Vox’s gaze softened as he watched
the excited bloom of color flush his mate’s face. It was so much better than
the paleness from this morning when she had been sick and threatening to
castrate him again for getting her with cub. He had held her pale, shaky form
as she lost what little she had in her stomach over and over, until she could
barely lift her head. His gaze moved down to her belly. He could tell the
slight changes in it already. Her waist was expanding ever so slightly and her
huge breasts were even larger. His mouth watered at the thought of the milk
they would produce. Hell, his balls drew up just at the thought, and he was
ready to pounce
on
her again.

I can pounce,
his cat purred softly.
I suckle from our mate.

Guall’s balls, this is difficult
enough as it is! You know she will not be happy if we take her where the guards
can see us again,
Vox muttered in despair.

He knew because he had done it once
already, and it had taken him hours to get her to come out of the bathroom
where she had barricaded herself. She had sworn she would never come out again
as long as she lived. He had to cover his mouth to keep the laughter in when
she went on to explain how her petrified body would be enclosed in the magnificent
bathroom for all to see in the future and historians would
explain
that she had died
of
mortification because her hairball
soon-to-be-dead fiancé couldn’t control his damn cock! He had totally agreed
that he couldn’t and didn’t even want to try.

"Well?" she demanded
thumping him on the chest to get his attention. "Do you?"

"Do I what?" Vox asked in
confusion.

Riley rolled her eyes and groaned. "You
were thinking about sex again, weren’t you? You never hear what I say when you
are thinking about it, which is like—always! I asked if you thought the guys
would be excited to see us," she huffed out, turning back toward the
walled city.

Vox reached out, spinning her
around, and brushing her lips with his. "Yes, they will be excited to see
you. Both have sent missives asking how you were doing. Fred even threatened to
come steal you away if I didn’t take good care of you."

"Why didn’t you tell me?"
Riley asked in shock that her two, dear friends had been checking up on her.

Vox flushed and looked away over her
shoulder at the gates leading into the city. "I was afraid you would tell
them you were unhappy, and they would figure out a way to steal you away from
me," he admitted.

He turned back to face her when he
felt her soft palm against his cheek. "I love you, Vox. I won’t let anyone
take me away from you."

"I love you too, Riley. So
very, very much it scares me sometimes," Vox whispered. "I have never
felt so vulnerable before or been afraid of anything—but the idea of something
happening to you terrifies me."

Riley’s eyes glittered with tears
as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to her so she
could kiss him. She ran her tongue along the seam of his lips, purring as they
parted
for
her. Soon their
tongues were dueling in a furious battle of passion and desire. She sighed when
Vox reluctantly pulled back.

"If we do not stop, I will
claim you right here and now. I don’t think you will be happy with me if I do
that again with the guards watching us," he grunted out tersely.

Riley
chuckled as she pulled back with a deep breath. "I’m glad you have your
head screwed on straight because mine is not working right, right now. Let’s go
before I forget we aren’t alone," she said with a wink and a giggle at the
responding growl.

* * *

They entered the city through the
huge gates. Riley’s eyes took in the neat, clean streets filled with merchants,
residents, and traders of all shapes and forms. They walked along the beautiful
cobbled
roads littered with
strange beasts pulling carts and wagons.

"Cybris is one of our oldest
cities. It retains
many
of the
same customs as it has for thousands of years. The residents voted to leave it
as such, and it attracts many visitors from other star systems who wish to
experience a true Sarafin city. The city was formed around the central palace
where Titus, Banu, and my other cousins live. The walls were built to protect
it from the creatures that live deep in the forests. They do not come near the
city now as there is a security field that protects it, but in
the
days of old, that was not the case,"
Vox explained as he guided Riley along the walkway, ignoring those who bowed to
him as they recognized him. "I have to meet with Titus and Banu about some
issues. Will you be all right if I leave you with Fred and Bob? I will post a
couple of guards as well."

"Of course," Riley
assured him. "What could happen here?" she asked
,
spreading her hands wide at the crowd
walking
around. "This place is like
paradise."

Vox chuckled as they turned down a
side street and stopped at a gate. He pressed the button at the gate and
stepped through when it opened. A moment later, the front door to the small
cottage opened, and a short figure with two heads shot through the door in
excitement.

"Riley!" Fred cried out
in delight, rushing forward as fast as his little feet could carry him.

"Fred! You look fantastic!"
Riley said
,
rushing forward and
dropping down to her knees to hug her friend. She gave him a kiss on both of
his cheeks, laughing as both turned a dark red. "You are just as cute as
ever. How have you been?"

Both of Fred’s faces beamed. "I
have a mate, Riley. She is beautiful!" Fred’s right head responded quietly
as his left studied her carefully. "I want you to meet her," his left
head added.

Riley’s eyes widened with shock
before she smiled and laid a palm on each of Fred’s cheeks. "I would be
honored to meet the lady who could capture your heart. You deserve it, and she
better realize what a prize she has."

"I do," came the soft
reply. "I am very fortunate."

Riley stood up and looked at the
small figure that approached her hesitantly. The tiny figure curtsied when she
stopped in front of Riley. Riley smiled down and held out her hand in greeting.

"I’m Riley St. Claire, soon to
be d’Rojah," Riley replied when she heard Vox growl out a warning when she
said her last name. "The growly bear is Vox."

The tiny figure glanced in fright
at Vox’s huge figure. "I am Doral. It is an honor to finally meet you.
Fred has told me how you saved his life," Doral replied.

The tiny female Tiliquan only had
one head, but the rest of her figure was the same as Fred’s. She wore a simple
gown with a black apron tied around the waist. She had the same green, yellow,
and red coloring, but her eyes were framed by long, thick lashes that swept
down shyly under Riley’s scrutiny.