Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (118 page)

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Authors: Pepper Winters S. E. Smith Mandy Rosko Sharon Page Teresa Morgan T. J. Michaels Eve Langlais Cathryn Fox Opal Carew

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"Find her," he ordered
quietly. "I will not leave her here."

Tor and Lodar nodded. They left
Vox, spreading out to search the ship thoroughly. Vox stood standing in the
empty corridor watching dispassionately as the slave trader finally quit
jerking. A horrible wave of grief overcame him, and he roared as the pain swept
through him in never-ending waves of agony. Pulling his fist back, he slammed
it into the metal wall over and over, ignoring the pain and blood from the
strikes. It was nothing compared to the pain in his heart and soul.

Chapter
25

Riley rolled over onto her side
taking the weight off her expanding belly. She was having the most wonderful
dream. She and Vox were chasing each other around the meadow near the ancient
city, only this time the guards weren’t looking. She felt her back leg jerking
as if she was running. Suddenly Vox sprang out from behind a bush, tackling her
and rolling her over and over. She moaned softly in her sleep as she felt him
mount her from behind, his teeth buried in her neck and his cock buried deep
inside her womb. Another low moan escaped her before a noise in the cargo area
disturbed the dream.

Wake up!
her cat hissed quietly.
I smell danger.

What?
Riley muttered sleepily.
Tell it to come back later. Vox and I
are getting it on, and it is so amazing.

You are bad as mate! All you
think about is sex,
her cat hissed back in
aggravation.
Wake up!

Riley rolled over with a silent
grumble.
You’re damn right all I think about is sex. Hell, I was good for
the first twenty-four years, for crying out loud! Double hell, if you consider
I’m a St. Claire and was a good girl. I think I totally get to think of nothing
but sex for the next forty or fifty years at least!

You have to be alive to have it,
her cat reminded her with a huff.

Great! Just great! Everything
has to have strings attached. You have to be alive if you want to have sex.
Fine! I’m awake,
Riley growled silently to her cat.
So, where is this danger?

I not know. I just feel danger,
her cat replied.
Funny smell makes my nose burn. I not smell
anything right.

Well, don’t stick your big-ass
head up like a target. Just keep quiet, lie still, and wait. That is what the
cats on my world do. Then they pounce when the target gets close,
Riley responded logically.

I wait,
her cat promised.

Riley kept her head down, letting
her ears flicker back and forth, trying to pinpoint where the sound that
disturbed her came from. Everything appeared to be quiet, but the hair on the
back of her neck was standing straight up telling her that she wasn’t alone in
the cargo bay any longer. Her ears flickered again, perking up when the door to
the cargo bay suddenly opened. She froze, barely breathing as she heard the
sound of footsteps entering the room. They seemed to echo overly loud in the
silence.

"This is the last room that
hasn’t been searched," a deep voice whispered.

Riley shivered as she heard the
footsteps divide before everything became silent again. Whoever was searching
was very light on their feet. Riley curled up into a tight ball, trying to make
herself as small as possible on the top of the crate. She heard the door open
again, and the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the cargo bay.

"Have you found anything?"
a familiar voice called out harshly. "I want every crate opened and
searched thoroughly."

Vox! Our mates!
Riley and her cat both cried out in excitement.

Riley uncurled her huge body and
stood up on shaky legs. Damn, she was a nervous wreck. She was so going to be a
total
crybaby
when she got Vox’s
arms wrapped around her. She shook her body and moved over to the edge of the
crate. At the same time, a movement between two crates a short distance away
caught her attention. Antrox 157 stepped out, raising a laser pistol, pointing
it at Vox’s chest. Riley didn’t even think about what she was doing. Her horror
and fear for her mate overrode all thought. Leaping from the crate at Vox, she
shifted as she fell toward him, screaming for him to look out at the same time
as Antrox 157 fired the laser pistol.

Riley felt her body jerk when she
hit Vox in the chest as he turned toward her scream. They tumbled down, rolling
over and over until Vox lay sprawled on top of her. She gripped his shoulders
tightly in panic.

"Are you okay?" she asked
in a frightened voice.

"Yes, you…" Vox tried to
speak over the sounds of laser fire.

"I’m good." She smiled up
at him, brushing her palm against his cheek. "Go get that bastard,"
she gasped as laser fire barely missed them.

"With pleasure," Vox
grinned, showing his sharp teeth.

Riley lay still as Vox rolled off
her and called out commands
to
his men to surround the crate where Antrox 157 was hiding. She reached down and
touched her side which was beginning to burn fiercely. Her eyes widened when
her fingers came away covered in blood. From the feel of it, the damn Antrox
hadn’t missed after all. Riley coughed slightly as her throat filled, beginning
to choke her as she tried to breath in.

We hurt,
her cat hissed frightened.
I feel essence leaving. We hurt bad.

Our baby?
Riley begged.

Our poor baby,
her cat
moaned
softly.
Our poor baby.

No!
Riley screamed as she struggled to draw in a
breath.
No!
She cried out as darkness blurred her vision.
No, damn
you! I won’t lose them. I love them both too much
, she whispered, fighting
against the pull on her to give up and let the pain go.
Never!
she
thought as she felt the tug of hands and the cry of despair shattering the
sudden quiet of the cargo bay.

* * *

Vox motioned with his hand for
the four warriors on each side to circle around the crate. There was nowhere
for Antrox 157 to go. He was dead, he just didn’t realize it yet. Vox looked up
and with a swift leap, he landed on silent feet on top of the crate. Running
along the edge, he could see the Antrox jerking nervously back and forth trying
to keep the openings to the crates in his view. He never looked up. If he had,
he would have used the laser pistol on himself instead of worrying about the
other warriors. Vox dropped down behind him when 157 turned again. He reached
his hand around and gripped the thin creature’s wrist, snapping it like it was
a twig. Antrox 157’s screams filled the cargo bay before they were silenced as
Vox lifted the creature up and slammed him against the crate with a grin.

"Now, you die," Vox said
letting his right hand shift. "Slowly," he added before he ran one
razor-sharp claw across Antrox 157’s stomach. "You will never harm my mate
again," Vox said, dropping the Antrox when he heard Lodar’s desperate cry
for him.

Vox spun around, squeezing through
the opening between the crates. He stopped in horror when he saw Lodar kneeling
over Riley, his hands covered in blood. He moved with jerking, running steps
toward her. Dropping down next to her, he cupped her face, turning it toward
him.

"What have you done now?"
he croaked out.

Riley tried to smile up at Vox as
he stared down at her face with worry. "Guess I’m not okay
," she
whispered weakly. "This
sucks."

"Yes, yes, it does," Vox
said tenderly. "You are not supposed to get hurt. I do not like it when
you are hurt."

Riley’s eyes filled with tears. "Don’t
want to die," she choked out. "Thought I was the heroine this time."

"You are," Vox whispered
as he stroked her cheek with trembling fingers. "You will always be my
heroine."

Riley smiled softly before her
eyelids flickered and closed peacefully. She looked so beautiful. Her hair was
spread out in a curly mass of waves around her, making her look just like he
had made love to her. Her eyelashes lay like crescents, begging him to kiss
them until she woke up.

Vox looked at Lodar in panic. "Help
her," he begged his friend. "You have to help her."

Lodar shook his head. "I would
need to get her into a regen bed," he said. "There is none on this
ship, and she won’t survive if we move her."

Vox shook his head in denial. He
couldn’t lose her. He just couldn’t lose her and their son. His shoulders shook
as the magnitude of the situation flowed through him. Never had he expected to
find his mate. Never had he expected to love someone so much she would become
the very fabric of his existence.

"Sir, look!" One of the
warriors exclaimed as he picked up the spilled contents of Riley’s oversized
purse that she carried everywhere. "She has everything in here!"

Lodar glanced up, his eyes widening
when he saw the portable regen device the Curizan had
developed
and kept secret. His breath escaped him in a disbelieving chuckle.
Only Riley would have a top-secret medical device the Curizan prized in her
purse.

"Give that to me!" Lodar
demanded, holding out his hand and waving his fingers urgently at the man. "What
else does she have?"

"Everything!" The warrior
laughed. "She has medicine in here that will take care of everything from
a toothache to ulcers to internal bleeding," he replied, bundling up all
the small vials of medicine Riley had taken from the medical unit on the
asteroid.

Lodar pulled the portable regen
open and attached the probes to her temples to keep her brain functioning
before he used the scanner to start the healing process. He ordered one of the
men who worked with him in medical to begin using the vials she had
taken
to
stop her
internal bleeding and
prevent her
from
getting an
infection.
They worked steadily while Vox knelt beside Riley, talking to her about all the
things he was going to do to her when she woke up.

Twenty minutes later, his voice was
hoarse from relating every threat and punishment he could think of. He blinked
furiously when Lodar told him Riley and his son would be fine. He looked at his
friend’s exhausted face and tried to thank him, but his throat was too tight to
get the words out. He felt the dampness on his cheeks, and for once, didn’t
care that his men could also see it. He was going to have to punish Riley for
this too. He had never cried in his life, and now she had made him do it twice
in as many days.

"You can’t punish me,"
Riley murmured huskily, her eyes still closed. "Your dad said you had to
give me whatever I wanted. By the way, I spent a fortune of your credits at the
market."

Vox’s head jerked down to stare at
his mate’s beautiful, flushed face. "You did? What did you buy?" he
asked in a husky voice.

Riley’s brilliant, baby blue eyes
open to stare up at him. "I bought the most beautiful oversized purse you’ve
ever seen and the most god-awful jacket. You aren’t allowed to kill this one. I
love it."

Vox’s relieved laughter echoed as
he threw back his head and shouted with joy before he gently drew Riley up into
his arms. "You can buy whatever handbag and hideous jacket you want. I
promise not to destroy it."

Riley’s eyes softened. "Can we
go home now? I don’t like this place."

"Yes, my mate. We can go home
now," Vox promised.

Epilogue

"Where’s my goddamn gun!"
Pearl snarled. "I’m going to fill his ass with lead if he doesn’t get it
down here! Forget the salt. You damn creatures just lick that shit up, even if
it’s in
your own ass."

Viper clenched his fists tightly at
his side and counted to twenty backward. It was one of the few things that
helped prevent him from putting his hands around Riley and Tina’s grandmother’s
neck. Even so, it was still very, very tempting.

"He will be here for the
ceremony," Viper growled out. "And I did not lick my own ass."

Pearl looked at Viper with an
expression that clearly said she didn’t believe him. Tina stood to the side,
refusing to look at him, which was even more infuriating. He would have thought
saving her life would have made her more receptive to him, but no! She kept a
wall of ice so thick between them, he really did feel like his dick might
freeze off. If it hadn’t been for that one night…

Viper cursed again when Pearl asked
for her shotgun. "I am not giving you that damn gun! You are dangerous
enough without it," he snapped.

"Don’t you dare talk to my
poor, defenseless grandmother like that!" Tina said, glaring at Viper in
anger. "If she wants her shotgun, you should give it to her. It
is
her property after all," Tina pointed out in a frigid voice.

"Yes—the one she keeps
pointing at me every opportunity she gets," Viper snarled back. "Let
her fill your ass with rock salt and see if you like it!"

Pearl chortled at the thought. "I
bet he would volunteer to lick it off, Tina girl. Want to see if he will?"

Tina blushed a bright red and
glared at her grandmother before sniffing and turning her back on both of them.
"You’re right, she doesn’t need her shotgun," she muttered under her
breath.

Aryeh, Rosario, and Illana chuckled
as they watched Viper run his hands through his hair in aggravation. All of
them stopped and turned when they heard the music of the wedding march begin.
Vox rushed down the aisle to stand next to his brothers who were lined up,
chuckling under their breath.

"Did you get it?" Walkyr
asked quietly.

"Yes, she really, really
wanted it," Gable added.

"She said she wouldn’t
marriage you without it," Qadir added with a huge grin. It had been his
turn to come up with something for Vox to hunt down, and he had made sure it
hadn’t been easy.

"Guall’s balls," Pallu
muttered, trying to keep a straight face. "If Riley doesn’t kill you, her
grandmother will. You are late for your own marriage ceremony."

The four brothers laughed as they
glanced at Pearl who was standing waiting for her granddaughter to walk down
the aisle on Bob and Fred’s arms. They had never seen anything like the slender
older woman with white spiked hair. She was wearing more leather than all four
of them put together. Pallu looked at his brother Viper who was staring—still—at
the petite dark-haired female on the other side of Pearl. Viper was the only
one who wasn’t celebrating. Pallu’s eyes widened as he saw the brief look of
sadness in his brother’s eyes as he gazed at the little human female before he
covered it. There was more to the story than just Viper returning with Riley’s
family.

All eyes moved to the back of the
room as Riley appeared dressed in a flowing white lace gown covered in tiny
blue stones the color of her eyes. She glowed with happiness as she walked down
the aisle toward Vox, who was smiling just as broadly. The swollen roundness of
her stomach stuck out in front of her. Bob and Fred walked slowly as the music
continued to play. Once they reached Vox, Bob and Fred held out each of her
hands to him.

Vox growled loudly before he
grinned. "I do. We marriaged now. I want to go back to our living
quarters."

Riley’s face creased into a frown,
and she stamped her foot. "Oh no, you don’t! You are not getting out of
this. I want it done right," she growled back before turning to Titus. "Titus,
get your ass up here and say the things I told you to write down. This big ox
is going to agree
with
every
one of those vows, or I want my Taser and pepper spray back."

"I’ve got a new Taser, Riley,
if you need it," Pearl volunteered
,
pulling it from the waistband of her black leather pants.

"Oh gods, no, you don’t! I
thought I took all of those damn devices from you," Viper roared, reaching
for Pearl.

"Don’t you manhandle my poor,
elderly grandmother, you jerk," Tina erupted in fury, grabbing the Taser
before Viper could and pressing it against his chest in warning. "Now get
back in line so Riley can have her wedding."

"Make me," Viper snarled
menacingly.

"Okay," Tina said and
pressed the button.

Viper jerked as the shock hit him,
stumbling backward before collapsing onto the floor in a quivering jerking mass
of twitching nerves. His loud curses filled the small chamber they had
converted for the wedding. All four of his younger brothers stood around him
with their mouths hanging open, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, to hell with it,"
Riley said in resignation. "I do. Let’s go to the reception. Maybe it will
go better than the wedding," she muttered over the noise of all the
brothers suddenly asking Tina and Pearl about Tasers.

"How about we skip the
reception and get to the wedding night?" Vox asked with a hopeful grin. "I
have something for you."

"What did you get me this
time?" Riley asked, rolling her eyes and chuckling.

Vox reached into his pocket and
pulled out a small, squeaking animal. "A mouse!"

In a matter of seconds, a huge,
very pregnant white tiger was knocking over chairs and tables as she chased the
poor Sarafin replica of a mouse around the room. She wasn’t alone, though. Soon
Pearl, Tina, Bob, Fred, their mates, and a handful of other guests were the
only ones left in their two-legged form. The other cat-shifters had joined in
the fun, thinking it was part of the marriage ceremony to chase the mouse.

"Well,
hell, I think that was the best damn wedding I’ve ever attended. I’m glad that
boy chose my Riley girl. He’ll keep her on her toes." Pearl chuckled. "Now,
is anyone up for some grub?"

To be continued… Viper’s Defiant
Mate.

# # #

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About S. E. Smith

S. E.
Smith is a USA TODAY and #1 International Amazon Bestselling author who has
always been a romantic and a dreamer. An avid writer, she has spent years
writing, although it has usually been technical papers for college. Now, she
spends her evenings and weekends writing and her nights dreaming up new
stories. An affirmed "geek," she spends her days working on computers
and other peripherals. She enjoys camping and traveling when she is not out on
a date with her favorite romantic guy.

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