Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (98 page)

"I’m going to kill that
Valdier royal when I get my hands on him," Vox growled out softly. "The
Antrox receive shipments every couple of days. We need to track when those
shipments arrive. We’ll figure out a way to get these damn collars off and
steal a ship. Kill as many of those emotionless insects as you can on the way
out. I want them to know they better not mess with a Sarafin warrior again."

"Tomorrow begins our first
shift," Lodar said. "We can look for tools when they take us to the
mines."

"What of the female?" Tor
asked, looking over to the blankets where Riley’s soft sighs could be heard. "We
will need to watch her. I’ve heard of what can happen to females in the Antrox
mines. If the Pactors don’t attack them and kill them, other prisoners often
try to steal them or a trader will offer credits for them. They kill the males
if another female doesn’t take them or another is not available."

Vox looked at the shadow of his
mate as she turned over again. He watched one of her arms rise up briefly
before she turned over onto her stomach. A small grin pulled at his mouth.
There wasn’t a part of his body that wasn’t sore thanks to her. He had never
been brought to his knees before, not even in battle except for the time he was
poisoned. His mate had done it not once but twice in the same day.

"She is to be protected at all
cost. Kill any who try to take or harm her," he ordered. "She is your
new queen."

Tor chuckled softly. "I don’t
think she is going to be too happy with her new title," he said, fighting
back another laugh.

"I don’t care if she likes her
new title or not; she is my mate and the queen of our people," Vox said
with a grin of his own. "I have to admit I’m looking forward to seeing how
she handles it. Just remind me to make sure I check her hands before I get near
her again." He turned so he could stare at the curtain and imagine what
she looked like lying on the narrow bed.

"You don’t think she would
have any tools with her, do you?" Lodar asked curiously. "She has
been surprisingly resourceful so far."

Vox snorted. "She is a female!
Why would a female need tools?" he said dismissively. "No, our best
hope is if we can find some that the Antrox haven’t accounted for."

"Like that will ever happen,"
Tor grunted out. "They inventory every item as the prisoners go into the
mines and again coming out."

Vox bit back the curse on his lips.
"I want off this asteroid. If we can’t find the tools we need, then we
will have to find another way to get them. Get some sleep. It will be a long
day tomorrow."

Both men grunted their agreement as
they rolled over, trying to get comfortable on the hard surface. Vox stared at
the shadow of his mate again. He would get off the asteroid, and he would kill
the Valdier royal who drugged him and his men. But first, he needed to make
sure that he marked his mate in case she was taken from him. He would find her,
no matter where she went, but he wanted everyone to know she belonged to him.

Chapter
4

Riley turned around to stare at
the strange creatures passing their small group in the long corridor. They had
been woken up way too early for her. She was not much of a morning person. In
fact, until she had a decent breakfast, several cups of coffee, and it was past
ten in the morning, no one even bothered to talk to her. To top it off, she had
to make do with just a quick cloth bath to refresh herself. The "bathroom"
was a large open area shared with other prisoners, male and female. Vox, Tor,
and Lodar had stood guard in front of the door when Riley had refused to go in
as long as there was anyone else in the room. Even Bob and Fred had lent a body
to help cover the opening to give her privacy. She had quickly done her
business and cleaned up as best she could. She decided she’d better dress
appropriately if she was going to be working in a mine. She wore a pair of her
favorite faded jeans that had a hole in one of the knees, a soft, long-sleeved
Denver Broncos jersey, and a pair of tennis shoes. She wasn’t about to ruin her
designer boots working in the dusty mine. She quickly piled her hair up into a
messy but chic ponytail. She touched her lips with a bit of lip gloss before
quickly tossing the items she had worn to sleep in into the carry-on she had.
She slid her designer handbag over her shoulder and straightened her shoulders
in determination. She was NOT going to be a big baby and cry because she wanted
to go home. She was going to find a way to get back to Earth, even if she had
to kill someone to do it.

"Next!" Riley said as
cheerfully as she could this early in the morning. "Fred, would you be a
dear and run this back to our rooms? I’d hate to have to carry it all day."

Fred reached out and gripped the
bag. With a muttered snort, he took off at a run. Riley couldn’t help but be
grudgingly surprised at how fast the little guy ran for having such short legs.
She looked at Vox, Lodar, and Tor.

"Well, go on," she said. "We
don’t have all day!"

Lodar chuckled but turned and
entered the bathroom. Tor shook his head before following. Vox stared at Riley,
letting his eyes roam over the bright orange and blue top with the number
eighteen on the front. His gaze moved further down to her blue jeans-clad legs
before settling on her white-and-blue tennis shoes.

"Why do you dress like that?"
he asked curiously. "You should be dressed like you were yesterday."

Riley sighed heavily. "I am
not about to ruin my good clothes working in some nasty-ass mine! These are
much more comfortable and will do just fine. Now, don’t you need to take care
of business?"

Vox frowned. "What business?"

"You know," she said with
a roll of her eyes. "Whatever guys do in the morning. The three S’s."

"The three S’s?" Vox
asked confused. He was focused on the shimmer of Riley’s lips as she pressed
them together.

"Yes! Shit, shower, and shave,"
she said, folding her arms across her chest. "Bob can watch me while you
go do your thing."

Vox chuckled as her meaning sank
in. "I have never heard of that before. I will wait until Lodar and Tor
have returned before I go do my ‘thing.’ You can always join me while I do my
business," he suggested teasingly before he remembered to glance at her
hands to see if she had anything in them.

"I don’t think so." She
sniffed and shrugged indignantly.

Vox took a step closer to her,
forcing her backward several steps until she was pressed against the rock wall
behind her. Riley swallowed nervously. Her eyes darted around, looking for any
type of distraction she could use. She cursed the fact that she had left her
pepper spray under her pillow. She could never think straight in the morning.
If she could get her hands into her handbag she could probably find something
to use as a weapon. She had everything but the kitchen sink in it. Hell, she
even had multiples of items like the Leatherman and Leatherman Micro that was
in the bottom of the damn thing somewhere. One had scissors while the other had
pliers. She was always needing one or the other. Right now, she could really
use the knife on one of them.

"What are you doing?" she
asked breathlessly, looking up into his determined eyes. "You need to just
stay back! Remember what happens when you get close to me. I don’t want to have
to hurt you again."

Vox reached out and gripped her
wrists in a tight but tender hold. "Then, don’t," he whispered
huskily. "I plan to kiss you, Riley St. Claire of Denver, Colorado. I plan
to mark you so that there can be no doubt that you belong to me. And finally, I
plan to claim you as my own."

Riley shook her head and pressed
back as far as she could against the hard wall behind her. "No, I’ve seen
what happens in the movies. I don’t want you. I don’t…" Her voice faded as
Vox covered her lips with his own in a tender, possessive kiss.

His groan matched hers as he
pressed deeper when her lips opened under his. The gentle kiss he planned grew
heated as the touch and taste of her swept through him. He stepped closer,
raising her arms up over her head so that her plump breasts were pressed
against his chest. He deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue through her
glistening lips and running it along her smooth teeth. He felt his cock jerk painfully
in reaction to her taste. His cat purred and rubbed up against his skin,
wanting a chance to rub up against his mate. He stepped closer, forcing her to
open her legs for him so he could slide between them and rub his swollen cock
against her. He placed both of her wrists together, holding them in one large
hand and stroked her with his free one. He ran his fingers lightly over her
cheek, wanting to see if her skin felt as smooth and silky as it looked. The
soft touch shook him. He had never felt this deep feeling of need, desire, and
the overwhelming urge to protect before.

He pulled back enough so he could
look down into her dazed eyes. "I claim you as my queen, Riley St. Claire,"
he muttered passionately.

Riley’s brain cleared as his words
sunk in. She began to struggle as she realized the perilous situation she was
in. She should never have let him close to her. He was an alien. Aliens were
bad. Aliens were always bad in the movies, well, most movies anyway. She also
repeated her vow that she would not say yes to any guy without a ring on her
finger. She decided she’d better clarify that. She would not say yes to any
human guy without a ring on her finger, and she would never say yes to an
alien.

Remember
Aliens
. Remember
Predators
. Remember
Invasion of the
Body Snatchers
. Remember Freddy.
Riley shook her head.
No, not Freddy.
He was a human. Remember… remember…

"No, no, no, no, no!" she
said forcefully, focusing back on the alien holding her. "Let me go! I do
not belong to you. I do not want to be a queen. I do not want to be claimed.
I
do not want you!
" she added forcefully. "Now let me go, damn it!
The only thing I want is to go home."

"Vox, guards are approaching,"
Lodar said, coming out of the bathroom.

Riley took advantage of his
distraction to twist free and duck under his arm. She moved rapidly to stand
behind Lodar. Vox twisted around and frowned at her in displeasure. When he
moved toward her again, she squeaked and pulled Tor, who was walking out of the
bathroom, in front of her as well. She stood peeking out from behind the two
tall warriors, glaring at Vox.

"Go do your business so I can
get something to eat," Riley snapped out from where she was hiding behind
Tor and Lodar. "And I’m warning you, if you try to touch me again I’ll pop
you on the nose!"

Vox muttered a curse, glaring at
her in frustration. He turned away in aggravation to take care of his needs. He
glanced down the corridor as several Antrox guards marched down the corridor
toward them, and he knew he wouldn’t have much time. His observation proved to
be correct. When he left the bathroom a few minutes later, ten guards holding
stunning rods stood at attention waiting for him. A shiver rippled down his
spine. From all the reports he had of the Antrox, this was an unusual number for
six prisoners, since each prisoner, save the females, wore an explosive shock
collar to control him. The Antrox normally only budgeted one guard for a group
of twenty or more. If the guard was threatened or attacked in any way, one push
of a button would kill any prisoner within fifteen meters. Without the right
tools, if a prisoner tried to remove the collar, it would also explode.
Normally, the Antrox paired one male and one female. They discarded the threat
that the female would know how to help the male escape. In their case, there
were five males and one female. If they could get their hands on the right
tools, Vox knew Tor could figure out how to dismantle the collars.

"Darling, I really am going to
write a scathing review for this establishment," Riley was telling the
lead guard as he came out of the cleansing room. "Your wake-up call is far
too early, your idea of bathroom accommodations is horrid, and breakfast hasn’t
even been mentioned! How do you expect my poor, sweet, fragile mates to survive
if you don’t feed them? I want the name, number, and address to your corporate
headquarters. They are going to hear from me! Why, look at my poor baby. Fred,
sweetheart, are you okay? You are definitely looking a little green around the
gills," Riley said, pulling the struggling Tiliqua closer to her and
petting one of his heads affectionately.

Vox ground his teeth together as he
watched her gently stroking Fred. "He is supposed to be that color, and
Tiliquas don’t have gills," he bit out, feeling jealous of the attention
she was giving the little two-headed reptilian pactor dung.

Riley rolled her eyes at Vox’s
tone, put her hand on her hip, and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You
see that?" she demanded of the lead guard. "He is just a grouchy
bear! He needs to be fed. How do you expect me to keep him happy if he is
hungry? I want a full breakfast immediately for my mates."

Antrox 157 snarled at Riley. He had
been sent by 785. It was his job to guard the Sarafin royal and his men until
they received the credits promised for disposing of him. 157 had no problems
following orders from his superior, but he was having problems with dealing
with the bossy female who had started in on him the moment he had arrived. She
was making all kinds of demands. He had been shocked to find additional
supplies had been given to her yesterday by some of the newer guards. Unlike
most Antrox, he did not always follow the rules governed by his people. That
was why 785 gave him this position. It afforded him extra credits.

"Silence female," 157
said coldly. "You will keep your mates happy. I only have to keep one of
them alive. If you are not silent, I will feed one of your mates each hour to a
pactor."

"Well!" Riley growled
back. "Somebody woke up with a stick up their ass this morning. You touch
one slimy little green nail on one of my boys, and I’ll rip it off and feed it
to the pactor with the rest of you. No one messes with my boys but me, got it?"

157 looked shocked for a moment
before his face became passive. He took a step closer to Riley, trying to crowd
her. "One more word and I’ll silence you."

"I’d like to see you try, you
overgrown piece of cow paddy," Riley snapped back in a temper.

Vox decided it would be in everyone’s
best interest if he silenced his mate before she got them all killed. He
stepped up behind her as she opened her mouth to say something else. Wrapping
his large hands around her waist, he almost groaned out loud at the feel of her
soft curves under his palms. Instead, he picked her up, ignoring her squeal of
indignation, and turned until she was in front of him with her back pressed
against his chest.

"I think we will survive
without anything to eat for a little longer," he said quietly in her ear. "I
would like to keep us alive for a little longer, my fierce tiger. We do
appreciate your concern for us, though," he added hastily when she opened
her mouth to protest.

"So help me, if that pile of
walking sticks pisses me off or messes with one of you, I’ll plant my foot up
his ass so far it will be coming out of his mouth," she growled, throwing
a heated look at the Antrox guard over her shoulder. "You let me at him. I’ll
show him one more word!"

Vox could hear Tor and Lodar
fighting to hold in their laughter as he fought to keep her from turning back
and attacking their guards. He shook his head in exasperation. He and his men
towered over the female, were known to be one of the fiercest species in the
ten known galaxies, and she was ready to kick the asses of their guards because
they had not been fed when she wanted them to be fed.

"Come,
let us get to work so we can eat soon," Vox muttered.

* * *

Riley twisted her hair back up
into the ponytail where it had fallen loose again when she bent over to pick up
some of the rocks that the men were breaking through. All five of the men had
argued that she wasn’t supposed to work. She was just supposed to sit and watch
as they worked. Like she could just sit around all day. She was already bored
out of her mind. So, she ignored all of them and did what she wanted, singing
in an off-key voice the song from Snow White when the dwarfs were going off to
work. Fred had soon joined her, gathering the rocks alongside her and muttering
under his breath.