Captured Boxed Set: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys Who Will Capture Your Heart (117 page)

Pud’s beady eyes glowed in anger. "Shut
your mouth, female. I can understand why Antrox 157 wanted to see you suffer.
You have a big mouth on you."

Riley grinned nastily at the
creature. "All the more to bite your head off, you miserable little
rodent. You just wait until Vox gets here. He’ll make you wish you had never
been born."

"Vox?" Pud asked, taking
another step back and
turning pale
. "Vox d’Rojah, the Sarafin king?" he asked hoarsely.

"That’s right, you steaming
pile of cow paddy. I am
Mrs.
Vox d’Rojah! You’ve messed with the wrong
bitch this time!" Riley snapped back in triumph, exaggerating a little
about her new status.

It was only a matter of time before
it became official. She was wearing Vox’s ring, so as far as she was concerned
it was practically a done deal. They were just waiting for Tina and Pearl to
show up before having the official ceremony.

The beady-eyed creature muttered a
long string of curses as he turned and hurried down the corridor. She bet he
was wishing he hadn’t taken on this assignment now. She was going to make sure
he and that bug-eyed walking stick paid for hurting her guards and taking her.

"That’s right, you shitless
piece of crab poop! You’d better run, but you’ll never be able to hide!"
Riley yelled out behind him before giving a cackling laugh that would have made
the Wicked Witch of the West shit her pants.

She was just thankful the slimy
little bastard couldn’t see how badly her hands were shaking. "Vox, you
better get your ass here soon. I am totally scared out of my mind, you adorable
puddy cat."

Chapter
24

"Give me a status report
now!" Vox growled out as he strode onto the bridge of the
Shifter
.

"We have five targets we are
pursuing. From the reports we have received so far from our tracking station, a
transport left the ancient city traveling at a high rate of speed. It docked
with a trader ship on the outer rim of the star system. Four transports
separated from the trader and headed in different directions. Battle cruisers
have been dispersed after those. We are following the trader’s ship," Tor
reported as he came to stand next to Vox.

"Conference room," Vox
growled out, feeling his stomach tighten.

Lodar and Tor followed Vox into the
conference room located next to the bridge. As soon as the door closed, Vox
turned and glared at his friends. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t get
anything past the lump that had suddenly formed in it. He cleared his throat
and tried again.

"What do you have on the
attack in the market and about the ship’s identification?" he asked
hoarsely.

"Tamia reported they saw an
Antrox before the attack. She said Riley appeared to recognize him before the
guards were shot," Tor responded.

"One of the men is in critical
condition. The other is stable," Lodar added. "Neither one of the
other females was injured. It appeared Riley was the target."

"The trader ship is registered
out of the Guambian star system. I have a feeling we will find out the
documents have been forged. There were no identifying signals from the other
four ships that departed from it, more than likely the mercenaries who were
hired to capture Riley. They typically use this type of method to escape. It is
easier for them to escape and makes it difficult to catch more than one."

"The question is—what do they
want with her?" Lodar asked, rubbing his hand down his face.

Vox’s face was frozen in rage as he
remembered Antrox 157’s threat to sell Riley to the pleasure houses dotted
throughout the star systems. He should have made sure that slimy insect had
been dead before he escaped the mining asteroid. He had hoped that the
cold-blooded insect had blown up. He would not make that mistake again. The
Antrox had signed his own death sentence by taking Riley.

"He plans to sell her to a
pleasure house," Vox said thickly.

"Gods!" Both Lodar and
Tor exclaimed in horror at the same time.

Vox turned to look at them. "Get
me to that damn ship. She had better be on it. I’m going to rip out the guts of
any male who has touched her."

Tor looked at his friend and leader
with fire burning in his own eyes. "I’ll be there to help you, my friend,"
he said before turning on his heel and striding back onto the bridge, barking
orders to the helmsman to give him everything the
Shifter
had.

Lodar walked over to where Vox was
staring out into the darkness of space. He stood next to him for a few moments
in silence, not sure what he could say to help his friend. His own mind was
picturing Riley’s infectious smile, the delighted twinkle in her eye when she
was causing mischief, and her lush figure that affected every male she met.

"I want you near when we find
her," Vox said quietly in a husky voice. "If"—his throat worked
up and down—"If we do not get to her soon enough and…and she has been
harmed, I need you there to help heal her," he finished thickly.

"Of course. You don’t even
need to ask," Lodar said, placing his hand on Vox’s shoulder and squeezing
it briefly in comfort. "You are not the only one who has fallen in love
with her. She is a very special female."

Vox
didn’t respond. He simply stood rigidly, staring out into space. He knew the
moment Lodar left. That was the moment the tears he had been holding back broke
free, and his shoulders began to shake. Never in his life had he cried. Not
when he watched men he considered his friends fall during the war, not when he
was tortured—never—but the idea of his beautiful, delicate mate suffering the
assault of another male was too much for him. He cried silent tears of rage,
hurt, and fear before he ran the sleeve of his shirt over his eyes. He felt the
chill of ice as it coursed through his blood. He would kill any and everyone
involved in hurting his mate. The gods would have no mercy for them.

* * *

"Sir, the last of the four
transports has been searched. Lady Riley is not aboard it. That leaves the
trader’s ship. We are almost within range," the helmsman informed Vox who
stood rigid on the bridge.

"Hail the trader’s ship. Tell
him to prepare for boarding," Vox instructed in an emotionless voice.

Information about the trader had
come from Adalard. His warship had intercepted one of
the
transports. After interrogating the
merc
on board, he had been informed the
trader’s name was Pud. Adalard had forwarded the translated information the
merc
had on the trader to Vox. It had not
taken long for the Curizan to decipher the files. Mercenaries were renowned for
having information on those they did business with in case they needed
something to blackmail them with later on.

The information had almost driven
Vox crazy. The trader was a known sex slave trader, stealing and sampling the
females before he delivered them. The females were always physically alive when
he delivered them, but their mental state was questionable. The information
gave graphic detail about his sexual preferences. He knew his cub would not
survive an assault by the trader. That was the first thing that came to his
mind. The trader liked to use tools on the females to clean them out first
before he sampled them—repeatedly. Lodar and Tor had reviewed the information
as well, becoming quieter the more they read. Lodar excused himself shortly
after the report was finished so he could prepare a bag with the items he would
need to help Riley.

Vox straightened and clenched his
fists tightly when the beady-eyed creature answered the
Shifter’s
hail. "This
is Captain Pud Rasp. State your business."

"Prepare to be boarded,"
Vox said stiffly.

"Why are you boarding me? I am
not in the Sarafin star system. You have no call to board my vessel. I am a
legitimate short-haul freighter," Pud said nervously.

"We are boarding you. Don’t
try to stop us," Vox said with a wave of his hand to cut
the
transmission. "Prepare the
fighters. Take out his engines. I don’t want to take a chance he has modified
them. If he has any weapons, take them out as well but do not breach the hull.
We do not know where he may have hidden Lady Riley."

"Raghu, you have the bridge.
Do not let that bastard out of your sight," Vox ordered to the current
first officer on duty.

"Yes sir," Raghu
responded taking over command.

"Let’s
go get my mate," Vox bit out to Lodar and Tor.

* * *

Riley worked the cover off the
control panel with the Leatherman she had in her purse. She flipped it around
until it had the pliers showing after she tossed the cover onto the bed. She
was not about to sit around waiting to be rescued. Hell, she thought, cold,
dank, and ugly might decide to test her theory about ripping his dick off. The
thought of touching him was enough to make her want to vomit.

"That is so not going to
happen," she muttered as she studied the wires.

With a
shrug
, she snipped the red wires crying out in startled pain when she cut
the back of her hand on a sharp edge of the panel when she jumped at the sparks
flying out at her. She cursed and reached over to wipe the blood off on the
cover of the bed before pulling a bandage out of her purse and covering the
cut. When she was done, she quickly snipped the rest of
the
wires being more careful as the sparks
flew. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally heard the click of the
door.

"At last," she sighed
impatiently. "Now, to do the amazing disappearing act. And they thought
Houdini was the only one who could do it." She giggled. "And now,
ladies and gentlemen, the amazing Riley St. Claire-d’Rojah performing her ‘I’m-getting-the-fuck-out-of-here
act!" She said with a flourish of waves and smiles for her non-existent
audience.

She slipped out the door and moved
rapidly down the corridor. She would hide on a different level. She decided
that to drive the spaceship you probably went up, so she would go down. After
all, someone had to drive the damn thing, didn’t they? she reasoned. So, as
long as monster man was up top she wanted to make sure she was as far away from
him as possible.

She quickly slipped down the ladder
between levels and kept going. She wound up one corridor and down another.
After half an hour she decided she was so lost that she wouldn’t even be able
to find herself. That must give her some advantage. She trotted down another
corridor, skidding to a stop when she realized she was in some type of cargo
area. There were huge crates everywhere. She looked up at one group and decided
if she could get to the top of it, she could lie down and no one would be able
to find her. She bit her lip before an excited grin crossed her face and she
shifted.

In her four-legged form, jumping
from crate to crate was easy. She was also warmer with the fur coat she was
wearing. She turned in a circle several times before she laid down on the top
container, exhausted. She opened her mouth in a huge, sharp-tooth yawn and
settled her head down on her front paws.

Nap-thirty,
she thought drowsily.
Escaping and getting lost is hard work.

She rubbed the side of her mouth
against her paw as her mind began to cloud over with sleep. She would just wait
here quietly until Vox came. It shouldn’t take him long, and she would be much
more of a help once she was rested.

Baby
makes us sleepy too,
her cat yawned before the
exhaustion they were feeling overwhelmed them both.

* * *

Vox stood frozen in frustration.
The damn trader had released some type of fragrance bomb into the ventilation
system. The entire ship smelled of oil and sweat. The two smells covered any
scent he would have had of Riley. On top of that, the slimy bastard had rubbed
the same stuff all over his clothing.

He turned when the lead of Team
Three came up. The warrior shook his head. "Nothing, sir."

He turned back to the trader who
was shifting back and forth on his feet between two warriors who were
positioned on either side of him. He took a menacing step toward the sweating
male. His face darkened as Team Two reported they had found nothing in the
lower cabin areas.

"Where is she?" Vox
snarled, letting his right hand shift until his sharp claws were extended. "I
won’t ask you again."

"I…I…I told you," Pud
stuttered. "I’m just a short-haul cargo freighter. I don’t carry
passengers."

Vox roared, letting his teeth drop
down and shifting partially in rage. He could smell the lie on the man, even
over the oil and sweat. He raised his clawed hand and swiped it down along the
trader’s face, ignoring the male’s screams as he collapsed and gripped his
shredded cheek in his palm.

"You dare lie to me," Vox
snarled out in rage.

"Sir! We’ve found something,"
Team One called out. "There is a cell with the panel disconnected."

Vox turned dark, thunderous eyes on
Pud. "Bring him. If I find her on this ship, he will die a slow death."

He ignored the trader’s pitiful
begging. He moved down the corridors heading down to the level where Team One
waited for him. His heart thundered in his chest as he approached the door
where his men were standing. He stumbled when he saw Lodar, who was kneeling by
the bed, look up at him with a tight, grief-stricken face. Tor stood rigid by
the door, the muscle in his jaw working back and forth.

"Is she in there?" Vox
asked hesitantly.

"No," Tor said looking
coldly at the sobbing trader.

"What?" Vox forced out.

"The blood on the bed matches
Riley’s blood," Lodar said, standing up. "She was held here."

Vox heard the words "Riley’s
blood" over the thunder in his ears. He spun around, grabbing the trader
by the throat and holding him up against the outer wall of the corridor. He
ignored the blood running down the man’s face
onto
his arm. He ignored the desperate gasps as the trader tried to draw
in air from where Vox was crushing his throat. He ignored the men surrounding
him as grief and pain unlike anything he had ever experienced washed through
him.

"Where is she?" He roared
so loudly the walls vibrated with his rage. He pulled the trader back and
slammed him back against the wall again. "Where did you put her body?"

"I…swear. I…swear," the
trader tried to say. "I…swear I didn’t hurt her."

Vox’s face twisted in pain and
grief. Pulling his left hand back, he swiped the trader across his gut, slicing
him almost to his backbone. He dropped the dying male who was trying to hold
his internal organs as they spilled out. Vox stepped back from the gore with a
look of disgust.