Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (25 page)

Vox’s mouth pulled into a straight line as he
realized Riley misunderstood his explanation. “Riley, I said Viper
is going, not you. You will be returning to Sarafin with me. Viper
will transfer to the
Horizon
and travel with Creon and his
mate back to your world.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” She
demanded glaring down at him where he lay watching her with a deep
frown. “If he is going there is no reason I can’t tag along. I
never unpacked and I can be in and out of the shower in minutes and
ready to go.”

Vox’s hands whipped up to grip Riley’s upper
arms in a fierce hold. “You think to leave me after the last few
hours?” He asked in disbelief. “I have chosen you as my queen! You
are my mate!”

Riley frowned, pressing her hands against his
chest in confusion. “I thought you were going too. Besides, I never
said I wanted to be a queen! Hell, I couldn’t even get a date to
the prom, what in the hell makes you think I’m queen material? Why
are you sending Viper to Earth if not to take me back?”

Vox fought the urge to wrap his hands around
Riley’s neck instead of her arms. “To get your Grandma Pearl and
Tina, of course. You said you missed them. I will bring them to you
so you won’t. I need you to explain to Viper what he needs to know
so he can return with them,” he said with a frustrated release of
his breath.

Riley’s mouth dropped open again but this
time instead of excitement in her eyes, there was horror in them.
“Are you nuts?!” She screeched.

Vox ground his teeth in frustration as Riley
trailed behind him. She had not reacted anything like he expected
after he informed her that he was sending Viper to her world to
retrieve her family. In fact, the look of horror when he told her
made him question his own sanity. He needed to make sure he told
Viper to handle Grandma Pearl with extreme caution or he might end
up with his head mounted to the wall of her ‘bar’, whatever that
was. It wouldn’t make a difference, if she missed her family it was
the only way to solve the situation.

“Grandma will eat Viper alive! Forget the
barbecue sauce, think sushi!” Riley insisted as she hurried to keep
up Vox as he headed for the bridge.

“I will warn him that your Grandma can be
difficult – and dangerous,” Vox insisted. “I will not return you to
your world, Riley. You belong by my side. If the only way for you
to be with your family is to bring them to Sarafin, then that is
what will happen.”

“But what if they don’t want to come,” she
demanded. “You have no idea what they are like! They are nothing
like me,” she added. “I am the mild one of the three of us.”

“Gods!” Vox muttered under his breath. “I
find that hard to believe.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Riley asked
indignantly.

“I can’t believe they can be worse than you,”
Vox admitted as he strode onto the bridge.

Riley stopped with her mouth hanging open
before her eyes flashed. “I am NOT that bad!” She protested.

Vox turned as he was about to enter the
commander’s room and raised his eyebrow. “Would they have spent the
last two days singing that Gods awful song?”

Riley flushed and her mouth tightened. “It’s
driving you nuts, is it? No, they wouldn’t have spent two days
singing. Grandma Pearl would have whipped your ass into the ground
or filled it full of rock salt! Tina would be too dignified to
sing, she would have frozen you out to the point your dick would
have been a popsicle,” she snapped defensively. “The whole purpose
of driving you nuts was so you would take me back! I have to take
care of my old boss and his dad and I don’t want to die!”

Vox realized that every warrior on the bridge
had stopped what they were doing and were listening in fascination
to their conversation. He stepped closer to Riley and gripped her
arm, tugging her into the conference room, making sure the door was
closed before he said anything else. He saw the genuine fear in her
eyes, as well as the determination.

“I would never let anything happen to you,”
Vox said as he ran his thumbs back and forth over her arm where he
was holding her. He hid the grin as he felt her body react
immediately to his touch.

“You can’t know for sure. Look what you did
to the jacket Tina gave me! That could have been me instead,” she
insisted looking up into his brilliant tawny eyes. “In every movie
I’ve ever seen something bad always happens to everyone but the
lead characters. Hell, even some of the romance books I read do the
same thing! If you can rip up not one but two of my jackets by
mistake how do I know you won’t accidently do the same thing to me
one day?”

Vox let out an exasperated sigh. “Nothing is
going to happen to you! This is not some entertainment holovid,
Riley. Accept that Viper is going to bring your family here and I
promise to never kill another one of your jackets ever again,” he
growled out in frustration before he turned around to patch into
the conference call with Creon, Ha’ven, and Adalard.

Damn it!
Riley thought crossly.
How
am I supposed to convince him that bringing Pearl and Tina here
isn’t a good idea if he refuses to listen to me! God, I can’t even
imagine what they would do. Tina ….
Riley knew her little
sister would not handle being around so many guys very well. A bad
incident when Tina was in her last year of high school had made her
sister skittish about any of the male species, regardless of
whether they were aliens or not. That was what motivated Pearl to
move them to San Diego from Los Angeles. Things had changed when
Pearl inherited a bar from an old boyfriend who died from liver
disease. Tina became the manager, handling all the bookkeeping
after she got her online accounting degree. Unfortunately, she
became even more reclusive. She refused to leave the office during
open hours and never went anywhere without an armed escort, namely
Pearl, when they left at night.

Well, if singing was getting through to
him, then singing it would be!
She decided with a reluctant
sigh and broke into her off-key rendition of Ninety-nine Bottles of
Beer on the Wall.
A girl had to do what a girl had to
do.

Vox’s loud groan filled the room as he
clenched his fists in a desperate attempt to not wrap them around
Riley’s neck. Instead, he opened communications with the
Horizon
. He was sure if he could kill Raffvin and some of
his men he would feel much better.

He saw Ha’ven and Creon on the
Horizon
and Adalard and Zebulon from the
D’stroyer
on the display
screen
.
He listened as Adalard explained Mandra had been
gravely injured during the attack on his uncle’s base. Bahadur, one
of Ha’ven’s generals who had infiltrated Raffvin’s inter-group,
explained Raffvin had decided to abandon the base. He ordered it
and all the inhabitants he had enslaved to be destroyed. Mandra had
made the decision to attack.

“What of Raffvin?” Ha’ven asked his younger
brother, Adalard. “Were you able to kill him?”

Vox listened as Zebulon filled him in on the
current status of the situation. He was furious Raffvin had slipped
through their grasp again and worried about Mandra. He knew how
fierce a warrior the huge Valdier was during battle. He was glad
his friend would survive. He grimaced when Riley hit a particularly
bad note. He suspected it was on purpose. He knew exactly what she
was trying to do and it was time he finally let her know one of the
reasons why he could not return her. He had a feeling she was not
going to be very happy about it considering it was one of the
things she kept insisting she was terrified might happen. He ended
up cutting the meeting short since there was nothing else that
could be done until Raffvin was found. In the meantime, he had a
brother to send on a mission, traitors at home to take care, and a
mate who was about to find out she was no longer completely human.
Out of the three, the first two were going to be much easier than
the last he suspected.

*.*.*

Lodar knelt down next to Vox with a fierce
frown on his face. Tor stood over to the side with an equally
accusing look on his. Vox sat on the floor of the training room
where he had brought Riley, looking up at two of his most trusted
warriors and closest friends with a pleading expression on his
normally impassive face.

“What did you expect!” Lodar growled out in
accusation. “She told you she was terrified of something bursting
out of her.”

“That she did,” Tor agreed, ignoring Vox’s
heated look.

“She said she didn’t want to turn into
anything,” Lodar continued. “What part of your plan made you think
blurting it out to her and then calling her cat forth was a good
idea?”

“I don’t know!” Vox admitted as he ran his
hand down protectively over Riley’s still, white face. “I thought
if she understood why she couldn’t return to her world she would
finally be more – submissive,” he finished a little weakly.

“How can you even think to use the words
submissive and Riley in the same sentence?” Tor asked in
disbelief.

Vox growled at his chief engineer’s tone.
“She would never have believed me otherwise,” he insisted brushing
her hair back from her face. He turned to Lodar. “Can’t you do
something?”

“She fainted,” Lodar replied drily. “The best
thing is to wait for her to come around. I am not sure if you want
to be here or not. She might just succeed in killing you this
time.”

Vox ran his hand over his face and lowered
his head in despair. “You are probably right. Are you sure she is
going to be alright?” He asked huskily.

Lodar laid his hand on Vox’s shoulder and
gave it a sympathetic squeeze. “It was just a shock to her system.
All the scans came back normal. She’ll be fine.”

Vox nodded in relief. “Leave us then. I think
it best no one else is here when she wakes.” He looked up at Tor
who straightened from where he was leaning against the wall. “Has
Viper left yet?”

Tor nodded. “Yes. He was not happy but he is
aboard the
Horizon
on its way to Earth.”

“Good,” Vox replied with a sigh. “Keep me
posted on what is going on. I will join you in a few hours. Set our
destination for Sarafin. I have some traitors that need to be dealt
with,” he said with a hard, cold edge in his voice.

“Good luck, my friend,” Tor said as he smiled
gently down at Riley’s face that had a bit more color in it than a
few minutes ago. “I have a feeling you are going to need it.”

Lodar laughed as he stood up. “Just make sure
she doesn’t have anything hidden on her.”

Vox shuddered when he thought of the two
small devices that she was so fond of. He had found them and hidden
them in a locked cupboard in their living quarters. He had also
gone through the large pink case she had but he couldn’t find any
other harmful devices in it. He hadn’t had a chance to check the
large bag she was so fond of as she always had it with her.

He looked around the large training room.
There were weapons lining the walls on three of the four sides.
Perhaps this wasn’t the best place to bring her for her first
shift. He knew she was ready for it. His cat was more than ready
for his mate and he could sense hers was close to the surface. The
last time he made love to her he could see the swirling lines of
her cat running along her skin. He could also feel the increased
heat of her body against his.

Just the thought was enough to make him hard.
His cock swelled as he remembered the brief glimpse he had gotten
of Riley in her cat form. She was magnificent! She wasn’t all lean
muscle and sleek lines like the females of his world. She was nice
and plump, with a rounded stomach that made his cat want to flip
her onto her back so he could rub against it. She had been solid
white with dark swirling lines of black through her coat and the
beautiful blue eyes that made him feel like he was drowning every
time he looked into them. Her face was framed by longer white hair
that showcased the delicate lines of her face. His cat had gone
wild. Unfortunately, Riley had taken one look at her front paw and
fell over unconscious before he or his cat could do anything. Maybe
he should have warned her what was about to happen instead of
shifting and calling forth her cat before the door even finished
closing all the way.

He glanced down and was surprised to see
steady blue eyes gazing up at him in wonder and fear. He gently
touched her cheek with a finger, stroking the silky skin. Neither
one of them said anything as he sat holding her possessively
against his body. He saw the confusion, the questions, and the
wonder fighting each other as the magnitude of what happened
flickered through her mind.

“Ever since I met you I have made one mistake
after another,” Vox admitted in a quiet voice. “I have never felt
the emotions that you bring out in me. I have always been in
control but with you that control disappears. My body burns for you
all the time, Riley. I love listening to you, even when you are
singing that Gods awful song. I love watching your eyes flash with
fire or laughter. I love how protective and fierce you are for
those you care about. I love how you are soft to the touch and the
passion in you when I make love to you. Most of all, I love you
more than life itself,” Vox finished softly.

Riley blinked up at the most handsome,
confusing, and unusual man she had ever met. He had totally turned
her life upside down. He confused her with all the emotions he woke
inside her when he was near and scared the hell out of her more
than she had ever been before because she knew he had the power to
break her heart. That was something she had protected ever since
her mom took off all those years ago.

“Can you ever forgive me?” Vox whispered with
regret. “Can you find it in your heart to at least give me another
chance to not mess up?”