Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (29 page)

Riley stood on the balcony of the palace
gazing out over the alien world. She giggled as she watched a group
of children, some in the shape of miniature tigers, leopards, and
other cat forms, running across an open garden far below her. She
gasped as a pair of strong arms circled her around the waist and
pulled her back against a hard, muscled body.

“I love the feel of you in my arms,” Vox said
quietly rubbing his chin against her hair. A deep purring began
vibrating his chest. “I love everything about you.”

Riley turned in his arms with a disbelieving
giggle. “Including my temper and smart mouth?”

Vox grinned down at her with warm eyes. He
brushed his lips against her softer, plumper ones. “Especially your
smart mouth,” he whispered huskily. “You will make my men think I
am turning into a kitten. I stop thinking when I am around you,” he
groaned as he rubbed against her letting her feel how aroused he
was.

A shuddered rippled through her before she
studied his face carefully. “Did you mean it earlier?” Riley asked
serious, hushed tone. “That you would talk about us getting
married?”

“I would give you anything you asked for,” he
admitted before capturing her lips with his.

He meant what he said. He did lose all sense
of thought when he was around her. Everything about her drove him
crazy, from her scent, to the touch of her skin, to the sound of
her voice when she was muttering under her breath or giving him
hell. He wanted it all. Every fiery, passionate part of her.

He broke away with a frustrated growl when he
heard the pounding on the outer door to their living quarters. The
insistent sound could only mean his family, namely his father, had
discovered his mating. A wave of protectiveness washed through him
as he stared down at his mate’s flushed face.

Guall’s ball!
He snarled silently as
he reluctantly pulled back when the pounding grew more persistent.
All I want is for everyone to leave me alone with my mate for a
few months. Is that too much to ask for?
He wondered in
frustration as Riley pulled away to go answer the door.

You and me both,
his cat hissed back
pacing.
I want to run and chase. I want to capture my
mate.

Shut up,
Vox groaned in frustration.
This is difficult enough without you picturing how you want to
mount her.

Mates have sexy tails,
his cat
purred.

Vox’s eyes focused on Riley’s swaying hips as
she walked across the room. Those damn shoes of hers were staying
on when he fucked her! He wanted her to wear them and nothing else
but the jewels he would drape on her. His eyes brightened as he
thought of one particular sets of blue crystals he wanted her to
wear.

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 may 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 that 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.”

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 to the ancient walled city instead 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.