Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 (32 page)

“Riley, there are only a few more stalls to
go. Do you want to see them before we return?” Doral called out
from across the way where she had found a scarf she liked.

“We might as well as I don’t know when I’ll
get a chance to return,” Riley answered with a contented sigh.
“This has been the best day of my life – well besides the day I met
Vox even if I did knock him on his ass.”

Tamia laughed and moved to the next stall.
Riley felt a sense of unease as they approached the last stall. It
was a little further away from the others and there were only a few
shoppers down this way. That wasn’t what had the hair on the back
of her neck standing up though. There was something else, as if she
was being stared at. She let her eyes wander around the area,
pulling on her skills as a bail bondsman to help her. In the
shadows near an alley a cloaked figure was standing in the shadows.
Riley stopped, focusing on the figure with a frown. There was
something vaguely familiar about it. The frown on her face turned
into a surprised gasp as the figure emerged from the shadows and
lowered the hood covering its head.

*.*.*

Antrox 157 stared with hatred at the female
who had destroyed everything he had worked for. He motioned with
his hand. Four figures converged on Riley’s small group. The two
guards went down with blasts to their backs as they moved closer to
Riley when she gasped and froze. The other two females screamed in
terror. Within moments, Riley’s unconscious body was being carried
past him. He stared in distaste at the limp pale figure as the
mercenaries he had hired walked by him. He would receive a king’s
fortune in credits for the female. He had sworn he would make her
pay for ruining his reputation within the Antrox mining operations.
He would have been lucky to hire on as a Pactor supply clerk after
what she had done. Now, he would have enough to buy his own mine.
It would be small but it was a start. He quickly followed the
mercenaries out of the marketplace, ignoring the calls for help
from the women as they bent over the still forms of the guards.

“We need to get out before they shut down all
leaving flights,” the huge Merc carrying Riley snarled. “You didn’t
tell us she was royalty.”

“She is nothing but an escaped acquisition.
You were given the credits to capture her. I will give you the
other half due you once she is delivered,” Antrox 157 replied
coldly. “Otherwise, you get nothing.”

“Damn bug,” another one of the mercs muttered
under his breath. “Move it, Garl. I don’t want to stick around for
any of these damn cat-shifters. They like to rip you open and watch
as you try to shove your guts back in.”

“Prepare the ship for lift off,” a third merc
yelled out. “We leave hot and fast.”

“Grun, go ahead and make sure the way is
clear,” Tril snapped at the husky red-skinned creature who sped
away on four legs. “You better hope she is worth the credits you
promised,” he said as he shifted Riley over his shoulder.

“She accepted five mates, three were Sarafin
warriors, I have no doubt she will handle whatever the pleasure
house sends to her,” Antrox 157 replied, hurrying down the narrow
alley.

Nothing else was said as the five figures
moved rapidly down the narrow alley and up several flights of
stairs until they reached the top of one of the taller buildings in
the city. Grun was removing the cover camouflaging the small
transport. It was a tight fit but all five plus an unconscious
Riley piled into the small ship. Garl shoved at the controls and
the specially modified ship rose rapidly before turning and
shooting up through the atmosphere. The group was used to
retrieving difficult and dangerous merchandise. This mission was
especially challenging because none of them wanted to be on the
wrong end of the Sarafin warriors who were bound to try to retrieve
what they had stolen. They were there to retrieve and deliver, that
was all. After the delivery, they would disappear for a few months
before regrouping in a different star system.

*.*.*

Riley came to slowly. Her head ached and her
stomach churned. She could feel that she was about to lose what she
had eaten for lunch.

Being pregnant sucks,
she thought
darkly, keeping her eyes closed and breathing steadily through her
nose in the hopes of not tossing her cookies.
I think this
should be a totally male thing since they are the ones who want to
brag about how potent they are. What the hell do they suffer from?
Puffing their chest out too far? They pop the load and sit back
while I get to be sick, gain even more weight, and have bigger
boobs to carry around while they strut like a damn peacock!

Riley continued listing all the disadvantages
being pregnant entailed hoping it would help calm her wayward
stomach. After several minutes, it appeared to work as she felt
confident she could open her eyes without them being crossed.

She turned her head cautiously, studying
where she had been taken. Her heart jerked at the idea of her
friends or the guards with her being harmed because of her. Her
eyes blurred with anger at the thought of the senseless act.

I’m going to smash that oversized bug when
I get my hands on him. I’m going to feed him to the first Venus
Flytrap I can find. Or better yet, I’m going to find a really huge
spider and watch as he squirms in its web before it sucks all his
guts out,
she muttered out loud.

A dark chuckle drew her attention to the door
of her cell. She stared in fury at the grotesque creature standing
on the other side of it. “What are you laughing at you overgrown
fleabag?”

“Antrox 157 said you had spirit. I am glad he
did not lie. You will bring more credits on the auction block. Many
of the more selective guests like a female with a little spirit.
They want to see how long it takes to break her,” the snarly voice
replied.

Riley slowly sat up, putting a hand to her
head to still the spinning. She glared at the creature. It was
shorter than her, probably about five feet eight inches, if that.
It was covered in gun-metal gray scales and had two red, beady
eyes, no nose, and thin lips covering small, sharp teeth.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing
working with a scumbag like that dickless bug?” Riley asked. “Don’t
you have anything better to do than kidnap innocent, defenseless
females?”

Pud laughed. It was a shame he needed to
deliver the pale female so quickly. The owner of the pleasure house
wanted to test her out before he put her to work. It appeared the
owner was bored and had become intrigued by the story behind this
particular female. He rubbed the front of his pants wondering if he
could chance having a sample before he delivered her.

“You make me hard, female,” Pud told her with
a nasty grin. “I like that. It has been a while since a female has
done that.”

Riley rose up enjoying the way the filthy
creature took a step back when he realized she was taller than he
was. “Don’t even think of it, you little squirt, I’ll rip your dick
off and feed it to you before you even realized that little worm in
your pants was gone,” she snapped out.

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.”

“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
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 at the
same time in horror.

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 ridged,
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 forward 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.