Choosing Riley

by S. E. Smith

  Riley folded her arms over her chest and waited. “Okay, say what you’ve got to say but it isn’t going to change my mind,” she said stubbornly.

  Vox took a step closer, crowding her until she was backed up against the wall. “You will be ready to go when it is time,” he said with a determined thrust of his chin.

  She was afraid to move her arms because it would allow him to move even closer to her if she did. She frowned up at him. She was still mad at him. The big oaf was really too much! He had the nerve to think she was some kind of intergalactic spy hired by God-knows-who. He had been prepared to kill her without a second thought while he was the one sleeping with Spy One and Spy Two back home! On top of that, she finds out that he and his friends are a bunch of alien kitty-cat shifters. And the icing on the cake was him telling everyone he was ‘claiming’ her without even a take-her-out-to-dinner date!

  Oh hell no, I’m not going anywhere his furry ass is going. I’m going to find the first trader I can and kidnap him even if I have to threaten his ass in order to get back home, Riley thought with determination.

  “No, I won’t. I’ve decided to find me a nice little trader to kidnap. Once I do, I’ll have him take me home,” she replied with a stubborn tilt to her chin. “You boys go on and do your thing. I hope you find whoever it is you plan on killing. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time. Me? I’ve got business back on Earth to take care of involving a few dead bodies of my own,” she said with a confident nod.

  Vox’s hands reached out and gripped her hips, moving them slowly up to her waist. He savored every delectable inch as he slid his hands across her soft flesh under the purple top she was wearing. He pulled her closer to him, trapping her folded arms against his broad chest. He leaned into her, running his nose up along her neck as she straightened in an effort to get away from him. His cat purred in delight. Vox groaned, running his tongue along the slender column.

  Riley shivered as the rough sandpaper of his tongue ran along her smooth skin. “What do you think you are doing?” She asked in a strangled voice. “You…. Your chest is rumbling.”

  “My cat wants you,” Vox whispered against her neck. “So do I. We’ve both been denied too long,” he growled softly against her throat, nipping it gently.

  “Ouch,” Riley choked out hoarsely. “Well, go lick on someone else! I’m not interested.”

  Vox ground his hips against her, pushing his thick, swollen cock up against her. He slid one hand up to cup her chin and turned her face until she was forced to look into his blazing eyes. He studied her for a moment before a slight grin pulled at the corner of his mouth.

  “Liar,” he murmured. “I can smell your desire,” he said before pressing his lips to hers in a deep, passionate kiss.

  *.*.*

  Vox had listened with half an ear to Riley, Bob, and Fred as Titus and Tor worked out how to overtake the guards in the control room. Adur, the Curizan warrior, and Titus’ brother, Banu, would slip up through a narrow conduit maintenance tunnel they had discovered months ago and take out the guards in the control room. Cross, the Valdier warrior, would secure the arrival bay along with Tor and Lodar. Vox and Titus would secure the supply ship and prepare it for flight. They would need to do a fast refuel. Fred was small and fast enough to get through the tunnels unseen. His father owned a refueling station on one of the Spaceports. He would take care of the refueling before joining them. Bob would take care of making sure Riley was protected and where she was supposed to be. Vox had already warned the huge Gelatian he better make sure Riley was on the supply ship and in one piece or he would be coming after him personally.

  When he heard Riley say she wasn’t going to go with them, he knew he had to convince her there would be no discussion in this matter. There would be no room for hesitation as they needed to get off the asteroid as soon as the defense shields were down. If they didn’t, they would not be given another chance. His gut, and his cat, were telling him that time was running out.

  He knew he had hurt her feelings when he accused her of being a spy. He could smell the hurt radiating out from her. When he had admitted he would have killed her if she had been, she had shut down on him completely. It was as if an icy wall suddenly formed around her emotions.

  He pulled away reluctantly. Opening his mouth to explain to her that it was a fruitless endeavor to fight the attraction, his words froze as pain exploded through him. His eyes watered almost as bad as when she had sprayed that weapon of hers in his eyes as her head connected with the end of his nose in a blow that had him stumbling back a half step.

  His hands released her as he grabbed his offended nose. “What in the Guall’s balls did you do that for?” He bellowed out, falling back another step when she angrily pushed against him.

  “You can smell me?” She demanded elbowing her way around him and back toward the bed where she had her pepper spray hidden under her pillow. “You can SMELL me? Is that supposed to be a compliment? If so, that’s right up there with did you use any deodorant or when is the last time you took a bath? I do NOT stink!” She was so going to spray his ass.

  “Riley, I did not mean you stink. You smell, that is different,” Vox’s muffled voice came out from behind his hand. “What are you doing?” He asked warily as she turned with a determined look on her beautiful but very angry face.

  “I’m going to pepper spray your sorry ass,” she growled, holding the small leather cylinder out in front of her. “Then, I’m going to make a throw rug out of it! I. DO. NOT. SMELL!” She yelled out in fury.

  Vox edged around her wondering how he had gotten himself in this position. Holding his hand out, he stepped lightly to the side heading toward the entrance to their living quarters. His cat hissed at him again for making a mess of the situation.

  How in the Guall’s ball was I supposed to know she would take offense? He muttered to his cat in frustration.

  “Riley, I smell desire,” he began before he ruefully admitted, “or at least I did.”

  “I’ll show your sorry ass desire,” she said as she advanced on him shaking the cylinder menacingly. “Let’s see if you can smell this!” She snarled depressing the button on the spray cylinder at the same time the door opened.

  Vox jerked to the side, covering his face in defense. Unfortunately, Tor wasn’t as fast. His roar of pain echoed down the long corridor. The sound bounced along the walls, drawing others from their rooms. Several Antrox guards hurried down the corridor. They stopped when they saw Tor withering writhing on the floor in agony. Riley bent over him trying to pat him on his shoulder as he rolled back and forth.

  785 and 157 came hurrying down the corridor. “What has happened?” 785 demanded, stopping and releasing a sigh of frustration when he saw Riley’s blond head.

  “Oh baby, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Riley cooed to Tor who was curled in a ball trying to rub his eyes. “I was trying to hurt the big oaf. If he would have stayed still you wouldn’t be hurting. I’m so sorry, darling,” she said trying to get him to turn so she could see how bad it was.

  Riley looked up and glared at Vox. “Well, don’t just stand there like an idiot! Go get me a wet cloth,” she demanded.

  Vox nodded knowing how much pain his poor friend was in. He hurried back into their living quarters to retrieve the needed item. Riley looked up and scowled at 785 and 157.

  “What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy taking care of my mates?” She snapped, glaring at both of them.

  785 sighed and nodded to the guards. “If this is the way she takes care of her mates it might not be necessary to kill them. She will do a better job than we can,” he said, the semblance of a smile almost curving his thin, flat lips. “Have the guards return to their post.”

  157 looked at the Sarafin warrior rolling in pain and whimpering on the floor while the larger one moved back and forth doing the bidding of the female. He shook his head in wonder. Perhaps 785 was right. The female was doing a better job of controlling the males
than even he expected. From the reports he had read, he would have never believed the Sarafin king would be jumping to the commands of a female.

  157 nodded to the guards. He glanced back once more as the blond haired female leaned over the male on the hard floor. His mind was working numbers. With her unusual looks he calculated the number of credits he could get for her. If she could handle five mates, including three Sarafin warriors, she could handle much, much more. His flat lips thinned as an idea formed.

  Yes, 157 thought. She would bring in a lot of credits as long as I can keep her quiet long enough to sell her.

  He knew just the trader to contact. There would be no questions asked, the credits would be deposited to his hidden account, and he would have enough to buy his own mining operation. If all went as planned, the strange female would be available because by tomorrow evening her mates would be dead.

  Chapter 6

  “I am much better, Lady Riley,” Tor said trying to gently move away from Riley’s fluttering hands. “My eyesight is almost clear again.”

  “Are you sure?” Riley asked biting her tender lower lip that she had been worrying for the past several hours. “They still appear to be tearing a lot.”

  Tor would never admit that they still burned like the fires from the hot mountains back home or that his nose and throat weren’t in much better shape. He took another sip of the cool water that Lodar handed him. He glanced at his friend and gave him a nod of thanks.

  “I hope Vox took that little cylinder away from her,” Lodar murmured in a low voice as Riley turned away to check on Bob and Fred who had just returned. “I don’t want to take a chance on her using it on me.”

  Tor wiped at his eyes with the cool, damp cloth again. “It burns like the fire moon! My throat and nose are on fire too. What did Vox do this time to upset her?”

  “He said she smelled,” Lodar responded with a grin. “She did not appreciate his observation.”

  Both men watched as Vox followed Riley around trying to get her to sit down and listen to him. It was almost comical the way he pleaded with her to just hear him out. Lodar chuckled when she swatted at their friend and leader. He had never seen anything like it before. The human female was totally oblivious to the fact she was running circles around one of the most dangerous men in the known star systems. There wasn’t a female alive that he knew of that wouldn’t envy her position.

  “Do you think he’ll be able to catch her when this is all over?” Lodar asked curiously.

  “More power to him if he does,” Tor said hoarsely before taking another long swig of water. “She is almost as dangerous as the Curizan and Valdier were during the wars. More so if you take into account she has no idea half the time of what she is doing.”

  “Do you think all females of her species are like this?” Lodar asked admiring the way her tight pants stretched over her ass as she bent down to pack something in her strange pink case.

  Tor’s eyes followed Lodar’s over the curve of Riley’s rounded ass. He felt his cat purr. Maybe he wasn’t as immune as he first thought. His red eyes moved to Vox who had frozen in place as he followed her, his eyes glued to the same place as the other males in the room. When Riley straightened, she reached up and tucked her mass of curly hair back up in the bright pink scrunchie. The movement pulled the thin top she was wearing up revealing the pale skin of her slightly rounded stomach and pulling the top tight across her ample breasts.

  *.*.*

  Riley froze as she was putting her hair back up into its messy ponytail when the whole room erupted into echoes of low rumbling purrs. She turned startled baby blue eyes on the three huge cat shifting males who had their eyes glued to her. Three pairs of eyes, one a golden brown, one a very reddened greenish color, and the other a dark, tawny color all stared at her breasts as they thrust upwards as she wound the scrunchie around the mass of curls she was holding.

  She rolled her eyes. “You have got to be kidding me!” She muttered. “I swear to God all guys who aren’t gay have a one track mind!”

  She quickly finished putting her hair up trying not to turn as pink as the scrunchie as she watched their eyes follow her breasts as they bounced up and down. She didn’t care how much support the manufacture promised, when you were as big as she was there was still going to be some bounce. She lowered her eyes refusing to give into the desire to cross her arms protectively in front of her. The only thing that did was push the watermelons she carried around up. Instead, she clapped her hands loudly.

  “Hello?” She snapped, shooting an evil eye at Lodar and Tor. “It’s rude to stare!”

  Lodar cleared his throat as Vox turned to glare at his two friends. “Yes, well…. I…. we…. They are beautiful,” he finally choked out with a sheepish grin. “And very difficult to miss.”

  “I wonder if they contain milk.” Tor asked, unaware he asked the question out loud. “I would love to drink from them if they did,” he sighed.

  Riley’s mouth dropped open as what Tor said sank in. “Oh. My. God. You did not just say that,” she sputtered before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. “Do they…. Oh my god, that is priceless,” she continued to giggle, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes with the end of her shirt totally unaware the movement pulled the cloth up exposing her creamy flesh again.

  Vox’s loud roar ricocheted throughout the small room as he tackled Tor. The force of his shoulder hitting his chief engineer’s chest knocked both of them backwards through the air several feet before they hit the hard floor and slid almost to the far wall. Vox’s sharp teeth gripped Tor’s throat in a stranglehold while his claws dug into Tor’s shoulders, pinning him to the floor.

  “Bad kitty!” Riley shrieked out from behind him. “Let him go! You are a very, very bad kitty. You let go of him or I’ll neuter your ass. Vox, release him this instant. If you don’t I swear I’ll go to the guards and tell them I need to borrow their stun gun thingy. I mean it. I’m out the door in three, two, one…..”

  Vox released Tor with a jerk and swung around to face Riley so fast she stumbled backwards. Her heel caught on the uneven flooring and she lost her balance, falling to the floor heavily with a sharp cry. She rolled over into a ball as excruciating pain exploded through her wrist as she tried to break her fall. She landed on it hard. Riley bit her lip as she pulled her left arm up against her, cradling it to her chest as she sobbed in pain.

  “Riley?” Vox said hesitantly as he moved to kneel next to her curled up figure. “Riley, I would never hurt you,” he said gently as he tried to get her to look at him.

  Another soft, pain filled sob escaped Riley. “My wrist,” she whispered. “It hurts so bad.”

  Vox turned his head, looking over his shoulder. “Lodar,” he demanded hoarsely as worry engulfed him.

  Lodar nodded as he stood up from where he was checking the puncture wounds on Tor’s neck and shoulders. They would heal. They got worse when they were training or just wrestling with each other. If Vox had been serious about killing Tor, he would have ripped his throat out. The marks were just a warning to Tor to be careful expressing his thoughts out loud. It was obvious from the smell of Riley’s fear when she saw what had happened that she didn’t realize that. Now, the smell of her pain was overwhelming to the three warriors. It was a dark, musky scent that brought out a protectiveness and need to care in all of them.

  “Riley, let me look at your wrist,” Lodar said gently as he knelt down next to her.

  Riley bit her lip and shook her head even as she looked at him with her big blue eyes swimming in tears of pain. “I don’t want you to touch it. You might make it hurt worse,” she whispered as her bottom lip trembled and a lone tear course down her pale cheek breaking his heart.

  “Guall’s ball Lodar, help her,” Vox demanded fiercely, unable to handle the thought of his beautiful, stubborn mate being in pain.

  Lodar’s lips tightened as he heard the desperate growl in his leader’s voice. “Riley, I need to see how bad it is,” L
odar insisted as he reached down and gently rolled her over onto her back.

  Fred hurried over with the pillow from the bed and carefully lifted Riley’s head so he could slide it under her. The little two-headed Tiliqua sat down next to her on the floor and tenderly brushed her hair back from her forehead, ignoring Vox’s low growl of warning. His right head turned and he glared defiantly at Vox.

  “You hurt our mate,” Fred growled back. “You scared her!”

  Vox flushed a dark red but he lowered his eyes to Riley’s pale, tear-stained face. “I didn’t mean to frighten you, Riley,” Vox murmured softly as he reached out one of his big fingers to tenderly wipe the tears that ran down from the corner of her eye.

  Riley’s lips trembled as Lodar carefully lifted her arm. “You were hurting Tor,” she whispered as fresh tears filled her eyes as she stared up at him.

  “He wasn’t really hurting me,” Tor said leaning over Vox’s shoulder, oblivious to the blood covering his neck and shoulders. “We do this all the time, Riley. He didn’t mean anything by it. The Sarafin often use their claws and teeth. If he was really going to hurt me, he would have ripped out my throat.”

  Riley’s hiccuping wail filled the small room at Tor’s words. “You are not making her feel better,” Bob said pulling Tor away as he moved closer to Riley. “Go clean the blood off of you.”

  “I think it is broken,” Lodar said in concern as he carefully examined the discoloration and growing swelling. “She needs immediate medical attention I cannot give her here. We will need to summon a guard.”

  “I will go with her,” Fred said as he carefully brushed her hair to the side.

  “No,” Vox snapped out, glaring at the small Tiliqua. “I will go with her.”

  “You…. You can’t,” Riley hiccuped. “They will see that your collar isn’t working. That goes for all of you,” she whispered. “I’ll have to go alone.”