Choosing Riley Read online

  Vox was determined to cleanse his star system of those who would betray their own people. He had gone after them without mercy, whether they were male or female; to him, a traitor was a traitor. He knew it had affected Creon badly when he found out the female he was in love with, a Curizan princess, was one of those responsible for instigating the war. They had discovered it almost too late to save their friend. Ha’ven, the ruling Curizan prince, had been kidnapped in a plot to implicate the Sarafin and Valdier and to gain important information about the location of the Curizan warships. Vox had discovered one of his warriors returning late one night after sneaking off. He and two of his brothers had confronted the man. They discovered he had met with Aria, Creon’s lover. The warrior had been passing Sarafin information on to her. Vox had tortured every last piece of information from the man before he killed him and left his body on display in front of the palace for any others who thought to betray his trust.

  He had approached Creon with the information he had discovered. At first, Creon had not believed him but eventually he could not deny the evidence building up against Aria. They decided to set a trap for her. It had worked too well. Only he, Creon, and Aria knew of their reported secret mission to transport a captured prisoner. When the mercenaries Aria hired showed up at the trap, they had killed all but the leader of the group. Creon had extracted the information from him. The man’s dying words were of Aria’s betrayal. Later that night, Creon had the location of Ha’ven’s prison and Aria was dead. Vox never asked his friend how he got the information out of her, he knew what he would have done. They had found Ha’ven three days later in a mining asteroid not unlike the one he and his men were currently imprisoned in. Ha’ven had been tortured and was more dead than alive. It was a miracle he had survived as long as he had considering what Aria’s men had done to him.

  Vox jerked back to the present when the door to the rooms he and the other men had been escorted to suddenly opened. He watched as three Antrox males entered. Two had long, stunning rods and the other had a strange looking rectangular pink object on wheels. They were followed by the female he had seen earlier. She was talking to a fourth Antrox male who was following several steps behind her.

  “Oh dear,” she was saying as she looked around the room. “This place screams classic caveman! Fred and Wilma really outdid themselves this time. I’ll have to be sure and send a thank you note for the lovely rock walls,” she was saying sarcastically. “Really, would it have hurt to have updated the décor by a few million years? I really am going to have to mark you down on Trip Advisor. This is simply too blasé considering today’s fashions and travelers’ expectations.”

  The Antrox male behind her was grinding his gums together as she continued to ramble on about the furniture, floors, ceiling and everything else in the room. Vox’s eyes followed the female as she tapped a slender finger on her chin as she stopped in the center of the room to look around once more. Heat filled him as her eyes swept by him. He wasn’t sure at first if the heat was from irritation that her eyes kept moving by him as if he didn’t even exist or his reaction to having her closer to him. One thing he did know, she was his and he wanted her now!

  “Darling, you can put my luggage next to the bed. I hope you changed the sheets. I absolutely refuse to sleep on someone else’s dirty linens. Oh Sticky-pooh, be a sweetheart and take off these adorable bracelets. As much as I like them, they really do clash with my outfit and totally say ‘prison inmate’ all over them,” the female said, walking up to the Antrox who was standing next to the one placing her suitcase next to the bed.

  She smiled up at him and innocently fluttered her eyelashes. Instead of making the tall Antrox feel better, he actually took a hesitant step backwards looking at the male behind her for guidance. The one who had carried the strange large pink box looked relieved that she was focusing on someone other than him. Vox’s blood heated to boiling when he saw her beautiful face glow in amusement as she watched the way the Antrox moved nervously around her. Her plump pink lips parted to show off smooth, even white teeth and a small indent appeared on her cheek. He had never thought smooth edged teeth were sexy before but he decided right then and there, he loved the way they looked on her.

  The Antrox behind her nodded once to the other male and stepped back another step. The Antrox lowered his stunning rod and held out the key to the locking device. He motioned for the female to extend her hands in front of her. She did with a wide-eyed look and a nibble to her lower lip. Vox’s eyes followed the movement and he almost groaned out loud as his cock swelled to a level of pain he had never encountered before.

  The female gently rubbed her wrists and wiggled her little nose. “I hope you aren’t expecting a tip,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Because I have to say, I am not sure of the hospitality yet much less the rest of the accommodations,” she added as she put her hands on her hips and tapped her booted foot.

  “We must leave,” Antrox 264 said from behind her. “You will keep your mates calm and satisfied. They will be working the first shift so you may be near them.”

  “Whatever,” the female said with a casual shrug. “I want clean towels brought in daily and I’ll need a line of rope and several blankets delivered immediately.”

  Antrox 264 nodded at the other guards to move toward the entrance to the cell. “Why do you need these items? They are not budgeted for workers.”

  The female turned and glared at 264 through narrowed eyes, causing him to jerk backwards another step. “Darling, put it in your budget unless you want me upset. You won’t like me when I am upset, do you understand? I am NOT a nice person when I am upset,” she said taking a menacing step toward him with her eyes glittering with fury and determination. “Now go get me what I requested! Chop, chop!” She growled out with a snap of her fingers causing all four guards to jump and hurry out.

  *.*.*

  Riley drew in a deep, calming breath to steady her nerves in preparation of meeting her five new ‘mates’. She was shaking like a leaf on the inside but she had learned a long, long time ago not to let it show. She put her hands back on her hips, drew in another deep, steady breath, and tossed her heavy mane of blond hair over her shoulder before turning around to face the five males again.

  At five feet ten inches tall, she was a big woman. When you added in the fact that she was a solid size sixteen on a good day with Double-D cup breasts, she was Zena on steroids. She had learned to live with her big-bone stature a long time ago. She didn’t have much choice since she practically towered over everyone she ever met between the ages of four and eighteen when she was growing up. She had reached puberty early and had to live through all the Amazon and She-giant jokes that any sensitive young girl would have to endure. Only other sensitive young girls didn’t have Grandma Pearl raising them. Grandma Pearl showed Riley how to punch anyone who made fun of her in the nose. When the fourth school’s social worker threatened Pearl with Children Services to take Riley and Tina away from her, Pearl showed Riley how to use her mouth as the weapon of choice after that. Riley had excelled at that much better than she had the physical form of retaliation. Over the years she had plenty of opportunity to perfect her ‘talent’ as her grandma called it.

  Releasing the breath she had been holding, Riley smiled brilliantly at the five alien males staring at her. “Well boys, it looks like Auntie Riley is going to have to set some ground rules while we are together,” she said, looking at each one of the males carefully to assess how she was going to handle them.

  Alien number one was about three and a half feet tall, had two heads, and looked like a combination of a lizard and ET. He was cute in his own special way. Each head had large, black eyes on it that moved nervously back and forth between her and the other four men. He was a dark green with areas of tan, black, and red on him running in long lines down his body. He was wearing a small leather vest and cloth, plaid colored pants with child-size boots to match. He must have decided she posed less of a threat
than the other males because he emitted a weak squeak and scurried for a corner of the room. She also decided he looked like a ‘Fred’.

  Her eyes moved to the next alien creature. He, she was assuming it was a he since the Stickman called him one, was almost eight feet tall. He towered over all of them, including the other three males standing next to him but he just wasn’t all that scary. He reminded Riley of the big tub of Jell-O in the movie Aliens vs. Monsters. He was green instead of blue but he had ‘Bob’ written all over his wiggling body. He even left a light liquid that she hoped wasn’t radio-active or anything behind him. He appeared to be wearing some type of robe over most of his body. She didn’t even want to think what might be under it. It was his eyes that gave her the feeling he wouldn’t hurt her. They were big, round and the color of peach gumdrops with tiny black pupils in the center. He was emitting a low humming noise that struck her as if he was terrified. She wasn’t sure what he was so scared of. So far, she felt like everything was going pretty damn good considering she had been kidnapped by aliens. At least daddy and Dudley Dip-shit back in New Mexico couldn’t find her here.

  Her eyes finally moved over the last three males. She felt like she needed an old fashion fan like the women in the movies used to fan themselves to keep cool because she could definitely feel the heat increase when she looked at them. The first one was hot! He had his long hair pulled back at the nape of his neck. It was a long, golden blond with different shades coursing through it. He had patterns on his chest and left arm that looked like spots and was wearing a black vest, black pants and black boots. Against his lighter color they really stood out. His dark golden brown eyes remained focused on her as she assessed him. He looked more curious about her than ‘interested’. Riley was thankful for that because she had a feeling that her mouth and her one physical ability to bop someone on the nose wouldn’t stop him for long if he decided to sink those sharp teeth of his into her.

  Alien number four was the same height as the first one. She figured based on her own height they were probably about six feet four inches or so. It should have been nice to finally meet some guys who she actually had to look up to except for the fact they were aliens! Alien number four was looking at her with the same curiosity as number three had. He had more of a reddish-brown colored hair and a darker tan. His hair was short and had stripes of darker reds and browns running through it. His eyes were a light greenish-tan color with specks of dark green in them. He was dressed in the same type of clothing as the other guy. Riley assumed it must be a uniform of some sort. It was kind-of a biker outfit that the guys back home dressed up in on Sundays when they put their three piece suits up for the weekend. Only, she got the feeling these guys dressed like this all the time and this wasn’t a costume to just look bad for a day. She got the impression from all the muscles on the guys that they were bad all the time.

  Her impression proved correct when she finally looked at alien number five. She had avoided looking at him in the hope he was somehow less intense than the first time she saw him standing on the platform in the ‘Choosing’ room. If she thought he was hot from a distance, he was scorching up close! It took everything inside Riley not to reach out and touch him just to see if he burnt her fingers. Thankfully, Grandma Pearl’s wonderful teachings saved her from that impulsive behavior. Pearl drilled in to both her and Tina not to play with fire. Ever! Pearl explained that fire came in many different forms and most of them had two legs, one head that hung between them, and no brains to speak of. Riley thought her grandmother was like that because she and her daughter, Riley and Tina’s mom, had been left to fend on their own after the loves of their lives got them pregnant and left town. It didn’t take long for her to realize it happened to others, as well. Pearl pointed out to Riley and Tina just how often when their friends or just girls that lived in their neighborhood would ignore the signs. One by one, Riley saw the girls in her neighborhood fall for the ‘bad’ boy only to be left at the first sign of another pretty face in the neighborhood, more than often with a baby to raise on their own. Riley decided at twelve that she was not going to be one of those girls. Of course, that was also the same time that the dirty old man who ran the grocery store on the corner propositioned her. No, she was going to have a ring on her finger before she said ‘yes’ to anything. She wasn’t going to get stuck raising a kid on her own like her grandma had or her mom would have if she would have stuck around. As far as Riley was concerned, the guy could put up or shut up.

  It was funny, in a way, Riley thought. That was about the only thing Tina and I ever agreed on without ending up in a major yelling match first.

  Riley looked back at the huge male glaring at her. Alien number five was not just screaming bad-to-the-bone, but he had an international market on it, Riley thought before a giggle escaped her. Make that an intergalactic market, she corrected silently as she saw his face darken at her laugh.

  He was the same height as the other two but seemed taller for some reason. Either way, he still towered over her by almost six inches. His black hair cut short, almost military style. His upper chest was visible through the same black vest the other two were wearing. He had darker spots across his chest that looked almost like a leopard, not that she had ever seen a real leopard before. Riley let her eyes roam down the eye-candy appreciating the tight fit of his.... her eyes widened when she saw the very distinctive bulge in the front of his pants. Her eyes flew up to his in surprise and she fought to draw in a breath.

  Somebody was horny, she thought in dismay staring into the intense, burning tawny colored eyes.

  “Okay.....” Riley said rubbing her hands together. “First rule, that is your side of the cave and this is mine. You stay on your side and you remain in one piece. You come on my side and I cut your dicks off and feed them to you for breakfast,” she said with a small smile and raised eyebrows. “I claim dibs on the bathroom for exactly thirty minutes every morning and one hour every night, alone,” she added as she turned and walked over to where her suitcase had been dropped next to the bed.

  She bent over to unzip one of the side pockets. A low, rumbling growl behind her had her reaching in quickly to grab the item she had been hoping to retrieve since she had first been taken. Her hand wrapped around the small, leather wrapped device with a relieved sigh. She turned just as the huge male took a step toward where she was bent over. She looked up into the glittering eyes and swore silently. It looked like she was going to have to prove she would follow through on her instructions.

  “Get back on your side of the room. NOW!” Riley growled out, clutching the small device in her hand. “You stay! Bad alien. You are not to come on this side of the room!” She said fiercely, pointing her finger to the side where the other males stood.

  “You are mine!” The huge male growled out as he took another menacing step toward her. “I claim you.”

  Riley’s temper flared at his outrageous claim. “Last warning, get your ass back on your side of the room or I’ll do it for you,” she snarled back, straightening to her full height.

  Vox grinned showing off his pearly, white sharp teeth. “I’d like to see you try,” he smirked, taking another step toward her until he was within arm’s reach of the female he knew was his mate.

  Riley smiled and a sparkle of devious delight glittered in her eyes as she looked up at the huge male towering over her. “Oh darling, you really shouldn’t have said that,” she said right before she pressed the device she was holding against his chest and pressed the button on the small Taser.

  Vox’s eyes widened briefly before a curse tore through him as his body jerked. His chest burned as the explosive shock jolted him backwards where he collapsed on the hard, stone floor. His body twitched as his muscles reacted to the powerful shot of electricity that it received. His jaw clenched tightly as he fought the painful effects but it was useless. He had absolutely no control over his muscles. It was ten times more painful than the shocks from his collar or from the stunning rods he had rec
eived from the Antrox. He forced his eyes to follow the female as she put her hands back on her hips and tossed her head back with a glare at his men who were growling at her. Tor and Lodar snarled in rage as they grabbed him by his arms and pulled him away from the female who was standing back near the bed hissing at them and snapping her teeth. His eyes flickered to hers and he saw the brief flash of fear before she concealed it.

  Chapter 3

  “How are you feeling?” Lodar asked quietly.

  Vox grimaced as he rubbed his chest. Twin burn marks stung as his hand moved over them. His eyes followed the female as she worked to hang a curtain wall with the items the Antrox guard brought in almost thirty minutes before. She was humming under her breath a tune he had never heard before. It had taken him almost an hour to recover the full use of his limbs without feeling like he was going to fall on his face. He tugged at the collar around his neck and cursed when he felt the small shock. His muscles reacted to it instantly as they were still a little twitchy from the heavy jolt they had received a short while ago.