She wasn't going to mate with any alien, no matter how cute they looked. She had watched enough science fiction movies to cure her of ever wanting any alien booty! What if those things decided to do some body snatching or exploding out of her? A shudder went through Riley at the thought.
Antrox 785 looked back and forth between Riley and the men on the platform below him with a confused expression on his face. "Why would you not want to choose a male? You are female! All of our data points to you being the weaker of your species and in need of a male for protection." Antrox looked from the males back to Riley again. "Why would you not like males?"
Riley let loose a slightly hysterical laugh. Okay, maybe she was still just a little terrified. "Why don't I like males? Now, that is the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, isn't it? How about we go get a bottle or two of your strongest booze, get good and drunk, and I'll tell you why I don't like males anymore!" Riley's voice was growing louder with each word. "Let's start with you!"
Vox looked up in surprise as he heard a husky feminine voice shouting. He growled low as he caught his first sight of the buxom female who had turned toward the Antrox male. He wanted her. He didn't understand why, but he wanted her-right now. His body instantly responded to her voice. He felt the primitive need to mate. To possess. When he saw the face and body that went with the voice, it took everything in him not to struggle against the restraints holding him captive. She was curvy, with large breasts, a small waist, and hips that made his mouth water at the thought of holding on to them. Her hair was the color of their sun and flowed in thick waves down her back almost to her lush, rounded ass.
She is built for loving, he thought in awe as he watched her.
She was wearing a light pink top that molded to her lush curves. He couldn't see what she looked like below her waist, but he could imagine it. He wanted to see her eyes. He knew they would be flashing with fire, and he wanted that fire turned on him. He snarled as another guard joined in using the stunning rods to force him back away from the edge of the platform.
He jerked in surprise, and his eyes widened as the female, who was tiny compared to the larger male, started jabbing the Antrox male in his chest and yelling at him. Vox snarled again when one of the guards pushed him back harder with one of the long rods. He ignored the sting from the shock and focused on the female's hands which were shackled in front of her. Why would the Antrox shackle a female? Females were weak and to be protected. Vox had never heard of an Antrox male using shackles on one before. He listened in disbelief as the normally impassive species roared out in a loud, aggravated voice at the female.
"CHOOSE! Now, female, or I will choose for you!" Antrox 785 roared out.
He didn't know what else to do. He was in charge of the mining facility. It was not his job to question who was brought to the mines. His job was to match a female with a male to ensure the males would be more docile. He had never encountered a hostile female before and did not know how to handle a female like the one poking her sharp nails into his chest.
Riley looked at the stickman standing in front of her and let out a sniff of indignation. "Well! There is no reason for you to get so uptight!" she said, turning her back to him and tossing her heavy mane of blond hair over her shoulder. "I choose all of them," she said with an exaggerated sigh.
"What?" Antrox 785 practically shouted.
Riley turned to look at him and rolled her big, baby blue eyes. "I said, I will take all of them," she repeated slowly with a slight shake of her head showing she thought he was a dumbass.
"But … but … " Antrox 785 stuttered in confusion. He looked down at the five men looking up at him and then back at the female. "No, you must choose one."
"No, I don't have to choose just one. I choose all five," Riley said stubbornly. "Five or nothing!" she added with another determined shake to her heavy mane of hair.
"How can you have five males?" Antrox 785 asked in frustration. "All other females choose just one."
"Well, I am not all other females. I am Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado, and I choose five," Riley said with a stubborn tilt to her chin. "If you have a problem with that you can just get over it. I've made up my mind, so there," she added with a raised eyebrow daring him to tell her no.
She would have crossed her arms to show she meant business if they hadn't been tied together. Since she couldn't do that, she put her nose as high as it would go in the air and gave her best "that's my final answer" look. She even thrust one hip out to show she could not be intimidated into changing her mind. If she learned one thing while being a bail bondsman, it was that body language could be a very effective weapon.
Antrox 785 ground his gums together in frustration. Throwing up a hand to the guards below him, he signaled for them to take all the men to the cavern assigned to the female. With a jerk of his head, he motioned for the two guards standing back behind Riley to come forward.
"Take her to her living quarters where her mates are and bring me the trader who brought the female here," Antrox 785 said harshly.
One of the guards looked cautiously from Riley to Antrox 785 before replying. "The trader has already left, 785," Antrox 921 said.
Antrox 785 looked down at Riley who was baring her teeth at him and snapping them together. He took a step away, curling his clawed fingers into the palm of his green hands. With a nod of his head, he watched as the two guards escorted Riley out of the choosing room. Antrox 785 had already decided if it had not been for the law preventing an Antrox from harming a female-any female-he would have gleefully fed the female to the pactors, the large creatures they used to pull the ore out of the mines as food. Antrox 785 made a note to himself that the next time the trader came to the mines, he would not be leaving.
Chapter 2
Vox jerked at the collar around his neck and received another burning zap from it. He growled at the other males who watched him. He knew two out of the four. Tor was his chief of engineering, and Lodar was his medical officer. They had both been with him when he left his warship, the Shifter, to purchase crystals at the Valdier spaceport. All three of them had been enjoying some refreshments when a Valdier warrior approached them and said one of the members of the royal house of Valdier wished to speak with them. Vox vaguely wondered at the time if it was in reference to the tentative peace agreement they had established almost a hundred years before. As the ruling King of Sarafin, Vox d'Rojah, was expected to produce a son who would be joined in marriage with the first-born daughter of the King of Valdier. The problem was Vox had no intentions of having any sons, at least not in the near future. He was quite happy with the wide selection of females he had at his disposal.
They had sat down to drink with an older Valdier warrior named Raffvin. He said he had news for Vox that concerned the peace agreement between the two former warring species. He had already made up his mind to ignore whatever the old warrior was going to say. The male had been pestering some of his councilmen to meet with him. He was annoyed the Valdier had not taken the hint he wasn't interested in meeting with him. As far as he was concerned, if he wasn't their leader, Zoran Reykill, or Zoran's brother Creon, he really didn't give a damn what the man had to say. He had met Zoran Reykill off and on during their many years of war and respected the man for being a strong and fair warrior who fought with integrity and cared about his people. It was his friendship with the youngest royal, Creon, that had sealed the end of the war and produced a long and lasting alliance. Creon had saved his life during an assassination attempt by some of his own warriors aimed at igniting fury at the Valdier during the Great Wars. The resulting friendship had led to a collaborative effort to discover who was behind the war. A small group from the elite royal houses of Valdier, Sarafin, and Curizan were discovered to be working together to bring down the current ruling class of each star system so they could gain power.
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.