CAPTURED: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys(182)

"It will be all right, Riley," Vox promised in a soft, husky voice. "I  promise I won't let anything happen to you. It will be all right. I'll  keep you safe."

Riley didn't answer. She just closed her eyes and held on as tight as  she could to the anchor holding her. She could always kill him later,  but for now she needed his strength and calming presence to keep her  from having a complete meltdown.

Riley pressed her lips against his neck, hoping for that plane of total  oblivion until the wild ride they were having was over. She had always  hated roller coasters. She never understood why anyone wanted to go on  something that scared the shit out of them and think it was funny. That  was why she kept the damn old Ford she had. It couldn't go faster than  fifty miles an hour without shaking apart. Slow was good; slow was safe.

Vox chuckled as he listened to Riley whispering. That was something else  he loved about her. She was totally open, there was no deceit in her.  But most of all, she could make him laugh even in the face of danger.

"Yes, my sweet mate," Vox murmured. "Slow can be very, very good. But I  still want to show you how wonderful fast can be as well."





Chapter 9

Vox muttered another curse as he wiped the sweat from his eyes. He and  Tor had been working on the engines for the past two days. He had to  hand it to his chief engineer, the man knew his engines. He had rebuilt  the main engine while Adur and Cross worked on the defense systems with a  little help from Bob and Fred. The damn Curizan was just as impressive  when it came to his knowledge of electronics. He knew the species loved  their toys. Hell, Ha'ven, the Curizan prince, and his brother, Adalard,  loved to show off the damn things they had invented. They had a racing  bike he really wanted, but Ha'ven refused to give him another one after  he crashed the first one into a tree less than an hour after Ha'ven gave  it to him.

"So, is Riley talking to you yet?" Tor asked as he walked up to where  Vox was working. He was wiping down another sleeve that needed to be  fitted into the new cylinder that attached to one of the boosters.

"No," Vox grunted out as he slammed the cover closed on the panel he had  been working on. "Why she is upset that I said she had a big ass I'll  never understand. I love it, but she won't listen to me when I try to  tell her that I like her being big and soft," he complained as he looked  up in frustration at Tor.

"Well, Adur is having to adjust the environmental systems to handle the  extra power he needs for the shields and weapons systems. It is going to  get chilly in here. We can handle it since we run hotter, but our mate  will need to be kept warm. Maybe she will be more receptive to some  cuddling," Tor said turning away with a grin as Vox snarl at his use of  the words "our mate."

"She is my mate," Vox responded in a low voice. "I will be the only one to keep her warm."

Tor grinned at his friend and leader. "I am not the one you have to  convince." He chuckled as he worked the sleeve onto the booster module  and tightened it down.

Vox ran his hand over the back of his neck tiredly. Once they had made  it far enough from the exploding mining asteroid to be sure they would  be safe, Riley had demanded that he release her. She had smacked his  chest and informed him with an inelegant sniff that she did not have a  "big" ass, she had a maturely figured one and he better never forget it!  She had then grabbed her large pink case that Tor had dropped and  marched off to find her a room of her own. He hadn't seen her since as  Tor needed assistance trying to keep the damn piece of dragon dung they  had appropriated from falling apart around them. Banu and Titus were  working on the system controls, while Adur, Bob, and Fred worked on the  weapons. Lodar was working on the single replicator that was  malfunctioning and inventorying the medical supplies.         

     



 

"Well, I think I have the replicator working temporarily," Lodar  responded tiredly as he walked into the engine room. "Just don't order  anything elaborate. There is no telling what the damn thing might do.  Oh, and don't get hurt. The equipment on this piece of shit is downright  barbaric. I wouldn't operate on my worst enemy with it. There isn't  even a stolen Curizan portable regen machine-which, by the way, I would  give my right arm to appropriate-and all the medicine is out of date by  at least twenty years."

Vox grimaced. "Have you heard if Titus or Banu were able to get the  communications system up yet? I want to contact the Shifter."

Lodar shook his head and lean back against the wall. "Not yet, but Banu  thought they should have it fixed in another couple of hours. They are  having to dismantle some of the non-essential control panels to get the  parts they need to fix it. We are going to be operating on the bare  minimum until we get off this death trap."

"Have you seen Riley?" Vox finally asked reluctantly.

Lodar laughed. "Yes, she has been like a small storm sweeping through  the upper living and dining quarters. The only thing that works on this  bucket of rust is the laundry unit. She has washed every piece of cloth  on this thing. We all have nice clean linen on the beds that are  available, any clothing she found was also washed and neatly hung up for  our use, and she has refreshed all her clothing," Lodar added, raising  his eyebrows up and down with a wicked smile.

Vox's eyes narrowed. "Why did you do that?" he demanded.

"Do what?" Lodar asked innocently.

"The eyebrow thing," Vox growled in a low voice. "What did she wash that makes you smile like that?"

Tor stopped what he was doing so he could hear what Lodar had  discovered. It had to be good if Lodar got that look in his eyes. It  really took a lot to get a reaction out of his friend.

Lodar leaned forward excitedly. "She has these undergarments she wears  that are all lacy and sexy. I've never seen anything like it before.  There was this one set that looked like your cat's coat, Vox. It had the  same coloring and spots. I would kill to see her in it. There were two  pieces to it. The top had these sheer cups that molded to her breasts,  and they were like … " Lodar held his big hands out with his fingers  spread wide. "I swear they would overflow both my hands easily! The  piece that she wears over her mound was like … " His voice faded as his  eyes glazed over.

Vox rose to his feet, grabbing the front of Lodar's shirt in one of his fists. "Like what?" he growled out in frustration.

Hell, he was too damn aroused to care that it was Lodar telling him what  his mate wore under her clothing. His curiosity was about to kill both  him and his cat. The idea of his mate wearing something that looked like  his cat was enough to make him want to hunt her down and strip her to  see for himself. His cat was panting, wondering what Riley would look  like in cat form.

"Lodar, tell us! This is killing me," Tor muttered.

"It is this little thing with two pretty little bows on each side and  one long thin strip of material up the back. I asked her what it was  for, and she told me it was called a thong. She liked to wear them  because they didn't leave panty lines under her clothes. I asked her if  she would model it for me, but she just rolled her eyes and told me to  get out or she was going to put me in the laundry unit so she could  clean my dirty little mind." Lodar chuckled as Vox's face turned dark  with envy.

"Damn, my cat and I have been dreaming every night about drinking milk,"  Tor muttered as he turned away to hide how aroused he was. "Now we are  going to be dreaming about her wearing nothing but those little pieces  of cloth." He threw a pained expression at Vox who turned to glare at  him. "Sorry, Vox. It's been too damn long since my cat or I've had sex."

"Well, quit thinking and dreaming about my mate," Vox ordered roughly. "Dream about another female."

Lodar barked out a resigned laugh. "Yeah, like Titus's purple mate?"

Tor shuddered and felt his desire cooling at the idea of the slender  purple female. There was just nothing sexy about making love to a stick.  Now, after meeting Riley, he wondered if even the females back home  could stir his cock the way they used to. The Sarafin females were  attractive, and they were definitely always in the mood for a sexual  romp, but they were hard and muscular due to their cat. Now he wanted  something he could actually cuddle up to without getting bruised. He  looked at Vox, barely hiding his grin. Vox's nose was still a little  swollen from where Riley had boxed him yesterday. Well, there might be  some bruising involved, but it would definitely be worth it.



Riley shivered. She was freezing her ass off. She needed to talk to the  guys about working on the damn heater. She pulled her suitcase out from  under the bed and unzipped it. She didn't unpack her things. The biggest  reason why was she was afraid they might have to evacuate the old tub  they were on in a hurry, and she wouldn't have time to repack  everything. She dug around until she felt the soft fur lining of the  jacket she had bought herself for her birthday two years ago. It would  have cost her a pretty penny at that boutique where her sister worked if  it hadn't been on the seventy-percent-off rack. Even with Tina's  employee discount it had still cost her a small fortune, but she loved  the damn thing. It was gaudy to the point of being chic. The rich, dark  purple dyed rabbit fur offset the glittering silver sequins all over it.  The damn thing practically glowed in the dark, and when she wore it to  the bar with a pair of her black leather pants it screamed "unavailable  rich bitch." Of course, the one and only time she wore it to the bar,  Pearl had threatened to shoot the damn thing. She'd said nothing that  ugly should be allowed to live.