"Do you still want to go back?" Riley asked, sensing there was a lot to Carmen that she didn't know.
"A part of me does," Carmen admitted softly. "I need closure for my life before. My husband … " Carmen paused and took a deep breath, laying one of her hands across her stomach. "My husband was murdered in front of me. I was pregnant and had been shot several times. I lost them both. I wanted-needed-to kill the man responsible. I knew that I would die as well." Carmen looked at Riley with a haunted expression in her eyes. "I wanted to die before. Now I have Creon, and I'm expecting again. I have a chance at starting over."
"What about your family? Do you have anyone else back on Earth who will miss you?" Riley asked, pushing her own fears and problems aside as she felt the depth of pain in Carmen's words.
Carmen shook her head. "No. Well, except for Trisha's dad. My sister is mated to Creon's older brother. She is all the family I have left."
Riley bit her lip and looked warily at Carmen. "Do you think that Vox did something to me? I know they can turn into a big pussy cat, but surely that doesn't mean he did anything to make me turn into one."
Carmen chuckled reluctantly as she looked at Riley's pensive expression. "Truthfully, I don't know. Vox, Titus, and Banu are the first Sarafin warriors I've ever met. It is just the things you are saying you are feeling sound an awful lot like some of the things I was feeling before I turned into a dragon for the first time."
"Great! So what happens when I get home and turn into a big hairball? I really don't see the local humane society as being a great place to visit," Riley growled out as she started heating up again. This time not because of the changes but because of a certain something a soon to be dead hairball forgot to mention!
Chapter 15
Riley let out another stream of curses as she bounced on Vox's shoulder. The huge moron and the two traitors had tricked her. Ha'ven had reprogrammed the device he had given her, and Creon had tricked her into coming down to the dining quarters on the pretense Carmen wanted to meet with her. Instead, Vox had been waiting. He had lived up to his promise that if he got his hands on her again he wasn't going to let her go. He had snuck up behind her. The next thing she knew, he had twirled her around so she could see the determination in his face before he bent over and tossed her struggling, cursing body over his broad shoulder.
"Let me go!" Riley yelled out as she clawed at her hair to get it out of her eyes. "Damn it, Vox, I am not talking to you!"
"You could have fooled me!" He chuckled. "You have threatened me with every possible means of dismemberment. I did not know a female could even think of some of the ways you described."
"I can easily think of a few more," Riley snapped in irritation. "Let me down, you moron. This is totally messing my hair up and I'm wearing a skirt, you creep. I don't want everyone seeing my underwear."
Vox's chest rumbled with a purr as he ran his hand up her leg and under her skirt to touch the soft skin of her ass. He grinned in delight as Riley burst into another round of curses and dire threats of what she was going to do to him the moment she got free.
"Stop that!" she squeaked in outrage even as her body heated up as he slid his hand over the cheek of her ass.
Vox breathed in deeply, sighing in pleasure as he picked up her reaction to his touch. She still wanted him even if she refused to admit it. He was not going to let her remain under the misconception that she would be returning to Earth. Creon had told him what Carmen had shared about her conversation with Riley. He needed to get her onto the Shifter and back to Sarafin as soon as they met up with Creon's brother, Mandra, and took care of Raffvin. Once he had her back on his planet, he would seal her in his quarters and make love to her until she accepted her fate.
Riley sniffed in frustration, tears burning at the back of her eyes. She was so damn confused! She thought she had her emotions, and her body, back under some small amount of control, but the moment he touched her it was like she had grabbed the wrong end of an electric fence. Her whole body came alive, inside and out. Hell, right now it felt like whatever had been moving around under her skin was trying to brush up against Vox.
She drew in a deep, calming breath. The scent that exploded through her had her practically writhing with need, which really pissed her off. Since when could she smell everything so much better? The warm, musky masculine fragrance made her think of cool forests, soft grass, and hot bodies tangled around each other. Just the thought of it turned the burning need in her up another couple of notches. She was so going to kill his ass for making her feel this way!
"Guall's balls, Riley. I need you," Vox's husky, deep voice muttered. "As soon as we are on my warship I am locking us in my living quarters," he promised as he moved with long strides down the corridors, ignoring the warriors who stopped to stare.
Riley trembled at the dark promise. "I can't go with you. Cal and Mel said Creon is taking them back to Earth. I have to go back!" she wailed, trying to fight her own desires.
"Never! I am never letting you go. My cat and I have claimed you. You are now my queen," Vox growled out in fury. "I will never let you return to your world."
Riley bit her bottom lip. She couldn't go with him! There were too many things she still needed to do. She had a family, damn it. It might be small and dysfunctional, but it was still her family. She and Grandma Pearl and Tina might fight like roosters in a cock fight, but they were still very loyal to each other. Then, there was her ex-boss and his insane father. She had a moral and ethical responsibility to stop them from hurting others, didn't she? Finally, there was the fact that she didn't want to turn into a hairball and eat people. She liked fur but turning into a walking coat complete with a tail was not on her bucket list of things to do before she died. Which was the added bonus to her reasons-she was bound to end up dead. It happened in every single movie she'd watched! No, she needed to stay where she was at and think with her head, not her heart.
Riley gasped when she was suddenly lifted off Vox's shoulder. He slid her down his long, hard length until her feet touched the floor. She used her one free hand-he refused to let her other one go-to push her heavy mane of hair out of her eyes. She looked around, disoriented, before she noticed they were in the same docking bay they had arrived in several days earlier. Now, though, there was a strange-looking shuttle with a long, narrow nose that gradually widened toward the back. A small group of men stood talking with Lodar and Tor. One of the men turned to look at her through narrow, intense eyes. Riley stumbled back a few steps before Vox's grip on her wrist stopped her.
"That is my younger brother, Viper," Vox stated, looking down at her with a sharp-toothed smile. "I think he just found out about you."
"Great," Riley hissed. "You carry me in here like a damn rug over your shoulder, messing up my hair and putting your hands where they don't belong, then introduce me to family. That is so totally wrong on way too many levels."
Vox turned her around to face him. His face was cut in stone as he looked down at her defiant one. He could see the flash of fear in her eyes before she covered it up with that stubborn look she got. His heart melted a little when he realized that she was terrified but trying hard not to show it.
"You do not have to be afraid," he murmured quietly. "No one will hurt you. You will learn to adjust once you are on my world."
Riley's eyes flashed at the reminder that she wasn't being given a choice. Well, she thought savagely, since when have I ever let that stop me? All she needed to do was get back to her living quarters and lock herself in her room until they reached Earth. And, she thought savagely, I won't be coming out until I see the big, blue marble for myself. No more trusting the two Cheshire cats!
"I am not afraid because I am not going anywhere with you," she hissed out as she kicked her pointed-toe boot into his shin.
"Son of the gods," Vox yelped as he jumped back.
Riley used her free hand to yank down on the weakest spot of his grip breaking free from his hold. That was a clever move that she learned in a Crisis Prevention Intervention class that she took with a bunch of teachers. She drew her hand back as Vox reached for her and popped him as hard as she could on the tip of his nose just the way her Grandma Pearl showed her. She cried out when she realized she forgot to keep her thumb on the outside of her hand, but it still had the effect she was hoping for. Vox's head snapped back, and she knew he would have tears in his eyes.
Riley vaguely heard several of the men who were standing next to the shuttle yell out as she made a dash for the doorway. She could hear Vox snarling out loud curses. She was almost to the doorway leading out of the docking bay when Bob and Fred came through it, blocking her escape.