"Move! Move!" Riley screeched as she looked over her shoulder to see Vox turning to glare at her with murder in his eyes. "Oh shit! Move!"
"Riley, what did you do to him this time?" Fred asked looking back and forth in terror as Vox started stomping toward them with blood trickling from his nose. "He doesn't look like he is happy with you."
"You think I don't know that?" Riley growled out. "Bob, get out of the way."
"Riley, you are his mate … " Bob started to say before his voice died.
Riley glanced over her shoulder before she let out a loud groan. Turning, she raised her fists up and glared at Vox defiantly. He didn't look pissed, he looked like a volcano about to blow its frigging top!
"Vox, you just stay away from me," she bit out. "I don't want to have to hurt you but so help me I will if you don't leave me alone! I am not your queen, I'm not your mate, I'm going home!"
"I … am … going … to … whip … your … ass … for … this, Riley," Vox gritted out slowly between his clenched teeth.
Riley stumbled backward as she took in his dark face. Maybe the bop on the nose had been a little too much. She might have been able to get away with just the kick. Right now, she was cursing the fact that she didn't have her mini-Taser or pepper spray on her.
Note to self, she thought frantically. Never go anywhere without it.
"Just let me go," she responded softly, trying to get him to understand that this really wasn't a good idea. "I'm nothing but a pain in the ass, just ask my grandma and sister. They were forever telling me I was a headache waiting to happen. I don't belong on your world. I'm not queen material. Hell, I'm not even girlfriend material!" she added with a self-deprecating smile. "Just ask any of the guys who thought I was. Not a single one lasted more than a week."
Vox slowed as he came to tower over her. He shook his head as he took in her delicately raised fists. He could see the redness on her knuckles where she had hit him. His eyes roamed over her face as she stared up at him with wide blue eyes. The fierce determination on her face showed she really believed what she was saying. His eyes paused on where she was biting her lower lip. His body jerked in response as he remembered her soft kisses on his face, neck, and chest while he made love to her. He could see the pulse beating rapidly in her neck, begging him to taste her sweet blood again. As he stared at the rapidly beating vein, it dawned on him that she was terrified.
Take mate, his cat hissed at him. Mate fight, but I want my mate.
She's scared, Vox murmured. She acts tough, but she is really very scared.
We protect. We teach her to love us, his cat snarled back, pacing. I feel my mate. She is close.
I know, Vox replied carefully. I think that is one of the things scaring her. I will not let her go.
Good, his cat purred. I need her.
So do I, my friend. So do I, Vox replied.
"Riley, I won't let you go," he responded quietly.
He reached for her in a move so fast it startled her. She reacted without thinking, swinging her arm around. Poor Fred was standing off to the side so when Vox grabbed her one wrist, she turned, knocking him upside his right head which knocked it into his left one. He howled in pain as Riley turned again to hit Vox in the stomach. Vox pulled her arm around behind her back, twirling her and her fist became stuck in Bob's rounded belly instead.
"Now look what you've made me do!" she cried out, struggling to break the hold Vox had on her arm which was behind her back. "I'm stuck. Let me go!"
"Let her go!" Carmen's voice rang out from the doorway behind Bob, who was trying to pull Riley's hand out of his stomach.
"Carmen," Creon warned as he grabbed his mate who was moving into a defensive stance. "Let him take care of her."
"She told him to let her go. This is her decision," Carmen snapped back at Creon before turning back toward Vox. "She doesn't want to go with you. She wants to return to her family back on Earth."
Vox glared at Carmen over his mate's head. "She is mine!" he snarled back. "She goes with me."
"For the last time, I am not yours! I am Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado, and I am going home-alive, in one piece, without things bursting out of me or changing me into a zombie, or making me want to eat dead people," Riley cried out in frustration as Bob finally freed her hand from his stomach. "Oh, Fred, baby, I'm so sorry I hit you. Vox shouldn't have moved."
"That's okay, Riley," Fred said shuffling backward away from where she was still trying to break free from Vox. "It doesn't hurt that much."
"Riley, if you want to stay, I'll help you get home," Carmen said, taking a step closer.
"Yes, I want-" Riley started to say before she found herself lifted into a pair of arms that closed around her like steel bands.
Carmen's outraged cry echoed with Riley's as Creon lifted her into his arms as well. "Get her to your shuttle now, Vox," Creon growled out as his own mate began to struggle.
"Creon, so help me I am going to put your ass down for this," Carmen snapped out as she tried to break free of her mate's hold.
"I am not going with him, damn it!" Riley yelled, getting one of her hands free and pulling on Vox's short hair as hard as she could.
"That's it! Viper, get me some restraining cuffs," Vox yelled out over his shoulder at his brother, who had been watching the whole scene with disbelief.
"Here you go, brother," Viper said, looking on as his brother lowered the voluptuous alien female down to the floor of the docking bay. "Are you sure you want to bring her?" he asked as he handed his brother the restraining cuffs.
Vox growled as he straddled his mate, holding her face down with one hand between her shoulder blades while he used his other hand to grab at her flailing wrist. He pulled first one, then the other around and cuffed them. The thought of taking her like this burned through him with such ferocity that he had to close his eyes and recite another training script before he could rise up off her.
"Bob! Fred! Do something!" Riley wailed as she was rolled over and picked up again. "You have to help me!"
Bob put a hand out to stop Fred when he took a step toward Riley. "He will be a good mate for you, Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado. I will always be there should you need me."
"I need you now, you big bowl of Jell-O." Riley sniffed. "You have to help me get back home."
Bob smiled gently and moved closer to where Vox was tenderly holding her now quiet form. He reached out and touched her cheek with a plump, green finger before stepping back again. He looked fiercely at Vox who fought back a grin that the huge, gentle Gelatian would think to threaten him.
"I am sending you home, Riley," Bob said, still looking at Vox. "I am sending you where you should be."
Riley's face turned mutinous as she glared at the huge green creature who she thought had been her friend. He was just like the rest of the male species. They took what they wanted and didn't give a damn about the consequences. A fat tear rolled down her flushed cheek as she glared at Bob with a look of betrayal.
"I thought you were my friend," she sniffed. "I should have known better."
Bob looked down sadly at Riley. "I am your friend, Lady Riley. That is exactly why I am doing what I am."
"But … " Fred's right head started to say before his left head turned and hushed him.
"Bob's right. Riley is Vox's mate. We cannot interfere," Fred's left head said sternly.
"I don't need either one of you!" Riley said hoarsely. "I can get away on my own. You just wait. The first trader I find I'm going to kidnap his ass and make him take me home. You just wait and see! I'll be home before you know it!"
"I hate to break up this little party, but we've got to go! I just received a message from Adalard that they need help. Mandra has gone in after Raffvin," Ha'ven said grimly, coming up behind everyone.
"Vox," Viper said, drawing his older brother's attention back to the situation at hand. "We must go."
Vox nodded grimly, cursing Creon's brother for confronting their uncle on his own. He had read the reports sent to Creon about the destructive weapon Raffvin had that could destroy their symbiot. If Mandra was killed, it would mean the death of Carmen's sister, Ariel, as well. It was foolish for him to take such a chance, but Vox knew he would have done the same thing if given half a chance. The Shifter would travel beside the Horizon to Raffvin's hidden base. He was determined to make the traitorous Valdier royal pay for what he had done not only to him, but to his friends.
Chapter 16
Riley twisted around until she was in a sitting position on the bed. Vox had continued to ignore her protests as he and the other men boarded the shuttle that took them to the other warship. Riley had been quiet when they had exited the shuttle simply because she was too scared to say anything. There were hundreds of tall, deadly looking men working on the huge ship. Well, they were working until they saw Vox carrying her possessively in his arms. If she thought Viper and some of the other warriors were intimidating, it was nothing compared to a ship load of dark, suspicious, and intense stares. Only Lodar and Tor were at ease, joking as one carried her huge handbag and the other rolled her bright pink suitcase behind Vox as he carried her down corridor after corridor. She had gotten so confused she knew it would take her a month to figure out how to get back to the docking bay.