CAPTURED: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys(201)

"I will warn him that your Grandma can be difficult-and dangerous," Vox  insisted. "I will not return you to your world, Riley. You belong by my  side. If the only way for you to be with your family is to bring them to  Sarafin, then that is what will happen."

"But what if they don't want to come," she demanded. "You have no idea  what they are like! They are nothing like me," she added. "I am the mild  one of the three of us."

"Gods!" Vox muttered under his breath. "I find that hard to believe."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Riley asked indignantly.

"I can't believe they can be worse than you," Vox admitted as he strode onto the bridge.

Riley stopped with her mouth hanging open before her eyes flashed. "I am not that bad!" she protested.

Vox turned as he was about to enter the commander's room and raised his  eyebrow. "Would they have spent the last two days singing that Gods  awful song?"

Riley flushed and her mouth tightened. "It's driving you nuts, is it?  No, they wouldn't have spent two days singing. Grandma Pearl would have  whipped your ass into the ground or filled it full of rock salt! Tina  would be too dignified to sing; she would have frozen you out to the  point your dick would have been a popsicle," she snapped defensively.  "The whole purpose of driving you nuts was so you would take me back! I  have to take care of my old boss and his dad, and I don't want to die!"

Vox realized that every warrior on the bridge had stopped what they were  doing and were listening in fascination to their conversation. He  stepped closer to Riley and gripped her arm, tugging her into the  conference room, making sure the door was closed before he said anything  else. He saw the genuine fear in her eyes, as well as the  determination.

"I would never let anything happen to you," Vox said as he ran his  thumbs back and forth over her arm where he was holding her. He hid the  grin as he felt her body react immediately to his touch.

"You can't know for sure. Look what you did to the jacket Tina gave me!  That could have been me instead," she insisted, looking up into his  brilliant tawny eyes. "In every movie I've ever seen something bad  always happens to everyone but the lead characters. Hell, even some of  the romance books I read do the same thing! If you can rip up not one  but two of my jackets by mistake, how do I know you won't accidently do  the same thing to me one day?"

Vox let out an exasperated sigh. "Nothing is going to happen to you!  This is not some entertainment holovid, Riley. Accept that Viper is  going to bring your family here, and I promise to never kill another one  of your jackets ever again," he growled out in frustration before he  turned around to patch into the conference call with Creon, Ha'ven, and  Adalard.

Damn it! Riley thought crossly. How am I supposed to convince him that  bringing Pearl and Tina here isn't a good idea if he refuses to listen  to me! God, I can't even imagine what they would do. Tina …  Riley knew  her little sister would not handle being around so many guys very well. A  bad incident when Tina was in her last year of high school had made her  sister skittish about any of the male species, regardless of whether  they were aliens or not. That was what motivated Pearl to move them to  San Diego from Los Angeles. Things had changed when Pearl inherited a  bar from an old boyfriend who died from liver disease. Tina became the  manager, handling all the bookkeeping after she got her online  accounting degree. Unfortunately, she became even more reclusive. She  refused to leave the office during open hours and never went anywhere  without an armed escort, namely Pearl, when they left at night.

Well, if singing is getting through to him, then singing it will be! she  decided with a reluctant sigh and broke into her off-key rendition of  "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall." A girl has to do what a girl  has to do.

Vox's loud groan filled the room as he clenched his fists in a desperate  attempt to not wrap them around Riley's neck. Instead, he opened  communications with the Horizon. He was sure if he could kill Raffvin  and some of his men, he would feel much better.

He saw Ha'ven and Creon on the Horizon and Adalard and Zebulon from the  D'stroyer on the display screen. He listened as Adalard explained Mandra  had been gravely injured during the attack on his uncle's base.  Bahadur, one of Ha'ven's generals who had infiltrated Raffvin's  inter-group, explained Raffvin had decided to abandon the base. He  ordered it and all the inhabitants he had enslaved to be destroyed.  Mandra had made the decision to attack.

"What of Raffvin?" Ha'ven asked his younger brother, Adalard. "Were you able to kill him?"

Vox listened as Zebulon filled him in on the current status of the  situation. He was furious Raffvin had slipped through their grasp again  and worried about Mandra. He knew how fierce a warrior the huge Valdier  was during battle. He was glad his friend would survive. He grimaced  when Riley hit a particularly bad note. He suspected it was on purpose.  He knew exactly what she was trying to do, and it was time he finally  let her know one of the reasons why he could not return her. He had a  feeling she was not going to be very happy about it considering it was  one of the things she kept insisting she was terrified might happen. He  ended up cutting the meeting short since there was nothing else that  could be done until Raffvin was found. In the meantime, he had a brother  to send on a mission, traitors at home to take care of, and a mate who  was about to find out she was no longer completely human. Out of the  three, the first two were going to be much easier than the last, he  suspected.



Lodar knelt down next to Vox with a fierce frown on his face. Tor stood  over to the side with an equally accusing look on his. Vox sat on the  floor of the training room where he had brought Riley, looking up at two  of his most trusted warriors and closest friends with a pleading  expression on his normally impassive face.

"What did you expect!" Lodar growled out in accusation. "She told you she was terrified of something bursting out of her."

"That she did," Tor agreed, ignoring Vox's heated look.

"She said she didn't want to turn into anything," Lodar continued. "What  part of your plan made you think blurting it out to her and then  calling her cat forth was a good idea?"

"I don't know!" Vox admitted as he ran his hand down protectively over  Riley's still, white face. "I thought if she understood why she couldn't  return to her world she would finally be more-submissive," he finished a  little weakly.

"How can you even think to use the words submissive and Riley in the same sentence?" Tor asked in disbelief.

Vox growled at his chief engineer's tone. "She would never have believed  me otherwise," he insisted, brushing her hair back from her face. He  turned to Lodar. "Can't you do something?"

"She fainted," Lodar replied drily. "The best thing is to wait for her  to come around. I am not sure if you want to be here or not. She might  just succeed in killing you this time."

Vox ran his hand over his face and lowered his head in despair. "You are  probably right. Are you sure she is going to be all right?" he asked  huskily.

Lodar laid his hand on Vox's shoulder and gave it a sympathetic squeeze.  "It was just a shock to her system. All the scans came back normal.  She'll be fine."

Vox nodded in relief. "Leave us, then. I think it best no one else is  here when she wakes." He looked up at Tor who straightened from where he  was leaning against the wall. "Has Viper left yet?"

Tor nodded. "Yes. He was not happy, but he is aboard the Horizon on its way to Earth."         

     



 

"Good," Vox replied with a sigh. "Keep me posted on what is going on. I  will join you in a few hours. Set our destination for Sarafin. I have  some traitors that need to be dealt with," he said with a hard, cold  edge in his voice.

"Good luck, my friend," Tor said as he smiled gently down at Riley's  face that had a bit more color in it than a few minutes ago. "I have a  feeling you are going to need it."

Lodar laughed as he stood up. "Just make sure she doesn't have anything hidden on her."

Vox shuddered when he thought of the two small devices that she was so  fond of. He had found them and hidden them in a locked cupboard in their  living quarters. He had also gone through the large pink case she had,  but he couldn't find any other harmful devices in it. He hadn't had a  chance to check the large bag she was so fond of as she always had it  with her.

He looked around the large training room. There were weapons lining the  walls on three of the four sides. Perhaps this wasn't the best place to  bring her for her first shift. He knew she was ready for it. His cat was  more than ready for his mate, and he could sense hers was close to the  surface. The last time he made love to her he could see the swirling  lines of her cat running along her skin. He could also feel the  increased heat of her body against his.