Choosing Riley

Chapter 2-1

Chapter Two

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.

He had approached Creon with the information he had discovered. At first, Creon had not believed him, but eventually he could not deny the evidence building up against Aria. They decided to set a trap for her. It had worked too well.

Only he, Creon, and Aria knew of their reported secret mission to transport a captured prisoner. When the mercenaries Aria hired showed up at the trap, they had killed all but the leader of the group. Creon had extracted the information from him. The man’s dying words were of Aria’s betrayal.

Later that night, Creon had the location of Ha’ven’s prison, and Aria was dead. Vox never asked his friend how he got the information out of her; he knew what he would have done. They had found Ha’ven three days later in a mining asteroid not unlike the one he and his men were currently imprisoned in. Ha’ven had been tortured and was more dead than alive. It was a miracle he had survived as long as he had, considering what Aria’s men had done to him.

Vox jerked back to the present when the door to the rooms he and the other men had been escorted to suddenly opened. He watched as three Antrox males entered. Two had long stunning rods, and the other had a strange-looking rectangular pink object on wheels. They were followed by the female he had seen earlier. She was talking to a fourth Antrox male who was following several steps behind her.

“Oh dear,” she was saying as she looked around the room. “This place screams classic caveman! Fred and Wilma really outdid themselves this time. I’ll have to be sure and send a thank you note for the lovely rock walls. Really, would it have hurt to have updated the décor by a few million years? I really am going to have to mark you down on Trip Advisor. This is simply too blasé considering today’s fashions and travelers’ expectations.”

The Antrox male behind her was grinding his gums together as she continued to ramble on about the furniture, floors, ceiling, and everything else in the room. Vox’s eyes followed the female as she tapped a slender finger on her chin when she stopped in the center of the room to look around once more. Heat filled him as her eyes swept by him. He wasn’t sure at first if the heat was from irritation that her eyes kept moving by him as if he didn’t even exist or his reaction to having her closer to him. One thing he did know, she was his and he wanted her now!

“Darling, can you put my luggage next to the bed? I hope you changed the sheets. I absolutely refuse to sleep on someone else’s dirty linens. Oh, Sticky-pooh, be a sweetheart and take off these adorable bracelets. As much as I like them, they really do clash with my outfit and totally say ‘prison inmate’ all over them,” the female said, walking up to the Antrox who was standing next to the one placing her suitcase next to the bed.

She smiled up at him and innocently fluttered her eyelashes. Instead of making the tall Antrox feel better, he actually took a hesitant step backward, looking at the male behind her for guidance. The one who had carried the strange large pink box looked relieved that she was focusing on someone other than him.

Vox’s blood heated to boiling when he saw her beautiful face glow in amusement as she watched the way the Antrox moved nervously around her. Her plump pink lips parted to show off smooth, even white teeth, and a small indent appeared on her cheek. He had never thought smooth-edged teeth were sexy before, but he decided right then and there he loved the way they looked on her.

The Antrox behind her nodded once to the other male and stepped back another step. The Antrox lowered his stunning rod and held out the key to the locking device. He motioned for the female to extend her hands in front of her. She did with a wide-eyed look and a nibble to her lower lip. Vox’s eyes followed the movement, and he almost groaned out loud as his c**k swelled to a level of pain he had never encountered before.

The female gently rubbed her wrists and wiggled her little nose. “I hope you aren’t expecting a tip,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Because I have to say, I am not sure of the hospitality yet, much less the rest of the accommodations,” she added as she put her hands on her hips and tapped her booted foot.

“We must leave,” Antrox 264 said from behind her. “You will keep your mates calm and satisfied. They will be working the first shift so you may be near them.”

“Whatever,” the female said with a casual shrug. “I want clean towels brought in daily, and I’ll need a line of rope and several blankets delivered immediately.”

Antrox 264 nodded at the other guards to move toward the entrance to the cell. “Why do you need these items? They are not budgeted for workers.”

The female turned and glared at 264 through narrowed eyes, causing him to jerk backward another step. “Darling, put it in your budget unless you want me upset. You won’t like me when I am upset, do you understand? I am not a nice person when I am upset,” she said, taking a menacing step toward him with her eyes glittering with fury and determination. “Now go get me what I requested! Chop, chop!” she growled out with a snap of her fingers, causing all four guards to jump and hurry out.