Choosing Riley

Chapter 9-4

Riley breathed in the scent of the hot soup she had programmed into the replicator that Lodar had shown her earlier how to use. She had decided she’d better stick with something simple like he suggested and decided on a broth and hot tea. Anything hot to warm her up since she was beginning to shiver even with the jacket on. She tugged on the fur lining, pulling it up around her ears and adjusted her earbuds so they wouldn’t fall out before she picked up the tray she had found.

Yes, sir—she thought as she lifted the tray to her nose to smell the fragrant soup—something hot for the belly and a bunch of nice, clean blankets piled high waiting for me in my own room. Now all I need is a good movie or book to go with it.

She was humming along with the song she was listening to, her eyes focused on the tray so she wouldn’t spill any when a low rumbling sound made her eyes jerk up. Her mouth opened in surprise and horror as she saw the biggest damn cat in the universe glaring at her in rage.

A high scream worthy of any King Kong heroine burst from her lips as it launched itself at her. She jerked her hands up, throwing the tray over her head as she tried to protect her face from the massive teeth in its mouth. She closed her eyes and screamed even louder and longer the second time as the huge cat hit her square in her chest, knocking her backward until she was lying on the floor.

She could feel its teeth and claws as it ripped into her jacket. She continued to scream, unable to stop as the huge cat tugged and pulled until the material of her jacket fell away from her body. A final quick tug pulled the remaining earbud out of her ear. Riley felt the change in the body above her at the same time as she felt the freezing air of the freighter.

“Riley, speak to me.” Vox’s husky voice resonated through her at the same time as frantic fingers kept pulling at the tattered remains of her beloved jacket. “My lumi, please speak to me. Tell me if it is still hurting you.”

It took a minute for his words to process in her stunned brain. What the hell was he talking about? If what was still hurting her? She slowly opened her eyes to stare into the frantically worried tawny color eyes above her. A shiver coursed through her as the icy metal under her seeped into her already chilled body.

Huge warm hands pulled her up into equally huge and warm arms. One big palm pressed her head against his chest as the other pushed the remains of her jacket away from her. Riley’s heart began to slow even as the heart under her ear beat with a thundering roar, as if he had just run a marathon.

“Please, my love, please be all right,” Vox whispered, cradling her against him fiercely. “It will not harm you again. I promise.”

“Vox, let me look at her,” Lodar said urgently, coming up behind him. “I need to see what damage the creature may have done. It was wrapped all around her.”

“Adur, Cross, and Banu can help me search the freighter for any more of the creatures,” Tor said harshly. “We should have done that in the first place,” he added with disgust.

“Perhaps that is why no one else wanted this ship,” Fred whispered, looking up at Bob who was standing behind him.

“I have sealed off the two lower levels,” Bob said. “If there are any there, they will not be able to get to us and with the environmental systems shut down they shouldn’t be able to survive for long.”

“I have not seen any other purple and silver creatures, but if I modify the scanners I might be able to pick them up on it,” Titus added.

“I can help you,” Cross said, looking down at the remnants of the beast that had attacked Riley. “I have never seen anything like this before,” he murmured as he pushed a piece of the purple fur with the tip of his toe.

Riley listened as the men talked back and forth between each other, each piece slowly fitting together in her brain to make the puzzle clearer until the image of her jacket, totally shredded, loomed like a beacon in the mass confusion. At first, just a little giggle escaped as she thought about Fred’s reaction when he first saw it. His comment and her offhand, sarcastic response floated through her memory.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that they actually thought her jacket had been alive. That it was some type of alien creature that ate aliens! A little hiccup escaped her as she fought the surge of adrenaline-laced hysteria at having the s**t scared out of her all because of her beautiful but dead birthday present.

Vox stroked Riley’s back tenderly as he felt her beginning to shake. He looked at Lodar with wide, worried eyes. Lodar nodded as he moved in closer so he could examine her without having to pull her too far from his friend.

“Riley, it will be all right,” Lodar said calmly. “We won’t let anything happen to you. I just need to take a closer look at you. Can you tell me about what happened?”

Riley turned her face into Vox’s chest and burst out into uncontrollable laughter. It was just too much! They were totally freaking out over a gaudy piece of cloth. She shook her head, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to speak rationally yet. She was too busy having a hysterical moment.

“Just… just… a… moment,” she breathed out in a muffled voice against Vox’s warm skin. Hell, he was ten times warmer than her jacket! She snuggled closer and was rewarded when Vox’s arms wrapped even tighter around her, pulling her so close she was practically molded into him. “You… You… You… killed my… my… jacket,” Riley giggled.

“I killed your what?” Vox asked, confused, looking at Lodar to see if he understood what she was trying to say.

Lodar shrugged and touched Riley’s wild wave of curly hair. “What did you say, Riley? We couldn’t understand,” he asked gently.

Riley tilted her head back until she was looking up at both men. Her eyes danced with merriment as she fought back the uncontrollable laughter threatening to escape her. Her face warmed as she saw the other men looking on with concern.

“Vox, you dolt, you killed my favorite jacket!” Riley burst out laughing. “This is priceless! You thought my jacket was attacking me, and you killed it! My Grandma Pearl was right. She said that it looked like an alien attacking me and threatened to shoot it the one time I wore it to the bar. But hell! I never really thought that would ha-ha-happen!” Riley crowed before she buried her face into Vox’s warm chest again as her body shook with glee.

* * * *

“Not one damn word,” Vox growled out, looking down at Fred. “Do not say one damn word!”

Fred tucked both of his chins down into his chest and nodded before scurrying away. Vox watched the little Tiliquan move rapidly down the corridor. He was probably going to go apologize again to Riley for getting her jacket killed.

“You should go easy on the little guy,” Adur said, trying to keep a straight face. “After all, we all thought the damn thing was alive.”

Banu and Titus turned around quickly, trying to hide their grins. Cross didn’t even bother turning around. He just grinned. He couldn’t wait to see what happened next. He had to admit, ever since they had been introduced to the young female, life had been very, very interesting.

Vox growled darkly at all of them before he got up and strode off the bridge. Why, oh why, did he continue to screw up whenever he was around Riley? He had always been so in control, so commanding, so not an i***t before he met her. Hell, others trembled in fear of him! Riley trembled, but it was because she was either madder than hell at him or laughing her ass off at the idiotic things he did.

Vox paused and took a deep breath. Well, that was about to end. He was going to show her that he was not some i***t! He was the Sarafin king! He ruled over some of the fiercest warriors in the known star systems. He was a male that females from numerous different species begged to make love to them. It was about time that Riley realized that. She was his damn mate, his queen. It was time he claimed Ms. Riley St. Claire from Denver, Colorado and showed her he wasn’t going to take no for an answer any longer.