Free Choosing Riley: Sarafin Warriors Book 1 by S. E. Smith Page B

Now, the smell of her pain
was overwhelming to the three warriors. It was a dark, musky scent
that brought out a protectiveness and need to care in all of
them.
    “Riley, let me look at your wrist,” Lodar
said gently as he knelt down next to her.
    Riley bit her lip and shook her head even as
she looked at him with her big blue eyes swimming in tears of pain.
“I don’t want you to touch it. You might make it hurt worse,” she
whispered as her bottom lip trembled and a lone tear course down
her pale cheek breaking his heart.
    “ Guall’s ball Lodar, help her,” Vox
demanded fiercely, unable to handle the thought of his beautiful,
stubborn mate being in pain.
    Lodar’s lips tightened as he heard the
desperate growl in his leader’s voice. “Riley, I need to see how
bad it is,” Lodar insisted as he reached down and gently rolled her
over onto her back.
    Fred hurried over with the pillow from the
bed and carefully lifted Riley’s head so he could slide it under
her. The little two-headed Tiliqua sat down next to her on the
floor and tenderly brushed her hair back from her forehead,
ignoring Vox’s low growl of warning. His right head turned and he
glared defiantly at Vox.
    “You hurt our mate,” Fred growled back. “You
scared her!”
    Vox flushed a dark red but he lowered his
eyes to Riley’s pale, tear-stained face. “I didn’t mean to frighten
you, Riley,” Vox murmured softly as he reached out one of his big
fingers to tenderly wipe the tears that ran down from the corner of
her eye.
    Riley’s lips trembled as Lodar carefully
lifted her arm. “You were hurting Tor,” she whispered as fresh
tears filled her eyes as she stared up at him.
    “He wasn’t really hurting me,” Tor said
leaning over Vox’s shoulder, oblivious to the blood covering his
neck and shoulders. “We do this all the time, Riley. He didn’t mean
anything by it. The Sarafin often use their claws and teeth. If he
was really going to hurt me, he would have ripped out my
throat.”
    Riley’s hiccuping wail filled the small room
at Tor’s words. “You are not making her feel better,” Bob said
pulling Tor away as he moved closer to Riley. “Go clean the blood
off of you.”
    “I think it is broken,” Lodar said in concern
as he carefully examined the discoloration and growing swelling.
“She needs immediate medical attention I cannot give her here. We
will need to summon a guard.”
    “I will go with her,” Fred said as he
carefully brushed her hair to the side.
    “No,” Vox snapped out, glaring at the small
Tiliqua. “I will go with her.”
    “You…. You can’t,” Riley hiccuped. “They will
see that your collar isn’t working. That goes for all of you,” she
whispered. “I’ll have to go alone.”
    “No,” all five men said stubbornly.
    “I will go,” Bob said softly. “They do not
look under my skin to see if I have my collar on. I am also the
least likely to be considered a threat next to Fred.”
    Vox’s mouth straightened into a tight line of
frustration. Riley was right. They would need to reactivate his
collar and that was still no guarantee they would let him go with
her. He had noticed the extra security surrounding them. Bob was
the least threatening next to Fred. He stood up, growling out in
frustration and anger. Closing his eyes and drawing in a deep
breath, he turned to see Riley struggling to sit up.
    He immediately knelt down next to her,
sliding his arm around her and snarling silently at Fred who was
trying to help her. He felt a moment of intense joy when she
relaxed back against him before it was dashed again back down to
the bottom of the mines when she turned her pain-filled eyes up to
glare at him in reproach. He tried to look remorseful but something
told him she wasn’t buying it.
    “Stop snarling and growling,” Riley snapped
as pain racked her. “That’s what got me in the position I’m in
now!”
    “Riley, you need to learn not to come up on
me when I’m disciplining my