Page 34 of Tortured

“You will talk to her yourself.”

She nods. “I will.”

“Thank you.”

“I hope that you don’t die before you realize what a mistake you’re making, Commander.”

I nod my head but say nothing and she disconnects from the vid screen.

And then I grab my fighting uniform and get ready. There is a galaxy out there that needs my help. It’s all that I can do.

Protect the world and her. That is my new mission.

20

LACEY

We’ve all been given a suite of rooms on the home base and I spend my time hiding in the one that I’ve been given until two days after I get back.

I don’t want to accidentally run across Koehn like I did that first morning. But the girls go out and get me food and bring it back. Girl power and all that.

Ruby thinks that I’m an idiot but she lets men walk all over her most of the time so I’m not going to follow her example.

Alex, of course, thinks that I should junk punch him and make sure he doesn’t breed.

Considering he might have bred me, I find that thought oddly satisfying.

Not that I don’t take responsibility for my own choices. I just wish I had known what an asshole he was. I might not have slept with him.

But my heart aches just thinking about him and I just don’t know if I ever could have walked away and said no.

Even now I’m struggling not to hunt him down and listen to his apology again and this time take it. I can’t stand not seeing him. I’m starting to wish that I hadn’t started this pouting.

Jenna pops in the door, her red curls crackling around her. She’s always full of so much energy that it scares me sometimes. But underneath it is something dark and scary. Something sad.

“Hey, you’ve got company.”

“I don’t want to talk to Koehn.”

“It’s not Commander Koehn.” I recognize the voice but I don’t know why.

“It’s the council leader,” Ruby hisses and darts out the door.

“Traitor,” I growl at her disappearing figure. I nod at the leader and sit on the couch. She sits beside me. She’s very pretty but she’s got a deep scar right under her jaw and I keep finding my eyes trying to lock on it.

She smiles when my eyes dart away. “I know. It looks bad. But I could be dead. So I don’t think it’s as bad as it could be.”

“What happened?”

She sits back, her council uniform settling around her, the shiny buttons up and down the jumpsuit gleaming under the lights. “I was kidnapped by pirates who tried to sell me. I tried to escape and they wanted to make an example out of me so they slit my throat and left me for dead.”

I gasp and pale, my eyes locked on the short woman in front of me who obviously went through something worse than me.

“I didn’t care at the time because they had already killed my intended and I wanted to be dead. Wanted to be with him more than anything else. Sadly for me at the time, the one who slit my throat had a dull knife and it didn’t cut all the way through.”

My lip curls. “That’s the sad part of this story?” I ask her and she laughs so loud that it echoes through the room.

“At the time. But I lived and every day it got easier and easier. I still miss him but I’ve found a new reason to live. And if I found the right mate? I might give him the chance that Zander didn’t get.”

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