Page 75 of The Commander

Cara could imagine it. Though she hadn’t seen the commander kill anyone yet, she knew that he could. He was made for killing.

“You said if I came along with you, helped you now, that we had a deal. Right? Do we have a deal or not?” the guy wanted to know.

“What deal?” Cara asked on top of his question. “Bastian, who is this guy? What are we doing?”

“Call me Mackie, sugar tits.” He stuck his chin in the commander’s direction. “Are you sure you want to do this? Go with him?”

His question wasn’t an offer of help. Mackie didn’t look like the noble, savior type. There was a snide little twist in there that made her feel small and stupid for sitting next to Bastian. She wanted to say she was a captive too, but she wasn’t. Not anymore.

“Don’t talk to him, Kitten,” Bastian said fiercely, reaching over and tapping her knee.

“All right. Fine, Dude. But what does he know that I don’t know? Why is he here? Will you fill me in, please?” She patted his hand back.

“I’m here, bitch, because your boyfriend needs me. We traded some shit for Danov’s pussy stable, got a good deal. Your guy wants it.” He sounded pleased with himself. “Too bad it all came back to bite me in the ass. You know, I don’t think there are any trustworthy humans left,” Mackie jeered.

Before Cara knew what was happening, Bastian’s arm was in front of her, and the truck had jerked to a hard, fast stop. Everything in the back thumped forward with a crash of momentum at the same time she heard a hammering crack inside the cab.

The stop had rammed the other passenger’s head into the back of Bastian’s seat.

“Shit.” Because his hands were bound and there were no seatbelts, the man had flown forward. Blood welled on the bridge of his nose, spreading rapidly over his mouth and down his chin.

“You will only speak when you are asked a question. That question was for me,” Bastian said, looking at Cara.

“Shit,” Mackie repeated from the back.

“This prisoner was caught transporting power cells, which are a known illegal contraband. Our conversations have revealed that this same contraband, plus the name day blade of a missing Prime Commander, was discovered by your friend, the Brenda,” Bastian explained, with his eyes on the road.

“Old car batteries? Under Andy’s bed?” Cara tried to fill in the blanks. She still wasn’t sure what was happening.

“Power cells. In exchange for not dying a painful, slow death as well as access to the base and my P.I.s, this man will show me how to deactivate my own name day blade and other equipment connected to Control,” Bastian replied.

“Goes to show how good stuff was in the way back when, ya’know? One EMP pulse from an old American made car battery and a couple of late century microwaves is all it takes to deactivate all that fancy futuristic alien shit.”

“You said there are six of them with Mister Danov?”

“Yes.”

“And they all work?”

“One of them was good, at least. That fat mayor tested one out before we got paid in pussy. Now, that was nice. Do you think that blonde will be happy to see me again? Even if I’m a plain, boring human? One of her own fucking species?” Mackie asked, dripping disgusting word after disgusting word.

How could a man look and smell like half of the pig’s men and still think he was a god’s gift to women? It remained a total mystery to Cara. Mackie operated under a serious case of self-delusion.

If it were between him and Bastian, she’d pick Bastian.

Cara had a comeback for that question right on the tip of her tongue, but Bastian reached over again, with another squeeze to her leg. She grabbed at his hand to pull it away, but it didn’t budge.

“I’m sure she was very noisy,” Bastian insinuated.

“Oh, she fucking was. You’re not the only one with a big dick.”

“That’s how you tell when they are faking it,” Bastian finished, without missing a beat. Cara giggled and clapped her hand over his.

CHAPTER 25 - BASTIAN

His mate’s eyes shifted to him and back at the prisoner’s announcement, but she didn’t comment this time.

“You are very talkative now,” Bastian prompted. He already suspected what the prisoner had done for the other prime battler and his mate. He was sure he could recreate it without aid. But there were too many factors at play here that could endanger Kitten. He wanted to be sure to manage all angles.

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