Page 36 of Bought and Shared
Crom shakes his head at her response. “Well, I’m not about to let it happen on my watch,” the man valiantly returns, only to ruin the charming comment by adding, “Though, if either of you were mine, I’m not sure I’d ever let you leave our suite, let alone walk around the base.”
Cadence rolls her eyes at his misogynistic statement, neatly contradicting his heroic stance of moments ago. “Right, well, guess we dodged a bullet when you didn’t buy our contracts, didn’t we?”
Crom’s full lips crack into a sexy smile. “I bet your masters are loving that smart mouth of yours, draftee. Tell me, how hard is it to sit down this morning? I’m sure you were up late getting the spanking you deserve!”
Cadence’s eyebrows lift at his astute observation. “Have a good day,Sir,” she says, before taking my arm and pulling me in the opposite direction.
“You’re right,” I tell her, as soon as Crom’s laughter fades and we’re halfway across the field.
Cadence looks confused. “About what?”
“About some human men. They really do hate us for what’s happened with the Voltan. Otherwise, how could they justify this kind of despicable behavior?”
“Sometimes I forget you were raised in such a sheltered environment,” my friend quips with an exaggerated grimace.
This time, it’s my turn to look confused. “Why?”
“Because you think that kind of treatment from men has anything to do with the asteroids or the Voltan.”
“It doesn’t?”
Cadence expels a deep breath. “Nope. Some men are just assholes. Lots of them. That kind of behavior is a frequent occurrence for most women in the States. Strained situations like the asteroid only bring their hatred to the surface. It doesn’t create it out of thin air.”
After considering her words, I realize how right she is. And, if what everyone had been saying about the rebels is correct as well, there is going to be a lot more of that terrible treatment to come.
CHAPTER 13
The Rebels
Israel, the leader of the rebel order, shakes his head with disgust. “I’m still not sure how you botched this, Micah. I expect more from a leader of the Pioneers than this.”
Micah’s voice takes on a whiny quality when he answers his superior. “It’s not my fault, Israel! The Voltan showed up before we could break into the bus and collect the women.”
Israel gives his subordinate a dubious stare. “It was a bus, Micah, not Fort Knox. I don’t want to hear any excuses. You failed. Plain and simple.”
“It might as well have been Fort Knox with those Voltan warriors aboard the bus, Sir. They should have never been there. If they hadn’t been there, we would have those women with us now,” Micah, never one to accept blame, fruitlessly argues.
“There were only three of them,” Israel points out. “With as much firepower as our soldiers were carrying, you should have been able to easily eliminate the threat.”
Micah’s mouth, already thin, flattens further over his commander’s criticism. “We didn’t want to hurt any of the women, Sir. If we’d opened fire, we could have accidentally struck one of them.”
“And what will happen when they are delivered to their Voltan overlords? Some may think death is better than serving the enemy,” Israel coldly reasons.
The men in the room are momentarily silent as they consider their commander’s harsh words.
“They can still be saved,” Clarence, the Rebellion’s second in command, interrupts. “I have it on good authority that the women are being kept at the base until the Voltan determine it’s safe to travel again. I’m certain another opportunity for Operation Liberation will arise before long.”
“Still,” Israel says, “with as much time as has passed, they’ve most likely already been sullied by those alien vermin. I’m not sure they’re even worth saving at this point.”
A man named Bowman boldly steps forward then. Dressed in fatigues, he carries the air of a military man because he was exactly that before the arrival of the Voltan. “One thing is clear to me, gentlemen. We can’t fight them on their home turf. In wars such as these, only guerrilla tactics will do. We simply don’t have the weapons or the manpower to attack them any other way.”
“I’m listening,” Isaiah replies with true interest then.
Bowman gives a curt nod. “I’ve still got a few friends on the inside of Fort Kent. They’re loyal to the cause and informed about the goings-on there. They can tell us when the women are being moved next.”
“Let’s take this conversation into my office, Bowman. I want to hear more about these friends of yours,” Isaiah says with a mile-wide smile. “Maybethey’llbe able to accomplish what others could not.”
“Certainly, Sir,” Bowman agrees, avoiding the look of bitterness Micah tosses his way as he follows their leader out the door to further discuss this delicate issue.
