Page 151 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

I take them in. My whole world, the keepers of my heart, standing right before me in combat boots and borrowed time.

"This might be it," I say.

Nobody argues.

No one tells me not to think like that, or calls me dramatic. No one swears we will all be back in an hour and laughing about this by sunset.

They know.

The enemy attacked two days early. The fortress is crumbling around us, and we have no idea what forces are coming at this mountain, only that they're here, and already fighting to kill us.

Shade steps in close and cups the back of my neck. "Say what you need to say, baby girl."

My fingers knot in the front of Shade's shirt, and I drag in a shaky breath.

"I love you."

Viper's eyelashes flutter, and I'm struck by the horrifying thought that if he still reacts so strongly to those three words from my lips, then I haven't said them enough. But it's too late because we've run out of time. The clock has run out and this is all the time we've been given.

"You are so very loved."

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Halley

Cold air slaps me the second I step out onto the wall, stealing the breath from my lungs as wind rolls down from the snowcapped peaks and bites through my coat.

The battlements surrounding Blackgate Fortress are built along the cliff edge, with nothing beyond the stone but empty air and a drop that makes my stomach turn. Far below, the mountain falls away in brutal tiers of rock, frozen ledges, and a narrow road that twists down the mountainside. I make the mistake of looking down, and dizziness rushes through me so fast I have to grip the nearest stone.

I wish the morning were fogged in and the clouds dropped low around the fortress, hiding the battlefield from sight, but the sky is clear, the sun is bright, and every white peak around us gleams in the cold light. It all looks far too pretty for a place about to be torn apart.

Far below, artillery flashes from the treeline.

A heartbeat later, the rear of the fortress erupts. Stone bursts outward. The impact rolls through the wall beneath my boots, and I flinch before I can stop myself, my mind already picturing the next strike hitting the battlement, breaking the stone apart, and sending us over the edge.

Knox doesn’t recoil or steer me toward cover.

He keeps one hand firm at my back and walks the exposed battlement as if the height, the wind, and the incoming fire are nothing to be concerned about. Officers and runners move aside for him, and I force myself to keep pace, even though every instinct in me wants to drag us both away from the cliff edge.

He is already in Prime Alpha Knox mode, his body and mind locked into command. He is still my Alpha, but only in the smallest of ways. The rest of him belongs to the fortress, the army, and the fight rushing toward us.

Viper caught us at the stairwell of the wall earlier, breath steaming as he shoved Knox’s armor into his arms, then turned to me. His hands were quick on my vest straps and helmet buckle, but he still stole one rough kiss and pressed his forehead to mine before breaking away toward the soldiers preparing to leave for the front lines.

Prime Alphas appear at Knox’s side just long enough to take his orders before peeling away to obey them.

For the last two weeks, most of them resisted the idea of Knox in the General’s seat.

They don't resist now. Not a single protest comes from any of the other Prime Alphas.

The attack has begun, and in the face of our impending annihilation, every one of them knows exactly who they want to follow.

My Knox.

The one who made loving him feel like a battle all of its own, and still became one of the safest places I know. He was built for this, and I know, somewhere in my heart, that fate led us to this moment. Knox was always destined to be the leader here at the end of all things.

Knox stops in the middle of the battlement and plants both hands on the frozen stone, scanning the mountain below with hard focus.

He could be in a command room buried deep inside the fortress, surrounded by screens and officers and reports coming in secondhand. Instead, he chose the wall. From up here, he can see the whole battlefield with his own eyes: the forest, the lower road, the fortress approach, and the narrow route into the Pass.