Page 157 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

A tug on our bond lets me know he can feel my pain and anguish. That he knows what Blackreach means to me. Dazz, Ember, and Flicker are beyond this mountain range, and Knox knows I once gave up everything for the smallest chance of saving them. He has felt them through me this whole time, my hope tucked into every decision alongside the ache I never fully put down.

"Halley," he says, his expression cinching into a grimace. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" I breathe, echoing his words. "Then why did you do it?"

He adjusts himself until his bulk is blocking the shouting soldiers from my view and bends until his words are meant for me alone.

"Because leaving that passage open meant giving them a road straight to Dazz, Ember, and Flicker." His grip tightens around my hand. "It meant letting the Human army march through this mountain and hunt everyone hiding on the other side."

I stare at him, breathing through the dust, the shock, the awful truth pressing against my ribs. Tears prickle my eyes.

Knox’s hand lifts, and he plucks at my wobbling lower lip. "We saved them, princess. They're safe now."

I want to be angry with him.

Frack, I want it badly. I want to turn that anger on Knox, on Shade, on Viper, and on Blaze, because every one of them must have known what would happen to the Pass, and no one told me.

But the broken mountain sits below us, still coughing dust over the forest, and I cannot pretend I don't understand why they kept quiet.

If I had known, I would have fought them. I would have stood in the war room with memories of my Omegas in my mind and begged Knox to find another way. My rut-damned, unshakeable hope would have made me search for another solution until the Human army was at our door.

My Pack knew that I couldn't make the choice to let them go.

Knox knew that.

So they made the choice for me, and the worst part is that I cannot even call them wrong.

This was the best way to ensure our people would survive.

Even through my grief, there is a bright glow of relief, because now I know, even if my Omega Command fails to save us, my precious people will live.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Knox repeats his apology, and this time it's rawer and I feel the power behind each word. He means it.

And it is a loss. Today my hope died, and I know I've lost my friends for good.

His fingers close over mine where I clutch his arm. He holds it tight, giving me strength when I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me.

And that's all the time I get with my Alpha, my Knox, because in the next heartbeat, his face shutters and I'm left staring at Prime Alpha Knox, General of the army. His side of the bond closes.

The officer beside him thrusts another handset into his free hand and starts talking fast about casualties on the lower road.

I let go first. I have to, because standing here clinging to him while he does his duty feels too much like begging for my pride to handle.

This fortress needs him more than I do right now, and despite the cheering around us, I know this war isn't over yet. The people of Blackreach might be safe now that the Pass is gone, but our fight has only just begun.

Chapter Forty

Shade

The comms office goes silent the second the Pass comes down.

Every screen fills with static. Camera two goes black. Camera four tilts toward a sky white with drifting grit, while the thermal overlay stutters through the debris cloud and the sudden bloom of heat flooding the ruined path through the mountain.

For several breaths, no one speaks. The room only listens to the feeds crackle and the distant aftershocks shiver through the stone under our boots.

Then reports start hitting the room through the radios in clipped bursts.

"The Pass is down."