Page 23 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 1

Shoving to his feet, he turned to the two other girls. “Did they do this to you too?” he demanded.

They shook their heads frantically, sensing his anger. In a world of designations, not every Alpha was created equal, and Sorin was Alpha to the extreme. When he got upset, it was hard to ignore the dominance that pulsed off of him like now.

“Who, who did that to her?” he pressed.

They’d refused to speak about it before, and I had little doubt they would answer him now.

“It’s a mark to show she belongs to the Commander,” the blonde-haired woman said, her voice barely above a whisper. “She wasn’t in the breeding house like us. Dani lived with him unless he was on a mission.”

There was only one man who was labeled the ‘Commander of the Northern Army’, and that was Lucian Bakal, General Rasvan’s heir. Holy fucking shit, we had the Commander's personal breeder right here in front of us. Eyes wide, I looked up at Sorin wondering if he understood what this meant, only he refused to look back for me to see his expression. The Commander is who we’d been after when we attacked, but no one could find him. So Sorin made the call to deal with who was there since it would be a blow to them, regardless. We’d had one team who was to gather the Omegas and bring them back, and it seems these three had made a break for it in hopes of making it back home to Oscad.

My eyes fell to the woman who lay before me, beaten, battered, and branded but full of more fight than I’d ever seen. Where all the other Omegas had cowered in the corner, Dani had grabbed her friends and made a break for it. Could she be the one who took the truck through the fence? We’d picked up their trail at the site of the burning truck, which is why we thought they were soldiers. The second we found them curled up in the cave, it was clear they were no Northern soldiers. I lightly brushed my fingers over the brand, my heart aching for her and how old this wound felt.

Maybe she would help us get revenge on them and finally aid us in ending this pointless war. So many lives have been lost on both sides. There had to be another option, and just maybe we had it right here in the least expected of places. Now there was no other option except to make sure we saved her. This could mean there was hope; hope for a new beginning. Maybe not all was as hopeless as we thought.

Chapter thirteen

Soft voices murmured around me, accompanied by the sound of beeping. It was a soft, steady sound that seemed to happen in time with my heartbeat. My body still hurt, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the last time I came to. Flashes of memories of blue eyes and blond hair with a soothing tone reassured me I was alright. Then there was the feeling of someone cradling me to them, the scent of fresh spruce trees and the heady aroma of patchouli.

Where was I that this combination of sensations and smell would be combined? Searching my memory, I tried to figure out what the last thing I remembered was. Gunshots, screaming, pain, Violet’s tear-streaked face, and Tori screaming at me to get up. My heart started to race, and the beeping increased right along with it. Where were they? Had we been taken? Did Lucian find me again like he always promised he would?

“Easy there,” a gentle female voice soothed, cutting into my mental spiral. “You’re at the Med Center in our main military outpost. You’ve been through a lot and have been unconscious for three days.”

Three days!? How could I have been out for that long? What of Tori and Violet? Fuck, I had to get out of here. I had to find them.

“Dani, I know you're anxious, but I need you to try and stay calm. You lost a lot of blood, fractured your skull, and suffered a severe concussion. We kept you under for this long to try and allow your body to heal. We thought we might have to do surgery, but it seems you’re a lot stronger than you look,” she shared, making me pause. “Now, can you try and open your eyes for me?”

My eyes weren’t open already? Shit, why hadn’t I done that already? What the fuck was wrong with me?

Shoving that panic aside, I took a deep breath. Well, as deep as I could without my body protesting. Focusing on the few muscles I needed to open my eyes, I put all my energy into that effort. Slowly they lifted then I slammed them shut when the brightest fucking light I’d ever seen stabbed into my brain.

“Shoot, sorry about that. Wait one moment for me to turn off the overhead lights. That should help,” the woman said as I listened to her footsteps moving around the room. “Okay, the room is as dark as I can make it.”

It made all the difference. This time when I managed to crack my eyes open, I wasn’t assaulted by light. The room was cast in a dim glow by the medical equipment placed in various areas around the bed. It reminded me of Oscad with how current and updated everything was. Instead of the shabby ruins I’d been living in for the past three years, I was back in the modern era.

A woman’s face entered my eyesight. She was older, probably in her late forties with a gentle smile and kind, honey-brown eyes. Her brunette hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing scrubs. “Hello, Dani. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Bethany, the nurse who’s been looking after you the past few days.”

I just gave her a long slow blink as my brain tried to absorb all the information I was receiving.

“Do you feel up to answering a few questions for me?” Bethany asked.

Licking my lips, I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat was so dry I just emitted a croak.

“Hold on, I’m gonna get you some water,” she explained as she stepped away from my bed.

The door opened, and light filtered in along with the sounds of people talking, footsteps, and the general hustle and bustle of a busy area. When the door closed, the room was quiet once more and I relaxed slightly to take stock of myself. Shifting, I tried to sit up except when I went to move my left arm, it came to an abrupt halt due to the metal cuff anchoring me to the bed.

Did they honestly think I was going to run away?

“It’s just a precaution. However, if you prove to us that you’re not going to make a break for it, then I might be persuaded to remove it,” a man said to my right.

Snapping my head in the direction of his voice, I found a soldier sitting in a chair out of the way in the corner of the room. I groaned and pressed my right hand to my temple as the pounding in my skull started at the sudden movement.

“Whoa, easy now,” the man said, getting up to walk over to me. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I thought you knew I was here.” He tried to reach out to touch me, but I flinched away, feeling far too vulnerable to trust anything at this point.

Backing off, he lifted his hands in surrender, then slipped them into his pockets. “Hey, I’m not here to hurt you. If we were going to do that, then we wouldn’t have gone through the effort of healing you.”

He had a point, although I still wasn’t going to let him touch me. Thankfully the nurse returned and paused for a moment seeing the man next to my bed. “Toma, is there a problem?”