Page 34 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 1

Instantly I frowned. “She can’t leave.”

Sorin let out a sigh and rubbed his head showing his uncertainty. “I know your feelings on the matter, Tru, but after the hell she’s already been through I’m not sure I can force her to stay if she doesn’t want to. How does that make us any better than fucking Commander Lucian and his father, the great, all-powerful general?”

“I have faith that when the time comes, she won’t ask to leave,” I answered. “One must put their intention out into the world if they expect to get the same result in return.”

Toma reached up from where he was sitting to take my hand, pulling my attention to him. “Tru, you know I love and respect your ideology. It’s what makes you… you. I think what all of us are struggling with is not wanting to trap her in a life she doesn’t want. From what Beth has said and what little I’ve heard, Danella hasn’t had a say in her future. Ever. The last thing I want is for us to do that to her as well.”

I took a moment to mull over his words in my mind. It was hard for me to relate when I knew with certainty things would turn out as I saw them. Fate didn’t make mistakes, and it wasn’t making one here with her. Our determined little wildflower needed us as much as we needed her. She’d been fighting for so long it was time for her to learn she could count on others to take care of her. Yet I had to accept that if she looked me in the eyes and told me she was going back to Oscad, I wasn’t sure I could stop her. Toma was right, if she were to be who I believed she was to us, I’d have to trust there was a reason she’d need to leave. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure I’d always be waiting for her to come back.

“I suppose we can cross that bridge when we get to it, although while you all choose to live in uncertainty, I will trust in the fates,” I announced.

Toma pulled my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to it. “As you should. They’ve always led you in the right direction.”

“Now that we’ve settled that whole pointless discussion, when are we moving the other two Omegas? Do we even have a place to put them?” Victor cut in. He hated believing anything controlled his life other than him.

“Cris, you think your mother will look after them?” Sorin asked.

Cristofor scratched his chin then nodded. “I think if I explain what’s going on, she’ll agree with what we’re doing. Plus, it isn’t all that different from working with women we bring back from the North who we’re trying to acclimate to the Southern way of thinking.”

“Does she have any women she’s working with now?” Sorin questioned. “I don’t want to add more to her plate even though I think the Omegas will be easy to care for.”

“When I talked to her a few days ago, she was taking time off since my father was supposed to be coming back for leave. Since he changed plans at the last minute, she’s at the back of the list for placement,” Cristofor shared.

Anger flickered in my chest as, once again, I heard how his father, a complete bastard, was jerking his mother around being careless of her feelings. Klarisa was an angel who opened her home and heart to the battered women we rescued from the North. She worked with them on learning to read, write, and have their own opinions and thoughts. The woman who stayed with her left transformed into someone who could live in our society. It was a gift, yet Lino found it disgusting that she would allow a Northerner into their home, so he found any and all excuses never to be there.

“Bastard,” I snarled.

Toma squeezed my hand in warning, it was one of the only topics Cristofor refused to see reason on. I understood no one wanted to see their parents in a bad light, except he didn’t deserve Cristofor’s adoration, either.

Sorin gave me a disapproving look before continuing, “If you could call your mother and ask her if she’d help I’d appreciate it.”

“I’ll ask, but we all know her answer is going to be yes,” Cristofor pointed out. We all chuckled at that knowing he was right, but he pulled his phone out and left the common room.

“Now all we need to decide on is who’s supervising the transfer, discreetly?” Sorin asked.

Victor snorted and shoved out of his chair. “That means I’m out of the running. Looks like it’s one of you two idiots.”

I knew Toma had been working late the past few nights on a new military program, and tonight he didn’t have to go in. “I’ll do it, besides I only need four hours of sleep to be functional. The benefits of sniper training include sleeping as little as possible to keep your scope on the target.”

“Then that settles it. Once we get the go-ahead from Cris’ mom, I’ll assign a few low-grade soldiers who owe me a favor to make it happen. All I need you to do is make sure they don’t fuck it up and only intervene if there’s no other option. I don’t want anyone thinking we have a special attachment to these women,” Sorin instructed.

Nodding, I headed back to my room planning to get a nap now, that way I knew for sure I’d be up and alert for the job. Being able to sleep anywhere at any time was a skill most soldiers picked up. You never know what could happen next, so better to be well-rested when shit hits the fan.

***

The vibration of my phone from under my pillow was all I needed to get me up and moving. Shutting off the alarm, I tugged on my boots and headed out to the common room. Cristofor had woken me up for dinner, where Sorin gave me the final details of how this was supposed to go down.

In the silence of the apartment, I grabbed my gun out of the safe and secured it to my hip. There was no reason to think I would need to use it on base, but in my years of being in the military, one thing I learned was to never get too comfortable. Once you let down your guard, it was easier to have your life snuffed out in the blink of an eye. Our base here was secure, though not every person was cut out to be a soldier and that caused some to crack under the pressure.

Taking another look around the room, I ensured I had everything I needed and headed out. It wasn’t uncommon for people to be up and around at this hour, but we’d done this to keep a low profile. Our unit was held under a microscope with having the President’s son as our leader. Sorin never wanted the fame or recognition that his father did, which is why the military was such a better fit for him. Later on, when President Dragomire needed to retire, his one and only son would be expected to take his place. That was an issue for another day. However, no one was looking to buy trouble flaunting the fact that we were helping to smuggle these two Omegas out of the country.

Exiting the barracks, I took a deep breath of the crisp night air, grounding myself in the moment and pushing aside all other thoughts. This was a simple task of keeping an eye on a team of three soldiers, but I was now on duty, and I took my role in this seriously. If we wanted Danella to trust in us, then we needed to prove that we could keep our word, and this was a good start. Moving swiftly and silently through the base, I found the barracks the soldiers were stationed in and waited.

They didn’t keep me waiting long, except they weren’t overtly worried about being quiet either, that’s for sure. The three talked readily as they made their way to the quarantine section we used for our holding area. The North didn’t provide the same vaccinations we did, which had led to a few outbreaks of illnesses that had been absent for many years. Now protocol was to keep them in isolation for a week before bringing them into the population. Danella had been an exception due to her medical needs, yet she’d still been kept apart from the others for the most part.

Rounding the Med Center, I wondered how our little wild Daisy was doing. Was she sleeping well? Did she have nightmares? I knew her life had been hard so it wasn’t uncommon to struggle with those memories when you were at your most vulnerable. Realizing that my attention was drifting from my mission, I shook myself back to the present situation. The trio had moved on a head far enough that I couldn’t make out their words. Before I could move to catch up, I was brought to a halt when I heard the sound of someone climbing the Med Center fence. Slipping back into the shadows, I waited to see what or who might be making their appearance.

A grin split across my face as I saw a mass of curly blonde hair and bright green eyes that glowed in the moonlight. In an impressive feat, she hoisted herself over the edge and lowered herself down the other side to land with a soft thud. My grin quickly turned to a scowl as I saw she didn’t have any shoes on. How had that landing not hurt? The packed dirt that made up the roads on the base was far from forgiving. As much as I wanted to ask her right away, I was beyond curious to see what she was up to.