Page 35 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 1

Had she lied about knowing things and was now trying to run away?

No, that couldn’t be it. There must be another reason. Watching her take a quick look around, she spotted the trio and darted off after them. My brows rocketed up at my surprise at seeing her quite intentionally tailing the group. Did she know that they were going to her friends?

Damn, I should have been listening to what they’d been saying. If she’d been in the garden, it wouldn’t have been hard for her to hear what they were talking about with how loud they were. It would also seem that now I would have to keep an eye on her as well as the others. For a person not trained in how to trail someone covertly, she was doing a damn good job of it. Sticking to the shadows, not getting too close, her bare feet were silent as a whisper. When the soldiers finally reached the quarantine building, I hurried to catch up to Danella. Just as she was about to dart across the road, I grabbed her arm and snatched her back against my chest. Covering her mouth with a hand, I dragged her back into the shadows before whispering in her ear.

“Easy, Danella, I’m not going to hurt you,” I soothed.

She, of course, didn’t believe a word I said and started thrashing in my hold, kicking and clawing at me. I grunted when her nails dug into the back of my hand, although I didn’t let go. The last thing we needed was her screaming and alerting everyone to what was happening. I needed to convince her to settle down before I dared to release her.

“Danella, my name is Petru, and I’m one of Sorin’s pack. I was sent to follow these soldiers and ensure they took your friends to the safe house we set up for them. We need to get them off base if we want to smuggle them out later. There was no way to wait longer when they’d be expected to transfer to the city and start the integration process,” I explained, praying to the fates she would believe me and settle down. “Please, I need you to settle and not draw attention to us. If you do, I'll bring you along so you can see where we are having them stay.”

That got her attention, slowing her assault on me until she finally stood still. Letting out the breath I’d been holding, I rested my head against the back of hers, breathing in her scent for a moment. The sweet scent of magnolia combined with the spice of coriander was the perfect blend to match this woman’s energy.

“I’m going to lower my hand, but if you try to scream or call out, I will put it right back,” I warned, then waited for a heartbeat before letting it fall from her mouth.

Thanking the fates, I slowly turned her to face me and was met with a glare that Victor would be proud of. She was not at all pleased with my interference, and while she agreed to my request I had no delusions that could change in an instant.

“Hello there,” I said with a small smile. “This wasn’t how I planned our first official meeting to go, yet something tells me I should get used to that with you around.”

“Where are they taking them?” Danella demanded.

Alright, it would seem that small talk wasn’t going to happen right now.

“They are moving your two friends to the home of a woman we trust. Her job is to help women freed from the North get their footing before integration occurs. She is aware that we plan to send them to Oscad and need a place to hide them out of sight until we can make that happen. Keeping them with her means the best chance of there being no issues getting them out,” I assured her.

Her eyes narrowed as she held my gaze. “They said you were going to use them to barter favor with Oscad. Is that true? Are you getting something out of them too, for sending my friends back? What about the fact that those soldiers would rather see any Northerner dead regardless of whether they are a soldier or not? Are Omegas now a target, a strategy to kill them off so there won’t be soldiers left to fight?”

The anger, hurt, and betrayal dripping from her made me almost want to take a step back. Encountering the brunt of her ire wasn’t something I’d expected to deal with. Toma’s reaction now made far more sense. To force her into anything she didn’t choose for herself would be heartless of us. It seemed there was far more ice to chisel through than I expected, but on the other hand, I couldn’t wait to see the person she would blossom into once given a chance to thrive.

“Would you believe me if I told you, no, we weren’t bartering with Oscad for your friends?” I countered.

She opened her mouth then shut it again as she crossed her arms in irritation.

“I believe that actions speak louder than words. My job tonight was to follow these soldiers and ensure they did as they were ordered. If you can keep as silent as you were moments ago following them, I’ll take you along. You can even talk to your friends if you like once we get them safely to the other location,” I offered.

Sorin would lose his shit if he found out I allowed this, but I wasn’t going to waste any chance of showing Danella why she should choose us. This was a crucial moment that would either get her to acknowledge we were holding up our end of the deal or shatter the whole arrangement into pieces before it got a chance to begin.

Chapter nineteen

Staring down a man in a dark alley between buildings, who was a fair bit taller than me with a shock of red hair and eyes a deeper shade of green than my own, was a new experience. I wasn’t afraid of him even though I could visibly see he was armed. There was something about the way he spoke and the relaxed body language that kept me from wanting to bolt. As I studied him, there was no indication he was lying to me about taking me along to follow my friends. Could it be that there was actually an Alpha who wasn’t playing games with me?

The soft evening breeze swirled his scent of bergamot and thyme around me. It was equal parts manly and strong yet earthy and real—grounded. He didn’t try to rush me for my answer but patiently waited for me to speak in my own time. If he was really going to let me talk to them and I could see where they’d be staying, it would make things easier if I needed to run. They wanted to get the information from me, but would they continue to treat me like this once I no longer had the same value to them? Better to be prepared for the worst than blindly trusting and ending up in hell.

“You have a deal. I’ll keep quiet and won’t cause any trouble as long as I get to speak to my friends once it’s safe. If I feel like everything you just said is a lie, then I will scream bloody murder and deal with whatever fallout happens from that point,” I warned.

There was a flicker of something I would almost call pride in his emerald gaze as he nodded. “I’m sure they will appreciate getting to see you as well. They’ve been in isolation for about a week, and I’m not certain anyone’s told them how you're doing. Klarisa is a good woman, so I have no doubt you will agree once you’ve met her.”

I was about to share my feelings on that but snapped my mouth shut at the sound of the door opening and voices. Spinning on my heel, I watched as the two men dragged Tori and Violet along. They looked alright except for being gagged. They were in clean, fresh clothes and hair combed back into ponytails. Tori was glaring daggers at one of them, trying to free her arm, but he just yanked her off balance so she had to stumble to keep up. Hands balling into fists, I took a step forward when a hand rested on my shoulder, warning me to stay where I was.

“God, Jozef, no need to drag the poor thing around,” the woman, Sal, snapped. “We said yes to this job because we need to gain some favor with the Elites, don’t make things worse.”

Jozef just sneered at Sal, which made him the angry soldier, the one who felt all Northern bitches should be put down. “Mind your own business, Sal, can’t have you going all female on us and getting soft.”

“Fuck you,” Sal bit out, shouldering past the guy. “Let’s just get this done so I can get a few more hours of sleep.”

“Damn it, Jo, you know you're on your last strike, don’t you? If they catch wind of what you truly think about women in the military, you’ll be in some serious fucking trouble,” the third of the group muttered as they walked past our hiding spot.

My gaze flicked up to Petru to see how he felt about this tidbit of information, and the stormy look I saw didn’t bode well for Jozef. Maybe this Alpha was right about actions speaking louder than words. If he had that kind of reaction to how a man in the North felt he had the right to speak about a woman, then it might be possible the South did do things differently. We tailed the group until they loaded up into a covered truck and Sal got into the driver’s seat.