Page 42 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 1

“So tell me, Danella, knowing what you do about the North, what would be the first step in making changes?” Sorin asked.

Frowning, I leaned back in my chair and pulled my feet up, hugging my legs to my chest. The people up North were desperate for food, water, clothes, a roof over their heads, electricity, and medicine. If life wasn’t a struggle and their misfortunes weren’t blamed on the South, it would be easier to convince them of a change. Their only hope is to win the war, and maybe life would be just a little easier. That and the only thing that unified them was the one goal since having relationships with others wasn’t possible.

“Resources,” I answered. “Many don’t fear dying on the battlefield, but they live in terror of getting sick and suffering slowly without medication. It’s a horrible thing to witness, and the way they beg you to just kill them is the thing of nightmares. If there was food, good food, that wasn’t rationed down to the last grain it would be life-changing. One of the first things I was told when I was placed in that outpost was to be prepared to know what true hunger was and to appreciate whatever I could get. I didn’t believe them at first. Then, it wasn’t long before I experienced the truth of their words.”

“So the general is using the shortages to fuel the anger people have towards the South,” Petru interjected. “It’s crude and primitive, but clearly, it’s been used as a well-honed weapon to keep his people fighting even in the worst situation.”

“I don’t know if it’s you guys controlling things but getting the power to make anything work is a joke. It’s like living in the dark ages. Everything is manual or only of use for short periods of time. It really hinders everything and stops any sort of growth from happening. It’s like those books you read about when the world ends, and we’re brought back to surviving off the land,” I shared. “The North is dying, not just the people but the land itself. It doesn’t make sense to me, how can one half of a country just shrivel up and die while the South and Oscad thrive?”

Petru ran a hand through his hair, making it all stick up before flattening it back down with another brush of his hand. “There are those of us who believe the fates have cursed the land. That it will only be restored once the fighting has stopped. General Rasvan might be a cruel warlord, but he isn’t the first of their kind to control the North. It seems that they just become more and more violent as the generations go on.”

“You can’t seriously believe that an unknown force is controlling the weather and punishing a group of people, do you?” I questioned.

Petru shrugged. “No one really has an answer, and this is the one I choose to accept. I’m sure if you spoke to a man of science, he would have a different opinion. Since I’m a man who believes in the fates, this gives me comfort and something to hold on to. The other truth is that the North isn’t doing anything to fix it. There are ways they could harness the river to water the land and create crops to feed their people, only they’ve chose to throw out any logic that won’t help win them the war.”

“Now that reasoning makes sense to me,” I shared. “So what else do you need to know? I’m not sure what information I’ve picked up along the way will be useful to you.”

Sorin picked up the lead once more, turning to Cristofor. “Can you get paper and pen so we can write all this down? I have a feeling there’s going to be lots of information we might not be able to use right away but will later on.”

The Beta stood and left the common room to return with a notebook. He sat at the coffee table and clicked the pen, signaling he was ready. So for the next hour or so they asked me question after question, picking up on the littlest thing I might have noticed. Shipment times, how many men guarded them. Did I know how many towns or outposts there were in the country? Had I met the General? Then they asked a lot about Lucian, and those were harder to answer. It was almost as if they were trying to make me tell them that he was like his father when he was anything but. The strangest part was how I wanted to defend him, that he’d protected me but telling them why I needed protection wasn’t a topic I wanted to cover with them.

Finally, Toma called for a break. “I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving. Coffee is great, however it doesn’t fill an empty stomach, so I say we head down to eat then start again if we need to.”

The guys agreed and left to get dressed for the day, leaving me alone. Part of me wondered if I should stay or just head back to the Med Center. Bethany must have been out of her mind when she discovered I was missing. Of course, I hadn’t planned on all this happening when I left to get some air, although if they found my shoes it could look like someone kidnapped me. That decided it for me, I’d go back to the Med Center and check in with Bethany. I could get some shoes, eat, then figure out if the guys still had more questions or if I was done for the day.

Placing my cup in the sink, I headed for the door. When I turned the handle and started to pull it open, a hand appeared overhead and slammed it shut. Gasping, I jerked back and into the chest of whoever was behind me. They wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me from falling forward and the fragrant scent of orange and basil told me it was Toma.

“Where do you think you’re going, Danella?” Toma asked, his voice calm and curious when I’d expected it to be angry.

Twisting to look up at him, I found his dark eyes watching me intently. “I… I was going back to the Med Center. Bethany must be worried that I wasn’t in my room and I also left my shoes behind. She’s been so good to me that I don’t want her thinking I ran away or was kidnapped.”

Toma released me and took a half step back so we could look at each other more easily. “You don’t have to worry about that. I sent her a text to let her know you were with us. She wasn’t happy about it, but Beth gets a little overprotective over people she’s in charge of taking care of. However, she did make me promise that you would eat breakfast no matter how much you complained about it.”

“That was before I realized what you guys consider breakfast,” I countered. “I’d been living off bland, gritty gruel for years, and it’s made me hate anything close to that texture. That first morning she gave me oatmeal, and I refused to eat it, so she returned with a plate of eggs and bacon. Who would say no to that?”

A smile tugged at his lips. “Yeah, I’m not sure I would have been thrilled about oatmeal, no matter what fancy stuff they put in it to make it taste better. Although if you’re stuck in a pinch and on a mission with that being your only option, peanut butter is pretty awesome mixed in it. As for the matter of shoes, I think Cris will be the best option since he has the smallest feet out of all of us. I’m pretty sure he’s got some sandals that would work.”

He lightly put a hand on my back as if testing the waters on how I would respond to his touch. When I didn’t flinch or tell him off, he used it to guide me to one of the bedrooms and entered without even knocking. The sound of water running told me someone was showering in the ensuite bathroom with the door open. Toma directed me to sit on one of the two beds, which had been neatly made with crisp precision. There was a trunk at the foot of each bed and two dressers lined the far wall. Except everything about this room was blank, as if no one really lived here.

“Petru said this is your home, but it doesn’t feel like anyone actually lives here,” I commented. “There’s not even a trace of something personal lying around.”

Toma’s head popped up over the open trunk’s lid. “That’s probably because until recently, we never stayed here for more than a day or two between missions. We are one of the elite units they send out to deal with things when all else has failed. Most of the time, we either travel on foot or use all-terrain vehicles to get as far as we can. Either way, we travel light and only take what’s needed. Living like that doesn’t give you much opportunity to collect personal knickknacks.”

“Why is this time different?” I asked, even though I had a feeling I knew the answer.

Just as Toma was going to say something, a moan trickled its way out of the bathroom. My eyes grew wide as they snapped to Toma, who just smirked and shook his head, returning to whatever he was doing. The moans became louder and more frequent, the sound of wet flesh slapping adding to the soundtrack of their lovemaking.

“Oh god,” Cristofor’s voice cried out. “Just like that, please don’t stop, Tru. I’m so close.”

I was no stranger to sex or hearing it throughout the night when staying at the breeder house. Yet somehow, this was different. Petru and Cristofor loved each other, and this intimate moment was happening because they clearly couldn’t keep their hands to themselves for the length of a shower. It almost felt wrong to listen since they didn’t know I was here. Even though I couldn’t see anything, it wasn’t hard to imagine the two men in the throes of passion.

As if that one thought of picturing Cristofor pressed up against the wall of the shower with Petru fucking him from behind had opened the floodgates, I was soon lost in my imagination. Their bodies wet and glistening as muscles rippled under their skin as they moved together. Cristofor’s innocent looking face pressed to the tile wall with an expression of bliss as Petru’s hand gripped his hair to keep him in place. The Alpha’s ass clenched as he trapped his Beta with his body thrusting deep into Cristofor’s ass. I could picture Petru whispering his approval in his lover's ear praising him for how well he was taking his cock.

Then Toma appeared, slowly stripping out of his clothes to join them. No longer able to withstand hearing their pleasure through the door. Grasping Cristofor’s face he’d kiss him deeply stroking his Beta’s hard dick that was already leaking, unable to contain how good he was feeling. The hitching gasp that burst from Cristofor spurred both Alphas on needing their Beta to come.

“Danella?”

Toma’s voice had me snapping out of my daydream, and I found all three of them standing in a semicircle around me. Petru and Cristofor had towels wrapped around their waists yet looked as if they’d been in a hurry to dry off. My mouth was dry, and my body was hot making me shiver, which made no sense.