Page 53 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 1

Yes.

“Damn them,” I seethed. “If I had gotten back sooner, we would have had a fighting chance.”

No.

I frowned at the woman. “What do you mean no? I had all the best people with me. If they’d been here, it wouldn’t have been a slaughter.”

“You…” she gasped. “They wanted you.”

“Me? They did all this because they knew this was the base I controlled?” I pressed.

None of this made sense. Why the hell would they come after me personally? Could they know I was the one who led the attack on the power station?

“Traitor…”

“Meaning they had help in breaching security.”

This would make sense how they knew but didn’t explain why they attacked when I wasn’t here. If they were after me and someone inside knew about it, they wouldn’t have picked a time when I was gone.

“Sorin,” Babaka gasped, gripping my hand fiercely as she struggled to breathe. “General…he…knows…”

“Babaka, please, you’re only making things worse trying to talk,” I tried to reason with her, but the expression on her face told me it was pointless.

“No, the first…first time…common enemy… they fight,” she pushed out. “Kill a few…save the many.” Coughing wracked her body as she groaned in pain, although she wasn’t finished. “He… did this… again. You have. Stop him. Be better. Save us…”

With those final words, she took her last breath and her body fell limp in my arms. People might have seen the cold exterior of Babaka, the female Alpha who ran the breeding house. I’d on the other hand had the honor to know her differently and knew she did her best to protect the women she housed. Especially when it came to Dani and all the trouble she caused. While people might fear and respect me, they lived in terror of Babaka coming after them. Thanks to her, I’d always felt better about leaving Dani for so long. Even now, with her dying breath, she was trying to do her best for her people.

I didn’t know what all she meant, but I knew it was important. My first mission was to get Dani back, and then I could figure out what she’d meant about my father and a traitor in our ranks. Cradling the old woman’s body in my arms, I carried her out and placed her among the others we would have a ceremonial fire for. The ground was too hard, and there were too many for us to bury them all. We would show them honor this way and not let wild beasts feed on them; it was the least we could do.

“Commander,” someone yelled.

Turning away from the bodies of our fallen, I spotted two of my men dragging someone between them. Striding over, I recognized the all-black uniform and patches that were on his shoulder—Southerner. It looked as if he'd been shot in the leg and shoulder but otherwise in decent shape. They dropped him at my feet, letting him fall face-first into the dirt. The Southern soldier didn’t even try to stop the fall, making me second-guess my assessment. I kicked him over by using my boot so he was on his back and saw the foam bubbling out of his mouth.

“The fucker’s poisoned himself,” I growled, kneeling beside the man and grabbing his jaw to shove a finger in his mouth. Sure enough, there was the shell of a pill he’d bitten through. He wasn’t dead yet, and I planned to get some answers.

“Where are they taking the prisoner?” I demanded, slapping him sharply. “What was your purpose in attacking this outpost? How did you know we were here?”

The man just let out a spluttering laugh. “Fuck you, Northern scum. You’ll never get anything out of me before I die.”

Rage flooded me, and I slammed my fist into his face, but he wouldn’t stop laughing. Standing, I pulled my gun from its holster and shot the man right between the eyes just to make him stop laughing. He was right. There was no way to force him to tell me what he knew, not when death was already imminent.

“Search his body. Make sure he doesn’t have anything left on him we can use,” I ordered before walking away.

I didn’t know where I would go, since everything but the breeding house was just husks of what used to be a town. The acrid scent of smoke burned in my nose as I took in the wreckage. This is the truth of war, nowhere was safe, and everything could be taken from you. When we’d gotten word of the attack, it had been too late to do anything. If we’d had better technology that we could count on to transmit properly, things might have been different. I know Babaka said it wouldn’t have mattered, only I couldn’t live with that answer. It was my duty as their commander and heir to the Northern Territory to do all that was in my power to protect my people.

“Commander Lucian, I have a message from the General for you,” a soldier called out.

Pausing, I turned on my heel. “The General already knows?” I questioned.

That shouldn’t be possible. If the attack happened as suddenly as it appeared, there’s no way they could send out a message to me, or the general. Our telecommunications equipment was spotty at best along with the power to run the damn thing. We’d gotten the news just before dawn well after everything was said and done.

“That’s what his message said,” the soldier informed me with a shrug. “I managed to get our portable system hooked up to the town's power. Now that there isn’t much being drawn from it, the connection seems to be more stable. Meaning we can send and receive more quickly than before.”

I held my hand out for the message, but he just simply shook his head. “Sorry, Commander, but there’s no paper to write on. You’ll have to read it off the screen.”

“Of course,” I muttered. “Lead the way.”

Set up behind what used to be the supply depot was a tent that had been erected and turned into our communications command. This was typical for us when we made camp before a battle, so I wasn’t surprised that my soldiers had taken the initiative. Both soldiers left the tent, allowing me to read the communication privately and respond.