Page 7 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 1

I’d been away from Qita for three weeks as I took my small infiltration team and crossed into the South territory. It was a four-day journey just to get to the border, but it was the safest way for us to move without leaving a trace. Plus, we used river access and anything motorized would have never worked. While we had numbers, they used technology to make up for their lack of soldiers. That meant along the border, they had sensors that would pick up on noise above a certain level adding another reason why we had to hoof it.

There had been rumors that they were building a power generator on the river further into their lands. If that was true, then it was our top priority to take out since it would bring power closer to the front lines. While we in the North were far more skilled in battle, we lacked the minds they had in creating weapons that could take out massive amounts of us at once.

Drawing out time in the South, we didn’t see any signs of something being built although that didn’t mean it wasn’t in the works. They still had rainfall which is the only reason the river still had water flowing. The Stern River was one of two rivers in our country that flowed north instead of south. One of the primary reasons we needed to push them back away from it. Our biggest fear is that they would find a way to cut off the flow before it got to us but from what we hear, any attempts to do so resulted in flooding the moment it rained.

Just one of the many things we feared from the South, driving us to protect what little we had left of our way of life. I didn’t know what held back the South from just dropping a bomb on us and ending it in one fell swoop. My father, the general, would have done it without hesitation being the cold, ruthless man he was. I didn’t think it was possible for him to become even more callus but I was proved wrong when Savo turned his back on us. Father never told Savo about his half-siblings after seeing how he was with his little sister. The Alpha was a disgrace, and there was no room for being that soft when we had to fight tooth and nail for all we had.

“Commander,” one of my men called.

I shook myself out of my mental musings to meet his gaze. “What is it, Ján?”

“We’re coming up on camp,” he said.

Grunting, I grabbed the flare gun, loaded a shell, then lifted it straight up over my head and pulled the trigger. The flare shot out of the weapon and whistled into the sky with a pop releasing a bright orange-colored bloom. This let the guards at the gate know that we were Northern soldiers and not to shoot on sight. Shooting off a flare didn’t change the fact that there were land mines around the perimeter or that the fence was charged, it simply gave us a chance to get to the gate without getting killed. Once they could verify who we were, then we’d be allowed entrance.

I don’t care how well-trained you are or what shape you're in, walking for three weeks is exhausting. My feet were begging me to rest, but that might be because my boots were slightly too small. We hadn’t had a shipment of uniform supplies in almost six months. Supposedly we’d worked out a deal with Oscad to supply us with things we needed, but so far, all I’ve seen is fucking timid Omegas who pissed themselves at the sight of me. Who wanted to fuck something that might die of fright if you got too close? While the General seemed to believe that Omegas were at the top of the list of things we needed to continue the line of soldiers, it didn’t help to keep the soldiers alive that we already had.

Our people were starving, barely could find decent clothes to wear, and all our towns were crumbling since there weren’t any supplies to fix them. What good was winning a war if you destroyed everything in the process? While I didn’t agree with Savo for leaving and forcing me to take his place, I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to see the demise of our people. Passing through the gate, I looked at the small town we used as a military outpost. Men were drinking in the bar that never seemed to run out of beer except when you looked in the windows of the supply depot, there was hardly anything left on the shelves.

Growling under my breath, I turned to face the four men who’d come with me. “As of this moment, you’re on leave for the next three days. Good work, men, enjoy the time as you please.”

They all grinned and slapped each other on the back as they headed for their barracks. My place was over the armory. Being the commander and top military officer of this outpost, I got my own apartment. It wasn’t much, but it gave me a place to think and plan without interruption unless it was necessary. Clomping up the steps at the back of the building, I shoved open my door. I’d never felt the need to lock it, knowing that if I caught anyone’s scent in here I would slit their throats for entering my private space.

Toeing off my boots, I dropped my pack on the small table in the kitchen area. It had a wood-burning stove, sink, and fridge that I didn’t really ever keep anything in. While we had electricity here, it was unreliable so you never knew how long it would be out and any food left there would be spoiled. Filling a bucket with water, I used it to wash my face and hands to start. I’d get to the rest of it later but what I wanted right now was to strip out of these clothes I’d been in for three weeks and get some fucking sleep on a real bed.

Peeling off my shirt, I kicked open my bedroom door which had been left ajar and came to an abrupt halt. I was smacked in the face with the gentle scent of something floral that had a bright, spicy twist. My cock grew rock-hard as I closed my eyes and took a deep inhale of the scent that coated my room. It was soft, feminine yet had an undercurrent of something sharp and unyielding. When I opened my eyes, I searched the room for where the intoxicating scent came from until I landed on the sight of a woman in my bed.

The way her scent permeated the room, she’d had to have been up here for quite some time. On the floor, I saw a tray with bread and gruel that had been untouched. There was also a bucket that I assumed would be what she’d been using for needs since she was clearly chained to the back wall of my room. A growl started to trickle out of my mouth at the thought of someone touching her, let alone chaining her to a fucking wall.

Seconds after I realized what I’d just thought, I was disgusted at the fact that I would ever think such things about a breeder that I didn’t even know. I was the commander of my father’s army, second in power only to him. To hold that position I’d learned any sort of emotions or tenderness toward others was a luxury I could never afford. When I was much younger and being looked after by an older Alpha female with the rest of my various half-siblings, I’d grown attached to her. Father caught wind of this and beat the hell out of me saying it was to toughen me up. At any moment I’d dared to show weakness, he’d be there with his whip and fists to remind me there was no place in this world for bullshit like that.

As a daily reminder of those lessons, I carried their marks on my body. Each time I looked in the mirror, I was shown the result of allowing kindness of any sort to take root in me. Rewarding soldiers who deserved the praise was one thing; it would make them fight harder, push further, and give all they had to their leader. This is where my efforts should be put, not baseless feelings about some Omega bitch they’d tried to force on me once more.

Spinning on my heel, I slammed the bedroom door closed and heard a gasp behind me—but I pushed it out of my mind. Not bothering to put a shirt back on, I stormed out of my apartment and right up to the doors of the breeder house. Entering the dim building, I headed for Babaka’s sitting room. The ancient woman spent most of her time there when she wasn’t dealing with the breeders. At this time of day, I’m sure most, if not all the breeders would be fulfilling their purpose.

The moment I entered her sitting room, I found the woman in her favorite overstuffed chair knitting. She didn’t even bother to look up from her work. Babaka just smirked. “Welcome back, Commander Lucian,” she said in our native tongue. While Babaka could manage in the common tongue this was her first language.

“Why the fuck is there a breeder in my bed?” I demanded, keeping to our language as well. “I leave for three weeks and come back to find a strange woman chained up in my room with no warning?”

“General sent her for you, it wasn’t a request I could ignore. He wants you to produce an heir and he’s not taking no for an answer this time. I’m supposed to monitor your use of her and send word back to General Rasvan who will deal with you and the breeder personally,” Babaka explained, finally lifting her gaze to mine. “Your refusal to use breeders has now garnered his attention, and he fears you’ll be another failure like Savo. He won’t allow it. I believe he’d rather kill you than let you make a fool of him.”

“Fuck,” I swore, running a hand over my hair which had gotten too long for my liking.

Babka chucked. “I believe that’s the idea. Look, you don’t need to knot the breeder until she's in heat, but she’s untouched. You have the next three days to fix that and allow me to confirm, then send word to the general you’re doing as you’re told.”

Everything about this made me want to push back even more. I didn’t want an heir. Who would want a child to grow up in a world like this? My father was a bastard and I followed my general’s orders when I believed they were in the best interest of our people, but this wasn’t. It’s not like he was going to die since he’d taken a step back from the front lines after his recent injury making it difficult for him to fight. Not that anyone but those closest to him would know how hurt he really was. Now that he saw his mortality firsthand, he was forcing his fears on me. Fuck, there were enough of my siblings that I could make one of them my heir instead of breeding one of my own. Our country couldn’t support the people we had now, but no matter what, Father swore that more soldiers were what we needed to win.

Growling in frustration, I turned to leave but paused. “What happens to her if I don’t?”

“I believe she will be fed to the wolves, although if she’s as much of a fighter as I’ve seen then she won’t last long before pissing someone off to the point they kill her,” Babaka answered. “That one’s got spirit the likes I haven’t seen since your mother.”

I flinched at the mention of my mother. Father had cared for her, I think, from how people talked. However, she wasn’t an Omega that accepted her place. She’d pushed my father too far, and he’d killed her publicly when she made a scene in front of other officers disagreeing with his choice. One reason he’d been the general for as long as he had is the fact people were scared shitless of him. No one vocalized their disagreement, a lesson I didn’t need to be taught after watching him kill my own mother at the age of ten.

“Let’s hope she doesn’t end up with her same fate,” I muttered.

“You’re the only one who can see that she doesn’t,” Babaka called after me as I left the breeder house.

Trudging back to my place, I sighed as I stood at the bottom of the stairs, almost dreading going back up there. The reaction that I had to her scent alone made me wary of what might happen if I talked to her. No matter what, I could never allow myself to care for her. She was a breeder, a vessel to produce an heir and keep my father off my back. She couldn’t be anything more than that because it would absolutely get her killed, and it would be my fault. Some lessons I didn’t need to learn from experience. I knew it would be devastating if I let someone in and then became the reason they died—it would kill me and turn me into a man like my father. Which was the last thing our people and country needed.