Page 1 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 2

Chapter one

The world seemed to pass by me in a blur of sensations and glimpses of reality. Whatever drug Lucian had dosed me with didn’t knock me out entirely, but it certainly kept me compliant. The water from the river was fucking cold. I don’t know how we didn’t drown when I couldn’t swim and it felt like my clothes were weighing me down. The sound of Petru yelling after us tugged at my heart, which was an odd feeling in and of itself. I don’t know how long we were in the river or how far downstream we were taken with how fast the water was moving. Eventually, I remember getting dragged out of the water and up onto dry land.

“Dani, My Heart, this is not how I wanted things to go,” Lucian murmured as he brushed my hair out of my face. “Why did you have to be with them willingly? Doesn’t matter, you’re back with me now, and I’ll keep you safe, starting with getting you dry and warm.”

I felt him pick me up, but other than that, I have no idea how we ended up in a cave with a small fire burning. Odder still, I was naked, with Lucian wrapped around me and a blanket covering us. Where the hell had the blanket come from? Had he stashed supplies away in anticipation of this? Wait, was he the one who damaged the power plant drawing my unit out to investigate?

No matter how much I wanted to demand answers from Lucian, the drug still had a hold on me. Deciding it was better just to rest and let the meds wear off, I closed my eyes. Sorin and the others would find me. Besides, Victor wouldn’t allow them to just abandon me. No, what I needed to do was rest so I could have a clear head about things in the morning. If I could talk Lucian into leaving me behind as he went off to do all that, he said it would be the best option for all of us.

Could he really be serious about killing his father, the general of the Northern Asturg army? A cruel and vicious man who’d left me with the choice of becoming his son's personal breeder or death. I’d met the bastard once when I was first shipped to Astrug from my home country, Oscad, three years ago. They’d lied to us at the Care Center, pretending to do their best for the country, protecting us from war and all that bullshit. The reality was that they sold us off to keep General Rasvan from attacking us when he realized he couldn’t win against the South.

So many Omegas had been sent to our bordering countries, never seeing their families again. Each of us had been raised hoping to be part of a pack with the love and comfort that came with it. Instead, I’d learned what it felt like to feel real hunger and to fear for my life every day. No longer was I regarded as a woman with her own mind and feelings about things. In Asturg, I was a breeder, something to fill with a baby and steal away to raise in a group setting. Their entire purpose being to grow up and fight in this centuries-old war that no one truly understood.

How do you win a war when you’re not sure why it started in the first place?

After an attack on the outpost I’d been living at with Lucian for the past three years, I managed to make a run for it. Unwilling to leave two of my best friends behind, I also got them out. Only it didn’t go quite as we planned, seeing as we got caught by the Southern Astrug military. The escape had been brutal, and I suffered some massive injuries yet hung in there long enough for the advanced medical team to heal me. That’s when I met Sorin and the others. The men who, in all honesty, saved my life. They also happen to be the top unit of the Southern military's Elite Units. Those five men quickly became the center of my world as we struck a bargain. I gave them information on the North, and they trained me to be a fighter. Giving me the ability to fight and protect myself so I no longer lived in fear of being a victim.

I’d managed to complete a week out of the three they wanted me to have before we got the call to deal with a situation at the power plant. We moved out instantly, unsure of what we’d land ourselves in. However, if what I’m piecing together is right, then that was an elaborate scheme for Lucian to have the opportunity to rescue me—or at least in his mind. While I’d given my unit hell when we first met, I was swiftly discovering they might mean more to me than I realized. Faced with the choice of staying or leaving, I would have told you I’d leave hands down to return to Oscad. Now having been ripped away from them, I honestly don’t know what my answer would be.

“Sleep, Dani,” Lucian grumbled as he tugged me closer and buried his nose in my hair. “I can hear your beautiful mind whirling, trying to figure out what’s going on. It can wait till morning, so rest. We have a long trek ahead of us to get to the Northern capital city.”

When I tried to speak, I realized I couldn’t get my mouth to work, so I resorted to a distinctly unhappy grunt.

“Don’t be mad. Please, My Heart, I can’t handle you being upset with me,” Lucian said as he sat up and rolled me on my back to look up at him. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry your life with me had to start the way it did. Still, if I had the chance to go back in time and do it all over, I’m not sure I would change a thing other than not hiding how I felt about you. While living in the north is harsh and cruel, the best thing it ever did for me was to bless me with you.”

His lips caressed my neck, and the sensation blazed through my body, making me gasp. How had I forgotten that he’d claimed me? The bastard fucking bit me right where his brand marked my skin for all to see. Now that I remembered that tiny detail, I could feel Lucian and how desperate he was not to lose me. Unwilling to deal with this now, when I couldn’t talk or yell at him, I just forced myself to sleep. Hopefully, when I woke up, I would regain control of my body.

Waking, I lifted my arm to block the sun’s rays searing into my eyes. Rolling on my side, I groaned at how sore I was. It seemed our river adventure had taken its toll on me, no matter how relaxed I was. Pushing up, I looked around the cave that Lucian had brought us to and was impressed. It was large enough for the Alpha to stand in and not worry about his head hitting. The cave was wide enough for us to fit along with maybe one other person before it became too claustrophobic.

Sitting up fully, the blanket that had been covering me fell away, and I saw the bruises on my arms and legs from being battered in the river. Now being sore made sense. I was alone in the cave, but I could feel Lucian wasn’t far and he knew that I was awake. Having this connection to him was strange, like having a GPS and a mood tracker all in one within a person. Was this what it would have been like to be bonded to the others? How would that have worked with Cristofor being a Beta? Why was I even thinking about that?

Tossing off the blanket, I stood looking for my clothes that must be around here somewhere. Not finding them in the cave, I peeked out the opening and spotted them hanging from a tree branch. I paused to listen, feeling confident that there was no one else around but Lucian, who might see me running out of the cave naked. Darting over, I yanked down the shirt and bra, but the underwear got caught on a smaller branch. Not having the height to get to it, I tried to pull on it harder, but then the sound of ripping fabric stopped me.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I grumbled. “First, I get drugged, marked, tossed into a river, and now my fucking underwear is being held hostage by a goddamn tree.”

When an arm wrapped around my waist, I yelped. He lifted me up to the point where I could easily get the rest of my clothes. “Someone seems to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed,” Lucian commented, kissing my neck before setting me back down. “I would have gotten those for you, My Heart.”

Spinning in his arms, my hand whipped out, cracking across his cheek. The sound was so loud it echoed in the woods around us. “You fucking asshole,” I yelled, shoving him as hard as I could. The man barely moved with how solidly he was made of muscle. That just pissed me off even more.

“How could you do this to me?” I screamed, using my whole body to express my feelings, hands balled into fists. “We had an agreement. It was to never get attached to each other and when this was all over, we’d go our separate ways. I was finally free, for once in my life. You could’ve easily told your father that I died in the fight ending this, but no, you had to track me down.”

Lucian didn’t say a word, just watched me with his solemn gray-blue eyes. The scars on his face seemed more pronounced at the moment as a pained expression was shown on his features. My rage poured out of me as I used all my strength and slammed my fists against his chest repeatedly. Right now, all I wanted to do was scream, cry, and use his face as a punching bag.

Running out of steam a sobbed tore out of me as I slumped against him. “You marked me Lucian, again. Only this time it's forever. Why, why do all the choices for my future keep getting taken away from me? What did I do in this life to deserve that?” My sob had now become full-on ugly crying as I clawed his shirt.

“How?” I demanded, my voice raspy with emotion. “How can you call me your heart, when you constantly break mine?”

Slowly, ever so slowly, he wrapped his arms around me. They hugged me tightly, almost as if he was worried I was going to shatter. I didn’t want to cry anymore. Yet the pain of having seen a future—one I finally thought I’d be able to choose—was once again ripped away from me. As my body shook with my sobs, Lucian hoisted me up, cradled me in his arms, stooped to pick up my clothes, and carried me back to the cave. He draped a blanket over my back as he cuddled me against his chest and began to purr.

He’d only done that once before, the first night we were together. I’d never forgotten how fucking calming it was, almost like an automatic off switch to my anxiety and panic. It could lull me into blissful peace, no matter how hard I wanted to fight it.

He nuzzled the side of my neck where his marks were, pressing soft kisses along the brand. “I will never be able to express how sorry I am, Danella,” he murmured. “Just know that I plan to spend the rest of my life making up for everything that’s happened. I get you have no reason to trust me or my words. Which is why I’ll work that much harder to put actions behind them and prove myself to you.”

He fell silent for a moment just letting his hand stroke up and down my spine as I calmed down. Resting his head on top of mine, I felt the cool dampness of a tear hit my scalp. “We will find a way to be happy, I know it. The reason why I’m so sure, is because the only life worth living is one where we’re together. Without that, for me, life is meaningless.”

The gentleness of his words had me clinging to him because not only did I hear it, I felt it. Every word was coated in longing, love, and regret with an echo of hope. This mighty warrior was willing to do whatever it took to get me to forgive him. I didn’t know if it was possible, but for both our sakes, I hoped it would be. Our fates were sealed together forever, because once a bond is created between an Alpha and an Omega—it can never be taken back.

In fact, those from the country of Shearia believe the bond lasts even after a partner dies, making it impossible for them to ever have another pack in that lifetime. If that were true, then it means I would never have a chance with the others, even if they did find me. Putting that thought aside, I didn’t want to dwell on that possibility right now. Things were hard enough already without making that wound bigger and more painful than it was.