Page 13 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 2

Chapter six

Watching them tie Lucian up had my heart in my throat—but I kept silent. They didn’t know what was truly happening and were acting on the fact that I’d been stolen from them. If I was going to have any chance to explain anything, they needed to feel I was safe. For the moment, at least. Sorin squatted in front of Lucian sizing the man up while Victor stood behind his leader, arms crossed, with a dark expression only amplified by the blood seeping from a wound on his cheek.

“Commander Lucian, seems we finally get the chance to meet one another,” Sorin commented.

Lucian spat at the other Alpha landing a wad of spit on Sorin’s upper cheek almost to the point it was in his eye. If it were me, I would have lost my shit and pummeled Lucian, but instead, he calmly wiped his face clean with the back of his sleeve.

“It’s not nice to try and provoke me when we both know hurting you will hurt Dani,” Sorin pointed out. “Truthfully, it’s the only reason you’re still alive. Trust and believe when I tell you none of us would lose any sleep over killing you right here, right now. However…it seems we’re at an impasse since you marked an Omega that doesn’t belong to you.”

“She’s always belonged to me,” Lucian shot back. “I’ve been her Alpha since the day she stepped foot on Astrug soil.”

“Errr, wrong answer, asshole,” Victor retorted. “Just because you fucking branded her doesn’t mean she was yours. We all know she ran away from you the second she saw the chance to make it happen. Now, why would she do that if she was yours as you so claim?”

This conversation was going nowhere if I didn’t step in, but when I tried to walk over to them, Petru stepped in front of me. “No, Wildflower, you will stay right here.”

“Tru, they’re going to do nothing except fight and argue over the same things in a never-ending loop,” I reasoned. “Let me help smooth things over. You all need to know what’s really going on.”

Petru’s green eyes softened as he cupped my cheek. “Nothing else matters right now until we make it clear you’re coming home with us. For that to happen, those three need to figure out where they stand in the pecking order, if you will.”

“How can I go home with you if I’m bonded to him?” I questioned, brow furrowing. “You can’t undo a bond once it’s been made.”

Petru pulled me into a hug resting his head on mine. “We aren’t letting you go, Danella. The fates brought you into our lives, and that’s where you belong, with us. Trust that we will find a way, Wildflower.”

I had no idea how they could possibly find a way to make things work between us. Yet the soothing sound of Petru’s steady heartbeat, combined with his sweet earthy scent of thyme and bergamot, had me relaxing into him. My body had taken a toll over the past two days and seemed to be sapping all the energy from me. Then again, I’d been running on adrenaline since Lucian abruptly woke me up. As it drained away, knowing I was safe here with them, I felt so tired and mentally exhausted. Another body came up behind me and joined in on this hug. The bright orange fragrance told me it was Toma as he nuzzled into my neck, the opposite side of Lucian’s mark.

“Are you okay? To be clear, I’m not asking if you’re hurt,” Toma murmured.

How did I even begin to answer that question?

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “Part of me knew you’d come for me, though the other rational side knows it will be impossible for me to stay. I’m bonded to the heir of North Asturg, the son of General Rasvan, a tyrant by all accounts. The South would never allow me to be here if they knew.”

“Did you forget that Sorin is the heir to South Asturg? We aren’t without our own power and influence in the world,” Toma countered. “As Tru said, trust in us, and we will find a way. Because if the past two days are any proof of how much we need you, losing you would cripple the unit for good.”

Lifting my head, I stared back at Toma, seeing the truth in his eyes. “What happened?”

The men holding me pulled back to give me room as Toma pointed to Cristofor. “Ask him.”

“Cris?” I ventured, worried that something awful had happened.

Cris dropped his gaze and shoved his hands in his pockets. “To be clear, I’m not proud of how I acted, but I would do it again.” Pausing, he lifted his gaze to mine. “I lost my temper and bitched Sorin out for letting you get taken. In my defense, he didn’t tell us what was happening when we noticed you weren’t with Tru. He forced us to wait and ensure the plant was out of danger before admitting that you’d been taken. My fear and anger got the better of me. However, I couldn’t just stand by when you were missing.”

Pulling away from the other two, I wrapped my arms around Cris’ neck and kissed him. He was a bit surprised. Yet, it only took him a moment before he kissed me back, tugging my body against his. I was enveloped in the essence that was Cristofor; earthy patchouli with the freshness of spruce. In the back of my mind, I realized I didn’t hesitate to seek out this attention from Cris. As a bonded Omega, I shouldn’t feel the way I do with all of them. Everything about this moment felt right, as if they’d always been with me. Was this realization hitting me because I was now bonded and understood what that felt like?

A snarling roar pulled me out of the moment and had me jerking away from Cris, even though he refused to let me go. “No, Dani, you have every right to kiss me if you want to, no matter what that bastard thinks.”

I blinked at him for a moment. Surprised to hear him, of all people saying that.

“See what happens when you leave us,” Victor pointed out. “The kid up and gets a mouth on him and a stubborn streak a mile wide. Kinda proud of him. However, he needed to put those balls of his to good use and speak his mind.”

Twisting, so Cris’s arms were wrapped around my waist, holding me to his chest as I took in the rest of my unit. Lucian was fighting against Sorin’s hold to get to me, but Sorin wasn’t a man you could push around. He was built like a boulder and knew how to put it to good use.

“Get your fucking hands off my Omega,” Lucian barked out.

I flinched at the order. Even though it wasn’t directed at me, I still got slapped with the energy of it.

“Shut your goddamn mouth before I break your jaw,” Victor ordered, raising a fist in warning. “You do anything to hurt her, so help me God, I will bury you alive and let you suffocate slowly so you can think about what you did.”

Lucian scoffed. “Yeah, I don’t think so. You’d never put her through that. There’s no way you could protect her from doing something like that to me.”