Page 16 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 2

Chapter seven

Sorin cleared his throat and crossed his arms making his muscles more pronounced. “Let’s start with this supposed plan to overthrow General Rasvan. If we can bring a peace treaty to the table, I feel we have a better shot of making them believe we’re serious.”

“Wait,” I interjected, stepping back from Lucian and Sorin so I could see everyone. “You asked me what I wanted, to know what I was thinking. Now it’s my turn to ask you, each and every one of you standing before me. What do you want? Ignore my needs and wants right now. Be honest and open about what you want for your life and future.”

Unsurprising, Petru spoke first. “Wildflower, I thought we’d said it clearly already, but hearing you ask us that tells me differently. I will speak for myself now since you need our personal assurances.” Taking a breath, he locked eyes with me, his look so intense I felt like he was seeing into my soul. “Danella, what I want for my future is to have a pack with you as our Omega. To wake up in the morning with you curled up in the arms of my brothers and lovers, safe and cherished. The love I feel for this family we are making will grow as we change the world around us. A world that starts with you as our center guiding us to be better men.”

My throat tightened at his words as they speared me right in the heart, making it swell ten times its normal size with his affection.

Toma took Petru’s hand and raised it to his lips, pressing a kiss to it with an adoring smile. “Love, I couldn't have said it any better.” Petru just smiled at his partner and squeezed his hand in return. It would seem I wasn’t the only one caught up in my feels.

Pulling his gaze away from Petru, Toma blinded me with his sultry smolder making me feel the need to rub my legs together. Having his full attention was something I loved but always felt the weight of when it happened. “You and I got off to a bit of a rocky start didn’t we?”

I nodded, remembering that day I chewed him out in the hospital, and his sister, the nurse taking care of me, kicked him out of the room. It had taken a little time for us to find our footing, but I think once we both got to see past the walls we both had, we found our stride.

“Goes to show that you can’t judge a person by their first impression,” I reasoned. “Plus, once I got to know Cris and Petru better, I knew you could be the flirty playboy you pretend to be.”

Toma snorted. “I do not flirt, nor am I a playboy. You know Petru was my first love, who I’ve always been loyal to until we added Cris to our relationship, together, mind you.” He pointed out, wagging a finger at me playfully.

“Then you appeared like a tornado sweeping into our lives, throwing everything we thought we knew about Omegas out the window. All that sass poured out of you as you defended yourself, along with your friends, from a threat you had no hope of defeating. The more and more I learned about you, Danella, made it impossible for me not to see the truth. Petru told us from day one that you were ours. An Omega that the fates brought to us, the missing piece to the puzzle that our unit needed. So, after saying all that, what do I want for my future?” Toma pondered, repeating the question and shrugged. “Simple, one with you in it. Period. The end. However that needs to happen, I’m willing to try.”

Cris started to speak, but Victor cut him off. “Hold up, kid, let me just say my peace before another long-winded speech. It will be fucking nightfall before we get this part over with.” The man grumbled as he stomped his way up to me.

He stood towering over me, his sharp hazel eye pinning me to the ground. It was obvious why people were scared of him, though I’d never once felt anything but safe with him close by.

“Listen up, and listen good, Little Spark, because I’m not going to rehash this again,” Victor growled as he held my chin in his hand. “You belong to us, plain and simple. I vowed to protect you, and seeing as there was no expiration date on that, I guess it means you’re stuck with me for life.”

Victor shifted his gaze from me to Lucian, making the other Alpha stiffen in readiness. “I’d keep in mind the fact I didn’t put any limitations or rules on who or what I was going to protect her from… so don’t make have to fucking protect her from you. That won’t go well for either of us.”

The two Alphas glared at each other for a moment, making me hold my breath and pray they wouldn’t start fighting again. “I’d extend the same warning to you as well, don’t give me a reason to take you out. There will be a truce between us. However, her needs and well-being will forever come first, no matter what.”

“Good,” Victor grunted. “Since we understand each other, there will be no surprises.”

Lucian inclined his head in agreement, causing everyone to relax.

“Now, I feel like we can speed this along,” Victor announced. “Cris, are you in or out?”

“What?” Cris said, then shook himself as if he’d been lost in thought. “Sorry, I’m in. Absolutely all in on doing whatever it takes to keep Dani in our pack forever. You both said pretty much all there is to say,” he commented, glancing at Petru and Toma. “The only thing I’ll add is that family is what you make of it. You have one you’re born into, but in my opinion, the family you choose and chooses you in return is your true family. Sorin chose all of us when he made this unit, and now we’re all choosing Dani. In addition, Dani chose Lucian, so now it’s up to us if we will accept him into this family.”

Sorin came up behind me and settled his hands on my shoulders. “For us to decide that, I believe it will take a little time, but we are all in agreement as a unit, family, and pack to try. Right now, I think it’s best to find a place to set up camp. All of us are tired and hungry, and I’d very much like to have a conversation with Lucian about his plans.”

Everyone seemed to agree as weapons were holstered and backpacks were shouldered. Every time I watched them work as a seamless unit, it amazed me. They were so in sync with each other, moving effortlessly from one task to another after years of working together. It made me think of the dream I’d had growing up of what my picture-perfect pack would look like. How they would swoop in and rescue me from my tragic Omega fate. What I didn’t realize back then, was that I didn’t want to be saved and protected from the world. The truth was I wanted to be part of the battle, helping to make changes for others like me. My need to fight for those who can’t has always been seen as a problem. Not to these men; they supported that part of me with training and sharing their own dreams for this world.

This whole time I’d been fighting to be free of it all. To cast aside my designation and burn the entire system to the ground, only seeing the flaws. Yet these men were fighting daily to make a change and protect the country and the people who lived here. My view had been selfish, only seeing the world through my own experiences. If we could really pull this off, make lasting changes for the entire country of Asturg. Then I’d have to think of a new dream to strive for, now wouldn’t I? Not sure anything could be as impactful as stopping a war and changing a whole country—but time would tell. I wasn’t going to cut myself short.

Thankfully the pace Sorin set for us wasn’t as fast as what Lucian had us doing, but then again, we weren’t running from anyone this time. I could see the guys all watching for drones and other devices the South used to keep an eye on things, but none seemed too concerned. We were heading for a cabin that was stocked and ready to be used in such situations as ours. It was only a few hours’ walk and the sun had just started hiding behind the trees when we arrived. This gave us enough light to enter the cabin, start a fire, and make sure all was good before it was too dark.

Toma set up communications and reached out to headquarters. “Marza command, do you copy? This is Sargent Toma reporting in.”

“We hear you loud and clear, Sargent,” a woman answered. “Hold one moment for Commandant Stoll.”

My jaw dropped as I heard who Toma was reporting to. “Wait, isn't he the Commandant? Leader of the whole Southern military?” I whispered.

Toma held up a finger and hit a few buttons before answering. “Sorry, I just wanted to make sure we muted our side of the conversation. Yes, the Commandant oversees all the elite units, but he’s always personally handled our team. He’s as old school military as you can get, spent his whole life in the service, and my guess is he really hopes Sorin will refuse his father’s position so he can take over the military one day.”

“I didn’t think it worked like that. Doesn’t Sorin need a higher rank to even be in the running?” I questioned.

As part of my training, they’d been having me learn all about their military structure. That and all the top members of leadership, so if I ever ran into them on base, I knew who they were. The last thing any of us wanted was to cause waves, with me being from the North and originally from Oscad.