Page 3 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 2

Chapter two

Lucian shifting me out of his lap woke me. I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep, but the sun was still bright so it couldn’t have been that long.

“Is something wrong?” I questioned, seeing his intense expression.

He lifted a hand to his lips and crawled to the front of the cave, drawing a knife from the sheath on his leg. Clutching the blanket to myself, I didn’t know if I should yell for help or keep silent. If it was one of the guys, I couldn’t let Lucian kill them. Even if they wanted nothing to do with me now that I was bonded to their enemy, I refused to let them be harmed. If I was going to help them, I needed to get close enough to Lucian to stop him, so I let the blanket fall away and crawled to the entrance.

Lucian had slipped out and headed to the left so that’s what I did as well. Keeping low, I paused to listen just as the guys had taught me. The key to tracking was using all your senses and being aware of your surroundings. When I heard the rustling of leaves and the snap of twigs, it was off to the right. Just as I turned to look, a pig-like animal with large sharp looking tusks darted out of the underbrush. Clenching my jaw tight, it took everything in me not to scream as I moved back further into the cave, hoping it didn’t see me.

No longer in its eyesight, I stood and looked around the small cave for where my weapons might be. I’d gone into the river with a knife, handgun, and extra ammo. The fact that everything was black didn’t help matters. Even with the sunlight still filtering in, I managed to find them tucked between some rocks. It was almost as if Lucian didn’t want to give them up but didn’t want me to have them, either. Guess I couldn’t blame him when he didn’t know how mad I was going to be with him. The sound of the animal’s snuffling grew louder as it got closer to the cave.

Darting to the weapons, I grabbed the gun but found it empty of ammo when I checked it. “Fuck.”

Tossing it aside, I snatched up the knife and yanked off the sheath. A shrill squeal filled the cave, alerting me to the fact that the creature had discovered I was in here. Spinning around, I brandished the knife just like Victor and Sorin had been teaching me. We hadn’t spent much time on this skill other than how not to cut myself with the damn thing. I had seconds before the animal was charging at me to make my choice of how to deal with this.

Most animals function on dominance, right? What would be a more dominant display, standing my ground or charging? Fuck it, I was meeting this asshole head-on.

Letting out a battle cry, I ran right at the scary bastard with only my knife and leapt over the damn thing. It let out an enraged squeal and scrambled to turn around before bolting toward me again. This time I felt more confident with more space. When it was almost upon me, I grabbed one of those mean-looking tusks and dropped to the ground forcing the animal's head to twist, knocking it off balance. My heart pounded in my chest as I tried to figure out what the fuck I was going to do now that I was face-to-face with the animal. Its legs thrashed as it tried to get to its feet while fighting against my hold. Not knowing what else to do, I just started stabbing into the creature as it hollered and bellowed with each blow. I felt awful for causing it so much pain. However, I also knew if I didn’t do something, it would wound or even kill me, given the chance.

“Danella,” Lucian roared as he appeared, grabbing the beast like it weighed nothing and tossing it away from me. Pulling out his gun, two shots sounded, followed by another pain-filled squeal before the forest around us fell silent.

Within seconds Lucian was hovering over me, running his hands over my body. “Dani, are you hurt? Is this blood yours? What the hell were you thinking?”

“I’m fine. I don’t think it got me,” I panted. “Pretty sure the blood is from the pig thing, not me.”

“Do you have any idea how dangerous boars are? Grown men have died from being gutted by them, and you decided to wrestle with it?” Lucian growled as he hoisted me up. “Foolish, foolish Omega.”

“Where the fuck were you?” I yelled. “I crawled after you, but then you vanished when the damn boar or whatever the fuck it’s called showed up. If you’d left me the bullet from my gun, I wouldn’t have been in any danger.”

“Forgive me for not waiting to get shot in my sleep with how furious you were with me,” Lucian shot back. “I told you to stay in the cave. If you’d listened, the boar wouldn’t have caught your scent and charged after you. With those things, you need to come at them from behind, keep your scent upwind so they don’t know you’re coming.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know all that? Maybe next time, use your words instead of thinking I can just read your goddamn mind,” I grumbled.

The next thing I knew, I was being dropped into a pond, the cool water shocking me as it enveloped me. Spluttering, I flailed, panicking that I would drown until my feet hit the bottom and I could stand. “Are you out of your goddamn mind?” I screamed. “I don’t know how to mother fucking swim.”

“Good thing I dropped you in somewhere you don’t have to,” Lucian muttered as he stripped out of his pants and waded in. “You were covered in boar’s blood and wouldn’t stop yelling at me, so I thought this was the quickest way to deal with both.”

“Fucking Alphas, always needing to do things the brutish way,” I snarled, turning away from him.

Lucian caught my arm and dragged me back, slamming his lips to mine. Stunned, I didn't pull away, allowing him to slide his hand into my hair, gripping it securely as he devoured me. Resting a hand on his chest, I groaned at his taste, not realizing how intense it would be to truly kiss him. For the past three years, not once had his lips touched mine until yesterday and again now. The bond between us hummed with delight as he deepened the kiss, his hand on my ass pressing me tightly to him.

I could feel his cock hard and ready, trapped against my stomach, making it incredibly clear how much my Alpha wanted me. Struggling with the desire to give in, knowing how good he would make me feel, coupled with how needy my body had been, clashed with the part of my brain that told me he didn’t deserve to fuck me after what he’d done. When he finally broke the kiss, we were both panting and looking at each other with need.

“Don’t take risks like that, My Heart,” Lucian murmured, resting his forehead against mine. “If anything happened to you, I’m not sure I’d survive it. Losing you for the past few weeks has been hell, but the knowledge that I would find you kept me from going insane.”

“I’m not helpless, Lucian. If you truly want things to work out between us, you’re going to need to accept that,” I argued. “We’re bonded, which means a connection for life no matter what I want. There’s no walking away from this, although if you think I’m going to be the same woman who’s kept her head down to survive, you’ve got another thing coming,” I warned.

Cupping my face in his hands, he pressed a kiss to my lips. “The only Omega I could fall in love with is one who has her own mind. Dani, you are a warrior, a protector of those you hold dear. This makes you unlike any woman I’ve ever met and exactly what I’ve been searching for. I’ll admit it will take time and your help to find a balance between the Alpha I’ve been raised to be and the Omega you were born to be. Keep challenging me, pushing me to the edge, and forcing me to see the world through a different lens so I can grow.

We’ll fight, and I have no doubt that I’ll say the wrong thing, pissing you off, but I want to be what you need. All I ask is that you understand the one thing that will never change is my overwhelming desire to protect you. You, Danella, are my whole world now. There is nothing I won’t do for you. Just let me keep you safe.” Lucian pleaded.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I nodded. “You can’t be the only one trying to make this work, or it will never happen. I’ll try, except following rules has never been something I’m good at.”

“Really?” Lucian chuckled. “How could I have missed that fact about you after three years?”

“Oh fuck off,” I muttered, splashing water at him.

Lucian grabbed my hips and lifted me so the tip of his cock nudged at my entrance. “Was that an invitation? Because my answer will always be yes to fucking you, My Heart.”