Page 5 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 2

Chapter three

Standing on the banks of the Corpar River, I looked downstream where Danella had been swept away in the current moments ago. Petru had called for help the second he realized there was trouble, but it had been too late. The Northern bastard had used our Omega as a shield, making it impossible for Petru to get a shot off. Then he had the balls to fucking bite her, bonding them together. The rage that churned in me was of the likes I’d never experienced before. I wanted to rip off the Alpha’s head with my bare hands for daring to touch Danella, let alone mark her.

How had things gone so wrong? Danella was supposed to be safe with us. There had been no indication that Commander Lucian would come looking for her. He’d been summoned back to Stalhold City to answer for the attack on the outpost. We’d purposely left enough power intact for them to use for communications which we cloned to gather once they left the outpost. I’d gotten word about a week ago about the assholes' orders.

So why hadn’t he followed them? Could it be that this whole situation at the plant was simply to draw us out?

“Sorin,” Petru called. “There’s another body you should look at.”

Turning to face my fellow teammate who’d been in charge of looking after our Omega. Petru was known for being even-tempered, hard to upset, and overly logical. The man I was looking at right now was anything but that. The fury I saw in his dark green eyes set them alight as if a fire was burning behind them, fueled by his anger. A muscle in his jaw ticked at the strain it was under being clenched so hard, just another tell of how badly he was blaming himself.

Reaching the spot he called me to, I found the body of a Southern soldier I knew well, Draza.

“What the fuck was he thinking?” Petru snarled. “Why would he turn against the South like this, and why pick this place? He doesn't know the first thing about power plants.”

“You’re right, but at one point, he’d been stationed here as a punishment while they were building,” I shared. “If anyone would know of a situation that would draw us out into the open, this sack of shit would.”

Petru’s head snapped up to look at me. “Are you saying he helped that Northern prick set this all in motion? I assumed it was just bullshit to get me angry and give him an opening to run.”

“That might be what Lucian told Draza, only the Commander didn’t want us,” I pointed out.

“Danella,” Petru whispered. “All this was to get us out here so he could get to Danella. It makes sense. On base, she didn’t go anywhere without one of us. Not to mention it was too highly guarded for a Northerner to sneak in, let alone sneak someone out. That’s why he had the sedative. He knew and was prepared for her to resist.”

“He drugged her?” I demanded, turning to look at the river again. “Fucking idiot, why choose the river if she was unable to help herself? Goddamn bastard is going to get her killed, and I’m going to rip him into pieces when I find him.”

“She wasn’t going to let him take her,” Petru explained. “She also wouldn’t let me shoot him, either.”

Whipping my head back to look at him. “What?”

“She was begging him to let her go and just leave, that if he just left, I wouldn’t shoot him. In fact, she stood in my way pleading for me to just let Lucian go,” Petru shared. “Kept saying that Lucian was going to kill his father and end the war.”

“Well, I guess we should ask him about that when we find them,” I growled. “Let’s head in. Clearly, these two were the only ones out here, so we just need Toma to fix the plant, and we can start the hunt.”

“Where is Cris?” Petru asked as he trudged through the tall grass towards the plant.

“Should be just up here. I didn’t want anyone sneaking up on us,” I said before lifting two fingers and letting out a shrill whistle.

Seconds later, Cris’ blond head popped up before he stood to see us approaching him. “What happened? Where’s Dani?”

As our medic, I tried to keep him away from the action if I could, since he was invaluable to us. Not that he couldn’t hold his own in a fight. He was as well trained as the rest of the unit. The difference was that no one could do his job if something happened to him.

“Seems we’ve been set up,” I announced. “I’ll explain once we know the plant isn’t going to blow up and I can cover this once.”

“Sorin,” Cris snapped, shocking the shit out of me. “What the fuck happened to Dani?”

Petru walked over to his lover and gripped the Beta by the back of the neck and shook him slightly. “You don’t ever speak to a superior officer like that. I don't care if we’re family or not. We’re on a mission, and that is not fucking acceptable. If he tells you he’ll explain when we get to the others, then that’s what he’s gonna do. Now, let’s go.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the fact Cris had never seen Petru like this or if he realized how badly he’d just fucked up just now. Either way, he gritted his teeth, jerked away from Petru, and headed for the plant.

“Tru, it’s going to be easier to get her back if the team isn’t pissed at each other,” I commented. “I understand you feel responsible, but don’t fucking take it out on the others just because they love you.”

Petru glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and gave a sharp nod but didn’t say anything. Guess it’s better to say nothing at all than to rip someone a new asshole as he’d just done to Cris. We headed inside the power plant, walking along the metal gangplanks that spanned over the generators chugging away under us. The machinery drowned out the roar of the river and it unsettled me to be around so many things that could blow up if Toma wasn’t as good at his job as he was. Cris beat us to the control room. He was sulking in the corner, arms crossed, refusing to look at Petru or me. There weren’t many moments Cris showed he was the youngest of the unit; it had only happened twice before now.

While I respected the man’s choice to be upset about the scolding he got, Petru hadn’t been wrong. As I told Dani when I asked her to follow my commands, it was the difference between life and death. Soldiers didn’t second-guess their commanding officer. If they did, their chances of living through the situation dropped immensely.

“Hey, where’s my little firecracker?” Victor asked, peering past me for Dani.

“Is the plant secure?” I questioned.