Page 72 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 2

“No,” he blurted, grabbing my shoulders. “Never that, Little Spark. It was more about the fact that I made you agree to the fact I wouldn’t mark you, and then that very request might be the thing that makes me lose you.”

“Then ask me to marry you,” I threw out there, tossing my hands up in frustration. “If you want a bond between us that is recognized as an official union, that’s your answer.”

Never in my life did I think I would see Victor shocked to the point of being unable to move, let alone respond, but here it was before my eyes. Reaching up, I grabbed his face and pulled him down to me so I could kiss the life back into him. Instantly he responded by pulling me up to where I wrapped my legs around him. He kissed me breathless as if trying to steal the very breath from my body.

“Little Spark, have I told you how much I love you yet today?” Victor murmured against my lips.

I paused to think about it. “No, not today, I don’t think…”

He playfully nipped my nose before kissing me again, then setting me down. “I love you and that idea, Little Spark, but I won’t ask you now. Something like that deserves to be given some thought and planning because you deserve that from me.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to do it right here and now,” I commented with a smile. “Do you feel better now?”

“Yes, and I promise that if I ever have a question or concern like that again, I’ll address it right away with you. It was fucking stupid of me to believe someone who isn’t even from Oscad. There isn’t much I find myself insecure about, but you mean everything to me and I never expected to have such a person in my life,” Victor shared, brushing the back of his fingers along my cheek. “Now let's get you food since there’s only fifteen minutes left and I won’t be able to relax at all if I don’t see you eat enough.”

“Such a worrywart,” I teased but settled down between Lucian and Sorin, as Victor handed me my rations.

Lucian wrapped an arm around my waist and nuzzled into my hair as I ate. “Just in case you thought you’d be returning to your group after this, I’m telling you now that’s not happening. You’ll be with Cris or one of us if he’s busy. However, none of us like this plan you came up with, My Heart.”

I couldn’t hide the grin at his words. “I fucking knew it. Damn, I seriously wish I had someone to bet against because I would have won so much money.”

“If you knew we wouldn’t like it, why suggest it?” Sorin inquired.

“Each of you has about ten different things to deal with at any given time, and I thought it would help if you didn’t need to worry about what I was doing,” I admitted. “Plus, it keeps me hidden in the crowd of people.”

Sorin snorted at my answer and shook his head. “Dani-girl, if you think we’ll ever stop worrying about you, then you don’t understand Alphas at all. It doesn’t matter if you’re by my side or in my sights I’ll always worry about your safety. I do appreciate the thought behind it, however. It was sweet of you, misguided, yet sweet.”

“Then how the hell are we going to handle when the real fighting starts?” I questioned. “Each of you needs to be in a different spot to lead the people they put you in charge of.”

“Right now, we feel the best choice to have you with Petru and the sniper team. You’re an excellent shot and getting better, so you’ll be able to help, but we’ll know you’re safe,” Lucian answered.

Swallowing the final bite of my food, I frowned. “Doesn’t it seem unfair that I’m getting placed out of harm's way, yet we’re asking everyone else to put their lives on the line?”

“The truth of it all is that war is not fair,” Lucian admitted. “Everything about war is getting the advantage over the person you’re going up against. While we plan to do everything in our power to minimize the death toll in this, there will be losses on both sides. In the end, some people will choose to die for the belief that General Rasvan is right and we must wipe out the South. People who have taken that truth to heart will never change, no matter what we do to prove them wrong. They become blinded by hate, prejudice, and the lies they’ve been told at such a young age. Those will be the people who choose to die rather than ever let us change things.”

“On the other hand, there will be those who know what’s happening is wrong and will be willing to surrender,” Petru pointed out. “There are always two groups—those who believe and fight for that truth. Then there is the other, those who had no choice in the matter and fight to live, knowing the alternative is to die as a traitor. It’s for those people we will always offer the option to lay down their weapon and surrender. Anyone who does will be spared, and fate willing, they will give us a chance to prove there is another way.”

That made me feel mildly better, yet I didn’t know how to accept that I would be sheltered from this battle I asked them to fight in. It was a problem that I mulled over for the rest of the day as we marched to the meeting point and one I didn’t know if there was a solution to. Maybe I was trying to find fairness in something that, at its core, was genuinely unfair. However, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t at least try.

We arrived at the meeting point before the Oscadians. This provided a little time to set up camp for the night while the sun was setting and we had light to see by. The handy part of having such a large group is we had wagons that carried the larger supplies such as tents, extra supplies, and larger rations for making evening meals. Part of our training had been making this whole process efficient and we had the whole camp set up in no time with a fire burning for the cooks to start the meal.

It was easy to tell when the Oscadians arrived since they had vehicles to transport some of their men and all the supplies. A fleet of military vehicles arrived first, with soldiers spilling out of them who immediately started to set up camp. The difference between our two camps was drastic since they had a government funding their efforts, providing the best for their military. It was one of the things Lucian, Sorin, and the council haggled over with Marius and his military leaders. While the rebels had done remarkably well with what they had to work with, they lacked equipment and supplies that would be standard to any established military.

After countless rounds of negotiations, Oscad agreed to help even out the differences between the two groups. They would send updated communication equipment along with additional vehicles to help with our supplies. We needed to be able to move from base to base more efficiently to keep up the pressure and prove we would be a real threat to the General. Of course, there would still be tons of soldiers walking, but having a team that could go ahead to get things in place would make this more efficient. Then those who’ve walked all day can get a hot meal and rest right away keeping everyone at peak performance level.

When my guys noticed a group of men dressed in tan camouflage military uniforms heading our way, they rose to meet them. Tired as I was, I shot to my feet and headed after them, not willing to miss out on talking to someone face-to-face from Oscad.

Cris motioned for me to stick with him when I caught up and leaned down to whisper. “Let them feel each other out and don’t intervene no matter what happens. This is one of those moments that make us roll our eyes at Alphas, but once this is out of the way everything will go much smoother.”

“So, in other words, a pissing contest,” I muttered. Cris just smiled and gave an affirmative wink as we reached the other group.

“Damn, I’m not even going to question that you’re Lucian because you look an awful lot like your brother.” The leader of the group said with an easy smile and relaxed posture as he extended a hand to Lucian. “Names Rick, we’ve spoken a few times on the phone, but it's nice to finally meet you face-to-face.”

“You guessed correctly,” Lucian said as he took the man’s hand. “It’s been ages since I’ve seen Savo so I’ll have to take your word for it but can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Well, you’ll get the chance to see him again with the second team. He asked to be part of this. Said he owed it to you and his people to make up for abandoning them,” Rick shared, then turned to the side so we could see the other men more clearly. “Anyway, let me introduce you to my pack and fellow leaders of this battalion: Senior Officers Anson, Emmett, Quade, and Karston. If there are any issues or you need something, you can come to us, and we’ll deal with the matter. I don’t tolerate any bullshit from my men, and I expect them to act right no matter what setting we’re in.”

“We’ll make sure to do that,” Sorin assured, then introduced us all to Rick and his pack. After an exchange of handshakes, things seemed to be smooth sailing between the two groups.

“I’d really like it if we could meet with all the leaders tonight to go over the plan once more. There is always a difference in things when it happens in person, and it’s my goal that there will be zero tension between all of us. That shit trickles downhill and none of us can afford to have that,” Rick requested.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Victor said with a nod of approval. “Come on, dinner is about to be done, and we can all talk over a meal. Nothing says manly bonding than planning war over food.”

Everyone chuckled at that as Victor led the way back to our camp. The rest of the night was spent rehashing every detail of this plan three times over in monotonous detail that it put me to sleep. I woke up cradled in Sorin’s arms as he carried me back to our tent. We’d been given one large enough for all of us to fit so we didn’t have to split up.

“Go back to sleep, love. This will be the last night of peaceful sleep until this is over,” Sorin whispered, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

Taking him at his word, I snuggled closer to him and let my eyes fall shut to dream of what the world would be like after we won.