Page 84 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 2

Sorin yanked open the door and hopped out. “You better put your goddamn weapons down right now and get the hell out of our way.”

The two Oscadian medics were already undoing the restraints as Toma and Lucian took the stretcher to carry me to the Med Center.

“You guys take off. I don’t want there to be any trouble for you. I’ll make sure they don’t shoot you out of the sky,” Sorin assured them.

Once we were all clear, the helicopter started up and took off, leaving us at the mercy of the South. That is, I would have been if I was bonded to anyone other than Sorin Dragomire. While we had an armed escort, no one stopped us as we walked through the entrance to the base and right over to the Med Center.

Bethany was there waiting for us with a worried look on her face. “What the hell happened to all of you? God, it’s like you got blown up or something.”

“You would be correct on that one,” Toma muttered. “Thankfully, Dani and Petru are the worst of it for us.”

“That’s what you think,” Bethany sniffed. “I want all of you to have a full examination. What if you have internal bleeding from the concussive force of the blast? Nope, we’re not taking any chances.” She paused to face the staff who were waiting for direction. “Listen up, I want all these men looked over. They were in a blast, so look for the signs of any internal damage even if the outside looks fine. Chop chop, people. Let's go.”

With that, I was transferred to a gurney and rushed into surgery. They had to knock me out so I never heard how bad the damage was. To be honest, I wasn’t worried. I knew I was in the most capable hands, with Bethany watching over me. Besides, we were family now, even if she didn’t know it yet. Oh god, now I was going to have to meet their parents… I supposed it couldn’t be any worse than getting blown up by a tyrannical dictator.

Everything with the surgery went well and there was minimal damage. The fear, I found out, was that if it had gone a few millimeters deeper it would have hit my carotid artery and I would have bled to death. Information I feel like I could have lived without knowing, but it all worked out fine in the end. I had to stay in the hospital for a few days, but that was just a precaution. Petru and I shared a room since they had to do treatments on his arm to help with the burn. It was amazing to me the medical advancement they had here in the south. They believed the scaring would be minimal with the regiment they were doing and he’d have full function of his arm. The others checked out fine, although Victor did have a concussion. Yet it could have been so much worse.

Toma, Cris, and Victor took turns coming to hang out with Petru and me while we were stuck on bed rest. Lucian and Sorin, however, were trapped in Couver City going over every single detail about what happened over the past two months. The guys would fill us in on the happenings as they went back and forth to share their part of the story. Apparently, Bethany was the roadblock from them talking to me, which they desperately wanted to. We needed this to work, so I made them take me to the city the day I was released from the Med Center. I’d never been to Couver, and it was amazing to see a city so much like Oscad after spending so much time in the North. I was beginning to think there weren’t real cities anymore.

“Don’t worry, Little Spark, I’m sure we’ll be back here often enough for you to get sick of it,” Victor teased as I gawked at all the stores and the things they held.

I just rolled my eyes and continued window shopping. When we finally got to the Presidential Hall, I got a little nervous, but then I reminded myself of everything we’d done and survived already so then I felt better. Sorin was there waiting to greet us and scooped me up in his arms, kissing me until I moaned.

“Stop. I can’t meet your father for the first time all turned on and perfuming, that’s embarrassing.” I hissed.

He just smiled and twisted around to walk down a hall, refusing to put me down.

“Seriously, I’m in enough trouble as it is. Do you think it’s wise that this is how I’m introduced?” I pleaded.

“Dani-girl, I’m gonna need you to take a deep breath and relax. No one is in trouble. It’s quite the opposite, actually,” Sorin informed me.

A security guard at the door opened it for us, and I found myself in a large conference room. At the table were Lucian, Councilwoman Nadeja, Councilman Libor, and two other men I didn’t recognize. At the head of the table was a man who was clearly Sorin’s father. They couldn’t argue the fact they were related to anyone. The only difference was President Dragomire had hair and Sorin shaved his bald. Everyone rose and smiled a greeting, making it clear Sorin hadn’t been lying to get me to calm down.

Setting me down and positioning me in front of him, I was introduced. “Father, I would like you to meet my bonded Omega Danella Holsted.”

President Dragomire walked over, beaming at me and instead of reaching out for a handshake, he hugged me. I let out a startled squeak but recovered quickly enough to return the hug with my one arm. For the other arm Bethany insisted I keep it in a sling for a week to prevent the stitches from pulling.

“It is so wonderful to meet you, Danella,” he said once he stepped back.

“Likewise, but I’ll be honest, this wasn’t the reaction I was expecting to receive walking in here,” I admitted.

He just smiled and motioned for me to take a seat. “Please sit, there are some questions I would like to ask and I believe the others do as well. Oh, where are my manners? Let me introduce you to Head Speaker Marius and Advisor Nixon from Oscad.”

“It’s lovely to finally meet you, Danella,” Marius greeted.

“Yes, it’s great to finally have a face to put with a voice,” Nixon added.

Feeling more comfortable knowing pretty much everyone, I took a seat. For the next few hours, I was asked question after question until I thought there was nothing left they could learn about me. Sorin finally cut in and requested a break for dinner. Thinking we were finally going to leave, I started to get up, but then a waiter entered the room to take orders. I realized that wasn’t going to happen.

This carried on for another three days, sitting, talking, planning, and negotiating the rebirth of a country. An official announcement had been made that a ceasefire was in place as peace talks were being negotiated. When I was told that, I burst into tears, unable to believe we’d done it. Our pack of misfits, that never should have worked, managed to end a war between two countries that had been fighting for generations. Of course, this was only the first step in mending the damage that had been done, but damn, if it wasn't one of the happiest moments of my life.

We stayed in Couver for a week, hashing out the plan to restructure between the North, South, and the rebels. It would take time, and we’d probably change things more than once as we learned what was truly needed. Yet all of this was so exciting I couldn’t wait to get to the North and implement everything we wanted to do now and in the future. The dream we had that seemed so unattainable now sat in the palm of my hands. All that was left to do was hold on tight and watch it grow.