Page 169 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

The word tears out of me, raw and sharp and full of everything I have. Power rushes with it, scalding along my veins as it fights to push out of me and into my words. I feel the bond jolt and lurch as I draw from our connection to support the Command.

It pours out of me, as loud as I can make it.

But the noise of the battlefield swallows my voice.

Gunfire crashes over the road. Someone under the growing pile of bodies is screaming. A rifle round sparks off the steel in front of me. The Humans keep climbing, shouting, firing, dying, and coming.

Nothing changes. It didn't take because no one can hear me.

My stomach drops.

I try again, louder this time, pouring more of myself into it.

"Retreat!"

A Human in the front rank jerks as if caught by my Command, but an Alpha puts a round through his eye before I can be sure.

Blaze vaults up beside me and empties another burst downhill, his face eager with hope.

"Did it take?" Shade asks from behind.

I swallow the burn in my throat.

"No."

The word tastes like failure.

A Human slams into the barricade in front of me, close enough that when Blaze shoots him point-blank, blood sprays across my face.

Knox grabs the back of my armor and yanks me down behind the shaking barrier just as a shot cuts through the space where my head was.

"Stay behind cover," he barks.

"It should have worked," I gasp, furious with myself.

Frustration claws up my throat.

My Omega Command will work.

I know it will, I just have to give it the right opportunity. I need to be close enough for my target to hear me.

"I need that officer closer," I say, my fist curling at my side.

"He won't risk approaching the barricade," Shade says, observing my mark and keeping track of him as best he can in the chaos of the fight.

Knox’s expression hardens, and he takes a moment to survey our troops. Whatever he sees reassures him, because he turns back to the four of us with a determined set to his jaw. "Then we're going to him."

"We're going to…" I repeat, trailing off as I realize what he means. "Oh, frack."

"Oh, yes," Blaze says, his grin sharpening with unrestrained delight.

"Are you sure?" Viper asks, but at the same time, he reloads his rifle and readies his sidearm.

Knox does one more sweep of the soldiers, speaks into his radio for a moment, and turns back to us. "It's now or never."

I gulp. Fear rises, but it doesn't have time to grip me before Knox is bellowing, "Covering fire!"

The soldiers around us answer at once.