Page 10 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

"Halt."

His Alpha Command is crisp and binding. As my commanding officer and Pack Prime Alpha, his voice holds me tighter than anyone else. It's comforting, almost, to give up my control to someone I trust.

"Kneel."

I drop to my knees, and they sink into the soft dirt. The ground is still wet from a brief rain shower yesterday. I remember how the clouds looked as they moved in, and how the moonlight lit them from behind.

Halley slept by my side last night, her small, delicate hands threaded through my chest hair, spent from a vigorous round of lovemaking. The whole Pack joined in, petting and showing her their boundless adoration as they watched her take my knot so beautifully.

I have many regrets in my life. Too many to count. But if changing a single moment meant never knowing the touch of my Omega, then I'd endure them all again happily.

Knox pulls his sidearm from the holster at his belt, and his fingers fumble on the safety. His hands are shaking, and I frown. It's uncharacteristic. My Prime is unflappable, only ever vulnerable around Halley.

He sucks in a breath and opens his mouth twice as if working his way up to speaking. I stay quiet and wait, watching the moonlit grass sway in the gentle breeze.

"I know I didn't say it enough. Fuck, maybe I didn't say it at all... but you're the best of us, Eden."

My head snaps up at the sound of a long-forgotten name.

"What? You think I don't remember your name?" He laughs mirthlessly. "Who could ever forget that big lump of a kid who knew how to love despite it being beaten out of him daily?"

"I remember yours," I croak. "Thorin."

He licks his lips and smiles weakly. "They did a number on us, didn't they?"

He doesn't have to say who. I know. The same people who took us away from our families, raised us to become killers, and stole any hope of a future.

The moonlight makes the scar across his nose more visible, and I remember when they put it there.

The day after he was chosen as a Prime Alpha, he came back from his first mission with the bridge of his nose torn open. We healed slower back then, young and not fully grown into our dynamics.

The instructor praised the wound, called him a warrior among warriors, then reopened it with his blade. Again and again. Day after day.

Until Thorin disappeared beneath the scar and Knox was all they left behind.

"They didn't break us completely."

He cocks his head at me.

"We were still able to love Halley. She still saw some light in us."

Another humorless, self-deprecating laugh echoes in the small clearing. "Yeah. We did. We figured it out in the end. Not bad for a couple of soldiers only meant for death and killing."

We lapse into silence again, and Knox rolls his shoulders back. The rage is pushing past the grief now, and my hands clench into fists, begging to lash out.

Adrenaline pumps through my veins, scalding and bubbling and stripping away my restraint.

Talking is getting difficult, but I push the words out anyway.

"You don't have to follow us."

I know what he intends to do when he's finished with his duty to me. That gun has more than one bullet destined for an Alpha's forehead.

He watches me carefully, his eyes tracking the veins I feel bulging down my neck.

"I do." His mouth twists. "You know I do. I'll see you and Halley soon."

He raises the gun, and I lean into the Alpha Command still holding me tight, embracing it despite the beast inside railing against its restraints to be set loose.