Page 153 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

A heartbeat later, fire punches up through the forest. Smoke plumes after it, black against the clean blue sky.

My hands tighten on the frozen stone. "What exactly am I looking at, Knox?"

Knox tracks the movement below, his voice clipped and steady as he speaks into his handheld radio. He clicks off the comm and answers me. "We’re thinning and scattering them before they get here. The missile strikes break their formation, which means they reach our line in smaller groups instead of as one massive force."

I nod once.

It is ugly, simple math.

Break the horde apart. Make them hit the line in pieces. Kill them at the narrowest point before their numbers can swallow us whole.

I know this is clever, strategic logic. I understand it, but death and killing still make my stomach turn. Even after all this time, my Omega isn't used to violence.

I follow his gaze down the slope.

From up here, the battlefield is like a live map.

The forest spreads out before us, stretching wide into the distance. The dark of the trees is interspersed with movement as the enemy soldiers advance through it.

Once they break through the treeline, they’ll make their way across the short stretch of open land where the processing camp had been.

From there, the approach narrows as it climbs, forcing the enemy into a tighter and tighter funnel until they reach the place where the road splits.

One route cuts left and climbs toward Blackgate Fortress, exposed and brutal, with cliff face on one side and a sheer drop on the other. The other continues forward into the Pass, the narrow cut through the mountain that leads to Blackreach Province.

If the Humans want Blackreach, they need the Pass.

If they want us, they can turn toward the fortress road.

Our soldiers wait near the split, positioned along the narrowest stretch of road, where the terrain will force the enemy into range.

Beyond our defenses lies Blackreach Province. The sanctuary for hunted people and home to my missing Omegas, if they are still alive.

The stage is set, and all the players are in motion.

I watch as a wave of enemy breaks through the treeline.

My heart lodges in my throat.

There are so many.

I already knew that. I saw it in Rheamont, how they swarmed as a mass rather than as individuals.

Still, seeing them from above is worse than knowing the numbers in theory. This is only the first wave, and already the forest seems full of them.

A thin, purely Omegan distressed sound slips out of me before I can swallow it down.

The realization burns through my face, but Knox reacts before my shame can take root. His arm hooks around my waist and pulls me into his side, putting his body between me and the open drop without dragging me away from the wall.

"I know," he says, low and firm against my hair. "Stay with me."

His scent wraps around me, ink and spice cutting through smoke, cold air, and the metallic bite of fear. My Omega reaches for him through the bond on instinct, settling against the command in his voice and the steady pressure of his hand at my hip.

"I’m here. I'm not running away," I say, though my voice shakes.

Knox’s thumb presses once against my side.

"I know you are, my brave girl."