Page 167 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

A murmur moves through the gathered soldiers. Those who looked worn down a minute ago set their feet wider and lift their heads.

"The Pass is gone, but make no mistake, if this army kills us here today, they will not stop. They will dig through the rubble. They will search every ridge and ravine until they find another way into Blackreach."

The soldiers all look grim as their fears are confirmed. The victory they thought they'd achieved is only temporary.

"And when they do, we will not be alive to stand between their hate and every Alpha, Beta, and Omega who crossed this mountain range believing we’d keep them safe."

A few Alphas bare their teeth.

Knox turns and looks back at me.

"You’ve heard the rumors about Omega Halley Sparks. You’ve heard she died and came back, and you've heard what her Omega Command is capable of. I'm telling you now that it's all true."

More than one gaze cuts toward me where I stand with my Pack. Some soldiers look frightened, while others look desperate, but all of them have hope shining in their eyes.

Knox turns back to them and paces once more before them, every inch of him hard commander and battle hungry. His words are unshaken and ringing clear.

"So I ask you to hold this road not for one more glorious stand, but for a true chance to end this. To stop the enemy before they hunt down our friends, our families, and every last Demi-human still breathing."

The soldiers have gone from weary to feral. The fear is still there; I can see it in the tightness around mouths and the sweat on brows despite the cold. Knox's words don't erase it. But he's given that fear direction, a purpose.

"Fight for that chance. Fight for the Omega who stands with us."

He stops in front of them one last time.

"Let them remember that when they came for Blackreach, they found warriors waiting."

Chills run down my arms.

Beside me, Viper throws his head back and bellows, "For Blackreach!"

The answering roar shakes the road. "For Blackreach!"

Chapter Forty-Two

Halley

The final battle crashes over us all at once.

"Fire!" Knox roars, and the last remaining soldiers of Fathim answer him.

Humans flood up the road to Blackgate, screaming as they come. They slip in the blood under their boots, shove past the bodies already piled on the stone, and climb over their own fallen without slowing.

They reach the barricade sooner than I expect.

An Alpha beside me plants one boot on the lower bar of the steel wall and launches himself over it. He lands on the enemy side, catches the first Human by the throat, rips it out, and throws him backward into the men surging up behind him.

Another Alpha goes over after him with a guttural war cry. He drives his knife beneath the rim of a Human’s helmet, yanks the body down, then brings up his pistol and fires into the faces of the next two so fast I can't follow.

They're both peppered with bullets, but barely flinch as their bodies heal supernaturally fast.

"Left side!" someone bellows.

A cluster of Humans breaks toward the cliff-edge flank, trying to force their way around the side of the barricade where the road runs along the drop.

Blaze steps into the gap with a joyful grin that has no place on a battlefield and opens fire. His rifle kicks against his shoulder as bullets tear through the group, and they fold almost on top of each other, sending the lot of them tumbling off the cliff edge.

Viper plants himself at my side and doesn't waste a single shot. His rifle rises, fires, lowers, and rises again. Each bullet hits a forehead and drops a body before it reaches the barricade.