Page 173 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

Then I finally spot my Alpha.

Blaze appears behind the officer in the smoke, half buried in bodies, his rifle raised and his teeth bared. Blood runs down the side of his face and darkens his armor. A bullet strikes his shoulder. Another hits his ribs. He staggers, catches himself, and shoots the Humans trying to stop the officer from coming to us.

"Come on, Blaze!" I shout, urging him on.

Blaze looks up.

His gaze finds mine through the gunfire.

They're so close. The officer is almost through, and Blaze is right behind him. It'll take just one more big push, but we can do it. If we can just reach them, then this will all be over. The killing and violence will end.

Yet, it's as if the Humans know it too. They can sense our growing desperation, and they're whipped into a frenzy by it.

Another bullet hits Blaze. His body jerks, but he stays on his feet and slams the butt of his rifle into a Human’s face when the man lunges for the officer. More Humans close around him. Blaze shoots one, kicks another back, and throws himself into the space the officer leaves behind, but he can't keep up. There is only one Blaze, and dozens of Humans.

Still, we don't stop. I've lost count of how many people I've shot, too busy trying to stay alive long enough for all of this to matter, but it feels endless.

Finally, the officer staggers into the center of the Pack's defensive circle and drops to his knees at my feet, choking on air, his whole body shaking from the Alpha Command that dragged him here.

I search for the flash of black armor that should follow, but Blaze doesn't come through.

"Blaze!" I shout.

No answer comes back. I try using our bond, but it's as if I'm shouting into a void of pure chaos.

I try calling his name in the bond, but I can't feel Blaze clearly. The battle's energy mirrors his typical chaotic energy and he's lost in the miasma. My head feels scrambled, and the bond is there, but it's a mess of emotions pouring from all of us, and I can't seem to find the right frequency to give it order.

Knox catches the officer by the collar and holds him steady at my feet, still using his other hand to fire his pistol. Viper starts fighting harder and faster, to compensate for Knox and me becoming distracted. I can hear Shade behind me, his rifle kicking against his shoulder.

I look back into the heaving mob and search for any sign of Blaze. He was right there.

The officer made it through, so where is Blaze?

It hits me all at once, the stark and icy truth. He did what he set out to do. Blaze never fails his missions. He got the target to me, but he'd never planned on making it back to us. He chose the mission. He chose me.

Shade knows it too. I hear it in the rough drag of his breathing and feel it through the chaos of the bond, all dread and rage forced into motion because he cannot go after Blaze while keeping me alive.

Viper’s face is pale under the blood and dust. Knox says nothing, but the look he cuts toward the heaving enemy is murderous.

The enemy surges again, and Viper has to move faster than my eyes can follow to keep them from overwhelming us.

"Halley," Knox barks.

My name snaps through the panic.

Right, yes. I have a job to do.

The Human officer kneels in the muck at my feet, his breath heaving, his face streaked with soot and blood. He tries to pull his gaze away from mine and cannot. Blaze’s Command still has its hooks in him. I feel the shape of it there, the path my mate ripped open through this man’s will so I could finish what he started.

My throat tightens.

This is Blaze's gift.

Whatever happens next, I will not waste it.

The officer’s mouth trembles.

"Please," he chokes, and I can’t tell if he’s pleading with me or trying to resist the grip Blaze’s Alpha Command still has on him.