Page 178 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

I swallow thickly to keep the rising panic from bubbling up my throat.

The barricade screams against stone as the weight against it becomes too much to hold up, and it causes the whole line of Alphas shooting and fighting to jolt backward.

My stomach drops, but I force myself to breathe.

This has spiraled out of control, and I can't stop thinking about Blaze. If he were dead, I would know.

I would know!

He’s my mate. The bond might be ragged with battle, but his death would tear a gaping, bleeding hole in me that I could not mistake. But I don't feel that, so he’s alive.

He has to be.

An ugly thought springs forward like a cobra, and I try to shake it off, but the thought lands anyway.

Blaze might have died for nothing.

Oh frack. The thought lodges in my skull and will not move.

I stand there with blood on my hands and my pulse hammering in my throat, and for the first time since arriving at this battle, doubt overwhelms me and my unyielding flame of faith flickers out.

I was certain.

Not hopeful, or simply trying to convince myself to overcome a dire situation.

Absolutely certain it would work.

That's what stings the most.

I trusted my instincts, my Omega, and the strange knowing that carried me through death and back into this fight. I believed the Command would work if I got the right opportunity.

And it did work.

That is what breaks me.

The officer obeyed. He carried my order into the Human line exactly as I gave it to him, and I know if he'd only had the chance, something miraculous would've happened.

But then they killed him.

And now Blaze is gone, the officer is dead, and the road to Blackgate is full of Humans climbing toward us with no intention of stopping until we're all dead.

All I can think is that I asked my Pack for their trust, and I broke it.

I didn't save anyone.

Chapter Forty-Four

Halley

The barricade makes a worrying creaking sound as rivets pop. Another few Humans slide over the top and crumple at our boots.

The snipers on the cliffs overhead have transitioned to lobbing grenades down into the heaving mass below.

Over the cacophony of explosions, I finally hear what Knox is shouting.

"Fall back!"

Alpha soldiers peel away from the primary barricade in controlled waves, firing as they move, wiping the sticky mix of their own blood and the blood of the enemy from their eyes.