Page 194 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

Blackgate still stands, Blackgate is safe, and my Pack is alive.

The war came for everything we loved, and in the end, love is what defeated it.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Halley

I sit shivering on the cold stone steps beneath Blackgate Fortress’s battlements with my knees drawn up to my chest and my whole Pack pressed in around me. We're crammed shoulder-to-shoulder, an unavoidable closeness born from a deep-seated suspicion that any lapse in physical contact would sever our still-healing bond.

Frack. We came so close to losing it all.

Dried blood stiffens my sleeves, and more flakes from my skin whenever I move. Some of it is mine, some belongs to my Pack, and the rest came from the enemy.

My body is working through the burns, scratches, and gunshot wounds I only noticed after the adrenaline faded, but exhaustion has slowed my healing. Usually, I can feel the bond lending me strength as it pulls each injury closed. Now, all I feel through it is pain and fatigue.

Through the weak connection of our bond, I can feel the same exhausted pulse echo through the rest of the Pack.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to clear the gritty feeling that just won't go away. I can't cry because no tears will come, and I know I'm in a state of shock because somehow we're alive, but we were so close to death.

Knox sits on my left, one leg stretched out, one bent, his shoulder locked against mine so I can feel every shaking breath he takes. He looks wrecked, but he also looks in control, even half-dead. I can't even find it in myself to be annoyed by that, because it was he who led us through that battle. His determination and experience made it possible for us all to fight for our lives and win.

Shade crouches on the step below us as he checks the wound in my side again, his fingers careful and efficient even though they're shaking from fatigue. He doesn't say much, only presses fresh bandaging where he can, brushes dirt from my wrist, and leaves his hand there for a second longer than he needs to.

His eyes are clearing, the concussion ebbing away, and he doesn't wobble on his feet anymore. Of all the injuries our Beta could have sustained, somehow a traumatic brain injury seems the worst. Shade's mind is what makes him special, and his intelligence is something I have always admired. I cannot fathom a world where Shade isn't capable of quick wit or analyzing a scenario for the best outcome.

Viper is on my right, broad and silent with his thigh braced against mine, his presence steady. One side of his uniform is entirely shredded, but the skin underneath is raw and tender from when he took the force of a blast for me. His armor is dented and broken from the dozens of bullets he took for me, too.

When Viper told me he loved me all those months ago, I believed him. But now, in the aftermath of battle, I know without a doubt just how big that love is. He loves me to death. Specifically, his death. And what does a girl do with that knowledge? How can I ever show him that my love matches that intensity?

Blaze sits one step higher, close enough that his boot knocks against my back now and then when his leg twitches. Under any other circumstance, he would be prowling, swearing, and making some unhinged joke to keep the rest of us from thinking too hard. Now he is slumped forward with his forearms on his knees, staring out over the courtyard in stunned silence, and the sight of Blaze like that still makes my aching body clench.

He saved us.

Our wildcard was the one who saved our Pack.

None of us speak, but we don't need to.

Their steady touch says enough. The bond, thanks to Blaze's intervention, still threads between us in faint sparks and bruised warmth. We're hurt, exhausted, and feeling relief so sharp it stings.

I sit there in the middle of it, filthy and shaking and emptied out. My mind is slow, but I can't stop myself from compulsively counting our Pack.

Knox.

Shade.

Viper.

Blaze.

Me.

All five of us are here and alive.

I keep doing it. Checking them again and again, making sure that they're still here with me.

Beyond our shocked silence on the battlement steps, the courtyard below us is full of movement.

The people of Blackgate are starting to realize that, against all odds, they're alive too. For better or worse.