24. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
Knox
I'd like to say that I've had a dream like this once. A fantasy of the perfect life, with all of my favorite people together, happy and alive.
But, truthfully, how could I ever have dreamed that in this little run-down stone shack, on top of a blisteringly cold mountain, I'd find such profound peace?
The stone cabin is still cold in the corners, even with the little fireplace doing its best and the oven firing hot. The kitchen smells like bacon fat and salt, and it is almost obscene in its normalcy.
Breakfast.
With actual fresh bacon and eggs, not freeze-dried rations, and it's at a proper dining table with a solid roof over our heads instead of a collapsible table shoved in a tent.
This is far more domestic than my Pack of trained killers has any right to be.
I lean my shoulder against the bathroom doorway and just… watch.
Viper stands over the cast-iron pan with his tongue held between his teeth.
He holds the spatula the same way he holds his combat knife, years of training hard to shake even in such mundane tasks.
His sleeves are pushed up, his forearms flexing as he flips an egg, trying to keep the yolk from breaking.
He knows I like my yolk jammy but intact.
How did I get to an existence where someone knows me so intimately? All the way down to how I like my eggs? It seems absurd.
Shade moves behind him, quiet as a ghost, collecting plates and wiping down the counter with steady, efficient motions. He does it without being asked.
Blaze is in the chair next to Halley, sitting sideways as his knee bounces, his eyes never leaving her.
He doesn’t even blink when Viper drops a plate filled with scrambled eggs — Blaze’s preferred style, because of course the most chaotic man alive prefers his breakfast beaten into submission — and bacon in front of him with a clipped, "Eat. "
Blaze ignores his food in favor of leaning closer to Halley, a forkful of bacon hovering in front of her face. He's crooning at her in a low, coaxing voice: "Come on, Sparkles. Open wide, you can’t run on only knots and stubbornness."
Halley sits at the breakfast table, wrapped in a blanket with only her head poking out.
The strict side of me wants to insist she sit up straight while eating a meal, but the Alpha in me swoons a little at how cute she is.
Her hair is a mess, her cheeks still a little flushed from sleep, and the soft scent of happy Omega curls through the cabin.
"I can feed myself," she says while reaching to grab the fork from his hand.
Blaze immediately leans back and pulls it out of her reach. "Absolutely not."
Halley pauses, hand hovering mid-reach. "What do you mean, absolutely not?"
"I mean," Blaze says, dead serious, "I am feeding you and you're going to let me."
Halley blinks once. Then again. "I have hands and I'm not in heat anymore."
Blaze lifts the fork and presses it against her pursed lips, face pulled in dissatisfaction and mild annoyance. "I liked doing it when you were all dopey while in heat. Made me feel like I had a purpose."
Viper doesn’t look over as he carries the pan to the sink, but his voice cuts in, dry. "I think you'll find your purpose is to eat your own damn breakfast before it gets cold."
Blaze doesn’t even glance away from Halley. "Multitasking. I'll get to it later, I'm busy right now."
Shade sets down a mug of coffee with a soft clink, then reaches for the butter, calm as ever. "You're making it take longer than it needs to. Just let her eat, Blaze."
"It’s going to take exactly as long as it should," Blaze corrects, and then points the fork at Halley's pursed lips again. "Open."
Halley’s mouth actually falls open at his command, but it's more begrudging than in compliance.
Blaze's pupils expand, and he shivers from head to toe. "Oh yeah, that's the stuff."
"You're being fucking weird, cut it out," I say, but I know any order I give will make no difference. Blaze is going to do whatever Blaze wants.
Halley finishes chewing and wrinkles her nose at Blaze. "This seriously cannot be that interesting."
Blaze’s eyes go wide with offended devotion. "Halley Sparks. My Omega. My mate. The love of my life. The center of my universe. I have wanted to feed you since the moment I met you, how have you not noticed?"
I snort. We've all noticed his fixation. He has not been subtle.
Halley’s eyes narrow. "Let me eat my own bacon."
Blaze mirrors her expression, face set with ridiculous determination. "Nope."
Halley turns her head slightly, looking past him as if searching for a reasonable adult in the room. Her gaze lands on me in the doorway, and her lips twitch, like she’s trying not to laugh.
'Help.' I hear her voice in my head clear as a bell. Our bond resonates as though it's been plucked, and I rub my hand over my chest, unused to the feeling of such connection.
Our bond didn't form exactly as I thought it would. The others made the bond forming between Halley and themselves seem so profound and soul-shattering.
And it is, in a way. It has certainly changed my life irreparably.
But it's also similar to the bond I have with the rest of the Pack.
I haven't discussed it with Shade yet, but I'm sure he will theorize that it's because I'm a Prime Alpha and it's always been my role to be connected to every member of my squad.
Or maybe because Halley and I were already bonded in other ways.
It just felt like a small shift. A click of the last puzzle piece slotting into place. A sense of rightness and completion.
I raise my brows. 'You’re on your own, princess.'
Hearing her in my head and being able to share our own private conversations is certainly a plus.
Slipping into the chair next to Shade, Viper hands me my plate. I dig in while the food is still piping hot, unlike some fools.
Halley turns back to Blaze and rests her elbow on the table, adopting an expression of a patient, long-suffering lover. "Blaze."
He leans in, eager. "Yes."
"I appreciate your intense, and frankly alarming commitment to me consuming protein," she says slowly.
His eyes soften. "Yes, good. That is my sweet spot. Intense and alarming."
"But," she continues, tapping her fork against her plate, "if you try to feed me like I’m a toddler one more time, I will bite you."
Blaze's grin widens, delighted. "Oh, fuck yes. Please. I need an excuse to put another bite on you."
Shade makes a quiet noise that might be a laugh disguised as a cough.
Viper mutters, "For the love of—"
Halley’s cheeks flush, and I can almost hear her thoughts through our bond. She's thinking about the fresh mating bites decorating her shoulders. It's such a strange thing to be so connected to someone I can feel the slightest shift in their emotions.
Blaze should realize he's out of his depth.
If there is one thing I know about our Omega, it's that once she puts her mind to something, she will fight with everything she has to achieve it.
He's forgetting that he's wagering against the first-ever Omega soldier.
Something everyone, including me, thought was impossible.
"Blaze, move your fork," she says with a firm set of her jaw.
"No," he says, cheerfully defiant. "Open."
Halley lifts her chin. "I will not."
Blaze’s gaze flicks to her mouth, to her eyes, then back to her mouth with relentless determination. I can see that he's chasing an instinct. It's not a compulsion that I share, but I can recognize it for what it is. Sometimes my Alpha has a primal urge that I cannot shake.
Blaze is a creature of survival, and food gives life.
Every bite is proof that his Omega will be safe for a while longer.
Eating is also a state of great vulnerability.
If you didn't have someone watching your back while you were eating and vulnerable on the battlefield, you didn't eat.
For Blaze, who ran solo missions as a child, the honor of keeping watch while someone he loves is vulnerable must mean a great deal to him.
Also, there is definitely a sexual element in there somewhere. No clue what kink it is, but he's got it in spades.
From day one he's stared at her while she's eaten her meals, and at first, I know it freaked her out, but now I think it makes her feel reassured and safe.
While he's usually content to watch, today it seems the instinct is dialed up to maximum.
Maybe it's the result of losing her, or because she's on the tail end of her heat, or because we've officially mated.
Whatever it is, he can't shake it. He's almost helpless to stop himself from acting out his instinct to feed her.
He softens his voice. "Please."
Halley’s expression falters for half a second, long enough for tenderness to slide beneath the banter. She huffs, exasperated and affectionate.
"You are ridiculous."
"Thank you," Blaze says, like it's praise.
Halley sighs and then opens her mouth.
Blaze looks so triumphant that I can't help but smile.
He guides the forkful of bacon to her mouth, careful, like he’s trying to be gentle with something priceless, and feeds it to her.
Halley chews, eyes fixed on him, and I can see her fighting the smile as it tries to escape.
It does anyway.
"There," Blaze breathes out, as if his inner Alpha has released him from whatever primal bind he was trapped in.
Halley swallows, then points her own fork at him. "Okay. My turn."
Blaze blinks. "Your turn?"
Halley scoops up some scrambled eggs from Blaze's forgotten plate. "Open."
Blaze’s entire face lights up. His mouth opens immediately with pure, boyish delight.
Halley feeds him the eggs with a smug little smile.
They carry on like that, taking turns to feed each other breakfast.
"You're going to get eggs everywhere," Shade sighs, and I stifle a laugh as Halley spills scrambled eggs down the front of the blanket she's still wrapped in, instantly proving him right.
Halley giggles and brushes the eggs off the blanket and onto the table. This sound elicits a sharp, painful feeling in my chest, as if my body is still unused to holding so much happiness within.
This is my life.
This.
Not cold bunks and orders that I know are wrong, but I cannot refuse.
It's no longer the years where I was nothing but a weapon, simply a Prime Alpha built to take and hold and kill.
I remember the man I used to be, because I still feel him in my bones.
He'll always be there, ready. Efficient, focused, and deadly.
But now… now.
I have been made new.
I watch as Blaze drags Halley onto his lap and tries to feed her a strip of bacon from his teeth. She shrieks and thrashes, laughing heartily.
Shade leans back in his chair, sipping his coffee with a wide grin as he watches, not intervening.
Viper looks at Blaze and Halley wrestling hard enough to jostle the table, then at Shade and me sitting back without intervening, and sighs. "Guess I'm gonna have to be the grown-up today."
He abandons the frying pan and begins his attempt to free Halley from Blaze's clutches. It results in Blaze trying to feed Viper a fistful of bacon, and the laughter and banter from all three of them rises to a dull roar.
I find myself laughing harder. It's a deep belly laugh that makes my eyes water and my sides hurt.
Astonishment is too small a word.
Halley catches my eye over Blaze’s shoulder, smiling around a bite of egg, and the bond between us hums quiet and sure.
Mine.
Ours.
I look at all of them, one by one.
Shade’s quiet laughter is barely contained behind his mug as he watches Viper blink in confusion, cheeks ballooned full of bacon.
Blaze has egg in his hair and doesn’t care because he’s too busy staring at Halley like she’s the only thing in his world that’s ever made sense.
Halley sits primly back in her chair, serene and smug, like she didn’t just wrestle two Alphas into submission and win.
This is what I almost lost.
What I still have to lose.
I’ve let myself be selfish in this cabin.
Foolish, even. For a little while, I shut off the part of my mind that measures threats, calculates losses, and prepares for the next fight.
I let myself think only of Halley in heat, of my Pack within these four walls, and of the impossible pleasure of having them alive and close.
My old self would be apoplectic if he could see me now.
But the heat is over.
It’s time to face what waits outside this door.
Strategy is where I shine, and I’ve been running through our options since Halley's heat broke. Our next move will determine whether we have a future with lazy morning breakfasts like this. If we have a future at all.
General Stone is dead.
For better or worse, his plans for Halley died with him, and so did the chain of command holding this place together.
He didn't see Halley as an Omega who needed protection and comfort.
He saw her as little more than a weapon and wanted her on the front lines.
Whoever takes his place could want the same thing, or worse.
Jason has briefed me on the chaos spreading through Blackgate. The officers have failed to select a new leader, and the infighting is brutal, with the army close to collapse. A new General must be chosen before the resistance tears itself apart from the inside.
Blackgate needs a leader.
Halley needs someone in command who will never see her as a tool first and a person second.
I’ve been thinking about who that person should be. Prime Alpha Zero has the rank, the experience, and the respect of enough soldiers to make a claim. There are others who might try, too. Officers who will posture and bargain for a title they want more than the responsibility that comes with it.
I already know what must happen.
It has to be me.
The thought is beyond arrogant and a little delusional.
Stepping forward as a candidate for General after my Pack killed Stone is the most dangerous move I could make.
There are soldiers here who would have marched into an inferno for him, and they will not easily fall in line behind the Pack who killed him.
It’ll be practically impossible to convince them, and holding the army together when half of it wants to tear us apart may be even harder.
But I won’t put Halley’s fate in another General’s hands.
I make my own luck.
I look at Halley’s smile, Blaze’s devotion, Shade’s steady hands, and Viper’s unswaying tenderness. The vow settles into place with brutal certainty.
I will keep this life.
I will keep them.
If becoming General makes me a target, so be it.
This is my dream right here in front of me, and I will do everything in my power to make sure I get to keep it.