38. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Halley
Cold air slaps me the second I step out onto the wall, stealing the breath from my lungs as wind rolls down from the snowcapped peaks and bites through my coat.
The battlements surrounding Blackgate Fortress are built along the cliff edge, with nothing beyond the stone but empty air and a drop that makes my stomach turn.
Far below, the mountain falls away in brutal tiers of rock, frozen ledges, and a narrow road that twists down the mountainside.
I make the mistake of looking down, and dizziness rushes through me so fast I have to grip the nearest stone.
I wish the morning were fogged in and the clouds dropped low around the fortress, hiding the battlefield from sight, but the sky is clear, the sun is bright, and every white peak around us gleams in the cold light. It all looks far too pretty for a place about to be torn apart.
Far below, artillery flashes from the treeline.
A heartbeat later, the rear of the fortress erupts. Stone bursts outward. The impact rolls through the wall beneath my boots, and I flinch before I can stop myself, my mind already picturing the next strike hitting the battlement, breaking the stone apart, and sending us over the edge.
Knox doesn’t recoil or steer me toward cover.
He keeps one hand firm at my back and walks the exposed battlement as if the height, the wind, and the incoming fire are nothing to be concerned about.
Officers and runners move aside for him, and I force myself to keep pace, even though every instinct in me wants to drag us both away from the cliff edge.
He is already in Prime Alpha Knox mode, his body and mind locked into command. He is still my Alpha, but only in the smallest of ways. The rest of him belongs to the fortress, the army, and the fight rushing toward us.
Viper caught us at the stairwell of the wall earlier, breath steaming as he shoved Knox’s armor into his arms, then turned to me.
His hands were quick on my vest straps and helmet buckle, but he still stole one rough kiss and pressed his forehead to mine before breaking away toward the soldiers preparing to leave for the front lines.
Prime Alphas appear at Knox’s side just long enough to take his orders before peeling away to obey them.
For the last two weeks, most of them resisted the idea of Knox in the General’s seat.
They don't resist now. Not a single protest comes from any of the other Prime Alphas.
The attack has begun, and in the face of our impending annihilation, every one of them knows exactly who they want to follow.
My Knox.
The one who made loving him feel like a battle all of its own, and still became one of the safest places I know. He was built for this, and I know, somewhere in my heart, that fate led us to this moment. Knox was always destined to be the leader here at the end of all things.
Knox stops in the middle of the battlement and plants both hands on the frozen stone, scanning the mountain below with hard focus.
He could be in a command room buried deep inside the fortress, surrounded by screens and officers and reports coming in secondhand.
Instead, he chose the wall. From up here, he can see the whole battlefield with his own eyes: the forest, the lower road, the fortress approach, and the narrow route into the Pass.
He can watch the battle change as it happens.
I just stand there beside him, my heart still bruised from saying goodbye, while my future still sits unread on Everlyn’s datapad.
Knox glances at me once, quick and assessing. It's neither soft nor cold. It's my commander checking if his soldier is ready for battle.
I lift my chin.
Today I am the waiting weapon at his side.
I have to keep it together for my mates moving into position, the people of Blackgate preparing to fight for their lives, and for the three Omegas somewhere in Blackreach who are caught in the crosshairs of this war they probably don't even know is raging. I'll fight for all of them.
There is a brief flash of pride in his glowing red eyes before his gaze moves on, convinced by whatever he sees in me, and my inner Omega purrs in satisfaction. Alpha is proud of us.
Behind us, Blackgate Fortress has finally organized itself with the help of Knox's orders. We might've been caught off guard, but we've spent weeks preparing for this moment so it can become a machine capable of warfare.
Soldiers pour across the yard in full combat gear, rifles strapped to their backs, helmets clipped into place, packs bouncing against armored spines as they run. Engines growl to life one after another. A line of trucks rumbles toward the lower gate while soldiers march beside them.
Overhead, drones rise from the launch platform in a sharp stagger, one after the other until the sky above the fortress hums with them.
Then our first missile fires.
The launch shakes through the wall under my hands. A violent streak of smoke cuts across the blue sky, arcing down toward the forest below. A second follows. Then a third.
My pulse kicks harder.
There is no more pretending this battle is still a possibility waiting out on the horizon.
We are in it now.
Movement near the vehicle bay catches my eye.
Viper and Blaze break into view through the rush of soldiers below, and for half a breath, the rest of the fortress drops away. They are dressed head to toe in combat gear, weapons strapped across their backs, knives at their thighs, black tactical layers turning both of them into lethal soldiers.
Viper looks massive in armor, a juggernaut with his broad shoulders, his face set in that grim, focused way that somehow makes him even hotter.
Blaze is a flash of sharp movement beside him, reckless energy crammed into disciplined precision for once, and the sight of him armed to the teeth does something dangerous to my insides.
It is deeply inconvenient to be aroused by the mere sight of my mates while staring down a war, but my Omega has never been subtle when it comes to my Alphas.
I frown when, instead of vaulting into the transport taking the troops down the mountain, Viper and Blaze cut away from the loading line and head for the front gate on foot alone.
"Where are they going?" I ask.
Knox does not look away from the mountain. "Forward position."
My eyes narrow. He does not even need to look to know who I mean. "That's not an answer."
"It is the only one you need right now." His voice stays clipped, Prime Asshole reporting for duty, but then it softens as he adds, "Blaze and Viper know what they're doing, you don’t need to worry about them. You’ll know their work when you see it."
That does not reassure me in the slightest.
I stood behind Knox during the strategy sessions and lent him the weight of my presence when the other Prime Alphas needed reminding that Pack Scorch was united behind him, but the actual battle planning moved around me in acronyms, coordinates, unit names, and clipped military terms I could barely follow.
At the time, I let myself trust that Knox and the Prime Alphas were the experts who knew best.
Now I wish I had asked more questions.
The bond stretches as distance opens between me, Blaze, and Viper, but it stays strong. I can still feel them clearly, full and steady inside me, even as they move farther down the mountain. Whatever our bond has become, physical distance cannot weaken it anymore.
Another missile screams overhead.
A heartbeat later, fire punches up through the forest. Smoke plumes after it, black against the clean blue sky.
My hands tighten on the frozen stone. "What exactly am I looking at, Knox?"
Knox tracks the movement below, his voice clipped and steady as he speaks into his handheld radio.
He clicks off the comm and answers me. "We’re thinning and scattering them before they get here.
The missile strikes break their formation, which means they reach our line in smaller groups instead of as one massive force. "
I nod once.
It is ugly, simple math.
Break the horde apart. Make them hit the line in pieces. Kill them at the narrowest point before their numbers can swallow us whole.
I know this is clever, strategic logic. I understand it, but death and killing still make my stomach turn. Even after all this time, my Omega isn't used to violence.
I follow his gaze down the slope.
From up here, the battlefield is like a live map.
The forest spreads out before us, stretching wide into the distance. The dark of the trees is interspersed with movement as the enemy soldiers advance through it.
Once they break through the treeline, they’ll make their way across the short stretch of open land where the processing camp had been.
From there, the approach narrows as it climbs, forcing the enemy into a tighter and tighter funnel until they reach the place where the road splits.
One route cuts left and climbs toward Blackgate Fortress, exposed and brutal, with cliff face on one side and a sheer drop on the other. The other continues forward into the Pass, the narrow cut through the mountain that leads to Blackreach Province.
If the Humans want Blackreach, they need the Pass.
If they want us, they can turn toward the fortress road.
Our soldiers wait near the split, positioned along the narrowest stretch of road, where the terrain will force the enemy into range.
Beyond our defenses lies Blackreach Province. The sanctuary for hunted people and home to my missing Omegas, if they are still alive.
The stage is set, and all the players are in motion.
I watch as a wave of enemy breaks through the treeline.
My heart lodges in my throat.
There are so many.
I already knew that. I saw it in Rheamont, how they swarmed as a mass rather than as individuals.
Still, seeing them from above is worse than knowing the numbers in theory. This is only the first wave, and already the forest seems full of them.
A thin, purely Omegan distressed sound slips out of me before I can swallow it down.
The realization burns through my face, but Knox reacts before my shame can take root. His arm hooks around my waist and pulls me into his side, putting his body between me and the open drop without dragging me away from the wall.
"I know," he says, low and firm against my hair. "Stay with me."
His scent wraps around me, ink and spice cutting through smoke, cold air, and the metallic bite of fear. My Omega reaches for him through the bond on instinct, settling against the command in his voice and the steady pressure of his hand at my hip.
"I’m here. I'm not running away," I say, though my voice shakes.
Knox’s thumb presses once against my side.
"I know you are, my brave girl."
As the enemy come through the western tree line, the ground explodes under them.
Dirt and debris blast upward. Bodies go with it and only parts of them drop back to the ground. A second blast rips through a cluster farther downslope. Then another. Hidden charges tear open the earth in staggered bursts, shredding the enemy’s rhythm and scattering their advance.
They stumble back into each other, fighting to retreat back into the forest.
Although it seems the forest isn't safe either, because to the east, there is a shuddering movement of panic. My hearing is enhanced from the bond with the Pack, and I can hear the distant sounds of men screaming.
What fresh horrors have they encountered?
I blink.
There is only one person I know who can inspire such terror.
'Did you like my present, Sparkles?' Blaze's voice vibrates through our Pack bond.
My pulse spikes for a whole different reason as a sharp smile tries to pull at my mouth. 'What did you do, Blaze?'
'Did they scream pretty for you?' he asks instead of answering, sounding far too cheerful for a man somewhere in the middle of an active war zone.
My tongue presses against the back of my teeth to fight back a smile.
Knox's expression barely shifts, but I feel his reaction through the bond before he gives it. Grim satisfaction and dark amusement. "It seems our psycho has been busy laying traps instead of sleeping," he simply adds.
Heat sparks low in my belly despite the cold. I love our Pack wild card. He's never dull.
'Thank you for my present,' I say, and I can feel the flush of gratification that washes through Blaze at my praise.
A second voice cuts in behind him, lower and calmer. 'We’re in position.'
My belly swoops again at the sound of Viper. It's only been minutes since I saw him, but I suspect I will react the same way each time I receive any sign that my mates are okay.
'I'd set a thousand landmines for you, my gorgeous mate,' Blaze coos.
Knox grunts and cuts in. 'Maintain radio discipline.'
Blaze blows a raspberry. 'This isn't a radio, it's our bond, and you're not the boss of me.'
'Shut it down, Sergeant. I am literally, in every interpretation of the word, your boss today.'
Blaze makes a noise that is the sound equivalent of a pout, and a breath of laughter slips out of me before I can stop it.
Even now, Blaze can drag me out of my own head and make me laugh.
Down below, the forest keeps punishing the enemy. Their march forward has turned jagged and uneven as the attacks force some units forward and others back.
It works. Whatever crazy scheme Blaze has devised, it has worked like a charm.
Hope rises sharp and reckless in my chest.
We really can hold them off.
Maybe we can even keep them from breaching Blackreach.
Then I look more carefully at the placement of our own forces at the neck of the Pass.
The line is wrong.
Ice creeps into my stomach as I track it again. Soldiers and vehicles wait at the throat of the road leading back to Blackgate Fortress, but the Pass itself is open.
The enemy can still enter it.
My head jerks toward Knox. "Why aren’t we holding the Pass?"