Page 11 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

The gun clicks as he flicks the safety off.

I close my eyes and exhale.

'I'm coming, pretty girl.'

Chapter Four

Shade

I'm alone.

Everyone else has left to chase their grief, but I'm still sitting here.

That's the first thing that comes to my mind as I watch Viper and Knox walk away.

A count.

One Omega dead on the ground. One Alpha taking himself and a victim apart in the nearby tent. Two Alphas on a death march into the forest.

And me. One Beta left alone.

I'm sad and so, so angry.

I don't know where to put it.

There’s no target useful enough for it. The woman who pulled the trigger is already in Blaze’s hands. Stone is out of reach. The war is too large to punch.

So I sit with the anger because there’s nowhere else for it to go. I sit and I mull over how close we were to having it all.

I thought I was finished with being alone.

That was the trick of it. Halley made me believe I’d never have to be alone ever again. That I'd have a family like the one I lost as a young boy. Our Pack felt fated, like some deity was steering and fusing us together despite all of our jagged edges.

But now I'm the last one here.

Blaze is gone. There will be no coming back for him. His mind will finally fracture completely, and he'll just be a wraith eager to kill and mutilate.

Knox said to take care of him. I know he doesn't mean in a caregiver capacity. Rather, he means in the same way he is taking care of Viper.

Of himself.

He's not coming back.

None of them are.

The three Alphas will join our Omega in death because their instincts demand it of them after failing to protect her. And I'll be left behind. I'll have to survive without them, and I don't know if I can.

I don't think I want to.

The thought arrives with terrible calm.

If Knox does what I know he plans to do, if Viper is gone, if Blaze never comes back from the dark place he’s crawled into, then I will be the last member of Pack Scorch.

I don’t know how to survive that.

I’m not sure I want to learn.

Ending it has never crossed my mind before. I’ve never liked leaving anything early. There is always more to know, more to read, another theory to test, another answer hiding three files deeper than expected.