Page 168 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

I'm reminded why he's considered Scorch Squad’s weapons expert.

Shade crouches on my other side, weapon up, eyes cutting between the barricade and the road as he tracks movement with practiced efficiency.

Knox moves with controlled confidence, as if the battle belongs to him, barking orders, rotating soldiers, dragging one wounded Alpha back into cover with one hand while firing downhill with his pistol in the other.

More bullets tear into the Alphas around me, but they don't slow. They adjust their helmets, wait for the bleeding to stop, grab their weapons, and throw themselves back into the fight.

My heart slams against my ribs.

I hear a Human officer somewhere in the crush shout an order, and the next wave surges up the road.

Knox aims his rifle and shouts, "Hold the line!"

The Alphas answer with a roar and open up again. Gunfire rips the air apart, and the Humans drop in clumps, but more take their place before the bodies finish falling.

There are just so many of them.

Even with the road narrowed to a killing corridor, and our soldiers moving faster, striking harder, shooting cleaner, the enemy keeps shoving forward. The road is already running red. The mountain range echoes with screaming, orders, and the ugly, wet sounds of men dying too close together.

Viper shoulders into me. "Stay sharp, pretty girl."

"Hard to concentrate when you keep calling me pretty," I shoot back, breathless and wired.

Blaze laughs somewhere to my left, wild and bright. "Then stop being so fucking pretty, Sparkles."

The grip of my rifle is slick with my sweat, and I have to squeeze it harder to stop it from sliding in my hands. I haven't fired my weapon yet, but I know I will eventually have to. I can't hide from the violence, because this is the fight that decides everything.

I know it. The Pack knows it. The soldiers by our side know it. And the enemy knows it too. There is a desperation in the air, and it makes everyone fight savagely.

I also know that I am the last hope standing in the middle of it. It's time to honor the trust I have been gifted and prove my Omega Command can end this.

I reach inside myself, searching for my Omega. She doesn't hesitate to wrap around me, instantly primed and ready for deployment.

That unshakeable confidence I thought had fled swells within my belly, and I straighten my spine.

My breath steadies.

The battle doesn't fade to the background, but something inside me locks into place.

I meant what I said before; we don't have time to waste. The longer it takes me to use my Omega Command, the more of our people will die, so it's time for me to act.

I lift my chin, step up onto the lowest brace of the barricade, and peer up and over it to actively scan the incoming waves of the enemy.

"Halley," Shade snaps, snatching at the back of my vest.

"Let me go, I need a line of sight."

He lets go at once.

The next surge of Humans packs the road shoulder to shoulder, and an officer farther back waves them on, shoving bodies into the gap like he isn't sending them off to be slaughtered.

Bingo. That's my target.

I fill my lungs until they strain from the stretch and let my Omega rise.

She comes enthusiastically and without hesitation.

"Retreat!" I scream my Omega Command.