Page 190 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

Halley, his mate and Omega? Or does he see a monster with terrible power?

His face softens with pride and love, and he gives me one small nod.

"Stand down, princess," he croaks. "You did good."

The Command slips from my grip all at once, and the last of my strength goes with it, ripped out so fast my vision whites out completely.

My knees fold beneath me, and I pitch forward with a broken gasp, every clenched muscle in my body slackening the instant my Prime Alpha tells me it is safe to stop.

Hands catch me for half a breath, and then they fail too.

Knox’s palm falls from the back of my neck. Viper’s hand slips from my shoulder. Shade makes a rough sound beside me, and all four of us go down together now that the sheer willpower that has been holding us upright has finally snapped.

We hit the blood-slicked crater in the road as a tangle of limbs and armor.

The bond, which was torn wide open and flooding me with impossible strength a breath ago, collapses inward with a brutal snap. It tears back through me like the sea ripping from shore, taking everything with it: heat, balance, and even the strength to lift my head.

I lie there panting, cheek pressed to cold stone, and feel my mates scattered close around me, panting hard too.

Knox is on one side, choking breaths scraping through his healing throat.

Viper is on the other, his pain still huge, his body struggling to knit itself back together after everything I dragged out of him.

Shade is nearby too, trembling with exhaustion, his hand brushing my arm as if he is checking that I am still here.

And Blaze. Oh, I feel him burning there beside them. It's bright, and unmistakably my mate, my Blaze.

I want to reach for all of them, but my body will not move.

Beyond, I hear the enemy continue speaking in those calm, reverent voices, the hum of a melody echoing through the stone I lie on.

A weak and broken smile spreads across my face.

The song of the Omega Command still sings even though I'm no longer feeding it with my power and our bond. Even though I'm no longer holding it together through brute force and failing muscles, it hasn't weakened. It's already taken root too deeply inside them and spread too far to need me now.

What began in me has become an infection with a life of its own.

Pack Scorch lies broken in the blood and dirt, too drained to do anything but listen to my Command.

The blackness pressing at the edge of my vision grows until it swallows the light. A quiet, gentle certainty settles over me.

As always, Shade was right.

This is the end.

There is no more left for us to give.

We gave everything we had on this road. Our blood, every ounce of our courage, and every piece of strength our love built.

We spent it all, and because we did, our kind will live.

The grief is there. It has to be. I feel it in the ache of my body, in the nearness of my mates that I cannot hold close, and in the awful tenderness of knowing this is how our love story ends.

Even so, peace settles over me.

My Omega, who has been lonely and striving for more for so long, finally goes still. For the first time since I presented, she asks nothing more of me. There is no next order to follow. No greater good left waiting for my sacrifice. No more climbing toward some impossible destiny.

We reached it. We held the line. We saved them.