Knot Your Problem: Pack Origins Book 2, page 7
They’d become a tight, loyal unit around us. Every single one had elected to come with us when we’d abandoned our posts and come home in search of Maia after the Crash. We’d been doing recon far from home when the Crash happened, and the journey back had been hell, yet we’d had each other.
Pala had been out there all alone, deep undercover, while the world fell apart. I couldn’t even imagine how hard it must have been, and probably still was.
Pala was perfect for the job, though. He was like a ghost, able to almost disappear from right in front of you. He was always so calm and unassuming, people often didn’t even notice him entering a room. Despite being one of the most strikingly handsome men I had ever met.
He had light caramel skin and glossy, straight black hair that fell past his shoulder blades, with a squared jaw and high cheekbones. His eyes were a dark brown, so deep they were almost black. When you really looked at him, it was easy to see the old soul staring back. He gave off an aura of calm strength, as if he was centuries old instead of decades.
His name meant ‘water’, and it suited him perfectly. He flowed around every obstacle effortlessly, taking everything in his stride. But I saw a darkness shadowing him that had never been there as a teenager.
“It’s time you came in, Pala. You’ve done enough.” I searched his face as I spoke, looking for my teenage friend in the harsher lines of the man before me.
He shook his head and looked up at me. I saw secrets and shadows staring back at me.
“I can’t. Not yet.”
“Why the hell not?”
“What are you planning on doing with these alphas?” He asked, turning to lean sideways against the wall and staring at me intensely. “You and Sam, you’re not murderers, unless you’ve changed a hell of a lot since the last time I saw you?”
The question threw me. We were still reacting to the intruders, breaching the defenses on the farm just after we’d arrived. We hadn’t had time to plan, or even assess, yet.
“I don’t know. I don’t think they’re set up here to keep prisoners indefinitely. It’s going to take a lot of manpower we don’t have to keep that many alphas locked down. Not to mention feeding them. I imagine we’ll let them go. I know it means we’ll probably have to fight them later, but I don’t see another choice.”
Pala sighed again, deeper this time, and looked around him at what we could see of the farm from here. The lush fields cascading down the hill in the late morning sun, the winding river sparkling in the distance, the old water mill and the modern farm buildings, all framed by the forest beyond.
When Sam and I had staked the place out, the sound of laughter had drifted out to us regularly. It was so different from how the rest of the world looked and sounded right now. I’d felt an intense draw, a need to be inside even then.
It was a utopia, and the people who lived here seemed willing to go to great lengths to protect it. I didn’t blame them. This place had a strong sense of home and community, and I didn’t realize how much I had missed that. It reminded me of my family’s winery growing up.
I forced myself to pay attention as I turned and gripped his shoulder. “Just tell me.”
He said one word that froze the blood in my veins.
“Lexie.”
“What about Lexie?” I grated out, feeling panic rising.
What didn’t we know? I felt intensely protective of her and I’d barely spoken to her.
“Are you sure she’s a beta? I saw both of you react to her the moment she spoke, and I was up the back. You fixated on her instantly. You all but abandoned your posts and everyone saw you both growl at your teammate when he showed an interest.”
I tensed. This was going to be bad. I just knew it. The hairs on my arms rose as all my senses went on high alert. Pala was waiting for me to answer, as he watched me carefully. I owed Pala honesty. When the Network gave us two options for our military paths, he’d volunteered to take the darker, lonely path.
“I don’t know. You’re right. We both reacted to her as if she was an omega and we had a scent match, which would make her our true mate. What I felt was more intense than anything I’ve ever felt before. I can only assume it was the same for Sam.” I had known Sam long enough to be confident about his reaction, but I would never presume to speak for him.
“Yet Dave said she’s a beta, and she doesn’t appear to have a scent. Her omega pheromones should have flooded the space with her scent after our alpha pheromones spiked. That’s what the old stories say about scent matches. But it didn’t. I couldn’t detect a thing coming from her. Something’s not adding up. I don’t know what, but I intend to find out.” They weren’t idle words.
Pala was a pro at keeping his reactions contained. He had to be to work undercover. But I noticed his eyes tightened slightly and his jaw subtly tensed. “If she’s an omega, it means she’s been hiding in plain sight for a really long time. She’s also managed to completely suppress her scent, not just mask it or hide it. The Palace is going to want her as soon as they find out. They’ll be desperate to test her.”
He paused, and looked at me earnestly, as if he didn’t want to say what else was on his mind. He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. “Dio, this is the endgame. Whoever is controlling the guys at the Palace are the men we’ve all been hunting for too many years to count. They will find out about Lexie as soon as these men report back. The way you and Sam reacted to her just outed her to the Palace. She’s going to be in even more danger than Maia and Ava.”
Pala opened his mouth, and it looked like he was going to say more, but he swallowed hard and stayed silent.
Fuck. I wanted to kill every one of those assholes right now. I could scent chili spiking the air as my wilder scent rose in response to my anger.
Pala’s earthy sage scent had always been quite subtle, which helped him stay unnoticed and blend in. It was currently spiking alongside mine with a hint of pepper creeping through, though.
Interesting. My brain started running wild with possibilities. I watched him closer, but he wasn’t giving anything away right now. He kept himself locked down tight. We’d been apart too long, and he either didn’t trust me currently, or didn’t trust himself. Both options pained me.
I shook out my clenched fists and waited for him to continue.
“On top of all that, Damon just took out Ronan. I get why, I really do. He had Damon’s mate at gunpoint, and everyone knows he’d become unhinged. From what I can tell, though, his dad is a key player in all this. There will be repercussions.”
Fucking, fuckity, fuck. Screaming obscenities out loud would be so much more satisfying right now, but I couldn’t alert anyone to the conversation we were having. We were taking a big enough risk doing this here in the open, but neither of us knew the layout of the farm well enough to take it inside. Plus, I was going to have to get Pala back to the other alphas shortly if we didn’t want to blow his cover.
Pala reached up and ran his hand through his long hair. It had always been a calming gesture for him when we were kids. The familiarity of it gave me a pang of longing. I needed him back in my life.
“I don’t know what the hell Damon did back there. I’ve heard rumors of his dominance, but what he just did, it shouldn’t be possible. Do you think he could force them to not say anything about Lexie?”
I thought about it, but I wasn’t the person to ask. “I only met him an hour ago, so I don’t know what he’s capable of and I get the sense he doesn’t yet either. That bark felt like raw power coming from a place of pure instinct. I don’t know how the hell he controlled it the way he did. It left Sam and I alone, along with all his allies. I felt it slide right over me. I swear I almost heard it whisper as it passed.”
“It felt a hell of a lot different for me. Dropped me to my knees like I no longer had control of my body,” Pala said as a grimace briefly crossed his face.
I laughed and slapped him on the shoulder, but Pala remained serious.
“Put all of that together, and it means I need to go back and see what the fallout is from today. I need to figure out if I can do any damage control, especially with Lexie.”
He shook his head in frustration. “Look Dio, I don’t know exactly what caused the Crash, but I have my suspicions that the Palace crew were involved. The only reason I’m with them is because they bugged out quickly when the Crash happened and I delivered a package that day. I knew they’d been planning something big, but they kept information strictly need to know.
“I got the impression the Crash was supposed to happen in the future, though. I don’t think they were prepared for it to happen when or how it did. They seemed panicked when they decamped to the Palace. They grabbed random shit that made no sense. Plus, they didn’t help people on the way. I swear they almost knocked people down who ran out onto the road wanting help as we passed. It was sickening.”
Pala was getting increasingly agitated, gesturing with his hands and his voice was rising, which was unlike him. It made me wonder what was really stirring him up.
“What I know for sure is that they have a secure military communication network that’s outside of the Palace’s servers and the normal military chain of command. It’s how the Palace lab techs and the upper hierarchy of the military communicate. The Palace’s own security is pretty lax, but they have this system locked away somewhere and keep information about it tight. I don’t know where it is, but I need to find it. I think the answers we need are in there.”
Holy fuck. If we could get that intel, it could change everything, but there had to be another way. Pala threw his head back and breathed hard, as if he was trying to calm himself, get his emotions under control. I had to resist the urge to pull him into me again. When he looked back at me, there was determination shining brightly in the dark depths of his eyes.
“Ronan didn’t know how to lead a team, Dio. He was only in charge because of his dad’s influence, which meant I’ve gotten away with a lot so far. But I don’t know who they will send to replace him. We have a really fucking brief window to get this done.”
He glared at me, knowing I was trying to figure out a way to stop him from going back. “Dio, it’s the only way.”
I nodded finally, knowing he was right. He breathed a sigh of relief, but there was also regret in his eyes. “I can’t go into details now. We don’t have time. You need to drag me back in there so we don’t blow my cover. Do you have a stick? I wasn’t able to bring mine with me.”
A stick was our slang for a tiny device containing software developed by the Network that could copy and store information quickly, leaving no trace behind. It was an innocuous name for a powerful piece of tech that was way beyond anything else currently on the market.
I nodded. “I’ll get it to you.”
I wasn’t happy about him going back, but I’d get him whatever he needed to get in and out quickly. I understood his dedication and his need to see this through. He’d worked hard to infiltrate this group, and he was the only one who could do this right now. Finding this intel could change everything for us, help us face whatever was coming.
The soldier in me got it. But as his friend, I didn’t want to lose him again after just finding him. I sensed there was a lot he was leaving out, and I wanted to have his back.
“And when you get the intel, then what?” I asked. “The world is changing. It’s not a time to be out there alone, without back-up.”
“If I blow my cover and I have to leave the Palace, can I come here?”
It hurt that he even had to ask. I grabbed him by the neck and brought his forehead down to mine. I felt the trembling of his body reflected within my own.
“Pala, you’re my brother. I know my family is big and I have about a million morons I’m actually related to, but that doesn’t make you any less important.”
I gripped him harder, needing him to hear me. “I chose you as my family a long time ago. Nothing has changed that. You always have a home wherever I am. I’m sorry if I haven’t made that clear. I don’t care if you disappear for a year or a decade. If you need me, I’m here. Even if you don’t blow your cover. I want you to come home.”
Pala let out a giant breath and nodded. I grabbed him for another hug, but twisted him into a headlock instead.
“I am going to have to punch you some more, though. I don’t think I did a convincing job the first time,” I chuckled.
He pushed me away and laughed. It lightened my heart. I’d missed that sound. He had the most beautiful, clear laugh. It made me feel like a kid again. Like he’d never been gone.
“Let’s go,” he said. “There’s a dark-haired guy down there with a tattoo of a white rabbit on his middle finger. Can you rotate us somehow and get him paired up with me? He seems reluctant to do their dirty work. I think he may actually have a conscience, and I’ve been working at getting close to him. Also, don’t bundle us all together if you can avoid it. I need time to talk discreetly to him without being overheard. He may be an ally.”
“I’ll make it happen.”
As much as I didn’t want to leave Pala down in the basement, it had to be done. He had a job to do, and it was important.
We both took a step away from each other, but a noise behind us had us both spinning instantly. Ava stood there with a basket in her hand.
“I didn’t mean to overhear,” she blurted. Her gaze was pinging between us and she looked like she was about to bolt, but she had stepped out into the open for a reason. If she had stayed put, we would never have known she was there.
Her gaze swung to Pala and stayed there. “I saw you on my way to the chicken coop to get eggs. You left food out for us at the Palace, didn’t you? You knew we were in the library and you covered for us. I’m pretty sure you guarded the other omegas too, when the alphas were getting drunk.”
Pala gave her the briefest nod. “Are you okay?” he asked her. His first concern was her welfare. I was so proud of him at that moment. Working undercover often compromised your morals, but Pala had clearly held onto his. It seems he had risked compromising his mission to help both Ava and Maia.
“Yes, thanks to you. I owe you, and I want to help.”
“How?” I asked skeptically, as Pala remained quiet. Ava was a sheltered omega princess. I couldn’t imagine how she could help us.
“I know where the server is and I know how to get to it.”
I felt my mouth hanging open, and I was powerless to close it at that moment, but Pala remained perfectly calm. “Can you tell me, or draw me a map? Because I’m not taking you back to show me. I won’t put you at risk.”
“Yes. The Palace itself is ancient. It has a history that’s far older than its current use. It’s riddled with secret passageways that nobody seems to know about. I found one accidentally. One passageway connects to the hidden room with the server. I don’t think they know the secret door is there. I marked a path so I could get back to it one day and try to figure out what they were hiding, but I never got the chance.”
“Accidentally?” Pala asked.
Ava just gave him an enigmatic smile. I suddenly suspected Ava was a sheltered princess, about as much as Maia. She was like a swan. All grace and beauty that you wanted to stroke and pet, until you got close to her nest, then she’d bite without hesitation if she felt threatened.
“Tell me,” Pala said and Ava did. She gave him a detailed description of how to find an entrance and the markings she had put in place.
“Thank you, Ava. I owe you a debt. But you need to go now, before someone comes looking for you and finds us.”
It honestly surprised me Cary hadn’t appeared yet. He shadowed her pretty closely.
“You really don’t, owe me, I mean,” she whispered before she turned and disappeared, moving surprisingly quietly and nimbly through the underbrush.
As soon as she was gone, I tied Pala’s wrists again and we followed where Sam and Dave had disappeared. We quickly found a door and a flight of stairs down into the dank smelling darkness of the storm cellar. I threw Pala in at the bottom with a light growl, hoping I didn’t cause any damage and sending him a silent apology.
Sam and Dave followed my lead and didn’t react as I subtly maneuvered to get Pala tied up to the alpha with the white rabbit tattoo.
We got the sweep organized by Dave’s team and when we had the all clear, Dave got the community meeting underway during lunch while everyone was in the dining room. He introduced us and our team to the farm residents, then reassured them all the situation was under control.
There was no animosity towards us, like I’d feared there might be. We were adding more mouths to feed and resources were in short supply everywhere. Yet these people welcomed us with open arms and gratitude.
It was clear everyone here had a lot of respect for Dave. He said we were good guys and here to help, and not a single person questioned it. They just got back to work and got on with their day. Even the teenagers had helped, spreading the message about the meeting and finding everyone in their hiding spots.
They were a giant family. They pulled together when times were tough.
Sam had watched me closely when I got into the storm cellar and I’d flicked him the all good signal. He’d just nodded. Sam trusted that I’d let him know what happened when I could and would deal with anything needed in the meantime. It meant we still hadn’t talked about what happened with Lexie earlier, though.
I felt it as soon as Lexie walked into the dining room, like every atom in the air suddenly spun and gravitated toward her, trying to pull me with them. I tried not to watch her openly, not needing any more attention on us, but I tracked her movements discreetly. She gave us a wide berth, ignoring us completely.
Lexie was relaxed and open with the community, though, especially the women in the corner. They must be the women she was talking about earlier when she’d warned us off. Everyone gave those women plenty of room too, but with friendly smiles and a tip of the hat. Only talking to them if one of them approached. Everyone clearly cared about their welfare.
