Page 19 of Knot Your Problem

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.

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