he was the damn king of the uplands. Knox wasn't in the habit of taking orders from anyone. There was no reason Knox couldn't kick Josie out, point her to Gray's porch, and drive his ass back to his warm bed at home.
And it wasn't as if he was known for doing good deeds. Hell, his halo had rusted and turned to dust years ago. So why the hell was he still here? There was only one possible answer.
He didn't want to leave.
But why? What was in it for him? Why go out of his way to help a…a what? A beta troublemaker? A prisoner of the fucking beta government? An unawakened omega?
None of these were Knox's kink, and yet somehow, here he was chatting with this stranger as if they were a couple of housewives gossiping over the back fence. Sure, she was pretty, but so were the working girls he paid for company. Maybe that was it—with the lockdown in place, he hadn't had a woman in months. He was probably just horny.
But deep down, Knox knew that couldn't be the real reason. At least, not the only one. He'd been talking to Josie for over an hour now, and he wasn't bored yet. Shit, she just might be the most interesting thing that had happened since the lockdown…and maybe even before that.
It hadn't taken her long to relax after locking herself into the cab of his truck. Within moments Knox picked up on her true scent, the one that had been buried underneath sharp fear and pungent anxiety. Her natural fragrance knocked his socks off, like a dewy meadow on a sunny morning, with hints of watermelon and vanilla cupcakes and…anyway, Knox decided not to spoil it by letting her know that she was no safer from him in the vehicle than she would have been standing in front of him.
"So you put together a protest?" he prompted, wanting to keep her talking despite the drowsiness in her voice.
"Not just any protest." There was a bright note of pride in her voice. "Almost a thousand of us came together for a massive rally in front of the state capitol building and then marched all the way over the governor's mansion, chanting and singing the whole way. Tons of media outlets were there. The next day it made the front page of all the major papers—Women Protest Against Mandatory Testing."
"And did it make a difference?" Knox found that he was genuinely curious. "Did you change any minds?"
"Well, they raided my house and arrested me before the new opinion polls came out," Josie admitted. "But the fact that they were so desperate to get rid of me tells me that we're making them nervous. I doubt they'd go to all this trouble unless we were having an impact on public opinion."
Knox whistled. "Sounds like you really pissed those beta bastards off."
"Yeah, unfortunately, I've been doing that my whole life."
"Unfortunately?" he echoed. After breathing in her scent all this time, he was able to detect its subtle shifts, including the note of sadness that had crept in.
"Just ask my father," she mumbled. "He'd be happy to tell you just how unfortunate my rebellious streak is…along with how disappointing."
The smile faded from Knox's face.
He should have known. There it was, the answer to what had been perplexing the hell out of him all this time.
Despite the dejection in her voice, Knox knew that Josie would never admit to it. Because he would never admit to either. No child who'd lived with a parent's constant disapproval ever would. Admitting that it hurt you was the same as acknowledging that you cared.
Better to stay angry. To rebel. To double down on whatever had disappointed them in the first place.
But Josie had focused all of her defiance on making a difference, on fighting for the rights of others. Unlike Knox, who'd only succeeded in being a punk-ass little shit until his nature had shown and landed him in the Boundarylands.
Being an alpha hadn't done anything to tame his rebellious nature. If anything, the fights he picked now were a lot more dangerous.
Knox sighed, disgusted with all this navel-gazing. Better to focus on something he could actually do something about.
Like the loneliness in Josie's voice.
"You're in good company," he told her. "I've got one of those disappointed fathers too."
"I'm sorry," she said softly after a moment.
And she was. She'd been nothing but honest all night, which was something Knox appreciated, despite having a black belt