dozen other species of birds she had identified, had become almost more interesting than TV—which was a good thing, because other than washing the occasional basket of laundry or making coffee, there wasn't much to do.
Birdwatching and storytelling, Josie thought wryly. Her friends would never believe it. But then again, they weren't the ones with a view of Knox's huge, broad chest and muscular forearms draped over the arms of the chair. They couldn't see the way the firelight danced in his color-changing eyes, which tonight were a warm gold, like the amber pendant her grandmother had always worn.
"Good idea," Knox said. "I'll make the dough tomorrow morning, and we can have smoked-duck pizza for dinner."
Josie sighed contentedly. That was another thing she never would have imagined—a man who cooked for her. Most of the guys she knew from her activism lived on convenience-store burritos. The refrigerator belonging to the last guy she dated held only a few crusty condiments and a ton of beer.
Come to think of it, other than the being-stuck-in-the-Boundarylands part, Josie had eaten better and laughed more in the last week than she had in ages.
It turned out Knox wasn't kidding when he told her there wasn't much to do here in the winter other than sitting around and talking. So that's what they did…for hours every day. To Josie's surprise, they hadn't run out of things to talk about. They'd shared stories of their childhood and upbringing. They talked about disappointing their fathers and regretting not showing more sympathy to their mothers. They'd laughed over their misguided teenage rebellions and screwups. It didn't take long for Josie to learn that Knox had a gift for storytelling, peppering his tales with colorful details and fascinating side notes and, though she imagined he'd never admit it, lessons that he'd picked up along the way tucked in among the facts.
Usually, by this time of night, Knox would have retreated to his bedroom, and Josie would be curled up on her pallet fast asleep. But neither seemed to want the evening to end.
As Knox told her about how his life had changed when his transition took place at the age of seventeen, Josie had been revising her opinion of him yet again. As they'd shared their stories, the countless little decisions that shaped their paths and brought them where they were today, she had gradually realized that despite everything they had in common, there was one glaring difference.
Knox hadn't had a choice.
Josie took full responsibility for everything that had happened in her adult life—good and bad. She had known the first time she picked up a protest sign that there would be consequences for becoming a thorn in the side of the beta government. It might not be her fault that she was here in the Boundarylands, but Josie couldn't pretend it wasn't her doing.
But Knox had never asked to become an alpha. He had done nothing to deserve being shipped here to the back of beyond. One night he'd gone to bed a fairly average seventeen year-old punk and woke up the next day a few inches taller and twenty pounds heavier, all of it muscle.
And from the sound of it, the change hadn't stopped there. Each day, Knox had grown taller and stronger until there was no denying his true nature.
"Where you scared?" she asked impulsively.
"Of Kevin Greer?" Knox laughed. "Fuck no. Not before the change and sure as shit, not after."
"I didn't mean him. I meant, were you scared while you were changing?" Josie's heart beat a little faster. Somehow this felt like the most personal question she'd asked Knox yet. "Were you afraid of what you would become?"
To her surprise, he didn't answer right away. Over the past week, Josie had grown accustomed to his snappy replies, tossing out witticisms and sarcasm whenever the conversation became too intimate. Now, though, he stared past her out the window, a slight frown tugging at his mouth.
"I'm not sure," he finally said. "Maybe. It was a long time ago, and I was pretty freaked out, but when I think about what was happening around me, most of my memories are of people in my neighborhood and family becoming afraid of me. But that's the strange thing about having your nature change."
"What is?" Josie asked, sitting up straighter.
"To everyone else, there's this clear line of before and after," Knox said, gesturing with his huge hands. "But you're still just…you. Bigger, yeah, and stronger, but still you, with the same