heart... "But you've…killed before? People, I mean?"
"Yes."
"But only because you had to, right?"
His expression didn't change, as cold and hard as the wall of icy granite up the path from his cabin. "I've never killed for fun if that's what you mean."
"I meant in self-defense." Josie heard the panic in her own voice.
"How could it be self-defense? No alpha has ever been in mortal danger from a beta." Knox got up from the floor and took a step closer, causing Josie to shrink against the wall. He was always so careful to stay out of her space. But not now. "You're doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"Trying to make me into the good guy. But I'm not, sugar." This time, there was no warmth to the word. "I'm no hero. I'm not misunderstood. I'm an alpha who likes to hunt and drink and fight and fuck."
Josie shook her head, trying to push his words away. She didn't believe him. Yes, the way he was looking at her right now, she could almost believe that he meant what he was saying. But hunting and drinking and…the rest—they weren't the only things that defined Knox. After all the time Josie had spent talking and getting to know him, she couldn't possibly be so far off the mark.
"If that's true," she asked in a quavering voice, "then why are you helping me?"
"Because I'm bored. Because you're amusing. Because what the fuck else is there to do?"
Josie wished she could wipe the contempt from Knox's face somehow, the way it turned his beautiful features sharp and dangerous. "What's going to happen to me if I stop being amusing?"
Knox stared at her for a long moment before the anger drained from his face, and his body relaxed into his usual slouching stance. When he spoke, it was as if no cross words had passed between them.
"Don't worry. I'd probably still keep you around. For some reason, you really piss Gray off, and I love getting under that pompous bastard's skin."
"But…I thought you two were friends."
"We are. But he's also a pompous bastard. I'm sure he says similar things about me."
Josie's head was spinning, not just from Knox's sudden anger and it's equally sudden disappearance, but from his confounding explanations. It seemed that Knox's brand of friendship meant calling each other "bastards," just as his justification for killing was that it wasn't "for fun."
He was right about one thing, though. Josie may have been here a week, but that didn't mean she knew a damned thing about alphas…including the one standing across the room.
"It's late," Knox said. "You should get some sleep."
It was probably for the best. Tonight was the first time any friction had developed between the two of them. They could both probably use a good night's rest to cool off.
Tomorrow, Josie would take pains to keep the conversation light. No more talk about politics or killing. After all, she plenty of her troubles own to worry about.
"Good night, Knox," she said softly.
He was already headed for his bedroom, but he stopped in the hall for a moment. Without turning, he muttered, "Good night, Josie."
Not sugar this time. Just Josie.
Maybe that was for the best too.
Chapter Ten
It would be easy enough for Knox to blame his lack of sleep on the storm outside. It was going to be a memorable one, the winds picking up speed and force by the minute, icy sleet clattering against the windows like a snare drum. Heck, he could even hear it pounding the roof of his truck, hailstones the size of golf balls from the sound of it.
The problem was that Knox never lied—and blaming his insomnia on anything but his own damn spinning thoughts would be a whopper. He'd been in the Boundarylands long enough to have weathered worse blizzards, and he knew there wasn't a damn thing to be done until the storm was over and he could get out and assess the damage. Unless the storm picked his house up off its foundation and tossed it down the hill, Knox would ordinarily have no trouble sleeping through it. Even then, it would take a hell of a lot more than a little sleet to damage his house.
Just like Knox himself, the cabin was built like a fortress.
Briefly, Knox wished that alphas could lie to themselves as easily as betas did. Worrying about storm damage would be a hell of a lot easier than obsessing over the real reason he was awake and staring at his ceiling: Josie