Knox (The Boundarylands #12) - Callie Rhodes Page 0,5

alpha brother Gray until the poor bastard was saddled not only with an omega but a target on his back.

Knox did not need that kind of hassle. And yet, his hand hovered over the gear shift.

Don't be an idiot, the little voice inside his head said. Go on home, and let someone else deal with it. Another alpha will get here in a few minutes.

Knox hesitated only a few more seconds before slamming the gear shift into park, rolling his eyes at the nagging little voice. Why leave home at all if he wanted to play it safe?

In the distance, he could hear the roar of truck engines headed his way, coming to see what the trouble was. And when his brothers found this woman…

Knox cursed under his breath as he threw open his door. He might have been looking for excitement, but not that kind. His brothers would fight tooth and nail for a chance to get at her. Hell, that was probably the betas' plan all along—starve the alphas for companionship and then throw them a prime piece of meat so that they could sit back and watch his brothers rip each other to shreds trying to get at her.

"Not today," he muttered as his boots crunched on fresh snow. Hearing him coming, the woman skittered backward before getting tripped by her ankle chains and falling flat on her ass. Her reddish-blonde hair whipped around her terrified face like a banner in a windstorm.

And holy fuck, what a face! And even though the pajamas didn't do her any favors, her figure looked pretty damn tasty too. Those beta bastards had outdone themselves with this one—five and a half feet of hell-yeah all wrapped up and delivered with a bow. Knox couldn't imagine anyone who'd be able to resist this kind of temptation.

Anyone but him, that was.

With her hands cuffed behind her back, all the woman could do was widen her big emerald-green eyes in fright. "Please. Please, don't—"

"Don't hurt you? Yeah, yeah, I know." Knox had met enough beta women to know exactly how they reacted to their first encounter with an alpha. Unfortunately, begging wasn't his thing. "Not planning on it, lady."

Unsurprisingly, she didn't seem all that reassured, her chains rattling as she continued to try to shuffle away.

"And don't—"

"Don't touch you," Knox finished again. "Again, not a problem."

Those round green eyes blinked one…twice. Her fear didn't evaporate completely, but the panic in her scent faded, and she stopped trying to get away. "But you're an alpha."

"And let me guess—you're an omega," Knox said, not bothering to keep the sarcasm from his voice. "Or at least you would be if I came over there and grabbed you."

"You can…sense it?" Curiosity took the place of some of her anxiety.

He shook his head. "Not the way you mean."

"Then how?"

Knox folded his arms in front of his chest. "I know betas. Let's just say they aren't working off the most original playbook."

"You mean they've done this before?" Now she seemed outraged. "They've abandoned other dormant omegas here in the Boundarylands?"

"The chains are new," Knox admitted. "But it's basically the same thing."

"That bastard," the woman screeched, causing Knox to raise an eyebrow. Damn, she looked good mad. And she had more starch than he'd given her credit for. "When I get back to civilization, I'm going to raise hell like that son of a bitch has never seen. I'll rip him apart with my own hands if I have to. He's going to regret ever thinking he could fuck with me."

Knox had to suppress a grin. This was more like it. Those sad, baggy pajamas might just be hiding a spitfire underneath.

Knox wasn't much of a fan of fear. Couldn't see the point, not even back when he was a pup in the beta world.

But anger? Now there was an emotion he could respect.

But he still needed to wash his hands of this woman.

"Okay, I don't know who or what you're talking about," Knox said, turning back toward the truck. "But if you want to jump in the back of my truck, I can drive you to someone who might be able to help you."

"You want me to go with you? Where?"

What did that matter? He was offering her a lifeline. Something he was willing to bet some of his brothers wouldn’t do.

Against his better judgment, Knox turned around to find the woman looking up at him earnestly. Damn, those eyes—they really were amazing, sparkling in the beam like precious emeralds.

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