Page 6 of Knox's Fate
Upon returning home, the mantle of Alpha had fallen to him, a responsibility he bore with silent strength. The governing council of Silver Falls now looked to Knox for guidance, his voice carrying the weight of ancestral wisdom despite his preference for action over words.
Silver Falls held its secrets close, and Knox knew the dangers of revealing the truth to Ruby. But the heart wanted what it wanted, and in this town of animal-shifters, even the most composed Alpha could not deny the call of the wild or the pull of a fated mate.
When he’d learned that Lorraine Clearwater’s niece had arrived in town, he wanted to check on her. He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d checked on Lorraine more regularly if he might have saved her.
Knox shifted and took his clothes with him as he made his way through the forest. An ethereal fog had begun to unfurl and mingle with the swirling mist that always accompanied a shift. Standing in the twilight shadows of the tree line that edged her property, he shifted back and dressed, pulling on a hooded sweatshirt.
Observing her, he noted she appeared to be in her early thirties and had the most beautifully curvy figure he’d seen in a long time. Her clothing accentuated her soft, feminine lines, and she moved with both grace and confidence. Her hair was medium-length, wavy, and looked to be a warm shade of brown.
She was standing on the old front porch, sipping something out of a mug. He shook his head, trying to dissipate the buzzing in his brain and the feeling of nausea and dizziness that had seemed to almost overwhelm him. A human for a fated mate?God his sister, Coco, would love that. He batted at a mosquito and the movement must have caught her attention as she looked up and stared at him for only a moment.
"Can I help you?" Ruby called, her voice cutting through the still of the night.
The question hung unanswered in the air, a challenge tossed into the void. He withdrew without speaking and headed back to the compound.
He’d stayed away afterward, planning to keep an eye on her while keeping his distance.
Yet beneath his steady exterior, a different kind of intensity stirred in Knox. Ruby, with her human innocence and allure, had unwittingly ensnared his senses. Seeing her had left him wrestling with a primal arousal that defied explanation. The buzzing in his brain, the dizziness, and the nausea were all signs he tried to ignore.
"Did you see her?” Coco asked. “Ooh you did. I can tell. You’ve been thinking about her.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” replied Knox, trying to feign ignorance.
His sister was not so easily fooled. “Her. Lorraine’s human niece. Your face went all funny…”
“It did not,” he snarled.
“Did too,” Coco teased. Those words, although he knew they were meant only in love, cut through him like a knife. She watched him with knowing eyes, a smirk playing on her lips. "Like you're trying to solve a puzzle to make it exactly what you want, but the pieces keep moving."
"Mind your own business, Coco," Knox grumbled, turning away to hide the truth in his gaze. But avoidance would do little to quell the undercurrent of desire that ran beneath his skin.
"Ah, big brother," Coco sighed, leaning against the doorframe of his office with the ease of someone who knew toomany of his secrets. "You can't fight fate, you know. And if that girl isn't it, I don’t know who it’s going to be."
Knox didn't respond, settling deeper into his chair as if it could shield him from Coco's observations. He couldn't afford the distraction Ruby represented, not when the safety of his clan rested squarely on his shoulders. He was, after all, alpha.
Yet, even as he sat there, surrounded by the quiet of his office, Knox couldn’t shake the image of her catching the moonlight just so. It was getting harder to ignore the magnetic pull towards her, the primal urge to claim her as his own.
"Careful," teased Coco later that evening, a nudge accompanying the words. "Don’t let the council see you getting all mushy over a human."
"Shut up," Knox snapped, more out of embarrassment than anger. His authority was unchallenged, but his heart was another matter entirely.
Even knowing that he should avoid her, when she’d run into him, literally, in the hardware store, he’d found himself agreeing to work for her—helping her renovate the lodge her aunt had left her into a bed and breakfast. Now, he found himself standing inside her home with the muted afternoon light filtering through the dusty windows, casting soft beams across the worn wood and scattering warmth that felt almost foreign in the empty space. Knox straightened from where he’d been crouched, wiping his hands on his jeans, the rough material dragging against his skin as he caught sight of Ruby, half-hidden by a tower of stacked wood planks she was attempting to move.
She was biting her lower lip, brows drawn in concentration as she tried to lift the weight alone. Something about thatsimple, determined expression set a fire low in Knox’s belly, and for a second, he forgot the splinters in his hands and the aches of his muscles from hours of work. She was his fated mate—that truth pulsed in his blood, a silent call that he tried to suppress each time she glanced his way.
Knox watched Ruby, captivated by every movement, every quiet smile as she worked. The pull he felt to her was magnetic, undeniable, and he felt it in every brush of her hand against his, in every accidental touch that sent sparks racing through his veins.
He was here to help her renovate the lodge, but each moment together felt like a test of his restraint. She was his fated mate—that much he knew in the depths of his soul—and the quiet, simmering attraction only deepened as he caught her glancing his way, cheeks flushed.
“You’re good at this,” he murmured watching her drive a nail with a hammer, eyes lingering a second too long.
“Didn’t think I would be?” she replied, stepping closer, the space between them narrowing.
His breath hitched, and he could feel the heat of her presence, her scent, wrapping around him like a promise. Her eyes darted away, but the connection was palpable, thick in the air around them. They went back to work, but the unspoken pull lingered, making Knox wonder how much longer he could resist claiming what he knew was his.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and pink, Knox’s thoughts were centered on Ruby. He could almost feel the heat of her body close to his, the sweet temptation of her lips mere inches from his own. It would be so easy to give in, to let nature take its course.
Shaking his head, Knox dismissed the idea out of hand. He stepped back to survey his work, wiping the sweat from his brow as he watched Ruby across the room. She was scrubbinga stubborn stain from the hardwood floor, her focus so intense it made him smile. He’d seen that determination over the past few days as they chipped away at her aunt’s lodge, layer by layer, uncovering a charm hidden beneath years of dust and neglect.