“You don’t need to hide it from me, July,” Knox said, as he sat down on the corner of the couch and stared at his woman, who was talking on the phone.
On the other hand, July got startled when she suddenly noticed Knox’s figure. She swore that no one was inside the room until just then. He was literally not there a second ago.
However, she also got used to this by now, since it was not something extraordinary for Knox to appear out of thin air.
“I will talk to you again, Seb,” July said, her tone slightly changed as she cut the call even before Sebastian could give her a reply and turned around to face Knox. “That’s what we call eavesdropping.”
“I didn’t eavesdrop, woman, I listened to your conversation,” Knox said, as he stood up from the chair and approached July. He could see panic in her eyes, though her expression remained calm. Surely, Sebastian had taught her a lot of things on how to be a stronger woman than he could hope. “Why didn’t you tell me about the meeting?”
July had a meeting with a small pack of the werewolves. The pack only consisted of eleven people and came for refuge under the McKeltar’s protection.
In this former capital city and a few cities that had been burned to the ground and got ruined beyond imagination, there were a lot of dangers lurking in the dark out there, especially if you couldn’t fend for yourself.
These cities that had been abandoned by humans because of what Chaos had done years ago, had turned into a wild jungle, where there were countless shifters and supernatural creatures that occupied every place and claimed them as theirs, while gathering their forces to extend their territories as well.
And that was what Knox had done after he took over the organization that belonged to him from July. He took in those who needed help, and in return, they would help him in expanding the McKeltar’s territory.
.....
It was a good bargain to say the least, since both parties would benefit from this.
However, for July to take in a pack of werewolves without discussing it first with Knox was a little bit odd for him, since they had never done anything like this before.
Shifters were unpredictable creatures, especially werewolves, thus it was only right if July asked Knox to come with her, since they didn’t know what would happen, it was better to be safe than sorry.
“I am going to tell you,” July replied calmly. “But, you’re already here to eavesdrop on the conversation.”
Knox stood in front of July, he was way taller than her and needed to bow his head to talk to July in this proximity.
“From what I heard, you talked about the meeting for less than a minute and the rest of it was filled with unrelated topics between you and Sebastian.” Knox almost couldn’t hold back his anger, but the moment he heard how July was laughing heartily at what Sebastian had said, he couldn’t bring himself to do something to the two of them. After all, it was rare for him to hear her laugh nowadays.
If it was a man who was simply trying to flirt with July, he would have made sure he wouldn’t be able to see tomorrow, but it was his right hand man and on top of that, he brought joy to July’s life, something that he couldn’t.
“Do you like him?” Knox asked her point blank.
July’s eyes turned cold when she heard that. “Are you trying to say that I’m cheating on you?” she narrowed her eyes and took a step closer to Knox. “Just because you can’t give what I want, it doesn’t mean I will turn around and give you up. Of course not, Knox. I will find a way. I always find a way to get the things I want.”
July said those words with determination and Knox didn’t doubt it at all. He knew her too well to know that she wouldn’t give up on the ideal family in her mind.
But, she should know that she would reach a point, where there was nothing she could do anymore, and realize that giving up was not a bad idea. For now, Knox only needed to wait for that to happen.
But, in a sense, July was indeed Jasmine’s twin, since both of them shared the same strong determination for something that they loved and believed.
Knox extended his hand and brushed July’s lips with his thumb when he said. “I am not a thing, love.”
======================
The meeting between the McKeltar’s side and the alpha of the Golden Night pack was a little bit tense because Knox didn’t seem to be in a good mood when he talked to the alpha.
This pack only consisted of eleven people, the alpha, the beta, the gamma and their mates along with one child each and another two of their pack members. They looked terrified and kept looking behind their backs to make sure there was no one who would ambush them in this meeting.
They met in an open area, which was also the border of McKeltars territory.
For this meeting, Knox had told Sebastian directly to not come and made him stay back, without giving him a definite reason for it.
July looked slightly taken aback, but she chose not to say anything and let the meeting happen just as they had planned.
“You don’t have strong males in your pack,” Knox pointed out the truth, since the only strong people in that pack were four men, while the rest were women and children. It wouldn’t do. They couldn’t waste a place for them if what they could offer was so minimal, while aside from the four men, all of those people were freeloaders.
It was a cruel decision and a tough one at that, but they were not in a good situation where they could throw away their affection and compassion to anyone that asked for help.
“We can’t accept you,” Knox said straight to the point, while July didn’t change her expression at all when she heard that, even when she watched how scared their little ones looked. They didn’t understand what was happening here.
They didn’t have any idea that their lives were being decided by Knox’s words. July felt bad for them, but it was Knox’s call, since she had received Flo and her parents without discussing it with him before.
“You will let them die,” the alpha looked upset, he tried to hold back his anger, while waving his hand to his family and the other members that were left of his pack.
“Let the nature take care of it,” Knox said simply and then turned around, dismissing them. “Best of luck for you.”
“NO!” the alpha roared in anger, he was the alpha, he couldn’t let his pack vanish just like that, he was responsible for everyone there, but even after a long and hard journey, the McKeltars refused to help them. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO US.”
Knox glanced at him over his shoulder, as he took July’s hand, while he walked back to the McKeltar territory.
It was a huge stronghold that was protected by Knox’s magic, there was a huge fortress that was made of fire, which encircled the whole territory and was perfected by protection spells from the witches when Knox accepted them to be part of his people.
Therefore, it was nearly impossible for anyone to just trespass this.
“LOOK AT THE CHILDREN AND SAY THAT YOU DON’T CARE IF THEY ARE DIED!” The alpha shouted at Knox, he used the ‘children’ card to gain some symphaty from this creature.
However, what he didn’t expect was; Knox did exactly what he asked for, he turned around and looked at the three children there, dead in the eyes, while saying, “I don’t care.” And then continued to walk back to the fortress.
This, of course, made the three children start crying. They were about the age of four to six years old and could hear clearly what Knox had said.
They couldn’t let them in because their contribution would be very low than what Knox would have provided to this family of werewolves in the long run if he accepted them.
On the other hand, July found it too harsh for Knox to say something like that. She frowned, but said nothing. Because this was not the time where you could think with your heart and showcased your compassion, since it would be the doom of you, if you let your guard down.
“YOU...!” the alpha roared in anger, but then he saw the way Knox held July’s hand, and it was not hard to put the two and two together, especially when he was a shifter.
Someone like Knox, wouldn’t care about any woman and the fact that he was very protective about this woman meant something else.
Aside from Knox and July, there were around five shifters behind them, but the distance between them was too far and the alpha could reach the woman first before them if he moved faster and that was what he did.
Without a second thought, the alpha rushed toward July, who put her guard down and didn’t even look at him, while Knox had his back facing him.
If this man wanted to let his family and his remaining pack members die then, he should feel the same agony like he did.
The alpha’s hand raised, as his claws emerged from his fingers when he aimed to kill July. He cared about nothing at this moment.