Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond
Chapter 0260

-Knox~

I was sat in a family's home preparing for a family's war.

The fiery red head returning from a shift at the hospital, greeted by her family..and myself. I've never felt more out of place in my life than I do than at this very moment in time.

This had the potential of heading downhill very quickly. I didn't know the red head but something told me when backed into a corner, that's when she comes out fighting her best. And she was about to be backed into a corner by her brothers.

"Josie sweetheart, how was your shift?" Alpha Kaia's tone is soft, welcoming.

"A bit slow today.." Her eyes lock on mine, a smirk of defiance forming onto her face. She's lying, she looks exhausted but if the argument of earlier regarding her weapons training was anything to go by... if she showed signs of working in the hospital was also too much... they would unceremoniously cut that from her too.

She has been thriving in her parent's pack, a pack that was about to become her brother's.

"Did George find you?" My shoulders stiffen from the mention of the shit.

"George?" I don't miss the flash of annoyance in her eyes.

"Yes, he was looking for you... Dad, didn't you walk him to the hospital?" Jace was inadvertently trying to diffuse the tension that was about to fall upon this living room.

The Varon family had money, there was no denying that but they didn't thrust it in your face...their décor taste was comfortable family home. Mistakes could be made here and covered up by the dark furniture.

This was a nurturing supportive pack and family home. The alphas had done well, if anything to maintain that reputation they had of being ruthless...nothing here screamed ruthless to me. Yet it would take a fool to not see just how powerful this family, the alpha mates were.

"He found me." She grunts as she kicks her trainers off and lands on the couch next to Jace, placing her legs up under herself. She had the temperament of a wild lion, but could switch to the demeanour of a harmless cat wanting cuddles on the sofa. She was the complete opposite of me, I was rigid, cold...I had to be.

"Uh oh trouble in paradise?" Jace tries to tease her but he has hit the nail on the head, her eyes flickering back to me.

"What's going on?" She moves the subject on, her eyes falling upon her parents and Jaxon who, similar to me, were sat adjacent to her.

"We wanted to talk to you.." Alpha Hector starts before he is cut off by Jaxon.

"I am cutting you from weapons training." His voice is like a thunder booming through a still sky.

"What, why?" That soft approachable feline has snapped back into a ferocious defending lioness.

"I have no need for weapons training in the future of the pack." I watch Jaxon watching her, I've trained him to be a fierce alpha...but there are things I can't teach. Things he'll have to learn for himself.

"Future of the pack? What are you talking about?"

"When Alpha, I plan to increase training in werewolf form, weapons have the potential of revealing our location, our existence to humans.

What better way to defend the shifter world, than in our shifter form?" Jaxon's eyes bore into his sister's, his aura glowing in a small warning to her.

Her eyes move around the room in disbelief, before fixing on her father's.

"Dad?"

"Don't undermine me Josie, this is how things are going to be." Jaxon's aura increases and to my astonishment she doesn't use hers to challenge him.

I'm waiting for her explosion, that fiery personality to come out...when instead, her exact opposite response tugs at my heart.

"Did I do something wrong?" She looks back at Jaxon, her body shifting forward on the couch. Her body language was open, ready for criticism...ready to learn, to be better. But Jaxon's was completely closed off, unnegotiable. "No."

"Then why are you cutting me as head of weapons training..." "Josie."

"I earnt that role, I'm the best shooter in this pack, the best combat fighter.."

"But you aren't a fighter are you Josie, how can you be?"

I don't understand how his words could have winded the air out of her lungs, but I witness it all the same. He might as well have punched her in the chest...it would have had the same reaction.

"Jaxon!" Alpha Kaia growls out to her son in warning, before the four of them enter a mind-link and to my astonishment...they leave the fiery red head out.

Her eyes land on mine before narrowing with that defiance that I was quickly learning built the foundation of her being. She doesn't wait for them, she storms out of the room and enters a door in the hallway.

By the time she has returned, she has a 9mm pistol tucked into the back of her leggings as she bends down to place her trainers back on. Giving me full view of her perfectly tight bottom.

She must be able to feel my eyes burning into her figure because as soon as she stands up, she raises an eyebrow at me before moving, slamming the door, viciously, behind her.

The bang forcing them all out of their mind-links, and I'm starting to wonder what this red head vixen has been able to get away with in her brother's absence.