"You're staying with me," he repeated. It wasn't an invitation or a request.
It was an order.
And Cassidy must have heard the command in his voice. She stumbled back a step, her mouth dropping open. "I'm… I'm not sure that's…a good idea."
Too bad.
He was sure. Samson had never been so sure of anything in his life.
Stepping forward, he took her arm—not roughly, but not gently either—and steered her in the direction of his truck. She struggled to keep up, matching each of his strides with two of her own. He could sense hesitancy, but not fear, pulsing through her veins. She was still hung up on what should be instead of what she wanted.
Of what they both wanted..
But the second Samson rounded the corner of the bar with Cassidy close behind, Ty stepped out onto the porch. He must have been keeping vigil just inside the door, waiting for something like this to happen.
On any other night, Samson would have sensed his friend’s presence long before he blocked their path, but tonight he was…distracted.
The single bulb that hung above the door cast a pool of muted yellow light at Ty's feet and long shadows over his stern features.
"You don't want to do this, brother," Ty muttered, glancing at Cassidy before drilling his hard gaze into Samson.
The hell he didn't.
"Step aside, Ty." Samson's lip curled as he growled.
Ty didn't back down, though. Not that Samson expected him too. Backing down wasn't in an alpha's nature.
"You know I can't," Ty said. "She's my guest."
Samson shook his head. "Not anymore," he said. "I'm taking Cassidy home. She's under my protection now."
Ty let out a breath that was half growl, half sigh. Almost as if he'd been expecting—and dreading—this moment.
"This isn't right," Ty said. "She needs to stay with her own kind."
Samson squared his shoulders. "Go get in my truck, Cassidy," he said, not taking his eyes off Ty.
She shuffled back a step, her heart pounding and her fear rising. "Samson…"
"It's okay," he told her. "I'll be there in a minute."
She didn't have to be told twice. In the next heartbeat, she scurried down the steps and dashed toward his dark blue truck. The moment the passenger door slammed shut, Samson folded his arms and lifted his chin.
"Now you can say your piece," he said.
"I heard what happened out here tonight…everything that happened."
Samson took his meaning. It wasn't the words that had passed between him and Cassidy that Ty was concerned about, but the rest of it. Her soft moans. The growl of need that he hadn't been able to hold back.
Samson knew Ty couldn't help hearing it.
But that didn't make it his business.
"Since when do you care what happens on Friday nights?" Samson demanded.
"Since I heard you call Cassidy 'my woman'," Ty answered.
So that's what had made Ty so upset. He didn't care that Samson wanted to fuck Cassidy. Hell, Ty probably wouldn't care if Samson spent himself inside her on the damn pool table, as long as he didn't feel anything other than lust.
"Alphas don't claim betas," Ty continued. "It isn't natural. It's not right. You know that."
Ty was right. Samson did know…and he didn't give a shit.
He'd wanted Cassidy from the moment he laid eyes on her. That first trip, she'd been so nervous and so determined to prove her worth. He could still remember the intriguing mix of emotions rising off her skin.
Cassidy had done her best to hide in her professor's shadow, but it had been impossible. Everything about her burned too bright, from her copper hair pulled back so tightly it looked like it hurt to the lithe curves of her body she'd tried to cloak in a loose turtleneck sweater and baggy trousers.
Maybe that camouflage worked back in the beta world where the men were too shallow to even try to see past the surface, but Samson saw right through it. Even though she'd shown less skin than one of Nicky's girls in a snowstorm, Cassidy had stirred his cock before she'd even managed to pull off her gloves.
Now that he'd tasted her, Samson knew that he'd never let anything or anyone come between them.
Not even one of his closest alpha brothers.
"You done?" Samson asked, his voice deadly calm.
For a moment, it seemed as though Ty was going to continue arguing. Instead, he shook his head in disgust and stepped back.
"Good," Samson said, "Now it's my turn."
Pulling himself up to his full height, he took a step forward and looked down at his friend. Samson knew he was larger and stronger than any other alpha in their part of the Boundarylands, but he'd never been one to use those attributes to his advantage…until now.
"You don't like what’s between me and her? Okay. You think it's unnatural? Fine," he continued. "As long as you keep your mouth shut and your bullshit opinions to yourself, I don't give a damn what you think. But if I hear you say one more disparaging word about Cassidy, I'll make sure it's the last sound you ever make. We clear?"
Ty didn't answer, but his eyes narrowed, and the line of his mouth tightened.
Samson took that to mean they were finished here. There was nothing more to be said.
He started toward his car—toward Cassidy—refusing to look back.
Samson knew his words had created a rift between him and his friend—one that might never be bridged. Just like he knew this wasn't the end.
Far from it.
There were a whole lot of alphas out there who would see the situation the same way Ty did. Those who believed it was fine for an alpha to spend his Friday nights fucking one of Nicky's girls to the point of exhaustion just as long as it didn't mean anything.
For all Samson knew, he was probably alone in believing he had the right to want a beta woman who wanted him back. To take her to his home. To make her his.
His brain told him he was asking for trouble.
But every cell of his being told
