"You're making a mistake," Ty called out as Samson threw open the driver's side door.
"It's mine to make."
* * *
Cassidy didn't look at Samson when he climbed into the truck and slammed the door. She could tell how he was feeling without seeing his face. Frustration and anger poured off him in waves.
She heard him jam his key in the ignition, but he didn't turn it. After a second of tense silence, she glanced over to see him staring straight ahead, his massive jaw set and his hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel.
Cassidy didn't need alpha-level hearing to catch what had passed between Samson and Ty. Their voices had been loud enough to hear through the car windows. She'd caught every word, and for a moment, she had been afraid the argument would come to blows.
Cassidy didn't want to provoke Samson in this state, but she didn't want to be the biggest mistake of his life either. She refused to be the reason that the two friends were torn apart.
If he wouldn't listen to Ty, maybe he would listen to her.
Unlikely—but still, she had to try.
"Ty is right," she said, her voice tentative. "You shouldn't call me your woman. Not even as a joke. You know nothing can happen between…an alpha and a beta."
She had almost said between us. But no matter how much she wanted there to be an us, saying the words out loud felt like a dangerous indulgence.
A growl started deep in Samson's throat and reverberated through the cab of the truck. "I'm getting really tired of everyone telling me what I know."
Samson turned the key and revved the engine before heading out on the road. For the first time, Cassidy found herself leaving neutral territory and traveling deeper into the Boundarylands.
She rested her forehead against the cool glass of the passenger window, watching the shadows of towering trees whipping past. Starlight dappled the patches of sky between the gaps in the canopy.
There weren't many of her kind who had ever seen this place. Beta society had long ago ceded the natural world to the alphas. Instead, they lived in densely packed cities and only slightly more spread out suburbs. They believed in safety in numbers and trusted in the security of computers and steel.
There was none of that out here. The most technologically advanced thing for miles was the truck she was riding in now, and it had to be at least fifteen years old.
Maybe more, going by the dings and scuffs that peppered it inside and out.
"Can I ask you a question?" Cassidy said when the silence had grown too heavy.
"Again, have I ever told you no?"
"Why are you taking me home?"
Samson turned his head slightly and gave her a look that revealed the gold flecks glowing in his eyes. "I think you already know the answer to that."
"Sex is one thing," Cassidy said, shaking her head. "If that's all you wanted, we could have found a spot off the road near Evander's like all the others. Allowing me on your property is...unprecedented."
The lines around Samson’s eyes tightened as he focused on the road ahead. "While you're in the Boundarylands, I want you safe with me."
God help her, that's all she wanted too.
He made it sound so simple…but it wasn't.
Still, a part of her couldn't help wondering what it would be like to be with Samson. Really be with him, and not just for one wild fuck that would ruin her for every beta guy who came afterward.
Cassidy's mind gave in, and, for a second, she imagined what it would be like to be Samson's mate. His wife. To love and be loved by him. To stay with him always, protected…safe…cherished.
No. Cassidy shook her head, her face burning in shame.
Samson glanced over at her, his expression unreadable, and she turned her head and stared back out the window.
She couldn't think that way. She couldn't allow herself to pretend for even a moment. She'd drive herself crazy, dreaming the impossible.
Nature didn't work that way. Alpha law didn't work that way.
Alphas mated with omegas, and betas mated with betas. That's how it had always been and how it would always be.
And the sooner Cassidy accepted that fact, the better.
Chapter Six
The scent of Cassidy's want and shame filled the cab of Samson's truck. By the time he pulled off the road and onto the dirt path that led to his front door, the conflicting mix was overwhelming.
She might be confused about what she was feeling…but Samson was not.
Need, desire, want—not just for his touch or simple sexual pleasure, but for something deeper and more profound—that's what Cassidy ached for…and what she was afraid of.
But as they traveled farther up the drive, a new emotion emerged, brighter and stronger than all the others.
Curiosity.
This was nothing new. The gorgeous beta woman sitting beside him was always humming with a need to know more. He'd noticed it in the air around her the first day she'd walked into the bar. It had been the only emotion that had been stronger than fear.
Curiosity and a love of learning were as central to who Cassidy was as pride and independence were to Samson.
The light in her eyes when she discovered something new was one of the things that drew him to her. The way her brow furrowed when she was trying to understand some new fact or resolve a puzzling inconsistency.
He remembered the time he'd caught her chewing on her pencil, the point of her pink tongue darting out, as she read her notes. That sight alone had helped him get off for two full weeks after.
By the time Samson hit the brakes in front of his house, her curiosity had pushed every other emotion to the side. She was practically buzzing with it.
She didn't even wait for his permission to leave the truck. She'd jumped down to the ground and was halfway to the porch before realizing she'd left him behind.
The second she realized
