This passion was what had driven her to fight for her position and research opportunities. It was why she had made more trips to the same Boundaryland community than any other researcher besides Dr. Cheung.
It was why she was going again tonight.
"I just don't understand why you would willingly put yourself at risk," Ian said, trying another tack. "Do you get off on the danger?"
Cassidy had had enough.
"I don't know what you hope to gain by continuing to berate me," she said icily, suddenly sick to death of playing nice. "We're already over the boundary, in case you haven't noticed, and only a few miles from Evander's Bar. Nothing you say is going to change anything at this point."
Cassidy knew that wasn't entirely true. His words would continue to worm their way under her skin and piss her off. Which was probably exactly what Ian was hoping.
That he could throw her off her game right before she conducted her first solo research trip, and make her look like a fool—or worse, a failure.
"Apparently, I can't turn my conscience on and off like you can," Ian said. Somehow he managed to make it sound as though he was the injured party instead of a thorn in her side. "You've made some questionable life choices, but you're still a young and somewhat decent-looking girl. You could have gone into some other field. You should have picked nursing or teaching or something—then you could actually be useful until you found someone to marry."
Cassidy bit the inside of her cheek. She'd been hearing versions of this same crappy argument from her family, friends, peers, and acquaintances for the last four years now.
"I'm good at what I do," she couldn't stop herself from saying. "Damn good."
Better than you. Cassidy swallowed down that thought along with the rage that was bubbling up inside her.
There was nothing to gain by fighting with Ian. She'd learned that a long time ago.
Ian was right about one thing, though—Cassidy had always been something of an anomaly, drawn to the outdoors, unlike most betas who were most comfortable in the close quarters of urban settings.
"Okay," Ian said, though Cassidy knew he was nowhere near dropping the subject. "So explain to me why you fought so hard to make your first unsupervised research trip on a Friday, of all nights."
"Because I'm a sociologist about to document what no one else ever has," she said. "And if you don't understand the importance of such work, then you're not really a scientist, Ian."
Cassidy crossed her arms and leaned back in the faux-leather passenger seat. She was done; that was all the explanation she was going to give. She didn't owe the little prick anything else.
She had already presented her reasoning to the department, both formally and in casual conversations. She had done her best to educate her colleagues about the significance of Friday nights in Evander's Bar. That was when a local madam brought in a group of women from a brothel just over the boundary to service the alphas.
No sociologist had ever been in Evander's Bar on a Friday night. No one from the outside had studied or even witnessed the interactions between beta prostitutes and their alpha clients—not even Dr. Cheung. Cassidy would be breaking new ground.
Of course, she'd been subjected to a lot of disgusting "humor" and forced to defend herself against accusations that she was going there for salacious reasons. Cassidy planned to witness their social interactions. Not their sexual ones.
And she was the best researcher for the job.
Over the last sixteen months, Cassidy has successfully developed a handful of friendly relationships within the Boundaryland community, including with the omega mate of the alpha who owned and operated Evander's Bar.
It was this omega who had extended to Cassidy the invitation to come back on a Friday night. The omega—who'd faced her own trials before finding her alpha—hoped that Cassidy's work would help dispel some of the myths about alpha sexuality that were widespread in beta culture. She'd even offered to set up interviews with a few of the working girls and a couple of their frequent customers.
This was groundbreaking research.
Cassidy's groundbreaking research. She'd been the one to do all the legwork. She'd taken considerable time and effort to create the relationships. She alone had been brave enough to take those first steps.
Not Ian.
Cassidy felt a surge of relief as they rounded the curve in the road, and the old, weathered sign out front of Evander's came into view. She didn't wait for Ian to finish pulling the keys out of the ignition before throwing her door open and starting toward the massive door.
She drew a few stares from the men relaxing on rough-hewn chairs on the porch as she marched up the wooden steps. She had met some of the alphas before, but others were new faces. There were a few grunts of greeting, and none of them said or did anything to make her uneasy. However, even though she'd been to this bar over a half-dozen times now, she still hadn't mastered the jitters that seized her every time she walked inside.
Her hands still tingled. The fine hairs on the back of her arms and the nape of her neck still stood on end. The pit of her stomach still dropped.
There was no help for it.
No matter how many times Cassidy found herself in the presence of alphas, she couldn't help but feel like an outsider.
A small, weak, fragile outsider.
Maybe all betas felt that way. Perhaps they couldn't help it. It was probably a hormonal reaction. A survival response. A reminder to keep her head down and her movements and reactions submissive.
The sound of Ian's footsteps behind her was all the motivation she needed to keep going and push past the unease. She shoved as hard as she could against the heavy door and slipped inside.
Wow.
Cassidy was greeted by the sound of
