Someone had talked about what happened at the hospital yesterday, and my brothers found out, which meant my parents had found out. After snapping at the other male for touching Reid, Doctor Connell sent me home. He also asked me to stay home the next day, just to be on the safe side. It embarrassed me that my parents had found out about my behaviour. 

“Samuel, When were you going to tell us you were seeing Reid Clarke, your hospital’s CEO?” My father said, crossing his arms, disappointment on his face. 

“I wasn’t. I never intended for there to be anything between us.” I muttered. 

“Oh, really? Then why the hell did you act like that in front of his coworkers and—---”

“He is mine! I started pheromone bonding with him and that male had his—” My beta brother, Bay elbowed me in the side of the ribs, hard. “-Fuck!”

“Sam, We raised you better than that. He is a human being, not a belonging.” My mother said, raising her voice at me.

“I’ve had enough of this. I’m going home. Also, Alec, the next time you hear shit about me, mind your fucking business. Or else.” I snapped, getting up from the kitchen table at my parents and leaving. Bay followed right behind me, every step of the way. 

“Sam, please don’t leave like this. I understand you’re feeling cornered right now, but we are just trying to understand what happened. Besides, if you leave now, Alec will have reached out to Reid Clarke for nothing.”

“Excuse me?” I said and turned to look at him. “Alec did what?”

“Alec reached out to Reid to find out—--”

“I’m going to kill him!”

Shoving past Bay, I went back into the kitchen and dove at Alec, taking our new fight to the floor. “Why can you just mind your fucking business? Fuck you Alec!”

“What the fuck are you attacking me for?”

“How dare you reach out to Reid Clarke, my fucking boss!” I snarled, rolling around on the carpet, nearly into the table leg of the dining table. 

Alec pinned me to the floor, but not for very long. I drove my knee into his nuts. He groaned and rolled off me. 

“Are you done?” our father said, crossing his arms, his foot tapping on the floor in annoyance. 

“He stuck his nose is my business!”

“I only invited Reid to a family dinner!” he yelled, holding his nuts. 

“You had no right to.” I screamed, kicking him in the thigh lightly. 

“After you professed he was your Alpha, publicly, I figured mom and dad better know, and not find out from one of their friends.” Alec hissed. 

“It wasn’t anyone’s business but mine!” 

“You’re still so damn selfish, Sam! Are you sure you’re not one of us Alpha’s you hate so much?” Alec yelled back at me, and before things could be much worse, and far more hands on. Bay brought Reid into the house and into the dining room. 

“I apologize for being late. I had to find a gift worth bringing.” Reid said, before he noticed Alec and me on the ground. 

“Ignore them. Please sit down.” Bay said and took the bag from Reid, and pointed to a chair for him. 

I kicked Alec once more, and was going to do it again, but Reid’s scent wrapped around me. “Surely at your age, I don’t need to remind you about keeping your hands to yourself, Samuel,” he said, his hand resting on the back of my neck and sending shivers down my spine. 

Standing up, I adjusted my clothing and sat down in my chair. Beside Reid. His hand rested on my knee. My mother smiled at Reid like she hadn’t been on board with being disappointed in me moments ago. 

Reid leaned over, pressing his lips against my ear as he spoke. “After dinner with your parents, we have some things we need to talk about.”

My stomach turned, and I felt nervous about that talk. Pushing that feeling down, I picked at my dinner when it was served. 

“Sam?”

I looked up at my mother, and she smiled softly at me. “Stop picking at your dinner and eat some more.”

“Ok.”

Every extra bite felt heavy and like lead in my stomach. I forced a smile back and gulped down my food, determined to get through this dinner. I could feel my mother’s eyes on me, watching my every move. I took a deep breath, ready to face whatever was coming next.

“Thank you for coming for dinner, Mr Clarke. I wish we would have met under better circumstances, not because of Samuel’s unacceptable behaviour,” My father said politely and my mother frowned. 

“Please, call me Reid, and allow me to speak for Samuel. His behaviour did not offend me, rather confused me, but I would not say it was inappropriate behaviour. To be quite fair, the male in question had his hand on my arm romantically, and Samuel was well within his rights to call out the behaviour. Though there might have been nicer ways to say it.”

“I shouldn’t have had to say it all. My scent is all over you. They ignored it. Plain and simple.” I sighed, feeling frustrated. It tempted me to say something more, but I held my tongue. Instead, I finished my glass of water and stood up to leave.

“Samuel, are you done with dinner?” Bay asked, concern on his face. 

“I feel sick. And all this isn’t helping.”

Reid stood up and grabbed both of our plates. “Let me wash these and I’ll take you home, Sam.”

I didn’t bother to argue with him. He said he wanted to talk after dinner, and I owed him that much after embarrassing him. I watched him wash the dishes. He took his time and washed every single inch, front and back. He dried his hands and looked at me after setting the hand towel back over the oven handle. 

“Are you ready to go home?”

“Yes.”

“Let me thank your parents and brothers for dinner, then we can leave.”

Reid went back to the dining room, and I could hear him speaking to my father and brothers. My mother came into the kitchen. “Sam. Tell me what’s going on?”

“Going on? You heard what—--”

“Not this, Samuel. You looked stressed. I’ve never seen you pick at your food. Are you unwell?” My mother said, a frown on her face. 

“No. I’m not unwell. I just have a lot on my plate right now, and this is the last thing I wanted.”

“You would tell me if something was going on with you, right, Sam?”

“Of course I would. You’re my mother.”

She pulled me into a hug and whispered in my ear. “If you’ve rutted with him, Sam, take a test.” She pulled back the moment Reid came into the room, and I wanted to bring it up with her. But I didn’t. One thing was for sure, I was sick of people telling me to take the damn test. 

“Sam. Do as I’ve asked you.” She sighed. “It won’t hurt to.”

“I’ll think about it.” I muttered. 

I followed Reid out to his car and couldn’t help but feel like this had been the plan the whole time. Bay comes and gets me, knowing that someone would have to take me home, and that someone would be Reid.  

He opened the door for me, and I slid inside. We were silent the whole way to my house. I could feel him staring at me, but I didn’t meet his gaze. He parked and turned off his car. 

“You could have taken me to your place.” I muttered softly. 

“I still can, if that’s where you’d rather be, Samuel.” Reid said, his eyes burning holes into mine. “Or you can stay here. That’s your choice. Wherever we end up, we need to talk.”

“Let’s go to your place. I don’t care whether it’s your condo or your house.” I muttered and looked out the window. He turned the car back on and was back out on the road. The closer we got to his house, on his family’s property, the more I felt ill again. He pulled into the drive and up to his house. He parked the car and got out of the driver’s side. I slowly followed behind him. I heard him lock the car, and he unlocked the front door of the house. He shut the door behind us and relocked it. 

“Reid, I owe you—--What are you doing?” I asked, as he was unbuttoning his dress shirt. 

“I’m getting comfortable, Sam. I suggest you do the same.”

“Is this talk going to be that bad?” I said, laughing lightly even though my dinner was trying to find the quickest exit out of me.

“Who knows?” Reid said as he started making his way to the stairs. “Come along, unless you plan to sleep on the couch, Samuel.” 

I followed Reid up the stairs, my heart racing. I did not know what he was going to say, and I was terrified to find out. In the bedroom, he stepped into the closet and got changed. When he stepped out again, he was just in pyjama bottoms, and his chest was bare. “Would you like me to find you something to wear for the night?”

“That’s alright, I can sleep in my sweatpants and t-shirt.” I muttered, looking away from him, not trying to let my eyes linger on his bare parts. 

“About what happened on the HR and office floor—---”

I cut him off. “Reid, I really am sorry. Honestly, I don’t know what came over me, and I shouldn’t have done that. But I hated the way he was touching you while my scent was all over your skin. I couldn’t stop myself. Not after the conversation we had before and then, I’m just sorry, ok.”

“What I want from you, Samuel, is an answer. Not that you’re sorry, not that you couldn’t stop yourself. Are you going to take proper responsibility for scent marking me, Samuel Woods? Or are you going to again say this isn’t something you want?”

“Yes.”

“Yes what, Samuel?” Reid said, his pheromones flooding the room, and calming me, with every breath I took.

“I will take proper responsibility.”