Free Sunshine's Kiss by Stormy Glenn

need you to stay here with Jake.”
    “Why?” Sam frowned as he watched the other brothers get up and start toward the front of the house, all except Jake, the youngest McCaffrey brother. He stood but stayed in the room. Sam could tell the man was on guard by the way his shoulders tensed. “What’s going on, Jesse?”
    “We don’t know who is here to see you, and—”
    “Jesse, I didn’t tell anyone I was coming to the ranch. I cleaned out my apartment, my bank account, bought a car, and just started driving. I didn’t even wait for my checkup with the doctor. I just left. No one knows I am here.”
    “Someone does, and that’s why I want you to stay inside.”
    “But—”
    “Please, Sam.”
    Sam didn’t like it, but he nodded his agreement anyway. He had the impression that Jesse was just going to do what he wanted regardless. Besides, Jesse had said please . Of course, that didn’t mean Sam wasn’t going to watch what was going on. The fear of letting Jesse out of his sight made it almost too hard to breathe.
    Sam waited about two second after Jesse walked out of the room before he followed him. He wasn’t planning on going outside necessarily, but he wanted to know who was there to see him. He had a sinking suspicion he already knew.
    Desmond Kent.
    Sam watched Jesse walk out the front door and shut it behind him, and then hurried over to peek out one of the front windows. Damn . He had really been hoping he was wrong. He wasn’t. Sam’s ex-boyfriend and two men stood at the bottom of the steps arguing with Jesse. Sam recognized the men but didn’t know their names. They hung out around Desmond.
    And Desmond was really pissed. Sam only remembered one other time he had seen that level of anger on Desmond’s face, and it was the night the man beat him so bad he had to go to the hospital. Sam had been terrified then, but it was nothing compared to the fear he was feeling now that Desmond’s anger was aimed at Jesse.
    He couldn’t let Jesse be hurt, not because of him, and he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Desmond wasn’t here for him. There was no other reason on Earth for the man to travel to the wilds of Montana.
    A quick glance toward the dining room showed Sam that Jake was busy talking to his mother. That meant the man wasn’t watching him. Sam used the opportunity to open the front door and slip out.
    He knew his little escape had been noticed when he saw Jesse’s posture stiffen. What surprised Sam was when Jesse’s three brothers closed around him, putting him in a bubble of protection. As massive as the men were, Sam was barely able to see between the men standing around him.
    Once he got a look at Desmond’s face, Sam wasn’t so sure that coming outside was one of his more brilliant ideas, but leaving Jesse out here to deal with Sam’s problem wasn’t an option either. He had just gotten back to town and look at what chaos he had brought to the ranch he loved.
    “Samuel, come down here right now!” Desmond snapped the order loudly, making every man standing beside Sam growl. Desmond didn’t seem fazed by this one little bit. Neither did the two men standing with him. Desmond was too busy glowering at Sam, or what he could see of Sam. And the two strangers were just puffing out their chests as if that made them seem bigger.
    It did, but Sam wasn’t going to admit that.
    “Talk to him like that again, and I’ll rip your throat out where you stand.” Jesse’s tone was cold, solid, and brooked no argument. Sam was even afraid now. He’d never heard Jesse speak like that before. Not even when the man was pissed at him.
    “Samuel is mine. Your alpha status holds no weight with me. I had him first, and it is my right to retrieve him.”
    Alpha status?
    Right to retrieve him?
    Sam was so lost that he felt like he was going to scream. He knew he didn’t want to know anything about Lycan until he could sort out what he already knew in his head, but it seemed every time he