After taking a job for the Shifter Protection Agency, Emily Jackson finds herself stepping into a laboratory to protect a brilliant science professor. Even though Axel Snell is scorching hot, he’s just a fragile human who she could break in the throes of passion. Besides, she’s already got her hands full protecting him from would-be assassins. Still, her lioness insist he’s her mate. Great way to start a new job.

Axel can’t believe the twisted turn his life has taken. First, he’s being targeted for wanting to create a cure for diseases. Then, the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen is assigned to protect him. Just as he makes a note to himself to check the fraternization policy, everything changes for him—permanently and irreversibly. And now Emily is no longer off-limits. Now, she’s his.

Emily wanted a job she could sink her teeth into, and Axel wanted to be part of changing the future of mankind. With danger at every turn and their romance just blooming, have they both bitten off more than they can chew?

Chapter 1: Emily

“That’s more like it!” Emily pressed her foot hard on the gas, still getting used to the new car she had picked up only a few days ago—sporty, sexy, and with a fuel injection engine that growled just the way she did.

Lately, her life hadn’t been turning out the way she’d hoped it would, and she’d been left in a constant state of uncertainty. There were only two things she was still absolutely sure of, running free in her lion form was the best feeling in the world, and her new car was a really close second.

As the engine roared, so did Emily, feeling the deep rumble of her animal in her chest. It was about time she had some fun.

She opened the window and let the rushing wind play with her long strawberry-blond hair and the late afternoon sun kiss her skin. The open road was somewhere where she could at least find some sort of a rush, and God knew she needed it.

An alpha lioness wasn’t supposed to live life feeling lost, like nothing she did worked out. She wasn’t supposed to doubt herself, to feel like she couldn’t trust herself to make the best decisions about what she should be doing with her life. 

Emily had always believed her place would be in law enforcement. She’d even passed through the academy as one of the top cadets. But in the end, instead of entering a career she thought she was meant to be in, the academy had taught her that things weren’t always as great as they seemed. Even though she was good at something, it didn’t mean it was a good fit for her.

She smiled, pushing away the regret and disappointment that plagued her from that time, and she picked up even more speed, the feel of the wheel beneath her fingers powerful and responsive. She didn’t need to focus on the past because now she had a beautiful new motorized beast to drive and a brand-new job. Things were finally looking up for her.

Her former police academy roommate, Meghan Bennett, had contacted her, letting Emily know she was starting a new shifter protection team. What’s more, Meghan wanted Emily to be the very first person on her team. That fact had given Emily a special little ego boost that had her immediately quitting her security job at the nuclear plant and heading straight toward her new assignment.

Emily glanced down at her GPS. She should be on the university campus in about ten minutes—at a little after five. She selected a playlist on her phone and turned up the volume. Sometimes driving a fast car on an open road with the windows down and some throwback tunes blasting was the best way to get pumped for the day.

She had prepared all she could for the meeting with a potential new client at the local university. It wasn’t necessarily where she was expecting to be heading on her first job, but Meghan had promised Emily that it would be worthwhile. They needed the best to protect a lab full of science students who had been targeted recently.

The students involved were biochemists, all working on a project that focused on looking into a cure for anthrax. Pretty impressive, she had thought. The kids were all younger than her, after all. Except for the person in charge of the laboratory, Professor Axel Snell, thirty-two years old and head of the department.

Emily had smiled while listening to the brief. Protecting geeks would now go down on her resume, she’d thought. Then she’d felt a slight pang of guilt. This guy might be a nerd, but he was actually using his skills and knowledge to better humanity.

Axel Snell had been receiving anonymous death threats, which was enough for Texas Ranger Matthew Reid to contact Nick and Meghan about getting their shifter protectors out there. The students needed a bodyguard, and that person was to be Emily. It was a job that Meghan thought she would be up to. Emily just hoped it would prove to be something she could sink her teeth into.

Pulling onto the campus, Emily approached the security booth where the guy on duty gave her a pass and directed her to a parking bay. She did a quick mental check of everything she needed—file, laptop, weapon…lipstick.

She wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans; she didn’t want to stand out too much. Checking herself in the mirror, she applied a quick slick of neutral, but sexy, lipstick and tidied her now windswept hair.

Seeing the students hanging about made her feel older than her twenty-six years. In a way, she missed the freedom that came with being so young and carefree. A time when all she had to do was dream about what the future held.

She wondered if the students that sprawled on the well-kept lawns—drinking coffee, chatting, or studying—all had the same hazy-eyed ideas that she once did only a few years ago. Like the world was their oyster that would spit out pearls without them even having to ask for them.

Emily flashed her visitor’s pass at the receptionist as she entered the door of the main building. “I’m here to meet with Professor Axel Snell,” she said.

“Of course,” the receptionist said, flashing Emily a smile. She was young and athletic looking, and Emily could tell instantly she was a shifter. They exchanged a knowing glance while the woman made the internal call. “Welcome. He’s waiting for you at the lab. You can head on down there. Go through these double doors, and it’s signposted all the way through to the biosciences labs. This pass will give you access.”

Emily smiled. “Thanks. Appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome,” the receptionist said, handing her the pass. Emily heard the low growl in her voice, something only a shifter would recognize. It was a way of greeting each other—something that said we’re the same.

Shifters weren’t a hidden secret, but they didn’t exactly go out of their way to remind humans of their existence. Most non-shifters found it easier just to ignore the truth about shifters, and in some places—like small Texas towns—it felt like shifters didn’t even exist at all. Fine by Emily. The less trouble she ran into, the better. Didn’t mean shifters had to live in isolation, though. Being with other of their kind was always reassuring.

Emily took the pass from the receptionist and made her way to the labs. The place was like a rabbit warren, sprawling corridors and doors marked “Staff Only,” but she followed the signs that eventually guided her to the laboratory, which had its own small reception area.

“Professor Axel Snell please,” Emily said, holding up her pass.

“Do you have an appointment?” A young man stood behind the desk, dressed in a white lab coat.

“Yes, I’m Emily Jackson. He’s expecting me at one-thirty.”

The boy looked up at the clock and then back at her. Jeez, this guy is all about the fun. It made her wonder what she was getting herself into, hoping these lab types weren’t all sticks-in-the-mud.

“Just through here,” he said, stepping out from behind the desk and taking off down the wide corridor. After slipping in his pass, he keyed a code into the keypad a few doors down. He opened the door and urged Emily in.

The room was smaller than she imagined, given the size of the campus. She looked around at the workstations, noting all the white-as-snow devices. A sterile buzz filled the room, giving the whole room a futuristic, science fiction, dystopian feel.

Emily heard a door open, and her body instantly reacted to the person who stepped into the room.

“Professor Snell, Emily Jackson for you,” the boy from reception said, his voice cool and indifferent. He gestured to Emily and then walked away.

The professor had stopped to clean a spot of his glasses, giving Emily a moment to look him over—and struggled to compose herself.

Her usual calm, confident demeanor escaped her as her eyes widened in shock.

Though Axel Snell looked every bit the stereotypical geek—like she’d expected—Emily had never known someone could look so absolutely, deliciously sexy. He was taller than her, probably around six feet, with dark brown hair parted to the side with every strand neatly in place, likely slicked down with some drugstore brand hair gel. He wore a stuffy tan polo shirt with the white undershirt visible around the collar, and he wore ironed—ironed?! —beige pants with pleats—pleats?! —in the front.

Emily couldn’t recall ever seeing a man wearing such crisp pleated, beige pants before. She would have probably made fun of him if not for the fact that her palms itched to rip them off him so she could get her hands on what hid beneath.

This man is just begging to be ruffled up, and I’m just the lioness to help him with that.

Emily shook her head, scolding herself. Girl, what are you doing? Stop looking at his junk. Focus on the eyes! 

His eyes—he’d just replaced the thick frames over his soulful brown eyes, and he instantly captured her gaze.

She was locked there. Stuck frozen while staring at him, but not because of his eyes as much as his scent.

Underneath the cheap hair gel and bar soap, he smelled of—perfection. She couldn’t place what it was, only bask in it. Experience it washing over and into her, surrounding her.

Possessing her.

If she could match a word to the sensation, it would be— fresh—like the morning breeze and ozone, or a pristine mountain spring full of water that she would quite happily drink from and bathe in, sprinkling it over every inch of her naked body. 

The feeling was so strong it bowled her over.

She’d never experienced something like that before…

Because she had never met her mate before. 

What the actual…

It couldn’t be happening—not here! Not now!

Not with a fragile human geek!

“Miss Jackson,” Axel said, clearing his throat. “It’s—nice to—meet you.” 

He stumbled over his words, and his face colored as he stretched out a hand to her. 

She gladly took hold of it, wanting to capture it—him!—and never let go.

“Professor Snell,” Emily said, barely able to stifle a possessive growl, her lioness wanting to emerge and claim her man. “It’s good to meet you too. As you probably know, I’ve been sent here from the protection agency.”

“Yes…” he said hesitantly. He finally broke eye contact and looked away from her, his face growing more crimson with each passing second. Something about his shyness, and the awkwardness he displayed, drew her in further.

“Not what you were expecting?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

He was like a deer caught in the headlights now. “Something like that,” he said, offering her an awkward smile.

Samesies.

“So, maybe you could tell me a bit about your work and what’s been happening,” she said, trying to make him more comfortable. After all, she was on his territory, though she wouldn’t have thought it with the way he was acting.

“Sure,” he said, “I’ll show you around. If I could just ask you to wash your hands—no offense, but we like to keep this as sterile an environment as we can.”

“You’re telling me,” she said, looking around at the gleaming cabinets. He showed her to the sink and handed her a lab coat which she shrugged on over her jeans and t-shirt. She noticed the way he looked at her as she buttoned it, his eyes soaking her up.

Then he showed her around, and she tried her best to focus on what he said, but it was no use. All she wanted was to breathe him in and run her hands under his lab coat. She had never expected to find her fated mate, let alone in a place like this.

But how did this work with humans? He was a scientist—how would he even react to her being a shifter? And he certainly wasn’t what she expected for a mate. She’d figured her mate would be an alpha—someone strong enough to handle her physically, mentally, and emotionally.

She could probably eat Axel Snell alive.

She could hardly believe what was happening. Her new job, her first client, and fate’s dark sense of humor showing up to mess with it all.