Alpha Geek Fox

A bat shifter working to overcome the ghosts of her past, and an Alpha Geek who’s discovered a terrorist plot, team up to save the world.

Fox Redman, a billionaire game designer, discovers a terrorist using his game as a means for mass destruction in real life. When he goes to the FBI, Fox sits at the top of the hit list. Who’s he gonna call? Nick, of course, which gets him the most beautiful bodyguard ever.

Bat shifter Vella Marlowe has a past worse than Dracula’s. So when her mate walks into Nick’s office, she’s not sure if she can take his rejection. Asked to be his bodyguard, she can’t help but want to curl up with his big bear body. If only she could focus on the job and not how cute he is.

This time, though, Fox’s transformation into an alpha isn’t enough to stop a monster bigger than he is. A monster determined to rid the world of a particular bat and bear shifter. If Fox can’t save his batgirl, he’s going to be a bear to live with.

Chapter 1

Vella

Vella smirked to herself when a fist swung by her face, barely missing her jaw and leaving the gust of wind in its wake. She quickly smacked the arm away from her and sidestepped her opponent, toeing the line toward the edge of the ring.

Normally, Vella wasn’t one to dip and dodge around while sparring, preferring to get right in there and hit with the one-two-knockout before anyone had a chance to realize they were face down on the mat.

But there was something about egging on her opponent, Juliet, that made it worth it to step out of her comfort zone just this once. Juliet was the type of sparring partner who got frustrated at the lack of action, much like Vella herself did out in the field, and reacted accordingly.

They’d been going at it like this for well over half an hour, dodging and throwing blows back and forth while gathering the attention of the other trainees in the training center along with their instructor, Meghan.

A crowd had soon formed around their training mat, giving Vella that little push of adrenaline to grab Juliet by the arm and throw her onto the mat amidst the crowd of onlookers.

She had to admit to herself that it had been her attempt to show off a little. It wasn’t every day that someone willingly decided to partner up with her and still took the beating without any kind of whining afterward. 

Fortunately for both of them, Juliet hadn’t given up so easily. Which only fueled the fire burning in Vella’s chest, feeding a dark part of her that wanted to fight until both of them were left bleeding on the floor, exhausted.

Tumbling to the floor after another failed blow to her face, Vella crouched and swept her leg out to knock Juliet’s feet out from under her. The shifter let out a hard grunt, tumbling to the mat in a heap that had Vella barking out a laugh.

This is too good.

Juliet slowly rolled onto her hands and knees, wheezing a little bit.

“You’re still not done?”

Juliet simply looked at her and gave her a look.

“Wow,” Vella straightened up. “You sure are stubborn.”

As Juliet stood, she swiped a hand across her forehead.

“Let’s take this up a notch.”

Before Vella could raise an eyebrow at her, she shifted into a bobcat and dove at Vella’s torso with her claws outstretched.

Oh, hell no.

Quickly shifting, Vella launched toward the ceiling, barely missing Juliet’s bared claws swiping through the delicate membrane of her wings. Landing on one of the rafters near the ceiling, her ears picked up the low growls that rumbled out of Juliet.

“All right, you two.” Vella’s ears twitched, hearing Meghan’s feet shuffle onto the mats. “That’s enough. Pack it up.”

There was one thing that was advantageous about being a bat shifter beside the echolocation in dark places. Given her size, it gave her the unique advantage of surprise attacking her opponent when they least expected it.

“Vella,” Meghan called to her. “Come on. Let’s shake hands and move on for the day.”

She stretched out her wings, flexing them.

Well, that’s not happening. I’m getting my win.

Swooping down without another thought, Vella let out a screech. Vibrations hit from all around her, letting her pinpoint the precise location of where Juliet was currently lounging on the mat next to Meghan’s feet.

She torqued her body, outstretching her claws and swiped at the bobcat’s head. She let out a shriek when Vella nicked her on the ear, pulling her back down onto the mat before flying back up toward the rafters.

Gotcha!

The bobcat hissed and rolled back onto her feet, letting out a deep growl.

“Vella!” Meghan called. “That’s enough! Get down here!”

Ignoring her once again, Vella swooped toward Juliet. What she didn’t count on, however, was Juliet’s quick cat-like reflexes and ability to snag her claw into Vella’s wing and drag her back down from the sky.

Vella felt her small body hit the mat hard, knocking the wind right out of her. She felt her body shift again, trying to recoup from the sudden hard hit that Juliet had inflicted on her. She stared up at the ceiling, the lights spinning.

Juliet shifted as well with a laugh. “What was that about taking a beating? What you forget is that just because your wings are bulletproof doesn’t mean they’re claw-proof.”

The rest of the trainees laughed around the mat, encasing her in their ridicule. Vella felt her face flush in embarrassment.

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

“Go clean up,” Meghan instructed. “Both of you.”

Juliet laughed again. “Might want to grab a shovel or something to peel her off the mat.”

There was another round of laughter. It made Vella see red.

She kicked herself up from the mat and fisted her hands at her sides. She could feel the entire training center’s eyes on her, most of them still snickering with each other about her humiliating loss.

Ever since Nick had brought her here, she knew they all wanted a piece of her, a chance to give her what they all thought she had coming to her. The second they’d caught wind that she used to be a fledgling under Donovan Stillwell’s wing, it was like a target had been placed on her back.

She was tired of always feeling like she was never good at anything. Even her time with Donovan had been spent constantly trying to win him over. It exhausted her then, and it exhausted her now.

Juliet smirked at her from across the mat, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder and pulling the thin robe that Meghan had handed her over her naked body.

It made Vella pissed.

Two can play at that game.

She bared her fangs. “You think that’s funny, bitch?”

She watched Juliet’s eyes widen, making the dark part of her fill with glee. Rushing across the mat, Vella collided with Juliet’s body, pulling them onto the mats with a hard landing. Juliet let out a surprised gasp, the air leaving her body with a sudden woosh.

She bared her fangs again, grabbing Juliet’s arm in a hard grip and pinning it to the mat.

“What you forget,” Vella mocked. “Is that necks aren’t bite-proof.”

Juliet let out a scream.

A set of arms wrapped around Vella’s waist, hauling her off of Juliet almost immediately and pinning her with a surprising amount of strength against the floor. Her arms were twisted at an awkward angle behind her back, making it impossible for Vella to wiggle her way out of it.

“Everyone out,” Meghan’s voice boomed.

There were dozens of trainees quick shuffling, the training center clearing out at a rapid pace. Probably because they figured that once Meghan let her lose, she’d go berserk on all of that.

Which was laughable, really. She had way more self-control than that. Not to mention that none of those assholes were even worth it in the first place.

Once the last of the trainees skittered out through the doors, Meghan sighed and lifted herself off Vella, giving her enough room to roll over and breathe.

“You really need to be more careful about your anger, Vella. I know it’s frustrating to lose, but you can’t let yourself get that upset over it.”

That made Vella want to roll her eyes.

Sitting up slowly, she eyed her trainer. “I’m not mad I lost. I’m mad they all thought it was hysterical.”

“I think you’re taking it too much to heart.”

And you’re not looking deep enough, she wanted to say back.

“Whatever” was what came out of her mouth instead.

She stood, brushing herself off.

“I’m serious,” Meghan continued. “You’re a great trainee. No need to get caught up in everyone’s opinions of you.”

That was easy for her to say; everyone liked Meghan. They weren’t scared of Meghan the way they were of Vella. Everyone around here acted like Vella was a ghost haunting the halls. Scaring the shit out of anyone who dared cross her path.

It was bizarre as much as it was annoying.

“Sure, yeah. I’ll remember that.”

Meghan let out another sigh. “Go get cleaned up and head back to your room for the night.”

She didn’t bother wasting any more energy trying to explain herself, especially to someone like Meghan, who would never get it. It wasn’t like Meghan was ever an outcast. Not in the way Vella was.

Collecting her discarded clothing, she headed off for the changing room and took a long hot shower, wiping away the anger she’d felt and letting it simmer into a dull-grade level of annoyance.

She could deal with being annoyed. That was the state she was usually in any way.

Once toweled off and dressed, Vella headed to her room. The agency was weirdly quiet this time of day, but it was the time she felt the most at peace.

Normally the agency was jam-packed with people coming and going to the point where it overstimulated Vella enough to make her want to permanently shove her fingers into her ears.

But now, she could freely walk the halls without running into anyone.

She headed down toward the offices, not far from where her room was located. It was the long way to get there, but she needed the extra walking to shave off the excess energy she hadn’t gotten to when sparring with her partner.

Fuck Juliet.

Muffled voices caught her attention, making her slow her pace and press herself against the wall. Normally she wasn’t this nosey, but Nick rarely closed his door, so whatever was going on in there had to be interesting, giving her enough of a distraction to focus on.

Vella pressed her ear to the door. Even with her excellent hearing, she couldn’t make out anything that didn’t sound like someone talking inside of a tin can. She sighed and looked around the top of the door, spotting an air duct.

Bingo.

Shifting, she flew up to it and pried it open with her claws. The opening was just big enough for her small body to squeeze through. Her small feet made little padding sounds as she moved through the duct to where it opened into Nick’s office.

She spotted a man, tall and lanky, pacing around the office while Nick leaned against his desk, his arms crossed over his chest while a pensive look drew over his face. To the side of them, she could see Special Agent Carradine’s new Italian loafers.

“I’m telling you, Nick,” the man said, “I think they used my game as a test site.”

“But why would anyone do that?”

The man stopped to wave his arms in the air. “I don’t know! But you can’t tell me it’s not a coincidence that the same exact scenario that happened in my game happened in real life only twelve hours later.”

“I do agree. That is strange.”

“You need to help me. Give me someone who can make sure I’m safe while I figure all of this out.”

Nick sighed. “Fox … look …”

Vella felt her heart skip a beat. Maybe this was her chance. She could finally get out in the field and show this entire agency that she wasn’t one to mess with. She’d been dying for an assignment, and this one seemed like an absolute no-brainer.

How hard can it be protecting this guy? He looks like his workout regime is lifting paperweights.

Vella pushed her body against the air duct, letting it swing open. The motion caught the room’s attention, all of them turning to look up at where the vent was. She swooped down to Nick’s desk.

“Oh fuck!” Agent Carradine yelled and ducked behind Nick’s desk, taking cover on the floor.

“What the he …” Nick leaned away from his desk. “Carradine, get the hell up.”

The other guy waved his arms around in the air, swatting them at her. It made her want to roll her eyes. Grown men scared of a tiny bat. What had this world actually come to?

She landed on Nick’s desk and propped herself up while pulling her wings around her. The man turned and blinked down at her.

“Uh … Nick, you got a …”

“Careful!”

Both Vella and the man jumped.

“She bites.”

Is he actually serious right now?

Good god, was everyone obsessed with her biting them? Talk about a low-ball effort with stereotyping.

The man laughed. “I think it’s kind of cute.”

What?

“What?!” Carradine slowly extracted himself from behind Nick’s chair, his face red from the sudden exertion. “Are you kidding? She’s dangerous?”

“Who, this little one?”

There was a soft finger placed on Vella’s head, stroking down her tuff of hair in small strokes. The gesture practically made her shiver. Involuntarily, her eyes closed. 

What … who is this guy?

“There, there,” she could hear the smile in his voice. “No one’s scared of you here, right?”

“Uh … Fox? What the hell are you doing?”