Alpha Geek Second Ten Bundle

Former Navy SEAL Delilah Jones loves her job in the shifter protection agency. She’s a tiger shifter, and a professional who always maintains a cool distance from the people she protects. That is, until she meets Zane and realizes the geeky human is her fated mate. His adorableness is making her tigress desperate to keep him as her own. Man, this job is harder than she thought.

Zane is an ultra-geek with a heart of gold who’s learned that his business partner is a money launderer. He turns to the shifter protection agency for help, knowing he can’t face the bear shifter alone. He didn’t expect it would change everything. Like the fact he’d meet the most beautiful woman in his life and want to date her. If he can stay alive long enough to ask her out.

Delilah’s job is to make sure Zane survives long enough to testify, which means saving him with a mystery serum when he needs it most. The effects are instantaneous, but also unexpected. Only one problem, the thing that’s supposed to save Zane could be what ends Delilah’s life.

 Prologue

Zane

         Zane didn’t pick the restaurant, and it showed by the way he wrinkled his nose at the dimly lit and noisy place. Sports bars weren’t at all his thing. He was more of a quiet jazz bar and a glass of chardonnay kind of guy, but his business partner had insisted that this was a good place to meet.

         His hands fidgeted subconsciously as he scanned the restaurant, trying not to look too suspicious as he tried to find Vince. It shouldn’t have been hard as he was a very tall and muscular guy who usually stuck out in the crowd, unlike Zane himself.

         Though he tried to avoid comparing himself to others, it was hard for Zane to swallow that Vince was everything he wasn’t. Zane had always been a geek. He was tall, scrawny, and pale with big clunky glasses, and, luckily, he had learned to use his intelligence to his advantage because his looks would have gotten him nowhere. Thankfully, unlike the superficial physical attributes that many people rely on, he could use his brain to land him a solid job and a decently hot girl, like the redhead he spotted at the bar. She would be going home with him.

         Just as he was starting to worry that he was drawing too much attention lingering by the front door, he noticed a familiar guy wearing a worn leather jacket. He was pretty sure that was Vince.

         Maybe the noise would do them some good, he pondered as he approached their booth, which was in the middle of the restaurant. Their conversation needed to be as private as possible, but since there seemed to be some security breaches at their company, Zane didn’t feel comfortable having it at the office. Even if one of them were bugged, there was no way anything could be heard over the obscene racquet of the men at the bar screaming.

         “Vince,” he said by way of greeting as he slid into the booth.

         “Zane!” Vince shouted over the loud conversations carrying on around them. “I ordered for us. I was starting to think you weren’t going to show.”

         “Traffic,” he muttered, nodding to the waitress who slid a tall draft in front of him.

         He lifted the beer to his lips, resisting the urge to wrinkle his nose at the taste. He never understood the appeal of the carbonated liquid. It was like men were just trying to prove to each other that they could put up with more crap than anyone else. Or maybe Zane just wasn’t manly enough to get it. That was probably the case.

         “What is it that was too secretive to discuss at our office?” Vince asked after a stretch of a few minutes.

         Zane leaned forward, not wanting to shout too loud while still being thankful for all the noise covering their conversation. “I’ve been looking at our finances.”

         Vince shook his head, stopping Zane as he reached into his pocket. “We have accountants for that.” He grinned like that was supposed to mean something.

         Zane ignored it, pulled out the folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket, and slid it across the table. It was a few months’ worth of statements, and he had circled the transfers that didn’t make sense.

         He tapped on the amounts. “These don’t line up with any orders we’ve had. I can’t figure out where it’s gone, and I’m starting to think someone is stealing from us. We need to figure it out and put a stop to it.”

         He watched Vince closely, expecting surprise or shock or outrage. Instead, Vince only raised his eyebrows and shrugged, pushing the paper back across the table. “As I said, we have accountants.”

         “What if it’s one of them?” Zane insisted. “Don’t you want to know who is stealing from us?”

         Vince cut his eyes at Zane, looking more annoyed than anything else. “I already know who.”

         “If you’re going to say, Carol, I was thinking the same thing––”

         “It’s me,” Vince grumbled out.

         Zane’s eyes widened, and his words caught in his throat. Out of all the possibilities, he had never considered Vince. Well, he had thought about it a little, but he had decided that it was impossible. Why would his business partner steal their money?

         “You?” Vince nodded. “But why?”

         Vince dragged his dark eyes to stare back at Zane, who couldn’t believe how casually bored his partner looked. He was confessing to a crime and looked so unbothered that Zane might as well have told him they had run out of staples.

         “I think it would be better for you to know as little as possible.” He lifted his beer to his lips, his eyes scanning the restaurant as he did so. Foam clung to the scruff of facial hair around his mouth as he added, “You’re a smart guy, Z. If you’re half as smart as I think you are, you’ll turn a blind eye.”

         Zane blinked, unable to process what Vince had just said. He couldn’t ignore that this was happening, and it was insane that anyone would ask that. He opened his mouth to answer, but Vince’s eyes snapped to him, and Zane saw something flashing there that he hadn’t seen before.

         Vince knocked back the rest of his beer, sliding out of the booth and leaning down close to Zane as he said in a deep, low voice, “Ignoring this is what’s best for the business … and for you.”

         He smacked Zane on the shoulder before pulling out his wallet. He thumbed out a couple of bills, tossing them onto the table. Vince started to turn away, but he paused, looking back at Zane with one of his award-winning smiles.

         “Don’t forget that you know very little of what I’m capable of. If you decide to be some big hero, you will regret it.”

         Without waiting for a response, Vince turned and left, not looking back at Zane, who was now sitting alone at the table. Zane probably looked like a fish with his mouth gaping wide open the way it was, but he didn’t care.

         He was in shock, and a part of his heart had been shattered. Not only was Vince his business partner, but he was also his friend. He thought he could trust that man; he had built a company with him. As it turned out, this person, who he thought he could depend on, was actually a criminal.

         Zane sat there a while longer, wrestling with everything that had happened. He didn’t doubt what the right thing to do was, even if it endangered his life. He was just trying to determine what his best route would be, and although he thought it might be extreme, he had an idea.

         While Zane was hurt by the betrayal, he was more worried that if he stepped out of line, Vince would be after him personally. While he had said Zane didn’t know what he was capable of, Zane did know that Vince was a bear shifter.

         It was a secret that Vince had let him in on early in the partnership. It was one of the reasons that Vince was so large, broad-shouldered, and strong. Zane had seen his bear form a handful of times, and he was massive, with sharp claws and even sharper teeth. Zane had no desire to meet his end at the hands or teeth of his friend. He had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be a fast death if he went against Vince.

         The other unnerving thing was that Vince was tied to many shady guys throughout the city. Zane had always found it unusual, and Vince had even admitted to dealing in college, which didn’t really come as a shock. He blamed all his connections on that, though, and he always insisted that you couldn’t ice these guys out or they would retaliate.

         As their dealings were always above board, Zane never gave it a second thought, but now he realized that these guys must be more than that to Vince. In fact, they were probably part of the threat. Not only would he have to go up against a bear shifter, but he would also have to face some of the most nefarious people in the city.

         Zane’s bottom lip was turning raw from him chewing on it, the wings and beer in front of him untouched. Instead, he ordered a glass of Prosecco and tried not to look too distraught as he drummed his hand on the table instead of slamming his head into it.

         He was cursing himself for revealing that information to the exact person who didn’t need to know it. He also was very curious about Vince outright admitting to his actions instead of hiding them. The whole situation was an absolute mess that didn’t make any sense to Zane, but one thing was very clear: regular law enforcement wouldn’t be able to protect him.

         Not only did he not trust a group of humans to keep him safe from a shifter, but he also knew that Vince had connections with some of the local officers, which Zane now realized meant he must be paying them off. He wouldn’t be safe in their custody.

         His glass of Prosecco finally arrived, and he slammed it back, ordering another as he considered the other options he had. He could attempt to reach higher officials. Perhaps he could skip the basic level officers and detectives and reach out to the marshals over witness protection.

         No, he thought numbly to himself. Even that wouldn’t be enough.

         Even if Zane did disappear completely off the grid, that wouldn’t stop an animal with phenomenal tracking abilities. The only way he was going to stay safe was to fight fire with fire.

         He downed his glass and left, letting Vince pay for the meal and the tip. It was the least he could do.

         Zane was jumpy as he went to his car, his eyes darting around as he kept an ear out for anyone approaching. Chills crept down his spine at every small noise, and he had to bite back a scream as a cat dashed in front of him.

         Once he was safely tucked away in his car, he unlocked his phone, scrolling through his contacts. He had heard of a guy named Nick Milan, whose reputation had made its way around the business world. He was well-known for running a high-security protection agency with a special kind of detail, though few knew what that meant.

         Zane was one of the few that understood Nick had a trained staff of shifters to protect people in life-or-death situations like the one he was in. He even knew a few people who had used his services, and his phone dinged as one of his colleagues sent him the number with a message that read, “Good luck.”

         He dialed the number, holding his breath as he hoped that it wasn’t too late to call, but then again, this didn’t seem like the kind of agency that would hold standard business hours and appointments. He had a feeling this was more of a case-by-case basis.

         “Hello?” The voice on the other end was deep and a little detached. He was probably still at the office.

“Hi,” Zane squeaked out. “Is this Nick?”

         Rustling sounded on the other side. “Who’s asking?”

         “M-my name is Zane S-Spader, sir.” He didn’t know why he was turning into a stuttering mess.

         “What can I do for you, Mr. Spader?”

         Zane gulped. “I’m afraid I’ve gotten myself into a bit of trouble, and I’ve heard that you’re a man that handles situations like mine.”

         “Depends which side of the situation you’re on.”

         He knew what Nick was asking. Was he the one that started the mess or stumbled upon it? That was the other part of his reputation. He protected the snitches, the geeks, the people who needed honest protection and didn’t have thugs on the payroll.

         Zane explained everything he had learned about Vince, being sure to include that he was a shifter. “Do you think I could hire a team from you? You specialize in shifters, right?”

Nick didn’t miss a beat as he answered, “I think I have the perfect person to keep you safe, Mr. Spader.”