Shaw (Alpha Geek #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,4

few manila folders in his hands and dropped them onto his desk. He took out a few sheets and turned them over for Shaw. They were the standards forms he had to sign all the time when he was being hired as a cybersecurity freelancer. The Non-Disclosure Agreement, the terms of the contract, all that stuff.

There was no document making him swear not to steal the shifter serum. That was a good thing. Shaw wouldn’t have been able to stomach that. To be fair, no one was supposed to know that the shifter serum even existed. It was out of sheer luck that Shaw even knew of its existence. But after a few guys from his college had turned from geeks with spectacles and lean, frail bodies and into solid muscle masses that would have rivaled the most competent of bodybuilders, Shaw had tracked down some information online.

The link?

That was Nick Milan’s protection agency. Each man that had once been a gawky twerp had turned into the exact opposite after spending some time with an agent in Nick’s employ. It had only taken a bit of hacking for Shaw to uncover the existence of the serum. The government had loads of secret files on it, and they wanted the stuff badly.

“You still think you can fix the issue in a day or two?” Nick asked.

“Yes, of course. It really shouldn’t take long.” Shaw gave him a tight smile. He would be using his access to the building to get his hands on the serum, but he would help Nick. He would fortify all of their defenses and online security until even he couldn’t hack in. It was the least he could do, even though he knew it would do very little to ease his conscience.

He did feel horrible for the lies he was telling Nick. He hated to use a good man and his business. There was no other way, and Shaw knew that. If he wanted to mess with the Cains, he needed the kind of protection only being a shifter could give him. With that kind of strength, it didn’t matter if the Cains tried to kill him. He could quickly heal and recover from any wound.

Completely immobilizing the Cains by taking away their financial clout was the only way.

Shaw and many others had gone to the authorities, but it always yielded nothing but reprisals. He couldn’t have that. Not anymore. The age of the Cains was at an end. And he would gladly deliver the needed keystrokes.

“Well, thanks a lot for coming in on such short notice. Really. It’s the weirdest thing. We have some of the best minds in the country keeping an eye on our stuff, but I guess when there is ill intent, people always find a way.”

Shit.

Shaw tried to keep calm. Nick’s words weren’t meant to be threatening. There was no way for the shifter to know that Shaw had been behind the cyber-attack. Or that it had been faked. Shaw was just that good. He couldn’t let Nick’s words frighten him. He was doing this for his nana and all the other people the Cains were harming.

It was just unfortunate that Nick was in the splash zone. Really, Shaw was going to make sure that it was worth the company’s wile. He wouldn’t actually take any payment, but he would leave their business under better security that he had found it.

“Right. Yup. There are some bad people out there.” Was his voice shaking? He was pretty sure his voice was trembling. There was no way he could pull this off, was there?

He was a man that had been pushed to the very brink. He was desperate. If his plan wasn’t proof enough for that, he had just signed his name, his real name to the contract. Nick and his company were going to know he had been the one to steal the serum.

But Shaw had decided that it was better to ask for forgiveness later, instead of asking for permission right now.

“I’m going to get to work and be out of your hair in no time.” Shaw quickly signed all of the appropriate documents, hoping the speed with which he signed would burn off some of the guilt he felt.

“Good to know this will all be resolved. I’ll just show you to a free office. Come with me, please.”

Nick followed Shaw into a small office with a few computer screens. It was a good set up, even with the lack of windows.