Shaw (Alpha Geek #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,48

had shifted back into their human forms and put their clothes back on to trek back to the cabin.

It didn’t take long for Shaw to know something was wrong.

Poppy had felt it, too.

The pair stood still and silent on the edge of the forest, and they watched as a large red truck pulled up on the long dirt driveway. He quickly grabbed his phone from his back pocket, and texted Trio is here to Nick. Shaw knew Nick would let the crew know, and they would be on their way.

Carl, Carson, and Curtis leaped out of the truck, bellowing Poppy’s name like deranged men. Each of the three was as tall and burly as the next. Shaw would like to pretend that he had no fear, but that would have been a flat out lie.

He was terrified.

He had something to lose now that was so much more precious than his pride.

He could lose Poppy.

He wanted to pull her behind him and take on this threat all by himself, but he knew Poppy would never stand for that. Just as the thought crossed his mind, Poppy pushed past him.

“How in the fuck did you even find us?” Poppy asked, baring her teeth to her cousins.

Curtis laughed evilly; his eyes dark with the twisted pleasure he was getting at messing with Poppy.

“You think we don’t have our ways? You’ve got a cell phone, Poppy. We tracked it.”

Fuck. Shaw should have thought of that the second he learned that she was hiding from her family. He felt the burning shame of letting his mate down, deep down inside of himself. How did these three meatheads have the foresight to track her phone?

“How?” Poppy spat at the three shifters. “It’s not like you pay the bills or anything like that.”

“We have our ways. Did you really think that we would let you come here and mate this guy? You’re part of the family business, and you’ve got to do your duty.”

“Fuck you!” Poppy shouted angrily. “I am not some piece of property you can just toss around.”

The three men started to move, and they stood a few feet apart in a half-circle. Shaw didn’t like to think that they were being sized up, and circled up, but that’s precisely what was happening. He tensed, and his tiger was ready for a fight, wanting to take the threat out for his mate.

“You can’t be here under your father’s orders,” Poppy said. She crossed her arms. In any other case, it would have been seen as a defensive move, but just then, it was a sign of defiance. She was popping her hip out, one eyebrow raised in bored disbelief. Shaw could tell it was a test, but maybe the three brothers were just far enough away for her bravado to fool them.

“Nope,” Curtis said. “He told us to leave you alone when you disappeared. But of course, we can’t let you do that, Poppy. That deal we have with Micah Lewis is too important for you to fuck up. You’re going to quit your job at the nursing home like a good little girl, and you’re going to stop being a freeloader. It’s about time you start putting in some work for all that we’ve done for you.”

“You?!” Poppy shouted.

Shaw felt he should intervene, but the conversation was tense, and it seemed to him that some things needed to be said. Especially by his mate.

“You never did shit for me. That was your dad, and he was using the money that was left to me by my parents when they died. They had life insurance, and it was all willed down to me. You lot haven’t done anything but terrify me my entire life.”

Curtis shook his head. “This attitude doesn’t look good on you, Poppy. Step away from the mutt. Let’s go.” Curtis turned his back on them.

Now there was a clear sign that he wasn’t threatened by them at all.

It made Shaw furious. He might not have been a shifter by birth or have much experience with the lifestyle, but he was confident he could fuck some shit up. Poppy tilted her head ever so slightly in his direction, and he knew what she meant.

It took her all of two seconds to shift into her panther and launch herself at Curtis. Her jowl closed around his very human neck. This distracted Carson and Carl, and Shaw took that time to shift into his tiger. He was pleased to see that his animal was larger