Shaw (Alpha Geek #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,8

and cousins’ plan. To extend the Cains’ reign of terror.

Dakota looped her arm through her friend’s, and together, they exited the office. Their progress was halted when they nearly collided into a man.

Nothing could have prepared Poppy for what happened next. All of her systems shut down. It felt like she had walked into a wall, not a human. Her breath was caught in her chest, and her lungs were just barely functioning. She had the sudden desire to rub herself all over the stranger as if he was made of catnip instead of flesh and blood. It took a few seconds for her brain to catch up to what was going on.

Oh.

Mate.

My.

Mate.

God.

Mate.

Fuck.

Poppy wanted to run. Flat out run away, but her panther had other ideas. Her feet were firmly planted on the ground, and there would be no budging. Her mate was right there. He was tall to the point of being comical, and his body looked like a beanpole wrapped in a baggy white tee and black jeans. The black beanie on his head covered up tight black curls, but some spilled out. They looked soft and luscious.

Touch them, her panther urged.

Right. That would not be happening. She wouldn’t be the freak who reached out and touched a strange man’s hair. No matter how luxurious it seemed. Besides, she reminded her animal, there were bigger, more important problems to deal with just then.

Poppy didn’t have time to go off gallivanting with her mate. There were people after her. Bad people who would be able to destroy her very human mate in two seconds flat. It wouldn’t take much. He was thin to the point of being scrawny. If she were ever to be with a man like that, she would seriously have to fatten him up. Perhaps with a few thick-breaded sandwiches, some deep-fried ice cream, and a bag of chips or two.

That was unlike her and mean. But she had to focus on his rail frame to keep from being completely taken in by his handsome face. He was good looking. No, that was wrong. It was more than just being attractive. There was a playful quality to his stunned smile that pulled at something deep inside of herself. Poppy couldn’t remember the last time she had fun. Honest to God fun, where she let down her hair and didn’t think of the consequences.

It was probably in her freshman year of college, before Dakota had dropped out. After that, Poppy’s life had very much been controlled by her studies. The nursing program she had been taking was no joke. To top it off, she had tried—and succeeded—to keep it hidden from her uncle. That had been the most challenging part of it. She had to make sure the man who was paying for her education had no idea she was on a completely different career path than what he was paying for.

Nursing was also more expensive than business. Dakota had taken out student loans to cover the difference and also had taken a job as an orderly at a nursing home. It had all worked out because they had given her a job as soon as the ink was dry on her diploma.

But the last few years had been nothing but hard work.

You deserve a roll in the hay with your mate, her panther insisted.

Of course, her animal would say that. It was no simple thing, finding your mate. The fact that she had run into him while on the run from her uncle and cousins was just the kicker. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he had also been a shifter. But with that frail mortal body? There was no way he could survive the pure hatred that was heading his way from the Cain panther pack. Not to mention the bodily damage that he could go through if her uncle decided that he wanted Poppy to marry his business associate by any means necessary.

“You must be the new tech security guy.” Dakota was the first one to speak. She must have noticed how the man and Poppy were just standing there, staring at each other like a couple of horny teenagers.

He was staring, wasn’t he? That was the only way to describe the way he was looking at her. Intently and intensely. It made Poppy shiver. It was like the stranger was seeing deep into her soul with a profound kind of admiration. It was making her head spin.

Not to mention, it was making