Nailing Neil [Alpha Wreckers 4] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Read online

  The line went dead. He stared at his phone, frowning. What the hell was that all about? Why did Neil genuinely sounded scared of losing his job, and when Neil mentioned Chester, there was definitely some hidden animosity there. Somehow, Nash vowed to get the bottom of this.

  He didn’t know why this particular human sparked his interest, didn’t care. If someone in the company was taking advantage of other employees, then he had to look into it. Nash exited the cemetery and took his bike back to the office.

  He promised Malik fifteen minutes, but he arrived there in ten. After parking his bike on the curb, he dismounted and took a couple of seconds to look at the two-floor shop house that was the official headquarters of Alpha Wreckers Inc., as Cole liked to call it. They’d started the company in a rented room in a shady section of town. No one had expected four strays to succeed, but they’d built the company from the ground up together.

  It still amazed Nash sometimes how far they’d come. Nash went in, nodded to Janice, their receptionist, and walked past the line of cubicles to the conference room beside his private office. Halfway there, he caught sight of a brown-haired human with black glasses, carrying a stack of tile samples far too heavy for him. What was this guy thinking? One wrong step and all those heavy tiles could come crashing on his head, causing an injury.

  Malik and the others could wait a little longer, because this little human was going to trip sooner or later

  Using his supernatural speed, Nash was there in an instant, breaking the human’s fall. The most wonderful, intoxicating scent hit his nose, and his wolf went haywire inside of him.

  Chapter Two

  Neil Stevenson was having a bad day, no doubt about it. First, Chester was being an asshole—more of an ass anyway—to him, then one of the bosses, Malik, told him to ring up the big boss. He wasn’t sure he’d gotten off the right foot with Nash. Dang it, he needed to make a good impression because he needed this job.

  A twenty-four-year-old fresh graduate from community college who had a kid didn’t have the luxury of having connections, wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and Alpha Wreckers Inc. was the only company in the tiny town of Snow Valley that had an interior design branch. If he made it past his four-month internship, he might be promoted and get a full-time salary.

  First, though, he had to survive this day. He couldn’t see anything with the stacks of samples, but Chester was rushing him, insisting he bring it all in one go. Neil had wanted to mouth off to Chester so many times, but he kept his mouth locked, thinking about two-year-old Janine with his mother at home. His mother was getting too old to keep taking care of Janine, too, although she claimed she loved doing it. She’d left the city for him and Janine. He had to prove he could do something right.

  Then to add to his misery, his foot caught on something. He let out a breath, expecting the samples to come crashing down on him, but one large hand gripped his shoulder, jerked him back, and he gasped as the tiles clattered to the floor.

  “What in hell’s name were you thinking?” demanded a deep voice accompanied by a growl.

  Having had enough of being Chester’s sounding board for the past week, he spun about to give whoever had saved him in time a tongue lashing, except all he saw was muscle. He swallowed, words dying in his throat. Miles of muscle. He looked up and gulped, recognizing the vivid scars against a tanned neck, short black hair, and those blazing blue eyes that looked more at home on a wild wolf than a man.

  Nash Mercer, CEO of Alpha Wreckers Inc., although the huge shifter certainly didn’t fit the part. Most days, Nash wore worn jeans and a plain shirt, only suiting up for important meetings. Of course Neil would know, he’d had a crush on the werewolf ever since he had caught a glimpse of Nash on his first day.

  This was the first time they’d actually spoken face-to-face, but God, this gorgeous titan was intimidating. Dominance practically rolled off Nash in waves.

  “Answer me.” It was a command that was hard to ignore. Neil’s cheeks burned. The entire office fell silent. Everyone was probably looking at the cause of the commotion.

  “Chester needed these samples right away,” he mumbled.

  “All in one go?” A skeptical look.

  “Yeah, his order was specific.” He bent down and began picking up the pieces, anything to avoid those intense blue eyes. Humans didn’t even have eyes like that. Shit. Neil shouldn’t be thinking about the same guy who looked like he was ready to commit murder. To his shock, Nash bent down and began grabbing the samples.

  “I can do that,” he insisted. “Besides, you’re late for your meeting.”

  “I’m not angry at you, little human,” Nash gritted out, the words taking him aback slightly. The big werewolf Alpha ignored his words and snatched all the samples before Neil could stop him.

  “Erm, are you sure?”

  “What else did Chester tell you to do?” They were both standing now, with Nash easily balancing all the samples as if they didn’t weigh a thing.

  “You slow and useless intern,” came a voice behind him, a familiar one. Chester. A hair-raising growl filled the entire office space. Chester froze, staring at them, fear clearly written on his arrogant face.

  “Is that how it is?” Nash asked in the unmistakably deadly voice of a predator in human skin. Nash placed the samples on the nearest desk.

  “Oh, hey, boss,” Chester muttered, sounding nervous.

  “What gives you the right to treat other employees like shit?” Nash asked.

  The Alpha werewolf looked so terrifying, he wanted to hide under a desk and wait until the storm blew over. Neil couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening. Why was Nash taking his side? Hadn’t Nash been angry at him earlier?

  “Neil’s just an intern,” Chester said with a shrug.

  The fox shifter must have said the wrong thing because Nash growled, a hint of canines showing through his mouth. Sweat dripped down Neil’s back. Someone ought to get one of Nash’s brothers. He didn’t know Nash all that well—the man was always busy, usually on site or in meetings—but he’d had the initial impression Nash was level-headed, an effective leader. So Nash losing his temper was quite a shock to him.

  “Just?” Nash asked.

  Neil knew a shifter’s eyes turned yellow when they got angry, but Nash’s eyes remained glacial, eerily glowing. He had a feeling violence was about to break out any moment.

  “What’s going on here?” a new voice added. To Neil’s relief, he spotted Malik, along with Cole and Spencer. With four dominant shifter males in close proximity, it was suddenly hard to breathe. “Nash?” Malik asked carefully.

  “Why did we hire this piece of trash?” Nash asked, jerking a finger toward Chester’s still paralyzed form.

  “We’ve been having complaints about Chester,” Malik eventually said. “He’s under evaluation.”

  “Wait—what?” Chester demanded, but was silenced once more by Nash’s growl.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Nash demanded.

  “Guys, let’s settle this in private,” Spencer began. “Nash, cool down. You’re scaring the other employees.”

  Nash’s chest rose and fell. The Alpha werewolf clenched his fists, but didn’t do anything else. It was beyond impressive. Neil might be human, but he’d grown up in a pack. After his dad had died, his mother had remarried a werewolf, and lucky for him, that pack had looked out for him like the other kids. Nonetheless, he’d seen how other shifters resorted to violence when they got pissed.

  “There’s nothing to see, people. Get back to work,” Cole added.

  “We’re settling this now,” Nash said, suddenly looking at Neil, who had cowered in the nearest cubicle. “Can you handle all of Chester’s responsibilities?”

  “Well…” He hesitated, because the fox shifter stared daggers at him. In truth, when Chester had found out he could handle the workload, Chester had handed all of his duties to him.

  “Be honest.” Nash’s words were hard to disobey.

 
“Yes, I’ve kind of been picking up his slack.”

  “Traitor,” Chester hissed.

  “No wonder Chester’s designs have gotten better,” Malik mused, looking to him. “Your work?”

  “Yes,” he admitted.

  “And we aren’t paying you?” Nash asked.

  He nodded.

  “Chester, you’re fired. Get your sorry ass out of here by the end of the day.” Nash looked to him and held out a hand, which he hesitantly looked at.

  Neil had made a huge mistake before once. He’d given his heart to a werewolf, thinking Lyle would be like his stepfather, Jonathan. In the end, Lyle and he had lived together, adopted a kid together, but when Lyle found his one true mate, Neil got left behind in the dust.

  Neil suspected Lyle had been going along with the flow, but never really thought about the consequences of his actions, like leaving their daughter in the care of one parent. Then again, Lyle only cared about himself.

  His mother and Jonathan had moved away from the pack for his and Janine’s sake, deciding he needed a new start. What a rocky start he was having. Since Nash looked at him expectantly, he shoved aside painful memories of Lyle and shook Nash’s hand.

  Electricity coursed up his fingertips. He pulled his hand back, as if stung. Those intent blue eyes watched him the way a wolf considered a potential prey. No way was he going to fall for another werewolf. Neil would never forgive himself.

  True, he had a crush on Nash, but that was all it would amount to. Neil would admire Nash from a distance, dream of what it was like to have Nash for a boyfriend. Fantasies were harmless, meaningless, and fantasy Nash never had a chance to break his heart.

  “I’ll get back to work,” he said quickly.

  “And we’ll get back to our meeting,” Malik said to Nash.

  Before the bosses left, Malik gave him a wink and a thumbs-up. He swallowed, unsure of what that meant. Once the brothers disappeared inside the conference room, he breathed in a sigh of relief. He still couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. Neil told himself that Nash had been merely passing by, being a good Samaritan.

  Yet another unknown voice inside him spoke. But Nash knew your name.

  Besides, he hadn’t missed the other emotion in Nash’s eyes—interest, hunger. No, that couldn’t be directed at him for sure. Why would a gorgeous and powerful Alpha like Nash be interested in a boring human like him? Even Lyle had only thought of him as an experiment.

  Neil resolved to shake off the incident, because one good thing that had come out of today’s mess was the fact he had finally gotten his dream job. Neil had no time to think about a certain gruff Alpha. He was finally given the opportunity to prove himself. Well, he’d been doing that by taking on Chester’s job scope, but he wanted to show his bosses he wasn’t a choice they’d regret making.

  Chapter Three

  Noticing none of his brothers left the table, Nash frowned. “Did we miss something on the meeting agenda?”

  “Nope, meeting aside,” Malik drawled, a mischievous look in those green eyes.

  Nash groaned. He recognized that look, the one that said Malik was up to no good. On hindsight, it had been Malik who had asked Neil to contact him. Was it possible his conniving brother had orchestrated all of this? No, he was definitely overthinking things. Not that it was beyond Malik to interfere in his personal love life.

  Preferring to have this discussion in the open as opposed to drawing it out, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me we had a problematic employee?”

  “The employees Chester took advantage of or terrorized were too scared of him to speak out. We needed hard evidence, well, reason enough to fire him,” Cole added.

  Nash wagged a threatening finger at his youngest brother. “You were in on this? And what about you, Spencer?”

  The big redhead werebear shrugged. “First time I heard of this. What’s this human to you anyway?”

  The direct question from his usually reserved brother took him aback. Spencer was the sort who rarely interfered in the personal affairs of others, preferring to remain in the background.

  “Nothing.”

  “Lie,” Malik said, hint of a smile on his lips. “When was the last time you lost control like that?”

  “I prefer not to answer that.” Years ago, when Detective George had found him in that warehouse storage with the other kids, his wolf had threatened to rip out of his skin, the urge to go feral so strong it had been tempting to abandon the human world. His encounter with Neil had shaken the foundations of his control, but it felt different. His wolf was more curious as opposed to aggressive.

  His brothers had clues about his past. All of them came from rough backgrounds, but none of them were exactly the sharing sort.

  “Anyway, if we have nothing else to discuss, I’m heading back to my office to answer some e-mails.”

  “We still up for dinner at your place for Friday night?” Cole asked.

  “Of course.”

  Their family weekly dinners were a tradition Isiah had started at a time when all of them were being pulled different directions in life. Cole and Spencer had been considering colleges far away from Snow Valley, and Malik had wanted to roam.

  In the end, Isiah had convinced them to stay. Isiah had always been big on family, and had passed that trait to Nash. After the old man passed away, Nash had done his damnedest to step into his shoes. He could never replace Isiah though, but it had been enough to rope in his brothers to form their own company.

  “Do you have other plans?” he asked. As much as he disliked change, he knew eventually all of his recently mated brothers would have other plans.

  Cole scratched his head. “Yeah, it’s Wren and my one-year anniversary.”

  Nash blinked. Had it been that long? It seemed only yesterday Cole had been competing with Malik over the number of guys they’d slept with. He studied his youngest brother, marveling at his growth. Nash would never say it out loud, but he was proud of Cole, of all of them.

  “I’m heading out of town with Henry for some kind of game convention for the weekend,” Spencer explained. “It’s a six-hour drive, and according to Henry, he wants to be the first one in the queue.”

  Malik snorted. “Spencer, you’ve officially become a geek. Your mate’s rubbing off you. Henry made any new dating games lately?”

  Spencer growled at Malik, eyes unfriendly. “Why don’t you annoy someone else, like your own mate?”

  “Dale loves it when he annoys me.”

  Nash let out a heavy sigh and turned to Malik. “Why don’t you spend Friday evening with Dale?”

  Malik frowned, looking at him. “Wait, what? Are you sure about that?”

  “I think I might as well go for a run in the woods, then look over our budget plans for next quarter.”

  Malik made a gagging noise. “Dude, that’s not the way to spend a perfectly good Friday night.”

  “I agree,” Cole added, then hesitated. “Maybe Wren and I can push dinner plans—”

  “Absolutely not,” he instantly said, voice firm. They were all dominant shifters in their own right, but when he used that tone, put his wolf out a little, they listened. “Besides, it’s hard getting a babysitter for Tricia, right?”

  Tricia was Wren’s child by his former mate, but they all adored the little girl.

  “If you’re sure,” Cole muttered.

  “Stop walking around me like eggshells,” Nash grumbled. “I plan on enjoying my Friday night without you assholes bickering over something stupid.”

  “Well, he’s certainly fine,” Cole muttered. “Meeting adjourned then?”

  “Yeah,” Malik replied, glancing at him, then nodded. Spencer lingered a little longer.

  “Nash, don’t mistake loneliness for solitude,” Spencer said in a quiet voice.

  Among all of them, Spencer had the most trouble being around humans. Nash never thought Spencer would ever change. Spencer even lived in a property he bought near the woods, also using the space as h
is workshop. In the end, Henry, Spencer’s human mate, had agreed to move in with Spencer at that secluded location. Nash was relieved Spencer had managed to find an understanding mate, and it was clear to everyone Henry was madly in love with his brother.

  “I’m not lonely,” he said, rising from his seat.

  Another lie, but he didn’t explain himself. Nash was so used to routine, to putting the family and business first, before anything else, he had no fucking clue what to do when it came to his abysmal personal life.

  “I see. I hope the run helps.” Spencer stood and paused by the doorway. “Neil will probably be working late.”

  He was about to tell Spencer off, his patience at its limits, but Spencer’s remark made his wolf prickle its ears in interest. “On a Friday night?”

  Spencer nodded. “He always works late. Especially now that he’s taken over Chester’s duties, he’ll be eager to prove himself.”

  Unwarranted jealousy nudged at him, but he shoved it away. “How well do you know this human? Even Malik and Cole seem familiar with him.”

  “He’s sort of been everyone’s intern, except yours. So we’ve interacted with him a few times.”

  It was rare to see his brothers being protective over one employee. “What’s his story?”

  “Why don’t you find out for yourself?” Spencer asked with a smile, before leaving.

  What the hell? The world certainly seemed like it was going to hell, if even Spencer was trying to play matchmaker.

  * * * *

  Neil let out a groan of frustration as he sorted through the mess that was Chester’s old cubicle. The fox shifter had merely taken a box of his personal stuff, all the while glaring at him, before strutting off, showing the finger at him. Real mature.

  His phone beeped and he pulled it out, finding a text from his mother asking if he was working late. Biting on his lower lip, he looked at the messy desk, then the chaotic files on the computer. Did Chester have some kind of organizing system he didn’t know about, or was the guy simply disinterested in his job? Files from different projects were scattered all over the place.