Aleksi meets Robert
As Aleksi ran into the alley, dragging his damaged leg behind him and cradling his broken arm to his chest, he swallowed back the screams of pain. He could smell his own blood trickling down his back. Once he was somewhere safe, he’d need to stop the bleeding or risk passing out and being defenseless.
They always came looking for him.
But this time he had killed one of them and wounded the other three. It should be enough to give him a head start. If he just could get to the forest then he could escape up into the snow cliffs where his owners could not follow.
“Hey!” Someone shouted behind him on the darkened Russian streets.
Aleksi ducked and pushed himself deeper into the gap between the dumpster and the wall as he heard someone enter the alley. His tiger growled inside him. One day he was going to be big. One day he was going to be strong enough to protect himself.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you,” a deep male voice called out from a few feet away. Aleksi stilled, not even breathing in case he was heard. It sounded as if the man was directing his voice right at him but that couldn’t be right, Aleksi could scent the male was human and his Russian accent was weird.
“I know you’re here but I promise you have nothing to fear from me.” The voice was closer than before and Aleksi picked up the scent of metal and leather. Weapons and holsters. Then he recognized the strangeness in the human’s voice.
“American,” Aleksi snarled in disgust. One of his owners, the one that liked to whip him and had marked up his back was American.
“Yes.” The male stepped up to the small gap where Aleksi could see part of the alley and hunkered down. It was only Aleksi’s tiger sight that allowed him to see in the dark. The man only looked a few years older than him.
“Why you follow me?” He demanded in English.
“To help you,” the male responded, his tone more relaxed now they were speaking English.
“Why?” Aleksi may be only thirteen but he knew enough of the world to know how it worked. No one helped without wanting something.
Shrugging, the human offered him a hand. “Because I can.”
Aleksi snorted. That was no answer.
“I can teach you to protect yourself and to protect others.”
Gazing at the hand held out towards him, Aleksi wondered why his tiger was calm. He actually felt safe for the first time he could remember. “Who are you?”
“My name is Robert.” Robert stretch his arm further into the gap where Aleksi was hiding.
Without hesitation this time, he took Robert’s hand.
The last thing Aleksi wanted to do was to babysit another party boy who thought his looks gave him the privilege to treat people like dirt. Then the party boys seemed surprised when some of those people wanted revenge.
His last high-priority job had gone a little off course and had resulted in him spending a few nights in a Russian holding facility, but it hadn’t been his fault. His protectee hadn’t been honest with them and it turned out he was actually a prince from Dubai on the run from a terrorist group wanting to use him as a political prisoner. To say the team sent to kidnap the prince was met with a less than friendly welcome was an understatement. Then the Russian secret police had gotten involved, weapons had been drawn, bombs had gone off and one thing had led to another.
Hence, the time in the holding facility where his hosts had taken turns trying to learn his name and the location of the prince. Aleksi grinned at the memory. He’d made two of the interrogators cry. Fun times.
The terms of his protection detail had been met and the prince had arrived unmolested, at the top-secret meeting to discuss peace treaties with the United Kingdom and the United States then had traveled home safely with a colleague of Aleksi’s.
Despite everything working out fine, Scott still had his panties in a knot. Something to do with Aleksi not taking care of himself and scaring his friends. Rubbish! Scott knew he’d be okay. After all, they’d been trained by the same man—Scott’s brother, Robert.
But since then, all his assignments had been babysitting for stuck-up pretty boys who drove him crazy. If this was another one of those assignments, he’d pay back the company fee and eat the protectee himself.
Blurb for Purrfect Protector:
This is book one in the Shifter Protection Specialists Inc. series, see the full series listing here
Never play cat and mouse with a saber-tooth tiger.
When Kale Andrews gets disturbing mail from an obsessed fan, his brother drags him to Shifter Protection Specialists, Inc. Kale reluctantly agrees to have a bodyguard, but when a tall, muscular blond walks into the office emanating power and a sexy dose of danger, Kale’s doubts about needing the man with him twenty-four hours a day quickly disappear.
The easy babysitting job Aleksi was promised quickly changes from strange mail to threatening deliveries, so Aleksi has to become creative to keep his protectee out of danger. Everyone knows models are self-centered and shallow, so why does being with Kale make him feel like he finally has a home? Since he’s a saber-tooth tiger and naturally dominant, most people aren’t strong enough to be with him in a relationship or even as a friend. Yet Kale seems to calm his beast, simultaneously exciting the man in Aleksi.
Neither man expects nor wants a relationship with strings, but as they grow closer, Aleksi realizes that Kale might be his mate. With an obsessed fan escalating toward murder, Aleksi isn’t sure that even his tiger can keep his mate safe.
Like the sound of Purrfect Protector? Buy it here.
About SA Welsh:
I’m SA Welsh and I write because the voices in my head keep making me. I love reading and I love letting the characters and stories in my head come to life in a book. I can’t function in the morning without a cup of tea and when I’m not writing I’m reading. I have enough books to last me through an apocalypse but don’t ask me to share them unless you are a fellow book worm and know how to treat and appreciate a good book. It is thanks to the writers that inspired me to put myself out there that I became an author and the editors that make sense of my chaos that I keep writing.
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