by T. S. Ryder
“She was going to destroy you! Destroy us! What we’ve built for our pack!” Jeremy stuttered, stumbling away from the wolf as the man moved forward murderously. “I was trying to help you!” he cried, shifting into a wolf himself and yelping as Nathaniel leaped at him with a hiss of challenge.
Clara looked away with a shudder when Jeremy shrieked, her free hand pulling the gag free from her mouth before shakily breaking off the remaining chair on her arm and untying her legs. Moving to her feet with a grunt, she limped into the kitchen and picked up the bag that Jeremy had discarded. Finding the handcuff keys with ease, she shakily undid the cuffs and threw them aside with a shudder.
Across the room, she could hear the two wolves snarling and yipping as they bit and clawed at each other. Flinching at the sound of teeth sinking into flesh, she sank down behind the counter with a shudder, snagging onto a dish towel to bind the wound on her foot. Nate would be fine. There was no way he would lose.
The fight continued for just a few minutes longer, and with a final shriek and a horrible crunch the world went silent.
Trembling, Clara felt her breath hitch and she grabbed Jeremy’s discarded knife as a form moved around the counter. Brandishing it at her potential attacker, she let out a relieved noise when Nate held up his hands.
“Woah! Hey, it’s ok! It’s me,” Nate panted, wiping the blood on his face away and waiting until she let the knife clatter to the ground before pulling her into his arms. “Are you ok?” he rasped, pressing his face to her shoulder and allowing her to crumble into his arms.
“He was going to kill me!” she croaked, shock rolling through her body while his powerful form cradled her to his chest gently. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, Nate nodded, scooping her up into his arms with a shudder.
“I know he was. I’m so sorry, Clara,” he whimpered, carrying her into the bedroom and quickly swaddling her in a blanket. “I’m taking you to the hospital. I’ll call someone to take care of that bastard.” He closed his eyes, a shudder rolling through his form. “I thought he was my best friend, and then I saw him standing over you like that. I never thought he would do something like that to anybody,” he croaked, as he held her shaking form to his chest.
“You saved me,” she whispered against his chest, tears staining his shirt as his grip tightened around her shaking form.
“Course I did, you’re my everything,” he whispered against her shoulder, trotting down the stairs towards his car. Melting against his chest, Clara allowed herself to be enveloped in his comforting embrace. She didn’t think she could ever be more in love with a person than she was in that moment.
Chapter Seven
Recovering for the next few weeks left Clara with a lot to think about. Mostly, her relationship with Nathaniel, and the growing love she had for the life growing inside of her. The attack had left their lives in a sort of chaotic jumble. Their business life was put on hold in favor of pacifying the police, the media and their coworkers with an explanation of what had happened and how Jeremy had wound up dead on the floor of Nathaniel’s apartment.
Fortunately, the majority of the scandal had wound up pushed under the rug in favor of an investigation into Jeremy’s motives. The police settled on some sort of crime of passion and determined that Jeremy was simply jealous of the relationship that Clara and Nate had. Clara honestly didn’t care what they thought. She just wanted things to go back to normal.
By the time that the investigation was over and done with, Clara had just reached her nine-month mark. Just before their child entered the world, Clara decided to resign from her position within the company.
Of course, she didn’t have any intention of stopping her career forever. She had every intention of returning back to the hustle of corporate life but decided she would rather spend the first year or two of their child’s life at home. Nate had been reluctant to let her leave the business for so long but agreed that if he couldn’t be at home with the baby, at least she could be.
“Riley, don’t put that in your mouth, hun,” Clara scolded, scooping her daughter off the ground with a frown when the baby snagged onto a stick she found on the grass of their back yard. At only six months old, the child was already completely mobile. Her father’s genes allowed her to progress far more quickly than an average child.
This, of course, left Clara needing to give the child far more attention than the average baby required. She didn’t mind, of course. The little growls and squeaks that the child let out were endearing, and she couldn’t think of a single day that she didn’t wake up happy to hold her little girl in her arms.
“How are my girls this morning?” Nate grinned, wrapping his arms around his lover’s waist and kissing their daughter’s face with a chuckle while she squealed and hid against her mother’s shoulder.
“Just fine. We need to get her something a little sturdier than the baby teething rings, though. She keeps destroying them.” Clara chuckled as Riley chewed on her own fist with little razor-like teeth. “She takes more after you, I think.” Nate laughed at this, shaking his head.
“Wait until she starts randomly changing shape,” he grinned, winking at his flustered wife with a laugh. “Nonsense, she’s got your eyes, your hair. She is very much your little girl,” he insisted, kissing Clara’s cheek and scooping his daughter into his arms. “How bout we start lunch, huh?” he asked Riley, who let out a babble of excitement and clung onto her father’s fingers.
Smiling, Clara watched as her lover moved inside, her heart fluttering softly in her chest. She had never thought she’d be so happy living a life like this. She had insisted that she would never get married, let alone have kids, and yet there she was, watching her husband and daughter dance in the kitchen with a warm feeling in her chest.
Of course, her life was still far from traditional, she mused, laughing as her husband let out a squeak of pain when the child sank her newly grown teeth into his finger. Shaking her head, she moved inside. It looked like her husband needed her to rescue him, and she was more than happy to do so.
On her arm, she could feel the mark that combined her and her mate start to flood with warmth, her eyes sparkling as she moved up to her mate and scooped her child into her arms. Her world was a bit strange, but to her, it was perfect.
*****
THE END
The Shifting Boss's Mate
Description
A curvy personal assistant ready to re-start her life PLUS her hot possessive boss who has it all PLUS a rival who wants to destroy them both!
Curvy 20-something Jacqueline Smith isn't looking for romance; she's looking for a job.
Three years after the death of her parents sent her spiraling into a deep depression, she's ready to get back in the saddle and take control of her life once more. The problem is that nobody seems to want to hire her.
Nobody except Myles Foster, that is. The Alpha of the largest werewolf pack in North America is a self-made billionaire and the head of a massive agricultural empire. He’s also sizzling hot. But Myles is not looking for a mate–and certainly not a human one.
Which is just fine for Jackie.
At least it would be fine, if Myles wasn't so dang sexy. She knows it's ridiculous. Men like Myles don't go for women like her, and Jackie's not ready to make room in her life for love. It’s not like she needs another wrong man around, anyway.
Besides, sleeping with her boss would be so unprofessional…
But then a rival challenges Myles in an Alpha fight and Myles must make a difficult decision. Can he fight off his rival? And will Jackie be able to resist her attraction to him? Find out now in this steamy billionaire romance!
Chapter One
The interview wasn't going well. Jacqueline Smith didn't need to be a mind reader to know that. All three of the interviewers, two men and a woman, were asking the most basic of questions, nodding with little smiles at her answers, but not engaging with her at any deeper level. They had already decided not to
hire her.
Cross being a personal assistant to Myles Foster, owner of one of the largest agricultural empires in North America, off the list.
It was the same every time she had an interview for a new job. The interviewer would welcome her in, shake her hand and then spend the fifteen-minute interview thinking more about the size of her waist than the words coming out of her mouth.
Still, she kept a bright smile on her face. Her mother always said that her smile was her best feature.
"So, Miss Smith," the woman said, looking over her resume. "It says here that you were the personal assistant to Scarlet Thorne, the CEO of Dragonco Games, but it's been three years since you last worked. Can you tell us why that is?"
"I left my position at Dragonco due to personal issues."
Those 'issues' being her parents dying in a car accident and the resulting depression Jackie had sunk into. The next three years had wreaked havoc on her, both emotionally and physically. She had gone from a size twelve to a size twenty-nine, and she just didn't have the energy to get out of bed, let alone hold onto a demanding job.
Eventually, her sister had forced her to go to therapy, and slowly Jackie had managed to find ways to cope. She was ready to get back to work now and so had sent her resume out, only to be met with these polite but uninterested smiles. Though she had managed to get her weight back under control and was back down to a size twenty, which really didn't look too terrible on her six-foot frame, she was no longer an attractive candidate for the high-energy job of being a personal assistant.
Not that she was going to say anything about that to these interviewers. That would be unprofessional.
It would help if I was able to buy something more suitable to wear for these interviews, Jackie thought. Running out of money was one of the main reasons she wanted to get back into the workforce, but on her budget she hadn't been able to afford the high-quality suits she used to have.
Still, she kept eye contact with first one interviewer and then another, hoping she could turn this around. "When I was at Dragonco, I was responsible for everything from scheduling Mrs. Thorne's meetings to arranging for her dry cleaning to be picked up. She also trusted me to take minutes during meetings with the board of directors, and I handled disciplinary action for several departments."
"But she didn't hold your job for you?"
Jackie's smile faltered. "Dragonco's offices were moved overseas last year. I want to stay more domestic."
"You have an impressive resume," the female interviewer said, doing that paper-shuffling thing that meant she was about to tell Jackie that they'd call her if they wanted her. "But what do you really know about the agriculture business?"
Jackie's heart sank. She needed this job. She had already been turned down from most of the gaming companies she had applied to, and it was really taking a number on her confidence. "It's true I have more experience in gaming, but as you can see from my resume I have recently completed an agricultural management course at the local university, and the skills I gained as a personal assistant are transferable to any field."
"I see. Well, it was so good to meet—"
The door behind Jackie opened. She swiveled to see who would interrupt an interview. Her jaw dropped as the man entered. Myles Foster himself. What was the company owner coming to sit in on a preliminary interview for?
Jackie recognized him, of course. Everybody knew his story. He had inherited his father's place as Alpha of his werewolf pack, the largest pack in North America, at the age of sixteen. The same year, oil had been found on his packlands, but rather than wasting his good fortune Myles had reinvested that money. Within a decade he owned land throughout the United States and Canada and was invested in crops and livestock of all sorts. Not many men could boast of having an agricultural empire as successful as his.
Of course his calendars sold well, too. Jackie had bought one for her sister just that year, and the two of them had spent plenty of time drooling over the various shirtless poses, reassuring themselves that his strong jaw and chiseled eight-pack had to be photoshopped.
Myles closed the door behind himself, his expression vaguely annoyed.
"Mr. Foster." One of the men jumped to his feet and offered his boss the chair. "We weren't aware that you were going to join us in the interviews today."
"I'm tired of you sending me idiots and decided to see what we have today for myself," Myles replied, not taking the chair. He stared at Jackie, head cocked to one side.
The calendars didn't do him justice. He was taller than Jackie realized, a good foot taller than her even, and even though he was fully clothed in a tailored suit the cut showed off his massive shoulders and flat stomach. Five o'clock shadow roughed his cheeks and chin, but he looked even better for it than if he had been clean-shaven. But all that could be seen in a calendar. Maybe the reason he was so much better in real life was because of the smell. There was a distinctive scent of werewolf thorn coming off him.
Jackie's nostrils flared as she eagerly sucked in the smell. Maybe it was a good thing that she wasn't going to get this job. It would be difficult to keep her head around him.
"You've got some werewolf in you," Myles said, his cool gray eyes staring hard at her.
Jackie brushed a long, loose golden curl behind her shoulder. "Yeah. Yes, I mean. Um, I, my." What was wrong with her? She was never this tongue-tied! She cleared her throat. "My great-grandfather on my mother's side. But I can't shift or anything, although I'm told I have a better sense of smell than… others."
Why did she have to blush? It was going to clash terribly with her honey-gold hair and the olive blouse she had chosen for this interview.
Myles, whether because of her reaction or her confirmation that she had some werewolf in her, suddenly smiled. Perfectly white teeth flashed; they were all even except his canines, which were slightly longer and more tapered than the rest of his teeth. He broke from Jackie's gaze, letting her suck in a deep breath. Yep, it was definitely a good thing she wasn't going to get this job. It would be far too hard to be professional.
"Dragonco," he said, glancing through her resume. "Impressive. Scarlet has always struck me as a rather demanding individual. Well, we'll give it a month to see how you do. Be here seven o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. Julia here will get you your ID card. I look forward to working with you."
Myles nodded, clearly done with the conversation. Jackie's jaw dropped, and she hardly had the presence of mind to jump to her feet and shake his hand, thanking him for the opportunity. The three interviewers looked shocked but Julia, the woman, gave her a rundown of how the offices worked and made her an ID card before she left.
It wasn't until Jackie had called her sister to tell her the news that it really hit her. She had a job working for Myles Foster, the most gorgeous man in the entire universe.
She was so screwed.
"Just don't give away your treasures and you'll be fine," her sister advised.
Jackie snorted at the phrasing. "Penny, I'm not going to sleep with him. I'm not ready for any sort of relationship."
"Honey, that's not what I meant at all."
"I know what you meant. And I'm saying that it's not going to happen. Even if he oozes sex appeal and he smells better than a roomful of hamburgers. Now I want a hamburger." Jackie winced as a wailing child's voice came over the phone. She loved her nieces and nephews, but she didn’t know how her sister survived them. "It sounds like you have to go. Tell the kids I love them."
"I will." Penny's voice was layered with Big Sister Concerns. "And I mean it, Jack. Don't do anything you'll regret. I know you, you only get involved with men you think are going to stick with you forever. And all this 'mating for life' stuff that the werewolves like to talk about is nonsense. They cheat just as much as anybody else."
Jackie repressed a sigh. The idea of forever love was romantic, but romance wasn't anywhere on her list of concerns right now. "Love you."
She hung up and then tugged her long hair bac
k into a ponytail. Her mouth ached for something to eat, but it was only half an hour until supper, so she decided to watch an episode of Beverly Hillbillies while she jogged on the treadmill instead. Nerves were already fluttering in her stomach at the prospect of this new job, but she swallowed them down and focused instead on the positive things.
Five months into her new diet and exercise routine and she was still going strong.
She had found three new business suits in a consignment store that she could easily tailor to fit her frame.
Her bathing suit looked cute.
Myles Foster was her boss.
Jackie grinned. Myles Foster was her boss. The job could still turn out to be terrible, but at that moment she felt like the luckiest woman alive.
Chapter Two
The next two weeks were hard. Myles expected his employees, even brand-new ones like Jackie, to excel in whatever they were doing. After the first day Jackie cried herself to sleep and wondered if she had taken too long out of the workforce–maybe it would be better to start at a lower position and work back up.
But she picked herself up, and the next day blew her boss's expectations out of the water. Despite her panicky start she found herself thriving in the high-pressure, busy workplace. For the first time in a long time, she felt more than just content. She felt happy. She enjoyed going to work.
And it wasn't just because Myles was so hot. He had high standards for his employees, but he also provided high rewards for a job well done, giving her a two thousand dollar bonus after the first week to expand her business wardrobe. It was then she knew that the trial period, even though he had said it would be a month, was over, and she was officially his PA.