A Bride For a Werewolf

by Rachel E Rice

  Then Elisabeth looked at Emily. “I see you are wearing the same clothes. Are you too stupid or simple to spend some of that money? And where is your engagement ring?” She grabbed Emily’s hand and Emily jerked it from her hand.

  “Please leave Elisabeth. I have things to do.” Elisabeth glanced around.

  “Where is Harper?” she started walking up the stairs and Emily stood in her way.

  “I asked you to leave. Don’t let me have to call someone to throw you out. This is my home not yours and Harper is my husband. I suggest you find your own because he isn’t going anywhere.

  Elisabeth glanced up and down at Emily and said, “Tell Harper I’m waiting for him.” And she shot her eyes in Emily’s direction, “I intend on getting Harper back. I don’t care what I have to do. Don’t get in my way.”

  “Don’t you get in my way? You might now recognize what I’ve become. Especially since I’m pregnant.” With those words, Elisabeth huffed and jerked around and left the house. Emily had been shaken by Elisabeth but she wasn’t about to let her know.

  For the first time she feared losing Harper. She didn’t know why she said that she was pregnant. She wasn’t even close. How can you get pregnant if the man you love won’t get close to you? Emily looked at the stairs and she glanced at the hall to her room.

  The servants had been wondering why she never slept in Harper’s room. This was a good time to look for reasons for his dislike of virgins. She climbed the stairs. It was a slow ascent up. Still trying to decide if she should poke around his things. No one liked anyone that would snoop. But this was important. Her life and unborn children depended on it. She smiled when she thought about what she had said to Elisabeth.

  “That got on her nerves,” Emily murmured as she chuckled. She opened the door. She expected it to be locked. Standing around she tried to think where he would hide something. She opened his closet and there was nothing but expensive suits and a tux. But they appeared to have been replaced with rows and rows of jeans and tee shirts. Maybe a few leather jackets.

  Nothing revealing by looking in his closet, she thought. But what did she expect? What did she think was wrong with him? She didn’t find any handcuffs or riding crops as Stanley had directed her to look for. He appeared to be normal.

  Then she saw a dresser. Maybe he would keep the handcuffs in there. She had to be careful not to make a mess so she carefully pulled open the dresser drawer and in it was a picture of his mother. She picked it up and looked at it. The picture was of a beautiful young woman with dark hair about Emily’s age. And next to the picture was a small box. In the velvet box was a ring. Under the box was a diary. It was Harper’s diary.

  She was bewildered. She knew in the journal was the key to whatever was Harper’s problem. Reluctantly she opened the journal and skimmed it. It started when he was in elementary school up until a month ago. She knew the answers were in the back.

  Not wanting to invade his privacy, she would read the recent entries she opened.

  Day one. I’m married to the most beautiful woman in the world. I’m going to give her my mother’s engagement ring. Emily gasped and looked at the picture. It was indeed Harper’s mother’s ring.

  She closed the book. Dropped it down in the drawer. She placed her hand to her mouth. She felt so shame and then she took a heavy breath and opened the book again. She had to find out what if anything was his problem. But then she heard the knob turn and the maid was standing behind her.

  “I’m sorry Mrs. Samsa but I heard someone in here.”

  “I will be moving my things in this room. Mr. Harper is on a business trip and he’ll be arriving soon. I want to clear away some of his things to make room for mine.” She dropped the journal and closed the drawer.

  “Can I help you with something?”

  “No. I think I can manage.” The maid turned and walked out closing the door behind her. Emily breathe and walked out of the room to get her few clothes and bring them upstairs.

  She didn’t know when Harper would return, so she took Michael’s advice if for the sake of the servants she would put on this farce as if they were a loving couple.

  When Emily was getting into Harper’s bed, Harper was climbing into his truck with Nero and Angela, driving them and Nero’s pack back to the Rusty Nail.

  “I guess I should thank you,” Nero said looking at Harper with a solemn face.

  “That’s up to you. What goes on in this town?”

  “Too much,” Angela said looking at Harper and then turning to Nero.”

  “Whenever there is a killing we are the first to be rounded up. The humans know it’s not our doing but they use us to cover it up anyway. We have had two female bodies found within two years. These women are from another county and one is from another country. The humans can’t get enough women to come her and marry them so they get them through dating sites or newspaper ads.”

  “It doesn’t help with the kind of things that goes on in your bar. You have these matches and kill your own.” He turned and glanced at Nero and Angela.

  “I’m building this town and I want peace here. Not some half crazed werewolves and humans running around killing. Can I count on you to change your behavior and the behavior of that pack? If you don’t, I will use whatever resources I have to get rid of those who don’t want to comply with my rules.”

  They rode back to the Rusty Nail in silence. When he stopped the truck, Nero and Angela stepped out with the remaining werewolves. Nero walked around to the window.

  “We can live by your rules. But the humans are another thing. Once they find out what you are, they will try to hunt you the same way they hunted us down. There are only six male werewolves left and we don’t know if there are others. We haven’t the resources to travel. There’s no work in this town. Most of us hunt and live out in your woodlands.”

  “Then you will have to make sure that the humans never know what I am. I need time to build this town. I’m bring my wife here after my home is built. They are working on it now and should be completed shortly.”

  Nero felt relieved that Harper would be married and wouldn’t be a threat to him but he didn’t know of the threat the sheriff had posed to him.

  Harper knew that it was because of the sheriff that the werewolves were taken into custody. He wasn’t sure that there was even a woman’s body. It could have been something made up.

  Backing out of the gravel road in the dark, he pulled into the main road. It was a two lane black top road and was as desolate as where he chose to build his home. It felt like home. For some reason he had gotten used to the idea of living in this wooded area and he welcomed solitude.

  What would Emily want? He had forgotten about Emily but she was all he thought about driving up to his unfinished property. As he neared the gate. The builders had gotten farther along than he had imagined.

  Everything was coming together. The fence that surrounded his property was standing all except the large gate he had ordered from San Francisco, but hadn’t arrived. He drove straight through to the house which appeared almost ready to move into.

  Stepping out with a sense of peace and satisfaction, he opened the door. The outside had been completed and the only thing left was for them to do the inside. Harper curled up in a corner thinking about Emily.

  It was the first time since he left home that he had to think of her. She was a beautiful girl with long strawberry blond hair and green eyes. Full lips naturally red. Remembering her as if seeing her again nude he saw her full breasts. Harper made up his mind that he would have to tell her and then let her decide if she wanted to stay married to him. And contrary to what Emily thought and the impression he gave her, he did want her. He wanted to be her first and last in this life.

  Leaning his head down to rest and to enjoy his thoughts of Emily, he heard voices. It had been a long day, and he would stay in his new home and sleep. It was too long a drive to go to the next town for a hotel. As he was closing his eyes, lights from flashli
ghts were trained on him.

  “Who are you and what are you doing here?” There were four humans standing over him.

  “My name is Harper Samsa and I own this home.” Then as he stood two men stepped aside to let the fifth man into the middle of them.

  “It’s Harper Samsa alright.”

  “What is this about?”

  “You’ve come into this town and upset the balance and screwed with the stability of our human population. There aren’t but a few of us. You have to make your decision. Are you a human who’s willing to get rid of those creatures?”

  “What have they done to you?”

  “They stand between us having female companionship.”

  “I wasn’t sure whether you locked up Nero because you wanted to have her for your own but now I’m sure.”

  “We don’t want those shifters but for one thing.” The sheriff smiled a lewd nasty smile. He let out a snicker as he turned to the other men and they began to laugh too.

  “Killing them at one time would have made those female shifters suspect us and who knows what they would have done. But killing them one at a time, getting rid of the evidence like we did all the others, no one not even the cat loving and dog loving humans around here would know what really went on.”

  “But I know,” Harper said staring down at the four men. His eyes blazing gold. He raised his head and howled and the men took off in different directions with the sheriff leading the departure.

  They rushed through the door trying to get to their truck. Within minutes Harper had shifted into his wolf and he sprang after them taking down the sheriff who had ran between two large pine trees and tried to hid behind them.

  Harper reached him, came behind his back and attacked him with his muzzle with a pair of razor sharp fangs. He crept up behind the kneeling sheriff to deliver the deadly blow. Harper tore at his neck and he bled out. When Harper looked up, the three men were in their truck trying to start the motor.

  The driver had left on the lights and because of a weak battery, it wouldn’t start. A back window had been placed down and it couldn’t raise. When Harper spotted the window and made a leap for the four men they took off running.

  Harper ran after each one. They had guns but were too scared to discharge them.

  As Harper was cleaning up the bloody scene, before the workman came the next morning, Emily was waking up and making a decision about Harper.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Mrs. Samsa,” the maid said, “I’m glad he chose to marry you instead of that woman.” She sat a breakfast tray down on the table.

  Emily sprang from the bed, “I don’t want you to serve me and especially in my bedroom.”

  “But it’s expected of us. Please let us do our job.” She sat at the table and looked at the meal. She had never had something that large in her life. The eggs and a large portion of meat and toast. She didn’t know you could cook eggs in that many ways.

  “I don’t think I need all of this.”

  “You just choose the one you want and I’ll take the rest away. And here is your paper.” The maid laid the paper on the round table next to the tray. Emily casually glanced at it. The headlines were glaring.

  Four Men Found with Their Throats Torn Apart: Wolves Thought to Be the Culprit

  For some reason Emily found this story to be interesting. The maid stood next to her and read the headlines too. “I’m glad I live in a city. I don’t know what I would do if my old man wanted to go to the country. We have enough human wolves running around, can you imagined if we were set upon by the animal kind. Not that those humans can’t act like animals.”

  Emily didn’t hear when she left because she was busy reading the remainder of the story.

  Mr. Harper Samsa vowed to cut down some of the woods where the wolves could be hiding. He had planned on using it as a preserve when he moved to the area. Mr. Samsa recently married had planned on bringing his wife here but said that he couldn’t bring her until he had made it safe for her. Mr. Samsa bought the two hundred acres and had plans to purchasing more to build a town with a hospital and schools for his family.

  Sitting back in her chair Emily stared at the wall. Is this for me? She wondered. But why didn’t he tell me? Why hadn’t he said something? She had all kinds of questions and the only way she could answer them was to go and see him. Meet him half way and then maybe he would tell her why he didn’t want her to be a virgin.

  Jumping to her feet she knew what she had to do. How could she not want a man like him? He had been everything that she wanted and now she risk throwing him away. Elisabeth would take him in a minute and never look back.

  “But she would make you miserable,” Emily said dressing into her jeans and shirt and leather jacket.

  She hurried downstairs and into the kitchen were the staff was eating. It was nine in the morning. “Can I take one of the cars?”

  “Mrs. Samsa you don’t have to ask us. But of course you can. I’m taking the Range Rover and if Mr. Samsa calls tell him I’m going to meet him.” She turned. “I forgot I don’t have any money.” The staff glanced at her as if she was an alien.

  “Here take an advance on your salary.”

  “How much do you need?”

  “I think five hundred should be enough. I need some clothes and gas.”

  “The SUV is full with gas. Make sure you get a credit card from Mr. Samsa,” the maid said trying to be helpful. She smiled.

  “I’m sure you’re good for the five hundred,” the butler said as he reached into the emergency box and handed her five hundred dollars. She tucked the money in an old leather purse which belonged to her mother, but when her mother left her father she left that too.

  It was one of the many things that belonged to her mother that she cherished.

  Emily rushed out of the house after taking the car keys. When she reached the small town, she had been driving five hours with only a few stops in between.

  She veered off the main highway by mistake and it took her down a dirt road and then a blacktop. She kept driving and then she stopped when she saw a large truck with lumber pass her. She tried to catch up to it to ask a question but it led her around a bend and then it stopped.

  Stopping behind it she turned off the engine and stepped out. A large man with wide shoulders began to unload a gate. On the gate it said SAMSA RANCH.

  “This is the Samsa ranch?”

  “That’s what it says. Do you Mr. Samsa and where can I find him?”

  “I don’t know him Miss but I know where you can find him and some of the workmen. They took a lunch break and rode over to the Rusty Nail.”

  “What kind of place is it? Can I get something to eat?”

  “It’s a bar for men. I wouldn’t suggest you go there.”

  “You mean there are no women in there?”

  “There are but...”

  “Then I can go. Where can I find it?” The driver told her and explained how to get there.

  Emily hopped into the SUV and headed in the direction where the Rusty Nail sat off the road into a clump of trees near the highway. She had passed it but didn’t see it because of all the tall pines and underbrush hiding it.

  When she drove up there were only a few trucks out front. Most beat up with rust on the side. The bar matched the cars. Yet there had been a few minor improvements. When Emily stepped inside it looked like a bar. The ring had been torn down and some men from the construction crew were sitting and looked up when Emily walked inside.

  She looked like a deer caught in headlights or a deer caught in the scope of a hunter’s gun and the place was full of predators. Some men and some werewolves. Although there were six trucks the place was full.

  Mostly beer were being served. There were two waitress and Nero and Angela. Coming from the back dressed in black tights and black shirt a fake black tail and a pair of ears she smiled at Emily.

  “What are you having? We don’t see too many humans in here.”

  “
Humans. Aren’t we all humans,” Emily said.

  Angela glanced at her and smiled, “Why yes but some are more human than others. Can I get you something to drink or eat? But I warn we only serve steaks rare. Like one step from getting up and walking off your plate.” She chuckled but Emily didn’t get it.

  “I came looking for my husband.”

  “You are the third woman this week looking for her husband. He may have gone off with the night waitress. She’s a little tigress.”

  “My husband wouldn’t go off with anyone. We just got married. He’s building a home for us.”

  “You mean Harper Samsa?”

  “Yes that’s him.”

  “He left about an hour ago. You may have passed him along the road.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “He said that he had to go back to San Francisco. He said he was bringing you back.” Emily stood watching around the bar.

  “What do you think I should do?”

  “You could stay with me and my mate. He’s off at night and you won’t get in the way. We have an extra room. No children. Tried having them but a panther and a wolf don’t mix well.” Emily didn’t get that either. “I get off from work in a few minutes and then you can come with me.”

  “Do you have a phone?”

  “No. We don’t use phones around here.”

  “How do you call if you have an emergency?”

  “We never have emergency because there aren’t any doctors and now we have no sheriff.”

  “What about crimes?”

  “We have plenty of that but no one reports it. We take care of that ourselves. Harper said he would build a town and bring in people to police the area. That is when the town has grown. He a great guy.”

  “I think so too.”

  When Emily and Angela were riding to Angela’s home, Harper was driving up into his garage.

  Chapter Nineteen