Billionaire Werewolf Bundle

by Mia Harris

  ***

  Caught By The Alpha

  A chilly winter wind whipped through Ella French’s long brown hair as she exited her car and headed up the long garden path that led to local oil billionaire Stephen Robinson’s mansion. She, along with everyone else applying for the cleaning position, had had to go through several security checkpoints to even drive up here, so she desperately hoped that she could score the job.

  Like most people, she had never planned on being someone else’s maid, but that was just how life had turned out for her. Two years of college had amounted to nothing because after a series of unlucky incidents, her parents could no longer afford to support her and pay her tuition. So, she had been forced to drop out, and the last five years had been a struggle from one crappy, low-paying job to the next. The last position she had held as a waitress and cleaner at a café hadn’t actually been so bad, aside from the pay, but unfortunately the owners had recently decided to shut the place down.

  She had discovered the advertisement for the cleaning job online, and marveled when she had seen the pay rate. It was twice what she had been paid at her old jobs, and if she got the position, she might actually be able to pay off some of the debts she owed, which wasn’t something she had imagined herself doing anytime soon.

  All that she knew about Stephen Robinson was from what she had seen in the papers and heard from gossipy friends. He had made his fortune in the oil industry at the relatively tender age of twenty-eight, and then invested it further until he was one of the country’s youngest billionaires. Ella knew he was a handsome man, but she had also heard he could be a formidable boss, so she hoped that if she did get this maid job, he wouldn’t be around all that often.

  As she arrived at the top of the garden path, a kindly-faced older man asked if she was there for the interview. When she answered, he directed her to a small door to the side, and as she walked through it, her heart sank. There were at least fifty other applicants sitting there already, and she thought she had been early. Checking her watch, she saw that it was only a quarter to nine. Fifteen minutes before the interviews start. Jesus, I bet half the candidates aren’t even here yet. I’m never going to get this job.

  Taking a seat next a pretty blonde girl, Ella’s palms began to sweat as she looked around. If Stephen Robinson was a shallow, model-chasing playboy like so many other rich men were, then there was no way she would be hired, even for a simple cleaning job. The other female applicants ranged from petite to statuesque in height, but they all had one thing in common – they were skinny. As she eyed the blonde girl next to her, she tried to picture herself even fitting one of her thighs in her smart black skirt. Nope, wouldn’t happen. I’d tear the skirt in two before I even managed to stick my ankle in, she thought, sighing.

  She had always been a big girl, and always been proud of her curves, but right now they were making her feel lower than ever as she eyed the other applicants. Her face was pretty enough, especially with some carefully-applied makeup, but she would never have the sort of body that would see her mistaken for a model or an actress. A plus-size model, maybe…

  A few minutes later, her reverie was disturbed by a powerful, deep voice booming through the room. Jerking her head up, she was shocked to see Mr. Robinson himself standing at the front of the room, next to a door which Ella had assumed led to an office of some sort. She had initially thought that one of his employees would be taking care of the hiring process, but here he was in the flesh, even more handsome than in the pictures she had seen of him.

  He was tall with even features and short brown hair, and casually dressed in jeans and a black long-sleeved T-shirt. The T-shirt left little to the imagination, and Ella’s jaw nearly dropped as her eyes lingered on the well-defined muscles that lay underneath. He might be a tough boss, but he sure is sexy, she thought. She had assumed a billionaire like him would always be dressed in an expensive suit, but the casual clothes gave him a down-to-earth air that she hadn’t anticipated.

  “Thank you for coming, everyone. I…”

  He paused and scanned the room, and his eyes landed directly on Ella. As he stared at her, she felt a rush of heat right between her legs, and her mouth dried up as her heart thumped in her chest.

  “Well, I’m sorry to have made you all waste your time, but the position has been filled already,” he continued, his gravelly voice sending shivers racing down Ella’s spine along with a tinge of disappointment as she realized she wouldn’t even be getting an interview with him now that the job was taken.

  The applicants frowned and tittered as they began to file out of the room, and Ella picked up her faded old handbag and sighed. Back to the drawing board, she thought, trying to recall the other positions she had come across on the jobseekers website. As she stood up and turned to leave, she felt a large hand tap her on the shoulder. Then, a familiar voice spoke to her from behind.

  “Excuse me, could you stay?”

  Ella whirled around to see the billionaire himself standing behind her. As he stared down at her with an unfamiliar expression on his face, she could have sworn that his eyes flashed with a golden color for a second. He looks… angry, or maybe it’s something else. It’s hard to tell. Did I do something wrong? she wondered. Nervous, she simply stared at him for a few seconds, unable to find her tongue.

  “Would you come with me?” Mr. Robinson asked, motioning a hand towards the door that he had been standing next to only moments ago.

  Ella still had no idea what he wanted, but she nodded her head and followed him anyway. He was a wealthy and powerful man, and from what she had read about him, he wasn’t the kind of man that one should ever say no to. She had been right about where the door went; it led into a spacious office where Mr. Robinson told her to sit.

  Finally locating her tongue a moment later, Ella spoke up.

  “Mr. Robinson, may I ask why you brought me back here?”

  He sat down at a large desk across from her, and then stared at her as he rested his chin on one hand. His grey-blue eyes seemed to bore a hole right through her, and Ella felt decidedly uncomfortable as she shifted nervously in her seat.

  “You came here to apply for the cleaning job, yes?” he asked.

  “Yes. But then you said it was filled, so…”

  He waved his hand to interrupt her.

  “I told everyone else it was filled to get them out of here, as they were no longer needed. I’d like to offer you the job. That is, if you still want it.”

  “What?” she replied, her eyes widening. “Sorry, I mean… why are you offering me the job when you don’t even know me?”

  “I’m a good businessman, Ms…”

  “French. Ella French,” she said.

  “Ms. French. In my line of work, I need to make quick decisions, and I’ve become rather adept at judging situations and knowing what the right choice is, often by instinct. As soon as I saw you sitting out there, I knew you would be perfect. So I sent everyone else away.”

  “But… what if you’re wrong about me?” she asked, raising her eyebrows in confusion.

  He chuckled.

  “My instincts never fail me. At least they haven’t yet.”

  “Don’t you want to see my CV or anything like that?”

  “Yes, I would. I’m not a complete idiot,” he said, his eyes twinkling slightly. “I assume you have a copy handy?”

  As Ella leaned down to retrieve the small file with her CV in it from her handbag, her cheeks turned pink. What exactly does he see in me? she wondered, almost pinching her arm to see if she was dreaming.

  Mr. Robinson scanned her CV for a moment and then looked up.

  “This says you were at Hale University for four semesters studying engineering. That’s an excellent school. Is there any reason you didn’t finish?”

  Ella felt her face turning a brighter shade of pink as he regarded her over the top of her file.

  “Um… well, my parents couldn’t pay for my tuition anymore, and it was too hard for m
e to work fulltime and study such an intensive course, so I had to drop out,” she said.

  “I see. That’s a shame. So your true passion in life is engineering, then. You know, my company is always in need of new engineering talent. Of course you’d have to finish your degree.”

  “Maybe one day I will,” she said, feeling uncomfortable with the reminder of how much her life had failed to turn out the way she wanted.

  “Right. Maybe you will. Anyway, your CV looks good. You seem to have a decent amount of experience,” he said. “Can you start tomorrow?”

  “Yes, of course,” she said, feeling a rush of excitement as it finally hit her that she had gotten the job, seemingly against all odds. She still had no idea how or why the billionaire had singled her out of the crowd, but she was glad he had. Her bills were piling up at home, and if she didn’t pay her rent soon, she would probably end up being evicted within the next two weeks.

  “Good. You will be responsible for the east wing of my house. I have staff to take care of the other wings, and when you arrive tomorrow, one of them will be here to meet you and show you around.”

  “Okay, Mr. Robinson. What time will I need to get here?”

  “Well… I’m not a morning person. I suppose I’m what you’d call a night owl,” he said. “So, I don’t like cleaners getting here before lunch. As such, the hours are from twelve to seven, five days a week. It might seem like a lot, but this old mansion gets quite dusty, and there are a lot of rooms. You also get a forty-five minute break to eat, with food provided.”

  “Oh. That’s fine,” Ella replied, not wanting to admit that a thirty-five hour work week was far less than she had been expecting. At every other job she had held, she had to work fifty hours a week just to make her rent, and sometimes even more. “Thank you so much for this opportunity, Mr. Robinson.”

  “Just don’t let me down,” he said. “I wouldn’t like my instincts to be wrong. Especially seeing as my private study and sitting room are in the east wing. I’m entrusting them with you.”

  “I won’t let you down,” Ella said earnestly.

  After she thanked him again and left, she headed home, feeling as if she were sailing on a cloud of happiness. Cleaning someone else’s house might seem like a degrading job to some people, but the hours were great, and the pay was incredible compared to a lot of other jobs out there. With these hours and at this rate, I might be able to save enough money and have enough free time to enroll myself back in my studies part-time, she thought, a shiver running down her spine at the thought of finally being allowed to live her dream. And so far, Mr. Robinson doesn’t seem that bad. He’s abrupt, but not completely awful. And that face and body make it all worth it…

  ***

  A week and a half later, Ella was settled into her new job and to her surprise, she was actually enjoying it. Cleaning wasn’t exactly rocket science, and she was able to sleep in late in the mornings before getting ready and heading to Mr. Robinson’s mansion to start at twelve. She would grab her mp3 player, put her headphones in and then begin work, and she was never bothered by anyone. Some might find this sort of work lonely, but she enjoyed the time to herself. It gave her time to think about her future and make plans.

  She hadn’t seen much of Mr. Robinson himself. Occasionally she would run into him in the hallways, and he would always turn on his heel and walk away as if he needed to avoid speaking with ‘the help’ at all costs. She didn’t care, though. He’d given her this opportunity, and that was all that mattered.

  There was just one problem weighing heavily on her mind. On her first day, another staff member had been sorting out her address and bank account number for her pay to go into, and she had been told that all of Mr. Robinson’s employees were on a monthly basis. When she had heard this, her stomach had lurched. Her account was nearly empty, and her rent was overdue. Her landlord had given her another week to pay it or be evicted, and she had been counting on her first pay-check to cover it. She had assumed that she would be paid on a weekly basis like she had been with all her other jobs, and now she had no idea how she was going to sort out the mess she was in.

  She had tried calling her parents to ask for help, but they hadn’t been able to spare any cash. It seemed like such a petty amount - $200 – but to her, it was the difference between having a place to live and being out on the street somewhere. I’ll bet Mr. Robinson spends $200 on lunch alone, she thought as she dusted one of the old antique shelves in his private sitting room. He would never have to worry about something like this.

  The sitting room was the last room that she had to clean for the day, and she absentmindedly planned dinner as she worked. Being winter, it was already cold and dark outside, and she figured it was the perfect opportunity to make a nice roast. Too bad all I can afford right now is Ramen.

  As she continued to dust, she hummed to herself along with the song she was listening to, and her voice suddenly caught in her throat as she spied something out of the corner of her eye. Is that what I think it is? she wondered, moving closer to it. On a nearby cabinet, there was a large white envelope with an enormous stack of cash sitting on top of it.

  Looking over her shoulder to make sure that no one was around to see her, she carefully picked up the stack of cash and tried to count it. God… there must be something like fifty grand here, she thought, her eyes widening. She had never seen so much money in one place in her entire life. Why would Mr. Robinson just leave this around?

  Ella knew she should put the cash down where she had found it, but something was stopping her. All I need is $200. I could just take it, and he probably wouldn’t even notice it was missing from such a huge sum of money, she thought, chewing her lip as she mulled it over.

  I know it’s a terrible thing to do, but I’m desperate. As soon as I get my first pay-check, I’ll figure out a way to pay it back, she decided, and quickly pulled two hundred-dollar notes from the top of the stack before placing it back on the envelope. Just as she went to tuck the notes into her pocket, the sitting room light suddenly turned off, and she heard a low growl from somewhere behind her.

  She froze for a second as her mind raced with confusion and guilt, and then whirled around. In the darkness, she could see the outline of an enormous dog sitting on its haunches at the door. When did Mr. Robinson get a dog? she wondered, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw it properly and dropped the money to the floor in shock. Wait… dogs don’t have glowing yellow eyes. It’s a wolf!

  Her heart pounding with fear, she slowly backed away to the far end of the room, her eyes trained on the wolf the whole time. She had no idea how such a creature had managed to get into such a highly-secure mansion, but it was definitely right there in front of her, staring her down and slowly padding towards her.

  She was trying to remain outwardly calm so as not to provoke the beast, but her mind was screaming at her. Run, run, run!

  The wolf edged ever closer, its yellow eyes seeming to burn even brighter as it approached. Suddenly it snarled and bared its fangs, and before she knew it, it was lunging at her and sending her flying backwards onto the polished wooden floorboards. Winded, Ella gasped for air as the wolf pinned her down, and she squeezed her eyes shut in terror.

  “Please!” she whimpered, despite knowing it probably didn’t understand her. “Just… let me leave!”

  The wolf’s warm breath caressed her throat, and the analytical part of Ella’s petrified mind noted that it smelled of mint. Wait… mint? Her eyes flew open, and to her surprise, the wolf was gone. She was being held down by none other than Mr. Robinson himself.

  “What… what are you?” she asked, her voice quavering.

  “What does that matter? I think the more important question is… why are you stealing from me?” he growled, his voice even deeper and more gravelly than she remembered.

  “I’m sorry!” she gasped. “I… I was about to get evicted from my house and I needed $200 to stop that from happening, and then I saw the money ju
st sitting there. I thought you couldn’t possibly miss it, and I was going to think of a way to pay it back, I swear!”

  He continued to glare down at her as his strong arms pinned hers to the ground beside her. His eyes were no longer their usual grey-blue; instead, they were the same golden color she had seen in the wolf’s eyes. It finally occurred to Ella what he was. Mr. Robinson is a werewolf. As a child, she had been obsessed with books about all kinds of mystical creatures, but she had never thought they might actually be real.

  Conflicting emotions flooded through her mind all at once; fear mixed with guilt, and also a strange sense of enjoyment. Maybe it was just because this was the closest she’d ever been to the gorgeous billionaire, but the rush of warmth between her legs told her otherwise. Being pinned down by the wolf-man was turning her on like never before, and from the burning look in Mr. Robinson’s eyes, she wasn’t the only one who was feeling this way.

  Finally, the unfamiliar expression on his face on the day they had met made sense. It was arousal in its purest form… voracious, animal-like and entirely erotic, and it was driving her crazy with desire. I want him… but how could he want me? I’m not rich like him, or anything like him, really. Maybe I’m just crazy and he’s actually about to eat me. That must be it.

  Despite her fear and confusion, she could feel her panties dampening with lusty excitement, and the rush of warmth that was pooling between her legs was delivering some much-needed heat to her body as she lay on the cold floorboards, trapped underneath her billionaire boss.

  Still not knowing what she should do, she lay back and let her chest rise and fall with quick, short breaths as Mr. Robinson stared down at her, and then seconds later he took the decision out of her hands with one quick movement. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, and almost immediately, Ella felt as if her entire body had been set ablaze from deep within.