The Vampire Prince’s Bride

by T. S. Ryder

But that look in his eyes like he was wondering what she tasted like... yeah. That made her shiver.

  “Well?” he asked, his brow raised quizzically, as if he was daring her to step inside. His voice, a little on the rough side, fit him perfectly, and Bianca thought that she wouldn’t be surprised if she found out women were lining up at his bedroom door – they’d literally just met and she could already feel the heat rising under her skin. He had a presence that went beyond attraction, something almost primal that she could not help but respond to.

  But then she remembered the reason she was there and mentally slapped herself for losing her concentration so easily. She nodded and stepped inside, scurrying off into a corner of the elevator. The man smirked and moved his hand, letting the door close.

  “Which floor?” he asked.

  “11th, please,” she replied.

  A wolfish grin appeared on his lips as he pressed the button, his eyes not leaving her even once. Bianca had a feeling that she should be afraid... and yet, instead, she felt heat pool between her thighs, making her frustrated with herself. He was dangerous – he looked dangerous – but, for some reason, that realization only made her want him even more.

  Chapter Two

  Meanwhile, Eric McKenna was exercising more self-restraint than he had thought was possible for any werewolf enclosed in such a small space with a woman at the peak of her monthly cycle, let alone for a fully-fledged Alpha on the first day of the full moon.

  Granted, her pheromones weren’t the only thing wreaking havoc on his control. In fact, he was wondering if there was a man alive who could see how beautiful she was and not want to take her on the spot.

  She had a sweet, heart-shaped face with large brown eyes and small, full lips. He was already fantasizing about them being wrapped around him while she was on her knees. Her chestnut hair was bound in a tight French bun, and both her makeup and her nails were well done, using only natural tones. She wore no perfume, for which his highly sensitive nose was very grateful.

  And her body... the charcoal sheath dress that encased her from neck to knee did nothing to hide the generous curves of her voluptuous figure. She was built like a pinup, though with much thicker padding, with large breasts, a pronounced waistline despite the roundness of her belly and wide hips with a juicy bottom stacked on top of thick, strong thighs.

  The wolf in him whispered to the most primal of his desires, demanding he take her, but the man forced himself to stay where he was. The only thing on the 11th floor was his own company, which most likely made her a potential client – and, more to the point, she was a complete stranger. He did not need this complication... though his Beta would probably disagree.

  “You know your year is almost up,” Brian had reminded him just last night, for what seemed like the millionth time, “Might and issue, Eric. Those are the requisites, and you’re stalling on the issue part.” Eric had argued him out of his house not even a full hour later, but for all that he hated to admit it, Brian was right. In his pack, an Alpha had as many duties as he had privileges, but even the worst Alpha could still legitimately hold a claim to his title if he met two conditions – defeating any pretenders to the position who issue a formal Challenge, and proving his fertility by having a healthy son. For the previous Alphas of the pack, who had already had families before they assumed the position, this had not been a problem, unless they had only daughters. In that case, they had three years to produce an heir.

  A childless Alpha had one.

  Knowing that he had no choice, Eric had done his part and, ever since he obtained his title, had knocked boots with pretty much every willing she-wolf he could find, even though the forced nature of those couplings bothered him greatly. Sex was supposed to be fun and emotional; what he had been having for the past year could only be called clinical.

  And he couldn’t blame the ladies, either. It wasn’t their fault that the same magic that gave werewolves their heightened senses, the ability to shapeshift and many other perks made werewolves far less fertile than humans – which was a loophole he could’ve taken advantage of if the idea didn’t make him sick to his stomach. He had too much honor to knock up some poor woman who had no idea what she’d be getting into and convince her to keep the baby he would then have to take away. Even when one parent was human, a child of a werewolf was always a werewolf.

  To prevent any accidents, Eric had stopped having sex with human women altogether. It was a decision he was currently very tempted to revoke, especially when he caught the sweet, sweet scent of arousal from the woman across from him. The beast inside him fought to take control with a vengeance.

  With a stifled growl, Eric closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the wall of the elevator, praying that whatever business this woman had in his firm had nothing to do with him...

  Chapter Three

  With a loud ding, the elevator stopped, and Bianca fought the urge to flee as soon as the door opened. The fact that the man in front of her made her feel both aroused and apprehensive was no excuse to be rude, especially since, for all the teasing, he hadn’t actually done anything that would justify her nervousness. He had just stood there and... watched her, without blinking once, until he had closed his eyes and rested the back of his head against the elevator door a few seconds before they reached the 11th floor. And, when they did, he was courteous enough to politely gesture for her to exit the elevator first. She nodded and stepped out, doing her best to hide her relief.

  She’d heard him step out as well a moment later, but she didn’t dare to look to see where he went, heading straight to the reception desk instead. A glance at the clock behind the receptionist’s back told her that she’d arrived just in the nick of time, which took some of the nervousness away, and moments later a secretary arrived to take her to meet with the head of HR.

  The interview went much better than she had anticipated. Faster, too, since the woman Bianca was going to temp for had left abruptly, and they needed someone to jump into her shoes as soon as possible. “Mr. McKenna’s personal assistant broke her ankle and will be out for two months,” Ms. Fonseca explained, “His secretary will be taking over for her, but we need someone who will aid her since she’ll basically be doing two jobs at once. She personally handpicked the candidates, so you’ve come pre-approved, and if you can start right away then the job is yours.” Bianca was a little disappointed. The original job posting did say that this would be a temporary position, but only two months? That was far too short a time.

  But she was desperate, and a good reference from McKenna Enterprises could potentially open more doors for her, so she decided to accept the offer. An hour and a mountain of paperwork later, Bianca had the pleasure of being introduced to her new (albeit temporary) boss, Janet Hutchinson.

  Ms. Hutchinson was a kind but firm woman in her 50s, and Bianca spent the next few hours running through the ins and outs of her new job with her, taking notes and trying to memorize as much as she was able to in such a small amount of time. “I’m so happy you’ve decided to take the position,” she told Bianca, once they were done and making the necessary plans for the next day. “You were my first choice on the list.”

  Bianca felt her cheeks redden a little. “Thank you,” she replied, and was just about to ask about the minutes she’d be taking during one of the next day’s meetings when Ms. Hutchinson looked somewhere behind Bianca’s shoulder and exclaimed, smiling, “Hello, Mr. McKenna.”

  She turned around to see a handsome young man with a cheerful look on his face. He looked around thirty and had those classically handsome features often favored by the fitness modeling companies: manly, but well groomed. He was tall and cut a fine figure in impeccably tailored attire, with a gold Patek Philippe glinting on his wrist and his entire pose that of a man confident in his style. Bianca found herself envying him; he had the air of a man who was always satisfied with what he saw in the mirror, something she was sure she’d never achieve.

  “Janet, please.” He smi
led to the secretary, and took her hand for a kiss. “You know you don’t have to stand on ceremony with me. That’s Hector’s gig.” Ms. Hutchinson chuckled.

  “In the office, you are Mr. McKenna,” she told him, in a motherly tone that told Bianca Ms. Hutchinson had probably known Jason McKenna since he was a boy.

  “So strict,” he sighed dramatically, before his eyes moved to Bianca. “And who is this lovely lady?” Mr. McKenna asked, sizing her up. Despite his charm, she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable about him, which struck her as strange. Jason McKenna was a very handsome man, even more handsome than the man she had met that morning, and yet she didn’t feel the least bit attracted to him.

  “Meet Bianca Jamison,” Ms. Hutchinson said. “She’ll be assisting me while I cover for Mrs. Jackson. Ms. Jamison, this is Mr. Jason McKenna, head of the company’s financial sector.”

  Bianca nodded and took the hand Mr. McKenna offered for a shake. “How do you do, sir?” she said politely, “I look forward to working with you.”

  Jason McKenna laughed.

  “Oh, I’m not Janet’s boss,” he replied, amused. “Though not for the lack of trying. I’ve been trying to sweet-talk both her and Susannah into leaving my brother for me for almost a year now, but they’re just too darn loyal... even though I know I’m their favorite.”

  Ms. Hutchinson chuckled, wagging her finger at him playfully. “Not for long, if you keep teasing that way,” she chided him, but her heart was clearly not in it; she was too obviously fond of the man. “It’s bad enough that she’s in such a position that she had to take the job of a glorified errand girl for just two months even though she’s more than qualified to take over for me if she had to,” Ms. Hutchinson told him, “She doesn’t need you playing around with her as well.”

  She then turned back to Bianca. “As you know, the company was started and run by Richard McKenna up until his death last fall,” she explained patiently. “His three sons now run the company together, though each of them continues to work mainly in the sectors they were responsible for before Richard passed away. I’ve already told you Jason here runs the finance, but his brothers, Hector and Eric, run IT and marketing respectively.”

  Bianca nodded. “And we work for…?” she asked, not hazarding a guess out of fear of appearing silly.

  “That would be me,” a familiar voice chimed from behind, and a hot tremor shot down Bianca’s spine.

  She turned around to see two men standing before her. The taller one of the pair was built like a linebacker, with huge, bulging muscles, enormous hands and a rough, square face that had a decidedly unfriendly expression. Nothing, not even the clearly expensive tailored suit he wore, could make this man look like anything other than a mob enforcer.

  The man standing next to him was the same man from the elevator.

  “Hector, Eric,” Jason greeted them merrily, “This is Bianca Jamison. She’ll be helping Janet while she’s filling in for Susanna. Ms. Jamison, these are my brothers. The man-mountain over there is Hector, and the beach bum over there is your boss, Eric.”

  Eric McKenna rolled his eyes, but it was Hector who spoke, his voice low and rough as gravel. “That kind of language is rude and unprofessional, and has no place in the office,” he said, his attitude just as formal as his attire, and Bianca now understood Jason’s earlier comment much better.

  Eric, however, didn’t seem amused by either of his brothers at the moment. “Leave it be, Hector,” he told his brother, before turning to Bianca. “You’ll have to excuse my brothers, Ms. Jamison. Hector is a stickler for protocol and Jason thinks anyone who doesn’t wear the full Klein Epstein & Parker regalia is a hobo.”

  Bianca wasn’t sure whether or not she should say something on the subject, or even if it was expected of her to do so, so she decided to rely on non-committal politeness to get her through this unexpected snag. “I understand, sir,” she replied, nodding first to Eric and then Hector before adding, “Pleased to meet you.” Not terribly eloquent of her, but at least she knew she wasn’t stepping over any lines.

  Hector McKenna nodded, but when he spoke again, he was addressing his brother Eric. “I’ll see you later,” he said simply and, after nodding a goodbye to Ms. Hutchinson, left without much ceremony.

  Jason snickered but went instantly quiet when Eric shot him a sharp look.

  “I should get going too,” the dandyish McKenna brother announced. “I just came by to drop this off.” He then pulled a thumb drive out of the inner pocket of his jacket and handed it over to Eric. “I don’t know why you need it, but I’d like to,” he said, suddenly sounding... serious, almost. But the change in his expression was gone as soon as it appeared, mirth returning to his features. “Ladies.” He smiled at them and nodded before leaving, and Bianca could not help but think that there were probably no three brothers more profoundly different from each other than the McKennas were.

  Hector McKenna was terrifying and cold, Jason McKenna irreverent and suave, and Eric McKenna... knowing who he was did nothing to lessen the effect he had on her, but it did change the way she felt about it. Earlier, it was just embarrassing. Now? Now it was downright unprofessional, so much so that she felt awkward just looking in his direction.

  Whether or not he could sense her unease, Bianca couldn’t tell, but she was grateful nonetheless when he said, “I’ll leave you to your work now,” and began to walk past them towards his office.

  Chapter Four

  God damn it!

  Eric fought the urge to slam the door of his office as he entered and headed straight for the liquor cabinet to pour himself a tall shot of whiskey, which he downed in one swift gulp.

  His secretary. His freaking secretary, for crying out loud! It was like someone out there was playing a prank on him, and he was not amused.

  He had spent the entire morning thinking about her, unable to focus much of his attention on anything but the memory of her, of her scent, and it’d been driving him crazy. And now it turned out he’d be working with her day in and day out for the next two months, having her in his immediate vicinity, at his beck and call at all times.

  No. And not just no – hell, no. He couldn’t let that happen – he was much too high-strung to be able to have her so near and not make a move, and if he had thought earlier that this would be a complication, now he knew it for a fact. If he gave in to the baser instincts that she stoked in the heart of him, it could harm not only him but the company as well, and he’d be damned if he ever let something like that happen.

  A reluctant Alpha he may have been, but the job he did at the company was sacred to him. He was so young when he first entered the firm, just out of Harvard Business School with his shiny new diploma in Communications and Marketing, brimming with ideas he couldn’t wait to pour into the stale environment that McKenna Enterprises had become. His father had fought him at every step, but Eric hadn’t given in for a second, and slowly but surely he had proved that he knew exactly what he was doing. Three years later, the company was out of the rut, the Financial Times put him on their Top 10 Most Promising Young Managers list and the already obscenely enormous fortune they earned on a yearly basis increased by nearly 20%. He loved his job and loved McKenna Enterprises, and he’d never do anything to jeopardize either.

  Which is why this hunger for Bianca Jamison was killing him. He knew he had to fight it, but damn, it was hard. He was hard, even now, even though the only touch they had shared was a handshake.

  And it couldn’t have happened at a worse time, either, for him or for the company. That morning, just as he had entered his office, Jason had come to him with the worst news possible.

  “There’s $35 million missing from our accounts,” Jason said, as soon as he had sat down, “And Hector’s the one who stole it.”

  Eric couldn’t believe it – wouldn’t believe it. McKenna Enterprises was their family legacy and the idea of either himself or one of his brothers doing anything to harm it was inconceivable to him.

&
nbsp; But he also knew that Jason would never have made such an accusation if he wasn’t completely sure of it. He may have seemed flaky, but his mind was sharp and his proficiency undeniable. If he said he’d noticed flukes in the financial records and that all fingers pointed to Hector embezzling money for McKenna Enterprises, then it had to be true. And Hector certainly had the skills to do it.

  Except Eric had a hard time imagining Hector – who, despite his unattractive personality, was also loyal, noble and honorable to the point of self-harm – doing anything that could be classified as a betrayal.

  McKenna Enterprises wasn’t just his family’s legacy. All of the original investors and current shareholders were Pack members, as were roughly a third of the employees and every single member of the Board of Directors. McKenna Enterprises ensured that the Pack prospered, and Hector cared about the wellbeing of the Pack too much to jeopardize it in any way.

  No matter how much he hated it, though, Eric knew that it was his duty to investigate the accusation before making any decisions, so he went to Hector with it.

  “If I wanted to be Alpha,” his brother had said coldly, once Eric was done, his shoulders coiled tight and his eyes burning with fury, “I would’ve taken Father’s place when he passed away, as was my right.” And he was correct. The Law gave the late Alpha’s first-born son the right to his father’s position, providing that he could assert his undisputed dominance by defeating every other candidate willing to challenge him for the job. But when Richard McKenna passed away and the Pack came to Hector, he had flat-out refused to accept it, forcing the position of Alpha on Eric as the next in line – a position he didn’t even have to defend, because not a single Challenger had appeared, then or ever.

  “Why do you think I came to you with this directly?” Eric asked. From the moment he had entered Hector’s office, he had made sure that his body language spoke of peace. “I don’t believe for a second you’d steal from the company,” he explained. “But I also fully believe that Jason found the traces that he did. Which means someone out there is trying to manipulate us into tearing out each other’s throats... and we need to find out who it is. Fast.”