A Bride For a Werewolf

by Rachel E Rice

  “Stanley, I don’t have a place to stay,” Emily said with tears pooling in her eyes.

  “I came to that conclusion the minute I saw you standing at my door this hour in the morning. I haven’t had my coffee yet, and I have a class at nine.” He sat down. “Don’t stand there. Sit and tell me all about it.” Then Stanley stood and waved for Emily to follow him. They ended up in the kitchen.

  Stanley brewed two cups of coffee and handed her one. “Now what happened?” They sat at the table and Emily told him about last night and Elisabeth.

  “I checked the newspapers and there’s a position as a maid.”

  “You are better than that.”

  “That’s all I can get that offers room and board.” Stanley thought about Emily. “I can keep you one night maybe two, but this place is full already. You can sleep in my day bed in my room. That is until my significant other decides he will visit me which maybe at any time.”

  “Thanks, but I’m going on the interview today. If not I have to go with plan B.” Stanley raised an eyebrow.

  Knowing Emily there wasn’t a plan A or B. She never did anything but work and go to school. She had no life.

  “Can I use your phone?” Stanley shook his head yes and pointed to the phone. She stayed on it for a few minutes and then turned with a wide smile.

  “I have an interview in an hour. The person I talked to said they needed someone desperately. Like today.” Emily gave out a sigh of relief.

  “Where and with whom? You know you have to be careful. You are a pretty young girl and there are perverts lurking out there.”

  “It’s at a mansion on Nob Hill.”

  “They are the worse. I mean you have real scumbags looking to take advantage of a woman especially a small broke girl like yourself. They get you into that place and tell you they want you to be their maid, but what they really want is someone they can have when they want to visit your room late at night when the misses isn’t around.”

  “I think you’re being too dramatic. You must be preparing for a part in one of Shakespeare’s plays. Who is it this time?”

  “Iago in Othello.”

  “I thought so. Don’t say any more. You make me frightened to go outside these days with your gloom and doom,” Emily said. “Where is your room because I need to freshen up?”

  “Come on, follow me.”

  As Emily combed her hair to go on her interview, Harper was sitting in his home office with his lawyer.

  Chapter Seven

  “Harper, you made the wrong decision when you broke your engagement to Elisabeth. Now it’s all in the papers and the gossip mongers are having a field day. It was in the morning papers you refused to marry her. Her family mentioned drugs. You know she has grounds to sue you for alienation of affection.” Michael threw the morning papers to him.

  “If the news got out this soon, it’s because she made the announcement and not me, and she wanted this,” Harper said sitting back in his leather chair. He dropped the paper on the table in front of his chair.

  “Her father has a wide reach in this town, and you don’t want to get on his bad side.”

  “He’s the one in debt and he was using Elisabeth to get to my money. She didn’t love me. Is that what I have to deal with? Women who only want my money and can’t see the person inside me?” Harper placed his hand under his chin and his eyes fell to the floor. He appeared to be heavy in thought.

  “How do you know she only wants your money?” Michael said leaning over to pour Harper a drink. He waved his hand over it signaling he had enough.

  “I was standing on that terrace. You know the one that wraps around that house, and I heard her tell her father she wanted to marry someone else. Not me. She took me for a fool and I guess I have been. I wouldn’t have sex because I thought she was saving herself for our wedding night. Now that was a joke. A joke on me.”

  “You said the terrace,” Michael said not hearing half of what Harper had said to him. “If I remember that terrace you’re talking about, it’s so far from that room it would be impossible to hear anything especially if it’s filled with people.” Harper turned and looked at Michael.

  “That’s what I needed to talked to you about. You didn’t ask me how I happen to be naked in the middle of San Francisco.”

  “I thought if you wanted me to know you would have said something,” Michael said with his hands steeple in front of his mouth.

  “I’m going to tell you now,” Harper said. There was short silence. “I’m a werewolf.” This time a long loud silence.

  “Get the fuck out of here, Harper,” Michael said in disbelief. His voice raising higher than usual. “You’ve had too much to smoke or drink or you’re on drugs.”

  “I don’t take drugs and I rarely drink. Really. I’m a werewolf.” Harper’s voice deepened with intensity.

  “And how did you come to that brilliant conclusion? Harper, I know losing your father has been difficult, and being raised without a mother has its problems, but this is just plain crazy. I think you should see a psychiatrist.”

  Michael reached for a pen and note pad from his coat pocket and scribbled a name of a doctor and his phone number, and then he handed it to Harper.

  Harper just looked at it and then at him and said, “I couldn’t be more serious.” A knock came to the door. The door opened.

  “Sir. You have a young woman here. She answered the ad I put in the paper. I’ve interviewed several women so far and it’s time to make a decision. Remember the maid who had been with your father retired, and with this large house, we need one more maid and someone younger to walk up those damn stairs.”

  “I’m busy. You hire her.” Harper raised his hand to dismiss him. “You make that decision,” Harper said turning back to Michael. “I have something very important to discuss with Michael, please don’t disturb me again.”

  “Very well.” And he backed out and closed the door behind him.

  “Where was I?” Harper looked to Michael.

  “You were saying something about being a werewolf,” Michael said with a casual tone scratching his forehead. And he turned his head, put his hand over his mouth to laugh.”

  “I didn’t tell you this so you could snicker at me. I’ve had a hard night. Do you know how difficult it is to discover that you’re some kind of animal and then have to tell a friend and he doesn’t believe you?”

  “It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just don’t think it is possible.”

  Harper stood. He dropped his neck to the right and you could hear bones crack, and in a matter of seconds he had shifted to a large white wolf standing on all fours, and then he turned back. Michael’s eyes grew large and he jolted from his chair. He didn’t know at that moment whether to pray or run.

  “Do you believe me now?”

  “Holy shit. You can’t tell anyone about this,” Michael said turning his head looking around as if he thought someone was in the room.

  “I wasn’t planning on telling anyone, only you. I just needed someone to believe me.”

  “Does Elisabeth know about you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then maybe she’ll take you back.”

  “I don’t want her. I don’t want anyone. I can’t expect any woman to want me and care for me after this.”

  “Don’t tell her. Just go about your life and when you’ve been with her long enough she’ll accept you if she loves you.”

  “That’s your answer? She doesn’t love me. Have you been listening? She wants money not me. No woman will want what I’ve become.”

  “Then you find another woman and pay her off, give her enough money, and have her sign a nondisclosure. I’ll write it up for you.”

  “I can’t lie to a woman about something like this.”

  “And you can’t tell the truth either. You will be alone all your life and you’re just twenty four” Harper stood and paced around the room. Michael glanced at him.

  “You’re making me ner
vous.”

  “If I make you nervous can you imagine what I will do to some unsuspecting woman who I happen to dupe into marrying me?”

  “You’re handsome, young, and rich. It won’t take long to find the right woman.”

  “I’m no good at choosing women.”

  “Well then let me make the choice. Go see that property in Nevada and then tell me what you think. When you come back, I’ll have several women lined up and ready to marry you.”

  “You’ll have to tell the one you choose about me being a werewolf.”

  “Yeah. Right. That’ll go over well. I tell you what, I’ll just say that this will be a marriage of convenience. How does that sound?”

  “I want a family and I don’t care how I get it and with whom?” Harper said. “I’ll take that drink now.” Michael poured him a glass. Harper wasn’t a drinker and that appeared to have changed as well. As he sat back, a knock came to the door. “Come in.”

  “You don’t have to knock.”

  “It’s my duty. Please Mr. Samsa, let me carry out my duties around here. I’ve been with you taking care of you since you were a child.”

  “I’m a man now,” Harper said. His voice strong but patient.

  “I came to inform you that I decided to hire the younger woman. We need some young blood in here besides you. She starts this evening.” And the elderly man turned and left the room.

  “Good. I can start by interviewing your new maid. Do you want to see what she looks like?”

  “I don’t care about looks anymore. All I want is someone who will accept me and when she discovers that I’m a werewolf she won’t go screaming into the night.”

  “I think I can guarantee that,” Michael said. He probably could guarantee she wouldn’t go screaming into the night because there was no way he would reveal to her that Harper was a werewolf. It was an insane notion. And no one would believe it even if he said so. He can hardly believe it himself.

  “That’s great. Do what you need to do. I may move to Nevada. There’s plenty of forest and land there. I’ll probably build a home. He glanced at Michael. “Did I tell you I eat my meat raw now? I hunt it and kill it,” Harper said glancing out the window. His mind far from San Francisco.

  “I need you to take care of my holdings, Michael. Once you have found the woman who will agree to become my bride and have my children, then if she wants to get out of the marriage she can. The only stipulation is I want my children if she decides she can’t accept me.”

  This was the first time Michael heard about children. Getting the woman to marry him is easy, but the part about children, now that was a horse of another color. One thing at a time, Michael thought.

  “You talk as if you’re a hideous creature.”

  “There are three phases to me. The one you see now, has this insatiable appetite for sex especially during the full moon. And the one you saw where I’m a large wolf, then there is the second phase, where I stand like a man, but I have this large muzzle, and these deadly teeth.”

  “All you have to do is control that part when you are with your mate. See I’m getting with this werewolf thing,” Michael said smiling and proud of himself.

  “It isn’t as simple as you make it out to be. I have to learn how control all phases of my wolf. Especially the urge to have sex every minute of the day.

  “Not with all women I hope?”

  “No. I’m searching for a mate. If I smell her, then I’ll know. But so far there’s been only one woman I’ve had that sensation that sensation with.”

  “So why didn’t you contact her?”

  “I don’t know where she is, and I don’t have time now to find her yet. Remember I have to go to Nevada. If you haven’t come up with a suitable woman, then I’ll be forced to look for her.”

  When Harper flew out to Nevada, Michael requested for Emily to come to his office for an interview.

  Chapter Eight

  “Have a seat. Emily is your name?”

  “Yes. Emily Mason. But I don’t see why I should have a second interview when I’m hired and working already.”

  “It’s not that kind of interview.” Emily’s legs began to shake. It was a nervous tick. Like biting her nails when she felt uncomfortable. “You’re interviewing for a chance to marry your employer.”

  “What? Why would I consider marrying my employer, and why would I want to marry an old man?”

  “Do you know who you’re working for?”

  “Not really. I’ve been working for a day and I haven’t seen anyone but the butler. He said that Mr. Robert Samsa owned the house.”

  “Then you don’t know Mr. Samsa?”

  “I think I served him at a mansion where I previously worked. But his name is Harper Samsa and he’s twenty-one or twenty-two years old.”

  “The butler is not completely correct. It is Robert Samsa’s home but he’s dead and now it belongs to Harper Samsa and he’s the one you are interviewing for a chance to marry him.”

  “For a chance to marry him? You make it sound like a game show. This is ridiculous. It is ridiculous isn’t it?”

  “As you can see I’m not laughing.” Michael sat with a stone face. He had been very serious about finding Harper a wife. He had interviewed ten women in the course of one day and none were as naïve and uninformed about the world as Emily. She is perfect, he thought.

  The others were savvy and ready to sign on the dotted line. They would say anything and do anything to marry Harper. He never disclosed to them who the rich man was, but nonetheless they hesitated at the idea of having children, and that was foremost on Michael’s mind when he stared at Emily.

  Harper had said he wanted children from the marriage.

  “You’re a beautiful girl. I’m sure you could have any man you want and you probably have a few boyfriends.”

  “No I don’t have a boyfriend. I’ve never had any. I have a father who never let me date and now I have too much responsibilities to date anyone or marry. There is the matter of completing my college education and taking care of my father.”

  “If you enter into this agreement with Mr. Samsa...” Emily interrupted Michael.

  “Why would he want to marry me? I thought he would marry Elisabeth. Isn’t she more in his class?”

  “There are no class systems in America.”

  “Tell that to my father. And look at me.”

  “But if you marry him, you will have everything you need.”

  “I don’t need anything but a job. Don’t tell me that if I don’t agree to this shit you have on this paper that I will lose my job.”

  “No you won’t. Then tell Mr. Samsa that I don’t want to marry him. If he wants to marry me, then he should ask me himself, and not send you to do his work.” She stood. “What kind of man sends his lawyer to interview for a wife?” Emily said annoyed and upset.

  She walked to the door and then turned, “I’m going to work now.”

  When Emily left, Michael called Harper. “What do you think about Nevada?” Michael said.

  “My father was right. I’m staying. Tomorrow I’m looking at an architect to build my ranch. I can have horses and dogs and I don’t have to worry about anything but finding someone to marry me. I’m content now with who I am.”

  “That’s why I called. I found someone. But she said if you wanted to marry her, you would have to ask her yourself.”

  “When I build this house, then I’ll ask her.”

  “Don’t you need to see a picture of her?”

  “Not really. Any woman who demands that a man ask her for her hand in marriage is the woman I want to marry. I don’t care what she looks like. If she can take me being a werewolf I can certainly accept her faults.”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly tell her about the werewolf thing.” A long silence ensued.

  “What exactly did you tell her?”

  “That you were rich. One good thing came out of this. She assumed you were an old man and she told me to get lost.”

/>   “I like a woman with spirit.”

  “She appeared pissed over me interviewing her. I think the whole idea that you weren’t there turned her off.”

  “Did you at least say it was because I was away?”

  “That would have brought on more complications and I didn’t want her to ask any more questions. This situation with you being a werewolf and wanting to acknowledge this right away could have ramifications you don’t need.”

  “What I don’t need is starting out a marriage or engagement with someone and then they discover that I’m not what I say I am. I’m no longer a man in a sense. I’m a man but a wolf too. What she sees before her is not what she’ll get.”

  “I think you’re judging yourself too harshly and undercutting yourself. If she sees the true you then she’s the right woman for you. But if you show her that animal you showed me, then there is no way you will find the right woman.”

  Thoughts of what a woman would do if she saw the real Harper raced through his head and he only imagined someone running and screaming into the night when he makes love to her.

  “Did she at least have a man before me?”

  “Now that’s a delicate matter. I don’t think this young woman is the type to ask her if she’s a virgin. But I think she’s a virgin.”

  “I don’t want a virgin,” Harper said. His voice hard and cold.

  “Then you should go back to Elisabeth.” Harper didn’t answer because he knew Michael was trying his best.

  “Michael, I’ve decided to move to Nevada and I’m planning on buying extra land. I’m in negotiations now. I’ll be back in San Francisco within a week. Find me a woman that’s not a virgin. Do I have to spell it out for you? I need someone I can have sex with. I need her pregnant right away. I don’t want her to have second thoughts about me.”

  “I’ll try,” Michael said. He sat behind his desk. Looked out the window and wondered what to do next. Emily was his last resort and she was perfect for Harper. He knew she would be good for him if he gave her a chance. Anyone else would be disastrous.