Sold To The Werewolf: A Wolf Shifter Biker Romantic Suspense

J
ane Sanders was
fresh out of college, in debt up to her eyeballs and eager to see what the world had to offer a mere week ago. Now stood at the graveside of her parents, her mind blank, numb, as tears rolled down her face. This was not how her new life was supposed to have gone. Looking down at her younger brother, Jane’s brain kicked into gear as she realized she was now responsible for the child. An adorable brown-haired little boy of eleven years old with the cutest freckles smattering his nose stared glumly at the coffins saturated by the Louisiana spring rains despite the marquee. Their parents were dead. They were now orphans.

Jane heard the priest saying words, making sounds, but all she truly heard was the sound of the rain pelting on the plastic tent covering them. She only saw the drops of water sliding down the sides of her parent’s caskets, caskets she had no clue how to pay for. There was insurance money, she knew that, but someone else had taken care of the arrangements. She and Charlie had just picked things out and then gone home, shocked to their very core.

She’d been on her way back to Ruby Bayou, a storm heading her way, when her mother had phoned her. She’d plugged her phone into her car stereo to talk hands free and the sound of the phone ringing had made her jump. Her mother had been on the other end of the line, telling her daughter to be careful because the roads were starting to flood. Jane was driving west just past New Orleans. On the highway the roads were fine she’d started to tell her mother when she heard a scream and the most awful sounds of metal being crushed and tires squealing in protest. Jane hadn’t known it then but her parents had just been crushed to death by a tractor's trailer whose load of cut cypress had come loose and swung into her parents’ car.

Jane listened to the screaming, tortured sounds of her parents in the car as she pulled off to the side of the road. She’d screamed at her mother, begging her to answer. After a few deathly quiet moments Jane heard a sound from the other end.

She wasn’t sure but she thought she’d heard her mother speak once more before a strangled breath was suddenly cut off.

“Jane.” A pitiful sound, garbled and full of pain but Jane would swear to the day she died that her mother had called out for her. The paramedics that soon came swore there was no way Jane could have heard that sound, her mother’s head had been all but decapitated by a cypress log but Jane knew she heard her mother calling out to her. She just knew it.

She knew what that one word had been. It had been a plea, a final request for Jane to take care of her brother. Jane put her hand on the little boy’s shoulders as he began to sob and vowed to do whatever it took to provide for him and to give him everything he needed. She didn’t know how she was going to do it but she would, somehow.

As the caskets were lowered and the gathered mourners said their farewells to Jane she hoped there was enough left from the life insurance money to tide them over until she could get a job. She’d been coming home, coming back to start her life as an adult with a degree and a weighty student debt. Her plans of staying with her parents until she’d found a job and a place of her own now crushed.

Jane drove Charlie back to her parents rented home and put him to bed, the little boy turning down her offer of food or company. He just wanted to be alone. Jane had no idea how to comfort him or what would help him and so she let him go to his dark room while she looked around the house her parents rented. A modest shotgun house, the rent was reasonable on two incomes but Jane knew she couldn’t afford it. They had a couple of weeks left; hopefully the insurance money would come before then.

Soaking in the tub later, trying to hide her sobs with the sound of running water, Jane let the grief overwhelm her. It almost choked her, stealing her breath away it was so fierce. She was the grownup now, there wasn’t anyone to comfort her, and she couldn’t let Charlie hear her. Her family were all very religious, her mom’s sister and her father’s brother, along with all of the aunts and uncles. Jane’s parents had distanced themselves from the rest of the family.

All of Jane’s friends had either moved away for school or had new spouses and children. Jane was alone, truly alone, and so she cried in the bathtub, alone. Pulling her knees to her chest to have something to hang on to the young woman let her pain out until the tub was full, then brushed her tears away and quieted her sobs. Time to be a big girl.

T
wo weeks later
, fifty-three job applications, and one meeting with her parents’ attorney, Jane felt desperation settling in. There was no money and no job on the horizon.

“What do you mean there’s nothing, Mr. Templet?” Jane almost shrieked. “There has to be something, they both had insurance policies.”

“Yes, but with the bills they owed and the cost of the funerals, there’s simply nothing left. In fact, there’s a balance of $1,542 at the bank on a loan they took out.” Alton Templet, the lawyer, an older balding man with thick glasses and a nasally voice in an ugly brown suit, looked down at the papers rather than at Jane.

“A balance. And what happens if I don’t pay that loan? It’s not in mine or Charlie’s name.”

“Nothing really. They can’t come after you two for it and the car was totaled in the accident. You will eventually get a sum from the company that operated the tractor and the company that hired them to transport that load but it may be a couple of years. They may settle quickly, the evidence is clear that that load wasn’t tied down properly and that driver was cited for many violations. We can hope they settle quickly but they may not.”

Jane, her waist length black hair twisted on top her head, dressed in a severe black suit with black heels, tried to hold back the tears. So she’d have money but it could be years from now. She wrung the tissue in her hands to shreds, her tender skin turning red as she did so.

“And what about the house? The landlord sent me an eviction notice. He wants to sell the house apparently.” Her voice shook, her world in a perpetual state of collapse now.

“If you can’t pay the rent then there’s nothing I can do. Do you have friends you can stay with until you can find a job?”

“No, not anyone I’d want to impose on.” Jane shook her head as she spoke. They’d all help her any way they could, one had a fundraising campaign going online now but Jane needed a lot of money. She had her student loans coming up soon, a child to take care of and a car payment to make, on top of rent and groceries, insurance, and all the rest of the stuff that goes with being a responsible adult.

Alton Templet, a man leaving middle age behind, looked over at the girl with sympathy. Thirty years ago he might have offered the beautiful young woman with almost yellow eyes and a lovely face some advice about how to make some quick money. Not in today’s world though. He bit his tongue and held his hands out helplessly.

“Perhaps you should see if there’s someone more suitable to care for your brother?” He asked tentatively.

Jane’s head snapped up and her eyes shot angrily to the lawyer. “No. Charlie’s my brother; he’s not being taken from me.”

“Of course, Miss Sanders. I was only trying to help. Charlie will need stability, care, and attention. I’m sure you’ll find a way.” The lawyer looked away from the young woman, not wanting to rile her.

Jane shifted; her slightly plump frame filling the tiny uncomfortable chair that might look good in a magazine but wasn’t practical for actually sitting in. Jane’s hands felt the satin smoothness of the wood and hated it. Keeping up appearances was important to Jane but not if it caused discomfort to others. She shifted once more and decided it was time to leave.

“Well, please keep me informed about the settlement or whatever is happening with the companies that caused my parents' deaths.” Jane’s voice broke on the last word. She was holding on to the anger for now and not screaming that her parents were basically murdered but her grief was still breaking through on occasion. “Excuse me. As I said, keep me informed please. Good afternoon, Mr. Templet.”

Jane shook the man’s hand then left. When she arrived home her friend Dodie greeted her at the door. Dodie had set up the online fundraising campaign and had also organized a bake sale this coming weekend. It was one of the reasons Jane loved her hometown, people came together to help out in any way they could. Ruby Bayou may not be a huge town, with less than a thousand residents, but it was close and community-oriented.

“How did it go?” Dodie asked, pouring a cup of coffee from the pot she’d made earlier, for Jane.

Jane sat at the table with her friend and took the coffee gratefully. “Not well. Thanks for sticking around waiting for Charlie to get home from school.”

“No problem, honey. Anything I can do.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you!” Jane gasped as her tears started to flow once more.

“Come now, Cher, stop that crying. We got this.” Dodie encouraged, taking Jane’s hand.

“I don’t know how we’ll do it. The rent is due next week, we’re almost out of groceries, and nobody wants to hire a new graduate. I’ve even gone into other parishes looking for work. I guess accounting isn’t necessary around here.” Jane hiccupped through her words, wiping her eyes with a tissue Dodie had given her.

“We got you babe. I swear. One way or another.” Dodie promised, squeezing Jane’s hand.

Jane went to sleep that night, her friend’s reassurances helping her rest finally. She’d spent the evening helping Charlie with his homework and fixing him dinner. A simple chicken Etouffee with rice, which was the boy’s favorite. Charlie bathed and sat up with her to watch his favorite science fiction show, cuddled up at her side.

Charlie wasn’t doing a lot of talking about his emotions but he clung to his sister when they were alone. He was at that age where he was testing his independence anyway but now he felt like he had to be a man for his sister. He knew what had happened, he understood that his parents were gone, and he missed them terribly but he also wanted to be a big boy for his sister. She needed him, he thought, and he was trying very hard.

Jane heard his light snores when he fell asleep and looked down. Charlie’s sweet face, with the same smooth olive skin as her own, was angelic in sleep. Jane felt a tug at her heart and put her arm over the boy. Something had to give soon, it just had too.

A week later Jane learned that fate can always deal you one more blow. The property owner showed up with the police to evict her and Charlie.

“But I have the rent you wanted. You said if I could raise $800 we could stay, I have it.” All of the joy she’d felt when Dodie had given her the $1300 from the bake sale disappeared in an instant. She could pay the utilities and the rent until she found a job of some kind, any kind.

“Well, that’s not what we agreed. You agreed to $1500 not $800, missy.” The tall, overweight man in a stained tank top and a handlebar moustache said before he spit chewing tobacco juice at her feet.

Feeling panic rising, along with the urge to vomit, Jane looked to the sheriff for help.

“You can’t pay, you gotta go Miss Jane. It’s that simple.” The man hung his head in shame.

Jane thought he should hang it even lower. Her thoughts were actually all over the place.

“So we have to get out now? Charlie’s still at school!” She declared. “His bus will bring him here!”

“You’ll have to go pick him up or something. I can give you enough time to clear the place out but then you have to go, Miss Jane.” The sheriff said, holding his arm out to the property owner.

“You know he’s lying right? None of that was in the agreement.” Jane said, anger starting to win out finally. “Our parents just died and he’s kicking us out and lying in order to do it. You’re a pig!”

Jane spat at the property owners feet then went back into the house with the sheriff. She called Dodie and Dodie promised to bring over a truck and a trailer. Jane had the $800 for the rent that was going to have to go on a storage shed and whatever she could find for the night.

“I got you a place, it’s not much, but it’ll work for now. And it’s close to me. My brothers will be here in five minutes. You go pick up Charlie, let us take care of this until then.” Dodie pushed Jane out of the door and went to work.

When Jane came back there were women and men moving around boxing up goods and carrying it all out to cars, trucks, and vans waiting outside. Within an hour the house was empty. Jane stood back shocked.

“Wow, Dodie. That was incredible!” Jane had never seen a house emptied so quickly. “What’s this place you’ve got for us?”

“It’s not the best place in the world, but it’s close to me and it's clean.” Dodie looked doubtful for a moment but then perked up. “It’s just temporary, until you can get something better. Or you can come stay with me.”

“Oh, I don’t want to impose. Lead the way please.” Charlie got back into the car with Jane, his little eyes round and shocked. Jane worried this might be a little too much for the little boy.

“It’s alright Charlie. We can do this honey.” Jane said, trying to convince herself as well.

“We can, sis.” He said, his tone cheerful all of a sudden. “I’m okay, promise.”

“I hope so Charlie. I’m sorry I’m such a horrible sister.” She said, tears evident in her voice.

“You are not! You’re trying so hard, sis, you really are. You can only do what you can do.”

Jane spared him a glance, amazed at how wise her little brother was. He’d been a surprise, but she’d loved him from the start. She’d do anything for him and had felt that way from the moment he’d been born.

“You know I love you, kiddo?” She said with a smile, her gaze going back to the road.

“I love you, sis! Where do you think we’re going?” He asked, curiosity winning out.

“I don’t know but if it has a roof I guess we should feel lucky.” She stared ahead, hoping for more than a roof. Just a little more than a roof.