The Wolf's Bandit

Robyn Loxley is determined to save every homeless child she can find, even if she has to break the law to do it. Since the royal foundation rudely turned her down, her target has become their crown jewels. She needs only one more job before she’s done for good.



Wolf shifter Aitan Hansen is the crown prince of a small country where he runs his royal foundation and takes care of his shifter town. He comes to the U.S. to find who has been stealing his family heirlooms. He’s completely unprepared to meet his mate, especially when he suspects her of being the thief.



With the opportunity to score a lucrative piece of artwork, Robyn jumps at the chance. The problem is Aitan isn’t the only one interested in her night job. Her black-market dealer doesn’t want to share profits any longer and he’ll do whatever needed to get her latest heist, even taking her with the merchandise.

Reader's Note: This shifterfied modern take on a fairytale is full of action and romance...enjoy!

One

Dressed in her power suit, head held high, Robyn stepped off the elevator onto the main floor of Safe Journeys. Inc. As CEO, she felt comfortable walking the aisles of the company she worked hard to put on the map. 

In the bullpen area, she saw the heads of the thirty-ish employees busy in their cubicles. This was only the administration department at the headquarters. Each satellite branch across the country had its own group operating the local business. Her papa would’ve been proud.

“Good morning, Miss Loxley,” an employee in a cube called out.

“Good morning, Hao,” she replied. Several more greetings came her way and she replied with a name for each. One of her assistants stood at the entrance to a cube, holding out a clipboard and pen.

Draping her long coat over the arm with the briefcase, Robyn grabbed the pen. “Where do I sign, Kara?” At the bottom of the first page was a sticky note with a red arrow that read sign here. Robyn scribbled her name and Kara flipped the pages for each signature. In a matter of seconds, that was done. “Kara, please make sure I get of copy of that. Thank you.”

“Miss Loxley, reminder you have dinner tonight at Granma’s,” another assistant said as she passed.

Damn, was it Wednesday already? What happened to Tuesday? She was sure she didn’t sleep through it. A hand holding a Starbucks coffee cup lifted into the air as she approached her office. The scent of chocolate and mint floated in the area. “Thank you, Gattis. I owe you one.”

“That comes to about thirty-six now.” His voice reflected the smile on his face.

“Yeah, yeah,” Robyn said. “Wait to forty and I’ll get you a steak dinner.”

Gattis clapped his hands together and did a quick victory dance in his cube. “Yes! Steak dinner. All mine. Steak dinner...” Robyn smiled as she backed into her office, pushing her door open with her butt. When it closed, she leaned against it and took a big sip of coffee. A huge sigh drifted out after the chocolatey goodness.

On the sofa in the office, she laid her purse and coat, and the briefcase she set on the worktable behind her desk. Plopping her ass in the leather swivel chair, she moved the mouse to bring up the passcode screen. In the car on the drive over, she listened to her email and phone messages and deleted the junk. The rest she needed to reply to. Her eyes skimmed the list—from top to bottom of the screen. Sometimes she hated this job, sometimes she loved it.

One of the “love” aspects was seeing what new jobs came in the day before. Most were routine with armored trucks going to banks and ATMs to collect money and transport it elsewhere. But several times, new jobs like the one halfway down the list popped up.

An auction house in south Manhattan needed a reliable way of transporting special items from seller to buyer in two weeks. That would be easy. She needed to find out what things before she could secure the right vehicles. She double-clicked to open the request to read further, then her desk phone rang. Few people had her direct line, so she knew she’d be talking to someone important in business.

“Hi. This is Robyn,” she said with her stern, but sweet voice. Working in New York was tricky. You had to stand up for yourself or the competition would run you over, yet you had to be friendly enough to not be called a bitch. And the men where the worst.

“Robyn. Thank god you’re in.” She recognized the slightly feminine voice of the assistant curator of one of the bigger galleries.

“Hey, Sam,” she replied. “You sound distressed.”

“Oh my god. If you only knew!” Sam answered with a squeak on the last word. She waited patiently for him to get a grip on his drama mama side and spill whatever was wrong. “My delivery service for tomorrow is flaking out on me. We have an opening tomorrow night! Oh my god, Robyn. I NEED HELP.”

She swallowed her laugh, even though it wasn’t funny. But it was. Sam was just one of those people who could make anyone laugh even when he wasn’t trying to be humorous.

“It’s okay, sweetness,” she finally said with a semi-straight face. “You know I’ve got you covered. Now relax and tell me what you need.”

With a huff, Sam continued. “I knew to hire you, but my boss said to go cheap. Ha. This is what she gets. I don’t care what she says anymore. This is so not a job for amateurs. Besides, I have to deal with the fallout. Not her. So I should be able to choose who I want, right?”

Ugh. Robyn needed more coffee for one of Sam’s one-way conversations this early. After a chug burned down her throat—so choco-minty worth it—she waited for him to take a breath, then she took her chance. 

“What do you need delivered?” she asked as fast as she could. There really was no reason to ask. She knew everything that was coming into town and how much it was worth. Sam’s gallery was opening the traveling exhibit on Downton Abbey for its national tour. It was a big to-do with reenactments with characters and set pieces and live presentations of the series.

That type of exhibit wasn’t worth much to her except as business. No, what she was really interested in was a painting in their main room. One worth a quarter million dollars. And this was the “in” she needed.

“It’s the crown jewels,” Sam said in a hushed voice. “They are late getting to the US and the other company can’t guarantee a pickup on time tomorrow. And it’s the opening night!”

“Breathe, Sam. Breathe. We got you,” Robyn said. “Give me the details and we’ll be there.”

“Oh my god, Robyn. Thank you so much.” His voice cracked, and he sniffled. She rolled her eyes at his emotional display. He was such a riot. She loved hanging out with him and his group. But it had been a long time since they were together. It seemed she’d been doing nothing but working for months.

During his next breath, she asked about a walk-through for delivery and setup. He confirmed a time for tomorrow and passed along the details. “Okay, darling,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He added before hanging up, “And you have to come to the opening tomorrow night in that a-maz-ing red gown.” 

Robyn laughed and promised to come in the dress. After replacing the receiver in the cradle, she did a fist pump. She was tempted to go out and do a little dance with her steak employee. Then she realized she had a ton of things to do to get ready. The first being getting the truck on the schedule. She sent an email to the coordinator and followed up with a call to make sure there were no snags.

She’d been waiting so long to get into the building. After they remodeled and added a new security system, all her info on the place was out of date. Unfortunately, she hadn’t had the time to start new research. Now she’d be rushed. Most of the work would have to be done during the walk-through tomorrow.

Her speakerphone buzzed and Kara’s voice came through. “Miss Loxley, there’s an Aitan Hansen here to see you.” The name didn’t ring a bell. Did she have a meeting she’d forgotten about? That wasn’t like her. She clicked her calendar to see it blank this morning.

“Miss Loxley?” Kara asked at her long silence.

Robyn scowled. She didn’t have time for salespeople who didn’t have the curtesy to make an appointment before showing up. “Tell him I’m in a meeting or something.” She heard a commotion through the speaker and her door opened.

In her doorway stood the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.