Chapter 3

I couldn’t remember how I fell asleep.

Maybe it was the bed. I had slept ridiculously well, so well that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept this peacefully. It had probably been at least three years.

For once, I hadn’t spent the night worrying about where my next meal would come from or where I was going to sleep.

I slowly opened my eyes as the morning sunlight streamed through the window.

Then I screamed.

“Ahhhhh!”

I shot upright in bed, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest. There, dangling right outside my window, were several severed heads.

I stared at them, completely frozen. One of them seemed to be staring directly back at me.

“What the actual fuck?”

I scrambled backward until my back hit the headboard, clutching the blanket against my chest as though it could somehow protect me from whatever kind of psychopath decorated his house with human heads.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

I couldn’t— The bedroom door suddenly flew open.

“What happened?”

I turned toward the doorway. Ryder stood there, looking completely calm.

I pointed frantically toward the window.

“THERE ARE DEAD PEOPLE OUTSIDE MY WINDOW!”

He glanced toward the window. Then back at me.

His expression remained the same “Those aren’t people.”

I stared at him, utterly speechless “What?”

He walked toward the window as though there was absolutely nothing unusual about the situation “They’re wolves.”

I slowly looked back at the severed heads, then at him. “I’m sorry?”

Ryder sighed, and his eyes traveled down my body.

“Get dressed.”

My hands shot quickly to my chest. I looked down at myself and suddenly remembered I was wearing nothing but my tan crop singlet and trousers.

My cheeks immediately heated when I realized Ryder was still looking at me.

I quickly folded my arms over my chest, suddenly very aware of how little I was wearing.

“GET DRESSED!,” I blurted out, trying to sound annoyed instead of embarrassed. I pointed at the window again. “THERE ARE SEVERED HEADS HANGING OUTSIDE MY BEDROOM!”

He gave me a completely unimpressed look. “What about it?”

My mouth fell open. “What about it?”

He looked at me as though I was the strange one.

I sat there in stunned silence. I had been in Ryder Van Doren’s house for less than twelve hours.

And I already missed being homeless.

“Put on some clothes.” He pointed toward the wardrobe. “And come downstairs. You have ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes for what?”

He was already walking toward the door. “Breakfast.”

I blinked. “Breakfast?”

He stopped without turning around. “Unless you’d rather starve.”

Then he walked out, leaving me staring after him.

I looked back at the severed wolf heads hanging outside my window.

The rumors were true. He really was killing his own kind. Our kind. A cold shiver traveled down my body as I stared at them, suddenly remembering every horrible story I’d ever heard about him. Maybe I had been wrong to think the stories were exaggerated.

I forced myself to look away from the window and turned toward the wardrobe. If I was going to survive breakfast with a man who apparently collected severed wolf heads, I at least needed to get dressed first.

I walked over and pulled open the wardrobe.

I froze. Inside were rows of women’s clothes.

Dresses. Skirts. Trousers. Sweaters. Jackets. Even shoes lined neatly along the bottom. I slowly reached for one of the dresses, staring at it in disbelief.

Then I noticed the size…. It was mine. I stood there, completely confused. “What the hell?”

I pulled open another section. More clothes.

All women’s clothes. And apparently, all in my exact size. I looked toward the bedroom door.

What the hell was Ryder’s deal?

First, he was a ruthless Alpha rumored to murder his own kind. And now his apparently a pervert—or worse, a stalker. How the hell was I supposed to explain the clothes?

I stared at them again.

What was he really? A killer? A stalker? A pervert?

Or worse… All three?

“Oh, dear Moon Goddess,” I muttered. “I know you like to fucking mess with me, but isn’t this a little over the top?”

I decided I didn’t want to think too hard about where the clothes came from. If Ryder was some kind of murderous stalker, I could add that to the growing list of things I had apparently gotten myself into.

I grabbed a simple pair of trousers and a loose blouse before heading into the bathroom.

The bathroom was almost as ridiculous as the bedroom. Everything looked expensive, from the marble floors to the enormous bathtub sitting in the middle of the room.

I took a quick bath, refusing to let myself get too comfortable. I kept remembering the severed wolf heads outside my window, and every time I did, I shivered.

After drying myself, I slipped into the clothes I’d picked out and stared at myself in the mirror.

The outfit fit perfectly. Of course it did. That only made the whole situation even stranger.

I shook my head and left the room. By the time I reached the staircase, the smell of food had already reached me.

My stomach growled loudly.

I hadn’t eaten properly in days, so apparently my body had decided that breakfast was more important than my fear of the owner of the house.

I followed the smell downstairs and stepped into the dining room. Ryder was already there.

He sat at the head of the long table, dressed in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, calmly reading something on his phone.

I stopped at the doorway. He looked up and our eyes met.n“You’re late.”

I glanced at the clock. I wasn’t. “I still have two minutes.”

His eyes narrowed slightly.

I smiled. “Good morning to you too.”

I hesitated before taking a seat. The table was already filled with more food than I’d seen in one place in months, but I wasn’t exactly eager to start eating. Not after everything I’d learned about the man sitting across from me.

Ryder looked up from his phone. “Why aren’t you eating?”

I smiled at him. A fake, painfully sweet smile. “Just waiting for you to lead by example.”

He stared at me for a second longer. Then, without saying a word, he picked up a piece of food from his plate and ate it. He chewed slowly before looking back down at his phone. “It’s not poisoned.”

I blinked. “I wasn’t thinking that.”

He raised an eyebrow without looking at me.

I picked up my fork. “Okay, maybe I was.”

I finally took a bite. My eyes widened. “Oh my God.”

Ryder glanced at me.

“This is good.”

He returned his attention to his phone.

I kept eating for a few seconds, but the question had been nagging at me since I opened that wardrobe.

I looked up at him. “Where did you get the clothes?”

He didn’t answer.

“They’re all my size.”

Still nothing.

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re not a stalker too, are you?”

He continued scrolling through his phone as though I hadn’t spoken. I shook my head and went back to my food. Of course he wasn’t going to answer. Maybe silence was another one of his rules.

I ate for a few more minutes before another thought crossed my mind. “So, about my job.”

That finally got his attention. His eyes lifted from his phone.n“You said you wanted me to make myself useful.” I set my fork down. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

He stared at me for a moment. Then he calmly placed his phone on the table.

“Be my wife.”

I froze. “Excuse me?”

I must have misheard him.

“I want you to be my wife,” he repeated, completely serious.

I stared at him. Then, before I could stop myself, a piece of food flew out of my mouth.

I coughed violently, grabbing my napkin as I stared at him in complete horror.

“WHAT?”