Chapter 2 The Monster’s Prize
"Deal."
The word hung heavily in the air like a gunshot.
Before I could process what was happening, Alpha Ryker was moving. He was no longer side by side with me. He had claimed the entire atmosphere around me.
His huge, heavy hand slid from my chin to my lower back and without asking, crushed me against the dense chest of his body. The scorching heat radiated from him into my thin fabric of cheap blue cloth.
I sucked in air as my hands instinctively went up against his chest for support. Purse hard, unyielding stone.
"Let's go," Ryker growled. He didn't even look at me. He was staring down the room, challenging anybody to dare challenge him.
He turned me around to head toward the door. My legs felt like jelly, but his arm was a steel band around my waist, propping me up.
"Wait!"
It was the shout of the stage.
Alpha Kade was running down the stairs. He looked frantic. Not sad, just confused. Like a child throwing away a toy but suddenly mad because another kid picked it up.
"Ryker!" Kade barked when he stepped in front of us, flanked by two of his guards blocking our way.
I flinched. Old habits die hard. My instinct was to bow my head, to apologize to Kade for causing a scene. But Ryker's grip on my waist tightened. It wasn't painful, but it was a warning. Do not bow.
Ryker stopped. He looked down at Kade with bored indifference. The height difference was embarrassing. Kade was a tall man, but Ryker was a giant.
"Move, boy," Ryker said quietly.
Kade's face turned red. "You can't take her. She is a member of the Silver River Pack."
"Were," Ryker corrected. His voice was low, vibrating in his chest against my ear. "You just rejected her, Kade. Publicly. You severed the bond. You declared her rogue."
Ryker stepped forward and returned Kade's retreat.
"Unless ..." Ryker tilted his head, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. "Unless the great Alpha Kade wants to take back his words? Do you want the 'wolfless defect' back?"
Everyone was holding their breath.
I looked at Kade. For one moment, I thought that there was hesitation in his blue eyes. My heart gave a painful squeeze. Maybe...
Then, Selene appeared at the top of the stairs. She cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her chest.
Kade's eyes flickered to her. The moment of indecision was over. He sneered at me.
"No," Kade spat. "She's useless. I don't want her. I'm just trying to understand why you want her. She has no wolf. She can't give you strong heirs. She's broken goods."
The insult was like a knife to my gut. Broken goods. After two years of companionship, that's all I was to him.
I thought Ryker would fight for me, that he would argue against Kade's statements.
He didn't.
Ryker simply laughed. It was a dark, dry noise. "One man's trash is another man's treasure, Kade. Now get out of my way before I tear your throat out in front of your new mate."
Golden and blood-red colors struck Ryker's eyes. A low growl ripped from his throat, a sound so primal that the hairs on my arms stood up.
It was the sound of a predator who was done playing with his food.
Kade turned white. He was well aware of what the Blood Moon Alpha could employ against him. He had a reputation of killing more wolves than old age.
Kade dodged aside. "Take her then," he sneered. "Good luck with the mute. She's boring in bed anyways."
Shame burned in my cheeks. Fresh tears pricked my eyes again, but I blinked them away.
Ryker didn't answer. He simply swept me past them and through double doors toward the music, to the lights, and into my old life.
The outside air was cold after all that night. The rain had just started.
At the curb, an armor-black SUV was waiting. Instantly, a driver in a dark suit opened the back door. Ryker practically threw me inside and slipped in next to me.
The door slammed shut. The lock clicked.
Silence.
The car began to move, speeding away from the pack house. I turned in my seat to look out the back window. The lights of the Silver River Pack faded into the distance.
I was really doing this. I was leaving.
"Stop shaking," Ryker said.
I jumped. I hadn't realized that I really was trembling. I turned to look back at him.
In the dim light of the car, Ryker looked even more terrifying. He had loosened his tie. He was staring straight ahead, watching the road. The playfulness he had shown inside the hall was gone. Now, he was just cold.
"Where are we going?" I stammered. "I...I can't help it."
"Home," he said simply. "Blood Moon territory."
"My things..." I started. "I didn't pack. I have nothing. Just this dress."
Ryker finally looked at me. His eyes scanned my body, reading me. It wasn't sexually predatory but rather calculating. Like a general inspecting a soldier.
"We will buy you new things," he said. "Better things. That dress is a rag."
I nervously smoothed the blue fabric. "It was the best I could afford."
"It smells like him," Ryker said bluntly. "You reek of Kade's rejection. The first thing you will do when we arrive is burn it."
I had a hard swallow. "Okay."
We drove in silence for an hour. In a way, the views transformed. The well-paved roads of Silver River became rougher and more winding mountain paths. The trees grew thick and cramped, obscuring the light of the moon from the sky.
We had entered the Badlands. The Blood Moon territory.
Rumors said that Ryker's pack was filled with criminals, rogues, and killers he had recruited. They said they ate raw meat and fought to the death for sport.
"Why?" I asked softly.
Ryker didn't look my way. "Why what?"
"Why did you agree?" My voice was cautious. "Kade was right. I have nothing to offer you. I have no wolf. Why did you save me?"
Ryker turned his head slowly. His scar looked white in the shadows.
"I didn't save you, Elara," he said. The voice was devoid of warmth. "We made a deal. Business transaction. Don't mistake it for kindness."
The storm thundered outside as I gazed into Ryker's deep-set dark blue eyes. I felt my lips twitch into a smile at my very certain answer.
"He stood up to you," I whispered.
"I hate him," Ryker replied. "Anything that makes Kade unhappy surely makes me happy. Stealing his ex-mate? Making her my Luna? It's the last thing he wants to hear. To his ego, it's an affront."
He leaned a little closer. "Do not think for one second that I care about you. You are merely a tool; a means to an end. You are going to play the part of my darling little trophy wife in public. You are going to help me cement my Alpha title. And in private, you're going to stay out of my way. Do you comprehend?"
The words were harsh, yet at least they were honest. And for some odd reason, I preferred that to Kade's fake niceness. At least Ryker was being honest.
"I understand," I replied.
"Good."
The car slowed down. Ahead stood some huge iron gates. On top were two guard towers. Guns were patrolling the wall.
A packhouse? No, rather a fortress.
With a loud creaky protest, the gates swung wide open. We drove along a long winding driveway bedecked on dark statues of gargoyles and wolves. On top of a hill stood a mansion designed out of pitch-black stones. It was fit for a castle straight out of some gothic nightmare.
The car stopped. The driver opened the door.
"Welcome to hell, little mouse," Ryker muttered.
He stepped out, waiting for me. I stepped outside, greeted by rain. Here the air felt different, sharp, ozone, and untamed magic.
Ryker grabbed my hand. Firm grip. Pulling me up the stone steps toward the massive front doors.
The doors opened before we even touched it.
Inside was dark but grand. Everything was black marble and gray velvet. A row of servants awaited. They sure didn't look like the polite, smiling servants of Silver River. These ones had scars on them. In fact, they were tattooed. They looked like actual warriors.
An old woman with gray hair appeared in front. She had a stern-looking face.
"Alpha," she bowed. She eyed me with narrow, suspicious eyes. "And this is?"
"This is Elara," Ryker announced, his commanding voice booming through the quite house. "My wife. And your new Luna."
Gasps erupted amongst the servants. The older woman's jaw dropped.
"Prepare the Master Suite," Ryker ordered as he strode onward and tugged me toward the grand staircase.
"The... The Master Suite, Alpha?" she stammered. "But... you sleep alone. You always sleep alone."
Ryker stopped on the first step and turned to her.
"Not anymore," he replied.
My heart ceased to function for several heart-stopping seconds. He turned around to face me and an ocean of panic spilled from my throat. The Master Suite?
"Wait," I whispered, pulling on his hand. "I thought... I thought this was a fake marriage. I thought I would have my own room."
Ryker looked down at me, his gold eyes inscrutable.
"I told you, Elara," he said, his voice low enough that only I could hear, "I need my uncle to believe this is real. If we sleep in separate rooms, the spies in this house will report it within the hour."
He pulled me up the stairs, closer to the dark hallway at the top.
"You wanted a protector?" Ryker applied pressure, opening the door into a massive bedroom dominated by a huge king bed with black sheets.
He shoved me quite gently on the inside and closed the door behind us, locking it with a click.
We were alone.
"Tonight," Ryker said, starting on the first buttons of his shirt, revealing sun-kissed skin and tattoo-covered chest. "You sleep in my bed."