Chapter 3

His chest heaved, breath coming rough and heavy from his throat.

The comments flooded in instantly.

[What the hell is this? This guy's disgusting, covered in tattoos like some kind of freak!]

[Please tell me Celeste isn't actually interested in this monster? Say what you want about Julian, but at least he was a gorgeous, cool-headed gentleman!]

[A vicious second female lead deserves a mad dog like this. Perfect match, called it!]

I ignored the mockery scrolling overhead and crouched down slowly on the other side of the cage's steel mesh.

"Take me with you," he said, his voice a rasp. "My name's Ryder Shaw. Take me with you, and my life is yours."

I raised an eyebrow, studying that wild, untamable stare, burning with something close to fanaticism.

"You're willing to be my slave?"

He nodded frantically, his pupils blown wide, his breath catching in his throat.

I stood, glanced at the owner, who was staring at me slack-jawed, and said flatly, "Deal. Him."

Once Ryder was brought back to the Ward estate, he showed a chilling will to live and absolute obedience.

I gave him the best medical care money could buy.

The day of his bone-setting surgery, the doctors had full anesthesia ready, but he gripped the edges of the operating table and stubbornly refused any sedative at all.

"Why won't you take it?" I asked through the intercom, standing outside the sterile room, my voice cold.

He was drenched in cold sweat, the veins on his neck bulging from the pain, but his dark eyes stayed locked on me through the glass, unwavering.

"If I take the drugs, my head goes fuzzy. I can't... I can't lose consciousness in front of you."

He was afraid I'd abandon him the moment he passed out.

I said nothing. I just stood there and watched him grit through three straight hours of bone-setting and stitches.

The entire time, he bit through his own lip rather than make a sound, and his eyes never left me, not for a single second.

Less than a week after his wounds had closed, I threw him straight into the Ward family's training program for the Guard.

Julian had grown up inside the Ward household from childhood, working his way through the training step by step, and it had taken him a full three years to pass the final test to become Head of the Guard.

Ryder did it in half a month.

He was like a killing machine that never tired and never felt pain, devouring every skill that could help him kill or keep himself alive.

Hand-to-hand combat, firearms, counter-surveillance, off-road survival, he clawed his way through mud and blood.

Every time he went down, the moment he heard my name, something like a drug would hit his system, and he'd stagger back up and pin his opponent to the ground again.

The comments were nothing but scorn and contempt.

[This isn't even a person. It's some kind of feral creature with no emotions.]

[Covered in disgusting tattoos and scars, nothing like our elegant, refined Julian. Celeste really can't tell a diamond from a rock.]

[A mad dog is still a mad dog. He'll never belong in a room like that. Once Julian heals up, he'll come back and teach this thing some manners!]

[Mark my words, a rabid animal like this always turns on its owner eventually. Celeste is playing with fire.]

I read through the idiotic comments and took a sip of the black coffee on my desk.

Elegant and refined? In a world built on killing or being killed, elegance was worthless.

What I needed was a blade, sharp, absolute, and utterly loyal. Not some bleeding-heart saint who felt sorry for his enemies.

…

A month later, Meridian City held its annual charity gala for the city's elite.

I turned down every other escort who'd asked, and walked in with a completely transformed Ryder on my arm.

The moment we stepped into the ballroom, the noise of the crowd dropped for a beat.

"That's the Ward family's new bodyguard? God, the way he carries himself..."

"I heard Julian got stripped of everything and thrown out. I figured Celeste would need time to get over it, but she's already replaced him, and fast."

"This new one looks a lot more dangerous than Julian ever did. Of course, Celeste would pick someone like that..."

I took a glass of champagne and worked the room, fielding small talk from guests who came up to greet me.

That was when, at the edge of my vision, I caught a stir of commotion in the corner of the hall.

I turned my head and found myself looking straight into a pair of eyes, shocked, and utterly humiliated.