Lonely Wolf (No Wolves Road #3)

Chapter One

“He’s one of the meanest sons of bitches you’ll ever meet.”

“I heard he eats humans for breakfast.”

“He’s pure evil.”

Astrid Sinclair tried to ignore the rumors and warnings as she made her way down the long driveway of Lord’s Ranch.

Living in No Wolves Road since she was born, she was used to wolves and the superstition. She recalled the first time she encountered Lord. She was about sixteen years old and was so focused on the book she’d been reading, that she hadn’t watched where she was going.

If it hadn’t been for Lord, she would probably already be dead.

She hadn’t seen the truck heading her way, and she had stepped out on the road, and well, Lord had pulled her right out of the way.

Banded an arm across her waist. Being on the larger side, and having most of the kids—both human and wolf—make fun of her at school, she was convinced no one would ever be able to lift her. Lord had done so easily.

Of course, he had then berated her, calling her a fucking idiot moron human, and a lot of other colorful words. Her family didn’t care what he called her, though. They’d been delightfully happy that he’d pulled her out of the way of oncoming traffic.

She’d never forgotten him.

Over the years, she had tried to learn as much about him as possible. So far, she had learned very little. He was a lonely wolf. No pack to speak of. No one had ever seen him with a woman. He’d not attended many functions in No Wolves Road, and he often kept his distance when he was in town.

There was nothing social about him, and that made everyone more suspicious. She didn’t mind him at all. In fact, ever since he had rescued her ten years ago, she had found herself falling, little by little, in love with Lord. It was a recipe for disaster.

He was a wolf.

She was a human.

There had been a few romances flare up in No Wolves Road, but they didn’t come without difficulty.

This had to be one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made, but at twenty-six years old, she had seen the job application and decided to sign up for it.

Ever since she finished high school at eighteen and decided not to go to college, she’d worked at the local library.

The only problem was, it didn’t pay a lot, and she still lived at home with her parents.

This was a live-in position Lord was advertising, and she wanted it so badly she could taste it.

She loved her parents, but she was the only one living at home.

Her two brothers were away, enjoying themselves.

They had gone to college, one was some kind of investment banker, and another worked in advertising for a big firm.

They kept their lives at No Wolves Road a secret. That was part of the rules.

Astrid never wanted to leave town. She loved it here.

Sure, the wolves were mean, but then, so were people.

No matter where she went, she would encounter the same kind of personalities but in different bodies.

At least here was home, and she loved it.

She loved being near the country and breathing in the fresh air.

Also, the wolves that surrounded the town had vowed to protect it.

Humans and wolves lived in harmony, which was why she approached the fine-looking ranch house.

A lot of people in town had said he’d fixed the place up real nice, and the outside was beautiful. The outside was a nice cream color, and the window frames a dark brown. The roof no longer had any holes in it. Lord had spent a lot of time on the house.

“What the fuck are you doing on my property?”

She would recognize that voice anywhere. That day, ten years ago, when he berated her for being fucking stupid, his voice had been seared into her brain.

Glancing up at the porch, she saw him wiping his hands on a towel.

“Uh, I have an appointment.” She quickly cleared her throat because it sounded like she had a frog in her throat. She offered him a smile. “I’m Astrid Sinclair, we talked on the phone. You advertised a position for a live-in housekeeper.”

She hoped this was not some kind of prank. There was no one to tell she had a large crush on this man.

Astrid didn’t make friends easily, which is why she always had her head in a book, mainly romance books, because they were the best. As she got older, some of those books were more erotic in nature.

Not that anyone would ever know that. She could read whatever the hell she liked using an e-reader, and no one would know, unless they read over her shoulder, which was just rude.

Lord stared at her, and she started to feel a little sick.

“That’s today?” he asked.

She quickly glanced down at the text on her phone. “Yeah, that’s today.”

He rubbed the back of his head. “Shit, okay, come on in,” he said.

Astrid wondered if he had a lot of people lined up inquiring for this job. She followed him up the porch steps and quickly grabbed the door before it shut on her, as she let herself inside.

The house was straight from a dream. Wooden floors in the main hallway, a beautiful winding staircase leading upstairs. It was open plan, with a few walls between each of the rooms. She could see glimpses of the sitting room, dining room, and kitchen. It was stunning.

Lord held onto the cloth he’d been using to wash his hands, and started to walk her through.

“The job is simple, keep the house clean. I don’t like mess, and you’ve also got to keep me and the boys fed.”

“You have a pack?”

“No, I don’t have a fucking pack. I have men that work for me.

They expect a good, hearty meal at the start and end of the day.

We start at four every morning and will want breakfast by seven.

Dinner by six, five days a week. If some of the boys need any help with food or shit like that, I’ll let you know, and you make double.

” He turned toward her. “You can cook, right? That is nonnegotiable.”

“Yes, yes, I can cook.”

He nodded. “That’s good, but I want to test you out,” he said.

Her heart started to race. “Pardon me?”

“I don’t need to see if you can clean. I know what you did at the library, and considering that place is filled with musty books, you have my vote. I want to know if you can cook.”

Astrid was so nervous.

“Go in the kitchen. You’ve got till six tonight. If the boys are happy, you’ve got the job. If you’re a shit cook, you ain’t got it.” And with that, Lord just turned around and left.

She was alone in his home, not that she would do anything. But she couldn’t believe it. Alone, in his home.

She went straight to the kitchen, because it was already late at four in the afternoon. She should have known it was a strange time for a job interview. Lord didn’t exactly play by the rules.

A wolf without a pack.

A wolf without a mate.

He made other wolves nervous. She had seen it.

From what she knew, wolves were supposed to be part of packs. Those that weren’t tended to be ... scary. There were always rumors about lone wolves going crazy, becoming rabid. Lord was none of those things. Sure, he was mean at times, and grumpy, and not the nicest, but what did that matter?

She went to the fridge, opened it up, and was stumped.

“Son of a bitch,” she said. Astrid never cursed.

His fridge was nearly empty. A box of processed cheese, some pieces of rough-looking vegetables, but nothing else.

“What the ... how am I supposed to cook a hearty meal?” She took a step back, closed her eyes, and then thought back to all those times growing up, when her parents were hard on cash, before her father got a steady job with good money.

Her mother had stretched food, seeming to make hearty meals out of nothing. The fridge and freezer might be a waste of time, but Lord had a nice pantry. He needed to go shopping badly, but Astrid could actually work with what he had left.

If he wanted to make it hard for her, he had, but clearly, he wasn’t expecting her to want this job so badly.

****

“Astrid Sinclair?”

Lord turned to look toward the only man he could probably call a friend.

Blake Moseley was the first human to take the job of coming to work for him on his ranch.

He was damn good at his job, but then Blake did come from a ranching family and was considered at one time one of the best. However, hard times hit the Moseley family ranch, which meant they had no choice but to sell and leave.

Blake made his way to No Wolves Road, and the rest was history.

Everything he knew, he imparted on Lord’s Ranch, and it had made for a successful ten years so far.

Not that Lord needed the money. In his early days, he had learned to invest his money, and he was already a wealthy man.

If he had bad years, he had plenty of money to substitute and get him by.

“Yeah,” Lord said.

Astrid Sinclair. A beautiful woman. He knew her. He remembered her. The girl that always had her head in a book. Then the woman who worked at the library, forever keeping the place clean. She either had a dustcloth in her hand, or a vacuum cleaner.

He found himself at the library nearly every week, returning the books he had read during the week. Lord was not the kind of guy that read books, however, since Astrid had worked at the library, that was all he did. At least one book a week, just so he could catch a glimpse of her.

He’d been so freaking delighted when she applied for his housekeeper job. Blake had been nagging him for years to find someone to help out around the house, but for the most part, he ignored the request.