Chapter 5: Teeth

Maeve

Several people gasped.

Ronan’s smile widened. Not because he was amused. Because he liked the threat.

I suddenly understood why so many people feared him. There was something wrong with the way he watched me. Something hungry.

Something that had nothing to do with the Hunt beginning in a few hours.

He leaned closer. The scent of him surrounded me.

My wolf pushed forward again, not with submission but with a strange, violent awareness.

Ronan inhaled slowly. His eyes darkened. For one second, the mask slipped. His fingers curled against the desk. The polished wood cracked beneath his palm.

Then his control returned.

“Make it through the forest,” he murmured, “and you can demand your sister’s freedom.”

My pulse jumped.

The reward. One favor from every participating Alpha. If I reached the sanctuary, Ronan would be bound by law to grant what I asked.

He continued before hope could form. “But you won’t make it.”

I stared at him. “You seem awfully confident.”

“I’ve had three years to prepare.”

The words entered me like a blade. Three years. He had known I would come.

The final sentence from Mara’s first letter returned with brutal clarity.

He said he’s waiting for you.

At the time, I believed it was another threat. Now I understood.

Ronan straightened. His attention moved toward the registrar. “Has she completed the blood oath?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“And she understands the consequence of capture?”

The registrar glanced at me. “She confirmed that she does.”

Ronan’s gaze returned to mine.

The hunger was there again. Barely hidden.

“If I catch you, Maeve Cross, you will not leave my territory.”

“I’ll leave when I’m finished with you.”

His eyes flashed gold. “That is not how this Hunt ends.”

I stepped closer before common sense could stop me. “You don’t know how this ends.”

His head lowered until his mouth was near my ear. Every muscle in my body tightened.

“I know exactly how it ends.” His voice was quiet enough that only I could hear. “With you beneath me, your sister screaming in the cells below us, and every lie she told you finally choking her.”

My hand flew toward the knife. Ronan caught my wrist before I touched the handle. He moved so quickly I barely saw it.

One second my hand was free. The next, his fingers were wrapped around my wrist, holding it against the desk.

Heat poured from his skin.

The room erupted into startled whispers. I twisted, attempting to break his grip. He did not tighten his fingers. He did not need to. He was stronger than any wolf I had ever encountered.

“Let go of me.”

Ronan looked down at our joined hands. Something about the contact affected him. His nostrils flared. The muscles in his jaw flexed. His wolf surfaced behind his eyes, bright and feral.

For a heartbeat, the confidence vanished. He looked almost pained. Then his grip loosened.

I ripped my hand away.

A red imprint circled my wrist.

Ronan stared at it. His expression hardened. “Run well tonight, Maeve.”

“I plan to.”

“Good.” His gaze lifted to mine. “I’ve waited far too long for you to disappoint me.”

He turned and walked away.

The crowd separated before him.

Warriors bowed their heads as he passed. Women moved aside with a mixture of fear and fascination. No one dared step into his path.

Ronan did not look back. He didn’t need to. The threat of him remained behind.

My wolf paced restlessly inside me.

I watched until he disappeared through an archway leading toward the western wing.

Only then did I realize the registrar was still staring at me.

“So,” the woman said after a long silence, “I assume you will not require directions to the oath ceremony.”

I looked down at the registration book.

My name remained dark against the parchment.

Beneath it, my blood had dried into the shape of a broken crescent moon.

I touched the hidden knife beneath my skirt.

Ronan Caine thought he had waited three years for me.

He thought this Hunt belonged to him.

He thought once he caught me, the ancient laws would give him the right to claim my body, drag me into his bed, and keep me trapped inside the same home where he imprisoned my sister.

Let him believe it.

Let him hunt me.

Let him catch me.

The devil of Caine territory had taken the only person I had ever trusted completely.

I would be damned before I let him walk away from that.

And when this was over, Ronan Caine would learn the same lesson every predator eventually did.

Sometimes the prey entered the forest with teeth of her own.