Chapter 8: Protect

Ronan

A growl rolled through my chest. The room seemed to darken around us.

Cassian lifted both hands slowly. “That is precisely the problem.”

No other Alpha would touch her. The thought was immediate. Absolute.

The Blood Hunt permitted every registered Alpha to pursue any participating woman until she was captured or reached sanctuary.

Maeve’s name would be announced with the others. Every unmated Alpha in Blackthorne Mansion would hear it.

They would scent her. Track her. Want her.

My claws extended farther.

Cassian watched them. “There are seventeen registered hunters,” he reminded me. “Three have already asked about her.”

“Names.”

“Ronan.”

“Give me their names.”

“Alpha Darius Blackthorn was standing near the staircase when you confronted her. Alpha Lucan Vale asked one of the registrars which room she had been assigned. And Alpha Theron Voss has apparently taken an interest in the Cross bloodline.”

A feral sound tore from my throat. The bedframe cracked when my hand closed around one of the carved posts.

“Move her.”

Cassian stared. “To where?”

“My wing.”

“The participants are assigned neutral rooms for a reason.”

“Then double the guards outside hers.”

“You cannot threaten the other hunters before the Hunt begins.”

“I do not need to threaten them.” The wood beneath my hand splintered. “They know what will happen.”

“And if one catches her first?”

I looked at him. The question should not have required an answer.

Cassian swore quietly. “You will start a war inside Blackthorne territory.”

“If another Alpha puts his hands on her, there will be no one left to declare one.”

Silence followed. The scent of blood and broken cedar filled the room.

My wolf paced, still seeking the woman several floors below us.

Cassian looked toward the destroyed door. “Perhaps you should withdraw from the Hunt.”

I crossed the room before he finished speaking. My hand closed around the front of his coat, and I drove him into the wall. The stone cracked behind his shoulders.

Cassian did not fight me. He stared directly into my eyes.

“Say it again,” I whispered.

“You are losing control.”

“I have control.”

“You destroyed half the room because you touched her wrist.”

My grip tightened.

“She has not even run yet, Ronan.”

The truth cut through the fury.

I released him.

Cassian straightened his coat but remained against the wall. “She affects the Hunger more than Elowen predicted.”

I looked at the blood drying across my palm. The faintest trace of Maeve remained beneath it. My wolf quieted enough to breathe.

“She does not affect the Hunger,” I said.

Cassian waited.

“She is the Hunger.” Saying it aloud made it real. Maeve had not cured anything. She had simply become the answer to every violent instinct I possessed.

Cassian studied my face. “What do you want me to do?”

“Make certain no one enters her room.”

“And Maeve?”

“She may go wherever the participants are permitted.”

His brows lifted. “You expect her to follow the rules?”

“No.”

That was why I had ordered extra guards.

Not to keep Maeve inside. To report where she went.

She would search the mansion the first chance she received. She would look for doors, staircases, hidden passages... anything that might lead her to Mara.

I wanted to know how quickly she discovered the western corridor. I wanted to see how far she would go.

Cassian headed toward the door. “Anything else?”

“Yes.”

He stopped.

“If any Alpha approaches her before midnight, remove him.”

“Politely?”

I looked at the hole in the wall.

Cassian followed my gaze and sighed. “I’ll use my judgment.”

He stepped through the broken doorway.

“Cassian.”

My Beta glanced back.

“Do not touch her.”

His expression hardened. “I had no intention of doing so.”

“I mean it.”

“I know what you mean.”

“No.” My claws finally began retracting. “You don’t.”