The Blood Hound Pact

Chapter sixteen

The air in the ballroom has become a suffocating blanket of jasmine and silent threats. Julian is only ten feet away now, looking entirely too earnest for a room filled with apex predators. Silas has shifted his stance, shielding me with his massive frame so effectively that Julian is basically talking to the expensive fabric of Silas's suit jacket.

"Ivy! There you are," Julian calls out, his voice sounding thin and fragile against the heavy silence of the pack. "I saw you from across the room. You look... different. Is everything okay? You didn't answer my texts."

I try to peer around Silas’s shoulder, but he subtly moves to block my view again. The growl vibrating in his chest is so low I can feel it in my own ribs.

"She is fine, Julian," Silas says, his voice like a glacier scraping against a mountain. "She was just leaving."

"I was?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at Silas’s back. "I don't remember agreeing to that. I haven't even had a crab cake yet."

Julian finally rounds Silas, his eyes widening as he sees how closely we are standing. Silas’s hand is still firmly anchored to my waist, his thumb tracing a slow, rhythmic circle over the silk of my dress. It is a possessive gesture that screams mine to anyone with eyes.

"Ivy, come on," Julian says, reaching for my free hand. "This place is... it’s weird. Let me take you home. I’ve got my car right out front."

The moment Julian’s fingers brush my wrist, the world explodes.

Silas moves so fast the human eye can't even track it. One second he is standing still, and the next, he has Julian’s wrist in a grip that looks like it could crush bone. The sound of Silas’s growl is no longer a vibration; it is a full, guttural warning that silences the entire ballroom.

"Do not touch her," Silas breathes, his eyes glowing a terrifying, predatory gold.

"Silas! Stop it!" I shout, grabbing his forearm. His muscles feel like carved granite. "He’s just being a friend! Let him go!"

Julian looks like he’s about to faint. "Hey, man, take it easy! I just wanted to help!"

"She doesn't need your help," Silas snarls, his upper lip curling to reveal teeth that look far too sharp to be human. "She is under my protection. If you ever reach for her again, I will ensure you never use that hand for surgery or anything else."

He flings Julian’s hand away with enough force to send the poor guy stumbling back into a waiter. The room is dead quiet. Seraphina is watching with a look of calculating glee, while the Elders are whispering urgently behind their fans.

Silas doesn't wait for a reaction. He grabs my hand and hauls me toward the French doors that lead to the darkened gardens. He is moving with a frantic, unhinged energy that tells me the Alpha is barely holding onto the steering wheel.

"Silas, you’re hurting my hand!" I hiss as we hit the cool night air.

He stops abruptly in the center of a rose garden, the scent of damp earth and blooming flowers thick around us. He spins me around, pinning me against a stone fountain. The water splashes behind me, the cold spray hitting the back of my dress, but I don't care. All I can feel is Silas.

"What is wrong with you?" I demand, my heart hammering against my chest. "You just humiliated that guy in front of everyone!"

"He touched you," Silas says, his voice raw and ragged. He leans in, his hands slamming into the stone on either side of my head, trapping me. "He touched what is mine. I told you, Ivy. I told you I couldn't handle it."

"You told the Council I was an obligation!" I shout back, my eyes stinging with frustrated tears. "You told them I was nothing! You can't have it both ways, Silas. You can't keep me in a cage and then get mad when someone tries to open the door!"

"You think this is a cage?" he asks, his voice dropping to a dangerous, velvety whisper. He leans down, his face inches from mine. The s****l tension is so high it feels like the air might actually catch fire. "I am the one in the cage, Ivy. Every time I look at you, I have to fight the urge to claim you in front of every single person in that room. I have to fight the urge to mark you so deeply that even the wind knows who you belong to."

He reaches out, his hand sliding into my hair and tilting my head back. His thumb brushes over my lower lip, pulling it down just enough to see the glint of my teeth.