He caught Sam’s gaze as she passed in front of him. Her eyes were vacant. The vivacious woman he’d met yesterday had vanished. The woman in front of him was defeated and broken…and possibly stoned. What had they done to her? How did they expect her to navigate as a wolf in the mountains when she was doing well to put one foot in front of the other as a human?
Chase turned and whispered to Hallie and Tess, who were standing quietly a little off to the side behind him and the other men. “Why is she drugged?”
“Nicole said when she ran, Dad got pissed and tranquilized her,” Tess answered.
“Was she really going to leave?” Chase asked.
Tess nodded.
His heart sank. Did she really not want him, either? Doubt flooded his consciousness.
“It’s not true.” His wolf assured him. “You are her perfect match.”
I want to believe that.
“She’s just scared, Chase.”
His inner conversation was interrupted when Hallie spoke again. “That’s what Sam does best.”
The spiteful tone in Hallie’s voice made Chase wonder if she resented her older sister. Doubts crossed his mind again. Would Sam leave him, too? After all this was said and done, was he just a means to an end? Was he just her escape hatch?
“Fucking stop thinking that! Focus on the task at hand, or she won’t even have a choice.”
Chase growled at the mental kick in the ass, but his wolf was right. His focus needed to be on the hunt and figuring out how he was going to beat three formidable wolves by himself.
Sam’s father handed her a glass flute filled with a dark purple liquid. Servers appeared from nowhere and dispensed champagne to himself, the other men, and Sam’s sisters. Then he turned and faced the small group.
“Honored guests. I present my daughter, Samantha Talia Demakis. She is my eldest daughter and heir to the Demakis seat on the noble council. Since I have no sons, I am the last generation of Demakis. One of your family names will take its place and start a new line. Please, raise your glasses to honor this change.”
Chase’s gaze locked with Sam’s father’s cold stare. Holy crap! Nobody said anything about a damn council seat.
“Good luck, and may your wolves be your strength. Whoever marks Samantha and returns with her from this hunt will be her mate. No exceptions, no other rules. You are hunting for keeps tonight.”
With a shove from her mother, a forlorn Samantha downed her purple concoction. A quick grimace spoke to the liquid’s unpleasant taste. Peter raised his champagne flute and drank. Chase and the others followed suit. The champagne was dry, and the carbonation irritated the inside of his mouth.
A server came around and retrieved all the empty champagne flutes. Another appeared shortly with a tray of four more glasses, filled with the same purple looking liquid Sam had just downed. Chase took his from the young woman and held it up to his nose. A faint hint of grape and the heavy scent of mint assaulted his olfactory system. He pulled the flute back.
Everyone’s attention had turned back to Sam. Her mother was pulling the long white satin robe from her shoulders. Tresses of long wavy blonde hair fell midway down her bare back. Firm upturned breasts, just the right size for his hands, were revealed next. His erection pressed uncomfortably against the zipper in his pants. The robe slipped down completely and pooled at her feet. Sam’s torso was toned and muscular. Her round ass flexed appealingly as she stepped away from the satin fabric.
His wolf paced and growled at the sight of her exquisite naked form, wanting to mark her right now and be done with this whole ceremony. Chase shifted, uncomfortable with the looks the other men were casting her way.
A pulse went through him when Sam shifted down into her wolf form. She was a sandy color with dark streaks echoing the colors of fall running the length of her back and tail. So beautiful. I feel like I’m connected to her through something already.
“That was the pulse of magic you felt when she shifted. She’s already begun bonding with you, probably without even realizing,” his wolf whispered.
Sam bounded away from the patio and disappeared into the spotty tree line. The Sierra Nevada Mountains rose in the distance. Inky blue-black sky twinkled with stars and the nearly full moon cast an eerie glow on the treetops.
A howl carried from the forest, and Chase steeled against his wolf’s desire to change instantly to follow. Sam’s instincts had taken over, and she was calling for a mate. He wasn’t the only one having difficulty with his wolf. The other three men were also fidgeting excessively.
“Please drink your inhibitor. It will not activate until you shift.”
Chase lifted the glass to his lips. The overpowering scent of mint assailed his nostrils again. The purple liquid was quite sour. He swallowed quickly and gave a grimace. The same young server returned to take their glasses.
“Please be seated.” Sam’s father directed them to the chairs set around a large fire pit. “Sam receives an hour head start.”
***
Fucking tranquilizer! I can’t even see straight.
The ground below her seemed to be rocking like the sailboat she’d ridden in over the summer with a few girlfriends from school. Not a pleasant feeling at all. She’d already fallen on her face twice, tripping over her own furry feet. Sam glanced around, but in her hazy state she couldn’t focus on the path.
She wanted to head up the mountain so she would have the advantage of higher ground and be able to see who was approaching. But with her body being so out of whack from the drugs, she couldn’t see. Everything was fuzzy and moving…and rocking. Her stomach lurched and twisted while the bitter tang of bile rose into her throat.
God! Could this be any harder?
“We can do this Sam. One step at a time.”
Sam walked carefully up an incline and put one foot slowly in front of the next. A loud crunch in the brush a dozen yards away caught her attention. The wind shifted and Sam whined. A roar rumbled from the foliage.
Shit!
***
“We need to get to our mate.”
Chase took a deep breath to try and calm his anxious wolf. It was hard to do since he was just as worried. But he couldn’t shift yet. He couldn’t chance being eliminated from the hunt on some technicality he wasn’t familiar with. Peter Demakis had been very clear that Sam receive an hour head start.
He glanced at the forest and then to the fire in the center of the circle. It was strange to see so many trees in Nevada, but they were close to the La Madre Mountains where pine and fir trees flourished.
No one had spoken since they sat down. Stress levels were up for everyone, and the tension was almost painful. Even the three men, who had previously been civil among themselves, were eyeing each other with distrust.
The wind had shifted, and Sam’s scent no longer clung to the air around the patio. Chase wondered how far she’d been able to get in her state. He was also trying to devise a plan for fighting three wolves at the same time. These men had already proved playing dirty was first in their game book.
“We can beat them, Chase. It won’t be the first time against multiple assailants.”
Yes, but it will be the first time with multiple wolves.
Sam’s father rose from his seat. “The hour has passed. Shift and begin.”
The four men stood, growling. Magic rippled across the patio as they all shifted into their animal forms.
Chase bolted the second all four feet hit the ground. He was halfway to the tree line before he heard the snarls and snaps begin. They ran through the underbrush for several minutes before coming across the strong scent of…
Shit! There’s a bear out here. What the fuck is a bear doing in Nevada?
He paused to try and locate Sam’s scent when a body slammed into him from the side, sending him flying to the right a few yards. A quick roll righted his body. Moonlight filtered through the treetops, and he saw two of the wolves, Ricardo and Tomas, advancing slowly toward him. Henry
padded by and then took off, following Sam’s trail.
Chase whined. He couldn’t let that jackass get to Sam first. Tomas hesitated when he noticed Henry trot past them and continue. Chase took the opening and lunged. His teeth sunk into Tomas’s front leg. The coppery taste of blood fueled his wolf, and he heard the crunch of bone. Tomas yelped and snarled. He felt the Brazilian wolf’s fangs slash his shoulders several times before Tomas whined and submitted, forfeiting the fight.
He took a step back and woofed at the injured male. Tomas snarled, but remained on the ground. Chase glanced around for Ricardo, but the coward had fled down the path.
Maybe he’ll take a bite out of Henry for me.
He stretched out his sore shoulder and then jumped into a loping run down the path. The two males left an easy trail to follow. What worried him was Sam’s trail was there along with the bear’s, too. His legs ate up the trail, pushing through the pain in his shoulder and ribs. He flew from the tree line into a large clearing and heard a painful yelp.
No! No! No! Please don’t be Sam.
He ran toward the sounds of growling. A roar boomed from the other side of the clearing. A big grey wolf and a giant brown grizzly bear came tearing out into the meadow. Chase ducked to the ground to avoid being seen. The grey wolf was already limping, and the bear was on top of him in seconds. A cry of pain echoed across the field, and Chase cringed. There was nothing he could do. If he revealed himself, the bear would probably give chase and kill him as well. Though, he still couldn’t figure out why there was a bear anywhere near Las Vegas. They just didn’t live out here.
When Chase peered up again, the bear had turned and was lumbering back the way it had come. Back toward Sam!
“She’s alive, Chase.”
His body shook, wanting to believe his wolf but terrified he’d already lost her.
“We would have felt her pain through the connection if she’d been hurt.”
Right. Okay.
He padded carefully up to the lifeless body of the grey wolf. His throat had been ripped out. Two down, one to go. Henry was still out there somewhere unless the bear had already eliminated him, too. These guys apparently didn’t know not to tangle with a fucking bear.
The smell of blood and the ripped flesh reminded him of his last few skirmishes in Afghanistan. He’d saved a man in his unit during a raid by elongating his fangs in human form and tearing another man’s throat out. It happened so fast. Chase had reacted without thinking. The guy he saved had seen the whole thing, but never mentioned it.
Jerry had gone home safely to his wife and two kids. That was what was important.
The scent of the grizzly, stronger on the dead wolf, pricked at his senses. A familiar magical scent coated the ground, too. It couldn’t be…
Chase leapt over Ricardo and plowed down the forest path after the bear.
“What are you going to do? You can’t shift back yet? He won’t know it’s you.”
She can’t shift either. The potion hides the magic. He won’t know.
“Exactly. He won’t know!”
He won’t hurt her.
“You can’t be sure it’s him.”
I am. Bears don’t live near Las Vegas, but Scott does.
Chase shot through some dense underbrush and skidded to a halt. The grizzly bear and a large brown wolf were facing off. Henry’s lips were curled into an ugly snarl. The bear was unaffected by the threat and swung a dinner-plate sized claw at the wolf. The grizzly swung his gaze to meet Chase’s.
Recognize me, you big oaf. Come on.
He caught Sam’s scent and saw her lying at the foot of a tree behind the bear. Behind Scott. He’d known Scott O’Hearn for years. Bear or not, he would never hurt a female. The man loved women—all women.
Henry thought Scott was distracted and started circling around toward Sam. Chase growled and advanced. Through his peripheral vision he saw Scott cock his head for a moment before quickly sliding between Henry and Sam’s body.
He was protecting Sam!
Chase charged the other wolf. Henry whirled at the last second and white-hot pain seared through his already sore ribcage. He could smell his blood on Henry’s muzzle. Chase yelped and leapt clear of Henry’s retaliating lunge.
They circled, watching each other for an opening. It came. When Henry took a quick glance in Scott’s direction, Chase lunged and his teeth tore through the other male’s front shoulder. It wasn’t enough, and Henry retaliated, viciously tearing a gash along the whole length of Chase’s back. That was really going to hurt later.
He twisted and rolled underneath Henry. His mouth closed on a leg, and he bit down—hard. Henry yelped and snarled, biting at Chase and kicking and scratching with his free legs. His underbelly burned from Henry’s claws, but he closed his eyes and hung on. He clamped down harder and finally heard the sickening crunch of bone. In an instant the big brown wolf surrendered and went limp.
Chase released the leg and then struggled to stand. Everything hurt, but for damn sure he wasn’t going to let Henry know. He raised his head and stood dominantly over Henry’s lax form. Henry whined and scrambled to his feet. After he began hobbling away, Chase turned to Scott and sighed, closing his eyes for a just a moment. When he opened them again, Scott was charging straight at him.
The booming of the bear’s roar shook his exhausted form. What the fuck! He dropped to the ground and Scott literally leapt over him. He heard a strangled whine and the off-putting sound of tearing flesh. Henry was dead.
Magic rippled over the big brown bear and he shifted into human form. Scott was massive, even in human form. All bears were. But he measured in at a good six foot ten and close to two hundred and eighty pounds of hard muscle. Nobody tangled with a bear…except maybe another bear.
“Fucking hell, Chase! Are there more?”
Chase sat on his haunches and shook his head, ears flapping from side to side. The movement yanked at his open wounds, and he growled in pain.
“What the fuck? And why are all of you chasing that poor female?” Scott stomped toward Chase. “Shift! Damn it.”
Sam!
He walked quickly to her and nuzzled her side. There were no outward signs of injury. Chase heaved a sigh of relief and curled into a ball next to her warm body. He laid his head gently over his paws and stared up at Scott’s frustrated face.
“I smell you, but where is your magic? Why can’t I sense it?”
He paced back and forth in front of Chase—completely oblivious to the fact that he was buck naked. Chase woofed at his friend and laid his head down again.
“I just killed two people didn’t I?”
Chase lay still.
“Why aren’t they changing back? Is it the same reason you won’t shift?”
He answered with a low whine.
“Shit, Chase. What the hell are you in the middle of?”
Chase jumped up from the ground. He could feel the tingle of magic returning to his body. It spread across him like a warm blanket. With no effort he shifted to human form and approached his friend.
“Chase!”
“It was a drug or potion or… I don’t know what it was.”
“What the hell is going on? I’m minding my own business this evening when along comes little red, knocking into trees and tripping over her feet. Then the rest of those idiots come chasing after her, snarling and snapping. Assholes.”
“It’s a mate hunt.”
“Shit! Is she a Demakis? They’re the only nobles that own land out here.”
Chase nodded and walked back to Sam’s sleeping form. He ran his hands down her back, enjoying the feel of her soft fur.
“Thanks for looking out for her.”
“No problem. She was about to run herself off the side of a ravine when I caught her.” He rubbed his arm, and Chase saw the bite marks. “She’s got quite the spark in her. Not many wolves would bite a bear.” He chuckled. “Course she probably didn’t appreciate the fact that I had her by the scruff of
her neck either.”
“You bit her!” Protectiveness surged through Chase, and he smoothed the ruff of her neck, looking for abrasions.
“Hey, now. She’d be dead if I hadn’t.” The big man held up his hand in a defensive pose. “It was more mouthing than biting. In her drunken state she probably couldn’t tell the difference though. When did the nobles start drugging the females for a mate hunt, and what are you doing in the hunt?”
“I met her at the airport two days ago. My wolf recognized her as my match.”
“That’s awesome, man. Congratulations.”
Chase smiled. “It hasn’t been quite that simple.”
“It is now.” Scott inclined his head toward Sam. “I’ll leave you two to get all bond-y-like together.”
Chase snorted at his friend’s innuendo. “Thanks.”
“I’ll take the dead one with me and dump him in the ravine.”
“Thanks.”
“No prob, call me for the wedding. I’d love to actually meet the girl that finally caught Chase Michaels’s interest.”
“Sure thing.” Chase shook his head. Scott shifted back into his bear form, grabbed Henry’s still wolf body, and lumbered off into the forest.
A moan from Sam refocused his attention, and he licked his lips as her form shivered, magic rippled, and she shifted. Her blond hair shimmered in the moonlight, and he ran a hand up a silky thigh, caressing the curve of her ass. He just wanted to lean down and nip it.
“Hey, gorgeous. How are you feeling?”
***
Sam opened her eyes slowly. The sound of Chase’s voice soothed her frayed nerves.
Wait. The bear!
“Chase, there was a bear! We have to get out of the forest.” She sniffed the air. “I can smell him everywhere and all over me.” Sam sat up and rubbed her arms.
“Scott says hi and forgives you for biting him.”
“Scott?” Sam scrunched her forehead, confusion overwhelming her. “He attacked me. Wait…he was a shifter?”
“He didn’t attack you. Scott said he grabbed you before you ran off the side of a cliff.”
Chasing Sam: Vegas Mates Book 1 Page 7
