Chance Lost (7 page)

Chapter 12

The party continued into the wee hours of the morning. Chance and Sylas stayed behind after everyone else left. Once again, they volunteered for cleanup duty, since Jack told everyone else he would take care of it. The time spent cleaning gave the three of them more opportunities to talk about Chance’s plans with the property without interruptions. Cleaning also gave her time to ponder the kiss. Granted there were many kisses since then, but the only one that mattered at the moment was the first one. Her first kiss… ever.

When all was picked up and put away, they each took one more beer out to the fire pit to watch the last of the logs burn down to embers. Jack reached under a hidden compartment in the bench seats and tossed Sylas a throw blanket. Sylas deftly snatched it from the air and placed it around her, easing closer to add his body warmth.

“It’s pretty late. If you aren’t up to driving back, I have plenty of room for you both to stay. I don’t condone drinking and driving, but it’s still up to you,” Jack said smiling at them both. “I am really interested in hearing more about your property and building plans, Chance. I’ve lots of experience in that department. I designed the bar and hired a crew to build it for me.” Jack yawned and raised his arms over his head in a long stretch, before looking back at her. “Just offering my help to the prettiest lady I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in quite a while.” He glanced at Sylas as he said it.

Chance wasn’t sure what the silent look between them was or what it meant. She guessed it was something to do with the conversation from earlier in the evening. It didn’t matter though, since now there were two wonderful and extremely hot men offering their expertise. It would be foolish to turn it down and she was no ones fool. Chance also knew that this would mean telling them the rest of her secrets concerning the house plans. As the thought hit her, she instantly brushed it aside. These two people had her trust and to question it now would be stupid on her part. With the trust issue put aside, she vowed to not bring it up out of the recesses of her mind again.

“I have a confession to make.” Chance shifted her position so she could look at both of them. It meant moving away from Sylas and his warmth, but it was a necessary move. Sylas adjusted the blanket for her and gave her a wink. Taking a deep breath, she plunged forward with her admission.

“I am building more than what I told you about. It will contain a complete underground two-level substructure. I have plans on two safe rooms, one on each sub level, a strategically placed emergency exit, and complete martial arts training center. It will be all self-contained. The second level down will also hold my well pump, back up generator, a wine room, and extra food pantry.”

Jack gave a long whistle and Sylas just stared at her. She looked at them both shyly and said, “There’s more but I think that’s enough for right now. From the looks on both of your faces, I’m sure you both have plenty to say.”

They both spoke up and quit talking at the same time. Chance just giggled at their shock. Jack was finally the first to speak back up. “Planning on World War III, Chance?”

“No, not exactly. I want a home I can call mine. I want something I’ve designed and had built from my own imagination. I guess I’m a survivalist at heart, but I want somewhere I can live out the rest of my life and be truly happy. If the hard times come, I want to have no worries about leaving it or losing anyone I care about.” Chance whispered the last part more to herself than to them. In her mind, at least someday, there would be people in her life that she would care enough about to keep safe. Shaking her head to wipe the morose thoughts away, she asked them both “So… you still want to help?”

She watched as Sylas and Jack exchanged another of their silent looks. Sylas reached out his hand to rub her shoulder and said, “We’re both here for you, babe. Whatever you need, ask and it’s yours. When’s your builder coming back?”

“Well since it’s now a new day, tomorrow at my house, noonish. You both want to come?”

They both replied with an enthusiastic yes. Chance took a deep breath, not realizing until then that she’d been holding it. It felt like for the first time since her Sensei’s passing that she was experiencing a family again, and it felt good. They asked more questions and she answered them all as best she could. She wasn’t ready yet to tell Sylas her personal secrets, but these questions, for now, were about the property.

They talked until the sun peeked over the horizon. Chance yawned and leaned into Sylas. He must have sensed she was about to fall asleep. Sylas picked her up and moved towards Jack’s house. Chance had to fight the need to pull away and protect herself. She hoped he could not feel the tension in her body while he effortlessly carried her inside the house. She felt like a feather in his strong arms.

Jack led the way to one of his spare rooms. Sylas thanked him, closed the door, and set her on her feet. He removed the blanket and her jacket. She looked up and he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. “No worries, babe. I can sleep in another room. You’re safe from unwanted advances.”

Chance was seriously conflicted. Her emotions were running rampant and felt she was losing control of them. She wanted to let go of her fears and enjoy the moment. On the other side of the coin, she was scared witless of what could happen if she did. She was not prepared for the different emotions hitting her from all sides. Be alone forever or learn to trust. Chance found herself trembling as she fought the need to run.

“I… I don’t want you to go, but,” was all she could manage to get out, lost in his glowing gaze again. Sylas seemed to understand and set her on the edge of the bed. “I understand, babe. No worries. I will tuck you in under the covers and sleep on top of them. I promise to behave while you sleep. Scouts honor.” Sylas waited while she debated it in her mind. Finally nodding her assent, he pulled her boots off, noticing her weapons as he placed them to the side.

“Always ready for a fight, Chance? Remind me not to piss you off anytime soon.” He chuckled. Giving her another chaste kiss, he gently pushed her back onto the pillows and tucked her in under the blankets. She studied him as he removed his boots and jacket. He was the perfect example of the male species; all muscle, strength, and he exuded boundless power, yet he treated her as gently as a newborn. Sylas joined her on the bed, on top of the covers. Reaching under her, he pulled her into him, with her back to his chest and she fell asleep with his arm as her pillow, feeling like she was home.

Chance woke up disoriented and stiffened. There was a man wrapped around her and she started to jump up, when she realized she was still fully dressed and under a blanket. Then she remembered Sylas putting her to bed. “Easy babe. It’s just me. Good afternoon, beautiful, sleep well?” he whispered as he placed a kiss on top of her head. Chance turned her body around to look at him. His eyes were half lidded and glowing a dark emerald green. She could stare at those eyes forever if he let her, and it was funny, but the glowing eye thing didn’t seem to register as something wrong, just different. It was what made him Sylas to her.

“Yes, did you?” she asked after a moment.

“Better than I have in… a very long time. Thank you for asking me to stay with you last night, but I honestly didn’t think you would.”

“Why? Because we didn’t…” was all she could get out before Sylas stopped the protest with his fingers caressing her lips.

“No, I don’t want you to think that, Chance. I know you’re not ready for a more intimate relationship. It’s far too soon. When you said you didn’t want me to leave, I understood exactly what you meant, because I felt the same. You wanted to feel closeness without sexual pressure and I wanted to feel you in my arms for longer than a few minutes. It was selfish of me, but I took advantage of your needs.”

“You always seem to know what I’m thinking. I kind of like that,” she whispered into his fingers that were still roaming. “I like that you wanted more, Sylas, and you’re right, I’m not ready yet. Can I give you one more confession?”

“Only if you want to tell me, Chance.” He reached over and replaced his fingers with his lips for a quick kiss.

Chance hesitated; unsure of how to tell him she had never been with a man before, much less kissed one before. “I’ve never… you know, been with anyone before. Last night, with you, was magical.” She blushed and looked him directly in the eyes. “That was my first kiss and I’m glad it was with you.”

Sylas smiled at her and pulled her closer. Lightly pulling her hair to expose her neck to him, he whispered between kisses down her chin and onto her neck. “Just the first of many more to come, if you will let me, Chance. Just one of many.”

Chance moaned as he tugged her hair.
Who knew that having someone gently tugging on her mane could be so erotic!
Her only experience from the past was yanking it with full intent to harm her. It had been yanked out, used to throw her across the room, and just recently in the bar it was used to try and trap her. As far as she was concerned, after today, Sylas could pull it all he wanted and she secretly hoped that he would want to pull it, a lot.

Sylas gave her one more deep and mind shattering kiss before he got up and pulled her with him. “I’m starving, and I bet you are too. Let’s get out of here and find some food.”

After she caught her breath back, she smiled and nodded. She was ready to tackle another day and for the first time in a very long while, not alone.

Chapter 13

Trey paced the house, cursing. This was the third subject on his Chance list, and it was another no go. The first one he waited almost a full day for. It turned out to be a male subject who apparently was out of town. The second he waited a few hours for while he waited near the apartment. There were woods on the backside of the building and he was able to shift and watch from some bushes right outside the hall corridor. Again, it was a male.

This third one came home from work and yet again, another male. He confirmed each one by waiting until someone identified them by saying their name. He was tired, hungry, and pissed. If the next one was a washout, he was screwed. There was no possible way he could follow up on thirty eight other people named Chance. He could not go back to Craven and admit lying. Or explain what he was doing for the last two days. His quest for Alpha could be lost if he missed his opportunity on this next, and last, person.

Trey kept his plan simple. Find the girl, allow the pack to see how deranged Craven is, catch his weakness for her, and kill him. He knew there was no way in hell Craven could resist punishing her in front of the pack. Craven wanted to make an example of her, but his mistake and downfall would be the human aspect. If Trey didn’t kill him first, the council would call in the Fate’s Enforcer. He could lose the pack as well if this wasn’t done his way. He didn’t want chaos, at least not to the point where he couldn’t control the situation. He wanted to kill Sylas, not be hunted by him. This was his row to hoe, and he would finish it.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Trey started cleaning the house of his prints. He’d found a house empty of the occupants. Early springtime meant a lot of people on vacations. This one was checked for an alarm system and finding it lacking, he picked the back door lock. Some skills came in handier than others did, and in another lifetime his was thief. This was before he found out he was a shifter. He was too young when he lost his parents to know what he was.

A nurse who worked in the orphanage took him in and adopted him. Small town ideals saved him from starving. In the wilds of Washington he wouldn’t have lived long. They struggled, but Trey never wanted for anything. He went to school and lived a normal life.

Everything stayed that way until the night of his sixteenth birthday. Growing up without parents to teach him about his gifts caused the greatest harm to the woman he called mother. In his horror of what was suddenly happening to him, he got too close to her, wanting her to fix it like always. She hugged him when it happened. He shifted in her arms and the sudden burst of power in his body crushed her back and neck, killing her instantly. In his world, you didn’t care about anyone, because they always ended up dead.

Trey left the house as he found it and returned to his SUV. The Navigator was his home away from home and after the day he just had, it felt good to sink down in the comfortable leather seats. He set the final address into his GPS and left, hoping this last one was his money tree. He stopped at an all night fast food place and purchased several hamburger meals to go. He was starving, again.

Finding the next neighborhood was easy, but there were no empty or vacant homes on the same street. He found one, for sale, on the next one over that was kitty-corner to subject four’s backyard. There was one problem he saw right off. The house for number four also had a complete privacy fence. He would deal with that later. Thankfully it was the middle of the night and no dogs were sounding warnings of a stranger being around.

Trey picked the back door lock, hoping he would not have to use this skill again any time in the near future. Never would be too soon, as far as he was concerned. At least this house was set up to sell, complete with furniture. He left the lights off and settled in. Subject four was not home as far as he could tell, so that gave him time to contemplate his life since that fateful night he needlessly killed his adoptive mother. He opened the bag of burgers and ate while he reminisced. Mostly he wondered what he could have done differently. He knew now that he should have never gotten close to her during a shift. Life was full of “if only” and his seemed to have them more than most.

The shock that set in following her death set his feet to running. It seemed that he’d not stopped since. Taking up with a gang of human kids in the streets of Seattle taught him the hard lesson of survival. The gang initiated him in with an attempted beat down, but they were clueless. It ended up being the opposite. By the end of the fight, he was the only one left standing of the baker’s dozen that jumped him.

Trey won instant respect and they taught him the fine art of thievery. He ended up being the best of the bunch. He could get in and out a target in less than five minutes, including shutting down the alarm system. In big cities, burglaries were the bottom of the priority list for police intervention. His five minutes snagged them quite a few trinkets before he left the gang to their own devices.

Trey finally discovered he preferred being in the woods. His shift was wolf and that’s where they thrive. He met a female wolf while out on one of his forays in the wilds of northern Washington. They stayed together for several years until he caught her with another male. He left her, the state, and never looked back, until now. He was tired of struggling and taking orders, and he was definitely tired of being alone.

Trey contemplated his desire to bring the pack into what it should be, a family. Yes, they were all rogues, but they had the same wants he did. That is how Craven brought them all together. Each and every one of them was tired of being alone. Craven thought he lorded over a pack full of cutthroats. Boy, was he mistaken. Sure, if called upon they would defend the pack to the end, but they really did not want the life of the lone wolf.

This was the difference between him and Craven. He got to know the pack by each individual member. He knew everything about them; all of their individual wants and needs. Craven only wanted to know they were his pack and nothing more. He treated them all like animals; to jump and run when called. To obey without question and to do all his dirty work. As far as Trey was concerned it was about to come to an end. One way or the other, it
would
end.

Trey considered the extra plus to his plan. If the human was attached to the Enforcer, then all the better. He lived and breathed to bring that man to his knees, preferably dead. He did what research he could on the death of his parents. There were several newspaper articles about it, complete with pictures. It seemed the fight and their deaths made the local and statewide news. It had been called a massacre of a local cult. Just because they were different and lived in a commune, they were a cult. It wasn’t right, but what could he do. Besides, the real issue behind all the deaths was a rival pack that wanted their land.

Humans didn’t understand pack life, but then again, humans didn’t know Immortal shifters existed. The common denominator in all the pictures he’d seen was Sylas Taiken. He was shown standing in the background in every picture he saw of the aftermath. This said one thing to Trey… Sylas was part of it somehow, and Trey would make him pay with his life. If not for almost half of the pack getting out when the fight first began, he would not be here today to exact his revenge.

There were enough members of the pack left to reform it, but the new Alpha wanted no part of the old one, they never did. Being born to Alpha’s, he was too much of a threat to the new one. He was thankful his Aunt whisked him away that night. It was fine with him. They would get theirs too someday. Karma was a bitch.

Trey smiled as he started to fall asleep in a chair next to a rear window. He was tired and sated, having eaten all but one of the meals. He needed sleep and felt he had time to do so, since subject four was not home yet. His last conscious thoughts were how he couldn’t wait to see Craven and Sylas meet their makers.

Trey had nightmares that night about the fight between him and Sylas. He tracked Sylas down after hearing about a shifter who killed a human. He knew the shifter and watched him until Sylas showed up to enforce shifter law. He waited until after the bout with the bear. He wanted Sylas tired. He knew it was his only chance of surviving. He’d barely gotten away with his life. Sylas left him after the fight, thinking he was dead. Hell, he practically was. His leg was broken in several places along with many other bones and a punctured femoral artery. He’d nearly bled out before being found by his Alpha.

Trey remembered the Enforcers words still to this day. “Don’t know what this is about wolf. I don’t take life without reason, and this fight had no reason to it.” That was nearly 30 years ago and still fresh as if it happened yesterday.  Craven didn’t ask questions and he gave nothing up. This was his battle and he wouldn’t lose the next one.