Chasing Sam: Vegas Mates Book 1 (8 page)

“Hogwash! Mom was interfering. She put them
up to it. Plus, they wouldn’t have ever touched me.”

“We felt the house shudder when they slammed
you against the wall and knew it was either Mom and Sam at it again
or Mom had gotten the boys to gang up on you,” Tess added.

“Mom would never have tried this if Dad
hadn’t gone back to the casino last night to deal with a security
issue,” said Hallie.

They worked together fluidly to guide him up
the grand staircase. Despite their small frames, their werewolf DNA
made the twins exceptionally strong. They weren’t even breathing
hard by the time they deposited him onto the bed in his guest
room.

He reached out and grabbed Hallie’s wrist.
“Don’t let Sam do anything stupid. I’ll be fine by tonight. I just
need to rest.”

“Sure you will G.I. Joe.” Hallie patted his
hand, trying to reassure him. “We’ll keep an eye on her.”

“Nicole won’t let her do anything, Chase,”
Tess added.

A faucet turned on across the room, and
moments later a cool washcloth bathed his face. He winced when it
touched the open cut on his forehead.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, big guy. Just be sure to
win tonight, okay? If you don’t, we’ll never see Sam again,” said
Hallie.

Her resolute sigh sounded so defeated. Chase
opened his eyes and looked up into the faces of two very concerned
sisters. “Why do you say that?” he asked.

“She’ll run.” They answered together.

***

Sam trotted behind Nicole to the kitchen
door, her padded feet silent on the sidewalk. She caught her
clothes in her mouth from the ground and waited. She wasn’t getting
naked on the front lawn again.

Nicole grinned and opened the door.

The scent of blood assailed her
nostrils.

Chase’s blood! What have they done?

She dropped her clothes and scurried between
Nicole’s legs, tearing through the kitchen to the dining room. The
floor had been cleaned and bleached, but the scent still
remained.

Her angry snarl silenced the room. She
turned to the table. The three men sat silently alongside her
mother, who was seated at the head of the table.

No Chase.

“
He could be upstairs.”

Sure.

Renata took a sip from her glass and met
Sam’s gaze.

“Why are you playing wolf in the house? You
know I don’t like the shedding.”

Sam barked and then magic rippled across her
body.

“You must really hate me!” she screamed and
walked toward her mother. “Why? Because I don’t want to be like
you? I don’t get it, Mom.” She whirled to face the three
open-mouthed men. “I hope you’re happy with yourselves for acting
like a pack of hyenas!”

Hurt and embarrassment registered on their
faces.
Good!

All three were unsuccessfully attempting to
avert their eyes. It finally dawned on Sam that she was standing in
the middle of the dining room buck naked.
Well, damn.
Her
hand fisted and she snarled again. “You can all go to hell
tonight.”

“Samantha. Go to your room.” Sam sucked in a
breath. Her father’s voice echoed through doorway behind her. She
nodded her head and hurried out, having no desire to stay in his
presence, especially in her current state of undress.

She nearly collided with Nicole as she
dashed around the corner to the stairwell. “Crap, Nicole!”

Nicole grabbed her hand and pulled her up
the stairs. “Way to go, sis. You shed in the house and flashed the
entire family, including the contenders for your hunt. Chase is
going to be pissed he missed it.”

“Where is Chase?”

“In his room.” Nicole pushed her into her
bedroom and then closed the door behind them both. “Find some
clothes. I’m tired of looking at your boobs.”

Sam scoffed. She stepped into her closet and
found a red sports bra top and another pair of yoga pants.
“Better?” She asked as she emerged from the walk-in.

Her sister nodded. “Come on. We need to
check on Chase. Hallie texted that he’s awake.”

“The twins are with him?”

Nicole grunted. “They didn’t want to chance
the boys ganging up on him again. Apparently they did a pretty good
number on him.”

“Freak’n assholes.”

“I agree. I kinda thought they were nice to
start off, but now I’m totally with you. They can all go to
hell.”

Sam ran down the maze of hallways to the
guest wing. She opened the door of the guest room her father had
given Chase and slipped inside with Nicole.

Her breath caught in her throat at the sight
of Chase’s swollen face. “I’ll kill them.” She whirled to plow back
down the hallway, but Nicole snaked an arm around her waist,
halting her progress. “Let go!”

“Sis. You can’t make this better by
attacking them.”

“The hell I can’t.” Sam screamed. “They were
just going to kill him.” Tears burned in her eyes, and she
struggled against her sister’s firm hold. Tess and Hallie came
forward and helped Nicole drag her to the couch on the far side of
the room. Sobs shook her body, leaving her gasping for air.

I’ll leave.

“
No you won’t.”

I will! I’ll just disappear into some third
world country and be a doctor.

“
What about Chase?”

It’s not fair. I told you it wasn’t fair to
involve him!

“
He’s our mate, Samantha Talia Demakis.
He will fight for us.”

And if he dies?

“
Then we can leave.”

A fresh onslaught of tears poured from her
eyes. How could her wolf expect her to go on if Chase died? She
felt the pull to be near him when he was close. What would it feel
like to be mated? What would it feel like to lose that
connection?

“I can’t!” she spoke aloud.

“Sam.” His gravelly voice carried across the
room, silencing her sobs.

She relaxed almost instantly, and her
sisters released her.

“Chase, I’m so sorry.” Sam bounded across
the room and climbed up next to him on the bed. One of his eyes was
completely swollen shut. The other wasn’t much better. A large cut
flamed across the middle of his forehead. His jaw was swathed in
ugly purple bruises, and his bottom lip was swollen and busted.

He reached up and brushed his fingertips
along her cheek. She closed her eyes and inhaled his scent. The
nearness of his body soothed her anger like a healing salve. It
would be so hard to leave him, but it was the right choice.

His fingers came together cupped her face.
She gripped his hand and leaned into the caress, kissing his
palm.

“Shhhh. Sam, I’m going to be fine.” He took
a deep breath. “I’ll be sore tonight, but I’ve been worse.”

“I can’t believe they attacked you in the
house. I never would have—”

“Sam.”

She could barely see his eyes, but his voice
calmed her frayed nerves.
How was he so calm? Why wasn’t he
flipping out?
“It’s my fault.”

“No. It’s their fault, not yours. They chose
to behave dishonorably.”

“I should never have asked this of you.” She
hung her head, and warm tears ran again down her cheeks.

“You were meant to be mine. I would die for
you, Sam.”

“That’s just it!” Sam wailed. “I don’t want
you to die for me.”

“Sam!” he bellowed through an unpleasant
cough.

Sam flew from the bed and made it to the
door before her sisters could block her. She tore down the hall,
tears blinding her. Her younger sisters called out from the
doorway. She was comforted knowing they would stay with Chase.
Nicole’s footsteps thudded down the hall, coming closer each
second. A quick sleeve across the face cleared her vision, and she
turned.

“I’m leaving, Nicole. I can’t stay and watch
them kill him.”

“You can’t go, Sammi.” Tears poured from her
sister’s eyes. Mascara ran, leaving dark sorrowful trails along
Nicole’s pale cheeks. Sam knew her own face bore the same marks.
“If you go, we’ll never see you again. You’ll be banished. Sammi,
don’t leave us.” Nicole’s pleading tore her heart. She hadn’t heard
her sister call her Sammi in a very long time.

“I can’t watch him die, Nicole. They’ll kill
him tonight. You know they will.”

“You can’t be sure.”

“Look what they did this morning. In our own
house! In the presence of our mother!”

Nicole sobbed. “I don’t want to lose
you.”

“I know.”

The sound of a door slamming caught Sam’s
attention. Booted footsteps advanced up the front stairs.

Nicole’s eyes widened. “Hurry. Use the
kitchen stairs.”

Sam hugged Nicole and then fled down the
back hallway. She paused for a second above the stairwell and
listened. Nothing. One foot at a time, she descended silently and
crept across the kitchen to the back door. If she could get to the
garage without anyone seeing her, escape might be possible.

Sam closed the kitchen door gently behind
her. She whirled to run and slammed into a hard body. A quick step
backward trapped her against the door. Brendan, her father’s
bodyguard, loomed above her.

She dodged his first lunge, but a second
attempt to slither past him ended with his arms wrapped tightly
around her waist.

“Brendan! Let me go!”

“Sorry, Miss Samantha. Your father gave me
strict instructions, and letting you go was not one of them.”

Sam kicked and squirmed, but his steely grip
only tightened. She didn’t have a chance against a wolf of
Brendan’s age or skill. “I have to go. Brendan, I have to go. Let
me go.”

Her father’s voice bellowed across the
driveway. “No.”

Brendan turned. Sam shuddered at the hateful
look darkening her father’s face. He pulled a syringe from his
pocket.

No fucking way!

Chase groaned. His body ached like it had
been hit by a Humvee. The ribs felt better though, and all the
superficial cuts were healed over.

“You have to get up now. We waited as long
as we could to wake you.”

He glanced up and saw both twins standing at
the foot of the guest bed. Their faces were grim.

“Where’s Sam?”

“The ceremony is about to start. We have to
get you downstairs,” Hallie stated.

It irked him that she ignored his question.
“Where’s Sam?” he asked again.

“She will be there,” Tess answered as she
walked to the side of the bed.

Chase took Tess’s offered arm and stood,
grinding his teeth through the pain.

“How are your ribs? Have you healed enough?”
asked Tess.

“I’ll be fine. Let’s just get going.” He
straightened, stretched, and followed the twins out of the bedroom
and down the hall to the left. A few minutes later they emerged
into the large kitchen. Instead of going out the back door to the
garages, the girls led him through several rooms to the main living
area and out onto a candlelit patio.

The three other males looked particularly
irritated with his presence, but Chase didn’t give a fuck what they
thought.

Thought a few punches could knock me out of
the game, did you? Freak’n assholes. Just wait till I get my teeth
in you.

“
Correction. Our teeth.”

Chase chuckled.
Yes, our teeth.

“Mr. Michaels. I—” Sam’s father turned away
from Chase and snarled at the other three men. All three cringed.
“You dared to attack a guest in my home?” His voice boomed across
the patio, as loud as any drill sergeant Chase had ever met. “Are
you trying to get sent home in disgrace? My daughter would be
thrilled to have this hunt canceled. She doesn’t want any of you.
After seeing your handiwork, I’m not so sure I do either.”

“Mr. Demakis we—”

“Save it.” Sam’s father hissed at the male
named Henry who had attempted to speak.

Henry was the one Chase wanted to have major
words with also. The asshole hadn’t been willing to fight him like
a man. He’d had the other two hold his arms behind his back.

“
Calm down,” his wolf whispered. “We have
to focus on the hunt.”

I know.

“
Good.”

“Will you still be participating in the
hunt, Mr. Michaels?”

“Yes, sir.” Chase stepped up to stand with
the three other men. His neck prickled, and he ground his teeth as
the urge to tear them limb from limb coursed through his body.

“Very good.”

A door latch clicked behind him. Chase
turned and held his breath. Sam walked slowly behind her mother.
Nicole was holding one of her arms, steadying her. Sam’s face was
streaked with tears. He met her mother’s dark glare and held his
head high.

This family had major issues.
But didn’t
everybody?

Renata smiled and shook her head, tossing
her long brown hair over her shoulder. He could only imagine the
pathetic picture he was projecting right now. A passing glance in
the living room mirror had said it all. Even though his body was
healing rapidly, his face still showed every ugly purple welt and
bruise.
Tough shit. He’d been through worse than this in the
army.
He flashed a subtle smile in Renata’s direction and was
quite satisfied with her irritated scoff.

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.