Staring Into the Eyes of Chance (4 page)

All four of them looked at each other, and again her senses went into overload with restlessness and wonder of “now what?” She studied them for a moment.

Am I reading them all?

“I’m sensing you have a few animals with you. Were you releasing them here?” Olivia ventured.

Again, an uncomfortable-looking expression exchange from all of them, and Trevor, Jasmine, and Dir walked back to their trucks. Chance stared at her. Olivia couldn’t tell if his look was of shock or surprise.

“Why would you ask that?” He studied her face. His eyes softened, but not their intensity. His gaze burned the top of her head, singed her body all the way down, until his heat stroked the tips of her toes.

“Naked”
formed in her psyche, stimulation, his, sexually. She gasped. He was fantasizing about her!

“Stop looking at me that way,” the words rushed from her mouth. He stepped back as if slapped, curiosity crossing his face, and he arched an eyebrow.

“You didn’t answer my question–why would you think we had animals with us?”

“I’m an animal sensitive. I possess the psychic ability of sensing an animal’s emotions, feelings, energy. And I sensed four healthy animals with you. So I ask again, do you have animals you want released on my protected property?”

“I’d question this ability of yours if I were you. We brought no animals with us.”

Olivia knew she must have looked open-mouthed-shocked, because being wrong for the first time in her life was the last thing she expected, other than her confusion over reading Chance, a human for the first time.

“You better check your trucks for unknown four-legged passengers, because Olivia is never wrong with her sensitivities,” Lindsey stated, standing in full frontal Peter Pan battle stance, legs wide with hands on her hips.

“I’ll pick you up at two o’clock. Dress casual, we’ll be eating out on my deck.” Chance smiled at Olivia, ignored Lindsey, and then walked away. He climbed into his truck and followed the others. They circled around and drove away, dust swirling in their trail.

Olivia emptied her lungs on a long sigh.

What the hell did Lacey get her into with this Chance guy?

“Why are you going out with that guy?” Lindsey’s mouth dropped open, and her brows buried into the bridge of her nose. Olivia held back laughing out loud at her friend. “Obviously, you’ve lost your mind.”

“Actually, I think my sister has lost her mind. She set me up with Chance, if you can believe it. Lunch won’t be a big deal.”

“That guy may be to-die-for-good-looking, but he’s got a few rocks loose upstairs.” She rapped her forefinger against her temple. “Maybe you should consider Trevor? He got my feminine parts sizzling with that smile of his. Use and abuse him, and when you’re finished, kick him curbside. I’ll pick up that kind of trash any day.” She giggled.

“God, Lindsey, go get laid. Lacey can set you up if you need it. She’s got a list of sexy candidates and it reaches all the way up here.”

“You never answered me, is Lacey gone?”

“Yes, thank God, or Chance and his friends would be running around on my property as we speak.”

“Well, I’m starving after all that. You got the makings for a sandwich in there? Or is it just salad stuff?” Lindsey grabbed Olivia’s elbow and pulled her toward the three-seasoned porch.

“I picked up some deli meat just for you, but you get it on my homemade sunflower seed bread.”

Lindsey let out an exaggerated breath, and then said, “Okay, guess that’ll do. I mean what other choice do I have, eating here? I suppose you already ate breakfast?” She grinned and Olivia gave her a quick hug.

“I ate a muffin with Lacey. Hey, on another note, your drama career kicked in big-time a little while ago—you performed a hell of a classic Peter Pan.” Olivia giggled. “I thought you’d go air-borne and heave yourself into Chance.”

“Yeah, he needed a good shove, but my drama teacher tapped my shoulder on that one and told me to stand down.” Lindsey sighed and then got busy building her sandwich, being familiar with Olivia’s kitchen. Olivia settled in a chair, thoughts far from food.

Her sensitivity with Chance and his associates confused her. She’d never read humans before, so how could her long standing ability suddenly change? Something was off, especially with sensing a “sexually stimulated” read on the wolf the night before. No animal exuded that kind of feeling or behavior toward humans, and then again with Chance, a human. Maybe she’d get some answers when she saw him this afternoon.

Olivia’s sensitivities still rode high, heated sparks of excitement whirring through her. Meeting with Chance definitely threw her a boomerang. The sooner she got this date thing over, the faster she could get on with the rest of her life, and the sooner she could close herself off from the unfaithful lies of men.

Chapter Four

“Who the hell is that woman?”
Trevor asked. Chance knew everyone else wondered the same question.
“I scented you on her from a mile away. When did you mark her, and have you any idea what that means?”

What Trevor said about Olivia being marked was true. He scented his mark on her as well and it about dropped him to his knees right in front of everyone. It happened the night before when he was in wolf-form and licked her.

He knew exactly what it meant. His mark held her bound to him, and he bound to her. It could be scented by his pack hours later, even after the bath Chance knew she’d taken. Only a primal-mate could hold and carry another’s mark.

Olivia was his intended primal-mate.

Obviously it happened sometimes without the primal-mates knowing or understanding it, but in this case, Chance wondered if sometimes it happened by mistake.

After a good three hundred years without finding a mate he’d given up, not that he searched hard. Watching his father waste away from grief over the loss of his mother hardened something inside Chance. His mother died birthing him.

Chance recalled his twelfth year, the moment he understood the hate emanating from his brother, Savage, was all about the death of their mother and Chance’s part in it. Women didn’t fit into Chance’s life. He would never become a shell of a man like his father. And he couldn’t imagine mating for life with a human, no matter how drawn his wolf self was toward her.

“Olivia can read us, but I don’t think she realizes it.”
He decided against addressing Trevor’s primal-mate question.
“You or Jase will need to keep Lindsey occupied. She might have some influence over Olivia. Are you up to the task, or should I be talking with Jase?”

“Don’t expect Dir to be part of the Lindsey thing, he’s mated, like you’re soon to be,”
Jasmine interrupted.

She and Dir met a few years ago at training camp. Fell fast and furious for each other on the spot. Only days after their first encounter, Dir and Jasmine realized they were primal-mates. Both possessed wild tempers, no one of the opposite sex messed with either of them. Chance didn’t consider them for this mission.

Some packs allowed sharing in the passions and delights of their pack members as three-somes or four-somes, including primal-mated pairs. Chance’s pack had never opened into that kind of adventure. He wasn’t against it, but he didn’t promote it. Some pack alphas took advantage of the Lycan law stating any female in the pack could service them personally, even if mated to another. Chance had witnessed that kind of behavior at its worst, falling into jealousies which created fatal endings.

“I’ll take care of that little femme human. She won’t be able to get enough of me,”
Trevor cut in.
“Trust me on this one.”

Chance trusted Trevor would make it happen. That man loved a challenge, most especially female challenges. Chance was surprised Trevor hadn’t found his primal-mate from the steady line of women entering his life.

“So, Mr.-Never-Dates-a-Woman, how the hell did you go about marking this woman? Maybe today’s date is strictly for an afternoon-delight, total claiming consummation, ay? We sort of wondered if maybe you’d gone to the other side on us, like maybe cocks and nuts were more your liking.”

Chance had just taken a sip of cola and spewed it all over the inside of his windshield.
“God, don’t you all have better things to worry about than my sex life? Get on with your own lives and leave mine alone.”

He knew it was their way of saying they cared and maybe even wishing him luck. Would he get lucky? Did he want complication in his life, more than what already existed with LIIA?

Olivia coated his mind, like sweet honey, ever since his Lycan-self plowed her over. He hadn’t resisted touching her. She took him completely by surprise, took him right off the task of following Smoke and his pack. If Olivia had been in Lycan form, he would have claimed her right then. A shiver ripped through his body, ending in a hard place between his legs.

What the hell? Hard-cocked and thinking of Olivia, sizing her up as if she’s even primal-mate material. She’s human and wearing my mark.
God, what next?

Nothing had ever pulled him away from the rogue pack. He tracked them across the globe for almost a year and the pack stayed one step ahead of him all the way. If he had one of his rare premonitions about now, that would get him back on track with the rogues. He needed to focus on his mission and get on Olivia’s property. Find the rogue’s hide out. Chance would do whatever it took in accomplishing that goal, even if it meant drugging Olivia for a few hours and gaining access onto her land.

“Do you want one of us playing chef for this awesome one-on-one lunch you have planned?”
Trevor bounced in, again.

“It wouldn’t be one-on-one if you were there, now would it? All of you meet me back at the club-house. A few things need covering, like Olivia’s property, we need a well laid plan for later.”

“Ten-four,”
they all chimed inside Chance’s head.

In less than half an hour, they arrived at the club-house, their underground covert operations meeting place. Chance pulled ahead and pushed a device on his visor. A door retracted from the barren cliff wall. The pack drove their vehicles into an underground parking lot, got out, and took an elevator down. The doors
whooshed
open inside a cozy circular room, and in every direction a door, leading toward the living quarters, meeting rooms, or intelligence operations room.

“Where you want us, boss?” Trevor asked.

“Ops room. Jasmine, bring up any information you can on Olivia Bentley. Where she’s worked, where she’s lived, if she has family, what she’s been involved in for the past fifteen or so years. Grab Jase, and have him pull up a current picture of Olivia’s property via satellite. Maybe we’ll see something from an aerial view.”

“Everyone want something to eat? I’ll grab sandwiches and sodas out of the ‘frig,” Trevor said heading for the refrigerator.

“Sure, good idea,” Chance spoke for the group, but he would wait and eat with Olivia.

The blow-up picture of Olivia’s property didn’t show much with the exception of tree tops. They marked a few places as possible areas for cave openings. Her land held a number of steep ravines, a small river snaked through its length, two waterfalls, and a whole lot of trees.

“Wow, this woman is truly a wildlife advocate. I swear she’s been involved at some capacity with every wildlife non-profit organization in the world and a number of wildlife habitat non-profits as well. She volunteered at a local veterinarian’s office a number of years ago, and it sounds like Doctor Schoals might help with the drugs and other supplies needed for care of the animals brought into her refuge.”

“Did you find anything about her relationship status? Boss-man will definitely want anything and everything about that,” Trevor spoke up. He plopped a tray in the center of the table. It held a pyramid of wrapped sandwiches someone picked up a few days ago from Coyotes Bar and Grill, their favorite bar and restaurant in town.

“Her husband, Ray, was a big hotel mogul. He died a couple years ago.”

“Looks like she’s a rich bitch,” Trevor said. He chuckled, until Chance’s fingers wrapped around his throat.

“Don’t you ever show disrespect toward Olivia again. Got it?” Chance spat through clenched teeth, nose to nose with Trevor.

Trevor nodded his head, eyes bulging, red-faced, and gasping for air. Chance released him and the room fell into complete silence, all eyes on Chance.

“My apology, boss,” Trevor finally croaked. Everyone took a deep breath as Chance stomped out of the room. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough, all the while wondering why in the hell he reacted like a madman.

* * * *

Chance drove Jase’s shiny new black SUV into Olivia’s drive at two o’clock on the dot. He wheeled up the drive slow so Olivia wouldn’t walk through a dust storm. She stepped out of a barn, dressed in tight jeans, knee-high heeled black leather boots, and a purple V-neck sweater with a black lacey T-shirt peeking above the sweater. Wow, thank God he wasn’t in Lycan-form or his tongue would be lying on the ground in a pool of drool.

Damn, she’s human and not my type…and what exactly is my type?

Chance couldn’t remember when he last spent time with a female, no matter what species. He jumped out of the truck and opened the passenger door for Olivia, a little amazed his hand trembled over the door handle.

“You look beautiful,” he said, breathing in her cherry blossom and warm honey scent.

She turned with a curious expression, brows drawn in, head tilted. “Are you sizing me up?”

Holy crap, this sweet-souled-spit-fire challenged him at every turn.

“What if I am?” Their eyes met and locked for a moment, long enough a hot blade of energy sliced through his belly, making his lower extremity twitch.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with my sensitivities, but I can read you. Don’t ask me why or how, but I’m able to. I needed that off my chest before our date starts, so you know what you’re up against.”

“Wow, thanks for the warning. Maybe you can fill me in on what I’m thinking right now.” Chance gave his most dazzling smile, one he hadn’t used in over a century. Hopefully, he hadn’t forgotten his charismatic charm—not that it was an actual ability—but people resonated with him, trusted him when he used charm.