Staring Into the Eyes of Chance (6 page)

Chance didn’t need lights. He actually liked it best dark because with his vision he saw things more defined than in daylight or with imitation lighting. Like now, he saw the slight swell of Olivia’s breasts under the covers, rising and falling with each of her breaths. His hands itched with the urge of pulling the blankets away and exposing her, like he saw her the other night. He wondered if his paw prints were still imprinted above her rosebud nipples. Although with his saliva introduced into her system, there was a good chance she woke up healed this morning.

She moved, a slight moan parted her lips and stilled his heart. He never wanted to kiss a woman more than he wanted to kiss Olivia in that moment. Her scent filled his room, his lungs, gliding through his insides and pooling heavy between his thighs.

Why this woman, after all of these years? Why Olivia?

Chance thought again about how he followed the scent of the rogue until he came in range of Olivia. It was like being drawn in under a spell, he couldn’t change the course of where his body took him. Like now, he needed her, touching her body. He climbed onto the bed and settled on his side, so close her breath feathered against his face. With each soft puff of air a snap of electricity charged through him, stirring his cock.

God woman, what kind of power do you have over me?
Obviously primal-mate power.

He soothed a trembling finger across her cheek, moving tendrils of silken hair from her face. The slight action lit his finger on fire, which in turn coaxed a stronger blaze deeper inside him. He bent over and touched her forehead with his lips, her brow with the scar, eyelid, cheek, the tip of her nose, closing in on her lips.

Olivia jerked up, slamming her face into his. Chance covered his nose with his hand afraid blood would drip on her. She startled, her head jerking in different directions around the room. He realized she probably couldn’t see in the dark and most likely didn’t remember where she was.

She yanked at the covers in a futile attempt to remove them, until after a frustrated groan she threw herself off the bed, her ankles still entangled. Olivia’s body went over face-first. A loud thud indicated her head hit the floor. Her struggling feet at the top edge of the bed went still.

“Olivia? It’s Chance.” No blood on his hand from his nose, he jumped to the floor with intentions of placing Olivia back on the bed. “You fainted, so I laid you on my bed.”

“My God, what was in that wine?” She swatted his hands away. “My head has a thousand razor blades cutting into my brain and my eyeballs want to explode out of their sockets.” She kicked and pulled, shifting her weight. “Get these damn blankets off me.”

“I need to touch you in order to do that.” Chance turned her body over, straightening the big swirl around her feet. She stared up at him with eyes that couldn’t see him in the dark, but they were big and round and pretty agitated. He gentled his hand, pulling the covers down her body and untangling her feet. She shoved away from him and the bed, balanced enough her legs held her up.

“I’d say date night is over.” Olivia jerked at the top of her lacey T-shirt, pulling it higher than the v-neck sweater worn over it. She brushed at her arms like she was removing dog hair. “Take me home, or shall I call Lindsey and have her come and get me?” She pressed her fingertips into her temples and squeezed her eyes shut. “Chance, seriously, what did you do to me? I’ve never drank like that in my life. Nor have I ever been drunk, or do I make a habit of drug abuse.”

“Nerves can do strange things to a body, and if you don’t drink much alcohol it would explain the early drunk-like symptoms with your first glass. You downed it in one gulp.” Chance sounded defensive, he knew it, but he couldn’t have Olivia thinking he purposely drugged her, even though he did. Guilt crashed against the inside of his chest like a tsunami, leaving pain in its wake. He didn’t like hurting her, and his wolf rebelled by pricking pain along his spine.

“You make me sound like a lush. The worst part is, I don’t remember a damn thing about tonight, or was it last night? Only waking up in your bed, with you…you were… What were you doing?” she demanded.

“Taking you home. Let’s go.” Chance grabbed the cover off the couch and threw it over Olivia’s shoulders. She quickly dropped it, leaving it piled on the floor.

“No thanks. Where’s my boots?”

Chance set her boots in front of her feet, and she stomped into them, zipping them up to her knees. He folded his fingers around her elbow and led her outside. Once through the cottage door, she shrugged away.

“I think we’ve made my sister happy, although it seems strange you would call on me just because she asked. I apologize it was a big waste of your time.” Olivia jumped into the truck seat and slammed the door before Chance could help her.

Chance climbed in and drove her home in silence. He parked the truck near her back door and walked around to help her out. She sprang onto the ground like her pants were on fire. He moved at super speed and caught her before she opened her porch door. His fingers found hers. She jerked in an attempt at escape, but he twined his fingers through hers.

“Look, lunch might not have been the best date, and yes, your sister asked that I look you up, but honestly, I would have asked you out without the influence of your sister.” Chance relaxed his grip. Olivia looked up, her back yard light captured her glistening lavender eyes, and he watched a single tear trail down her cheek. She pulled her hand from his.

“I can’t even say I enjoyed it, Chance. I’ve had a lifetime of being married to a liar and don’t want to spend one more minute dealing with the likes of it again. Better luck with your next choice.”

His mouth dropped open as she turned and sped through the door, slamming it in his face. Yes, his charm had definitely faded.

Chance jumped back inside the truck and ripped down the drive, spraying dirt and gravel. Suddenly a shock wave pricked through him. It spindled down his spine, numbing the tip of his tongue and fingertips, making him light-headed and dizzy. The back of his eyes burned. Symptoms indicating a vision-blurring premonition wanted his mind. He never knew what triggered the onset but had experienced these events often enough for recognizing the beginnings of an occurrence.

He concentrated on keeping his eyes from slamming shut and threw his truck into park off the edge of Olivia’s drive. Thankfully he was past the point where she could see him. He cut the truck lights just before his lights went out…

He saw himself in Olivia’s yard. He stood outside one of her barns. It was engulfed in flames. Animals screamed inside and he watched Olivia desperately spraying water through the opened door with a garden hose. The rogue alpha, Smoke, and his pack’s scent permeated the air along with burning animals and barn.

He called his pack telepathically for help, but no one heard him for some reason. Olivia stumbled, he ran, sweeping her into his arms. The barn collapsed in an explosion of ash and ember ridden wood splinters. He charged away from the sound and sight.

The rogue alpha stood in his path. Chance squinted through the sooty haze and got a good look at Smoke’s face, even though the right half of it fell into shadow. One side of his forehead appeared caved in, no hair on top of his head on that side, but strands of black hair straggled down from below the baldness, past his shoulders. One milky eye and one glowing amber eye glared at Chance and then at Olivia, who sobbed against Chance’s chest. Smoke grinned and the corner of his thin lips buried inside the sunken part of his face, exposing razor edged teeth. He stood in front of Chance, laughing. Then he vanished, gone without a trace, like some magical vacuum sucked him and his scent into another dimension. Only the rogue’s laughter remained, filling Chance’s head.

Chance drew in his breath with a deep gasp, suddenly wide awake and aware a vehicle horn blared. He lifted his head off the steering wheel and the horn fell silent. God, how long had he been out? He was sure Olivia must have heard the horn. He’d explain it later. Right now he needed his team in action. That rogue pack was still on Olivia’s property, and he needed to get them before they got Olivia’s barn full of animals.

He headed straight for the club-house. They missed something during their first search through the property. They couldn’t afford missing it again.

Chapter Six

Olivia heard Chance’s departure, spinning his wheels down her drive. She moved the curtain at her front window and looked out. The yard light kicked on when Chance drove in and dropped her at the back door, which made it easier finding his dark SUV. Morning sunlight hadn’t touched the sky yet. She glanced at her digital clock on the end table, green glowing numbers registered 5:35 a.m. Damn, almost goat milking time, but her aching head wanted rest instead.

Her fingers clenched into fists at her side.
What did Chance gain by drugging her into unconsciousness? She knew he’d lied again. First telling her there were no animals in their trucks, and then about drugging her.

She’d spent a lifetime trusting a man who deceived her. It wouldn’t happen again, ever. Yes, she would have loved intimacy every day, but it hadn’t mattered to Ray. He let her think he simply wasn’t interested in sex when all along he’d found extracurricular sex in other women, lots of other women. Not only did he cheat on her, he cheated her from years of her own sexual bliss, years lost and a vibrator just didn’t take the place of a warm body next to hers, a body wanting to be next to her.

Olivia’s mind went stormy. Then she heard a horn blasting. She ripped the curtains open again for a better look, but couldn’t see anything.

Chance, what if something happened? She waited another minute and then sprinted out the front door. Her spiked boot heel got caught in a knot hole on the bottom wooden step. She tumbled, hitting the ground hard and breaking the heel off of her boot.

“Damn it, Chance, you owe Lindsey a pair of boots,” she spat.

In seconds, she stood back up and ran toward the blaring horn as fast as her fifty-five year old body could on one broken boot. She checked beside her to see if Rebel followed, biting back another sorrowful moment at the memory. The horn stopped and gravel spun, shooting more panic into her psyche. By the time she got around the bend in her drive, she saw the tail lights of Chance’s truck swerve onto the main road. A desperate longing singed her heart and she discarded any meaning of its significance toward Chance, but rather claimed it for the loss of Rebel.

She turned back, the yard light from her house filtered through the trees, guiding her. An eerie howl rose within the trees on her left, not far from the drive. She sensed dangerous aggression and it coiled inside her bones. Olivia stiffened, an icy chill spread goose bumps down her arms and adrenalin through her body. She needed away from there but knew a runner makes the best target for a wild crazed beast. That didn’t stop her psyche from screaming,
RUN
.

A deep, hungry growl echoed through the trees, making a difficult job of pinpointing the creature’s exact location. Fear of moving and further antagonizing the beast into attack kept her frozen in place.

Chance, please turn around and come back.
Olivia filled her mind with that thought, not knowing if it would go anywhere, but psychically hoping it would be answered and acted upon.

She heard the spatter of gravel, lights shifting and casting her shadow on the drive in front of her.
Please be Chance.

The vehicle stopped right behind her, enveloping her in dust. She heard a door open. Chance swept her up in his arms and threw her into the truck. He ran around and jumped in behind the steering wheel, threw it in gear, and sped up the drive, stopping at Olivia’s back door.

“Did you hear me?” she stuttered, wondering at the possibility.

“We need to move, quickly.” Chance either hadn’t heard her question or ignored it. He pulled a hand gun out of his glove box and ran around the truck. Olivia’s door jerked open, Chance pulled her out and carried her. Once inside the porch, he dropped her feet to the floor. “Do you have any weapons?”

Olivia closed her eyes and considered his question while tamping down anxiety, but Chance shook her back into the moment.

“Olivia, I’ll explain it all, but right now I need you focused. That wolf is a killer, and he’ll stop at nothing. Our best defense is to lock down with weapons. Do you have a basement?”

“Yes.” Olivia grabbed the rifle leaning against the door jam and walked him through the kitchen. She pointed at the basement door. “My rifle, it’s a tranquilizer gun. I don’t own any weapons.”

“Mine’s also a tranquilizer gun. Where’s your stash of cartridges? We’ll need the strength increased by a good twenty times, maybe more depending on your current dosage.”

“I store them on shelves in the basement. But, I don’t understand what you mean by such a drastic increase in dosage. I don’t want anything killed. I’m sure there’s a medical explanation on why this wolf’s so aggressive.”

Chance left her standing in the middle of the room while he ran to different windows in the house looking out. She pulled off her boots. If she was going to run again, it would be without the hindrance of a broken boot, or rather Lindsey’s broken boot. Chance raised the front window and sniffed the air through the screen. Olivia didn’t question his strange behavior. He acted like he knew about this wolf, and he promised he’d tell her everything. More than she’d ever gotten from Ray.

Chance pushed the window back in place, relaxing his stance, breathing a heavy sigh as though the danger was over.

“Should we leave the lights off or turn them on?” Olivia asked, peeking out the window Chance just vacated.

“Sun will be up shortly, I think leaving them off right now would be best.”

“Has it left?” At that moment she heard screaming bleats, anxious, scared sounds from her goats. “No. Not the goats. That creature is in with my goats.” Olivia gripped her rifle and ran toward the back porch door. Chance grabbed her waist and held tight. The animals’ screaming was more than she could bear. She twisted and lunged toward the door, working her way out of his grasp.