“Go for it. We’re good here,”
Chance answered
“I’ll just bet you are. Over and out.”
Chance moved himself back and slid his cock away from Olivia’s more than enticing entrance. It killed him, but he knew he’d never have Olivia if he claimed her without telling the truth of what would happen. Energy ties would form when their sexual fluids blended into a chemical mix of her sexual fluids, his semen, and his saliva. It would bind them for life during a primal-mating. She’d be in his heart and his head for always, as he would be in hers.
Olivia looked at him through half-hooded eyes, her body trembling as he stepped back from her persuasive touch. “Is everything alright?”
“It’s all good, love. I’ll check the property one more time before we call it a night. Wait for me in bed. I’ll be about twenty minutes.”
He quickly dried off and dressed, leaving her toweling herself. He felt her eyes following him and it pulled at his heart with cords of steel to walk away from a naked Olivia.
Chapter Ten
Olivia watched Chance walk out the door. She wondered what really made him leave her so abruptly and so aroused. Maybe her psyche read him wrong, thinking he wanted her, or even greater, that he might love her. He did call her “love,” surely that accounted for something deeper, but why leave when she’d been so willing, so open for him. She practically shoved his cock into her vagina, reading his want, his arousal toward her. His energy blended with hers inside her mind and heart. It gave her warmth and comfort, a different feeling than any before him, but his lies. He needed to come clean with those. She didn’t want another liar.
Frustrated, she stared at her nakedness in the mirror, turning sideways, full frontal, looking over her shoulder at her backside. Her skin and muscle tone appeared tighter, firmer, even glowing. She stood closer and examined herself. Even her breasts looked perkier. Then, she stared at her hair, moved within an inch of the mirror, looking for the patch of gray over her left brow. Gone, completely. Her face was smooth. All of the crows-feet beside her eyes, the creases between her brows and around her mouth, and even her crepe-skinned neck had turned elastic, supple, streamlined, much younger looking.
When did my clock start turning backward?
She pinched herself. “Ouch. Well, you’re not dreaming, but it certainly doesn’t explain why your aging is reversing,” she spoke to her image in the mirror. Olivia looked younger than her sister, at least twenty years younger and at the prime of her sexuality, and honestly, she felt wild, sensual, and passionate, nothing like before with Ray.
What’s happening to me?
How long had she been standing there ogling herself? She wrapped herself in a towel and ran for her room to dress, but dress in what? Chance said he’d meet her in bed, so maybe one of her silk night gowns. She’d kept a stash of beautiful lingerie for years, one of the many ways she tried tempting Ray.
A howl leeched through the house, a familiar eerie, dense, and full-of-aggression howl, and fear snaked down Olivia’s spine. Chance was out there by himself. Olivia threw on a flannel shirt and jeans. She ran through the house, grabbed her rifle, and rushed down the basement stairs, amazed at how fast and agile she moved.
She ripped the hypodermic cartridges off the shelf and pulled the liquid tranquilizer out of a refrigeration unit. She measured out the twenty-times dosage accordingly, remembering Chance’s recommendation, and then filled her repeater rifle with two cartridges.
A howl ripped down the stairs, almost like it was seeking her out. Another chill pricked through her bones and her knees went weak for a moment.
Chance is in danger.
With rifle in hand, Olivia took the stairs two at a time and flew through the kitchen and porch until she was running all-out toward the barn. The far back flood light had been triggered, so she ran in that direction, slowing at the corner of the building. She scanned the area before she showed herself, knowing the wolves would scent her anyway. In that moment the lights went off.
“Damn power company!” The words wrenched from her mouth.
Her eyes squinted, adjusting. With help from the wavering moonlight, she made out something inside the trees, but its speed made tracking impossible. Olivia set the rifle against her shoulder, thankful for all the range practice she’d taken during the summer months. She clicked the safety off, eye focused on the lighted scope. She moved forward for a clear shot, lifted her head away only a moment, figuring out the location where the beast might break through the trees. A huge wolf came blasting out of the tree line, leaping high into the air, straight at her.
Olivia didn’t hesitate. Locked onto it. Fired. The rifle kicked into her shoulder, shoving her back, but she remained standing. The wolf ran a few feet toward her and fell. Her body moved on automatic, without thought of safety or the possibility of more than one wolf. She ran until she reached where it lay.
Through the pale moonlight, Olivia stared at the huge wolf lying on its side at her feet. Black and silver fur, the one she’d seen outside her barn. She shot the wrong wolf. She pulled the cartridge out of his chest, but the liquid inside was already spent in his system. Olivia glanced around looking for Chance.
The wolf shuddered, his head smacked her shin. She jumped back.
Her breath caught, thoughts filling her head on what could be happening inside the wolf after such a huge dose of tranquilizer and knowing the wrong wolf lay at her feet. She cautiously touched his nose. Heat nearly burned the skin of her fingers, but stranger, its heat climbed her arm and radiated through her body, similar of what happened before when the wolf licked her.
Its whole body shook. Bones snapped and cracked inside his body, Olivia gasped and moved farther away. The gruesome sound ripped through the air, bewildering her. His legs moved uncontrollably, and then he jerked as if convulsing. His body blurred with movement, changing, transforming right in front of her. His claws and paws became fingers and toes, his elongated face flattened, and fangs disappeared, like his fur. His ears dropped down, spine bunched, snapped, and cracked some more, and then straightened, so did his legs and arms, from huge black wolf into a naked man.
Chance.
Oh my God! What in the hell just happened?
She shook her head back and forth.
Deep breaths, take big, deep breaths.
She squeezed her eyes closed, and then quickly opened them. A dazed light-headedness made her flounder for reality as she stared at Chance’s still body lying on his side, looking lifeless. She stepped closer and touched his throat, hoping for a pulse. A strong heartbeat pumped through his veins, but he toted an unconscious body. His skin blazed hot, heat raced through her body. She recognized it.
Olivia continued picking up pieces of what she just witnessed, her mind linking them like a jigsaw. Parts made sense, like why she read him with her animal psyche ability, but also a major part didn’t, as in a man becomes a wolf.
How?
Olivia heard tales of shifters. A couple from one of her animal rescue groups actually believed they’d seen one. They mentioned the huge size of the wolf and its human-like stare through amber eyes, although they saw it through binoculars. She never considered werewolves more than a mythic legend. And now what did she think?
Chance is a werewolf?
She shot him full of more tranquilizer than she’d ever used on a bear.
A howl echoed through the trees, furious and full of vengeance. Olivia sensed an attack. It sprang out of the tree line and stopped, piercing her with his gaze, through one milky eye and one glowing amber eye. Its face appeared lopsided, caved in on one side, furless there, missing most of its cheek and showing razor-sharp teeth. Saliva dripped from the open side of its mouth.
Olivia’s psyche picked up its intention. She quickly lifted her rifle. Set the target. Shot. It screamed and then growled. She’d missed. It charged toward her and then stopped a few yards from her, staring at something behind her. It roared, and hot moist acrid breath assailed her.
She turned away. That’s when she saw what Milky-Eye was staring at, three huge wolves running out from behind her barn, all with raised hackles and fierce toothy grins on their faces. They must have surrounded her without making a sound. Her psyche picked up their attack mode. She positioned herself over Chance, legs straddling his naked body. Olivia held her rifle like a bat.
“Don’t you even think about it,” she shouted at them, showing her teeth as a way of showing she meant business. She looked over her shoulder, making sure the nastiest one kept its distance. Olivia expected Milky-Eye would join its cranky-tempered pack.
He was gone. The others rushed past her. They all headed into the woods at blurring speed.
Olivia settled down beside Chance. Her body quaked and her fingers trembled so she barely held the rifle. Disbelief waged war inside her.
How can this be real?
She stared down at his serene expression and fear gnawed in her belly. Would he survive? Then anger swept through her heart, quickly followed by hurt because he didn’t trust her with his secret. She reminded herself she’d only known him for three days, which seemed like a lifetime at this moment. He held her heart in a way her husband of thirty some years never had.
A disturbance behind her made her jump. The three wolves were back. Her psyche kicked in, reading concern, protection, respect, and love. She watched them approach and knew them.
Trevor, the midnight black furred one matched his human-form hair perfectly. Dir, milk chocolate, matched his human-form skin, with darker hair around his face. Jase, the blondest of the group, wore the lightest fur. They crept close to Chance, sniffing, stirring him with their snouts. They all focused on their fallen friend.
“Trevor, Dir, and Jase, I know it’s you, I saw Chance,” Olivia said. They all gazed up at her for a moment. “I could use you in human-form. I need help moving him into the house.”
Then, she watched them transform into the three men she knew as Chance’s associates, naked and unassuming, just like Chance.
Trevor picked Chance off the ground and carried him in his arms into the house. He was much stronger than she figured. The other two stayed behind Olivia, following. She noticed they all looked like sculpted Gods, sinewy, yet defined in all the right places, equally handsome in human-form or wolf-form. The whole wolf thing would definitely take some getting used to, but her curiosity was already humming in high gear for knowledge of their kind.
Olivia directed Trevor into her room, drew the blankets down on her bed, and Trevor laid Chance there. She pulled the blankets over Chance’s nakedness. She took his pulse, it beat strong and steady. With as much tranquilizer as he got, she had no idea if he’d ever come out of it.
They all stared at Chance, who Olivia now realized was their alpha. The three men stood beside the bed, as if waiting for him to open his eyes and give them direction.
“What happened?” Trevor asked. “Chance poked us all, told us to get here fast, and make sure we came as Lycan. He was in trouble and was afraid for your safety.”
“Poked you?” Olivia asked.
“Well, now that you know why you sensed us as animals, guess you should know all the facts. By ‘poked’ I mean mind-communication, the way pack members talk telepathically.”
They all heard the outside door slam at the same time. Everyone stood motionless, listening.
“It’s…” Trevor began and instead looked toward the doorway.
Chapter Eleven
Olivia was so concerned about Chance and drawn into the conversation with Trevor, she completely forgot about the men and their nude state.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Lindsey walked in, her mouth dropped wide open and her eyes looked like they might jet right out of her head. “What, one isn’t enough for you, Olivia? You need them all?” She glared at Trevor, and he couldn’t hide his instant arousal, which did nothing for saving him at that moment.
“It isn’t what you think,” Olivia said. “Trevor, Dir, and Jase only came here to help Chance.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Chance appears unconscious because you wore him out, so they’re here, what, taking his place with you? God, Olivia.” Lindsey stomped out of the room.
“Don’t you dare leave, young lady.” Olivia ran after her, and all of the men followed. Lindsey’s possessive behavior was uncalled for and bent Olivia’s last nerve. Trevor scooted around Olivia and swept Lindsey into his arms, holding her tight.
“Let me down you lug. I’m not into orgies.” Lindsey broke an arm free and punched him in the nose.
“Damn it, darlin’, give me a minute. Let me explain things,” Trevor yelled.
The room fell silent, everyone staring from one to the other. Olivia thought that was quite a revelation in the middle of a bare-skinned crowd, but it got Lindsey’s attention.
“You’re my primal-mate. My mark is all over you, just like Olivia wears Chance’s mark.”
Olivia’s heart pounded against her ribs, heavy in her chest. In a strange, realistic way, Trevor explained the reason for her immediate draw to Chance, feelings and emotions she’d never experienced with Ray. Primal-mate, those words resonated in her heart at a soul level. Crazy as it sounded.
Blood streamed down Trevor’s nose, but he kept Lindsey against his chest with his arms wrapped around her. “I’m not letting you down until I know you won’t run.”
“What does that mean? I’m your primal-mate? What the hell is that? And why are all of you guys naked?” Lindsey looked at Olivia, Dir, Jase, and then back at Trevor.
Dir and Jase exchanged a look and shuffled behind a chair. Dir, a mocha color with dark hair, rippling with muscles, and Jase with his blond hair and tanned skin, also a hard body, looked like they belonged at the Olympics weight lifting games. Trevor and Chance had similar muscle tone, both built well, and proportioned on the highly muscled side. Olivia understood why Lindsey jumped to a conclusion regarding all the naked men, but she didn’t understand why Lindsey would think Olivia would be a participant, especially with her non-existent sexual history.