“You have no idea about the changes going on inside your body right now. Each human reacts differently when mated with a Lycan, but they all experience youthful sexual urges. Lycan in general are a pretty sexually active species. Males and females are in their sexual prime for hundreds of years, maybe all of their life.” Chance grinned at her “Think of it as if you’re just entering puberty. You’ll seriously think of humping everything. Let me clarify that statement, you’ll seriously want to hump your mate.”
Olivia giggled. “Isn’t it the males that do the humping?”
“Oh, you don’t know our females.” Chance chuckled.
“I believe I just got an eyeful of one.”
Chance stood and helped Olivia up. “I have some things to discuss with you before we leave. Make sure you have your position down, because we can’t have any distraction during this search. This may be our only opportunity at finding this guy. We can’t blow it.”
“So, what’s my part of the plan?”
“You’re going with me, by my side, and if you can’t keep up, you’re coming back here.” Chance led her to the table. “Here, put these in your pocket. Swallow one of each color before we arrive at your house.”
“You think I’ll have the ability to scent?”
“You already are, Olivia. That’s part of the reason you were so stimulated a few minutes ago, you scented Dir and Jasmine’s arousal for each other. It took over your senses, a big part of the reason you couldn’t control yourself and look away. There’s something more about the rogue alpha, Smoke. He can read everyone’s mind, including humans. Guard your thoughts around him. He’ll know if you’re running a plan through your mind.”
“Nothing will happen. We’ll find Lindsey and get the hell away from that monster,” Olivia stated, looking at everyone in the room. “We’ll find her.”
“The others will search in wolf-form. I’ll stay in human-form with you. You’ll be stronger and move faster than you did last week. Your stamina should be greater also.”
Jase and Trevor stood studying Olivia and Chance. “So, boss, the wolves will lead the search and the Alpha and mate will follow up behind us, right?”
“Yes. We’ll store the extra supplies inside Olivia’s house. You know the importance of keeping these capsules away from that monster. Smoke can’t know we have either of these.” Chance pocketed one bottle of Total Eclipse and one bottle of Full Moon. “Let’s go find Lindsey.”
* * * *
Their three trucks rolled into Olivia’s drive about eight-thirty in the evening. They’d all taken the two capsules before arriving, but it was tough figuring out if it was working until they found the rogue and his pack’s scent.
Olivia noticed none of her outside lights came on when they drove up, and she also noticed how well she could see in the dark. She definitely wouldn’t need a flashlight in the woods.
Amazing.
“A fireman turned off the power and your propane,” Jase said. “He said you’d need to contact the utility companies after a professional came in and properly disconnects your barn. It sounds like that professional is up to you to find.”
“Thanks for letting me know and for hanging out long enough for that information.” Olivia turned toward the barn still standing, the one Lindsey moved the animals into. “I’m going to take a quick check on the hawk and groundhog. Go on in the house, I’ll be right there.”
“Olivia,” Trevor called. “They’re gone. The cage doors were left open and the animals must have gotten out. They were gone by the time I got here. I’m sorry.”
Olivia stopped and walked back, she looked at Chance, who had told her they were taken care of by Lindsey before she’d gotten abducted.
“Trevor, I’m sorry for thinking of the animals at a time like this. I seem knocked off kilter in more ways than I realize. You don’t need to apologize for anything that happened here.”
Chance took Olivia by the hand and led her into the house. Jasmine, Dir, Trevor, and Jase followed. They all stood in the kitchen while Chance dropped the two bottles of capsules inside a glass quart jar of dried lavender that Olivia stored on her counter. He shook the jar until the bottles buried themselves within the tiny purple buds and set the jar back on the counter.
“Now you know where it will be if for some reason we need more.”
“Leave your clothes inside the house if you want,” Olivia offered.
“Thanks, but we’ll pile them inside the trucks in case we need a fast get away,” Jase said and headed outside. The others followed, with the exception of Chance and Olivia.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Chance pulled Olivia against his body. She liked the feel of him, his warmth, strength, and scent, a woodsy mint pine mixed with a deeper spice, like clove.
“I’m positive.” Olivia kissed him, sweeping her tongue along his lower lip. He shivered under her fingertips and thrust his tongue between her lips. She pulled away from him before allowing her urges to take over. “Let’s go before we get left behind.”
As soon as they stepped out of the porch door, they heard the ominous haunting howls of the rogue and his pack. Olivia naturally reached for Chance’s hand. Trevor, Jase, Jasmine, and Dir all stood together as wolves beside the pile of charred and smoky rubble that had been Olivia’s barn. Trevor led the way, running into the forest.
Chapter Sixteen
Chance wasn’t sure about using the drugs before testing them and getting some kind of time frame for when they would kick in. If Lindsey’s life wasn’t at stake they would have taken the time. Unlike his name, Chance did nothing without certainty. This made him feel like they were headed into the lion’s den.
When they entered the woods, Trevor stayed ahead, barely in view, but the rest of the wolves spread into a parallel formation, following Trevor and the howling rogue pack. Chance and Olivia ran at a slower pace behind them.
“Have you seen anything of the rogue’s pack?”
Chance asked after running for twenty minutes.
“Has anyone been able to scent the pack yet?”
“Negatory on both. I’ll let you know if anything breaks loose,”
Trevor shot back.
“Ermph,” Chance grunted. He took a body slam from the right and then immediately from his left. A vice snapped around his neck, sending prickles through his system. He knew exactly what it was, a Restrictor Collar. It disabled him from shifting into wolf and also from communicating with his pack.
He swung out with both fists, one made contact with a rib, and the other dead air. The guy on the dead air side punched Chance’s kidney from behind, whipped him around and socked him in the eye. The other guy caught him in the other kidney. They both kicked Chance’s legs out from under him and the back of his head hit the ground with ramming force.
Chance flipped up, dazed but striking out at his two offenders. A third guy knocked Chance back on the ground from behind. Obviously the drug hadn’t kicked in yet because Chance couldn’t scent any of them.
The three of them were on Chance at the same time, whipping rope around his legs and wrists. They shoved him against a huge tree trunk, winding rope around his body and the tree. Two of them held Chance from struggling. One of them yanked Chance’s head up by the hair. He saw Smoke pull an empty syringe from Olivia’s neck. She gazed at Chance, fear in her eyes before they went blank and her body dropped onto the ground.
“What did you give her?” Chance glared through his swelling eyelids. One of the guys slugged Chance in the belly.
“Same stuff you’re getting. In fact, I think you’ve already had a nice dose of it.” Smoke swept Olivia’s body up into his arms. He sniffed her, and then ran his tongue over her lips. “She has your mark. I wonder if I can convince her to jump sides, tell her I won’t kill you if she gives me what I want.
Her.
..” Smoke laughed and it jangled through Chance’s brain and set his cells on fire. Chance would kill this rogue if he hurt Olivia. “We don’t want your pack finding us too quick, now do we? Give him the tranquilizer Miss Olivia left for me.”
Chance struggled against the ropes, but with three Lycan holding him along with the ropes, Chance didn’t have the strength. The needle jabbed into his neck, and the liquid plunging into him burned through his veins, until he felt nothing and saw nothing, only blackness.
* * * *
Trevor realized the howling they’d been chasing came from only two wolves, and Trevor believed neither of them would be the rogue alpha.
“Hey, boss, you there?”
Trevor waited a minute and when no response came, he knew they’d been set up.
“Stop, it’s a set up. I can’t sense Chance or Olivia. Something’s happened. Backtrack, fast.”
“Have any of you noticed the drugs working? Have you scented the rogue pack yet?”
Jasmine asked.
“I’m thinking I’ve been played by Doctor Linden. I wonder if he was onto me from the beginning.”
“That means a leak, or some other kind of sabotage,”
Dir added.
Trevor led the pack along the same trail back, and they picked up Chance and Olivia’s scent.
“Oh, damn, no.”
They all shifted into human form when they saw an unconscious Chance lashed against the tree with his head hanging.
“Chance,” Trevor yelled at him, slapping his face.
“Look.” Jasmine pointed at the collar on Chance’s neck. She examined it closer. “It looks just like the Restrictors we use. It will take a key. I’m good at working locks, but I need my stuff back at the club-house.” She looked closer, sniffed, and then rolled her tongue across Chance’s neck. Dir grabbed her away possessively. “Don’t worry big guy, I just needed a taste for confirmation of my suspicion. There’s a needle prick, right there.” She pointed. “It’s a tranquilizer. Chance could be out for hours depending on the dosage that beast gave him.”
Trevor walked around the area, studying the scene with keen eyes and scenting for anything other than Chance or Olivia. Jase followed him, stopped and kneeled.
“Olivia lay right here, but I don’t see any drag marks. They must have carried her with them,” Jase commented. He rose and shifted into wolf, and then began circling, wider and wider circles.
“I can’t pick up her scent. That Total Eclipse must be working for her, or the rogue who took her has a strong enough dose, it covers her as well.”
“Well, we’ve had those drugs in us for a good forty-five minutes and I still can’t scent the rogue pack,” Jasmine said.
“Nor do I,” Dir added. Trevor noticed Dir and Jasmine working at the knotted rope binding Chance.
“Hey, Jase, come over here and see if those canines of yours can cut through this rope,” Jasmine requested. She held the lower rope away from the backside of the tree. Jase trotted over, snapped his jaws across the loosened rope, and the ends fell away from him.
“Good boy.” Jasmine giggled. “Okay, Dir, let’s get him free and out of here. We don’t need another attack like what happened earlier here.”
Trevor watched them free Chance. His boss would make it, but he wasn’t so sure about Olivia or his Lindsey. Frustration welled inside him like a fountain of fireworks. Lindsey might never know how she owned his heart, how much he loved her, and how his life had gone on hold until she was back in his arms.
Trevor howled, standing there naked. He glared at his pack mates, challenging them not to stop him from what he was about to do.
“Don’t you even think about it,” Jasmine spat. “And you shut off that howling before you have that crazed rogue pack coming down on us. Our first and foremost mission at this point is protecting our Alpha. We need him someplace safe and regroup with a plan. What’s the matter with you?”
Trevor shook his head. “No, I can’t go back again without Lindsey. I can’t and I won’t. You go, take Chance back and figure out another plan, but as far as I’m concerned, we’ve been flying by the seat of our pants with Smoke right along, and I’m done with that.”
“Don’t you dare!” Jasmine bit her lip and ran at him.
Trevor shifted to wolf. Jasmine tackled him, but Trevor wiggled free before Dir or Jase could get there.
Trevor stopped a short distance from them, making sure everyone went with Chance. He’d never forgive himself if anyone followed him and left Chance less protected. Trevor needed to find Lindsey and Olivia. Now two of their mates were stolen, he knew Chance would understand and not judge him harshly. He was well aware of the savage and brutal treatment of Smoke’s dead victims. It was the rogue’s signature.
Something strange about the whole investigation stuck in Trevor’s mind. He figured Chance had already thought about it too, just not shared. They’d only ever found dead male victims. All the females that had gone missing, presumably abducted by the rogue pack, were never recovered.
He also had another thought about where to start his search, and it wouldn’t be on Olivia’s property. They’d searched for days on her land, every square inch of it, and if something was there, they would have found it. Total Eclipse couldn’t possibly work on a lair location. They couldn’t cover everything.
Trevor made it over the eight foot fence with ease. His search would begin there, on the adjacent public land. He ran in a pattern, north and south, knowing he’d find something sooner or later.
Chapter Seventeen
Olivia cracked her eyes open. Her head raged as if filled with a hundred pounding jackhammers. She couldn’t move her arms or legs. Her arms were stretched out from her shoulders, ropes laced around her wrists, tying her upright between two posts. A steady stream of light filtered in from somewhere, along with cool air, chilling her skin. She looked down at herself, naked. Her legs were spread wide, also tied to the posts.
She feared for Chance. The last she saw of him, three rogue wolves snapped something on his neck and then were beating the hell out of him before Olivia lost consciousness. She couldn’t communicate with him or sense him, but she held onto her gut feeling he still lived.
Olivia opened her eyes wider, fear kept her head from turning. Afraid of who she’d see. The walls in front of her looked like an abandoned copper mine. She knew nothing like this was on her property. They had been searching the wrong area for Smoke’s lair.