by Jenny Penn
“Yes, I heard you the first time. She’s your mate, a precious, invaluable gift that you’re supposed to cherish and seduce with a nice picnic or something. Not take out into the pastures to hunt down like some wild prey for the feasting.”
“Flowers are so twentieth century, Bud.” And feasting was so much fun.
“Don’t you get smart with me, Davis,” Bud warned him. “I’m not in the mood for your mouth. Besides, we got a problem on our hands.”
“Problem?” Chance’s smirk flattened out as quickly as Davis’s stomach soured. “What kind of problem?”
“One Lacie could help straighten out.” Bud paused, his tone remerging a few shades deeper. “Is she there? Or did you two asses already send her running?”
“She’s running.” Davis didn’t feel any shame in that admission and wouldn’t no matter how much Bud growled over it. How they chose to court their mate really wasn’t important right then. “And you didn’t answer Chance’s question. What kind of problem?”
“It’s a schedule thing, as in I was fixing Lacie’s to give her the time off,” Bud explained. “But she has an appointment listed for this afternoon with a TJ Carver.”
“So?” Chance prodded, his tone strained with exasperation. Davis understood. Bud was taking his sweet time to get to the point.
“So, nobody knows who the hell that is.”
That was saying something. This part of Texas was lycan country. They’d built the towns, owned the businesses, and held every elected office there was. They didn’t just serve the public. They were the public, and that meant there wasn’t anybody they didn’t know.
“Though,” Bud filled in after his dramatic pause. “He could be some new guy Lacie met at the supermarket. Her ma says she was all a dither about some, and I quote, cute, sweet, funny hottie that she was trying to pick up.”
“Is that a fact?” Davis forced his tone to remain light despite the tension stiffening his muscles. “Well then, I guess we better go chase her down and find out all we can about this hottie.”
“We’ll let you know how it goes, Bud,” Chance assured him before the elder could respond to Davis’s crack. Then he hit the end button and killed the call, cutting off Bud’s chance to say anything at all. “And it’s not going to go well for Lacie.”
“No, sir. It isn’t.”
He’d meant to rip off his shirt, but Davis’s reflexes kicked in when a shiny, metal flash streaked in his direction. Catching the set of keys Chance tossed at him, he stared at his fist in confusion. “Why am I taking the truck?”
“Because I’m faster,” Chance answered instantly, no hint of doubt in his tone.
“It’s your truck,” Davis retorted before throwing the keys back at him.
Not that Chance bothered to catch them. They smacked into his chest and fell to the ground while he continued to strip out of his clothes. Davis would not let Chance screw him out of this chase. Whipping his shirt off, he tossed it into the bed and raced to catch up with Chance, knowing whoever managed to get their dick free first would win the argument.
The damn thing didn’t help its cause. Swollen so fucking badly, Davis’s cock pressed painfully against the metal teeth, forcing him to inch the zipper down slowly and carefully. The only consolation he had was that Chance was having just as much difficulty getting out of his jeans.
Chance’s temperament did him in. Muttering obscenities, he yanked a little too hard and ended up squealing as Davis’s patience finally paid off. Kicking his jeans free, he shot a victorious smirk in Chance’s direction.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bent over and snarling, his buddy didn’t take losing well. Hell, he didn’t take it at all. “Who’s going to take the truck, because it sure as shit ain’t going to be me.”
“Call one of the men patrolling the perimeter.” Davis looked in the direction their mate had disappeared in. “I’ve got a woman to catch.”
“We’ve got a woman to catch.”
Davis smiled at that correction and cast a doubtful look at the hand still cradling Chance’s crotch. “You sure you’re up to the challenge?”
Chapter 3
Lacie gave up running five minutes after she started. Her chest ached from trying to breathe too hard, too fast. Her heart pounded from the brutal rush of blood boiling in her veins. Her leg muscles burned too badly to carry her any further without a break. Simply put, she wasn’t in shape to be chased through the fields.
Especially not by lycans. Hell, an Olympic gold medalist wouldn’t be able to outrun them. Collapsing on the grass, she panted through all the pain as she stared up at the bright blue sky overhead, expecting Chance or Davis to appear at any moment. They really should have caught up with her by now. Actually, before then.
Shoving up on her elbows, Lacie glanced around, but nothing and nobody loomed on the horizon. That didn’t make any sense. Not that anything today made any sense, unless of course they’d been joking about her being their mate.
Even that would go against everything she knew about lycan culture. Normally, mating was talked about in hushed tones and kept well within the pack. Lacie only knew of it because of Bud. As a child, he used to keep her entertained with fascinating tales of lycan traditions and rituals.
Now she didn’t know what to read into that fact. She’d always thought he just loved telling tales, but maybe he’d been preparing her. After all, one ironclad lycan tradition was to keep outsiders out. But somehow her mom had found a job at Bud’s ranch, a place where she and her daughter had been the only non-brethren.
They been accepted and welcomed by the wolf-men and their families. In all the years, how many women had she seen wined, dined, and swept off their feet? Lacie had always envied them, wishing some man would woo her with half the devotedness lycans put into courting their mates.
Well, being chased through the damn fields was not Lacie’s idea of a fantasy come true. Why did she get stuck with two stooges? If they were her mates, then where the hell were her flowers and nice dinner? They should have been wooing her, not chasing after her like a dog did a bone.
Getting more pissed by the moment, Lacie decided to put her foot down. This was either a tasteless joke or they had decided to make her mating all about their enjoyment. It didn’t matter because both sins deserved the same response—her standing up to them.
Or maybe just escaping, Lacie amended silently. That alone would be a victory, given she couldn’t outrun them and was now officially lost in the middle of their ranch. They were bigger, stronger, faster, and had every other advantage known to man on their side. Hell, they even had her hormones working for them.
She still blushed remembering the dark need in Chance’s intense gaze. So hard and unforgiving, he wouldn’t be easily satiated. Nor would he accept any hesitation on her part. Once he got a hold of her, Lacie suspected he’d mesmerize her, leaving her unwilling and unable to deny whatever command he gave.
Lacie shivered over how wicked his orders would become with Davis by his side. While Chance would probably go for direct and dirty, Davis would delight in toying with her. His light eyes had been full of amused promises. He’d play with her, tease her, torment her, make her say and do all sorts of things that would no doubt leave her blushing for days.
While there would be no escaping that eventuality, Lacie could force them into being more traditional in their courtship if she could make it all the way to the protection of Bud’s ranch. She smiled, enjoying the idea of being in control of everything.
She’d use her power to make Chance and Davis squirm, even knowing it’d only make their retribution all the more intense. That’s actually what made the idea so damn tempting. Daring to dream big, Lacie started considering her circumstances. She’d never win if the competition was one of physical strength or endurance.
So she needed to change the game to something she could win at. Rising up to her feet, Lacie determinedly headed back in the direction she’d come. If she could make it to
where she’d left her purse, then she could call Bud and get some help.
Taking a path a little wide of her original one, Lacie didn’t actually expect to avoid running into Davis or Chance. With their heightened sense of smell, both men would be able to track her into a darkened cavern if she could find one to hide in.
More worrisome than where they were was what they were up to. Whatever they were planning, Lacie figured they hadn’t brought her out here just to let her run free and pointlessly.
She’d bet there was a pond nearby given Davis’s obsession with heat stroke and his pointed references to swimming. Swimming was probably a code word for skinny-dipping, which Lacie feared would be Davis’s idea of seduction.
That made sense. It also seemed reasonable to conclude they hadn’t bothered to catch her because she’d been running right to where they wanted her. If that were all true, though, they should appear now that she’d turned around.
As if on cue, a massive black wolf appeared, separating itself from the shadows of the cluster of trees the beast had been hiding in. He didn’t bother being subtle now, but stood in her path staring back down at her with kind of feral intensity that made Lacie’s fear spike. She didn’t doubt that was Chance, but she did doubt her conviction that he wouldn’t actually hurt her.
With all those pearly white, pointed teeth grinning at her, Lacie couldn’t control her natural instinct to flee. Adrenaline flooded her system, fueling her stamina and giving her legs enough strength to carry her fast in the opposite direction.
The hormonal rush also washed out her ability to reason, and she ran further than she intended before she remembered to trip. Years of being knocked over by livestock prepared her to take the fall without actually hurting herself. Not that Lacie let that stop her from letting out a bloodcurdling scream.
* * * *
Chance’s heart about exploded as his mate’s anguished cries ripped through the air. In the last ten years of war, he’d heard so many inhuman sounds of pain and death, but none of them would haunt him the way Lacie’s screams would. The high-pitched wails froze him through to his soul, the chill driving Chance’s panicked rush into a frenzy.
His heart raced faster than his paws as he flew over the ground, plowing through the tall grass in mindless fear of what he’d find. Nothing mattered but getting to Lacie. Chance didn’t even notice all the clansmen leaping from their hiding places and surging toward his mate. The distant thunder of trucks should have assured him help would only be seconds away, but it didn’t.
With Lacie’s tormented cries still ringing in his ears, all Chance could think of was getting to her side. Crashing through the green veil of the tall grass, he morphed at the first sight of Lacie writhing on the ground. Going from four paws to his knees, Chance slid right to up to her hip, anxious to find the source of her pain.
“Lacie? Lacie, where does it hurt?”
He tried to be heard over her shouts, to focus her attention on him, but her incoherent cries didn’t ease. With trembling fingers, he quickly checked her for any visible injury but could find none. Then there was a second set of hands moving more slowly and carefully over her limbs. Glancing up his eyes locked on Marcus’s concerned gaze. Friends since the cradle, he looked as pale and shaken as Chance felt.
“What happened, man?”
“I don’t know,” Chance muttered, but he needed to find out.
Clamping Lacie’s wet cheeks in his palms, he forced her thrashing head to still. Her delicate features were all splotchy with tears, scrunched up in tensed pain. The sight about made Chance’s heart burst, as did the pathetic whimpers tumbling from her trembling lips.
“Lacie? Come on, baby,” Chance cajoled. “I need you to look at me and tell me where it hurts.”
With tears wavering from their tips, her lashes quivered and lifted to reveal her waterlogged eyes. “My ankle.”
Marcus’s hands instantly dropped, his fingertips barely grazing over the heel of her work boots when Lacie almost busted Chance’s eardrums with another siren-pitched wail.
“No, don’t touch! It hurts!”
“He’s not.” Chance rushed to assure her, unable to endure her pain but knowing there would be worse to come.
Marcus had to get her shoe off so he could see how bad it was, but Chance waved him back, asking for a few more seconds to soothe Lacie. She was panting and crying and making him feel like his very heart was being squeezed in a painful vise.
“Please don’t touch it,” Lacie whimpered, and Chance was unable to do anything but agree.
“Nobody is, okay?” Chance brushed the fresh spate of tears from her cheeks with his thumbs, pleased when her ragged breathing calmed into muffled sniffles. “That’s it, baby, just relax. Take a deep breath.”
“Relax?” Lacie’s tensed features darkened with the beginnings of a serious pout. “That’s easy for you to say.”
“I know, baby, but try.”
Chance could feel the weight of guilt settling over him now that he knew Lacie wouldn’t be dying in the near future. She would suffer, and that was his fault. He’d been the one to chase her. A fact he didn’t suspect she would soon be likely to forget.
“Baby, Marcus—”
“My name is Lacie, you prepubescent worm.” Definitely sounding cranky and pissed more than in pain now, his mate snapped at him and slapped at Marcus’s hands. “And don’t think I’m going to let any of your greasy-pawed friends touch me either.”
“Lacie—”
“Don’t ‘Lacie’ me. Look what you did to me.”
“I know, baby.” He couldn’t have felt lower right then even if he had snapped her ankle with his own hands instead of chasing her down like a damn prize. “I’m sorry.”
“Say that again,” Lacie instantly demanded, clearly unappeased.
Chance sighed. “I’m sorry, Lacie, but now you have to let Marcus—”
“I don’t have to let anybody do anything. I want to go to the hospital.” She struggled to sit up, slapping a new at Marcus’s hands. “I told you not to touch—you’re naked!”
It took a second for Chance to process that. The accusation flung out of her with the same shock that sent her flying to her feet and fumbling backward. Like a fool, he just knelt there staring up at her in confusion while Lacie’s eyes bugged out of her head, taking in the swarm of naked men all around her.
Then it hit him. Chance blinked and stared at her two perfectly good ankles, his gaze traveling up the curves of her legs and over her heaving mountain of her breasts to connect with her wide, clear eyes. For just a second he could see a gleam of panic fill her gaze before she let out a squeal and turned to flee.
Luck was on Lacie’s side because Marcus, that dumbass, had left his truck door open and his engine running. She didn’t even have to take a step to dive into the cab. Then before a single man around them could do a damn thing, Lacie slammed the gas down and threw the truck into a hard spin that kicked dirt and grass over all of them.
“So long, suckers!”
With a laugh, Lacie was gone, leaving Chance rising to his feet in her dust. Nobody said a word as they watched the truck plow haphazardly through the fields. She’d played him. Just like the panic he’d felt moments ago, Chance didn’t know exactly how to process the shock of being had.
He might have been able to appreciate her performance if he hadn’t been the victim of her emotional manipulations. Damn but he still felt kind of guilty and that just pissed him off all the more.
“That’s my truck!” Marcus roared, finally breaking free of his stupor. “She’s getting away in my truck. She’s going to wreck it!”
“Ah, ease off,” Terri shot at Marcus in Chance’s defense, ruining the effort when all he did was rile Marcus’s temper higher. “Transmissions already ruined.”
“What the hell you talking about?” Marcus spat. “It’s brand new.”
“Maybe,” Terri conceded. “But you hear that?” He paused so they could all listen to the engine
whining over the plains. “She hasn’t popped the foot brake.”
“Damnit, Chance!” Marcus turned on him. “You better do something about your woman…or do you need help?”
That provocation jolted Chance from his daze. Meeting Marcus’s challenge straight on, he offered his friend a cold smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”
“We’ll handle it,” Davis corrected, stepping into the group. “Just once somebody tells me what is going on. And where’s Lacie? I thought I heard her screaming.”
Chapter 4
Lacie didn’t laugh for long. The massive truck she’d liberated took all her concentration to control. It didn’t help that she had to perch on the edge of the seat to reach the pedals. It would have helped if she knew where the hell she was going.
Not that she let that concern stop her from keeping the gas pedal pressed to the floorboard. Lacie didn’t ease up on the accelerator until the group of men in the mirror faded from view. Now there had been a sight Lacie wished she’d had more time to enjoy. While she knew lycans shifted in the nude, Bud had threatened her with the pain of death if she ever tried to spy on them doing it out in the barn.
If only Lacie had known what she was missing, she’d have called Bud’s bluff. Just the memory of all that tanned, golden skin stretched like satin over so much steel had Lacie heating with a little thrill. And Chance had been the most tempting one there. Bigger, harder, and looking so concerned, his gentle touch had made it all the more difficult not give in and forget about trying to run.
If the man had only started out with petting her like that, Lacie would have been purring in his lap right then. They hadn’t, though, and Lacie hadn’t set the rules for this game. All the same, she intended to win. Then they could start over doing things her way.
Cranking the wheel in what she hoped was the direction of the ranch’s main house, Lacie searched the truck for any sign of a phone or a CB, but she was on her own. If she just went straight, eventually she’d have to run into something. Less than two minutes later, Lacie cleared another hilltop and did just that.