Staring Into the Eyes of Chance Read Free

afforded herself when they built the house. She got a Jacuzzi, and Ray got a crazy huge shower with multiple showerheads and wall benches.
    Her whole body ached, every cell, zapping any stamina left. She slipped out of her jeans and pulled off her T-shirt. Steam wafted, thickening the air, but not enough it masked the mirror. Olivia stood staring at herself, naked. Her muscle hadn’t lost much of its firm tone, but the tightness of her aged skin was another matter.
    Then, she noticed something else, looked away from the mirror image and down at herself. “What?” She touched the tops of her breasts. Above each nipple, a huge red and purple paw print appeared, as if tattooed.
     

Chapter Two
     
    Chance leaned against a tree, brushing a twig from his chest hair, uncaring of his nakedness. His fingertips touched broken skin and followed a deep scratch from mid-sternum to the inside of his hip. It must have happened when he jumped the eight-foot fence. The wound would heal before morning.
    More important, he’d lost the rogue alpha, again. Just like before. The Lycan International Investigation Agency (LIIA) identified this alpha as Smoke. He completely vanished, leaving no scent trail, not even a blood spill. Chance never got close enough to clamp his jaws around any part of the elusive wolf.
    But more perplexing was that woman. How her scent drew him away from the rogue he’d tracked for months. He first saw her in the window, looking at him. In that moment, an undeniable connection occurred, a deep admiration, respect…or something deeper, unexplainable. She totally obliterated his focus. He couldn’t decipher it, but she captivated him, drew him in as if some kind of spell bound them.
    Then, she was crouching outside, emanating fear on the light breeze. His wolf instinct answered her call for protection with a force as powerful as firemen pulling victims from a blazing inferno. Such a fragile human body, he was afraid he’d killed her when her head hit the ground. His only thought was getting between her and Smoke. He didn’t want her wandering around the yard with Smoke and his pack so close.
    Her scent pervaded his consciousness, like the taste of her skin. Both lodged comfortably inside his brain, a cherished memory. She sat there, afraid, yet strong, fighting down panic. He enjoyed her trembling body, and her confidence.
    What in the hell happened back there?
    It made no sense, the trail of Smoke’s pack ended on that woman’s property. His team had followed the rogue pack across France and into the states. Smoke only concentrated on areas free of fences and people. Chance couldn’t rule out how close her property was to the LIIA Ops facility, only a few miles away. Plus it wasn’t far from the village limits, and Chance knew what Smoke was capable of doing to the locals.
    She didn’t carry the mark of a male mate. He understood from a fellow forester there was a wildlife preserve taking up over two thousand acres of wooded land in the area. He must have stumbled onto it when he leaped over the fence.
    His forester guise would last a while longer. He needed access onto her property in daylight hours. For some reason the rogue pack ran mostly nocturnal. Daylight hours left them vulnerable in their sleep and allowed Chance’s team an opportunity at finding Smoke’s lair.
    “Trevor.” Chance put out a telepathic pack call, as only pack members could for each other. Trevor was the best agent Chance ever trained, besides being his closest friend and his right hand man at LIIA.
    “Hey, boss man,” Trevor answered.
    “I found something. I’ll want you and a few others with me tomorrow morning. We’ll need an up-close and personal scan of this area. The rogues are here.”
    “You need me there now?”
    One thing about Trevor Drakeland, he never hesitated jumping into the action, the more dangerous, the more he wanted in.
    “No, I’m good. See you in the morning.”
    “Got it. I’ll have Jase and Dir