Free Chasing Sam: Vegas Mates Book 1 by Krystal Shannan

eyes, but his voice
calmed her frayed nerves. How was he so calm? Why wasn’t he
flipping out? “It’s my fault.”
    “No. It’s their fault, not yours. They chose
to behave dishonorably.”
    “I should never have asked this of you.” She
hung her head, and warm tears ran again down her cheeks.
    “You were meant to be mine. I would die for
you, Sam.”
    “That’s just it!” Sam wailed. “I don’t want
you to die for me.”
    “Sam!” he bellowed through an unpleasant
cough.
    Sam flew from the bed and made it to the
door before her sisters could block her. She tore down the hall,
tears blinding her. Her younger sisters called out from the
doorway. She was comforted knowing they would stay with Chase.
Nicole’s footsteps thudded down the hall, coming closer each
second. A quick sleeve across the face cleared her vision, and she
turned.
    “I’m leaving, Nicole. I can’t stay and watch
them kill him.”
    “You can’t go, Sammi.” Tears poured from her
sister’s eyes. Mascara ran, leaving dark sorrowful trails along
Nicole’s pale cheeks. Sam knew her own face bore the same marks.
“If you go, we’ll never see you again. You’ll be banished. Sammi,
don’t leave us.” Nicole’s pleading tore her heart. She hadn’t heard
her sister call her Sammi in a very long time.
    “I can’t watch him die, Nicole. They’ll kill
him tonight. You know they will.”
    “You can’t be sure.”
    “Look what they did this morning. In our own
house! In the presence of our mother!”
    Nicole sobbed. “I don’t want to lose
you.”
    “I know.”
    The sound of a door slamming caught Sam’s
attention. Booted footsteps advanced up the front stairs.
    Nicole’s eyes widened. “Hurry. Use the
kitchen stairs.”
    Sam hugged Nicole and then fled down the
back hallway. She paused for a second above the stairwell and
listened. Nothing. One foot at a time, she descended silently and
crept across the kitchen to the back door. If she could get to the
garage without anyone seeing her, escape might be possible.
    Sam closed the kitchen door gently behind
her. She whirled to run and slammed into a hard body. A quick step
backward trapped her against the door. Brendan, her father’s
bodyguard, loomed above her.
    She dodged his first lunge, but a second
attempt to slither past him ended with his arms wrapped tightly
around her waist.
    “Brendan! Let me go!”
    “Sorry, Miss Samantha. Your father gave me
strict instructions, and letting you go was not one of them.”
    Sam kicked and squirmed, but his steely grip
only tightened. She didn’t have a chance against a wolf of
Brendan’s age or skill. “I have to go. Brendan, I have to go. Let
me go.”
    Her father’s voice bellowed across the
driveway. “No.”
    Brendan turned. Sam shuddered at the hateful
look darkening her father’s face. He pulled a syringe from his
pocket.
    No fucking way!

Chapter
Eight
     
     
    Chase groaned. His body ached like it had
been hit by a Humvee. The ribs felt better though, and all the
superficial cuts were healed over.
    “You have to get up now. We waited as long
as we could to wake you.”
    He glanced up and saw both twins standing at
the foot of the guest bed. Their faces were grim.
    “Where’s Sam?”
    “The ceremony is about to start. We have to
get you downstairs,” Hallie stated.
    It irked him that she ignored his question.
“Where’s Sam?” he asked again.
    “She will be there,” Tess answered as she
walked to the side of the bed.
    Chase took Tess’s offered arm and stood,
grinding his teeth through the pain.
    “How are your ribs? Have you healed enough?”
asked Tess.
    “I’ll be fine. Let’s just get going.” He
straightened, stretched, and followed the twins out of the bedroom
and down the hall to the left. A few minutes later they emerged
into the large kitchen. Instead of going out the back door to the
garages, the girls led him through several rooms to the main living
area and out onto a candlelit patio.
    The three