Free Chasing Sam: Vegas Mates Book 1 by Krystal Shannan Page A

other males looked particularly
irritated with his presence, but Chase didn’t give a fuck what they
thought.
    Thought a few punches could knock me out of
the game, did you? Freak’n assholes. Just wait till I get my teeth
in you.
    “ Correction. Our teeth.”
    Chase chuckled. Yes, our teeth.
    “Mr. Michaels. I—” Sam’s father turned away
from Chase and snarled at the other three men. All three cringed.
“You dared to attack a guest in my home?” His voice boomed across
the patio, as loud as any drill sergeant Chase had ever met. “Are
you trying to get sent home in disgrace? My daughter would be
thrilled to have this hunt canceled. She doesn’t want any of you.
After seeing your handiwork, I’m not so sure I do either.”
    “Mr. Demakis we—”
    “Save it.” Sam’s father hissed at the male
named Henry who had attempted to speak.
    Henry was the one Chase wanted to have major
words with also. The asshole hadn’t been willing to fight him like
a man. He’d had the other two hold his arms behind his back.
    “ Calm down,” his wolf whispered. “We have
to focus on the hunt.”
    I know.
    “ Good.”
    “Will you still be participating in the
hunt, Mr. Michaels?”
    “Yes, sir.” Chase stepped up to stand with
the three other men. His neck prickled, and he ground his teeth as
the urge to tear them limb from limb coursed through his body.
    “Very good.”
    A door latch clicked behind him. Chase
turned and held his breath. Sam walked slowly behind her mother.
Nicole was holding one of her arms, steadying her. Sam’s face was
streaked with tears. He met her mother’s dark glare and held his
head high.
    This family had major issues. But didn’t
everybody?
    Renata smiled and shook her head, tossing
her long brown hair over her shoulder. He could only imagine the
pathetic picture he was projecting right now. A passing glance in
the living room mirror had said it all. Even though his body was
healing rapidly, his face still showed every ugly purple welt and
bruise. Tough shit. He’d been through worse than this in the
army. He flashed a subtle smile in Renata’s direction and was
quite satisfied with her irritated scoff.
    He caught Sam’s gaze as she passed in front
of him. Her eyes were vacant. The vivacious woman he’d met
yesterday had vanished. The woman in front of him was defeated and
broken…and possibly stoned. What had they done to her? How did
they expect her to navigate as a wolf in the mountains when she was
doing well to put one foot in front of the other as a
human?
    Chase turned and whispered to Hallie and
Tess, who were standing quietly a little off to the side behind him
and the other men. “Why is she drugged?”
    “Nicole said when she ran, Dad got pissed
and tranquilized her,” Tess answered.
    “Was she really going to leave?” Chase
asked.
    Tess nodded.
    His heart sank. Did she really not want
him, either? Doubt flooded his consciousness.
    “ It’s not true.” His wolf assured him.
“You are her perfect match.”
    I want to believe that.
    “ She’s just scared, Chase.”
    His inner conversation was interrupted when
Hallie spoke again. “That’s what Sam does best.”
    The spiteful tone in Hallie’s voice made
Chase wonder if she resented her older sister. Doubts crossed his
mind again. Would Sam leave him, too? After all this was said and
done, was he just a means to an end? Was he just her escape
hatch?
    “ Fucking stop thinking that! Focus on the
task at hand, or she won’t even have a choice.”
    Chase growled at the mental kick in the ass,
but his wolf was right. His focus needed to be on the hunt and
figuring out how he was going to beat three formidable wolves by
himself.
    Sam’s father handed her a glass flute filled
with a dark purple liquid. Servers appeared from nowhere and
dispensed champagne to himself, the other men, and Sam’s sisters.
Then he turned and faced the small group.
    “Honored guests. I present my daughter,
Samantha Talia Demakis. She is