Chasing Sam: Vegas Mates Book 1 by Krystal Shannan

Chapter
1
     
     
    Samantha Demakis wrinkled her nose at the
barrage of scents coming from the Christmas hordes invading
McCarran International Airport. She swallowed a growl of
frustration and tightened the leash on her inner wolf. Everybody
and their brother traveled for Christmas, and she didn’t like being
one of them. She should have stayed at Duke. Her gut told her it
was a mistake to come home.
    Duke Medical School was her haven away from
all this crazy.
    People jostled her from all angles. Her
rolling suitcase flipped over, and she leaned back to right it. In
the process, someone snatched her blue leather jacket from the
carpeted floor and dashed away.
    Shit. Really?
    She straightened and scanned the crowd in
the direction the thief had run.
    Nothing.
    “Miss.”
    Sam turned and looked to her left. Holy
mother of hotness! Six and a half feet of beautiful man dressed
in a muscle-hugging beige thermal shirt and army camo pants, stood
holding her royal-blue leather jacket. She curled her lips into a
smile. His scent was magnetic, and she hurried toward him.
    “Thank you so much.” She reached for the
jacket, brushing her fingers along his hand on purpose. “I thought
it was gone for good.” His blue eyes widened just for a moment. A
charge had passed between them. She’d never felt anything like it
before. Her wolf howled and slammed against her consciousness. It
took every scrap of willpower she possessed not to launch herself
at him. The canine soul within her wanted him right now and so did
she. The mate connection between them was strong. No, no, no. I
don’t want a mate right now.
    “No problem, Miss…”
    “Demakis, Sam Demakis, ummm… Samantha.
Sorry.” She stumbled over her name like a love-struck
sixteen-year-old instead of the perfectly capable
twenty-five-year-old she was.
    “ Ask his name,” her wolf urged.
    He gave her a gentle grin. “It’s fine, Sam.
Nice to meet you. I’m Chase Michaels.”
    “I’m surprised I didn’t notice you on the
plane.” It was strange that she hadn’t caught his scent earlier.
But it was probably because she tried for the most part to avoid
other wolves.
    Chase chuckled. “I don’t tend to fly first
class.”
    Sam’s cheeks warmed. He’d known she was
there. Maybe being away from the pack really was making her
lazy, but she loved not having to deal with the stress of the
politics.
    “Thank you again,” she said and found
herself lost in his sparkling, bright blue eyes. No, focus.
Medical school, not a man.
    “Samantha.” Her dad’s deep voice called her
name from across the bustling lobby. Most of her family trailed
after him.
    “Well.” Sam turned back to Chase. “I have to
go.”
    He smiled and nodded.
    She grabbed the handle on her luggage and
scurried off, pulling the big, magenta suitcase behind her. Her
wolf whined in frustration. We will discuss him later. Right now
we have to play nice and pray for mercy.
    Her mom enveloped her in a huge hug. “Honey,
you look beautiful. It’s so good to have you back home where you
belong.”
    “Hey, Mom.”
    “What’s up with the hottie, sis?”
    “Nicole.” Her mother scolded her sister and
frowned. Nicole gave her mom the
I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about look and shrugged. She
pushed around her mother and gave Sam a big hug.
    “It’s good to see you too, Nicole.”
    Nicole laughed and stepped back.
    “Aren’t you going to give your old man a hug
too?” Sam smiled up at her dad. He moved forward and gave her a
hug, briefly lifting her from the ground. “We’ve missed you
Samantha. You haven’t been home all year.”
    And I’m hoping coming home now was not a
mistake.
    “Missed you too, Dad.” He released her and
she smoothed out her blouse from all the hugging. “Where’s Hallie
and Tess?”
    “They are circling in the car with Brendan,”
Nicole piped up. “There wasn’t anywhere to park.”
    “Well, let’s get going.” Her dad grabbed her
suitcase, and she linked