Gambling on Her Bear (Shifters in Vegas) (14 page)

“…shit,” the man finished when the round closed for another win. “Two hands doubled at twenty-five thousand each…”

A cool hundred thousand in chips that she eagerly scooped closer to her chest.

All that money,
her dragon hummed.

It was still too little, but it was adding up fast. After another two rounds, she started betting even higher. Dex reached under the table, just as Tanner said he would. Dealers were required to alert security to big bets and repeat winners — which would mean big trouble if Tanner hadn’t snipped the wire in the communications room earlier. In the investigation that was sure to ensue, Dex could truthfully say he’d placed the call, even though it hadn’t gone through.

Our mate is a genius,
her dragon cooed.

She tapped the table with her knuckles, hurrying the next round up. Did the penguin really have to count and recount his chips with every hand? And did the woman at the end of the table have to hum Elvis songs?

Several rounds later, the feathers behind her rustled impatiently, and when Dex’s eyes stopped on someone across the room, Karen froze. Was she out of time? Was security coming over to check out the action at her table?

Dex’s shoulders relaxed the slightest bit, telling her the coast was clear, but he dealt the next round in double time.

Just a little longer.
Her dragon gritted its teeth and all her muscles tensed.

Remember, even eight hundred thousand after we split it with Dex will do,
Tanner had told her.
We can figure out where to raise the rest.

She ground her teeth against each other. She didn’t want to win just enough. She wanted every dollar Tanner needed to protect his clan’s land. For him, and for her own sake, because it was another way of proving herself to Tanner and his family.

“Hit me,” she murmured at the next round, and even Dex’s eyebrows shot up at that. Tanner had said Dex could track about ninety percent of the cards dealt, but he couldn’t track every single one.

“You’re nuts, lady.” The penguin shook his head. She had a queen and a seven; a good, high hand.

Karen,
Tanner’s worried voice entered her mind from across the room.

“Hit me,” she insisted.

Dex shook his hand and flipped her another card, and a cry went up.

“A four! Twenty-one!” the Elvis fan cheered for her.

With her winnings inching steadily closer to the two million mark, Karen felt giddy with success. High, even, which should have turned on all her inner alarms.

Don’t overdo it,
Tanner cautioned her.
That has to be enough.

She cracked her fingers and motioned for another hand. The showgirl was growing nervous, shifting from foot to foot. Karen pushed the glasses higher on her nose and checked her watch.

Just one more round,
her dragon whispered.
All we need is one more round.

Dex’s eyes darted around, and the play of his fingers over the cards gave his anxiety away.

Quick,
her dragon urged.
Just one quick round.

“I’m close to my break,” Dex called to the nervous showgirl. “Why don’t you stay for a second and watch?”

Yes,
Karen nearly added.
Stay right there. Don’t move a feather.

“Anything for you, honey,” the showgirl said.

Anything for the twenty thousand I’m getting,
the woman might as well have said, although the hitch in her voice said she was impatient to move on.

The showgirl’s presence was a blessing and a curse. With the feathers keeping the camera covered, no one would be alerted to Karen’s winning streak, but with the men all stealing glances at Amber, the game proceeded at a snail’s pace.

Dex flicked cards over the table and tapped the table to get their attention. “Anyone?”

“Hit me,” Freddie Mercury said.

Dealing the card to Freddie took an eternity, it seemed, and Karen wiped her brow again. She tapped the table, not quite satisfied with her hand.

“You want another card?” Red Lips asked incredulously. “When you have a nine and an eight?”

Yeah, it was a risk, but hell, she was on a roll now.

When Dex dealt her an ace, Karen sat back in relief. Eighteen. Another win.

“This is so exciting, I just don’t want to leave,” the showgirl announced from over her ear. In other words,
Hurry the hell up. I have to get out of here.

A leathery hand pulled at her arm, and Karen turned to see Grandma Panda, looking like an empress in a high-necked silk dress and gold jewelry.

“Time we go. Time we go,” she said in her quick, accented speech.

That had been arranged, too — along with the ten-thousand-dollar payment they’d agreed on that afternoon. The panda would cash in Karen’s chips so she could make a quicker exit.

Dex tapped his fingers on the table, urging her to call it a day.

All Karen had to do was sip her drink, pull out on the next round, then pick up her cash and meet Tanner outside. He had stashed his motorcycle nearby, and soon, they’d be rolling over the highway with the wind in their hair. They’d transfer payments to the others from Utah as promised and move on with their happily-ever-after.

Grandma Panda held out a silk bag with a Chinese dragon stitched on it. The chips Karen slid over the edge of the table made muffled little clanking sounds as they fell in.

She exhaled slowly. The hard part was over. She was nearly done.

The penguin shifter nodded his congratulations, and Dex wiped his glistening brow. They’d done it. There was a good two million in that bag.

One of the chips missed the bag and rolled under the table, though, and Freddie Mercury retrieved it for her.

“One more for the road?” he grinned.

She could feel temptation pulling on her like a puppet on a string. All the gambling she’d done that day was for Tanner’s bear clan, not for herself. One more win with that ten-thousand-dollar chip could give her and Tanner a nice little nest egg.

“See you, Dex, honey.” The showgirl sashayed off with her dance shoes clicking, her headdress fluttering.

It took all of Karen’s self-resolve to take her last chip and stand up instead of betting one more time. But just as she stood, the space behind her filled again.

“Sir.” Dex nodded to the newcomer. From the tilt of Dex’s head, she knew the guy had to tower well over six feet. Closer to seven, maybe. A giraffe shifter, judging by the dry, savannah scent he carried with him.

That part hadn’t been arranged, which only proved fate was on her side. The shifter stood right where Amber had, blocking the camera. Which meant she had time for one more bet, right?

Karen pushed her last chip into the betting box and said, “One more round.”

Grandma Panda tut-tutted and shook her head in one of those
young-people-these-days
gestures and headed to the cashier with the mother lode of chips.

I’ll be right there,
her dragon called after the old woman.
Just one more round…

A round that seemed to take an eternity.

“Just decide, already,” Karen snapped when the penguin counted his chips for the twentieth time.

“I’m in with three thousand,” he decided with a sigh.

“I’m in with ten,” she said, trying to move things along.

Everything seemed to proceed in ultra slow motion from then on. The cards Dex dealt fluttered across the table one by one. The penguin checked his cards four times. Lipstick lady doubled her bet. The woman at the end hummed louder, and even that stretched out to a low warble in Karen’s mind.

She checked her cards. An ace and a two — thirteen.

“Hit me.” She scratched the felt tabletop just to have something to do.

The penguin took another card, too, and ended with a strong nineteen. The dealer had a queen and a mystery card. Karen turned her third card over and slowly exhaled.

“A seven!” the Elvis fan called. “Wow. You really are on a roll.”

When Dex turned his second card over and revealed a six, she released the breath she’d been holding and reached for her winnings. She’d done it! She’d really done it!

She tossed a thousand dollar chip at Dex as a tip and shifted her weight, ready to rise when the air pressure in the room jumped and cooled as if someone had flipped the air conditioning to high.

Dex’s eyes widened on something behind her, and Karen’s skin crawled.

“I’ll just be going now,” the penguin shifter mumbled in a jittery voice.

Karen wanted to do the same, but when she spun in her chair, every muscle in her body tensed.

Igor Schiller stood scowling at her with his arms crossed over his chest. Not a hair out of place, not a trace of color on his cheeks. Not a hint of warmth in his body. Elvira stood on his right wearing a sequined dress and an intense look of distaste. Four burly security guards flanked the pair.

Karen’s heart sank, especially when she spotted Tanner behind them, his eyes wide with alarm. Obviously, Igor’s change in plans was a surprise to him, too.

“Now, now,” Schiller said in his death-chilled-over voice. “What do we have here?”

Holy. Crap.

Tanner clenched his hands into fists, trying to maintain a calm outer veneer. Which was nearly impossible with his bear bellowing to be freed.

Kill vampires! Grab mate! Get the hell out!

The beast was nearly as difficult to control as his temper. What the hell was Karen doing, lingering in the casino for so long?

She’s winning the money we need for the land,
his bear retorted.
Endangering herself for us.

Which made it really hard to stay mad at her for being so reckless. But Jesus, how was he going to get her out of there? Security guards were filing in from all sides, surrounding the table. Even Dex, who was always the picture of calm and cool, nervously shuffled and reshuffled the cards. The other guests at the table fled, which left Karen — defiant and beautiful as ever, especially in that green silk dress that carried a shimmer of dragon magic in its cloth.

He sighed a little. Just his luck to fall for a headstrong dragon who didn’t know when enough was enough.

His bear warmed a little, just at the thought.

“Such a pleasure to see you again, my dear,” Schiller said in a sour tone.

“Can’t say the feeling’s mutual,” Karen shot back.

Tanner kept his mouth closed and calculated the distance to the nearest exit. Far. Much too far, especially with seven or eight vampires closing in. He’d sensed Schiller coming a minute before the man had actually stepped through the casino doors, and though he’d hurried to intercept the vampire and buy Karen time, there had been too many guests in the way.

Kill! Attack! Maim!
his bear screamed.

His fingernails bit into his palms as he barely held back. He couldn’t bowl everyone out of the way because his only advantage was the element of surprise. Schiller and his men assumed he’d back them up, so he had to play along until he spotted a chance to make his move.

Spot it soon,
his bear growled.

“Nice hairdo,” Elvira sneered. “And I love the glasses. Did you buy them at a dime store?”

The hair on the back of his neck prickled. God, he’d like to wring Elvira’s neck.

Karen patted her hair. “You like my hair? I told the woman who did it I wanted it just like yours.” Elvira glowed a little until Karen finished. “You know, that fake, poofy look with enough hair spray to stop a speeding bullet or two.”

“Bullets won’t be necessary, my dear,” Schiller said, showing his fangs.

Karen glared back. “You’re right. I was thinking more along the lines of a stake through the heart. Holy water. Garlic. That kind of thing.”

“It’ll be your heart that’s bleeding, honey,” Elvira taunted, licking her lips.

Tanner saw Karen turn to her with another snappy response, but when her gaze caught on the gem shining from between Elvira’s breasts, she stopped short.

The diamond,
his bear whispered, sotto voice.
Elvira is wearing the Blood Diamond.

Karen’s eyes gleamed just like the diamond would when held up to the light. He could see her inner dragon rear up, just under the surface, as close to bursting out as his bear was.

Let me out! It’s time to fight with claws and fangs instead of fists. To protect Karen. To get her out of here.

Tanner looked around, counting guards. He had to time his attack perfectly if he was to have any chance at success. Eight vampires, with another two coming up. Shit. A grizzly had a good chance of taking on two, maybe three vampires. But ten?

We don’t have to win as long as Karen gets out alive,
his bear grunted, ready to martyr himself.

If that’s what it took, he’d do it, but crap, wasn’t there a better way?

“I told you she’s a goddamned witch!” another vampire said, hurrying up to the group. Shit — it was Antoine, the guard he’d hit over the head.

“Half dragon,” Schiller mulled over the syllables like a good brandy. “Half witch.”

All the vampires licked their lips, making Tanner’s skin crawl. They’d suck him dry, too, when they discovered his double cross. He clenched his jaw. Well, he wouldn’t go down without a fight, and as long as Karen escaped, he could die with some sense of satisfaction, right?