Gambling on Her Bear (Shifters in Vegas) (17 page)

“We did it,” she whispered at long last.

Tanner nodded, not taking his eyes off her. “You did it.”

She raked her foot through the sand, slowly transforming to human form, and what started as a claw ended the motion as a bare foot.

Tanner’s eyes flicked over her bare chest and legs, and a tiny smile formed in the corner of his mouth.

“You’re naked.”

She laughed. “Can’t seem to help it around you.”

He grinned then shook his head incredulously, looking around the sky as if replaying her flight. “That was amazing.”

She tried an
aw-shucks
shrug, but her body refused to play along, standing tall and proud — until two hundred pounds of bear shifter stepped over and wrapped her in a massive hug, that is.

“You did it,” he murmured, running a hand over her hair, her shoulders, her back, checking for broken bones.

A balloon of pride filled in her chest, because even if it had been the diamond fueling her, she could claim some of the credit, right? But a dragon shouldn’t get too full of herself, as her grandfather had warned so many times, so she pulled away from him to explain.

“I could only fly because of the diamond, but still, it was pretty cool.”

Tanner tilted his head at her. “What do you mean, because of the diamond?” His eyes shone in the moonlight.

“The diamond holds the power of the ancient dragons, and it gives—”

He cut her off. “I remember that. But what does that have to do with you flying?”

She laughed. The poor guy had obviously had too long a day. He couldn’t think straight any more.

“I’ve never managed anything more than gliding before. The diamond gave me the power to fly.”

He squinted at her. “The diamond gave you the power from all the way down here?”

“No, I had it with me.” Silly bear.

“No, I had it with me,” Tanner said, patting the side of his jacket.

“I had it with me,” she insisted. “Right here.” She patted her chest, where the necklace would be—

—and immediately panicked, because the diamond wasn’t there. God, had she lost it? Had it been ripped off when she shifted to dragon form?

Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.
Her dragon started fretting. She’d screwed everything up — again.

“No,” Tanner said slowly, pulling something out of his pocket. “I have it with me.”

He uncurled his fingers and there it was — the Blood Diamond, glinting with the light of a thousand stars.

Karen opened her mouth. Moved her lips. Tried to work her tongue, but it just flopped limply. In her mind, she replayed their escape from the casino. Hadn’t she looped the necklace over her head on the way out of the Scarlet Palace?

Wait — she’d been about to, but then Grandma Panda had come along, so she’d kept the jewel in her hand.

Hop on.
She remembered Tanner motioning her onto the motorcycle.

She played the memory forward in her mind slowly. When Tanner gunned the engine, she’d grabbed on to him, slipping her hands inside his jacket pockets for a better grip around his waist.

Tanner grabbed her hand just as she keeled over in surprise.

“Whoa, there.” He grinned and closed her hand over the diamond. “See?”

See? Sure. She could feel it, too — not just the hard edges digging into her palm but the pulsing energy that went right from the stone to her soul. She could sense it, buoying her up.

But believe it? She wasn’t quite there yet. If Tanner had had the diamond all along, that meant…

“Holy shit,” she whispered. “I did it. I flew on my own.”

He shrugged. “Of course, you did.”

There was no hint of surprise or wonder in his voice at all, only faith. Unshakable, unwavering faith, as if he’d known it all along.

She stared at him.

A dragon’s powers are kindled by love, and if you truly believe…
Maybe her grandfather hadn’t been kidding her, after all.

“Speechless?” Tanner crooked an eyebrow at her. “That’s a change.”

She smacked him on the shoulder, though he didn’t budge. He just laughed and pulled a spare shirt out of his saddlebag. “Here. Ready to go?”

“God, am I ready to go.” She pulled the shirt on, followed by his leather jacket. They both smelled like Tanner, all woodsy and clean and fresh. Like home. She zipped the jacket high and inhaled, then pulled on a pair of pants. “Definitely ready to go.”

He kicked the motorcycle engine on and waited for her to climb on the back before starting down the trail.

“Where to?” she called over his shoulder.

“Home.” He pointed forward, more toward the stars than to any particular place.

“And where exactly would that be?” It was more a tease than a question, because any place he took her would be fine with her.

“I know just the place for a bear and a dragon-witch to settle down.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. A little cabin high in the Bitterroots. Plenty of mountain streams for you to prospect in, and just enough lumbering to keep me busy.”

“Not too busy, I hope.” She slid her hands lower along his bulky frame.

He laughed. “I think I’ll find some spare time.”

She could already picture hitting the sheets of a king-size bed covered with a patchwork quilt stitched with a pattern of pines. Going to sleep in his arms and waking up in them, too — not for a single day or night but a whole lifetime.

“We don’t want life to get boring,” she added, lest he think she was going soft.

Tanner laughed outright. “Is that a promise or a threat?”

She snuggled closer and shut her eyes, listening to the engine hum.

“It’s a promise, my love. A promise.”

* * *

Thank you for reading
Gambling on Her Bear
! I hope you enjoyed it and that you’ll leave a review on
Amazon
or
Goodreads
today. Reviews help independent authors reach a wider audience and guide readers to stories they’ll love.

Gambling on Her Bear
is a sequel to
Gambling on Her Dragon
, which features Karen’s sister Kaya (a very stubborn dragon) and Trey Dixon (a hot-blooded wolf). If you haven’t read that yet, now’s the time! And the fun doesn’t stop there – Dex’s story,
Gambling on Her Panther
, is also in the works. Make sure you’re signed up for my
newsletter
so you’ll be the first to hear about its release. You’ll also receive three FREE stories and find out about incredible sales & deals.

While you’re waiting for that story, check out the new series readers are raving about: BLUE MOON SALOON, featuring bears and wolves.
Behind the doors of the Blue Moon Saloon, alpha shifters confront their darkest fears and their deepest desires.
Read a sneak peek
HERE
or go to Anna Lowe’s
website
to learn more.

Finally, you can read about the inspiration for
Gambling on Her Bear
in the
bonus materials
section of my website, so please come and visit today!

Jessica Macks is a she-wolf on the run from a band of murderous rogues. When she finds a job at a shifter bar, it seems like a safe haven from her hunted life on the road. But the minute she walks through the swinging doors of the Blue Moon Saloon and comes face-to-face with the man she once loved, she’s tempted to march right back out. No way, no how is she risking her heart to that infuriating alpha bear again.

Simon Voss thought he lost everything in an ambush months before: his home, his family, his past. His new job at the Blue Moon Saloon is a desperately needed fresh start on life. Then along comes Jessica, the irresistible she-wolf his clan forced him to reject years before. When Simon is obliged to hire Jessica and work side by side with the one woman to ever make his bear go wild, he’s half in heaven, half in hell. He hasn’t forgotten her, and she sure as hell hasn’t forgiven him. Is this just another path to heartbreak or his last chance to claim his destined mate?

Behind the doors of the Blue Moon Saloon, alpha shifters confront their darkest fears and their deepest desires.
Read on for the first chapter of
Damnation,
Book 1.

* * *

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tina asked.

Jessica forced herself to keep up a steady, confident stride and nodded firmly. “I want to do this.”

I need to do this
was more like it, but pride was about the only thing she had left.

Tina glanced at her, but Jessica kept walking down the sidewalk in the dusty western town, pretending not to notice. She was getting to be a champ at pretending lots of things, like the fact she wasn’t shaking inside.

Run! Run away!
her inner wolf screamed.

If she hadn’t had her sister, Janna, to think of, Jessica might have done just that — hit the road running and never looked back. Except she’d tried that already, and it hadn’t worked.

Time to stop running
, she told her inner wolf.

We don’t know this pack. We don’t know this place
, her wolf whined.

“This is going to be great!” Janna smiled. “Is that the saloon?”

Janna wasn’t just putting on a brave face. She actually was excited about what she’d called their lucky break. As if they were lucky to have lost their pack to a band of rogues one awful night six months ago. As if they were lucky to be leapfrogging from one place to another in search of some safe refuge.

Jess shook her head. God, she was getting bitter. Her sister was right. This could be their lucky break. They’d found a pack willing to set them up with work and a place to stay. And not just any pack, but Twin Moon, one of the most powerful packs to emerge in the Southwest in recent years. Tina Hawthorne-Rivera was a leading member of that pack, and she seemed to have a soft spot for wayward shifters in need of a second chance.

Jessica bit her lip, thinking about the long road she’d traveled in the past few months. Maybe she and Janna could finally stop looking over their shoulders and catch their breath.

“That’s the place,” Tina replied, waving to the two-story building owned by her pack. “Blue Moon Saloon.”

Jess drew in a long breath and slowed to look it over.

She couldn’t have conjured anything more
Wild West
out of her imagination if she’d tried. The whole historic center of the old town was like that — a high-altitude frontier town, barely dragged into modern times.

“Perfect location, just a block off Whiskey Row.” Tina nodded in pride.

Jessica’s inner wolf whined.
I like home better.

Yes, well, home was gone, and she could never go back to that place.

Want my mate,
the wolf whimpered.

Yeah, well.
He didn’t want us.
When would the stupid beast get that through its head?

Anger worked better than the grief that welled up every time she thought of that part of her past, so she hung on to it for the time being. She combed her long, brown hair back and stood at her full five foot eight. She needed this job, damn it. She’d get it.

“This is so cute!” Janna exclaimed. “Don’t you think, Jess?”

She took in the peeling paint, the dusty windows.
Cute
might describe the empty shop to the right, but not the saloon, which was dark and dreary, just like the people who gravitated toward a place like that, she’d bet. Waitressing, she didn’t mind. But getting her ass pinched… No, thanks.

She glanced at her reflection in the glass and grimaced at her worn jeans and checkered top. Maybe she didn’t have to worry about getting harassed. She’d gone from lean and athletic to downright gaunt in the past couple of months.

“The saloon ran well for years — well enough to pay the rent, at least — but the man we were leasing it to retired, and the new guys only took it over a month ago.”

Jess raised an eyebrow in a question.

Tina gave a tiny nod and lowered her voice. “Shifters, like us. None of the neighbors know.” Her stern look made it clear that none of the neighbors could ever find out. That was a given in the shifter world. The constant secrecy, the veil of normalcy. Shifters could blend in perfectly as long as they kept their beast sides tightly leashed.

Tina tilted her head toward the wooded hills surrounding the town. “Good place to run when you need a break.”

When your wolf needs a break
, she meant. Every shifter needed a chance to let their inner animals run free — and not only under the light of a full moon.

“The building is over a hundred years old,” Tina went on, speaking louder again.

Yes, she could see it in the detailed moldings, the ornate windows, the false front.

“The ground floor is really three units, but two were combined for the saloon.”

Jessica’s eyes kept traveling to the smaller place on the right. The cute one. “What’s in there?”

Tina sighed. “It used to be a small art gallery. Before that, a café. But we haven’t been able to find a renter for it in years.”

God, if she had some start-up capital… Jessica shook the thought off. It would take a hell of a lot of tips to get to the point where she could even think about that. And until she had peace of mind about the rogues hounding her… Why even wish?

“You can live upstairs,” Tina said. “If you’re sure you don’t want to stay on the ranch. We do have the space, you know.”

Jess wasn’t sure about anything, but living among a pack of strangers didn’t really appeal. Not even a whole pack of wolves as nice as Tina. Plus, neither Jess nor Janna had their own wheels, and even if they did, the forty-five-minute commute into town each day — and each late night — would be a bit much.

“This will be fine,” Jess said, trying to keep doubt out of her voice.

“It will need some work…” Tina warned.

Jessica wondered if she meant the saloon, the apartment upstairs, or the whole new life she faced now.

“…and you’ll have to share a bathroom with the guys…”

“No problem!” Janna chirped.

God, Jessica hoped not. That was the other unknown in the equation. She’d have to live under the same roof as her new boss or bosses. Who were the two men running the place, anyway? Shifters, was all she knew.