Gambling on Her Bear (Shifters in Vegas) (6 page)

But how to do that without blowing his cover?

Easy,
his bear huffed.
We go in there, claw Antoine to pieces, and get our mate out.

Right. Like that would work. The entire building was already on high alert.

He peered around the corner and looked at the juncture of two hallways where a pair of security cameras panned back and forth. Like so many others in the building, they were out of sync, creating a blind spot every thirty seconds or so — a glitch he’d never reported in case he ever needed to capitalize on that oversight.

Like right about now.

He waited for the cameras to pan away, then rushed to the guard room and peered inside. Antoine stood with his back to the door, tapping his long nails on the vampire-friendly, blacked-out window pane.

An easy target, but Jesus, did he dare? If he went through with his hastily formed plan — never a good idea — there’d be no turning back. Maybe he should think things through a little.

What, now?
his bear bellowed.
This is our chance!

A chance to screw up everything. Karen could be a witch — a witch who had lied to him. Maybe even a witch who had enchanted him. Was she worth risking the future of his clan for?

Hell, yes!
his bear hollered.

Instinct took over, and he rushed in before the vampire could react. The second Tanner slammed his fist into the back of Antoine’s head, the vampire fell with a grunt. It took all his self-control not to keep punching to make sure Antoine would never wake to think bloody thoughts about Karen or any other woman again.

But there wasn’t time for that, and killing Antoine would only raise suspicions. Tanner grabbed the master key card, ran to the door, and sprinted down the hallway the second the cameras were turned.

“Come on… come on…” he murmured, trying the key card in a dozen different positions. The lock light remained steadfastly red. He was running out of time. The cameras were slowly panning his way.

“Come on…” He fumbled one more time.

He was about to shoulder the door open when the light flashed green, and a click sounded. He dashed inside, whirling immediately to close the door before the camera caught any hint of activity.

Whew.

Then,
whoa!
Something rocketed from across the room, and he ducked just in time to avoid a vase that shattered an inch over his head. Water splashed his hair, and a tulip whacked him in the ear.

“Bloodsucking bastard—” Karen’s shout broke off when their eyes met.

Well, he hadn’t been expecting a kiss, but a vase?

He wiped the water off his face and held his hands up, because his green-eyed spitfire had a two-inch-thick glass ashtray in her hand, ready to hurl.

“It’s me,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed on him, taking aim for her next volley, perhaps.

“You,” she uttered, totally unimpressed.

His bear groaned inside.
She hates us, and it’s all your fault!

“Hey!” he protested out loud.

It wasn’t his fault this headstrong she-dragon had been taken captive by vampires — twice. It wasn’t his fault he’d had to pretend to play along with the vampires.

“Hey, what?” she demanded.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he muttered, cursing his bear. “I mean…”

Karen lifted the ashtray and wound up her throwing arm for what was sure to be a hundred-mile-an-hour fastball she’d hurl his way.

“Wait!” he said, putting up his hands.

She didn’t wait, but she didn’t throw, either. She stomped right up to him and shoved him back against the door.
Shoved
him, like he was the lightweight and she was the grizzly.

“Now you listen to me, bear,” she started.

He could have reacted in any of a dozen ways. He could have pinned her against the door and demanded to know if she was really a witch. He could have grabbed her by the arm, clamped a hand over her mouth, and carried her the hell out of that place. He could have tried to find the words to explain everything that had happened after the night they’d first met. But what did he do?

It happened before he even realized what he was up to. Some hidden switch inside him flipped, and all of a sudden, he was on fire. All the weeks of worrying and waiting, of hoping and fearing and scheming away. All the hours dreaming of the one night he’d shared with her — they all boiled up out of nowhere, making him crush her close and deliver the mother of all bear kisses. A deep, hungry, possessive kiss that screamed
I’m sorry
and
I love you
and
Please, please, never throw a vase at me again.

He begged her. He consumed her. He marked her as his.

A second after Karen squeaked in surprise, her hands fisted in his shirt and pulled him closer. Her mouth opened under his, welcoming him to taste her. Demanding that he do so, in fact, and swiping his tongue with hers at the same time. She yanked him closer until her breasts were mashed against his chest, her heart pounding against his, her scent intoxicating him.

He got so lost in that kiss, they just about tipped over, but they both came up for air at the very same time. He blinked at her, and she blinked at him.

“Karen,” he whispered.

She opened her mouth but didn’t utter a peep. His indomitable she-dragon was tongue-tied, possibly for the first time in her life.

Then the need surged back, and he kissed her again. He turned and held her against the door this time, gently — or maybe not so gently. He couldn’t tell any more, but since the sounds Karen made were of the
More, baby, more,
variety, he kept at it, feeling like he’d never get enough of his mate.

His mate. Jesus. Could his mate really be half witch?

Witch. Dragon. Whatever,
his bear muttered inside.

All that mattered was that she was his and he was hers and that they stayed that way forever.

Forever,
his bear murmured, savoring every nuanced flavor in that desperate kiss.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a gong tolled, informing him that
forever
would end a hell of a lot sooner than he wanted it to if he didn’t get his mate out of the Scarlet Palace soon. So he pulled away — really pulled with every muscle in his body, because the magnetic force squeezing his body against hers was something else. Their lips smacked as they unlocked, and he rested his head against the door, panting against her shoulder.

Must…regain…control…
His brain sent the order, but most of his nerves were on strike, refusing to deliver the message.
Mate’s…life…depends…on…it…

It didn’t help that her hands still clutched him or that her lips moved softly over his ear the way they did in his dreams.

“Tanner,” she murmured, making his soul sing.

No time to sing. Get her out. Make mate safe.

Funny that the bear was the reasonable one for a change.

It took another minute of smoothing a hand over the silky wave of her hair before he really pulled himself together.

“I have to get you out of here,” he whispered.

“We have to get both of us out of here,” she replied, and it was so, so tempting. But it couldn’t work that way, because he had to stay on the inside and finish what he came to Vegas to do. And how would he ever explain that?

I love you. I want you.

I need you,
his bear added.

But I have to let you go. Again.

He didn’t bother trying to get any of that out, though. Not now. It was time for action, not words. Nudging Karen behind him, he opened the door and peeked out. He timed the cameras carefully, then hurried her down the hall. A glance into the guard booth showed Antoine still out for the count.

The elevator doors pinged, and he yanked Karen around a corner to the stairs. In less than a minute, the second guard would saunter back to his post and raise the alarm. Tanner flew down the stairs four at a time, and Karen kept pace, thank God. Hell, being a dragon, she probably could take ten at a time.

Half dragon? Half witch?

No time for twenty questions, though, so he pounded on and reached the ground floor just as his earpiece screeched.

“Alert! Alert! Guard down! Guard down!”

He sprinted down a hallway toward the back, praying they wouldn’t be seen. It was about five in the morning, and though the casino never really slept, things did slow down a little around dawn, when most of the vampires would return to their quarters. He took a circuitous route, knowing exactly which hallways had cameras and which didn’t.

“Tenth floor! Tenth floor!” Another alert came through. “Guard down!”

No one had reported Karen missing yet, but they’d put two and two together any minute now.

“Hurry!” he said. “Here.”

He threw a door open and stood gulping fresh air, staring at the pale pink glow on the horizon. It was amazing how even the streets of Vegas could feel clean and fresh after hours spent cooped up inside. If he ever made it out of this crooked town, he’d head home to his mountains and never, ever leave again.

He gulped the sight of Karen, too. Wild green eyes, glossy, auburn hair, freckled nose… Could he really let her go?

Forget about the clan. We’ll figure out some other way of getting the money we need. Let’s just leave with her,
his bear begged.

And God, he’d never been so tempted to forsake his family as just then.

“Go,” he said hoarsely before his heart got the better of him.

“Guest One missing!” A voice boomed through his earpiece. “Repeat, Guest One missing!”

“Go,” he said, motioning from the shadows toward the sidewalk, where a group of tourists was walking by. Karen could mix with them and flee.

“Wait. What?” She grabbed his arm.

“I have to go back…” he started then stalled out. How could he possibly explain?

“Don’t. They’ll know you helped me. Don’t.”

The magnetic force felt stronger than ever. He could feel it in his bones, in his veins.

“I have it all figured out,” he lied.

She snorted. “Sure. What are you going to do?”

Yeah, what are we going to do without her?
his bear demanded.

“Security team to stations!” The next announcement pierced his ear.

Jesus, he had no time. It was now or never.

“Go. You have to go.” He meant to say it forcefully, but it came out weak and warbly, not at all fitting for a bear. He settled for pushing her toward the sidewalk instead. Maybe that would work. “You have to go.”

She took two steps, then stopped and glared at him. Jesus, his last sight of his mate, and she was glaring at him.

But then her eyes softened, and he swore he could hear her dragon pleading with her the way his bear did with him.
Don’t let him go…

Half dragon. Half witch?
a little voice reminded him. How could a bear and a witch ever make things work?

Somehow, we’ll make it work,
his bear shot back.
We will.

Karen tilted her head back and closed her eyes, then nodded silently to herself. Was she thinking the same thing?

When she opened her eyes again, her gaze was firm. Uncompromising. “Meet me tonight. At eight,” she said, like she had an internal clock or appointment book or something. “Can you get away by then?”

Another point of no return. He’d given her freedom; now he needed to get back on track.

A bear that plans ahead, gets ahead.
The old saying whispered through his mind. And damn it, his plans didn’t involve evening meetings with dragons or witches or anyone else.

Careful means you’ll never be burned.
He could practically hear the bear elders chanting in his ear. Careful meant letting Karen go.

He opened his mouth, but the word refused to come out. Flat-out refused, like a stubborn dog digging its heels in, shoving its ass down, and fighting against its leash.

So he nodded. “Okay.” What else could he do? Hell, yeah, he’d get away if it meant seeing her one more time. “Where?”

She snorted. “Some place bloodsuckers would never go.”

He wanted to suggest Alaska, but he doubted she’d make it that far in the next fifteen hours.

“The Golden Panda,” she said before he could come up with anything. A damn good thing her mind was clear enough to decide, because his was still bouncing all over the place. “Off Fremont Street. Ask if they serve dragon soup.”

He gaped at her. “Dragon what?”

Now she was the one hurrying away, and he was the one rooted to the spot while her voice carried back to him. “Dragon soup. Golden Panda. Eight o’clock tonight.”

She mixed with the crowd, and then she was gone.

***

Tanner stood still for another long minute — a minute he didn’t have — fighting the urge to run after Karen instead of heading back into the casino. Eventually, he did it, though, wiping his mouth from the kiss and sprinting back up the stairs. It was a damn good thing vampires didn’t have a keen sense of smell — not for anything except blood — so chances were good they wouldn’t scent her on him.

But he sure could. It was heaven and torture at the same time. And Christ, what a mess. Why hadn’t she listened to him the first time around? He’d warned her away from the Scarlet Palace right from the start. Why did she have to be so infuriatingly stubborn? So reckless? So…so…

Mine,
his bear rumbled inside.

He ran up the stairs — a good excuse for appearing breathlessly on the tenth floor, and started berating the men for letting down their guard.

“You what? She what?” he bellowed, making damn sure every accusation was aimed at the two guards.

“I swear, I found him like this…” the shifter guard said, motioning toward Antoine, who was propped up against the wall, groaning.

Antoine touched the back of his head gingerly. “She’s a witch. I swear she’s a witch. How else could she sneak up behind me?”

Tanner held back a snort and let out his best growl as he gestured at the wolf’s coffee cup. “You left your post?”

The second guard trembled, and the five others who’d gathered around tut-tutted as if they would
never
consider doing such a thing.