Gambling on Her Bear (Shifters in Vegas) (7 page)

“We’re reviewing the camera footage now.” The voice of the head of security came from a speaker, and everyone hushed.

Tanner, too.

“I’m sending it up to your monitor now.”

The picture on the monitor blinked then showed an empty hallway with a timer on the upper right. It scrolled back in time, then forward from the point that the shifter guard lumbered into view and pressed the elevator button.

“Shit, man, are you in trouble,” one of the guards said, making the wolf groan.

Tanner stood very, very still, staring at the screen long after it showed the guard disappearing into the elevator. His nails bit into his palms, and a fresh line of sweat broke out on his brow. He’d be the one in a hell of a lot of trouble if his timing had been off.

“Nothing,” one of the men muttered. “Not a thing.”

He exhaled slowly.

“I’m telling you, she’s a witch!” Antoine insisted. “She must have levitated a chair and popped me over the head.”

It took everything Tanner had not to smirk. That had been his fist, not a chair. But hell, if Antoine wanted to believe that, it sure suited him.

“How else could she break into the penthouse?” Antoine went on.

That part, Tanner had to agree with, and it made his skin itch. Could it really be?

“I’m telling you, she’s a witch,” Antoine insisted.

Tanner glared at him, but inside, his mind spun. Shit. Could his mate really be half witch?

Karen followed a stumbling group of all-night revelers for five long city blocks, then darted down a side street and looked back.

No alarms. No security guards chasing her down. No undercover vampires showing their teeth.

Well, not yet, it seemed.

The only faces she spotted were bleary-eyed and weary — the faces of gamblers and drinkers — humans, one and all. Some were just waking up, while others were weaving their way home after too many drinks downed and too many dollars lost.

She shook her head, as much at herself as at them. What was she doing in this crazy place?

The sky formed a pinkish yellow backdrop to the blinking lights that never seemed to go out in Vegas. Screaming reds and neon greens and clamoring blues — a color for every one of her faults, it seemed. God, she’d gone and done it again — lost her head to the alluring glitter of it all, but how could she help it? After all, she was half dragon.

And yes, half witch. A second-rate witch whose powers were about as useful as her dragon powers were.

In other words, just enough to land her into trouble, but not enough to get her out.

She took a long breath of air that wasn’t as painfully dry as it would be in another hour or two and hung her head. Everything had gone smoothly — well, relatively smoothly — until she’d fucked up. She’d hexed the rooftop lock open — child’s play, really — then snuck down the stairwell and set a fire on the two floors below the penthouse. Fire was about the only spell she was really good at. Her dragon could cough up enough sparks for her magic to accelerate into a huge, hungry blaze. That was always satisfying — especially this time, because she got to watch Igor Schiller’s collection of blood-themed artwork go up in flames.

Then she’d backtracked to the penthouse, managed not to gag at the scent of old blood that permeated the place, and grabbed the diamond. Her diamond, damn it. But then she’d tripped the web spell and fucked it all up. That was the problem with being half witch — she could only sense some forms of magic. Others, she was as blind to as a bat.

So she’d lost her chance. No diamond, no revenge.

“Great job, Karen,” she muttered under her breath. “Great fucking job.”

How was it that her brilliant plans didn’t quite work out?

At least a guardian angel had been looking out for her. Or rather, a guardian bear.

Tanner. Just thinking of him made her pulse skip and her ears ring. It was pathetic, really — and confusing as hell — because she’d grown up thinking destined mates were a myth. But then her sister Kaya had gone all dreamy-eyed for a wolf and rode off into the sunset with a blissful look on her face. Not just a
this-guy-knows-his-way-around-a-woman’s-body
kind of bliss, but a deeper, soul-soothing kind. The kind that said
forever
.

But, shit, could it really be that fate had its eye on her, too? It had taken all she had to peel herself away from Tanner after their first night together, and this time had been even harder. She was still reeling from his kiss. Still savoring the faint scent of him on her clothes, and damn it, still dreaming about the way his fingers had traced the contours of her face.

Mate,
her dragon purred inside.

She could just hear her great-aunt Tilda cackle now.
As a witch, you’ll be immune to that fated-mate nonsense so many shifters make asses of themselves with.

Maybe. Maybe not.

A taxi cruised past, and part of her jumped up and down.

Hail it! Get the hell out of town!

But she didn’t budge, because another voice in the back of her mind chanted Tanner’s name over and over and just wouldn’t let up. It was just like when she’d tried leaving Vegas with Kaya and Trey a few days ago — that feeling of a rubber band pulling her back to Tanner, refusing to let him go. That
how am I going to survive the next few hours without him
feeling she swore she would never, ever give in to.

And yet, there she stood, pining away for her bear in a thousand different ways.

Shit.
Her
bear?

He is ours. And he saved us. Our hero!
her dragon crowed.

She snorted. Her dragon really ought to have more pride.

He put himself in danger for us!

That part was true. Painfully true. The question was, what was she going to do about it?

She stalked the streets, zigging and zagging and checking behind her every few seconds while gradually moving away from the high-rise glitz of the Strip and into the seedier side streets of old Vegas.

A ghost dressed in a pinstriped suit and leather shoes meandered past, tipping his hat to her. A rat skittered into the shadows, and a crow cawed overhead. The faint scent of the desert wafted in on the fading morning breeze. She tilted her chin up, watching the colors of sunrise blend into the full light of day. A good time to be out — when vampires were not. Still, their henchmen might be out and about, so she didn’t let down her guard.

She hustled into a bright red English phone booth on the corner of Eighth and Fremont — the kind with dozens of square windows and a gold crown on the top. A goddamn crown, as if the Queen might turn up in Vegas and make a quick call to Buckingham Palace to check on her corgis.

Karen darted inside and tapped her fingers beside the keypad for a good three minutes. She’d lost her phone sometime in the past few hours. Should she call her sister? Shouldn’t she?

Finally, she punched the number. Kaya was an early riser, and she might worry — or worse, grow suspicious — if Karen didn’t check in. The last thing Karen needed was her older sister coming to her rescue again. She’d gotten herself into this mess; she could get herself out.

Right?

She pursed her lips.

The phone buzzed twice before the line clicked and her sister’s breathless voice came on. “Karen? Are you okay?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mom.”

“Where are you?” Kaya demanded.

“Um…Palm Springs. It’s great.” Karen closed her eyes to the storefronts and the stretch limo rolling through the intersection, imagining golf courses, fountains, and whispering palms instead. So she was fibbing. So what? It was for her sister’s own peace of mind.

“So you’re out of Vegas? Thank God.”

Well, she was out of the Scarlet Palace. Close enough?

“Where are you?” Karen asked, trying to distract her.

“Home,” Kaya gushed in a way she rarely did. She was the no-nonsense sister, not the impulsive, emotional one. And damn, if Kaya had fallen head over heels in love with a wolf she claimed was her destined mate, what chance did Karen have?

“You should see how clear the mountains are this morning,” Kaya said. “The air is so fresh, and the creek is sparkling in the sun…”

Karen pictured the jagged peaks, the babbling brook. She inhaled, imagining the clean mountain air, remembering the timeless peace of her great-great-uncle’s old place, which was Kaya’s now. Karen had never been interested in ranching, but she’d been ankle-deep in the creek’s cool water prospecting for precious gems more times than she could count.

She wiggled her toes in her sandals. Yeah, it would be good to head home. She’d been away too long, chasing rainbows. Looking for something more exciting, though all she’d discovered was that the grass wasn’t greener — not in New York, not in Miami, not in LA. And definitely not in Vegas.

“I don’t know why anyone would want to live anywhere else,” Kaya enthused.

Karen smiled, picturing the faraway look on Tanner’s face when he’d told her about his mountain home the first night they’d met. He’d gone on and on about the night sky, talking about stars like so many neighbors and gushing about old stands of pine and spruce like they were buddies of his. Her soul hummed just thinking about it. Maybe she and Tanner could head back to the Rockies, too. She could go back to prospecting. Her dragon had a nose for the best stones and gems, and she’d always earned enough at it to do fairly well.

Honest work,
her dragon nodded.

Right,
she snorted.
As if it wasn’t your idea to go after the diamond in the first place.

The diamond is different. It should be in the hands of dragons, not vampires.

And just like that, all her rage and bitterness came back. She’d show Schiller and his bloodsucking band what an angry dragon could do.

“How’s Trey?” she asked, trying to keep her sister distracted.

A dreamy sigh floated over the line. A month ago, Karen would have rolled her eyes, but now… She remembered the electric hum that warmed her body when Tanner touched her and nearly made the same sound.

Mate,
her dragon murmured.
My mate
.

She thumped her head against the side of the phone booth. God, why was the attraction so hard to fight?

Why bother resisting?
her dragon shot back.

Because she had her pride. Because Tanner worked for the enemy. Because she had a diamond to steal. Because…because…

No matter how many good reasons she came up with, they all fell flat in her mind.

“So you’re off to a good start?” she asked, only half paying attention to the conversation.

“Well, getting this place up and running will be a lot of work,” Kaya said. “But it’s going great. Really great — having a project to work on together, making a future…”

Karen suppressed a little sigh. Jeez, that sounded nice. She’d spent the last two years bouncing from city to city, looking for something she had never really managed to define.

We were waiting for our mate,
her dragon whispered.

It hadn’t felt like that at the time, but the second Tanner had bumped into her in a Vegas bar, the world had zoomed away, and suddenly it seemed as if every step in her life had been leading toward that momentous occasion. As if fate had been steering her all along. Working the wanderlust out of her system, learning from a thousand bitter mistakes — all so she’d be ready to settle down when the time came. With Tanner, her destined mate.

She could picture it perfectly. Him and her, working side by side in a quiet valley at the foot of the mountains. She could prospect for gemstones, he could log the choicest lumber. They could fix up a little cabin with a big fireplace and huge views and…

Someone tapped on the glass of the phone booth, and she snapped her head up.

“Come on, lady. Finish up.” A man pointed to his watch and held an imaginary phone to his ear, then showed her his cell phone. “My battery is dead.”

He was just a harmless human, but Karen’s gaze quickly swept the street. She’d better get out of sight and on to Plan B — or Plan L or Q or whatever letter she was up to by now. It seemed like she’d spun through the entire alphabet once already and was starting all over again.

“Listen, Kaya, I’d better go.” She checked behind her as she spoke. “Say hi to Trey and take care.”

“I will. And you, too,” Kaya said. “Stay out of trouble, you hear?”

Karen held back a snort. She was neck-deep in trouble. Again.

She hung up, hurried out of the phone booth, and headed down a side alley for the one place in Vegas she figured she would be safe from vampires.

Hopefully.

Possibly.

Maybe.

She threw a last glance over her shoulder and heard her sister’s words echo through her mind.
Stay out of trouble, you hear?