Gambling on Her Dragon (Charmed in Vegas Book 2) Read online

  Gambling on Her Dragon

  Anna Lowe

  Michelle Fox

  Charmed in Vegas

  Gambling on Her Dragon

  Copyright 2016

  Editing by Lisa A. Hollett

  Cover art by Andy Atkins

  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

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  Contents

  Cover Page

  Title Page

  Copyright

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  Contents

  Gambling on Her Dragon

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sneak Peek: Damnation (by Anna Lowe)

  Damnation: Chapter 1

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  Gambling on Her Dragon

  Shifter Trey Dixon can play poker like his wolf can howl, but what he doesn’t know about the shady underworld of Las Vegas gambling might just get him killed. By the end of one crazy night, he’s sucked into trouble — and falling hard for the petite dragon shifter who steals his winnings along with his heart. Before he knows it, it’s not just money at stake — it’s his destined mate’s life.

  Kaya Proulx didn’t mean to fall for the mystery man who was supposed to be her ticket out of a tight spot. But that spot only gets tighter when her sizzling-hot lover leads her straight into a den of wolves. She has enough problems with vampires, gargoyles, and her missing sister. Now, the clock is ticking and her life is on the line. Can she trust her inner dragon and bet against the highest odds of all?

  Chapter One

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  * * *

  Trey groaned and flexed his fingers, wondering where he was. He cracked an eye open and immediately let it slide shut.

  Jesus, his head hurt. Which didn’t make sense because the rest of his body felt strangely satisfied. Warm, honey-in-the-veins satisfied, like he’d come straight from a hot tub and not a fogbank of blurry memories of the night before.

  He really ought to force his eyes open and look around, but something told him reality wouldn’t be too good. Better to go back to that dream — the one with the redhead scratching his back, moaning his name. That was sure to be better than whatever reality he’d eventually have to wake up to.

  God, he didn’t even know where he was.

  Vegas, his wolf hummed inside. Nighttime. Not a full moon, so shut up and get back to sleep.

  Vegas. That part, he remembered. But the rest…the rest was kind of fuzzy. The hum of a crowd, the electric ping of slot machines, the smacking shuffle of cards. The quiet chink of casino chips — a big stack of them, piled high by his left hand. And beyond that, a pair of lagoon-green eyes like none he’d ever seen. Like sea glass, glinting in the morning light.

  His wolf let out a dreamy sigh, and his pulse quickened just a bit.

  Christ, how much had he been drinking? What had he been up to last night?

  He slid a hand under the sheets — crisp, white hotel sheets — and found something warm. Warm and soft on the surface, but nicely tight underneath. Something that begged to be stroked, admired. Maybe even kissed.

  He snuggled a little closer and kept his eyes firmly shut, because his brain was most definitely not ready for visuals yet. His head was still throbbing, his memories a jigsaw puzzle.

  Green eyes. Auburn hair. A mouth that was pure sin. He remembered that much, but the features refused to come together and came out like one of those mismatched Picasso faces instead.

  His hand slid over a curve and arrived at something even softer, and a happy little coo sounded in return.

  A woman.

  Huh.

  A headache and a woman. In Vegas. Why was he not surprised?

  While the human part of his mind scrambled for an explanation, his inner wolf yawned and made him tug her closer. Mine. All mine.

  His human side groaned; his wolf let out a throaty rumble of satisfaction that traveled all the way through his body and back again.

  The wires in his brain crossed, and instead of rolling away, he nestled closer. Nice and cozy, so he could inhale her lavender scent. He wrapped his hand the rest of the way over the glorious swell of a breast, resting his elbow in the perfect nook of a waist. The woman arched into his chest and purred, and his cock twitched.

  Really, his brain should have gone on red alert right there. But the only part of his body that seemed to respond was his cock, and that, in double time. He pulled her closer — and closer still when she pushed the tight curve of her ass into his groin.

  She rolled toward him, inviting his head to follow his hand to her chest. Familiar territory, somehow, because his lips found their way right to the world’s tightest, tastiest nipple and licked.

  “Mmm,” she hummed, stroking his back.

  His brain was still back at the starting blocks. Whoa, what the—

  Don’t overthink, his wolf growled. Just enjoy. Partake. Feast.

  He was in human form, but the wolf was firmly in charge, because damn, did he feast. Suckled that sweet bud, kneaded the soft flesh. Growled with lust at the sounds coming from her.

  “Trey…God, yes. Trey…”

  He wracked his muddled mind for her name, but he kept coming up with a blank. Shit. Cindy? Laura? Tara?

  His body sure seemed to know hers, though, because their legs didn’t tangle so much as mesh. He recognized the peach-cream scent of her skin, the tight checkerboard of her rock-hard abs. The lift of her mound and the glorious plunge to heaven, hidden between her legs.

  Legs she wrapped around him, opening herself, drawing him in.

  His fingers slid south from her belly button like they’d traveled that delicious path a hundred times before.

  “Trey,” she panted.

  Good thing his wolf filled in with a lusty growl, because he had no clue what to say. No clue why the hell his entire body was on fire for her instead of just his dick. No clue why this moment felt like a major milestone and not just another roll in the hay.

  Christ, maybe he hadn’t just been drinking, but smoking some weird shit, too, because his soul was sobbing and singing hallelujah at the same time. The messed-up, joyful sob of a man who’d found something he thought he’d lost forever.

  Which was really weird because Trey hadn’t lost anything. Hadn’t been looking for anything, either. Nothing other than a six-week road trip and a bit
of fun before settling down to a new job back on the East Coast.

  Man, that truck driver he’d hitched a ride into Vegas with was right. You gotta be careful in Vegas, son…

  His eyes finally joined the party and the sight of the woman knocked the breath right out of him. Glossy auburn hair splayed over the pillow, shining so brightly she seemed to glow. A row of ivory teeth flashed in a blissed-out smile. High, Audrey Hepburn cheekbones cast shadows over her face, forming a landscape of their own. Her lips opened and closed and sighed as she breathed his name.

  Her eyes slid open, and he lost his breath again. Like she’d just shoved aside a sky full of clouds and let summertime shine down, filling everything with happiness and light.

  Yeah, he’d definitely smoked some weird shit last night. But God, he’d go with the flow right now, because nothing had ever made him feel quite this good. The only one of his senses that wasn’t completely on fire was his strangely muted sense of smell, which still appeared to be asleep. Not that he needed his nose to enjoy this.

  “Trey…” she begged.

  It was like one of those crazy Greek myths he’d read about in fifth grade, where a goddess would come down to Earth to screw a hapless shepherd who’d caught her eye and eventually set off a whole series of unforeseen events. Like pissing off her immortal god husband who’d summon storms, flood rivers, and permanently skew the seasons to obliterate the poor sap caught balls deep in heaven. A god who would change the world forever, all in the name of revenge.

  Trey tried to shake the crazy feeling away, but one part stuck. The part about the world changing forever. His world, at least.

  He let his body slide over hers, hoping to hell there was no pissed off god standing by with a couple of lightning bolts, and let his cock hone in on its goal.

  “Trey…”

  The muscles of her chiseled swimmer’s shoulders flexed, and she extended her arms overhead, lifting her breasts. He plunged in, and even in the searing heat that blurred his vision for the next few seconds, his hands found hers instinctively. Their fingers interlaced as he pushed forward, burying himself to the balls.

  “Kaya…” He moaned at the fireworks rocketing inside, then allowed himself a ridiculously proud grin. He knew her name, which meant he wasn’t a total prick. Just a messed-up guy wondering how he’d found heaven in a city that seemed a lot closer to hell.

  “Deeper,” she urged him. “Faster.”

  They started pumping in rhythm, both of them, with him sliding forward and her bucking to meet him and sighing a little each time. God, she was tight. God, she was perfect. And buff, because she greeted every hot, hard slide with a firm squeeze of rippling muscle as he plunged deeper, deeper — Christ, so deep — with her milking him all the way.

  “Kaya…”

  Now he was the one crying her name. Losing it completely. But then again, a guy couldn’t be expected to keep his cool with a goddess, right?

  A goddess who rocked her head from side to side and cried out. Her six-pack stomach rippled — yeah, he looked, because how could he not look? — and he could feel her tight grip on his cock from the inside. Could almost see it, like he was a god now, too, with X-ray vision that let him see the slick inner slide that grew hotter every minute. More insistent. More urgent. He drank in the sight of his shaft, disappearing inside her. The sight of her face, twisted in ecstasy.

  His wolf growled as he dipped his head and licked the hollow of her neck, where her pulse danced under his tongue.

  Now. We take her now!

  His canines pushed through his gums and scraped along her skin.

  “Yes…” she whispered.

  He couldn’t see any more. Couldn’t quite hear. Everything boiled down to the raging heat in his body and the overwhelming need to claim.

  Take her! Make her ours!

  What should have sounded crazy sounded just right. Make her his. Seal the future, right there and then. He could keep this goddess forever and—

  Every alarm in his body started clanging, including one that sounded like a submarine, ready to dive deep. A-woo-ga! A-woo-ga!

  Whoa, whoa! He wrestled his wolf back into its inner cage and threw his full weight against the door. Mentally, at least. Physically, his body was still pumping hard, pushing her closer to orgasm, hurtling toward his own release.

  What the hell was the beast thinking, nipping at her neck?

  Mark her. Take her. Make her our mate. His wolf rattled the bars of its cage, looking for a weak spot.

  No biting, he snarled back. No claiming.

  She wants us! The wolf fought back. Look at her!

  “Trey…” she moaned, pulling her legs higher around his waist, making his eyes roll back in his head.

  Mate. Mate. My mate! His body took up the chant in time to the wild beat of his heart.

  He shook his head. He might be dumb enough to get drunk in Vegas. Might be bold enough to take a girl he didn’t know to a hotel room. Might be crazy enough to think they were good together. But he wasn’t completely nuts. He didn’t need a mate. Didn’t want one. Hell, he didn’t even believe in destined mates.

  Not even when she’s wrapped around you, screaming your name?

  He shut out the wolf and concentrated on the pinch in his balls, the unbearable tightness in his dick. The last, hard thrust had him exploding deep inside her then free-falling over a glorious mountain cliff.

  He panted into her skin. Hid his face in the sheets. Wondered when the lightning bolt would strike him down. He counted the beats of her heart, slowing down in time with his, and stroked her silky hair, breathing her in.

  Slowly, she went from throes-of-passion tension to loose snuggle and brushed the length of his right eyebrow with her finger in wordless wonder.

  When she slid her eyes shut, it scared the hell out of him. What if that was regret? Rejection? A precursor to good-bye?

  He held her a little tighter, just in case.

  She twisted gently in his arms, not quite making an escape, not quite letting down her guard. Just settling into a spooned position, exactly how that crazy night started out.

  Except it hadn’t started there. Trey racked his brain, trying to remember something. Anything.

  But he couldn’t quite focus on anything because the feel of her in his arms affected him like a drug, and he drifted off again in spite of the thousand questions rocking his hazy mind.

  Chapter Two

  Trey dreamed of roulette wheels and spitting slot machines. Flying aces and bleeding hearts and the king of spades…

  He woke with a jolt, reaching for Kaya in the dark.

  He reached a little farther. Not there.

  The sheets were still warm, though, so she couldn’t be far. But where did she go?

  The curtains flapped in a weak desert breeze, and he rolled toward the balcony. He sighed deeply at the sight of Kaya leaning against the rail, looking up at the stars. At least, whatever stars were visible in the lights of a city that didn’t recognize the boundary between day and night.

  She was an ivory statue against the night sky, chiseled by a master artist who liked his models sinewy and tall and strong. Feminine at the same time, though, thanks to her light curves and the way she tilted her hips.

  Hips he’d recently had squeezed against his in the horizontal samba of the very best kind.

  Torn between admiring the goddess and calling the mystery woman back to his side, he just watched her. Who was she? What was she doing in Vegas? Where was she going next?

  His mind spun off on a thousand fantasies. Maybe she was road-tripping, too. Heading west, like him, on her very first trip to the Pacific coast. Maybe they could travel together. Maybe he could learn more about her than the sleek lines of her body and the sharp shudder of her breath when he moved inside her. More than the way she caught her lower lip in her teeth or the way her eyes made his insides sing. Maybe—

  Something scratched at the door, and he sat up with a jolt, straining his ears.

&n
bsp; “Shh. Pick the lock,” someone whispered outside.

  “Step back,” a deep voice replied. The kind of deep voice that belonged to a big, bad bouncer-type. A human might have slept right through that, but his wolf ears caught every word.

  “Two minutes from now, all that cash is ours.”

  Cash? What cash?

  “Yeah,” the second voice replied. “And the bounty, too.”

  Trey turned and glanced at the woman, who was standing tense now, coiled like a spring.

  A memory came hurtling out of nowhere and smacked him on the back of his head. Cards. Poker. Chips. Lots and lots of chips, standing in uneven piles. Two hands reaching out and scooping the piles toward his chest. His hands, because there was the little scar on the knuckles on the right.

  Apparently, he’d gotten lucky in more than one way last night. With cards and with a girl.

  His gut lurched as he blinked back to reality and studied her. What if the money was the only thing that had drawn her to him?

  Don’t be ridiculous, his wolf huffed. She’s not the type.

  He wanted to scoff. Like the beast could judge her character on the basis of a couple of hot, hard fucks.

  Heavenly fucks, the wolf corrected him. And believe me, our mate isn’t the type.

  Right. She’d jumped in the sack with a stranger. What type did that make her?

  A sudden itch formed on the back of his neck. What type did that make him?

  They stood staring at each other in the darkness. Her eyes were so shiny, they might even have been wet.

  The doorknob rattled again, and the man outside swore.

  Kaya whirled, and Trey jerked his head toward her again. What had she been looking for, leaning over the balcony rail like that?

  Some way to escape, dumbass, a distant part of his mind registered.

  He sprang out of bed and stretched to his full height. His considerable height, thank goodness, because what was about to come through the door was plenty big, too.

  His nostrils flared, catching a musky, cave scent. Crap — bears. The two thugs outside were bear shifters.