Gambling on Her Bear Read online

  “How much witchcraft do you know?”

  She made a face. “Some spells, I’m really good at. Others, not so much.”

  “Fire spells, for example?” He crooked an eyebrow, remembering the damage on the twenty-seventh floor.

  She flashed a naughty smile and gave him a thumbs-up.

  “Invisibility?”

  She snorted. “I wish.”

  “Mind control?” he asked, gripping the bedpost a little too hard.

  She laughed outright, and he let the subject go. Maybe the witch part didn’t have to be scary. No scarier than it had to be for her to face a guy who could turn into a grizzly. And yet she hadn’t asked any paranoid questions, like whether he hibernated — God, no — or ate honey straight from the comb — hell, yes — or whether he liked to rake his claws down trees.

  He thought it all over one more time, then put it to rest forever. So, she was half witch. So what? She was his mate.

  “How long were you planning the diamond heist?” he asked. He knew how tight security was in the building. Karen, with her unique mix of dragon and witch abilities, might be the only person on earth who could pull off that break-in.

  She looked at him blankly. “What do you mean, how long?”

  “Well, I’ve been working on this inside job for months now—”

  “Months?” She gaped. That she was the spontaneous type, he’d figured out.

  “Well, some things take time.”

  “Some things take luck,” she countered.

  Now he was the one gaping. “Luck?” When had he ever left anything to luck?

  She nodded firmly.

  “Your plan to steal the diamond was to get lucky?”

  She made a face. “I had a plan. It just needed some tweaking.”

  He wondered whether she’d started tweaking in midair on her flight to the casino roof or sometime later on.

  “Hey,” she said. “Sometimes it’s good to be impulsive.”

  “Like when?” He sat up, reaching for the water glass by the bed.

  “Like the first night we met,” she said with a sultry grin. “Like just now. ’Cause I sure didn’t see blow jobs on the menu downstairs.”

  He choked, spraying water everywhere, and his dick twitched. “Okay, maybe being impulsive is good in some ways.”

  “Admit it,” she teased, sitting up and tickling him. “Being spontaneous is good. Being childish can be fun.”

  He tried to roll away, but she was too quick, and before he knew it, his bear was giggling wildly inside, and some of that made it past his lips.

  “Repeat after me,” Karen said, looking wild and innocent and free. “I will try to be impulsive for once in my life.”

  “I will try…” he started, then broke out laughing again.

  Karen plowed right on, tickling mercilessly. “I will trust luck and love and let my wild side out.”

  Luck, he wasn’t so sure about. Love, one hundred percent. And letting his wild side out?

  Already happening, his bear pointed out as the tickling continued, along with the chuckles he couldn’t hold back.

  “I will trust crazy dragons,” she continued.

  “I will trust crazy dragons,” he sputtered as he rolled on the mattress.

  “I will live and laugh and make love.”

  A no-brainer. “I will live and laugh and make love,” he repeated. “To you.”

  She grinned like a Cheshire cat.

  “Hey! Don’t stop!” he protested, even though he had a pillow clutched to his stomach and his arms up like a fence. He hadn’t been tickled since he was a cub, and that was a damn shame.

  “Do you know how hard it is to tickle through this much muscle?” she complained, smacking his belly.

  “Well then, there’s always an alternative way to have fun,” he said, sitting up and pulling her closer.

  “I think you’re getting the hang of this at last,” she smiled, sliding her arms around his neck.

  He guided her legs around his sides so the two of them sat face-to-face, intertwined and gazing into each other’s eyes.

  “I think I do,” he said, more seriously.

  She pressed closer, and he slid his hand slowly down between them.

  “Oh, you definitely have the hang of this,” she sighed as he ran a finger through her folds. She was already warm and slick and ready for more. A minute of exploring later, he was lined up just right, and he slid home. His eyes closed with the soaring sensation that went through his veins, then he forced them open again, determined to capture the moment in every possible way.

  “Yes…” Karen cried. She tipped her head back as he penetrated, and her pulse beat visibly on her neck. Exactly the spot where he’d place his mating bite someday.

  Someday soon, his bear said.

  “More,” she breathed, looking at him through half-lidded eyes. “Harder.”

  Harder wasn’t easy in a seated position, but he did his damned best. Holding her hips, watching her breasts jiggle, finding just the right angle. She was tight and hot and perfect in every way. His breath was already speeding out of control, his body burning, his cock straining…

  “Yes…” Karen rolled her head to the side, subconsciously offering him a place to bite.

  Yes, his bear growled.

  Every instinct screamed at him to lean forward, but he forced himself to do the opposite. It was too soon for that, even if he was certain she was his mate.

  Can never be too soon, his bear complained.

  Damn bear was in such a rush. There was pleasure in patience, too. Pleasure in watching his mate come undone. He held her with one hand while the other toyed with the taut nipple that pointed upward, a mere inch away from the sweat glossing his chest.

  “Yes…”

  He rocked his hips and pulled her closer still. He caught a glint of her reflection in the mirror to one side, and he turned his head to watch her move in time with him. In perfect time, like they’d been made for each other.

  We are made for each other, his bear huffed past another heavy groan.

  Her legs tightened around his waist. Her nails scraped his back.

  “Tanner!” she cried, about to let it all go.

  He rocked harder, gritting his teeth. Holding his own high back until Karen found her own. His breath came in sharp pants and crazy little grunts as he pounded into her with everything he had.

  Mark our woman, his bear chanted. Fill her. Claim her.

  Her upper body leaned far, far back, but he kept her hips good and close. Her firm, peaked breasts swayed as their bodies rocked.

  “Yes…”

  Her lips curled back from her teeth, and her eyes shone as she shuddered, coming around him.

  “Yes… Yes…” she mumbled through her orgasm.

  His bear was no better, moaning the same words inside his mind. The wave that had been building inside him rushed forward as he pushed deeper with his final thrust, groaning with the pleasure-pain of release. Her arms shook as he emptied inside her, and he clutched her close.

  Deep was one of the few clear thoughts in his mind. Close was another. Mine, too.

  She went soft all over as he went hard, and his bear nearly whimpered in joy at the perfect match they made.

  Amazing. She’s amazing, the beast hummed as he slowly descended from his high.

  He ran a hand behind her back and pulled her flush against his chest to feel her ribs rise and fall with each beat of her racing heart.

  “Oh…” Karen squeaked and threw her head back as an aftershock raked her body.

  He tightened his grip again, savoring the sight. It was one thing to make a woman feel good; it was even better when that feeling sparked a thousand emotions and made him glow, too.

  You’re amazing, his bear murmured.

  “You, too,” she whispered back.

  Tanner froze. Right, she could hear his thoughts. That proved that their animal sides had already bonded.

  His bear leaned back with a s
mug grin. Think I need to bite to make her mine?

  Karen laughed, and he could hear the throaty voice of her dragon echo the words. I sure don’t need a bite to know this bear is mine.

  They sat slumped against each other, panting while their shifter sides crooned on and on about love and destiny. About undying devotion and all kinds of things that had never occupied his mind before, though it was all he could think about now.

  Forever, his bear vowed as he nuzzled her cheek.

  Forever, her dragon agreed, and she wound her leg around his.

  Dang, he was a goner. And he wouldn’t want it any other way.

  They unwound just far enough to flop to the mattress, keeping their bodies together, letting time tick by without caring whether it was minutes or hours they spent there.

  “Now, about this plan of yours,” Karen said at one point, and he groaned.

  “Maybe we can talk shop tomorrow.”

  She ran her fingers along his collarbone, making his bear hum. “I was thinking we should make a plan.”

  He did have a plan. It was just that she’d very nearly blown it to smithereens.

  “I think we should leave that for tomorrow,” he suggested.

  “Oh, you mean like a spur of the moment?” Her eyebrows shot up. “Spontaneous? Maybe even reckless?” Her eyes had a definite gleam.

  He rolled, pinning her body under his, and grinned. “I might just be getting the hang of that, you know.”

  She hooked a leg around him, pressing her hips closer, and just like that, he was on fire again.

  “Then show me, bear. Show me.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The colors of the setting sun competed with the lights of Las Vegas Boulevard. Tourists crowded the sidewalks, headed for various spectacles — the pirate show at Treasure Island, the Volcano at the Mirage, and the sound and light show of the Scarlet Palace, where red lights illuminated dozens of fountains, giving the impression of bubbling blood.

  Karen stood by a corner of one of the pools, trying to settle her pulse. But who was she kidding? Her heart had started hammering when she’d been six blocks away, and it was only getting worse.

  “Aren’t they beautiful?” a woman sighed to her partner as she dipped a hand in at the water’s edge.

  Sure, if you like gushing blood, Karen wanted to say.

  “Like roses,” the woman went on. “Like red wine.”

  Like a vampire’s best fantasy, Karen nearly blurted, but she squeezed her mouth shut.

  “I think this is going to be our lucky night,” the man said, stroking the woman’s hair.

  Karen fingered the wad of bills in her right pocket and nodded to herself. It sure as hell better be her lucky night, because heading back into the Scarlet Palace had to be one of the more suicidal things she’d ever done.

  Maybe bears were right. Maybe she ought to consider a more cautious approach.

  They’ll never recognize us, her dragon murmured inside.

  She readjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on her nose and patted her hair. The vampires had better not recognize her. She’d spent an hour teasing her hair into three times its usual volume and practicing a toothy smile unlike her own. It would have been so much easier to carry a little cloaking spell around with her, but the casino would be on high alert after her recent break-in, and she couldn’t risk any unnecessary magic that might be sensed by the vampire’s witches-for-hire.

  Third-rate witches, her dragon sniffed.

  She made a face, because the most she could claim to be was a second-rate witch. Second-rate witch, second-rate dragon—

  Stop that! her dragon barked.

  Well, it was true.

  I’ll prove it to you sometime, the dragon declared.

  She sighed. Let the beast live its little fantasies. Let it think what it wanted about a someday that would never come. She was still second-rate, no matter what it claimed.

  Got myself a first-rate mate, the dragon hummed.

  That part was true. A night with Tanner had only cemented it all in her mind: he was hers, and she was his. Forever.

  That is, if they survived this crazy crusade. Much as she and Tanner had tried to bullet-proof their plan, a lot could go wrong. Too much could go wrong. Any of a dozen different scenarios could end with her as a captive of the vampires — worse still, as a blood donor to her least favorite cause. Now that the vampires suspected she was only half dragon, they’d all vie for the first sip of her blood.

  The last sip, too.

  Her skin crawled, imagining them pinning her down and sinking their teeth into her neck. Or maybe two at her neck and another two at her wrists. The very worst was the idea of Schiller, forcing her head to the side and stepping close. Licking his lips to taunt her and looking her right in the eye with that I knew you’d be mine look. Schiller would prolong her death just to toy with her, like a cat with a mouse.

  She shivered, trying to push thoughts of disaster away. Tanner said it was all taken care of. Schiller would be out of the casino until at least midnight at a meeting with his business associates, the Westend wolves. Which left her three hours to win and win big.

  “Definitely gonna be our lucky night,” the woman said, walking toward the entrance of the Scarlet Palace.

  Karen forced her legs to follow the couple, clutching her purse close. The two thousand dollars in her pocket was peanuts compared to what she had in her bag, because she’d spent the day going from one small casino to another, raking up modest wins that would fall under the radar of casino security. Five thousand here, seven or eight thousand there. All it took was a tiny flick of her fingers just as the reels of a slot machine clicked into position or the split second before a roulette ball fell. She could risk little bursts of magic as long as she stuck to small bets in human-run establishments around town.

  And it worked. The ten thousand dollars she’d started with had multiplied to over one hundred thousand — enough to set the main part of Tanner’s plan into motion.

  She tilted her head back and looked past all the glittering windows and lights of Vegas to the stars emerging in the indigo sky. One last look at freedom, one last gulp of fresh air—

  Someone jostled her, and she stumbled inside.

  “Sorry, honey,” a man said, grabbing her by the elbow.

  She was so on edge, she nearly flashed her dragon fangs.

  “No problem.” She faked a smile.

  If nothing else, the little push had rushed her past the bouncers stationed at the doors without a second glance.

  “How about I make it up to you with a drink at the bar?” the man who’d bumped her offered. He was bald and short and smelled like so many other humans in Vegas — a blend of hope and despair, half hidden behind his cheap cologne. But she figured he’d make good cover, so she played along.

  “Sure,” she nodded, taking the elbow he offered.

  If it had been Tanner at her side, she’d have felt like a million bucks. Women would turn their heads with jealous looks, and men would move aside to make way for Tanner’s bulk. She entertained herself with that little fantasy all the way to the mezzanine-level bar. The place overlooked the gambling floor where she spotted Tanner making his rounds. Just seeing him settled the butterflies fluttering inside her.

  “I love this place,” the man said, pointing at the bar sign. “Bloody Mary’s.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “What will it be, honey?”

  She wasn’t this human’s honey, and she wasn’t in the mood for a drink with anything red in it, so she ordered a tequila with lime and suffered through his conversation while checking out the scene below.

  Semicircular tables took up most of the floor space in the blackjack hall. Mirrors covered the walls, making the room look twice its actual size. She leaned right, trying to catch a glimpse of the corner Tanner had told her about, but she couldn’t quite spot it.

  It’s the only table in the whole place that only has one camera on it, he’d explained b
ack in the hotel room, where they’d lain skin to skin, formulating a plan.

  The way the mirrors were angled made it perfect, too. Tanner had scoped it out himself. The only mirror that might have reflected their target table to another camera or pair of eyes had been taken out to widen a service door.

  Karen’s eyes darted over the tables as a chant went through her mind.

  Will not screw this up. Cannot screw this up. Not like last time.

  “You going to play the slots tonight, honey?” her companion asked, grinning at her through nicotine-stained teeth.

  She held back a scowl. The slot machines had been her undoing three weeks ago, when she’d been fool enough to march into this very casino and try a little magic on them. The witch on duty had been a sharp one — sharp enough to sense the magic and to let Karen play just long enough to be nabbed with eighty thousand dollars she’d won illegally — illegally, that is, by the unwritten rules of the Scarlet Palace. When Schiller found out she was a dragon, he’d locked her up and held her for ransom. Thank God for older sisters coming to the rescue, though even that had been a close call.

  She licked salt off her knuckle, gulped her tequila, and sucked on a slice of lime, trying to replace one bitter taste with another. That was all in the past. Tonight was about the future, and God, she couldn’t wait to put Vegas behind her.

  When her companion took a swig of his own drink, she peeked at his watch. Already a quarter to eight?

  “Well, thanks.” She stood abruptly and stepped away from the table.

  “What? Honey, we haven’t even started to have fun.”

  She faked a sad smile. “Gotta go. Good luck.” The man had helped her enter the casino unnoticed, but the last thing she needed was for him to hang around now that the arranged time was approaching. So she raced out of the bar before he could follow her and waved to one of the women hovering by the balcony — one of many painted ladies looking for an easy ride for the night.

  “The bald guy at the corner table isn’t much to look at,” she said, jabbing a thumb back. “But he has cash to burn tonight.”

  Her words were aimed at one woman, but three primped their hair and closed in on the bar.