Gambling on Her Bear (Shifters in Vegas)

Gambling on Her Bear

Copyright 2016 by Anna Lowe

[email protected]

Editing by Lisa A. Hollett

Cover art by Jacqueline Sweet

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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Diamond thief falls for burly bear security chief in Vegas. What could possibly go wrong?

Dragon shifter Karen Proulx is in Vegas to hunt down a diamond, not a mate. But the minute she lays eyes on the brown-eyed bear of her dreams, everything changes.

Bear shifter Tanner Lloyd is a man on a mission to save his hometown. He doesn’t have time for a wild ride with the beguiling woman who turns his world upside down — especially one who’s half witch and a mortal enemy to his clan. But how can he resist the call of destiny, the pull of desire?

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* * *

“Are you crazy?”

Karen winced, remembering her sister screeching the words.

Yes, she was crazy to have come back to Vegas after barely escaping with her life. But three motives kept pulling her back.

A diamond, revenge, and true love. A potent — and possibly lethal — combination.

She gulped and eyed the distance from the thirty-six-story rooftop she was perched on to the twenty-nine-story building across the boulevard. Crap, it was a long way away.

“I can do this,” she murmured in an unsteady voice.

She glanced straight down the sheer drop to the street below. Crowds milled on the sidewalks. The red brake lights of cars backed all the way down the Strip, and the neon lights of casinos blinked, outshining the stars. The whole place was like a carnival plonked down in the middle of the desert, hundreds of miles from anywhere — except maybe the gateway to hell.

Karen inched closer to the edge of the roof. The midnight breeze tugged at her clothes, trying to draw her over the edge and into thin air.

“Not far to glide. Not far at all,” she murmured as her knees wobbled away.

Damn it, dragons weren’t supposed to be afraid of flying.

What about half dragons?
her inner wimp asked.

She brushed back her hair and scowled into the night. Why couldn’t she be like her sister, Kaya? Kaya could swoop and soar and climb high into the sky. Kaya wasn’t afraid of anything.

Neither am I,
her pride shot back.
Not afraid of anything.

Except maybe her own shortcomings. But hell, it wasn’t her fault she was only half dragon. And it wasn’t her fault that the other half of her DNA didn’t help one iota when it came to aerial pursuits.

She tried visualizing success. That was supposed to help, right? She pictured her leathery dragon wings spread wide and her thick dragon nose pointing the way. Her sleek, scaled body would slip gracefully through the air…

But,
boom
! The visions ended in a hard crash every time. The kind of crash even a shifter couldn’t recover from.

With an effort, she dragged her eyes away from the sheer drop. She had to focus on the rooftop across the street: the Scarlet Palace — Vegas’ brightest casino on the outside and the shadiest on the inside.

Focus, damn it. Focus!

The only thing that mattered was the diamond and taking revenge. One quick in-and-out caper and she’d leave Sin City forever.

A tic in her right eye reminded her that the first quick in-and-out caper she’d tried pulling off in Vegas had turned into ten days of captivity. She rubbed it away furiously. Revenge was the important thing.

Don’t forget my mate!
her inner dragon cried.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” she scolded herself. You’d have thought being half dragon would mean only a faint inner voice to contend with, but no. The beast thought it was entitled to share every opinion — insistently — even though it couldn’t fly properly.

She checked the height and distance again. God, when was the last time she’d attempted anything like this? It felt like years. Wait a minute, it had been years.

“Some dragon you make,” she muttered at herself.

The beast glowered inside.
I can breathe fire.

Well, at least there was that.

You have to believe to be able to fly.

Karen snorted and pushed the beast back into her subconscious. She didn’t believe for one second. Sure, she could hold her wings wide and
glide
if the wind was going the right way. But actually flying — as in, gaining altitude, propelling herself, or accurately controlling where she went? No way. She’d tried a hundred times and had the scars to prove it couldn’t be done. Not by a mere half dragon, anyway.

We can do it. We can!
her dragon insisted.
Remember that time with Grandpa?

She snorted. Sure, she’d once climbed a couple of hundred feet and managed a shaky turn under her grandfather’s guidance. But that was only because he’d been there willing her along with his legendary power. She’d been scared stiff the entire time.

Of course, you can’t fly if you’re scared,
her dragon chided.
Remember what Grandpa said?

Yes, she remembered.
It’s just like breathing fire. A dragon’s powers are
kindled by love, and if you truly believe…

Sure, believe. The last time she’d believed, she’d been drunk. Drunk enough to try flapping her wings and really flying.

And it worked!
her dragon shot back.
You have to trust me. Better yet, get mad at something. Really mad. That works, too.

She snorted. Her last attempt at real flight was five years ago, and believing had worked for about thirty seconds until she’d panicked in midair. She’d ended up crash-landing in a manure pit and almost breaking a leg.

So, no. She didn’t believe she could fly simply by wishing it. And she didn’t believe in destined mates, either. That sinfully hot bear shifter she’d hooked up with two weeks ago wasn’t her mate. He was just some random guy.

A really, really hot guy,
her dragon said.
Remember those hands? Those shoulders? Those checkerboard abs?

She shook her head. He was just a one-night stand who hadn’t even bothered to turn up to a second date, and she was not going to waste any more time thinking about him.

How can you not think about those hazel eyes?
her dragon cried.
How can you not think of his touch?

She bit back a sigh, thinking of the barely leashed power behind his reverent caresses of her skin, her hair. Her whole body, damn it.

How could you not think about that voice?

That aged-hickory, smoky voice that had whispered in her ear.
This isn’t chance. This is destiny.

He’d said it like he was so sure, and she’d nearly believed. That there was such a thing as love at first sight. That the man she’d surrendered every inch of herself to within two hours of laying eyes on could only be her mate.

Remember the way he looked at us?
her dragon went on.

In her dreams, she still saw his dumb struck look, the wonder in his eyes.

Destiny,
the wind whistled in her ear.

Her dragon nodded.
Destiny.

She closed her eyes, lost in the memories, then snapped them open and swung her arms wildly, finding herself teetering on the edge of the drop.

Crap! She scooped at the air and wrenched her body back just in time to avoid toppling over into thin air.

Focus, damn it! Focus!

If it was destiny, why hadn’t he bothered showing up the day after?

She shook her head and looked down. The red-lit fountains of the Scarlet Palace bubbled and danced, taunting her. Traffic proceeded slowly, taking no note of her, and a motorcycle sped down the street.

Diamonds. Revenge. That’s what she had to focus on, not this mate nonsense.

She narrowed her eyes on the penthouse apartment of the casino. She’d show those damn vampires what she was made of. Which meant focusing on her plan. A plan which didn’t require any flying at all. Just a little gliding. And gliding, she could do. Her grandfather had coached her through it plenty of times. She closed her eyes and remembered his little winks, his bolstering words.

You’re a fantastic glider, sweetheart. A real champ.

Well,
champ
might have been overdoing it, but yeah, she could glide.

She checked the distance again, licked a finger, and tested the wind. Perfect. She could do it. She
would
do it. Never mind that she’d never tried gliding quite that far or over quite that high an abyss.

She stripped out of her clothes slowly, bundled them together, and stuck them under one foot. No sense shredding them to bits when she shifted. Plus, she’d need them when she reached the roof of the Scarlet Palace.

The night air was cool, and she shivered, standing naked at the edge of the high-rise.

Some dragon you make,
a little voice taunted from the back of her mind.

She straightened, took a deep breath, and pulled her inner dragon forth.

Her arms lifted and stretched. Her mouth opened in a silent cry as her body transformed. She wiggled her rear and stretched tall — impossibly tall and impossibly sleek, just like she wished her human body could be. The wind went from ruffling her hair to tickling her long ears and snout, and when she coughed, a tiny spark flew out into the night. The sounds of the city grew louder, the lights brighter, and her skin burned as her scales slid out, armoring her.

She lifted her wings, threw back her head, and bellowed into the night.
I am dragon! Hear me roar!

For a moment, she allowed herself to revel in the sheer power of being a dragon. No need to worry about attracting attention; the city was far too noisy for that. She could do it! Yes, she could! She’d break into the penthouse apartment of the Scarlet Palace and exact her revenge on the vampires. She would escape unnoticed into the night. She would—

Find my mate and take him with me!

Karen scowled at her stubborn dragon. That was the risky part of shifting; the stupid beast was harder to manage when she ceded control of her body. Well, fine. She’d deal with that later. Right now, she had other things to think about — like gliding four hundred feet across thin air. Like avoiding more vampires. Like finally exacting her revenge for ten miserable days of captivity. Ten days of pretending she was one-hundred-percent dragon with blood too pure for vampires to drink.