Gambling on Her Bear (Shifters in Vegas) by Anna Lowe Read Free Book Online Page B

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