Vegas Bites

by Dunbar, Natalie; Glass, Seressia; Jeffries, J. M. ; Banks, L. A.

  “All right,” she said, nipping his neck, pouting. “But if you wanna take a quick desert run on all fours… I might not even charge you.” She kissed the underside of his chin. “Think about it. It’s been a long time, but my shape-shifts aren’t that rusty. The last time was incredible.”

  “No lie,” he said with an appreciative shudder. “But…” He glanced up at the moon, and then back toward the hotel.

  “But, she’ll have a problem with it.” Ecstasy sighed, pulled her hand away, and studied her French manicure. “So, talk.”

  “Girl, don’t be like that.”

  “How am I being, Butch?” She looked at him hard. “You saving yourself for her tonight—did she say she was gonna break down and hook a brother up?”

  “That’s not what I came here to talk about.” He began to pace. “You know you make me crazy. But, there’s this thing going down.”

  “And you want me to do what about it?” She folded her arms over her double-D cup chest. “Maverick, you do know that the French Quarter is hosting the Twenty Million Dollar Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament?” She sucked her teeth. “Do you know how many Master vampire high-rollers will be coming to town for this? Can you say billionaires? So tell me why I’m standing out here arguing with your stubborn, Lupine ass about giving you some head or doing a shape-shift in the parking lot, when I could be taking telepathy transmission for orgies all week?” She began to dissolve, serving him mist.

  “Hold up, hold up, baby,” he said, his voice low and firm. “They won’t be here till near midnight, and it’s early by their standards.” Her form became more solid, but she still kept her chin lifted, offended.

  “And, uh, I know I haven’t been through Vegas for a while, but there’s something going down that could be dangerous to the fam.” He touched her cheek, and then caressed it once he was sure she wouldn’t bite his hand. “Why don’t you go into my mind and pull it, to save time?”

  She glanced up at him, and a slow smile crept across her crimson lips. “Go easy on a brother. I’m wearing leather and gotta work all night.” She laughed. “If I go in, you’ll howl… you sure you want me to pull up before you—”

  “Please don’t embarrass a brother out in the parking lot, and have me have to walk through a lit casino floor after busting a nut in my leather.”

  She brushed his mouth with a kiss. “I wouldn’t do that, boo.” “Yes you would—for spite,” he said, laughing. “You are treacherous, girl.”

  “I am, but, some things are just tacky. Besides, the other girls would say it was a sloppy job, might pick up my signature in it, and then they’d really talk about me… claiming that I, Ecstasy Jones, couldn’t finesse a Lup. Would ruin business. So, you’re safe… but will be horny as hell when I’m done.”

  “Gee thanks,” he said, slightly salty about the dig regarding his wolf heritage.

  “Aw… I was just messing with you. A lot of the others would cross over to get with you, darlin’. You know that. Those bitches would hiss about me because they’d be so jealous.”

  “Ecstasy, why are you always giving me the blues?”

  She hugged him and found his jugular. “Because you’re a natural, sexy, warm-blooded pain in my ass.”

  Her love bite broke his skin and went in so smooth that his knees buckled. The woman hadn’t lied; his scrotum contracted to the pulse of her suckles against his neck and pulled information out of his mind like a pro.

  Tears were in his eyes he needed to cum so badly, but he let her quickly siphon the information she needed to get on the case. He’d spotted a few strange Weres in the casino at the poker and Black Jack tables flashing big cash wads and pulling C-notes off the knots to tip waitresses way too much. Letting Ecstasy take his throat was a necessary compromise, a barter that only vampires understood. Blood. A transaction as old as life itself. Yeah… it wasn’t done between the species, and she’d have to gargle like hell so a snob vamp client wouldn’t be offended, but he needed what only she could do.

  He tried to focus on that while he held her delicate shoulders, and she writhed against him making him begin to pant.

  “Oh, shit, girl, c’mon and finish up.” He dropped his sweat-damp forehead to her shoulder. “You are dangerously close to breaking your word.” A hard shudder passed through him as she pulled away from his throat and licked her lips breathing hard.

  “Damn…” she whispered. “Nothing but pure testosterone and adrenaline running through you tonight, lover. You sure you don’t wanna take a run in the canyons?”

  Unable to answer her for a moment, he held the side of his neck and began to walk in a tight circle.

  “It’s been a long time since you’ve had a female,” she said in a calm, smug tone, allowing the illusion of a thick, silvery mane to take over her hair as her ears laid back against her skull.

  Gulping air, he held up a hand. “Don’t. Aw’ight. I gotta work.” He shuddered hard, shook off the sensation that was carving at his groin, then threw his head back and howled till he could hear it echo back to him. “Shit!”

  Several return howls made him look into the darkness beyond the casino lights with longing. His attention fractured as he closed his eyes for a second, tilted his head and inhaled sharply, picking up females everywhere.

  “I didn’t mean to mess you up that bad,” she said, covering her mouth and laughing.

  Not amused in the least, he jerked his attention toward her.

  “Damn, your eyes are glowing gold and shit, and you’d better pull it together before you go back inside. Canines in full effect. Humans can’t deal with it, even though they know we’re around.” “I told you, in and out!” he shouted, rubbing his jaw and pacing.

  “Okay, so I lingered, ’cause I missed you.”

  He couldn’t catch his breath as he balled his hands into fists and tried to summon calm, locking his jaw and willing the canines back with his eyes shut tightly. “Count backward from a hundred,” she said, floating around him. “Works for the male vamps. A client told me.” He snatched her and kissed her hard. “Shut up, Ecstasy.” He let her go and walked away a few paces. “You gonna help me?”

  “How much?”

  He drew in a hard breath. “Twenty-five large.”

  “Oh, you have got to be kidding.” She walked past him, bumping his body as she sauntered toward the casino entrance. “Okay, okay—you say a number, then we’ll discuss it.”

  She put her hands on her shapely hips and gaped at him with disbelief. “There is nothing to discuss. My prices are firm. Harder than your dick, in fact.”

  “That’s a lotta money for—”

  “Kiss my ass, Butch Maverick—not even for you!”

  Ecstasy threw her hands up and paced toward him, pointing at him as she pecked her neck in a defiant rage. “You want me to shape-shift into a hot she-wolf, blow the minds of those animals in there flashing cash, siphon their minds to see if they’re connected to some coup bullshit, then come back to you. Did I get it all?”

  “Yeah, so what’s the problem?” Indignant, he folded his arms over his chest. She might have made him hornier, but he still knew how to count money.

  “On a primo vamp night… where I could be drinking a fine blood merlot, in a penthouse lair, with I don’t how many illusion-casters that will do me in silk sheets and rose petals at a very fine price, and deliver a bite that will make me see stars?”

  She walked away from him shaking her head, and then spun on him. “But instead, I’m supposed to be in a filthy canyon, outdoors, on my knees because you Lups like to get your run on before you get your swerve on, and I could get my entire throat ripped out if the guy isn’t suave—which under full moon conditions, he won’t be… and under a full moon, the son of a bitch, and I do put emphasis on the word bitch, will probably cum in three good thrusts—unlike a vampire—who has perfected seduction to the fine art it is… oh, yes, but a Lup will want it doggie style all night, over, and over, and over until the sun comes up, holding my ass
hostage where I could possibly torch at dawn and—”

  “All right, stop talking trash about my people, sis!” He walked deeper into the parking lot. The way she’d put it, by comparison seemed so crass. “We ain’t all like that, and the part about three good thrusts is bullshit.”

  “Am I lying about the canyons, though?” Her hands had again found her hips and her mouth twisted in a smiling scowl.

  “We like the outdoors; fresh air, okay? It’s not silk and rose petals, but—”

  “Seventy-five for the three of ’em or I don’t work.”

  “What!” Incredulous, he glowered at her and raked his fingers through his hair. It was growing by the second through his fingers, and he yanked his hand away from his skull. “You wouldn’t have to do more than the alpha, any ole way. The betas will back off or get beat down. So, what are you—”

  “The alpha is the one I have to wear out first, to get him out of the way,” she said coolly. “Chances that I’ll get near his throat are slim. Think about it. The only reason I got to yours is because we’re cool.” She sighed and studied her French manicure again. “The alpha will shift, chase me, pin me down hard, mount me, and he’ll be in the throat dominant position behind me. True?”

  “True,” he muttered. Her logic and his erection were wearing him out.

  “And when he’s done, he’ll get up, nip me goodbye on my ass, and lope off to find another female for later after he eats if I’m not still available.”

  Her logic had trapped him and pinned him to a parked car. He simply leaned against it and released a weary breath.

  “The betas will be in the nearby distance, too punked to actually challenge him for me, but walking in circles with their dicks hard and whimpering for whatever the alpha discards—which will be a non-permanent mate female; me. The moment he dismounts to go eat, they’ll come sniffing in, heads lowered, and very, very hopeful… but since he’d marked me first, they’ll be nervous, looking around to see if the big male was coming back and if I’ll allow them to mount me after him.” She calmly strolled closer to Butch. “You know how this works, baby.”

  She sighed. “One will stand watch to look out for the boss, the weaker one of the betas. The other one will nuzzle me, test for acceptance, and I’ll nuzzle him back to let him know, yeah, I’m game.” She leaned in closely and murmured her statement. “He’ll already be so keyed up he’ll almost bust a nut as I turn around for him. The other one on lookout might not even make it to the mount. He’ll try to nuzzle my neck while jerking off after watching for a few seconds to hurry the other male along, while that male snaps and barks at him to back off, but not about to stop pumping.”

  “I get the picture,” Butch said, looking away from her too disgusted. What she said was true; beta males had no self-respect.

  “You’ve never been a beta, so you don’t know how alluring an alpha’s picked female is. Stupid betas could just pay another working girl and have their own female for the night… but, noooo. They gotta have the alpha’s pick, if possible. It’s the conquest of a lifetime.”

  She threw her head back and laughed low, deep, and richly when he didn’t answer. “Oh, shit, you Lups are crazy. I’ll siphon them during every aggressive, frantic nuzzle, and my bites will turn them on so badly the process will be a very quick information exchange… and then, I’ll lift my head, look over my shoulder and seem panicked, like the big guy is coming back, and they’ll scram. Survival of the fittest.”

  She was giving him a headache, but it was the truth, even though he didn’t want to hear it in such graphic detail.

  “Butch, baby, no self-respecting alpha pick would be caught dead with a beta male humping her after an alpha was done—that’s a real slap in the face to a dominant male, enough to make a girl road kill. The betas won’t know that I’ve been discarded, and even if I have, anyone in the big male’s pack that dared to come behind him on a full moon night, would get his throat ripped out just on general principle. It would be a territorial issue and an authority challenge that he wouldn’t tolerate. My goodness, you all get so primal during this phase of the moon! Vampires are much smoother about the whole issue of sexual territory—to them its sport to see who the most seductive male is… and if he can pull the bait with linguistic dexterity, then, whatever.”

  She batted her eyes and traced a finger down the side of his throat. “Theater darling… you came to the best; a mistress of illusion and seduction, which is all in a night’s work. Female Lups don’t have the telepathy and would get caught up in the moon thing, anyway. Phantoms can’t be trusted, they work all sides of the house and would give up the ghost,” she said, giggling. “I’m your only ace up the sleeve for this job. Or I could go do the vamps, and with them I’d multi-orgasm for the money, too. So—”

  “Seventy-five,” he muttered, pushing away from the parked car and stalking toward the casino. He needed space. He needed more cash, too, which meant going to Malcolm—which now meant he had a partner and wouldn’t be a freelancer, the only way he liked to work… And since the cash would come out of Malcolm’s security budget, Laurel would be alerted and start some bullshit he could not handle tonight.

  “Glad we came to terms,” Ecstasy said in a giggling echo and blew a kiss behind him. “I’ll have word for you tomorrow night… and anything else you want. Toodle-loo.”

  Chapter Three

  Laurel closed her eyes. She’d heard Barron’s signature howl through the plate-glass windows of her office, and had to hold onto the arms of her chair not to answer it. The response call was bubbling up in her esophagus, but she’d managed to choke it down with extreme effort. No matter what, she was staying in her office tonight. Going down on the casino floor in this condition was too volatile. The huge tournament didn’t need the disruption of a bar fight caused by a heat-scent, spiking clan-foreign alpha males into mortal combat.

  Watching the rows of monitors from her safe position was best. She could send her staff out on the floor, stay in contact with them by two-way, and keep a sweeping gaze on any suspicious activity from where she sat—alone.

  It always pissed her off to no end that Malcolm would make snide comments about her staying home for a few nights each time she went into phase. Pompous jerk. So what she loved him as family? That didn’t matter, the sexist statement always led to a test of wills.

  Anyway, what was different about her so-called “condition” than any male’s? They acted like complete idiots when the moon waxed full, but nobody sent the entire retinue of male staff home then. So why in the hell did she have to go home just because she was feeling a little rammy during a heat? No. She was their full equal, and defied any male, alpha or otherwise, to challenge her authority.

  Besides, it wasn’t a real issue until that pain in the ass, Barron Maverick, had darkened the hotel’s doorstep again. Before that, she’d gotten through every phase as cool as a cucumber. Well… almost. Still, none of the Lups she’d seen had impressed her. Whatever. She refused to howl at the moon from a mere Maverick sighting. Not.

  Laurel focused her attention on the cameras, but then caught Butch’s image loping toward the poker and tournament tables. He moved in long, fluid, graceful strides, and she had to remember to breathe in through her nose, and then let the air out of her lungs through her mouth. For a moment, her eyes abandoned the screens containing images from the second floor’s pool, arcade, and banquet rooms. The shops, day spa, and amphitheater somehow slid away from her mind, along with the parking lot. It was impossible to hold her focus on the meeting rooms and nearly empty halls on the second and third floors, or any of the restaurants and bars.

  Hundreds of people milled about, but for a very fleeting moment, there was only one guest in the entire complex… Barron Maverick. One set of wide shoulders and square-jawed profile that she could mentally process. One handsome face. One set of large, rough hands that picked up a fan of cards and coolly slid chips across the green felt, sending chills down her spine.

  “Al
l clear on one,” a staffer said through the two-way, jolting her back to reality. “How’s it look from your side?” Panic made her quickly scan the first floor monitors. “Good. Good.” She swallowed hard.

  “You hungry?”

  “Yeah, a burger, rare, would be most excellent right now,” she said quietly, her gaze going back to the one monitor it shouldn’t have.

  “I’ll bring it right up,” her employee said in a hopeful voice.

  Laurel groaned inwardly. All she needed was a very hopeful beta male in her face, right now. A sweet as he was, never. “No, that’s okay, Stew. I can hold off for a little while.” She kept her response polite…appreciative, but firm.

  “It’s really no problem, Laurel… anything you want, okay?” Jesus, give me a break. “Thanks, Stew, but I’m all right.” She dropped her voice an octave to squash the attempt. Trying to wrestle her brain back to her job, she immediately called the rest of the security personnel on two-way and checked in with them, hoping the other monitoring stations that were secretly tucked in offices had been on-point during her brief lapse. This had to stop. Sleeping on the job was dangerous for guests and the entire operation, especially with high-rollers coming in near midnight for the tournament. What Butch had told her had already been a source of worry before he got there. Rogue bandits couldn’t be tolerated. The casino was gonna be loaded with wealthy clients that could be easy marks under a full moon. The establishment needed that like a silver bullet in the head.

  Laurel rubbed her palms slowly down her face, glad that all the security news, so far, had been benign. The negative roll calls from the beefed-up staff made her feel slightly better, but didn’t relax her in the least. It also didn’t help that she was so hungry right now that she was ready to gnaw on the side of her desk.

  She sat forward, leaning on her elbows and made a tent with her fingers before her mouth, carefully watching the gaming floor. What the hell are Cutter, Fang, and Mad Dawg doing here flashing large wads of cash in the Black Jack area? They usually kept to the casinos in the brothels on the other side of town. Earlier, only a few new high-roller Lups she didn’t know had been there, but where were they now? She leaned in closer. Where is Maverick?