High Card: A Billionaire Shifter Novel (Lions of Las Vegas Book 1) (23 page)

Landon takes a step toward me.
 

“Don’t you fucking move.”

“You can’t kill me with that, Summer. You saw what I am.”

“I can try.”

“You can’t run from me, either.”

“Hey, rich boy? It’s the Twenty-First Century. A girl can do whatever she damn well wants.”

Landon smiles. Shit. A bolt of heat races down my midsection, making me grit my teeth. I love that smile. It strikes me right in my weakest spots. How his eyes sparkle gold—

“All right. You can run. But I can
hunt
.”

Hunt. Did he say hunt? Me?

I remind myself about the brutal slaughter I just witnessed. Three bodies are scattered around Landon. The snarling animal-things are gone. They’re back in their human forms. All three look like they were hit by a Mack truck. With fangs.
 

But still.
 

I would’ve shot the bastards if I needed to.
 

I would’ve defended myself.
 

What Landon did was no different.
 

Only difference was…he did it
better
.
 

“What are you?” I breathe, not sure I want an answer.

Landon shrugs off his torn racing suit. Bastard. He’s fucking naked. Sweaty and bloody. Muscles still swollen with exertion. He looks…almost godlike. He murdered those…creatures…for me. They came for me and he…he stopped them. Protected me.
 

He didn’t have to do that—

“Put the gun down, Summer. I won’t hurt you. I swear I’ll never hurt you. I’ll never
let
anything hurt you. You’re mine. I’ve known the truth…since I tore Blake off you in the alley. I would’ve murdered my own brother to stop him hurting you. It’s hardwired into my animal. It’s what makes him feel…calm. Being at your side. Keeping you safe. Please?”

“I’m
yours
?” I say, tilting my head at him. “Is that what you’ve decided? Because I hate to break it to ya, but I might have an opinion—”

“We’re lifemates,” Landon says, quiet but firm, as if that explains everything.

“Lifemates? Bullshit. We’re business partners, remember?”
 

I look at him, waiting, wanting to turn and run but completely unable to move—

“You feel it, Summer. What we have. A bond that runs bone deep. A Wildblood bond. It’s sacred. Never supposed to happen between my kind and yours…but it has. Tell me you don’t feel it. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t feel it.”
 

“Oh shiiit,” I moan, biting my lip, trying and failing to not take in his every sexy bulge and curve, how
amazing
he looks, trying to ignore the traitorous heat building my core, spreading through my loins and aching nipples—

“They’ll hunt you down,” Landon says, taking another step forward. “I’m not sure why. But they will. More will come when word gets out what you are. They’ll want to use you to strengthen their animals. You’re safe with me.
Only
with me.”

Every word thrums into me, vibrates through my bones, warms my blood, sends sparks of awesome tingling through all the good spots. Then a thought hits me. “You’re not, uh, fucking
controlling
me with your mind, are you? Because I’m pretty sure I just saw you change into some kind of snarling lion thing, and yet here I am…thinking about your dick…”

Another smile.

And then shit, I’m smiling too.

“No. I’m controlling you with my body.”

I burst out laughing. The smug shithead. I slip Layla into my belt, and when we meet it’s like the sun rounding the earth, waking the world with its warmth—

“I’VE DECIDED I’M totally down with this new you, Landon Stone,” Summer says as we drive back to the Strip. She’s talking super quick. Her cheeks are flushed. I scent her excitement and arousal.
 

My lifemate.
 

That’s the only reason she’s not frozen in terror right now. She senses my animal will never harm her. Knows I meant what I said about protecting her. The problem is…if what Don Luca’s hit men said is true…even I might not be able to keep her safe.

“It’s not really a
new
me. This has always been who I am.”

“Whatever. It’s new to me. Don’t be a downer. I mean…a lion? Someone fucking with me? Hey. Piss off. My boyfriend’s a
werelion
.”

“That’s not what we’re called.”

“Oh? What?”

“Wildbloods.”

“Hmm.” Summer purses her lips. “Doesn’t have the same ring. You say ‘werelion’ everyone knows what you mean. ‘Wildblood’ just sounds like an old Mel Gibson movie.”

“We live in secret.”

“Huh? Why? You guys would totally kick ass at MMA.”

“That’s the point. There’s not that many of us. We’re physically far superior to humans. There was concern…
justified
concern…that we would be hunted to extinction.”

“Silver?”

“No.”

“Full moons?”

“No. A pagan myth.”

“Huh. Blue flashes of light when you shift?”

“No. Where’d you get that idea?”

“Amazon free books.”

“Don’t believe everythi—”

“Joking. C’mon.”
 

Summer slides closer.
 

Lays her head on my shoulder.
 

Rubs her hand across my chest. She feels amazing.

“Something else you need to know,” I say.

“Something
else
? This is plenty—”

“You need to listen.”

“Sounds serious.” Summer sits up. “I’ve had a lot of shit news already today, Landon. You gunna tell me get lost? Say it’s for my own good? Think I can’t handle—”

“No. It’s not that. It’s about…what I am.”
 

I’m going to have to tell her about the Wildblood Council. About my challenging Trent Thorsa for lion alpha. About the danger we’re both in. But for now I just want this moment. Outside of my family, no one I care about has ever known who I really am. It feels…I guess it makes me feel powerful.
 

Confident. Proud, even.
 

It’s not until now that I realize how ashamed I’ve been about the curse—about my animal. Summer’s acceptance, even excitement, feels like a hope I’d forgotten existed.
 

Then I remember what Don Luca’s hit-men said about Summer being the Whisperer. It has to be bullshit. Or I’m way out of the loop—

But if it’s true no human is safe. If the Council’s losing its grip on the Wildbloods…the streets are going to run red. We’ve been keeping our true natures caged for thousands of years. The animals are itching for a hunt.
 

The Council united the animal clans. Stopped the ancient wars between felids and canids. Not to mention the filthy reptiles—
 

I need to meet with the Council.
 

And I need to bring Summer with me.
 

The Council won’t believe me otherwise. Every species has its legends. The Council members need to feel the effect Summer has on their animals for themselves. I take a quick glance at my lifemate. An ancient Wildblood legend might be sitting here beside me—

“Landon? You got something to say? You look all kinds of stressed.”

“I’m going to take you to meet some people,” I say. “They’re like…the Wildblood government.”

“Nah. Sound’s dull as hell. I’ll pass.”

I laugh. “It won’t be dull. Trust me.”

“You’re worried about me,” Summer says, her voice softening.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t be.”
 

Summer lets her hand drift over my pecs, down my abs to my cock. I stir in response to her fingers. The scent of Summer’s arousal makes my lion roar and paw at his cage. She wriggles closer, lying across the console, cupping my balls through my jeans.
 

“Someone ratted me out,” Summer says, her voice husky, her fingers fiddling with my zipper. “That’s why Don Luca sent those bastards. Right?”

My zipper finally relents.
 

Slides open a few inches.
 

Summer slips two fingers inside my jeans, then digs deeper, rakes her fingernail, just hard enough to feel amazing, across my swelling cock—

I draw a sharp breath. “Maybe?”

Summer gently runs her fingers along my hardening cock. “Maybe? What do you mean, maybe? Of course. Vito or his uncle found out I was playing them. Found out about you and me.”
 

Summer wraps two fingers around my cock. My breath quickens. I scoot forward, giving her a bit more room, accidentally hit the Audi’s gas pedal and rocket the car forward, then slam the brakes to avoid rear-ending the car in front—

“Easy, big man,” Summer almost purrs. “Two wrecks in one day I’ll start to think you and me are bad news…”
 

Summer uses her other hand to pop my button open and pull out my dick. I leave my left hand on the wheel and grab her ass with my right, pull her a bit closer, my cock aching for her mouth—

“So who’d you tell?” Summer whispers, her face inches from my cock.

“No one.”

“Liar.”

Damn. She licks a slow ring around the tip of my cock, just below the head, sending a shudder through me—

“No one. Fuck sakes, Summer. You think I’m an idiot?”

“I think you’re inexperienced.”

“Yeah? At what?”

“At playing the game how it’s played in this town.”

“Rest of the world’s as dirty as Vegas,” I say.
 

Summer reaches down, cups my balls in her hand, squeezes. “I doubt that very much. And even if that’s true…I know
you’re
not as dirty as this town.”

“You don’t know shit about me.”

“I know you’re a good little rich boy—”

A rumbling growl echoes through the Audi. Summer freezes, then pushes into me even harder while I rub and pull at her perfect ass, wanting to force her head down on my cock but holding back. For now—

“Someone said something,” she says. “Sure wasn’t me…”

I swerve the Audi past an old white-hair doing twenty under the limit. I’m trying to concentrate, trying to focus on figuring this out. Don Luca heard about what Summer did to the wildwolves in the desert. That’s why he thinks she’s the Whisperer, and why he wants her for himself. Only the Council would’ve known about the wildwolves. Them and two others.
 

Rachael and Blake.

It can’t be a leak from inside my pride. Blake’s an asshole, but he’s not a traitor. So that brings me back to the council. There’s a rumor Don Luca Abatelli has some pull with one of the Council members…an outlaw biker from Southern Cali…what’s his name…

Decaria. Max Decaria. Prez of the Deathride MC—
 

“Shit Summer that feels good,” I mumble she squeezes and strokes my throbbing dick. I think about stopping the car and fucking her on the side of the highway—
 

“What’s on your mind?” Summer says, kissing along the underside of my cock, then squeezing the base until a thick drop of slick pre-come emerges from my swollen tip.

“I dunno. Bit distracted. But you’re on my dick.”

Summer looks up and flashes me a wicked grin. “You think so?”

“Seems that way…from where I’m sitting.”

“The Wildbloods that attacked you called me a Whisperer,” Summer says, stoking the length of my shaft. “What the hell is that?”

Fuck it.
 

Two can play this game.
 

I wrap my hand around to Summer’s front, slip it beneath her jeans and run my index finger across her moist clit. She tenses, breathes out slow, then pushes into me slightly—

“That’s a…real long story…” I say, fighting the urge to lean my head back and close my eyes. Lousy time for a ten car pile-up—

“We got plenty of time.”

I sink my finger into Summer’s warm folds. She’s curled up on the seat beside me, wrapped around my hand. She gives me a little pretend hiss as my finger slides into her warmth and a shudder courses through her. Then she wraps her lips around only the very tip of my cock. Tickling, teasing heat makes me grin. This girl. Damn. Everything she does feels perfect. It’s all I can do not to take my left hand off the wheel and hold her head—

“Yeah,” I say, slipping my finger in and out of her pussy while she lowers down and stuffs as much of my rock-hard cock in her mouth as she can. “Nothing but time—”

Quickly, Summer lifts her mouth off my dick.

I gasp. Nearly let go of the wheel.

“Hey…what the—” I sputter, my mind a jumbled mess of desire and shock.

Summer’s trying and failing to tuck me into my jeans. Then she gives up and scoots into her seat until she’s out of reach, leaving me with a swollen cock so full of need my whole midsection feels like its on fire. The scent of our sex fills the car, driving me mad—

“On second thought,” she quips, settling into her seat and looking at my still-hard cock hanging out of my jeans with a malicious twinkle in her eye. “I think you should tell me now.”

“
What?
”

“Sure. Now. Why? Not a good time?”

I crank the AC on full blast.

“Uh…no. Whatever.” I fire her a pretend pissed off glare, then work at getting myself tucked away. “Perfect time. Uh…why would it be a bad time?”

“No reason.”

“Right?”

“You’ve got a great cock. Just wanted to say…yo.”

“Yo?”

“Yes.”

I grit my teeth. “When we get to the penthouse…I’m going to fuck you into tomorrow.”

“Can I call you my lion king?”