Shifters of Grrr 2 (52 page)

Because Jason is classified as a "whale" and a regular guest, usually the casino lets him win some after he loses some, in order to keep him happy.
 
Then one night Jason starts winning big – TOO big – enough to bankrupt the house.
 
So the casino assigns Carly to his table knowing that she's the only dealer who can stop a gambler on a dangerous winning streak.

When Jason realizes that Carly is the same Beta she-wolf that dared to turn him down during a nighttime run in nearby Red Rock Canyon, he starts losing his cool. Now he's changed his strategy and decides to try to seduce her from right across the poker table. Meanwhile, as much as Carly starts to find him irresistible, she tries to keep her mind steady on her belief that no man as rich and powerful as Jason Irvine could ever really want a woman like her.

Before he knows it, Jason is falling in love fast and decides he is willing to give up millions just teach Carly that a woman should never turn down an Alpha.
 
As an Alpha wolf it is his right and privilege to claim any woman he wants.
 
So Jason tells the casino that instead of taking his $10 million in winnings, he'd rather take Carly as his prize instead.
 

Soon Jason is trying everything in his power to sweep Carly off her feet – even promising to make her independently wealthy as his concubine – but the she-wolf has her own agenda.
 
Carly's not sure that she really can trust ANY man, and she plans teach to teach the Alpha that the house always wins.

Chapter 1

Jason Irvine strode into Diamond's Oasis Casino with an air of confidence and determination that only an Alpha Male could display.
 
He could smell money in the air and tonight he felt lucky.
 
Jason hadn't had this kind of premonition since he made his first billion dollars several years back.

Diamond's Oasis was THE premier casino frequented by werewolves.
 
Just outside of the Vegas Strip, it had become quite the hotspot. Hollywood celebrities were starting to hobnob there for publicity's sake, and politicians were starting to show up, too, hoping to be seen with the werewolf contingent.
 
Werewolves had very specific political interests, and they were fast becoming known as the most sought-after voting block in the American West.
 

The Alphas especially had deep pockets, and the politicians were hopeful for big donations.

When Jason walked in with his retinue, Carly Davis relaxed off duty at the bar, sipping a martini.
 
She was a dealer at the casino, but she wasn't working that evening.
 
She recognized the billionaire Alpha immediately from across the room. Who didn't know Jason Irvine?
 
He was Alpha of the Palm Springs Pack, and he had made his billions in oil and mineral futures.
 

The bartender – a feisty, good-natured redhead – refreshed Carly's drink and nodded in Jason's direction.
 
Her name was Debbie, and she was one of the few casino employees that Carly actually liked and trusted.

"Here comes the confirmed Wolf Bachelor himself," Debbie said. "All that money and no gold digger to spend it for him.
 
Such a pity."

"So sad," Carly said in mock despair. "No rich man should ever be without a gold digger.
 
He has no idea what he's missing out on."

"I'd sleep with him even if I didn't get anything else out of it," Debbie said. "That man could stop a woman in her tracks even if he was just a brick layer."

"Hmm," Carly mused. "I don't know.
 
"Maybe.
 
If he's got skillz, that is."

Debbie laughed.

"Oh I've heard that he definitely does."

"From whom?" Carly demanded.

"A couple of the cocktail waitresses have had the pleasure."

Carly shook her head in annoyance.

"Well, if a rich man like that can't do better than cocktail waitresses, maybe I shouldn't be impressed."

But Carly WAS impressed, even though she would never admit it. Jason Irvine was tall, dark and handsome AND totally in control of himself and everyone else around him.
 
He had earned his money – he had not inherited it – and Carly knew he was a modest talent at the card table.
 
She herself was the best dealer at the casino.
 
Thus, the higher ups never allowed her to deal cards for him because they didn't want him to be beaten so badly he stopped coming back – they wanted Jason to lose sometimes, but never too much to keep him away.
 
The reality was, between his winnings and losings, everything sort of balanced out. Even with his comps, his five-star suite and various perks, Jason never had actually won too much at the casino over the long term.

Carly always watched Jason from afar, fantasizing not so much about going to bed with him but about facing him from the other side of the table.
 
She felt that, for the most part, Jason had a bit of a gambling addiction but always managed to keep it in check.

She was more right than she knew. Jason Irvine was an Alpha addicted to risk.
 
His accountants and financial advisors and personal manager all knew this.
 
So they kept him on a short leash.
 
They let him come to Diamond's Oasis with only $2 million dollars in "fun money" at a time. Jason let them set the limits for him.

Carly had observed this fact early on – that he never let himself lose more than $2 million on a bad streak.
 
She knew that if the casino let her take his table, she'd get him to lose more.
 
Goddamn would that be a turn-on!
she thought.

Carly sipped her martini, then pulled out the olive pick and nibbled at a Spanish Queen olive stuffed with blue cheese.
 
Her signature drink was a dirty blue cheese martini.
 
It was an acquired taste, but Carly preferred the sophistication of just such a drink over her lite-beer-and-pretzels family roots.

Now, normally card dealers were not allowed onto the floor when they were not working, but the casino wanted Carly on the floor whenever, however.
 
In addition to being Diamond's Oasis's best dealer, she also could identify cheats and card counters at the blackjack table in the blink of an eye. So she was allowed free reign of the casino whenever she wanted.

Carly was out of uniform, wearing a strapless, long black cocktail dress that hugged her ample figure, lifted her cleavage to skyscraper heights and made her look like a million bucks, even though her mother would have told her that a woman like her never should wear a form-fitting, strapless dress, because of her body type. Her mother always was ashamed of the fact that her daughter was overweight.
 

Carly couldn't really afford the dress.
 
She made a decent middle class salary, but her best friend Sheila was a costume designer.
 
Sheila normally designed costumes for the showgirls of Las Vegas, but she also liked to design one-of-a-kind outfits for her friends and family for Christmas gifts and for birthdays, etcetera.
 

As Carly continued to sip her martini, dangling one of her strappy high heels off her foot, Mr. Rich Alpha headed her way.
 
He was wearing a grey silk Stuart Hughs suit with a chocolate brown, perfectly fitted shirt.
 
His tie probably was worth more than Carly made for her yearly salary. His hair was thick and dark, combed back with just the slightest hint of pomade.

I bet he's the type of guy who gets a hot towel after an old fashioned straight-razor shave from a barber – every single day
, Carly mused.

She had a sudden urge to run her fingers across the man's fine jawline, the smoothest, most perfect jaw she had ever seen on a man.

He came closer and closer, and she felt goose bumps prickling up her arms. The man was sex-in-a-suit, sheer lust walking around in expensive alligator shoes.

Jason strode past her, glancing casually at her, and then – she couldn't believe her eyes – actually gave her an unexpected once over and a small smile.
 

Then Mr. Rich Alpha was gone. He strode away from her like the tide receding out to sea.

Had that just really happened? Had he actually looked her over like that? Was she hallucinating?

"Did you just see that?" Debbie said, rushing back over to Carly. "He totally checked you out."

"I don't think so," Carly protested.

"Oh, yes he did," Debbie gushed. "He practically stripped you naked with his eyes in two seconds."

"That's bullshit."

"Well, why shouldn't he?" Debbie asked her. "You look like a million bucks yourself tonight."

Carly sighed.
 
She had to admit, she definitely was dressed 'to the nines'.

With a friend like Sheila, Carly would never look less than runway ready, even though she didn't feel like it.
 
Surrounded by those very same showgirls that Sheila had as clients – with legs that never seemed to end and waists skinny enough for a man to wrap one hand around them, Carly always was reminded that she was plus-size.
 
Aside from the showgirls, she also was surrounded by skinny cocktail waitresses and high-priced call girls.
 

Carly, too, was pretty enough and she was rubenesque, but she never could appreciate that fact.
 
But she had smarts, and she was a sharp card player, having been taught by her father – a poker champion who made his name during the 90s. So she focused all her energy on the game, but shied away from the gambling itself.
 
Her father often won big, but then he lost big.
 
It had turned her family upside down; one minute they were rich and the next they were poor. He was famous, her father, but eventually his lifestyle got the better of him. And when he committed suicide, he left Carly and her mother to fend for themselves.

As Carly was about to order another martini, the Pit Boss – Max – found her at the bar.

"You saw who just walked in?"

"Couldn't miss him."

"We gave him the Penthouse Wolf's Den Suite per usual."

"Of course," Carly said.

"Well, we're having Susan be his dealer tonight.
 
What to you think of her?"

"She's good," Carly shrugged. "She's from a pack that's not on good terms with his right now."

"Good. So maybe she'll hold him back a bit at the table."

"Probably.
 
Yeah.
 
Susan's a good choice."

"Good," Max said.

When Max walked off, Carly decided it was time to ditch the dress and go for a run.
 
The casino technically was within Las Vegas city limits, but far off the main strip and surrounded by desert.
 
The casino also was just a few miles away from Red Rock Canyon.
 
Red Rock was an accessible, 13-mile canyon, gorgeous by any measure, but not too far out of Vegas.

Carly preferred to shift and run alone every once in awhile.
 
She technically came from the same pack as Jason Irvine's.
 
That is – she came from his ORIGINAL pack – the Reno Wolves.
 
Jason became the Alpha of Reno, but then he moved to California when he was propositioned by Palm Springs after he became a self-made, wealthy man.
 
He had grown too rich for Reno and no longer had much in common with the rest of the pack.
 
Carly couldn't blame him.
 
From what she knew – things had gotten tense for quite awhile with most of the trailer park Betas no longer feeling loyal to their Alpha.
 
Instead, they felt resentful.

So Jason left.
 
This had happened five years ago. He was only 30 and Carly was just turning 21. The Reno pack was huge, with 250 wolves.
 
Carly would have been lost in the crowd. Jason Irvine never had known that Carly Davis even existed.

Carly was sure, though, that Jason had known her dad.
 
Carly's father was the second most famous wolf of the Reno pack.
 
Although his own future didn't turn out so well as Jason's had.

Chapter 2

Jason Irvine wasn't ready to start gambling yet.
 
He needed some fresh air.

The Penthouse Wolf's Den Suite was spacious and inviting, with a forest-meets-hotel feel.
 
At first glance, it really did feel like you were in a forest.
 
Until you saw the minibar and the 78-inch widescreen TV.
 
Also, real forests don't have Jacuzzis.

His retinue spread out and settled into their own quarters.
 
He had brought with him two personal assistants and a butler.
 
After dropping off their own belongings, his assistants – one male and one female – started unpacking Jason's suitcases.

Jason decided to slip out of the casino and head for Red Rock Canyon.
 
He'd shift and have a quick run, and then he'd be ready for some action at the tables.