Shifters of Grrr 2 (53 page)

He had the valet bring his Jag around, and he headed away from the casino's bright lights toward the canyon.
 
In the dark of the desert night, he parked his Jag, shifted into wolf form, and then jumped onto the roof of the Jag to get a view of the clear desert night, and he contemplated briefly the circumstances of his life.
 

For him, being an Alpha in a wealthy community brought on a whole new set of challenges when compared with Reno.
 
In Reno, physical strength was pretty important, as fighting for stature and reputation was common among the rough-and-tumble wolves.
 
Jason had the scars to prove it. But in Palm Springs, werewolves were loath to lower themselves to that level. They had a different way of life. This pack instead relied on canine cunning and posturing.
 
That meant social maneuvering within the group and without.
 
If it ever came down to it, sure, the Palm Spring wolves would face-off, but Jason found that his intelligence and his ability to network both in business and politics held far greater value.

Jason stared up at the moon and howled.
 
It felt good to let go and howl like that, all alone.
 
Without having to worry about the rest of his pack back in Palm Springs for the moment.
 

Meanwhile, deep in the canyon, Carly ran freely, scrambling over some rocks to get a high view of the desert.
 
When she heard a distant howl, she stopped in her tracks.
 
She thought for sure she'd be alone tonight. One would think that werewolves would run all over Red Rock Canyon, but they tended to avoid it.
 
Too many tourists during the day and too many wild burros at night.

Carly hesitated.
 
Should she howl back?
 
She wasn't really worried that this would be an unfriendly wolf.
 
She just had wanted some alone time.

Carly sniffed the air, but couldn't get a read on anyone.
 
So, she lifted her head and howled back.

Back on the rooftop of his Jag, Jason hesitated.
 
He, too, thought he would be alone.
 
But there was another wolf in the canyon.
 
And he could tell by the howl that the wolf was a Were, a Beta, and also was female.

Jason sniffed the air.
 
With the senses of an Alpha, unlike Carly, he could grab a scent.
 
He caught a whiff of clean fur and jasmine. It was a pleasant combination, he thought to himself.
 
This could actually turn out to be an interesting evening – running into a female Were who smelled this good in the middle of the desert.

So Jason howled and yipped.
 
To be specific, he let out two howls and one yip. This told the female wolf to howl back, and let her know that he would then come find her.
 
And then he took a deep breath and let out another, deep, guttural bass howl.
 
This primal howl let the female know that he was an Alpha, and that when he came and found her, she was his to claim for the night.

Carly got the message all right.
 
She froze in a panic.
 
She wasn't expecting to get lucky tonight.
 
Or, rather,
unlucky
as she was now thinking.

The other werewolf in Red Rock Canyon was an Alpha Wolf.
 

But the problem was, Carly was very much aware that there was only
one
Alpha that she knew to be in the neighborhood.
 
That was Jason Irvine. And he had let out both an order – to stay put and let him know where she was – and a mating call.

Uh-oh,
Carly thought. This could turn out to be a disaster.

She had never been with an Alpha.
 
No Alpha had ever been interested in her.

Jason Irvine also was a "whale" at her casino. And, she thought self-mockingly, he might think that she was one, too, once he saw who she really was.

Once he found Carly in the canyon, the Alpha would order her to shift back into her human state, as would he, and then he would have his way with her.
 

 
She was absolutely sure Jason wouldn't like what he saw.
 
Even if he HAD checked her out in her evening gown back at Diamond's Oasis, she wasn't too confident about what she had going on underneath the gown.

So, instead of responding to the Alpha's howl, Carly bolted.
 
She ran as fast as she could on her four legs until she was out of the canyon.
 
She found her car – a beat-up sedan with 80,000 miles on it – shifted fast, got dressed even faster, and then sped out of there.

Meanwhile, Jason strained his ears, perking them forward and back like satellite dishes trying to get a read on a howl and response that would let him know where the she-wolf was.
 
No such howl came.
 

He couldn't believe it.
 
He knew she would have heard him.

Then Jason picked up the sound of tires spinning, and sand flying, as an unknown vehicle fled the scene off in the distance.

Jason Irvine couldn't believe it.
 
He shifted right then and there and sat back down in his undressed, human state as a wave of rejection overcame him. This was not something he was used to at all.
 
Jason was a fine specimen of a male both in human and wolf form. Jason begrudgingly just couldn't admit that his howl had landed such a dud.

A Beta she-wolf had blown-off an Alpha.
 
This was something that just didn't happen.
 
Ever.

At first, his ego wouldn't let him give into the rejection.
 
Whoever that she-wolf was, he thought, she didn't know what she was missing.

But then, technically, he had to admit that she DID know what she was missing. She knew an Alpha wanted her, and Alphas always made sure a she-wolf never regretted his attentions.

But this Beta female wasn't impressed at all.

And Jason wondered: Was it something he had howled?

Chapter 3

Carly parked her car in the casino's employee parking lot and snuck in the back entrance. She was in a panic.
 
She'd never been ordered by an Alpha to stay put and wait for him to come and claim her right on the spot like that.

Half of her wished she had stayed and let Jason Irvine do whatever he wanted, but the other half of her remained obsessed with the idea that when he saw who she was – even in her wolf state she was technically overweight – that he wouldn't actually be attracted to her. Realistically, Jason probably wouldn't be so rude as to insult her. Instead, he would probably have said that he wanted to "hang out" with her in the canyon and just be friends. That would be even worse than getting used.

And NOW she still had to keep an eye on Jason at his table with Susan dealing for him all night.

Carly checked herself out in the employee locker room.
 
She looked a bit disheveled, but her evening gown was still clean.
 
She fixed her hair and makeup, calmed herself down, and then glided back out onto the casino floor as if nothing had happened.

Eventually Jason arrived back at the casino himself.
 
He tossed the keys to his Jag into the hands of the valet and went into the casino. He was confused and angry and just couldn't shake off what had just happened at Red Rock Canyon.

He forced himself to put the incident out of his mind. He was rearin' to hit the blackjack table and blow off some steam.
 
He was too angry to concentrate on a game like poker.
 
Having been rejected by a she-wolf had messed with his head.

Blackjack was mindless – unless you were card counting.
 
He wouldn't be.
 
He just relied on the luck of the draw.

Once he cleared his head and forgot about the she-wolf, then he could switch tables and try something that required more strategy.

Max got Jason a private table and sent Susan over to him.

She started dealing, and Jason started winning.
 
The he lost some.
 
Then he won some.

Carly was back at the bar drinking another martini. Debbie was nowhere in sight now, as she had taken off. Carly watched Jason from afar.
 
She watched him hunch at the Blackjack table, seemingly in a foul mood.
 
She wasn't surprised.
 
Alphas did not like to take "No" for an answer.

A perky cocktail waitress with big tits and a micro-mini skit brought Jason a scotch, neat.
 
Carly watched Jason look the waitress over with mild indifference, and then he tossed back the scotch.

Before the waitress could leave, he put the glass back on her tray and told her to get him another. His gaze followed the waitress as she walked away from him, toward Carly's direction.
 

Suddenly, their eyes met from across the room. Jason's eyes locked onto hers for the briefest moment.
 
Carly looked away immediately, casting her glance downward, and then she turned her face away from him completely.

Jason frowned briefly, letting his gaze linger on Carly for a minute.
 
Then he turned away and focused on the cards.

"Twenty-one!" Susan announced.
 
Jason had won this round.
 
Casino chips piled up in front of him.
 
He picked up a couple of $25 chips and tossed them over to Susan as a tip.

"Thank you, sir," Susan said.

"Call me Jason," he said.

"Well, thank you Jason," Susan replied.
 
She flashed a brilliant smile at him.
 
Underneath she was seething. A real estate deal between her pack and his had just fallen through. The Alpha of her pack couldn't come up with a down payment, and Jason wouldn't extend the deadline. Susan had been claimed a few times by her Alpha.
 
He had never committed to her or made her any promises, but she felt loyal to him just the same well beyond her pack affiliation.
 

Like most women at the casino, Susan was a real looker. She thought her looks would cause Jason to falter at the table if she flirted enough. She would have liked nothing more than see him lose big. But Jason was too distracted and in too foul a mood to care about her or the cocktail waitress who returned with his second scotch.

He glanced back over towards the bar and noticed that the curvy woman in the black evening gown was gone.
 
All that remained was an empty martini glass.

Suddenly, a strange urge overcame Jason. He asked Susan to hold off on dealing for a moment.

Jason strode over toward the bar.
 
He picked up the martini glass and discreetly sniffed at the edge.
 
All he smelled was blue cheese.

Then he casually sniffed the air around the mysterious woman's chair. And he caught the familiar scent.

Jasmine.

Jason put down the glass and called the bartender over.

"Who was the woman just sitting here?"

The bartender had just come on shift.
 
He was a young man in his early 20s and brand new to the casino just that week.

"I'm sorry, I don't know," the bartender told Jason.

Jason didn't say anything, and walked back to his table.

"Go ahead and deal," he told Susan.

Susan obliged.

"Twenty-one!" she announced.

Jason had won again.
 
But right now, he didn't give a shit.

He decided now was the time to switch the game. He was ready for poker.
 
He would play Texas Hold'em Bonus – but it would just be him against the dealer.
 
He didn't have much patience for other players.

Susan took a break and Jason took the time to stand up and stretch.
 

He glanced over his shoulder and saw the Pit Boss making his way over.

"Mr. Irvine," Max said. "Looks like you're having a good night."

"I guess," Jason said.
 
He sounded bored.

"How much are you up?"

"One million," Jason said.
 

It was quite a sum – and potentially a bad omen for the casino.

"I'll walk you over to your next table," Max said.

The two men headed toward the other end of the casino.
 
Max was a husky man around six-feet-tall.
 
Jason towered over him by five inches.
 
Max clearly was aware that he was dealing with an Alpha werewolf and that, as a Beta, even though he was a Pit Boss, he had to defer to him with the utmost respect at all times.

Jason Irvine generally was not a problem guest, as some rich men were.
 
He was particular about what he wanted – he expected the best of everything – but he appreciated the fact that the casino's employees were not
servants
per se, and so he did not treat them as such. They were regular folks, like he had once been, and they had to work for a living.
 
And so he was polite and he tipped well.
 
Max appreciated this fact about him.