Free Primal Pleasure: Pendragon Gargoyles, Book 3 by Sydney Somers Page B

back to catch Leah, but she’d already backed up.
    “The craps tables are calling my name.”
    Hundred bucks said she only went as far as the bar, where she could keep an eye on Emma and her stallion.
    Emma watched, not a little dumbstruck, as Cian joined the game. The entire scene felt like something out of a nightmare. If it had been a fantasy, he would have been naked, or at the very least without a shirt.
    He gave her a knowing smirk, as if he could tell she’d just been thinking about his chest.
    How in the hell had he found her? She’d been careful not to stay in any one place for more than a day or two, or tell anyone where she was going next, and neither she or Elena ever told anyone about Leah.
    He cocked his head, lifting a hand to probe the place she’d nailed him. “Still attached.”
    “Unfortunately,” she murmured, forcing her attention back to her cards.
    And to think she’d been worried she’d struck him too hard that night in his bathroom. She might have been crazy enough to think she’d felt some kind of connection to him, but his anger following the best sex of her life had helped her come to her senses. She’d never blindsided anyone the way she had Cian when she’d lain in wait for him with the heavy toilet tank cover, and the guilt afterward had nearly paralyzed her.
    Remembering the fury in his eyes, though, had gotten her ass moving in the end. Too bad it hadn’t been enough to erase the memory of being with him altogether.
    It feels like I’ve been waiting forever to find you.
    She’d believed him. As crazy and naïve as it was, in the moment, she had felt the same, and the only person she was furious with—other than herself—over the whole mess was Elena. And when she caught up with her twin…
    “Ma’am?”
    She scanned the last cards played from beneath lowered lashes and motioned for another card of her own, then stayed at nineteen. She counted the seconds until the hand ended and she could get away from the table.
    Cian motioned for another card. “Hit me.” He leaned forward, his attention on Emma. “Oh wait, you already did that.”
    She smiled sweetly. “And enjoyed every second.”
    He scowled, and she basked in the minor victory as his total hit twenty-two and she beat both him and the house.
    Gathering up her chips, she slid away from the table, knowing the thirty-second head start Cian gave her meant nothing. He hadn’t tracked her to this point to let her walk away.
    The gargoyle proved her instincts were dead on when he tipped the dealer and trailed after her. She headed toward the slot machines, glancing over her shoulder to find his purposeful strides bordered on stalking. He weaved around tables and people the way an animal leaped over obstacles in the woods.
    They both knew it was just a matter of time before he made his move. That didn’t stop her from zigzagging between rows of blinking slot machines. So intent on getting some distance between them, she stopped paying attention to her surroundings and lost track of where she was in the casino.
    Chancing a quick glance behind her, she slowly came to a stop. He wasn’t behind her, so she waited a beat, anticipating him rounding the corner any second.
    He didn’t.
    Could she have actually lost him? She started to dismiss the possibility before remembering he’d probably never stepped foot in a casino before today. He could have learned the rules of modern blackjack from watching television or online, which meant the casino’s design and intentional lack of easy-to-recognize landmarks could have disorientated him.
    Hope flared in her chest, and she whirled around intent on grabbing Leah and getting the hell out of there. She dug in her bag for her cell phone, keeping an eye out for Cian.
    Ducking into a small alcove between two rows of slots, her fingers fumbled over the keys while texting Leah to meet her outside. She slipped her phone back in her bag and froze as she caught a glimpse of Cian searching