Free Stripe Search: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Furocious Lust Shorts Book 5) by Milly Taiden

 
    ONE
     
    Gabriella Cantur knew she shouldn’t have gone to the casino with her costume still on. The fact that she wore a long, pink-satin trench didn’t help. She hated the damn thing and felt it only gave her curves extra attention. Oh, it wasn’t that she didn’t adore her body. She did. One thousand percent. What she didn’t like was that the pink was so bright it made her eyes water. The coat had been a gift from her brother, and she didn’t have it in her to refuse the ugly thing.
    She sucked back the frustration from having to leave her job to go searching for Joel. Again. The constant sounds of slot machines and music surrounded her, along with laughter and cheers. Striped hotel was better known for being a massive, non-smoking casino that catered to the shifter community. Gabriella knew to stay away from that kind. They were big and dangerous. Yet here she was, in the center of their playpen, thanks to Joel.
    Bypassing rows of slots until she reached the roped-off back section of higher bet table games, she tried hard not to growl at anyone who got in her way. A woman bumped into her and clung to Gabriella’s jacket for a second.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
    Gabriella helped the woman steady herself and not fall on her face. She had just gotten the woman to straighten up when she took a step back and a waitress tripped, flinging a tray of drinks on Gabby’s trench. In the blink of an eye, she was bathed in so many beers she smelled like a brewery. She couldn’t believe her luck was this bad.
    “Oh, my god!” the waitress screeched. “I am so sorry!” she said, wiping the liquid off Gabby’s coat. “I didn’t see you there.”
    Right. Because a bright-as-hell pink trench didn’t stand out in a casino.
    Gabby took deep breaths and tried not to take out her anger with her brother on the waitress. She shook her head and gave a tight smile. “It’s ok. I’ll be fine.”
    She pushed the waitress’s hands away and headed for the poker tables.
    There he was. Joel sat ten feet away with a group of men, shoving the last of his poker chips into a giant pile. She curled her hands into fists and marched toward the table when someone stood up and slammed a hand over Joel’s.
    “He’s cheating.”
    Oh, god. Her stomach did an instant flip, and bile shot up her throat, burning her with its acidity. “Joel?”
    The other men at the table stood. All had varying degrees of gold in their eyes. One man in particular held her attention, with his short blond hair and intense, golden gaze. His jaw clenched tight, and he held up his hand on the men approaching from all sides.
    Joel turned at that moment, guilt written all over his face. “What are you doing here?”
    She shook her head, trying desperately to hold back the anger that made her want to hit him. “Are you out of your mind? You’re gambling? You haven’t bought your daughter food in days, and you’re gambling?”
    “Mind your business, Gabby,” he muttered.
    “No!” She ignored the security men surrounding her and the fact that the sexy man was watching her. “You are my business. She’s my business.”
    “You shouldn’t be here. I didn’t ask you to come here!” he threw back. “I don’t need you babysitting me.”
    “The hell you don’t!” She motioned to the people surrounding them. “This doesn’t look good right now, Joel. What the fuck did you do?”
    “He cheated,” someone said.
    Fucking hell. So what she heard had been right. Her idiot brother had decided to cheat when there was no way he’d get out of it alive—not in this place filled with shifters. He had to be high to come up with a stupid plan like this one.
    “You’re going to have to come with us,” said one of the security guys.
    Then, when she thought shit couldn’t get worse, a man yelled from the roped-off section. “That’s the woman!”
    She turned around and saw two other security guys with the woman who’d bumped into her not more than ten