Page 28 of Wolf Roulette
Without looking back, I entered the casino.
Money-green felt coated every playing surface in the huge space. Bright neon lights flashed from the slot machines. An excited bustle filled the air, punctuated with groaning exclamations as someone lost.
I’d hated these places for as long as my memory stretched back. Shoving away unwelcome thoughts of Ragna, I weaved between the drinking patrons towards the roulette table.
Four people already played.
Lisa greeted me as I took up position behind her. She set the roulette wheel moving anti-clockwise and spun the ball clockwise around the top edge.
I checked out the four non-value chips laid out above the wheel. Brown, blue, grey, and burgundy were in play. Lisa had set the denomination on top of each of the four chips to help her remember each person’s bet. Burgundy was playing at twenty dollars a pop. Rich guy.
The ball landed on 29.
Lisa cleared the losing bets of grey and brown. The older woman with blue had placed a red or blackbet and won.
One for One?
Lisa pushed her another blue chip.
Correct.
Burgundy had laid three split bets. One bordered 29.
A bet on two squares paid seventeen times the bet. Burgundy’s chips were worth twenty dollars.
Three hundred and forty.Even losing two chips, that was a good haul.
Lisa counted his payout and I watched to confirm my answer was right.
Another woman approached the table. “May I join?”
“Of course, ma’am,” the omega replied.
The woman slid over twenty blue casino chips. “Ten-dollar bets, please.”
Lisa slid over twenty pink non-value chips in return.
The others were placing their next bets and the woman hurried to do the same.
The woman on grey won a straight-upbet a few rounds later, and I smiled as the table congratulated her.
“Well done, ma’am.” Lisa paid out her chips.
I checked my answer again.
Yep,one hundred and seventy-five.
This was a memory game, really. Lisa was faster at calculating the payout because she knew the patterns. Most bets would be the same amounts—one, five, ten, or twenty dollars. With practice, I’d memorise the common payouts and not have to think so hard.
The game continued, and I listened to how Lisa interacted with the patrons. Other Luthers circulated the room, taking drink orders from the gambling patron. The volume increased steadily, and the dealer at a high-roller blackjack table cut off a drunk patron.
“Full table, sorry,” Lisa said to a suited man who’d doused himself in far too much cologne.
Lisa murmured over her shoulder. “If you forget which bet belongs to who, check the piles in front of them.”
Ah,that made complete sense.
I studied the omega. Out of Sascha’s head team, I’d had the least interaction with Lisa. Omegas seemed the timidest of the different wolf statuses. Peaceful but anxious.