“Who the hell was that guy anyway?”
“Who? Troy?” Was he jealous? Well, then, she shouldn’t disappoint. “That was the future Mr. Miki Kendrick.”
Wrong! He was the future Mr. Miki Kendrick. Not some lame, tiny man with tiny little hands. He took one look at the guy and knew he was an asshole. No way would Conall let Miki anywhere near that guy. True, she was a vindictive bitch. But she was his vindictive bitch. He knew that now. No more bullshitting around. No more debating about what he really wanted. Miki Kendrick was his.
Clearly, though, he needed new tactics. The usual wasn’t working with her. Mostly because she was nuts. But he was flexible. And mean enough to go after what he wanted.
“I think you need to stay out of my life, Viking.” She tried to yank her hand out of his grasp, but he wasn’t letting go.
“And I think you fail to realize that I now have the upper hand here.”
“What? For drugging you? You expect me to believe for a second you’d hurt me or turn me in to the cops?”
“No. But who knows what I would do to him.”
Miki froze. Those big, beautiful brown eyes staring up at him. “You. Wouldn’t. Dare.”
“You spit food at me. You set me up with the cops at the airport. And you drugged me. Do you really want to test the ‘you wouldn’t dare’ theory now?”
He could see the muscles of her jaw clenching and unclenching. She was so pissed off, which only made her smell so tasty.
“Leave him alone, Conall. He didn’t do anything to you.”
He kicked her backpack out of the way. “But what about you, Mik? Does he have you?”
“Nobody has me.”
He stepped toward her until she backed herself up against the wall. He’d never worked so hard to be menacing before, but Miki kept bringing that out in him. And it didn’t help that every time he did it, the smell of her lust punched him in the face.
“But I want you.”
“So I gathered.”
“And if I’m busy chasing you around, I can’t exactly be kicking the living shit out of him, now can I?”
Miki crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I guess.”
“So then maybe we make a little agreement.”
“What kind of agreement?”
“You give me until Friday.”
“To do what?”
He placed both his arms on the wall above her and leaned in. “To get close to you. After you defend your thesis, if I haven’t gotten between those sweet thighs of yours by then, it’s over. I never bother you again. I won’t even look at you.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“When it comes to you, I don’t joke around.”
He expected her to kick him in the ’nads. But she didn’t. Interesting.
“At least give me a shot, Mik.” He gently pulled her arms away from her body and leaned in to her. She watched him closely, but didn’t try and stop him either. “See? That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” He leaned down and kissed her. A small one. His lips against hers. She didn’t pull away, so he nipped at her bottom lip until her mouth opened and she let him in. His tongue moved slowly over hers, savoring the taste of her. She tried to pull her arms away, but he held them tight, moving them so he had them flat against the wall over her head. He pinned her with his lower body, his knee sliding in between her thighs.
She moaned and he knew he had her.
What in hell was she doing? Had she lost her mind? Was she actually making out with the Viking in the stairwell of the biotech school? This was definitely a new low. It was early, but there were already professors and students everywhere. Sooner or later, they’d get caught. This was insane. She was insane. How exactly could she expect to get tenure at the school if she got caught getting all hot and bothered with some guy in the stairwell?
She needed to tell him to stop. She needed to push him away. She definitely didn’t need to moan. In fact, she really had to stop moaning.
Conall pulled out of the kiss and leered at her. “Yeah. That’s what I consider letting me get close.”
If she had the strength, she would have punched him again. In fact, she was all ready to risk her knuckles just for the hell of it.
But before she could deck him, Conall kissed her cheek, stepped back, and pulled her out from under the stairs where he’d trapped her.
“Miss Kendrick. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
Conall and Miki looked behind them and up. At the top of the stairs stood the dragon lady herself. Professor Irene Conridge. An imposing forty-ish woman, wearing one of her plain blue suits and a pair of killer fuck-me pumps. The woman had always been a total dichotomy.
“Really. I know how busy your schedule is. And as all I’m doing is running an entire department, please feel free to keep me waiting for another fifteen minutes.”
Miki snatched her arms away from Conall and pushed past him. “Professor Conridge. I’m so sorry. I lost track of time…” Because I was busy getting fondled.
Grabbing her backpack, Miki yanked Conall’s hair as she ran by, but she got the feeling he would only see that as more foreplay. She charged up the stairs, but Conridge had already walked off.
Miki stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back at Conall, hauling her way over-packed bag onto her shoulders. “I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
“It’s okay. Take your time. I’ll be here.” Of course he would. Because he was torturing her.
“Miss Kendrick!”
Miki shook herself out of her stupor and charged off.
Chapter Eleven
Conall sat on the stairs and worked really hard to control his raging hard-on. Man that woman was a little firecracker. It didn’t take much to get her worked up. To get her hot and wet. For him. He growled and forced his wolf back on its chain.
Nope. No one else was going to be good enough for him. He wanted Miki. Not for a night. Or even a week. But for a lifetime. He would have her, too. He’d just have to convince her. And hell, how hard could that be?
Conall frowned. There was that smell. The same smell from the rave. The same smell on Miki after her attack.
This time he’d smelled it as soon as they’d moved into the stairwell, but Miki had him totally distracted. Now he couldn’t ignore it.
It was faint, so he didn’t think any danger was near, but still…
Conall sniffed the air and realized it came from another floor. He followed the scent, letting it lead him up one flight of stairs. He could tell Miki was on this floor. He could smell her delicious scent above all others. He went up another flight. There were several labs on this floor. He walked past them. Past a bunch of classrooms. Then he found an alcove with professor offices. He followed the scent until he reached a door. He tried the door without success. Locked. He stuck his nose right up against the wood and sniffed. Then he sniffed again. He knew that smell. He knew it from somewhere. He sniffed again. A deep long one.
Then it hit him. Right between the eyes. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before.
“Hyena!” he barked out triumphantly.
Conall turned away only to come face-to-face with Craig.
“Hey.”
Conall nodded. “Hey.”
They stared at each other for another moment, then Conall walked off, positive the man watched him sniff the door like a bomb-detection dog that had located a nuclear weapon. He wouldn’t worry about that now. He was too busy thinking about hyenas. The natural enemies of lions.
Conall never believed in coincidences and he wasn’t about to start now. He remembered the professor’s name on the door. “Leucrotta”. He’d have to ask Miki about him.
Conridge crossed her long legs and stared down her nose at Miki. “Well, I believe you are as ready as you’re ever going to be.”
Of course, that was better than what she’d told other grad students—“Pass you? You’re lucky I haven’t killed you.”
“Anything else
I should do?”
“You reserved a classroom, yes?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And you double-checked that all committee members know the time and place?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then, Miss Kendrick, you should be all set. Just make sure you’re ready to seriously defend your thesis. This isn’t the time for you to get tongue-tied. Although I’m certain if that happens then life as we know it will cease to exist.”
Miki smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”
“So go get some rest and I’ll see you on Friday at three-thirty.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Miki stood and gathered all her papers together. She knew Conridge watched her, but she was too afraid to ask why. The woman was the true Dragon Lady.
“So, Miss Kendrick, who was that nice young fellow you were fondling on the steps?”
Miki dropped the half ream of paper that represented the last version of her thesis. Going to her knees, she quickly began to scoop the papers together. She’d worry about order later. Anything to stop this conversation. No way would she talk about the weirdness going on between her and Conall. She didn’t understand it so how could she explain it to others? She especially wasn’t going to explain it to Professor Conridge. Phi Beta Kappa. Rhode Scholar. And all around bitch.
“Just a friend, ma’am.” Anytime she was around Conridge, Miki felt like she was in the military. Yes ma’am. No ma’am. Please don’t flunk me, ma’am.
“Do you get forced against walls by all your friends?” Holy shit, how much did this woman see? Or, even worse, hear?
She felt her face getting red. “We were just talking, ma’am.”
“I see. To be honest, I’m amazed you could get him behind those stairs. He is a big boy. Even for Pack.”
Miki had half her papers gathered together, but she dropped them on the floor again. Sitting back on her haunches, she stared up at Conridge. “I’m sorry—what?”
The woman smiled and came around to the front of her desk. She slid onto the top of it grabbing a silver picture frame and handing it to Miki.
“My husband. Niles Van Holtz. Of the Van Holtz Pack.”
Miki didn’t know what shocked her more. The fact that Conridge’s husband was Pack? Or the fact that she actually had a husband? She gawked at the picture. The man was gorgeous, she’d give the woman that. It was a picture of Conridge, her husband and four happy-looking kids.
She blinked. “Van Holtz?” Then she frowned. “Of the Van Holtz restaurant chain?” She’d never been in one of those restaurants. You had to be as rich as God to be able to afford a side dish.
The woman rolled her eyes and smirked, seemingly embarrassed by it all. But not by the fact that her mate pissed on trees and could scratch his ear with his back leg. That didn’t seem to faze her.
“Is that why you offered to be my supervisor?”
“Of course. I know how hard it is to be human among shifters. And I heard about your friend becoming Alpha Leader of the Magnus Pack. I also heard about your involvement in the Pride war. I’m impressed. I always knew you were smart. I never doubted that. I simply had no idea the damage you could do. You’ll make him a good mate.”
Miki stood up. “What? Conall? No. I’m not going to be his mate. Ever.”
Conridge appeared confused. “Why ever not?”
“Because.”
“Because…why?”
“Because I’m not getting that involved with him.” Exactly how many times would she have to explain this to people? And why did they keep freakin’ asking her?
“But you do realize he looked at you kind of the way Niles still looks at me. And, gosh, we’ve been together now more than twenty years.” She had the warmest expression on her face and Miki realized she was seeing another side of this woman. Conridge loved the man she spoke of. A lot. Miki suddenly regretted calling her a “cocksucker” when Conridge kicked back the first draft of Miki’s thesis with so many red marks the paper looked like it had a bleeding disease.
“But Conall doesn’t feel that way about me.”
“And you know this because you are so in tune with normal society.”
Conridge was right. Miki wouldn’t know normal if it came up and spit in her face. And she was starting to feel that no matter what she did or how hard she tried, she would never be normal.
“I…I…” Miki sat down Indian style on the floor, the wind knocked out of her. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. We all go through it. Even me.”
“Really?” Miki had a hard time believing that. Conridge always seemed so put together.
“Of course. Do you think I wanted to be a wolf’s mate? The man tackled me from behind and marked my back. Of course I hit him with a two-by-four. He needed eight stitches in his head.”
Miki stared at her and Conridge shrugged. “He was still doing his take-what-he-wants thing. I’ve trained him not to do that anymore…and to roll over on command.” The two women laughed and Miki wondered if she were looking at herself in another fifteen years.
Conridge adjusted her stockings. She actually had the kind with the line down the back. Very 1940s and still very hot. “Look, Miki, what you are going through is a normal human emotion. And every once in a while, even people like you and me have those.”
Miki grinned. The woman was quite a piece of work.
“You don’t trust yourself yet,” Conridge continued. “You don’t trust your instincts. But you should. You’re not just some brain with legs. You’ve got some nice survival skills. Wolves find that sort of thing incredibly sexy.”
Miki smiled, pulling herself into a crouch so she could gather the papers together. “I guess I don’t want to blow this. My life, I mean.”
“You won’t. You’re smart. You’re mean. You’ll be fine.”
Miki laughed and stood, her thesis in a messy pile in her arms. “Well, thanks for the pep talk.”
“My pleasure. You know, my husband says I’m not good at pep talks. I think he’s wrong.”
Conridge pulled her office door open, and as Miki kicked her big, heavy backpack in front of her. It slid out the door and hit what she was almost certain was a man…or maybe a woman…it was something.
“Well, well. Is this the infamous Miki Kendrick?”
Miki glanced back at Conridge. Her professor’s distaste for this person clearly written on her face. “Miki Kendrick. This is Professor Mitchell Leucrotta.”
So it was a guy…sort of. The guy who’d been asking way too many questions about her. A weasley little fellow. Not quite Sara’s height. Thin but well muscled. What her mother would have called a “scrapper”. But there was something so predatory about him she began to wonder where the hell Conall was. Wasn’t he supposed to be protecting her or something? Asshole.
Miki nodded her head, but kept her distance. “Professor Leucrotta.”
“Well, I’m off.” He secured his computer bag on his shoulder. “I’m avoiding this little cretin student. I hate when they’re needy.”
Now Miki really hated the guy. She was almost positive he was talking about Craig. One of her best buds. And a helluva lot less creepy than this guy.
Leucrotta gave a less than masculine finger wave before strolling down the hallway.
Miki looked at Conridge. “I hate him.”
Conridge chuckled. “You certainly do make snap decisions, don’t you?”
“Am I wrong?”
The older woman shook her head. “No. You’re not. He’s a scumbag.”
Conall appeared suddenly in the stairwell opposite where Leucrotta disappeared. He raised his nose in the air and sniffed. She realized he was casting for a scent. Conall followed his nose all the way over to Miki. He sniffed her. Then he sniffed her again. Miki got that little tingle in the back of her neck, and the next thing she knew, her pussy was wet.
Okay, when the hell did that start happening?
“What the hell are
you doing?”
“Hyena,” he muttered.
“Jackal,” Miki shot back.
He looked at her and frowned.
She shrugged. “I thought this was word association.”
Conridge snorted a laugh and Conall looked at her. He sniffed the air again. “You smell familiar.”
“I’m married to a Van Holtz.” Boy, the woman said that with a lot of pride.
“Oh. Yeah, I remember. I met you once. It’s nice to see you again. I’m Conall.” He reached down and picked Miki’s backpack up, throwing it over his shoulder.
“Why did you say hyena?”
“That’s the smell I couldn’t place. The scent that was on you after you were attacked. I’ve only dealt with them once or twice when I was a kid. A bunch of them beat the hell out of me in sixth grade.” He looked at Conridge. “I was a lot smaller then.”
“I see.”
Conall looked at Miki and the papers in her hand. “Need some help there, slim?”
“Just a little.”
Conall grabbed a handful. “Do either of you know Professor Leucrotta?”
Miki frowned. “You just missed him. Why are you asking?”
“That’s where the scent was strongest. At his office door.”
She sighed. “He was asking about me.”
“What?”
“He wanted to be Ms. Kendrick’s advisor for her dissertation,” Conridge filled in helpfully. “I politely told him to go to the devil. He seemed to take that rather personally. I don’t like him. But I didn’t bring him into the university. The dean did. But there have been lots of activity from the hyena clans lately.”
“We hadn’t noticed.”
“Not surprising considering your hands were full with the Withell Pride. Anyway, you may want to keep an eye out for them. They can be quite barbaric.”
“I remember that. I mean, for little kids they were really vicious.”
Conridge nodded. “Hyenas aren’t as big as lions, but they make their lives a living hell. The females and the children are especially brutal. So watch your backs.
Go Fetch! Page 10