Go Fetch!

by Shelly Laurenston

  “I have them around the building.”

  He brushed her hair out of her eyes, then let his palm rest against her cheek. She didn’t push him away. She let him get close. It was the best feeling in the world.

  “This is just great. My throat’s sore.” She sighed and muttered to herself, “Who knew I was a screamer?”

  It took all his strength not to drop to his knees and bury his head between her legs right then and there. The beauty of it all was how Miki had no idea what a compliment she’d given him. He did love this woman. How could he not? She was so insane.

  She nervously glanced back at the room. Conridge stepped out and motioned to Miki. “I guess this is it.”

  Conall tugged on her jacket and she looked at him. “You’re going to be great, Miki.”

  “You sure about that, Viking?”

  “Positive. And as you know my people are never wrong.”

  “You know, the Vikings were quite influential—”

  He cut her off. “Miki. Go. I’ll be here when you come out.”

  “Right here? You promise?”

  He stepped back, leaned against the wall, and then crouched down. “I’ll be right here. I promise.”

  She braved a smile and then headed off toward Conridge. He watched her disappear into the classroom, the door closing soundly behind her.

  Miki figured they’d asked her questions for about two-and-a-half hours before they felt she had proven herself. Conridge, of course, was the toughest of the professors. But Miki figured she would be and had been ready for it. In fact, she had been ready for all of them. She’d been confident, poised and on point with everything. Even when she screwed up, she made the professors laugh and they let her off the hook.

  It seemed Angie and Sara had been right. Bartender-Miki apparently was the way to go because Normal-Miki would have been crying by now.

  When she walked out of the classroom, Conall was crouched against the wall exactly where she’d left him. She got the feeling the man hadn’t moved. Like he’d promised. She was so startled it took her a second to realize one of the professors was congratulating her. She tore her eyes away from her Viking and finished off her thank-yous.

  Once the other professors were gone, Conridge shook her hand. “I knew you’d be fantastic.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’m going to my office. I’ve got to get out of these clothes. Stop by before you leave with your burly friend.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She watched Conridge walk off. Then she turned and faced Conall. He stood and took several steps toward her.

  “Well?”

  She’d planned to just say “I’m done. Let’s go get something to eat.” Maybe even give him a thumbs-up. But the way he was looking at her…like he really cared how she did. Like he really wanted to know and he really wanted her to do well, that made her feel…well…special.

  Before she knew what she was doing, she’d dropped everything, even her precious briefcase-covered laptop and charged over to him, launching herself into his arms.

  “I fucking nailed it!”

  Conall held her tight. “I knew you would, Miki-baby. I had no doubts.”

  She pulled back slightly. “They already told me they were definitely signing off on all my paperwork. They didn’t see a reason to make me wait to tell me. I’m going to be Doctor Kendrick. Me. How fuckin’ cool is that?”

  Conall laughed and squeezed her. “We’re celebrating.”

  “Not in these clothes, I’m not.” He still held her so they were eye to eye. “Down, Thor.” She pointed to the floor. He let her slide down his body and immediately her breath caught. She had absolutely no control around him, but she shook it off. She couldn’t get all entangled with him now. They’d done enough elicit activity in the biotech school. “Where’s the backpack?”

  He grabbed it from the floor and handed it to her. She pulled jeans, sweatshirt, and her steel-toe Docs out of it.

  “Can’t you keep on the shoes?” He was practically begging.

  “Dude, I can’t even walk in these things.”

  “Keep them on and you won’t have to walk long.” He took a step toward her and she backed up.

  Miki’s face got hot. “Back off, Viking.”

  “Come on. For me?”

  “No.” And just like that, his eyes shifted and he growled. She would have tried to run, but she wasn’t going anywhere in these shoes. So she let him pick her up and dump her over his shoulder.

  “You son of a bitch! Put me down!”

  “You do know that I am a son of a bitch. Literally.”

  She knew he was heading toward the bathroom at the end of the hallway in the hopes of having his dirty way with her. The thought had her tingling from the top of her scalp to the tips of her toes.

  He kicked open the bathroom door and walked inside. Lifting her up and gently dropping her to the floor, he grabbed the handful of clothes she still had in her hand and tossed them onto the row of sinks. Then he leaned into her, pinning her against the wall. “I do like when you wear these shoes, Mik. I don’t have to crouch as much.”

  “Are you implying I’m short?”

  “I’m not implying anything.” He pushed the jacket off her shoulders and kissed her neck. “You are short.”

  She barked out a laugh and punched his shoulder. “Thank you very much.”

  He reached down and tugged her skirt up. He gave a combination growl-moan in her ear. “God, woman. You’re wearing garters again. What are trying to do to me?”

  She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Make you crazy.”

  “You get your kicks that way, don’t you?”

  “No. I just want you to miss me when I’m gone.”

  She needed to prepare herself for the inevitable. When Sara’s birthday was over, Miki and Conall would both go their separate ways. She wanted to be ready for that. She promised herself she wouldn’t become attached. She would keep that promise.

  But when Conall pulled away, the expression on his face shocked her. He looked angry. Viking angry. “And where the hell do you think you’re going?”

  Okay. He wasn’t being rational, but come on. Miss her when she was gone? She wasn’t going anywhere. Not if he had anything to say about it. And, as far as he was concerned, he had everything to say about it. She wasn’t leaving him. Not now. Not ever. He loved her. And he couldn’t imagine one second of his life without her.

  “I just assumed—”

  “Well, you assumed wrong. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “I don’t like to be ordered around, Conall. And I never promised you anything.”

  He stepped back from her. He had to. She was in heat. That’s why he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her in the hallway. Well, that and the fact she looked so fucking good in those shoes.

  He took a deep breath. “You’re crazy about me, why don’t you just admit it?”

  Okay. Where the hell did that come from? That wasn’t what he meant to say. And it was definitely the last thing she wanted to hear.

  Her eyes narrowed and she pushed past him. “Oh really? I’m crazy about you?”

  “Miki—”

  “No. No. I just want to make sure we have the order of worship down correctly.”

  This was getting bad and he was having a hard time concentrating with her smelling like that. All he could think about was bending her over the sink and fucking her stupid.

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “You know, I’m glad we’re getting this out now before we get back to Sara’s house, and we give her and Angelina the wrong impression.”

  “What the fuck do they have to do with anything?”

  “Well, they said to give you a try—and that’s exactly what I did.”

  She aimed that one to hurt. Aimed it to cut out his heart and leave it on the ground so she could stomp on it with her Docs.

  At first, he didn’t say anything. Simply stared at her. Then he pushed h
er change of clothes at her. “Get dressed. The Pack is waiting.”

  She snatched the clothes out of his hand and practically ripped her business suit off and put her regular clothes on. When done, she moved to the bathroom door and snatched it open. But Conall’s big hand was there slamming it back.

  “Wait.”

  “Why?”

  He was so close to her. His body almost, but not quite touching hers. “Because we’re not done.”

  “We’re done because we never started.”

  Miki pulled the bathroom door open and this time he let her. She marched out into the hallway, Conall right behind her.

  “What exactly are you scared of, Miki? It’s clearly not me. So what is it?”

  “We are not about to have one of those bullshit conversations about feelings.”

  She retrieved her backpack, shoved her business clothes inside it, and slung it over her shoulder. She took her computer bag and placed that over her other shoulder then headed toward the stairs.

  “This conversation is over, Conall.”

  She walked off. She was about twenty feet from the stairs when she heard him growl. Not his usual “You’re getting on my nerves, Miki” growl either. Something else altogether. She turned and saw that he’d shifted. Not parts of him. All of him. For the first time since the night of the Pride fight, she saw Conall the wolf. No wonder he’d been pissed about the golden. No way could that little pup be confused with the powerful predator in front of her.

  Conall shook off his clothes and then he charged her. Teeth bared. Hackles up. With a tiny squeak that didn’t sound anything like her, Miki dropped to her knees, her arms over her head. She waited for impact but there was none. She looked up to see that Conall had sailed right over her and right over the stair railing.

  “Holy shit! Conall!” She dropped her bags and charged over to the railing. She saw him hit two hyenas on the stairs, knocking them down half a flight. But there were six more and they were all looking at her.

  Miki didn’t even think about it. She ran.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Conall didn’t know what happened. One minute he was arguing with the crazy woman he secretly called “wife” and the next he was wolf and making mad dashes over railings.

  As he sunk his teeth into a throat, he briefly wondered what happened to his Pack. Then he heard them. Growling. Snarling. Fighting. It sounded as if they were kicking some ass, too, but there were so many of the hyenas. As soon as he destroyed one, another two were on his back. Mostly females, vicious beyond anything he’d ever experienced before.

  Then he remembered Miki. Last he saw she was ducking and covering. Had she actually thought he’d hurt her? He was the least of her problems.

  Still, Conall wasn’t worried about Miki as much as he was worried for her. Because the one thing he knew about his woman—she could take care of herself.

  Miki charged down the stairs on the opposite side of the building. She heard the hyenas coming for her. They had the most disturbing howl she’d ever experienced, like brutal, mocking laughter. She had to force her body to move. All she really wanted to do was hide in a corner and cry. Anything to block out that sound.

  She took two steps at a time, and stopped on the second floor, running down the hallway until she hit Conridge’s office. By then they were snapping at her heels. She had barely enough time to get into Conridge’s office and slam the door. She held her body against it and could feel them throwing themselves at the hard wood.

  Seconds later Conridge was beside her, adding her weight against the door. The woman had thankfully changed clothes. She now wore a pullover sweater, jeans and running shoes. It seemed she would need the running shoes.

  “What the hell?”

  “Hyenas,” Miki panted out, her mind scrambling for what to do next.

  Even as Conridge locked the door, the two women continued to keep their bodies against it. But it wouldn’t last much longer. With every hit the hinges became weaker.

  “We’ve got to get out of here.” Conridge’s eyes began to search the room for some escape. She didn’t have a window, but she had a vent. But Miki wasn’t about to get trapped in that with hyenas on her ass.

  Her amped-up Stop the Bark tragically still sat in her backpack with her house keys, and there was no way to get to it without heading back toward the hyenas. No way. Plus she needed to kill these things, not incapacitate them.

  “Is there any chance in hell you have a gun?”

  “Bottom drawer on the left.” When Miki just stared at her, “I don’t have claws, Ms. Kendrick. So I had to find other ways to protect myself. You know the world does not revolve around the Magnus Pack. The Van Holtz Pack has its own enemies.”

  Fair enough. Miki left Conridge to hold the door while she tore through her drawer. She almost cried when she found two loaded Sig Sauer P239s. The P239s were compact and fit her hand pretty well. Both were .357s, so there were only seven rounds per magazine but, bless her, Conridge had extra clips already filled with ammo. She liked this woman more and more.

  Miki stuck one gun in the back of her jeans and several already loaded clips in her front jean pocket. Then she stood in front of the door and dropped to her knees. She leveled the weapon in both hands and watched the door as the hyenas on the other side relentlessly pounded away trying to get to her. She watched the movement of the door. The way it buckled and where it buckled. She listened to the sounds they made when they made contact with the wood. Then she waited for that “click” inside her head.

  Conridge watched her but didn’t say anything. When Miki finally spoke, she was ready.

  “Move.”

  Conridge took several quick steps back and covered her ears. Miki took one more second to clear her mind and body and then she shot three rounds through the door. She heard yelps of pain and surprise and then nothing.

  After a minute, Conridge stepped forward and listened at the door.

  “I don’t hear anything.” She put her hand on the doorknob. “Be ready,” was all she said before she eased the door open and glanced into the hallway.

  “Holy shit.”

  Miki looked at her professor. It was the first time she ever heard the woman utter anything except “hell” and the occasional “damn”.

  “You’re a hell of shot, Ms. Kendrick.”

  Miki stood and went to the door. She pulled it completely open, the gun out but at an angle so she didn’t accidentally kill someone important. There were three hyenas dead on the floor. Miki frowned.

  “There were six on the stairs that Conall wasn’t fighting,” she whispered. She pulled the other gun out of her waistband. She offered it to Conridge, but the older woman shook her head. “I’m not the best shot.” She gazed at the hyena corpses. “Not like you.”

  Miki shrugged. She’d been smart enough to learn to shoot with both hands. Amazing what you can get done when you’re under house arrest.

  She had both guns out and low at her sides. Then she stepped into the hallway. She saw them silently moving at her from both directions from the corners of her eyes. She raised both weapons and fired.

  Two went down immediately. One kept coming. So she turned and fired, brain and skull splattering the walls.

  “We need to get into Craig’s lab.”

  “I’ve got keys.” Conridge grabbed her purse and put it over her shoulder. Miki re-traced her steps to head back up to the third floor where she could find Craig’s lab, Conridge right behind her.

  She thought about Conall. She could hear the Pack fighting outside the building. The wolves would be outnumbered. Hyena clans could have up to 40 members. The thought of anything happening to Conall almost sent her skidding into full-blown panic. But freaking out now wouldn’t help him or her.

  She knew what Craig kept in his lab. She’d put it there herself. She knew what it could do. Hell, she’d invented it. And if she had time, she’d probably realize that using her invention was the dumbest thing she could do. But she had th
e feeling she didn’t have time to come up with anything else. Time was something they no longer had.

  She walked onto the third floor and stopped cold. Leucrotta. He had only shifted partially and was on top of one of the wolves. A female. She was out cold and it seemed that Leucrotta had been sniffing her.

  He looked at Miki and smiled. An unbelievably sharp row of small but deadly fangs revealed. He stood and shifted almost completely back to human…except for the teeth. He walked toward her and she raised both guns.

  Conridge was behind her. “He’s human.”

  “So?”

  “You kill him now, he stays human.” Well, that would be difficult to explain to the cops. And she wasn’t sure she was ready to actually blow a human away. That actually might bother her…at least for a little while.

  “She’s right. You don’t want to kill me now, Miki.” His voice was like a hiss. The sound went across her skin and raised the hair on the back of her neck. If she had been wolf, her hackles would have been standing straight up right across her back. “Besides, don’t you like my little congratulations party for you, Dr. Kendrick?”

  “Are you working with the Pride?”

  “That’ll be a cold day in hell.” He kept moving toward her and she could feel Conridge’s hand gripping the back of her shirt. The woman was having a minor freak out.

  “So then what do you want?”

  He shrugged. “How should I know? This fight belongs to the females. They tell me what to do and I do it because I like doing it. And they told me to tear your Pack apart and to feed on your entrails.”

  Miki snorted. “Melodramatic bullshit.” Then she lowered the gun and pulled the trigger. Twice. Leucrotta went down screaming. Both knees blown out.

  She heard Conridge gasp behind her. “Oh, my.”

  Miki glanced at the woman over her shoulder. “You said not to kill him. You didn’t say anything about his knees.”

  One of them ripped a good chunk out of Conall’s thigh with their claws and he roared in anger. Especially when he felt the poison began to seep into his blood stream.

  Fuckers.