Go Fetch

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.

She turned to Miki. “You’ve got tonight and tomorrow to relax. I suggest you do that. Don’t panic over this, Ms. Kendrick. You’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“I don’t say so. I’m ordering it. Now go away.” Conridge went back in her office and closed the door.

“You brilliant types can be awfully abrupt.”

“What a ground-breaking observation.” Miki headed back to the stairs, Conall right beside her. She wasn’t shaking him any time soon.

Once outside, Conall took the rest of the papers from Miki. “Gimme.” Since molesting her in the stairwell, he was in a much better mood.

“What’s with you? Why are you so accommodating?”

“’Cause I won.”

“You won what?”

“You. Me. The seduction. In the stairwell.”

“I didn’t fuck you in the stairwell.”

“I didn’t say you had to. I said I had to get between your legs by Friday.” He grinned. “And I did.”

Miki stopped and stared at him. “You’re high. That was not the agreement.”

“Yes, it was.”

Miki made a fist, ready to deck him again when Craig walked up. “Hey, Mik. Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Miki wasn’t done with Conall. “Can it wait?”

“Go ahead. I’m satisfied.” Conall winked at her and walked off, her backpack and dissertation in his big hands.

“Asshole,” she muttered after him.

“Dude, it’s worse than that.”

Miki looked at Craig. “What are you talking about?”

“I found him sniffing Leucrotta’s door. Really sniffing it.”

Miki sighed. Damn shapeshifters. They were simply not discreet.

“Don’t worry about it, Craig. Besides, I’ve got bigger problems than his fetishes.”

“Like what?”

“Everything.”

Craig smiled. “That’s a lot.”

“I know.”

“Look your dissertation isn’t until Friday. So why don’t you come to my house party tonight. Everybody’s going to be there. You can even bring the Beastmaster if you want.”

Well, at least he didn’t call him teddy bear.

“I love your house parties.” And she hadn’t been to one in ages.

“Then come.”

That would give her a little reprieve from being alone with Conall. “Okay. I’ll be there.”

“Cool. It starts at nine o’clock. Bring any video games.” She chuckled. Techno geek parties were the best.

Craig headed off and she walked to where Conall stood.

She took a deep breath and forged ahead. “Look. Craig invited me to a house party he’s throwing tonight…wanna come?”

He’d wondered if Miki would say anything about Craig’s party. He could hear the dweeb invite her even though he stood a good hundred feet from them. When she asked him if he wanted to go he felt his heart swell a little. “Sure. Sounds great. I’m assuming I’ll be your date.”

“Well, you’re assuming wrong. We’re going as friends.”

“Why?”

“Because you didn’t win,” she bit out between clenched teeth.

Conall watched her walk off, and waited ten seconds before he yelled after her, “Yes, I did!” He laughed when Miki raised her middle finger high in the air like a salute.

He was really starting to love that woman.