Go Fetch

Chapter One

Six months later…

Miki’s eyes snapped open and she realized she already had her hand around the shotgun she kept against her nightstand. She sat up, the gun still in her grasp. She had to shake her head to bring herself back to this reality. Miki didn’t sleep. Not much anyway. But on those few times she actually did get some sleep, it was a helluva thing to actually wake her up. Especially lately. She’d been having these intense dreams… She shook her head again. She couldn’t go down that road right now. She needed to focus.

She could hear crunching sounds coming from the front of her house. Well, Sara’s house really. She’d rented it to Miki for practically nothing.

Miki slid out of bed in her T-shirt and sweatpants and steadied the weapon in both hands. She silently slipped from room to room, checking every corner as she went. Finally, she arrived at the front door. Taking a deep breath, she snatched it open and aimed.

“Howdy, Miki.”

Miki lowered her gun. “Dammit, Eddie! What the hell are you doing here?”

Deputy Eddie Fogle continued to eat his chocolate-covered peanuts and seemed oblivious to the fact Miki was damn good and ready to blow his head off. “Just watchin’ out for ya, darlin’.” Smooth-talking bastard. The man leaned back against her porch railing, his incredibly long legs stretched out in front of him. She briefly wondered if he had to have his cowboy boots specially made. His feet were enormous.

“Did Marrec send you here?” Marrec had become like a mother hen since they’d kicked Pride ass six months ago, constantly checking up on Miki and Angelina. Not that she didn’t appreciate it, but having a sheriff’s deputy sitting out on her front stoop in the middle of the night seemed a little excessive.

“We just want you to be safe.”

“Well, that’s sweet and all—”

“You know, Miki,” he cut in smoothly, “I’m so glad you’re getting out of town for a bit. You deserve it. But I hope you won’t be involving yourself with those Seattle-city folk like before. I’d really hate it if you upset Sara and Angelina or shame everybody in town. Again.”

Miki shut her eyes in exasperation. Boy, Feds drag you out of Advanced Trig in handcuffs just once and some people never let you forget it. Besides, hadn’t she already paid her debt to society? And exactly how long had the man been out here? She’d talked to her buddy Craig over five hours ago. They’d planned on meeting at a bar when she hit town and, depending on her mood, maybe going to one of Craig’s infamous house parties. Craig had hinted at maybe getting back into the Game, but she’d told him no flat out. Damn wolves with their damn wolf hearing. Well, it didn’t matter. Her days of risking federal prison were long over. She had bigger plans. So it didn’t really matter what Fogle heard.

“My only plans are to help my friend celebrate her twenty-ninth and to become Doctor Kendrick, PhD.”

“Good. Good. That’s really nice to hear.”

Miki watched him for several moments, then sighed. “You’re not going anywhere, are you?”

“Not tonight. No. Some strange activity in town. Odd smells I’m not real comfortable with. But if it makes you feel better, we’re also watching Angelina’s house.”

“It doesn’t,” she responded flatly.

Eddie chuckled. “When you see Sara, could you give her my love?

“Of course.”

“I sure do hope those Magnus boys are being good to her. Not sure about that Zach Sheridan fella.” Miki fought the urge to roll her eyes. They’d all babied Sara. Of course, she now knew why. Sara had been one of them. Not of their Pack but a shapeshifter like, it turned out, most of her town. Apparently, Miki and Angelina were two of the few nonshifting humans within a one-hundred-mile radius. “And we sure do miss her ‘round here.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

“Then I guess it’s about time you got that pretty little ass of yours over there, huh?”

“I haven’t been avoiding her, Fogle. I’ve been working on my dissertation. And she understands that.” They were all like a bunch of old women. Chastising her. She could practically see them shaking their collective paw at her.

“I didn’t think you were avoiding Sara—maybe that other fella, though.”

“Who? Zach?” She snorted. “I’d rip his balls off and wear them as a necklace.”

“Nah, not him. The other one. That big fella. Conall, I think his name is.”

“Oh give me a fuckin’ break.”

“Uh-huh.” Eddie looked back at her with those wolf eyes that reflected light just like a dog’s. “Did you know you moan Conall’s name in your sleep?”

The man couldn’t have startled her more if he’d punched her in the stomach.

She didn’t have an answer, so she stepped back into her house and slammed the door. It didn’t help she could hear his laughter through the thick wood.

She put her free hand to her face to rub her eyes in exasperation, but she smelled her scent on her fingers again. Dammit. Masturbating in her sleep again. Masturbating to Conall.

Well, this is spiraling out of control.

Conall Víga-Feilan, direct descendent of the Viking Overlord Sven Víga-Feilan and the Víga-Feilan Pack, dropped face down onto his bed. He was still wet from his third cold shower of the night. Well, this is spiraling out of control. How could one woman completely dominate his thoughts for six freakin’ months? He hadn’t masturbated this much since junior high.

But, Miki wasn’t just some woman. She was the meanest woman he knew. And her meanness talked to him on a level he’d never experienced before. She brought out the wolf in him, which he’d learned to control a long time ago. But just thinking about her made his cock hard and his canines grow.

His whole life he’d had to accept the fact he wasn’t like the other Víga-Feilans. His father had been too nice. Loved his Irish female too much. His uncle and grandfather had made his father’s life a living hell while he lived with the Víga-Feilan Pack. It wasn’t until he met Bruce Morrighan that everything changed. Bruce introduced Conall's father to the Magnus Pack. They had a lot of members and they were always looking for new ones. Jarl Víga-Feilan took his wife and newborn son and left the Víga-Feilan Pack for good. Since then, the Pack had been trying their best to get Conall to return to the fold. To become one of them. His cousin, Einarr, was especially determined to see him return. But there was no way he’d leave the Pack. Especially not now.

And not because the Pack needed him during this time of war. Or that Pack life really rocked with Zach and Sara in charge. He wasn’t leaving because Sara’s best friend was the woman of his dreams. A mean, sassy Texan with the sweetest smile he’d ever seen on a woman. He loved that smile. Loved to think about what that beautiful mouth could do to him.

Conall growled. Wrong thought. He shouldn’t have gone there. He stood and headed back to his shower when a knock on his door stopped him.

“Yeah?”

Jake stuck his head in. “I smelled something on our property. But it wasn’t Pride.”

Conall frowned. “Are you sure?”

“It was different. But nothing I recognized.”

Conall groaned. That had to be the same damn scent from the night of the rave. The scent he couldn’t remember for the life of him. The whole thing was making him insane.

“Anybody else up?”

“Jim and Kelly.”

“Get ‘em. Bring ‘em out with you. Kill anything that isn’t one of us.”

“You got it.”

“And Jake? Don’t hit on Kelly. She’ll crush your windpipe and suck the marrow from your bones.”

Jake looked so disappointed Conall almost felt bad for him. But not really.

Once Jake was gone, Conall stood in the middle of his bedroom wondering why he was standing in the middle of his bedroom. Then he remembered Miki. Well, Miki and oral sex. With a sigh, he started off again to the bathroom.

Zach was going to kill him when the water bill came.