Go Fetch ! (14 page)

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 40-ish woman, wearing one of her plain blue suits and a pair of killer fuck-me pumps. The woman was 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 15 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
.

Miki grabbed her backpack and 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
as she hauled 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 Eight

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. There was no one else that was going to be good enough for him. He wanted Miki. Not for a night. Or even a week. But for a lifetime. And he was going to 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 was coming from another floor. He followed the scent, letting it lead him up one flight of stairs. He could tell that 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. He was positive the man had watched him sniff the door like a bomb-detection dog that had just located a nuclear weapon, but 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 3:30.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Miki stood up and gathered all her papers together. She knew
Conridge
was watching 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 was the last version of her thesis. She dropped to her knees and quickly began to scoop the papers together. She’d worry about order later. Anything to stop this conversation. There was no way she was going to talk about the weirdness that was going on between her and
Conall
. She didn’t understand it so how was she going to explain it? 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
, she 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. She sat back on her haunches and 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.

Miki looked up at her. “Van Holtz?” She frowned. “Of the Van Holtz restaurant chain?” She’d never been in one. You had to be as rich as god to be able to afford a side dish. The woman rolled her eyes and smirked. She seemed 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 Pack. And your involvement in the Pride war. I’m impressed. I always knew you were smart. I never doubted that. I just 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. “And 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 that the way he was looking at you just now is kind of the way Niles still looks at me. And, gosh, we’ve been together now 23 years.” She had the warmest expression on her face and Miki realized that she was seeing another side of this woman.
Conridge
loved the man she was talking about. A lot. Miki suddenly regretted calling her a “cocksucker” when she kicked back the first draft of her thesis with so many red marks that 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. So I hit him with a two-by-four. He needed eight stitches in his head.”

Miki stared at her and she 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 just 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 as she pulled herself into a crouch and began pulling her papers together. “I guess I just 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 as she stood up, 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, just 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. And is this the infamous Miki Kendrick?”

Miki glanced back at
Conridge
. Her professor’s distaste for this person was obvious. “Miki Kendrick. This is Professor Mitchell
Leucrotta
.”

So it was a guy… sort of. The guy who had been asking way too many questions about her. He was 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 that 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.

He gave a less than masculine finger wave then strolled down the hallway. She looked at
Conridge
. “I hate him.”

Conridge
chuckled. “You certainly do make snap decisions, don’t you?”