Authors: Shelly Laurenston
For that moment, her friends, her dissertation, Troy, her attempts to dispute the Pythagorean Theorem, all that was forgotten. Instead, she couldn’t think past
Conall
touching her. He felt so good next to her skin. She wanted to be naked and she wanted this man inside her. And it seemed that
Conall
had the same idea. His hand reached under her short denim skirt and snatched off her panties.
She dug her fingers into his hair and groaned into his mouth as he gripped her ass tight. She was sure she felt his claws just beneath his skin, but he hadn’t let them loose. Yet.
He stopped kissing her so that he could attack her neck. She wondered whether he’d mark her or not. Normally, she’d fight that. She knew from Sara what it meant. But at the moment, rational thought just didn’t exist for her. Especially once that mouth of his moved down to her breast and she felt his fangs graze across her nipple. Her whole body jerked violently as she gripped him tighter.
Conall
undid his jeans and had them and his boxers around his ankles. Miki could feel the heat from his erection as it pressed against her. She knew she should stop him. If for no other reason than to tell him to put a condom on. But she was lost. Hopelessly lost.
Then the knock on the door came. She and
Conall
froze.
“Hey, Miki?” Craig’s voice.
Oh, shit
.
Conall
growled. A low, scary one as he glared at her with accusing wolf eyes. “Who the hell’s that?”
“My friend.”
There was another bang at the door. This time more insistent.
Miki began to say something, but
Conall’s
hand suddenly covered her mouth. “Not. A. Word.” He bit out between clenched teeth. “Hold on,” he barked at the door.
He took several deep breaths, then slowly released Miki. She slid down his legs, his erection gliding right across her flesh and she let out a little moan before she could stop herself.
“You’re killing me,” he whispered angrily before he pushed her away, pulled his boxers and jeans up, and went toward the door.
“
Conall
.” He glared at her over his shoulder. “Fangs,” she whispered.
He blinked, realizing parts of him were still wolf. He closed his eyes and cracked his neck. When he opened them again, his eyes were his normal blue and his fangs had receded back into normal incisors. Miki pushed down her skirt and kicked her torn panties and bra across the room and under the bed as
Conall
answered the door.
“Yeah?”
“We’re looking for Miki.”
With a grunt,
Conall
stepped back, allowing Craig, Ben, and Kenny Liu to walk into the hotel room. They gawked at
Conall
like he was the main attraction at a freak show.
“What are you guys doing here?”
Kenny was the first one who could actually tear his eyes away from
Conall
. “Um… you forgot something.”
No she didn’t. She didn’t forget anything. Her friends were checking on her. They’d probably dumped off Amy and then started wondering what would happen to Miki when
Conall
woke up. She’d thought only Sara and Angie were that protective of her.
“Oh, yeah? What?” She loved her friends, but she wasn’t above giving them a hard time for the hell of it.
“Uh…” Kenny looked at Ben who looked at Craig who finally turned away from
Conall
to look at Miki. “Um…” he patted his pants. “The… uh… fifty bucks I owe you.” Craig pulled out his wallet and took out several bills. He walked across the room and handed it to Miki.
“That’s the best you can do?” She asked quietly with a smile.
“We were desperate,” he whispered back. “And should I ask what happened to the bed?”
Miki glanced at the displaced bed and back at Craig. “Earthquake.”
“Miki,” he whispered angrily through his teeth. “This isn’t funny. Did you know your lip was bleeding?”
***
Conall
was trying desperately to get himself under some control. He’d never lost it like that before.
Never
. This one woman had pushed the beast out of him, but she didn’t run screaming like any normal person would have done. Instead she’d almost fucked him.
And he almost took her. Right up against the wall. No condom. No rational thought. No thought for consequences. He knew that Miki was healthy as a horse—Sara told him often enough. He was surprised the female didn’t pull out Miki’s blood tests as proof. So that wasn’t even an issue for him. But he also knew just from looking at her she was a fertile girl. True, he wanted kids one day but right this minute? And with Miki? The woman who had drugged him and left him to go hang with her friends. Really, wasn’t he just trying to get laid here?
Maybe not. Maybe he wanted more. More from the one woman the wolf in him seemed to respond to. But Miki Kendrick taunted that wolf like it was a small Jack Russell Terrier behind a neighbor’s fence.
Crazy woman
. He watched as Miki spoke to that nerdy imbecile. If they had been in high school together, he would have kicked that guy’s ass on a daily basis. Of course, the way he was leaning into Miki at that very moment, he may still kick his ass.
***
Miki ran her tongue along her bottom lip and tasted her blood. Christ, things had spun out of control, hadn’t they? She heard
Conall
growl from across the room and saw all her friends tense up. She had to get them out. Now.
“I just bit my lip, it’s
nothin
’.” She turned Craig around and pushed him toward the door, both her hands against his back.
“You sure you don’t need anything else?”
A box of condoms
? “No. But thanks. And thanks for the fifty.” Which she had every intention of keeping.
She shoved Craig out the door, then grabbed Kenny and Ben by their jackets and forced them out. “Thanks, guys. See
ya
!”
She closed the door on her friends and turned to face
Conall
. He didn’t say anything. He just stared at her.
“What?”
“Who the hell were they?”
She pushed off from the door and moved across the room. “
They
are none of your business.”
“Fine. Whatever.” He headed to the door, snatching his biker jacket up as he walked toward it. “I’ll be in the diner across the street when you’re ready to go to the campus.”
With a slam, he was gone.
Chap
ter Seven
Conall
pushed his second helping of waffles away. Clearly he was upset; he wasn’t eating as much as he usually did.
Miki.
Fuckin
’ Miki. She’d done this to him. That tricky, sadistic bitch. He couldn’t wait to fuck her brains out.
He shook his head.
No. No. No
. She was a treacherous female that he should stay away from. He shouldn’t be burying any part of himself into any part of her. She was dangerous. Like uranium. But the way she’d moaned his name when she was having that orgasm…
Okay. He was doing it again! He was not going to think about her and the way she moaned anything. Never again. He was never letting a woman get that close to him again. No matter how cute, sexy, brilliant, or dangerously unstable she may be.
In fact, he was done with women all together. There was absolutely nothing wrong with celibacy. It was a fine way to live. Hell, Gandhi did it.
“Well, hello, sunshine.”
Conall
glanced at the female standing next to him. She was barely taller than Miki. Another mighty-mite. Great.
“What do you want?”
“And the girls told me you were considered the nice one.”
No. More like the stupid one
. “What does a Pride female care about nice?”
She slid into the bench across from him. “Uh-oh. Someone looks sad.” Christ, this woman was the queen of sarcasm.
“Exactly who are you?”
“Victoria
Löwe
.”
“Of the
Löwe
Pride?” German lions. Great. His day just kept getting better and better.
She nodded. “And you’re
Conall
of the Magnus Pack.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t ask how she knew that. He didn’t want to know.
“Well, Mr. Magnus…”
“It’s
Conall
. Or Mr.
Víga-Feilan
if you want to be formal.”
And just like that, the girl’s whole body language changed. He smelled the sudden waft of wariness coming off her. “You’re a
Víga-Feilan
?”
“That’s my family name. But I’m not part of that Pack. I’ve always been a Magnus.”
She seemed to relax a bit from that, but was still wary. He didn’t blame her.
Einarr
and his kin had made quite a name for the
Víga-Feilans
. Pride and Pack alike hated them. Clearly his family still bought into that Viking bullshit. Problem was they weren’t floating around in long boats and decimating monasteries anymore.
Asshole
.
“So, what do you want?”
“To talk.”
Conall
glanced over his shoulder. There they sat. A Pride of
Löwe
females quietly watching them, waiting to tear him to pieces. They were what he expected from Pride. But this one, she was a bit of a runt. Maybe she had some mountain lion in her. “And that’s why you tracked me here?”
“Oh, honey, don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t track you anywhere. Actually, my girlfriends and I are going to the rodeo. I’m hoping to find me a cowboy. And then I saw you sitting here all by your lonesome. And one of my girls recognized you.”
“Okay. Then talk.”
“I heard about your Pack and the
Withell
Pride. Such ugly business.”
He sighed. “I’m bored.”
“Personally, I’d rather not have a repeat of that incident, if possible.”
“And how do you propose that? By letting the Packs roll over and expose our collective bellies?”
“Dogs. I swear, everything is just so black and white with you guys. It’s cute in its simplistic, puppy-like way.”
“You know, I’ve had a really bad morning, and I’m not above reaching across this table and snapping your neck like a twig.”
“If you’re the nice one, I’m really curious about your Alphas.” She shrugged. “I heard your Alpha female’s friend got attacked at one of your clubs. I just wanted to let you know that it wasn’t us.”
He knew that but, clearly, she was worried that he didn’t. “And you speak for all the Prides?”
She nodded. “As a matter of fact, I do.” For the first time,
Conall
really looked at the girl. She was beautiful and young. Maybe a little too young to be speaking for all the Prides. But he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. “So you didn’t send them. Then where did they come from?”
“I have no idea.”
“And I’m supposed to trust you because…”
“I’m adorable.”
Conall
chuckled at that. She was adorable. Dangerous and adorable.
“Am I interrupting anything?”
Maybe it was the way Miki was staring at them. Like she caught them fucking on the diner table. But whatever her look, he
did
feel guilty. But why the fuck should he feel guilty? It’s not like he drugged her to go off and meet with anybody.
He looked away from her, unwilling to think too much about her and how cute she was when her hair was wet from a recent shower.
“No. No. I was just leaving.” Victoria started to slide out of the booth.
“You don’t have to go.” Okay. Now he was just being a prick.
He heard Miki gritting her teeth.
Good
.
“Maybe she doesn’t have to go. But you do. I need to get to campus.”
Conall
looked at Victoria. “Are we done?”
“I’ve said my peace. Now I’ve got to get myself a cowboy.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for listening,
Conall
. I guess you are the nice one.”
She stood up and looked at Miki. “He’s all yours.” Then she walked back to her Pride.
He pulled his wallet out of the back of his jeans and threw money on the counter. By the time he stood up, Miki had already stormed out the door.
He found her by the rented SUV. He unlocked the doors and they both got in.
“Who was that?”
“Victoria
Löwe
.” He started the vehicle and pulled out of the parking lot.
“She was Pride?”
“Yup.”
“And you’re sitting around chatting with her in a diner?”
“Apparently so.”
They didn’t speak again until they hit the campus.
***
As far as she was concerned, that little ten minute trip was the longest
ever
.
Conall
parked as close as possible to the building she needed to get to. Then he shut off the motor and stared straight ahead. Miki grabbed her backpack, ready to storm off. But his voice stopped her. “When you’re done, come back here. Don’t go anywhere else. Don’t try and sneak off. ‘Cause I will find you. And if I have to do that I’ll be much less pleasant.”