Authors: Shelly Laurenston
She felt
Conall
as wolf come up next to her. She didn’t even bother glancing at him as he settled down next to her. He nuzzled her arm.
“What are you doing?” He licked her chin. “Are you going to tell me what happened or not?”
Conall
lay down next to her and rolled on his back. She sighed. This was so demeaning. Still refusing to look at him, she rubbed his belly.
Conall
clearly loved it. She could feel his whole body wiggling under her fingers as they played across his stomach and chest.
“This is ridiculous. Just shift and tell me what you saw.” She finally turned to look at him. His tongue was hanging out, the happiest grin on his face. And it suddenly occurred to her that this dog was not a wolf. And it definitely wasn’t
Conall
. “Oh for shit’s sake…
“What are you doing?”
Miki cringed. She looked up and kept looking up until she could see
Conall’s
face. He was standing on the other side of her. He was human. Wet, like he’d been swimming. Fully dressed. And fully disgusted.
“Uh… playing with this cute doggie?”
“You thought he was me, didn’t you!”
“Don’t get testy. It could have been you.”
“It’s a Golden Retriever!” He growled. “I can’t talk to you right now.” He stormed back to the SUV.
Miki looked at the Golden laying comfortably next to her. “Thanks a lot.”
“
Are we going
!” Miki stood up as the dog bolted. His tail between his legs. She couldn’t even spare him a glance.
She walked back to the SUV and over to
Conall
. Normally she wouldn’t care if she hurt someone’s feelings, except maybe Sara and Angelina’s but they had hides made of stone. But for some reason, having
Conall
mad at her gave her a lousy feeling.
She stood in front of him. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not a dog.”
“I know that. I just wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t even look at him.”
“You know, we don’t all look alike.” She didn’t bother to point out that they were all part of the
canis
lupus
family. That would probably just piss him off more.
“I know.” On a whim, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest. She felt his body grudgingly begin to relax as his arms wrapped around her. She had never been an affectionate person, but for some reason she found it easy and kind of nice with
Conall
. “I’m really
really
sorry. Really.”
He chuckled. “Not sure you said enough
reallys
.”
She felt the dampness of his T-shirt. “Why are you wet?”
“Wind shifted. I had to use someone’s pool to get them off my scent.”
“Smart. So what did you find out? Was
Conridge
right?”
“They’re more than barbaric. They’re scary. Scarier than I remember. Maybe you could do some research on that computer of yours. See what else you can find out.”
But she already had some knowledge, so why wait? Miki closed her eyes. She could visualize one of her favorite books.
Encyclopedia of Mammals
. She saw the pages turn as if she had the book in her lap. She flipped to the section on hyenas on page 336 and read what was there.
“They’re matriarchal. Extremely aggressive, which we already know. They don’t get along like wolves or Pride, though. There is a lot of in fighting. Well, this explains a lot. The male-female sex organs look very similar. It was believed that they were hermaphrodites, but they’re not.
Oooh
.”
“What?”
“The cubs are born with a full-set of teeth and they start fighting from the time they are pushed out of the womb. Sometimes two will fight while the mother is cleaning off a third. How freaking interesting is that?”
***
Conall
frowned. He should be mad. She’d mistaken a Golden Retriever for him. Not even a German Shepherd or a Husky, but a Golden. But he was too busy loving the feel of her arms wrapped around his waist and the sudden realization that she seemed to pull hyena knowledge out of her pretty tight ass.
“How exactly did you know all that?”
“I have a good memory.”
“It sounded like you were reading from a book. You were, weren’t you?” He could feel her get uneasy. “You just read a book in your head, didn’t you?”
“I’m not sure what you…”
“Exactly how high is your IQ anyway?”
Miki cleared her throat. “178.”
Last he heard 140 was hitting genius level.
Damn
. “Why didn’t you go to some special school or something?”
“My grandmother didn’t believe in them. But I always took advanced classes and some college courses.” Her body was tense against his. She was waiting for some kind of weird repercussion to her admission. She didn’t seem to realize that he really could give a shit. As far as he was concerned that just meant their kids would be smart
shapeshifters
.
“Well, just so you don’t get too cocky, I myself often complete the
TV Guide
crossword puzzle.” He puffed out his chest. “In pen.”
Miki burst out laughing. He loved making her laugh. Her entire body became involved. Kind of like when she had an orgasm.
Conall
kissed her forehead. “Let’s get out of here before they…Oh, shit.”
“What?” She pulled out of his arms and turned to see what he was looking at. Not a pretty sight.
The hyenas had done something he’d never seen before and he hoped to never see again. They’d sent their children to hunt them.
***
There were six of them standing in the middle of the street in front of them. A quick look behind them and she saw three more. It was broad daylight in a nice, quiet suburban neighborhood. And yet she felt trapped in a desert in the dead of night.
Miki didn’t mince words. “Let’s get in the car and run the fuckers down.”
Conall
gaped at her. “They’re kids. I can’t hit kids. And I’m really hoping you can’t either.”
Miki sighed. No. She couldn’t mow down a bunch of kids. But she wished she could. Because they may be children, but they were the scariest fucking things she’d ever seen. She always wondered what kind of kids were home schooled. These guys must make up a huge percentage. She had a feeling the fangs they were showing couldn’t retract until they were much older.
“Fine. You want to be Mr. Nice Guy and not hit the kids, then that leaves only one option.”
“Which is?”
She quickly snatched the door open to the SUV, dived inside to dig into her backpack, and pulled out her house keys. “Now I don’t want you to take this personally,” she ordered as she scrambled back out.
Conall
didn’t look at her. He was too busy watching the slowly advancing cubs. “Take what personally?”
Miki pulled off the small plastic controller attached to her keys. She showed it to him.
“Stop the Bark?” He smirked even as his canine teeth extended and his eyes shifted to wolf. “You’re kidding, right? That may work with that Golden you were loving up, but I doubt it will do much to the rest of us.”
Miki cleared her throat. “I
amped
it up a bit in case those full-blooded wolves got a little cranky that Sara wasn’t around anymore.” She pushed the button and hoped that
Conall
could forgive her.
He went down first. His hands over his ears, his fangs bared, a howl torn from his throat. Then the hyenas went down screaming. Even the females watching from the sidelines hit the ground, their androgynous bodies writhing in pain. To her it was silent. She couldn’t hear anything and she felt nothing.
Well, at least now she knew it worked.
Miki grabbed
Conall
by the neck of his T-shirt and tugged, hoping he could manage to get up since she’d never be able to lift him by herself. He dragged himself up and crawled into the SUV. She followed, her finger still on the button. She adjusted the seat so that her feet reached the gas, and then she started the SUV. She finally released the button as she drove off, making sure to avoid the cubs lying in the street.
Once they were safely away, she dropped her keys and the device back in her bag.
Conall
looked at her. His fangs still out. His eyes red rimmed. “You call that
amping
it up a bit?”
She shrugged. “Be thankful. It could have been worse. I’ve been thinking about mating it with a stun gun. You know, for shits and giggles.”
He leaned back in the seat. “You’re a dangerous woman, Miki Kendrick.”
She smiled. She got the feeling he meant that as a compliment.
Chap
ter Eleven
Conall
had been watching her for the last ten minutes. She’d asked for grape but he could only find cherry. A cherry ice pop. He’d handed it to her after getting back with their lunch from the deli next door.
Once they got safely back to the hotel, and his ears stopped ringing, he’d talked to Sara. Filled her in on the information discovered by Miki’s hacker friends. Told her about what he saw at the Clan den. She was unfazed by the fact that Miki had gone with him on his little excursion. Seemed she trusted her friend as much as he did. And he did trust Miki. That realization kept playing through his brain. Sara told him she would talk to Zach once he got back from hunting, and they’d get some Pack members up to Seattle as soon as possible. Then she gave him a direct command. Something she never did. Protect Miki. She didn’t care what he had to do or who he had to kill. She wanted Miki safe.
As far as
Conall
was concerned, not a problem.
So, he’d settled in to eat the first of the three giant sandwiches with chips and beer that he’d bought. But he hadn’t taken a bite. Not once he noticed her and that
freakin
’ ice pop.
Stomach down on the bed, she was on her laptop doing more research on hyenas. She had both hands on the keyboard, forcing her to suck on the phallic-shaped ice pop only using her mouth. In and out. In and out. And the slurping sounds… She had to be kidding. And he was almost positive she had no clue what she was doing to him.
Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore.
“I want you to do that to me.”
She didn’t look up from her laptop. “Do what,” she mumbled around the pop.
“Suck my cock like your sucking that ice pop.”
She froze. Her hands pausing over the keyboard. Slowly her eyes lifted, focusing on him. She stared at him for several moments. Then she pulled the ice pop out of her mouth, making sure to include a wet “pop” sound when she did it.
“That’s quite the request.”
“It’s not a request.”
Miki grinned, her teeth catching her bottom lip. “I see. A demand.” She pushed the pop past her lips, long and slow, and pulled it out just as slowly. “Interesting.”
Miki slipped off the bed and walked toward him. Then his cell phone went off. They both looked at it. Then they dived for it. But Miki was smaller and faster. She grabbed it and flipped it open.
“Hello? Hi, Zach.”
Conall
shook his head and waved her off, his big body dropping heavily into a nearby chair.
“Bathroom! I’m in the bathroom!” He mouthed desperately. “No. No. He’s around. Let me grab him for you.” He was going to kill her. Miki put the phone behind her, using her ass to cover the mouthpiece. She leaned in close to
Conall
, whispering right against his ear. “You’re going to talk to him. And you’re going to be just like you always are. And if you can’t hold on a conversation. Or if you let him know I’m going down on you … I stop.” He wanted to come just from that, especially when her tongue reached out and swiped across his ear.
She handed him the phone and slipped the ice pop back in her mouth. He held the phone by his ear but hadn’t spoken yet as he watched her kneel in front of him. She undid his jeans and he raised his hips so that she could get them off. He was so busy staring at her, wondering what she was going to do next that he completely forgot about Zach until she motioned to the phone with her head.
“Hey, Zach.”
“Hey. I just talked to Sara. You guys okay?”
Conall
nodded his answer. Miki pulled the pop out of her mouth. “I don’t think he can see your nodding,” she whispered.
He tried to focus. “Yeah. We’re fine.” Miki ran the ice pop down the underside of his cock and he thought he was going to jump out of his skin.
Evil bitch.
“Good. All right. We’ve pulled about eight of our guys to send your way. That should be enough until you guys get back. Sara was ready to head up there herself, but there’s no
fuckin
’ way I’m letting her ass out of my sight.”
“That sounds… fine.” She swiped the pop across the tip and then her tongue swiped right after it.
“I just wish I could figure out what the hell they’re doing. Lions are their enemies, we should be allies. I’ll talk to the older wolves. See if they can help us out here. And you just make sure you watch your back.”