Go Fetch ! (7 page)

But she knew Sara just cared. The woman had cared about her since she’d picked Miki up off the playground floor all those years ago after some evil little boys had knocked her down and called her a freak.
Sara’d
helped her up and Angelina had kicked their asses. She smiled at the memory of those boys running for their lives by the time sweet, girly Angelina had gotten done with them. Since then they’d been protecting each other. Even risking their lives for each other. But sometimes Sara and Angelina’s concern for her could get a little stifling.

She felt the skin at her neck nipped and she turned her head to look at
Conall
. That aqua blue gaze of his trapped her immediately.
He is
sooo
trouble
.

“Where did you just go?”

“What?”

“Come on,
Mik
. You were two thousand miles away. Where’d
ya
go?”

“Nowhere.” She shook her head for emphasis. “Just thinking.”

“You do that a lot, huh?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“Like what? What do you think about?”

“You don’t want to know, Viking.”

“I like when you call me that.” Well that was the last thing she wanted to hear. She called him that to annoy him.
You idiot, what guy gets insulted being called Viking?

“You really want to know what I’m thinking?” Perfect. She knew exactly how to scare him off.

It had scared off many men before him. “I asked, didn’t I?”

“I was thinking that Sara needs to stop looking so happy about us dancing together. And I wondered if Zach was going to just fuck her on the dance floor or whether he’d just drag her off to the bathroom. He’s had his hand down the back of her jeans and his groin pressed into hers for the last ten minutes. I was also wondering whether I should wear my blue suit to my dissertation defense or my dark green suit. Or if I should wear a suit at all. Or just a dress. Then I remembered that I don’t have a dress. Then I was wondering if I were hungry or not. I decided not. Then I wondered if I could come up with a way to cancel the government’s deficit without taxing the people.”

Conall
, not surprisingly, stared. “Wow.”

“Well, as you said, you asked, didn’t you?”

“As a matter of fact, I did.” He studied her closely. “Do you ever
not
think? Or, at the very least, only have one thought at a time?”

Miki thought about that for a moment and shook her head. “No.”

“Really?”

“I don’t distract easily.”

The Viking leered and she had that ancient China feeling again. “I bet I could distract you.” With a snort, and before she could stop herself, “Promises, promises.” Miki froze and so did
Conall
. “Uh…”

“Too late. Can’t take it back now.”

“But…”

“Nope. The gauntlet has been laid.” She felt his hands tighten on her ass and she let out a little squeak. “And I’m just the man to pick it up and run with it.”

Okay. Exactly at what point did her nipples just start hardening without it being cold or someone actually rubbing them? And much more of this, she’d have to change her underwear before the night was out.
When the hell did that start happening
? And what happened to her resolve not to get involved with anyone, especially giant
shapeshifters
?

I should have added his ass to the List
!

“You’re vibrating.”

“
I am not
!”

“Your
phone
is vibrating.” He jokingly
tsk-tsk’d
her. “Again, we’re wallowing in the gutter. What is it with you?” Suddenly her face felt as hot and uncomfortable as the rest of her. She pulled the phone off her hip and held it up, “I need to deal with this.” With obvious reluctance, he slowly lowered her to the ground and led her away from the dance floor. “Make your call. I’ll be back in five minutes.” She watched
Conall
walk off toward the bathroom. She liked watching him walk off. What the hell was she doing? This was ridiculous.
She
was ridiculous. She should be worrying about her dissertation not about how his ass looked in those jeans.

Miki flipped her phone open. “Hello?”

She knew from caller ID it was Craig. But the reception sucked in the club. So she closed the phone and headed down the stairs and out of the building.

***

Conall
washed his hands and thought about Miki naked. Basically, that’s what he did these days. Think about one small woman naked. There had never been a woman before Miki who distracted him this much. He and Zach had burned their way through a lot of strippers, waitresses, and bar sluts. Girls who knew how to get you hot and suck you off in no time. Girls who really didn’t expect you to call them the next morning.

But Miki wasn’t anything like those girls. She was hot and sexy without even trying. She never wore makeup from what he could tell and she didn’t need any. She wore those same damn Doc Martens every time he saw her. He wasn’t sure she had any other shoes. But she always seemed to pair them with the hottest little miniskirt or shorts. Tonight she was wearing leather. She looked really good in leather.

The woman was a walking, talking contradiction and he was starting to really worry that he was falling for her. But she was skittish. There was no way she could handle him. Not really.

Conall
dried his hands and headed toward the bathroom door. Before he could touch the knob, the door opened in and his almost exact replica followed. But his cousin
Einarr
had hazel eyes and always looked pissed off. The man wasn’t pleasant and, after all these years,
Conall
still hated his guts.

“Hello, cousin.”

***

Miki had to walk away from the club and go half a block down to the corner to get a decent reception. She speed-dialed Craig back.

“
Whatcha
want?”

“That’s not friendly.”

Craig was such a bonehead. “Craig.”

“Okay. Okay. Just kidding. I just wanted to make sure you were going to be here tomorrow night as planned.”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Everybody’s psyched about seeing you. Right guys?”

Miki laughed as she heard chanting from the other end. “Miki! Miki! Miki!”

“Okay. Okay. I’ll be there. And you’re all idiots.”

“Meet us at Patty’s Pub.”

“When?”

“Anytime after ten. We’ll be there until closing.” Of course they would. Her Seattle friends were the hardest drinkers she knew. “Don’t flake out on us, Queen of Despair and Pain, ruler of the dark underworld known as Texas.” Miki closed her eyes. Her friends were such geeks. Which meant she was a big
ol
’ geek herself because they often called her their queen.

“I said I’d be there. Don’t pressure me.”

“All right, my lovely. See you then.”

She hung up her phone and hooked it back to the holster on her hip. Then she wrapped her arms around her body. She was freezing. It got cold at night in Northern California. Why couldn’t Sara’s Pack live in Southern California where she heard it was warm all the time?

Miki headed back up the street toward the club. As she passed an alley she stopped. She had to. They’d called her name. She stared into the deep recesses of the dark alley. She heard it again. A female voice. A couple. Calling her name. She faced the alley, but didn’t enter. She wasn’t about to. She wasn’t stupid. Instead, she’d go back to the club and get Sara and Zach.

But a hand was suddenly on her arm. “Don’t leave.”

She looked up into the face of a woman… or a man… or a she-male. To be honest, she really didn’t know. She was pretty but androgynous. But she had a grip on her arm that was causing Miki some serious discomfort.

“Let me go.”

“Don’t leave, sweetness. We were just ready to get the party started now that you’re here.” That’s when she tried to drag Miki into the alley. She remembered taking a self-defense class once and she never forgot the instructor’s words. “Never let them take you to a secondary location.
Never.
”

To Miki that alley was a secondary location. And there was no fucking way she was going in there. She reached up and grabbed the woman’s hair—this was a woman, right?—and yanked so that they both stumbled back slamming into a parked car. The car’s alarm went off while Miki yanked the woman’s hair again. Then she did it again until Miki ripped hair from her head. The woman let out a screech that would have freaked her out if she wasn’t busy trying not to get taken to the secondary location. Of course, the returning yelps from the alley just spurred her action.

With hair still gripped in her fist, she punched the woman in the face. Then used her steel-toe Docs to kick her in the groin. Man or woman, she knew that would hurt. As the woman dropped to the ground, Miki snatched her arm away and ran.

***

“What do you want,
Einarr
?”

“Can’t a man just come and see his cousin?”

“No. And you know Zach doesn’t want you here.” Especially after what happened last time. There was still wolf blood on the walls from that little get together.

“A lackey for that Irish Wolfhound. How do you look at yourself in the mirror?”
Conall
rolled his eyes. They’d been having this conversation for over ten years. It was a boring conversation just as
Einarr
was a boring man. Truly, the only thing his cousin had inherited from their Viking ancestors was his name and his viciousness. Other than that, he wasn’t much of a Viking or a wolf. Just a petty little asshole.

“Move,
Einarr
.” And to his surprise,
Einarr
did. But he never took his eyes off him as he left the bathroom. He went back out to the main bar. They were all over the place.
Víga-Feilan
wolves. Not good.
Conall
walked up to Kelly. “Where’s Zach?”

“The office, maybe. I really don’t know.”

Conall
headed off to the office before things spiraled out of control. This was why Zach was Alpha. Left up to him, he’d snap his cousin’s neck as human and start a Pack-Pack war just before being shipped off to prison. Probably not a good idea. At least for the moment, it wasn’t a good idea.

***

Miki slammed her way back into the club, to the backstairs, and right into the arms of one of the wolves guarding the door. “Hey. Hey. Are you okay?” Miki looked behind her. She didn’t see anyone following her. She took in huge gulps of air and tried to calm herself down. “I better get Sara.”

Miki grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare!” She had enough problems. Involve Sara and all hell would break loose. “I’m fine. Really.”

“You’re bleeding, honey.” Miki glanced down at her forearm. There were four deep gashes across it.
Great. Paw marks
. “I’ll take care of it. I’ll be fine.” She headed up the stairs, stopping at the bar to get her leather jacket from behind it. She slipped it on and headed to the bathroom. She didn’t see
Conall
or Sara and was grateful. She could only imagine how the two of them would blow this out of proportion.

She went in search of the women’s bathroom, finding it pretty easily. How could she miss it? It was actually marked “Bitches.” She went in as some females came out. She went to the sink and caught her reflection in the mirror. Except for being a little sweaty, she still looked in control. Good. She slid the jacket off one arm and ran her forearm under the cold water. She winced from the pain, but was thankful the cuts weren’t too deep.

She took paper towels and carefully wiped the wound. She was so intent on what she was doing that it took her several minutes to realize that there was a woman standing behind her. Staring at her.

She saw her reflection in the mirror. The woman seriously resembled
Conall
. Funny, he never mentioned a sister. But the woman was just staring at her, smirking. And Miki was in a considerably foul mood.

“What?”

“Just trying to figure out what my cousin’s doing with a little midget like you.”

“Maybe you should ask him that. And calling someone a ‘little midget’ is redundant. Midget implies little.” The woman stared at her and Miki couldn’t resist. “I’m sorry, should I speak slower? Perhaps sound words out for you?”

The woman growled at her as Miki slipped her jacket back on. And, being Miki, she just couldn’t leave it alone. “You know there’s no shame in having special needs.” She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “The short bus can be fun.”

With that last shot, she walked out the door. But the woman clamped her hand around her already wounded arm. Miki let out a pained bark, but it only lasted a second. Because suddenly
Conall
was there and he lifted the woman up and slammed her against the far wall.

***

“I should tear your throat out.”

“You don’t have the guts, cousin.”
Conall
growled, his canines extending to deadly points. Then he heard a snarl and felt hands slide under his arms and loop around the back of his neck.