“Miki,” he whispered fiercely through his teeth. “This isn’t funny. Did you know your lip was bleeding?”
Conall desperately fought 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. 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 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 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 Miki speak to the 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, Conall might 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. 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, merely stared at her.
“What?” she finally snapped.
“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.
Chapter Ten
Conall pushed his second helping of waffles away. Obviously, 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 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 had that orgasm…
Okay. He was doing it again! He would not think about her and the way she moaned anything. Never again. He would never let 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. A fine, admirable 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 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 remained 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. Assholes.
“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, puppylike 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 merely wanted to let you know that it wasn’t us.”
He knew that but, clearly, she was worried 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. Still, 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 with her hair still 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 grind her teeth together. 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 what I had to. 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 wal
let out of the back of his jeans and threw money on the counter. By the time he stood, 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’s 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.”
“You’re being an asshole.”
“Sorry. It must be the aftereffects of the drugs you gave me!”
Miki didn’t even flinch when he started yelling. “You’re going to hold that over my head forever, aren’t you?”
Conall stared at her with his mouth open.
“What?”
He turned away from her. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Okay. Fine. He wanted to be an unforgiving asshole, he could be an unforgiving asshole. Self-righteous prick.
She jumped out of the SUV, pulled her backpack over both her shoulders, and cut across campus toward her advisor’s office.
“Hey, psychopath!” Miki, halfway to her destination, turned around to see Amy and Craig walking toward her.
“Hey.”
“You okay?” Amy knew her well. “I can’t tell if you’re pissed or sad.”
Both. “It’s nothing. I’m okay. What are you guys doing up so early? Or did you even bother going to bed?”
Amy sighed. “I gotta teach a bunch of freshman about quantum physics. Three hours of my life I’ll never get back.” She bitched a lot, but Amy was one of the best associate professors the university had. And if they were smart, they’d cough up and give her tenure before MIT or Harvard finally stole her away.
“And I’m here to see Professor Leucrotta.” Miki felt a shudder go down her spine at Craig’s muttered words. And it wasn’t one of those cool ones Conall gave her. But one of those creepy shudders she got like when she saw a spider crawling around her bathtub.
“Why?”
“Don’t worry. He agreed to meet with me about the grant money. Maybe I’ll be able to track down his password while I’m in his office.”
“Be careful. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Who? Me? And where is my fifty bucks?”
She smirked. “I believe you forgot to give me that this morning.”
“You’re not giving that back to me, are you?”
Miki grinned. “Nope. But thanks for checking up on me.”
“Anytime. We felt like we couldn’t leave you alone with Conan the Barbarian.”
“Hey, Mik.” Amy nudged her. “Check it out. Your boring dream man.” Miki followed Amy’s nod and saw Troy Benson walking toward her.
“Miki? Is that you?”
Miki braved a smile at Troy and quickly slipped her backpack off her shoulders. Nothing geekier than walking around with a giant backpack attached to you. And Troy was so not geeky. Almost six feet tall—a nice normal height, unlike some other abnormally large males she knew—with light brown hair and dark green eyes. She’d had a crush on him since Advanced Chem. Not surprisingly, Troy had his arm around some tall, blonde babe who looked like she didn’t eat without throwing up after, but he kissed her on the cheek and sent her on her way before walking over.
“Wow, you haven’t changed. Still my little Miki.”
Funny, that didn’t seem like much of a compliment.
“Did she say anything else?”
Conall leaned against the passenger door of the SUV, his cell phone against his ear, and stared out at the deserted campus. It was still early and students were just starting to appear. “Said she was trying to get herself a cowboy.”
“I don’t really think that’s helpful.”
Conall grunted and Zach was silent for a moment on the other end. “Is everything okay with you?” he finally asked.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I’ve just never heard you sound so much…like me.”
Conall chuckled. “I’m fine.”
“Miki still giving you a hard time?”
“Something like that.” He wasn’t about to admit to his Alpha Male he let some crazy woman drug him and take off in the middle of the night. If for no other reason, he knew Zach would never let him live it down.
“I’m sure she’ll get over it eventually. Anyway, did you believe her?” Yes! But he was never going to believe short, vicious women again. Especially ones whose whole bodies shook during orgasm.
“Who?”
“Victoria Löwe.”
“Oh…uh…yeah, yeah. I did. I believed her.”
“Okay. Well, you two be careful anyway. Soon as Miki’s done, bring her ass back here before my mate forces me to start drinking. When she’s stressed, she paces. It’s driving me nuts.”
Conall sniffed the wind coming from the direction Miki had headed. He smelled something. Miki’s scent, but mixed with something else. Something…male.
Conall growled.
“Conall? Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah. Sure. We’ll be careful. Gotta go.” He shut off the phone and followed.
“So? Still living in Texas, huh?”
Miki took a deep breath. She would stay calm. She could do this. Although it wasn’t like Miki was exactly Miss Smooth with the moves. In fact, she could be kind of a doofus with men…except Conall. With him she didn’t seem to have any problems wrapping her legs around his waist while he slammed her against a wall.
“For now. I’m going to be finishing my doctorate this week. And Conridge mentioned an assistant professor position.”
“That would mean we’d be working together. Not bad. And Conridge is tough.” Boy, was she. Professor Conridge was notorious throughout the university. People feared her. When Miki decided to finally finish up her thesis, her old advisor had gone to another university and Conridge volunteered to take her on. To this day, she had no idea why. She thought the woman hated her. Of course, she seemed to hate everybody.
“So that’ll be great for you, huh?”
She should have noticed the look of fear on Craig’s face and the look of lust on Amy’s. She should have noticed the fact that the most enormous shadow had just fallen over her. But all she’d noticed was Troy and her lame attempt to get him to notice her. “Well, you know, it’s definitely time for a change.” She stopped talking because Troy had obviously stopped listening. Moments from turning to see what horror stood behind her since that seemed to have everybody’s interest, Miki instead froze as big long arms suddenly wrapped around her and she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Hey, baby.” Warm lips pressed against her ear, sending a delicious and treacherous tingle down her spine and straight to her clit. “I thought you were going to see your professor. You’re going to be late.”
She looked up to see Conall holding on to her. He smiled. An evil wolf smile. The kind they gave just before they took down a deer.
Sonofabitch!
“What the hell—”
He squeezed her tight and Miki fought just to breathe. “You always have to make sure Miki’s doing what she needs to do otherwise she gets totally lost.”
Miki looked at Craig and Amy but she could already see they were enjoying this way too much to do anything about it.
Conall nuzzled her neck and she thought about digging his eyes out of their sockets. “So, you going to introduce me to your friends, baby?”
Baby?
She tried to pull away, but he wasn’t letting her go anywhere. And Troy looked way too freaked out by Conall to say anything. Instead he kept staring.
She would so make him pay for this later.
“No. I’m not.”
Amy jumped in before Miki could start slamming her boot into Conall’s instep. “I’m Amy. This is Craig. And this is Troy.”
Miki stared at his neck. It was a big neck. Might spurt a lot of blood if she cut it.
“Hey, Craig. We met this morning in our hotel room.”
Our?
“But it’s nice to meet the other friends of my honey-bear.”
Amy almost spit out her gum while Craig suddenly became interested in what was halfway across campus. Troy looked a little disappointed as he stared at Miki. She could see her future slipping away.
“Troy—” she began. But one of Conall’s big hands slid under her T-shirt and suddenly she felt claws. His claws, running lightly across her stomach.
I am going to kill him.
“Baby, we better get you to your professor’s office or you’re going to be late. Nice meeting you, Amy. Craig. Trey.”
“It’s Troy.”
“Whatever.” Conall’s hand gripped Miki’s and dragged her away. She barely had a chance to grab her backpack before she was stumbling behind him.
“Which building?” he bit out.
“Fuck you!”
He suddenly pulled her into his arms. To anyone else it probably seemed affectionate, but she knew better. And, as it was, she was way too pissed to feel anything but homicidal rage anyway. He leaned in close, his hot breath in her ear. “Keep it up and I’ll make you wish they’d finished you in that alley.”
“That one. Over there.”
Conall again started moving, pulling Miki behind him. He walked into the building, found a stairwell, and dragged her inside it. As soon as he released her hand, she slugged him in the chest. Then cursed up a blue streak when she felt the pain all the way up her arm. Of course, he didn’t even flinch.
“Are you done?” he snarled.
“Sonofabitch! What the fuck was that shit!” She shook her hand out, worried she broke a knuckle. Conall suddenly caught it and rubbed the knuckles between his two hands while he glared at her. She was almost positive he didn’t even realize he was doing it.