A bottle of water suddenly appeared in front of her face and she realized she’d drifted to stand in front of Conall. The thought of him watching her stretch her neck and shoulders made her warm. Again. She needed to get control of that. She had enough on her mind without worrying about uncontrollable hot flashes.
Miki grabbed the water and looked up to find Conall hovering over her. “Christ, you’re tall. Is everyone in your family so fuckin’ tall?”
“It’s the Nordic thing.”
It was funny, the music was amazingly loud, but the wolves had no trouble hearing each other. She, however, couldn’t hear shit over the industrial techno blasting from the speakers unless someone screamed at her.
Miki drank some of the water and tried to ignore Conall standing behind her. She could feel the heat coming off his body, and it was starting to feel really nice.
Conall stared at the back of Miki’s neck. Watching her stretch the tight muscles there and in her shoulders almost sent him over the edge.
She wore a tight tank top, and he could easily see how long and refined her neck was, her shoulders small but strong, her back straight and lightly muscled. He could tell Miki was a girl who knew how to handle herself. He liked that. Liked the fact that she wasn’t a little wimp waiting for some knight to come rescue her. By the time the knight made it up to the tower of the castle, she’d have devised an elaborate pulley system to extract herself to safety. He found her brain so sexy. Well, her brain and that ass.
Unable to resist, he took his thumb and stroked the back of her neck. She stiffened but she didn’t knock his hand away. Taking that as a good sign, he continued to knead the tense muscles of her neck and watch her body’s response. It didn’t take her long to relax a little, so he let the rest of his hand settle against her throat. His fingers spread out across her collarbone, gently stroking the sensitive flesh there.
Her back was still to him, but he was almost positive she’d closed her eyes when she dropped her head forward. He massaged other areas of her neck where he felt tightness, keeping it up until he heard her moan. And that sound almost killed him.
Gently, Conall pulled her body into his, her back against his front. Wearing her low-heeled Doc Martens, the top of her head just about reached his chest. Yeah, he could make that height work quite nicely for them both.
He leaned down next to her ear. “Wanna dance?”
She turned and stared at him. “Are you kidding?”
He wondered if she was concerned with the fact she was an amazingly lousy dancer. “What’s the problem?”
“I’m not even five-five and what are you? Nine feet or so? We’ll look like idiots.”
“I am not nine feet.” He moved around in front of her, finally releasing the hold he had on her neck. For a split second, she actually appeared disappointed.
“You know, Kendrick, I’m unimpressed.”
“With what exactly?”
“I thought you brilliant types were a lot more creative.” She frowned but that quickly changed into a look of surprise as he bent down, slid his hands under her ass, and lifted her off the floor. She wore a sexy leather miniskirt and he could feel the panties underneath. Satin. Nice.
“Are you nuts? Put me down!” But she was smiling and didn’t seem all that pissed.
“No way. We’re going to dance. Wrap your arms around my neck.” She did that quickly since he pretended to almost drop her. “Good girl. And wrap your legs around my waist.”
She raised an eyebrow and smirked.
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Kendrick.” She rolled her eyes, but wrapped her legs around him just the same. Her ankles locked at the small of his back and her pelvis pushed against his groin. And he wished with all his heart they were back in his room doing this. Naked.
Miki couldn’t believe she hadn’t punched him yet. She should have. But, she grudgingly had to admit, he felt really good between her legs.
Staring straight at her, he walked them both to the middle of the dance floor. It was awkward for Miki, his heated gaze tearing right through her. No one had ever looked at her like that before. At least not so she’d noticed. She didn’t know what to say or do in such a situation, so she glanced around the room instead. She felt him move and her eyes almost rolled into the back of her head. She liked how he moved. She briefly wondered if he moved like that in bed.
Bad thought. Bad thought. Bad thought.
She caught sight of Sara watching her. She expected her to be all cocky and triumphant but, instead, she gave Miki the sweetest look, which only made it worse. She didn’t want to get Sara’s hopes up over nothing.
She knew Sara 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 Miki 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.
The skin of her neck was nipped and she turned her head to look at Conall, that aqua blue gaze of his trapping 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 Sara needs to stop looking so happy about us dancing together. And I wondered if Zach was going to fuck her on the dance floor or whether he’d wait to 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 start hardening without it being cold or someone actually rubbing them? Plus, 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.
Pulling the phone off her hip, she 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.
Chapter Six
Conall washed his hands and thought about Miki naked. That’s pretty much all 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.
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 and 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 wore leather. The woman looked really good in leather.
She was a walking, talking contradiction and he was starting to worry he was falling for her. Still, a more skittish female he didn’t know. No way could she 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 decent reception. She speed-dialed Craig back.
“Whatcha want?” she barked into the phone, her eyes scanning the street.
“That’s not friendly.”
Craig could be such a bonehead. “Craig.”
“Okay. Okay. Just kidding. I only 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 when she heard chanting from the other end. “Mi-ki! Mi-ki! Mi-ki!”
“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 and Miki 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 suddenly grabbed 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. Pretty but androgynous. Yet with a grip on her arm that caused 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. Miki 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. No fucking way would she go in there. Reaching up she 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 she ripped hair from the heifer’s head. The woman let out a screech that would have freaked Miki 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. Wolf blood still stained 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. Yet Conall never took his eyes off him as he left the bathroom.
Once he made it back to the main bar, he realized 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 Conall, 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. Thankfully, she didn’t see Conall or Sara. 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, wincing from the pain, but thankful the cuts weren’t too deep.
She took paper towels and carefully wiped the damaged area. So intent on what she was doing, it took her several minutes to realize that a woman stood behind her—and stared.
Watching her reflection in the mirror, Miki marveled at how much the woman seriously resembled Conall. Funny, he never mentioned a sister. But she kept staring and smirking without saying anything. And Miki was in a considerably foul mood.
“What?” Miki snapped.
“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 as Miki slipped her jacket back on. And, being Miki, she simply 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, lifting the woman up and slamming 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. “Let her go or I’ll snap your neck.”
Einarr. But Conall was too pissed to let his cousin go. She’d hurt Miki. That was all the wolf in him knew. That was all he needed to know.
“Fuck you.”
Einarr’s grip tightened as Conall distantly heard glass breaking. Then he felt Einarr stiffen.
“Let him go or I cut ‘em off.”