Go Fetch ! (27 page)

“Not if she doesn’t want to be. You know that as well as I do.”

“Well you can’t go around
hittin
’ walls. The house won’t last.”

***

Miki sat at the kitchen table with her head resting on her arms, a glass of buttermilk sitting in front of her, and Sara’s nose sniffing the back of her neck. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“You smell different.”

“According to
Conridge’s
demon child, I’m pregnant. And the little bitch found ‘flaws’ in my thesis.”

Sara pulled away, sitting down opposite from Miki. “I’m sorry. What?”

“You heard me. Flaws! In
my
thesis! Can you imagine?”

“I don’t mean that, you idiot! I mean the… pregnancy?”

“Oh, yeah. That Cro-Magnon impregnated me.”

“Did we not use the condoms Angie and I provided?”

“Yes,
we
did. But this happened during his fever.”

“Where were you?”

“Half asleep.”

Sara smiled. “Was it good?”

“God, yes.” Miki covered her head with her arms. “The man fucks like a god.”

“Not everybody can be loved by Thor.”

Miki lifted her head just enough to glare at her friend. “Shut up.”

“So… am I happy or sad for you?”

“Christ, Sara, I don’t know. I wasn’t exactly planning on having a baby… you know… ever.”

Sara suddenly became serious and Miki raised her head to look at her.

“You know,
Mik
, no matter what you decide, I’ll stand behind you. Always.”

Miki almost burst into tears again. And she never cried. But knowing that Sara would always be there for her meant more than she could ever say. She wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands. “That means a lot to me. But I think… I think…”

“You want to keep it, don’t you?”

“I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because I’m going to end up like my mother. Alone. Struggling with a baby.”

“Okay. First off, never ever worry about that. I’ve always got your back,
Mik
. And my potential niece or nephew will always be taken care of.
Always
. So that’s not even an issue. And you know Angie feels the same way.” Miki wiped her eyes again. She really hoped she was pregnant; otherwise, she was becoming an emotional mess for no reason. “And second, you’ll never be alone. You’ve always got me. You’ve always got Angie. And you’ll always have the Pack.”

Miki snorted at that. “Are you kidding? They’re only nice to me because of you.”

“That’s a load of shit.” Sara stood up and grabbed a box of chocolate from off the counter behind her. “They like you.”

“Yeah. Right.” Kelly and Julie pushed the glass doors open and walked in. They were both naked having, Miki assumed, just shifted.
If I’m going to stay, I guess I’ll have to get used to this whole naked thing
.

She started as soon as she realized what she had just been thinking.

“Hey,
Mik
. You’re back.”

“Yeah. I’m back.”

“Well, me and Julie are
hittin
’ an after-hours club tonight. You should come. It’ll be a blast. We’ll celebrate you being all PhD and shit.”

Miki laughed. “Thanks. I’ll let you know.”

“Cool.” Kelly grabbed a handful of cookies from a bag off the counter while Julie grabbed two glasses and a gallon of milk. They disappeared through the kitchen door and then came back two seconds later.

Kelly sniffed the air. “Oh, my god! Who’s pregnant?”

***

Conall
had his head buried under the covers, but Zach just wouldn’t leave. “I mean, how attached can you be to her?”

“I marked her and she’s carrying my baby!” He barked from under his comforter.

“You breeders never fail to make me laugh.”

“Just because you want to be childless…”

“Sara and I prefer child
free
.”

“You’re an asshole, Sheridan.”

“Yeah. I know. And she loves me anyway.”

Conall
brought his head from under the covers. “And you love her?”

“More than anything.”

“Why?”

Zach smiled. “Because she puts up with my shit without taking my crap.”

“Miki calls me Viking.”

“Well, she definitely has your number. All those other bitches bought into your sweet act. That always drove me nuts. You always got more pussy than me.”

“That could be cause you were always a sarcastic asshole. Next to you, I always seem like the ‘nice one.’ Besides, I would do anything not to be like my family.”

“You keep forgetting that
we
are your family. Not those crazed idiots. Besides, I’d kick the shit out of you if you started acting like them.”

Without knocking, nine of his Pack mates, all male, walked into his bedroom. Mac Sumner leaned against the dresser. “So. You knocked her up, huh?”

With a growl,
Conall
pulled the comforter back over his head. Suddenly, he wished he were an orphan.

***

“Well, you have to think about this logically.”

Miki didn’t know when this became a town meeting of the Pack females, but before she realized it twelve of them had joined the conversation. Five she’d never even met before. They all had opinions and they all were supportive. It was the wackiest thing she’d ever experienced. They treated her as if she were one of them and as if this problem was theirs to solve as much as it was hers.

“How logically? Either she loves him or she doesn’t. Either she wants to stay with him or she doesn’t.” Kelly, thankfully now dressed, was short like her. But she was as feisty as a mini-Pinscher on six cups of espresso, and had a low voice like rough sandpaper.

“It’s all so black and white for you.” Patty snapped. “Maybe she doesn’t think that way. You always forget that humans think differently.”

“Bullshit. Miki’s more wolf than a lot of us.”

Miki looked over at Sara. She too was clearly enjoying the way this conversation was going. The women had already wrestled the box of chocolate from Sara and now all the females were partaking. Miki desperately resisted the urge to remind them that dogs shouldn’t eat chocolate. “Look,” some chick named Ronnie cut in. “This gets us nowhere. We should just ask her if she loves him.”

They all turned to her.

Miki stared at them. She had just admitted this truth to herself. She wasn’t sure she was ready to announce it to a room full of strangers.

Sara reached over and handed Miki a piece of chocolate. “It’s got walnuts.”

Miki took the chocolate and stared at it. “Thanks.”

“You love him, don’t you
Mik
?”

With an anguished groan, Miki shoved the chocolate in her mouth and put her head back on the table.

“There’s no shame in loving Thor.” And she could hear the humor in Sara’s voice. “He’s the god of thunder.”

***

“I think we’re avoiding the most important question here. What matters most. What means the most to men like us.”

Conall
growled at Billy
Dunwich’s
sincere face. “I am
not
telling you if she swallows.”

Dunwich
smiled. “Just tell me if she’s a good girl… or if she’s a
very
good girl?”

***

Sara ended the call on her cell. “I left Angie a message. She’ll probably call you later.”

“She’s just going to give me shit.”

“That’s her job. Mine is to be the supportive friend.”

“Well, supportive friend. What the hell should I do?”

“How the hell should I know?”

“I knew it! You send me off into the desert then leave me alone to die. I should have never listened to you and Angelina. As soon as those fangs started coming out, I should have run for the hills.” Miki glanced up when the room fell silent. “What?”

“What do you mean his fangs came out?”

Damn
. She really needed to watch what she said and when. Of course, that only took her twenty-nine years to discover. She cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Sometimes his eyes would change and his fangs would come out.”

Sara leaned forward. “During sex or when you pissed him off?”

She again glanced around the room filled with Pack females. “Um… well, both. Sometimes.” Miki reared back when the chanting began. “Miki! Miki! Miki!” Now she was completely confused. “What?
What
?”

Sara had jumped out of her chair. “Dude. You got the guy to extend his fangs during sex. That’s amazing!”

Kelly appeared equally impressed. “We’re trained from pre-teen years to control that since a lot of us have relationships with humans without them ever knowing. We fuck ‘
em
, but we don’t necessarily mate with ‘
em
. Anyway, it’s really rare for us to…you know… ‘bust out’ during sex. Even with each other.”

“So, if you actually got him to lose control that much…” Ronnie shook her head.

“And this is
Conall
we’re talking about. He doesn’t lose it. Ever.” The females actually high-
fived
each other.

“Wait. Wait.” Sara quieted them all down. “So,
Mik
. What about you?”

“What about me?”

Sara placed her hands flat against the wood table and raised an eyebrow. Miki had a feeling she was getting even with her for the rave comment from four days earlier.
Bitch
. “Was your reaction equally as
enthusiastic
as his seemed to be?”

Miki stared at the women, then buried her head back in her arms. She heard Kelly’s voice. “Ladies, I do believe we have a screamer.”

Her cheeks were burning so bad she was sure they were about to burst into flame. “I hate all of you.”

***

“She’s a piece of ass, but once she pumps out a kid, that ass is going to go.”
Conall
glared at Jake. He wondered whether it would really be morally wrong to kill the man.

“I don’t care.”
Conall
moved his glare to Zach. He blamed him for this. “If it was only about her ass, trust me I would have fucked her and walked away by now.”

“How could any wolf walk away,” that from
Dunwich
. “The woman took on a hyena clan. She set them on
fire
. Personally, I’d rather have her on our side.”

Zach shrugged. “Then it sounds to me like you love her. And if you love her, then just tell her she belongs to you and she just needs to get over it. Show her who’s in charge. That’s what I did with Sara.”

Zach seemed less than pleased when they all laughed so hard that
Conall
actually fell off the bed.

***

Miki glanced up as Patty put a glass of milk in front of her. She stared at it in confusion because she hadn’t asked for milk. Patty shrugged and answered her unasked question. “Well, if you’re going to keep it, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to drink milk and stuff.”

“We’ll have to get books. You know. On pregnancy and shit.” Kelly offered.

“And I’m in for the delivery room.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Me too.”

Miki couldn’t believe it. These women were volunteering to be in the delivery room with her. To help her without her even asking. So this was what it meant to be part of a Pack. She felt that sudden urge to cry again, but it disappeared as soon as the wolf females looked at Sara.

Miki knew what her best friend was going to say before it left her mouth. She wasn’t wolf, but she could smell the panic and fear coming off the woman. “You must be
fuckin
’ kidding me! Sorry Kendrick, you’re on your own once that water breaks.”

***

“You know. This is bullshit.”

Conall
didn’t like the sound of that as Zach straightened up and headed for the door. “I’ll tell her she’s staying.”

The males looked at each other then they charged after Zach. As
Conall
followed, he could see his future with Miki slipping through his hands.

***

“And what about my career?
Conridge
offered me a teaching position.”

Sara smirked. “First off. You hate teaching. You hate college kids. And second, Northern California has gotten really progressive and they actually have a few colleges. Some universities too. This state is making quite a name for itself academically.”

Miki gave Sara the finger as the females began laughing. But when Zach,
Conall
, and a group of Pack males walked in, all conversation stopped.

Zach looked at Sara. “What?”

Sara’s eyes narrowed. “Just wondering what you want?”

“What makes you think we want anything? This is my
fuckin
’ kitchen, too.”