Then it hit him. Right between the eyes. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before.

“Hyena!” he barked out triumphantly.

Conall turned away only to come face-to-face with Craig.

“Hey.”

Conall nodded. “Hey.”

They stared at each other for another moment, then Conall walked off, positive the man watched him sniff the door like a bomb-detection dog that had located a nuclear weapon. He wouldn’t worry about that now. He was too busy thinking about hyenas. The natural enemies of lions.

Conall never believed in coincidences and he wasn’t about to start now. He remembered the professor’s name on the door. “Leucrotta”. He’d have to ask Miki about him.

Conridge crossed her long legs and stared down her nose at Miki. “Well, I believe you are as ready as you’re ever going to be.”

Of course, that was better than what she’d told other grad students—“Pass you? You’re lucky I haven’t killed you.”

“Anything else I should do?”

“You reserved a classroom, yes?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you double-checked that all committee members know the time and place?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Then, Miss Kendrick, you should be all set. Just make sure you’re ready to seriously defend your thesis. This isn’t the time for you to get tongue-tied. Although I’m certain if that happens then life as we know it will cease to exist.”

Miki smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”

“So go get some rest and I’ll see you on Friday at three-thirty.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Miki stood and gathered all her papers together. She knew Conridge watched her, but she was too afraid to ask why. The woman was the true Dragon Lady.

“So, Miss Kendrick, who was that nice young fellow you were fondling on the steps?”

Miki dropped the half ream of paper that represented the last version of her thesis. Going to her knees, she quickly began to scoop the papers together. She’d worry about order later. Anything to stop this conversation. No way would she talk about the weirdness going on between her and Conall. She didn’t understand it so how could she explain it to others? She especially wasn’t going to explain it to Professor Conridge. Phi Beta Kappa. Rhode Scholar. And all around bitch.

“Just a friend, ma’am.” Anytime she was around Conridge, Miki felt like she was in the military. Yes ma’am. No ma’am. Please don’t flunk me, ma’am.

“Do you get forced against walls by all your friends?” Holy shit, how much did this woman see? Or, even worse, hear?

She felt her face getting red. “We were just talking, ma’am.”

“I see. Tobe honest, I’m amazed you could get him behind those stairs. He is a big boy. Even for Pack.”

Miki had half her papers gathered together, but she dropped them on the floor again. Sitting back on her haunches, she stared up at Conridge. “I’m sorry—what?”

The woman smiled and came around to the front of her desk. She slid onto the top of it grabbing a silver picture frame and handing it to Miki.

“My husband. Niles Van Holtz. Of the Van Holtz Pack.”

Miki didn’t know what shocked her more. The fact that Conridge’s husband was Pack? Or the fact that she actually had a husband? She gawked at the picture. The man was gorgeous, she’d give the woman that. It was a picture of Conridge, her husband and four happy-looking kids.

She blinked. “Van Holtz?” Then she frowned. “Of the Van Holtz restaurant chain?” She’d never been in one of those restaurants. You had to be as rich as God to be able to afford a side dish.

The woman rolled her eyes and smirked, seemingly embarrassed by it all. But not by the fact that her mate pissed on trees and could scratch his ear with his back leg. That didn’t seem to faze her.

“Is that why you offered to be my supervisor?”

“Of course. I know how hard it is to be human among shifters. And I heard about your friend becoming Alpha Leader of the Magnus Pack. I also heard about your involvement in the Pride war. I’m impressed. I always knew you were smart. I never doubted that. I simply had no idea the damage you could do. You’ll make him a good mate.”

Miki stood up. “What? Conall? No. I’m not going to be his mate. Ever.”

Conridge appeared confused. “Why ever not?”

“Because.”

“Because…why?”

“Because I’m not getting that involved with him.” Exactly how many times would she have to explain this to people? And why did they keep freakin’ asking her?

“But you do realize he looked at you kind of the way Niles still looks at me. And, gosh, we’ve been together now more than twenty years.” She had the warmest expression on her face and Miki realized she was seeing another side of this woman. Conridge loved the man she spoke of. A lot. Miki suddenly regretted calling her a “cocksucker” when Conridge kicked back the first draft of Miki’s thesis with so many red marks the paper looked like it had a bleeding disease.

“But Conall doesn’t feel that way about me.”

“And you know this because you are so in tune with normal society.”

Conridge was right. Miki wouldn’t know normal if it came up and spit in her face. And she was starting to feel that no matter what she did or how hard she tried, she would never be normal.