“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.
Whoa! What the hell am I 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!” Conall barked from under his comforter.
“You breeders never fail to make me laugh.”
“Just because you want to be childless—”
“Sara and I prefer childfree.”
“You’re an asshole, Sheridan.”
“Yeah. I know. And she loves me anyway.”
Conall brought his head up 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. Even be nice.”
“You keep forgetting that we are your family. Not those crazed idiots. And we both know, 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 were all 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 were 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 Mindy 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 only going to give me shit.”
“That’s her job. Mine is to be the supportive friend.”