He chuckled. “Not sure you said enough reallys.”

She felt the dampness of his T-shirt. “Why are you wet?”

“Wind shifted. I had to use someone’s pool to get them off my scent.”

“Smart. So what did you find out? Was Conridge right?”

“They’re more than barbaric. They’re scary. Scarier than I remember. Maybe you could do some research on that computer of yours. See what else you can find out.”

But she already had some knowledge, so why wait? Miki closed her eyes. She could visualize one of her favorite books. Encyclopedia of Mammals. She saw the pages turn as if she had the book in her lap. She flipped to the section on hyenas and read what was there.

“They’re matriarchal. Extremely aggressive, which we already know. They don’t get along like wolves or Pride, though. There is a lot of in-fighting. Well, this explains a lot. The male-female sex organs look very similar. At one time it was believed they were hermaphrodites, but they’re not. Oooh.”

“What?”

“The cubs are born with a full set of teeth and they start fighting from the time they are pushed out of the womb. Sometimes two will fight while the mother is cleaning off a third. How freaking interesting is that?”

Conall frowned. He should be mad. She’d mistaken a golden retriever for him. Not even a German shepherd or a husky, but a golden. But he was too busy loving the feel of her arms wrapped around his waist and the sudden realization she just pulled hyena knowledge out of her pretty tight ass.

“How exactly did you know all that?”

“I have a good memory.”

“It sounded like you were reading from a book. You were, weren’t you?” He could feel her get uneasy. “You just read a book in your head, didn’t you?”

“I’m not sure what you—”

“Exactly how high is your IQ anyway?”

Miki cleared her throat. “One hundred and seventy-eight.”

Last he heard one hundred and forty was hitting genius level. Damn.

“Why didn’t you go to some special school or something?”

“My grandmother didn’t believe in them. But I always took advanced classes and some college courses.” Her body was tense against his. She was waiting for some kind of weird repercussion to her admission. She didn’t seem to realize he really could give a shit. As far as he was concerned this only meant their kids would be smart shapeshifters.

“Well, so you don’t get too cocky, I myself often complete the TV Guide crossword puzzle.” He puffed out his chest. “In pen.”

Miki burst out laughing. He loved making her laugh. Her entire body became involved. Kind of like when she had an orgasm.

Conall kissed her forehead. “Let’s get out of here before they—oh,shit.”

“What?” She pulled out of his arms and turned to see what he was looking at. Not a pretty sight. The hyenas had done something he’d never seen before and he hoped to never see again.

They’d sent their children to hunt them.

Six of them stood in the middle of the street in front of her and Conall. A quick look behind them and Miki saw three more.

It was broad daylight in a nice, quiet suburban neighborhood. Yet she felt trapped in a desert in the dead of night.

Miki didn’t mince words. “Let’s get in the car and run the fuckers down.”

Conall gaped at her. “They’re kids. I can’t hit kids. And I’m really hoping you can’t either.”

Miki sighed. No. She couldn’t mow down a bunch of kids. But she wished she could. Because they may be children, but they were the scariest fucking things she’d ever seen. She always wondered what kind of kids were homeschooled. These guys must make up a huge percentage. She had a feeling the fangs they were showing couldn’t retract until they were much older.

“Fine. You want to be Mr. Nice Guy and not hit the kids, then that leaves only one option.”

“Which is?”

She quickly snatched the door open to the SUV, dived inside to dig into her backpack, and pulled out her house keys.

“Now I don’t want you to take this personally,” she ordered as she scrambled back out.

Conall didn’t look at her, too busy watching the slowly advancing cubs. “Take what personally?”

Miki pulled off the small plastic controller attached to her keys. She showed it to him.

“Stop the Bark?” He smirked even as his canine teeth extended and his eyes shifted to wolf. “You’re kidding, right? That may work with that golden you were loving up, but I doubt it will do much to the rest of us.”

Miki cleared her throat. “I amped it up a bit in case those full-blooded wolves got a little cranky Sara wasn’t around anymore.” She pushed the button and hoped Conall could forgive her.

He went down first. His hands over his ears, his fangs bared, a howl torn from his throat. Then the hyenas went down screaming. Even the adult females watching from the sidelines hit the ground, their androgynous bodies writhing in pain. To Miki it was silent. She couldn’t hear anything and she felt nothing.

Well, at least now she knew it worked.

Miki grabbed Conall by the neck of his T-shirt and tugged, hoping he could manage to get up since she’d never be able to lift him by herself. He dragged himself up and crawled into the SUV. She followed, her finger still on the button. She adjusted the seat so her feet reached the gas pedal, and then she started the SUV. She finally released the button as she drove off, making sure to avoid the cubs lying in the street.