Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella Read Free Page A

grated
out.

    Anger flared in Agnes’ eyes, and it looked as
if she were about to protest, but Belle quickly held up her hand to
ward her off.

    “ It’s fine,” she said in a low,
hopeless voice, and clambered into the truck.

Chapter Three

    Her uncle Jeb, an older shifter with a paunch
that rested on his lap, shot her a dirty look as soon as she
climbed in. As the truck took off, the harangue started.
    “ Ungrateful…dirty, rude,
disrespectful cub…teach you a lesson you won’t forget…knew it was a
mistake to take you in…learn how to address your betters…” she
stared at her lap, hands clenched, and struggled to block out as
much of the vicious verbal tongue lashing as she could.

    She closed her eyes and summoned up a picture
of her parents, of her mother reading her bedtime stories, of their
family runs through the forest, swimming in the sweet cool waters
of the river behind their house…the memories were warm and sweet.
She wrapped them around her like a comfortable wool blanket,
shielding out the sharp, stabbing words that spewed from her
uncle’s mouth.

    The truck abruptly stopped.
Belle’s eyes flew open. They were in front of the three story gray
clapboard house where Belle had spent the last 10 years of her
life. Her room was in the attic.

    “ Are you listening to me?” her
uncle Jeb bellowed.

    Axel’s face flashed through her mind, and
sorrow choked her. “No,” she snapped.

    “ You’d better show your uncle some
respect if you don’t want your friend to suffer,” her aunt said
coldly.

    Belle’s stomach twisted in knots as she threw
open the truck door, scrambled out, and stalked into the house,
heading for the kitchen.

    Her aunt and uncle followed her,
and as she reached for the kitchen door, her uncle slammed his hand
against it.

    “ You don’t eat our food until you
learn proper manners,” her uncle snarled.

    Belle stared at him in astonishment. “You
don’t pay me a cent, I have no other way to get food, and you are
refusing to let me even eat at your house? So you’re planning to
starve me to death?”

    Furious, she turned and stomped up the stairs
leading up to her room. Her stomach rumbled with hunger and her
hands shook.

    When she got to her room, she
slammed her door shut and locked it, then threw herself on her bed.
She buried her face in her pillow, and cried, long and hard, the
sobs shaking her body. Her life felt unbearable. How much longer
could she go on like this?

    She heard footsteps pounding up
the stairs and stood up quickly, wiping at her face as she walked
across the room to unlock the door.

    Her aunt stood there, glowering at her.
“You’re grounded. You go nowhere but work, and you come straight
home, with us, after work. Now hand me your cell phone.”

    “ My cell phone?” her jaw
dropped.

    Agnes had scraped together the money to buy
her a cheap pre-paid cell phone as a Christmas present. She’d never
had a cell phone before. Sadly, Agnes was her only contact in it,
but still…

    Her jaw set stubbornly. “No. Agnes gave it to
me. It’s mine. I’m not giving it to you.”

    “ I would think, for Agnes’ sake,
you’d want to do as you’re told.” Her aunt’s small eyes were
bulging with fury.

    Slowly, Belle shoved her hand into her pocket
to fetch the cell phone, but then Axel’s face flashed through her
mind again, and somehow she found the mere thought of him gave her
strength she didn’t know she had.

    “ No,” she said loudly. “So you’ll
fire Agnes if I date Axel, you’ll fire her if I don’t listen to my
uncle insult me, you’ll fire her if I don’t get in your pickup
truck, and now you’ll fire her if I don’t give you the cell phone
that belongs to ME? You’re going to fire her anyway, it’s obvious.
I should have realized it before. So forget it. No. It’s my
phone.”

    Her aunt’s jaw dropped and a look of
astonishment swept over her face as Belle slammed the door shut in
her face and locked it