Accidentally Catty Read Online Free PDF Page A

you last saw it. But no worries,” she assured. “It’s all fine. Or at least it will be.”
    Wanda used her shoulder to push open the heavy oak-stained door a crack. “Okay, now, take a deep breath.”
    Katie complied, ignoring the rumbly growl from just beyond the door.
    Wanda’s smile was pleased and warm. “Good. Now here goes. First, look at your left pa . . . uh, hand.” She reached for it, holding it up with her delicate fingers, and relieving Katie of the incredible weight of it. “Do you see what I see, Katie?”
    Oh, Jesus, oh, Jesus, oh, Jesus! Her wince was riddled with painful acknowledgment. “I—” She cleared her throat. “I see.” She saw. Oh. Lord. She saw.
    Wanda’s smooth complexion and clear eyes wrinkled at the corners. “That’s not a hand, is it, Katie?”
    Her stomach lurched. “N—no.”
    “It’s a paw, Katie.”
    Well, now that she’d said it out loud, fine—it was a paw. She knew a paw when she saw one. She’d treated all sorts of paws in her fifteen years of practice. Infected paws, torn paw pads, paws, paws, paws.
    Here a paw, there a paw, everywhere a paw-paw.
    And it was a heavy one, too. Each time she lifted it, it fell back to her side like some sad, limp brick.
    Wanda tilted her chin up, and Katie supposed it was to refocus her straying thoughts. “Katie?”
    “Yes. It’s a paw.”
    Her smile acknowledged her pleasure. “Good job! Now, I want you to use your non-pawed hand to run a finger over your teeth. Can you do that?”
    Instantly, Katie’s fingers went to the source of the trouble she’d had clamping her jaw. A tentative finger ran along the lower set of teeth in her mouth. Had she already called the Lord’s name in vain? She didn’t want to abuse the privilege, but Jesus !
    “Do you feel that, Katie?”
    She did. She felt the elongation of two of her bottom teeth. “I do.”
    “That’s not normal, is it, Katie? I mean, when you woke up today, you didn’t have those, did you?”
    No. No, and no. These were a magically delicious surprise as of early this evening. Katie shook her head in confirmation.
    Wanda’s smile was of approval—the kind you gave small children when they said “please” or “thank you” appropriately. “Good. Okay, now we’re going to go into this examining room. We’ll talk about all the other things that have occurred in due time, but for now, I think we need to talk about the potential source of your troubles. You good with that?”
    No. Yet, stoic reserve took over. “Okay,” was all she managed.
    Wanda gave her a tug, a gentle one she refused to lean into. “It’s okay, Katie. I promise. Nothing will hurt you. Trust me when I tell you, Nina and I can handle whatever might arise. Now c’mon,” she coaxed. Wanda’s tug was harder this time, making Katie, whose legs were like soft-serve ice cream, cave. Kaih was right behind her, bracing a hand against her waist.
    Katie’s eyes grew wide, her mouth falling open. Which was okay, considering all that extra enamel between her lips had become a lot to manage without drooling.
    “Do you see what I see, Katie?”
    Well, sure. “Yes.”
    “What do you see?”
    Nina knocked Wanda in the arm, her impatience obviously getting the better of her. “Lay off the show-and-tell, Wanda.”
    Katie reflected on what she saw. When this had all gone down earlier this evening, the animal she and her two loyal employees had all but dragged into her clinic and hoisted into a large cage with much grunting and moaning had been . . . Oh. My. Hell.
    “Nina,” Wanda said in a strained warning. “Clamp it. Tell me, Katie, when you helped the animal outside your clinic earlier this evening, did it look like this?”
    “No!” Ingrid shouted, jolting Katie’s nerves from head to toe. “We helped a cougar. We thought he was an injured cougar. He was unconscious, but otherwise unharmed. Dr. Woods had us haul him in here so she could examine him because she thought he looked