Mistakenly Mated Read Online Free PDF Page B

a minute, feeling weary all over. A large woman pushing a baby buggy bumped her, sending Kerry spinning into the news dispenser next to the door. Without giving her a backwards glance, the woman went on with her day.
    Kerry straightened herself up, the little jolt of pain to her side was all the permission she needed to burst into tears. Several people turned to look at her but she just slid along the wall of the building, ignoring them until she turned the corner into the service alley out of their sight. She crouched down and let herself bawl for a little while. She let her emotions flow out of her.
    In time she would forget about Dick and how much he meant to her, how much she cared for him and still did. Part of her wanted to go right back inside to him or to find his car and wait, to apologize and tell him she hadn’t meant it but she had. It was over now—whatever it could have been. Her body yearned for Caleb.
    Kerry moved away from the mouth of the alley to crouch behind the dumpster. Dick drove them out there so she would have to make her own way home. She took a Wal-Mart bag from her back pocket that she kept for emergencies and shucked her shoes.
    She peered around her to make sure she was alone before stripping off every last stitch and putting it into the bag. She crouched down and let her other form take over. Her bones broke and reformed, the pain was small after many years of doing it. Her face went numb as it elongated into a wolves muzzle. Her eyes sharpened, her nose became keener, her teeth became fangs. Her tail curled up from her spine and it was like the fur rose up from inside her skin. It always felt like the process was done in stages, in slow motion when it only took a couple of seconds. A fur coat in a summer this hot wasn’t the best idea but she could cover much more ground in a faster time as a wolf.
    Kerry shook out her coat and panted for a while adjusting to the heat before taking the handles of the carrier bag between her teeth and heading for home.
    * * * *
    Kerry trotted into the yard at about four o’clock. The car was still gone which meant her father was still at work and it should be just her mother in the house. Kerry slunk around to the back door and in through the large doggie door in the back wall of the house. Kerry’s mother was washing dishes in the sink with her back to the little door when Kerry came in. She skirted around the kitchen island to stay out of her sight and off to the side into the little wash room. Standing on her hind legs she deposited her bag of dirty clothes into the basket on top which contained other dirty laundry to be washed.
    Kerry pressed her snout around the door jamb and peered into the kitchen to see what her mother was doing. Her hands were still in the soapy water and she was looking out the window into the woods at the side of the house. Kerry darted out to behind the island, making careful steps to the other side and preparing herself to dart for the kitchen door.
    “Kerry Ann Bradley. Do you think I can’t see you? You come out from behind there, young lady.”
    Kerry whimpered and, bowing her head, stalked out from behind the island. Her mother stood with her hands on her hips, suds dripping from her fingers, and tapping her foot.
    “What are you doing sneaking into the house like that? It’s the middle of the day. What if someone saw you? You know better.”
    Kerry sat on her haunches and crossed her paws over her nose, whimpering sadly.
    Her mother tilted her head and her expression softened. “I take it something happened. What’s wrong, baby girl?”
    Kerry just whimpered, lying down on the ground and putting her paws over her ears. Her mother bent down in front of her and patted her head.
    “You talked to Dick I take it. I’m sorry honey, really I am. I liked the boy but this is the way of our people. Go on up and take a shower. We’ll talk when you come down.”
    Kerry trotted up the stairs, slowly turning into her human form