Cats And Dogs: A Shifter Novella (2 page)

“
I’m sorry, Aunt Edith. It wasn’t
Agnes’ fault. I was just-”

Axel walked up behind her. “She was just
talking me into buying 50 gallons of paint to repaint our barn,”
Axel said smoothly. “She’s very persuasive.”

Edith’s mouth opened and shut, and then she
forced her mouth into a smile.  It looked unnatural and
frankly quite frightening on her.

“
Well, she sure is,” she said in a
sugary voice. “She’s one of our best workers.”

Axel glanced at Belle. “So I’ll pick you up
tomorrow night after work? About six o’clock?”

Edith shot Belle a look of alarm. “Certainly
not!” she interjected, before Belle could answer. She rushed over,
standing between Belle and Axel.  “She’s working late tomorrow
night.”

“
Since when?” Agnes said
indignantly, and Edith shot her a poisonous look, a look that said
 “I’ll deal with you later, missy.” Belle shook her head at
Agnes frantically, but Agnes ignored her. Agnes always had a big
heart and a protective streak where Belle came in...and no comon
sense.

“
Since we need to do inventory.”
Icicles dripped from Edith’s voice.

“
We did inventory last week. You
just don’t want her to go out with him.” Agnes folded her arms and
stared at Edith defiantly.

“
The night after tomorrow, then,”
Axel said.

“
She’s working late every night
this week,” Edith informed him. “And then she’s going straight home
right after work.  It’s time you should go now,” she added,
glancing at the door and then at him. “You can send someone else to
pick up that paint.”

“
No, I’m not,” Belle spoke up,
suddenly emboldened. “I’m not working late every night this week. I
work here six days a week, and I deserve a break. I will work late
all the other nights if you want me too,  I’ll work on my day
off, but not tomorrow night.” She turned to Axel. “Tomorrow night
at 6:15 would be perfect, thank you.”

Axel nodded, glanced at Edith with a skeptical
eye, and turned and walked out of the store.

As soon as the door closed behind
him, Edith whirled around to glare at Belle.  “You deserve a
break? A break?” Edith’s voice rose, her eyes sparking with fury.
“After everything we’ve ever done for you, taking you in as an
orphan, all the money we’ve spent to feed and clothe you – you
deserve a break?”

“
Everybody deserves a break some
time,” Belle said, in a quiet but determined voice.

“
You will work when I say you work.
And cats and dogs do not mix. You are not going out on a date with
that werewolf.”

“
Yes, I am,” Belle said firmly. Her
stomach churned with fear, but her aunt and uncle had pushed her to
the breaking point. It was one thing to make her work six days a
week…but to tell her that she wasn’t allowed to have a night off,
to go out on a date, ever?

It didn’t even make sense.  Up until this
month, her aunt and uncle never cared where she was when she wasn’t
working – as long as she showed up on time and worked all day, they
could care less what she did with her free time.  

But suddenly, two weeks ago, that had changed.
They’d started calling and checking on her constantly, complaining
when she went over to Agnes’ house, wanting to know where she was
and what she was doing every minute that she wasn’t at the store or
on their farm.  

It was too much. She could barely tolerate her
life as it was. She lived for her few free moments, when she spent
time with Agnes or raced through the woods in panther form. Being
told that she  had to spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
watched over by her aunt and uncle was just unbearable.

“
If you go out with him, I will
fire Agnes. And I will make sure that she never gets another job in
this town. I can do that, you know,” Edith smiled nastily as fear
swept over Belle’s face. “I have considerable influence
here.”

“
What?” Belle gasped. “That – that
doesn’t even make sense! Please don’t fire Agnes – she hasn’t done
anything!”

“
This is ridiculous,” Agnes said
loyally. “She’s not your slave. She deserves time off.”

“
That’s it, young lady. You’re
fired. And if you ever want another job in this town-“

“
If you fire Agnes, I quit too,”
Belle blurted out. “See if you can find someone else to work sixty
hours a week for free.”

“
What?” Agnes cried out, shocked.
Edith’s face turned red with anger, as a cluster of customers who’d
been browsing through the bins and avidly eavesdropping all
swiveled to stare at her.

There. It was out.  And Belle didn’t
care. She felt as if the walls were closing in on her, as if the
little store were a prison from which she’d never
escape.

“
Well, that’s just not true at
all,” Edith said, switching to the light, high voice that she used
when she was lying. “We pay her a very generous salary!”

Suddenly the front door banged open, and Axel
stomped in, followed by his two cousins. He’d apparently been
standing on the porch the whole time, eavesdropping on the
conversation with his supersonic wolf hearing.

“
You don’t pay her? You don’t let
her go to school, and you force her to work for you, for
free?”

“
She’s a liar!” Edith hissed, eyes
swiveling around the store.

“
Really?” Axel drawled. “Because a
minute ago, she was your best employee.”

“
Belle, why didn’t you tell me? My
god.” Agnes looked horrified.

“
This sounds like something that
needs to be reported to the Panther Council,” Axel said, in a
low, dangerous voice.

The council oversaw all disputes and all
matters that related to panthers in the state of Montana. Each race
of shifters in every state had their own council.

“
You’re a wolf, not a panther. You
can mind your own damned business,” Edith said, her voice rising
with an undertone of panic now. “And I’ll have you know we took her
in when she was an orphan. We gave her a home, raised her like she
was one of our own, fed her and clothed her –“

“
You mean you gave her your kids’
hand-me-downs and treated her like crap,” Agnes said heatedly. “And
big deal, you fed her. She’s family, that’s what you’re supposed to
do. And you live on a freaking farm. Food’s free for
you.”

“
Get out of my store,” Edith
hissed. “Never come back.”

“
Wait!” Belle cried. “Please –
don’t fire her. I won’t go out with Axel.” She saw the look of hurt
and dismay on Axel’s face, and wanted to cry. But if her aunt
wanted to make Agnes’ life hell, she could easily do that – and
Belle couldn’t let that happen.

Edith turned to Agnes, a scowl stamped on her
face.

“
This is your one last chance,” she
snarled at Agnes. “Watch your tongue, and stay out of my family’s
business.”

Agnes, face pale, turned and
walked to the back of the store without a word. She began
straightening out a display rack with sharp, angry
movements.

“
You’ll have to leave now,” Belle
said to Axel, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

“
I’m not leaving you to be abused
by this monster,” Axel shook his head in protest. Edith let out a
sharp hiss of rage, and her claws shot out of her
fingertips.

“
Please,” Belle pleaded. “Please
go. Don’t come back. You’ll only make it worse.”

Axel nodded reluctantly, but he shot Edith an
angry glare. “This isn’t over,” he told her. And he turned and
walked out of the store, with his cousins following him.

Belle braced herself for more verbal abuse
from her aunt, but Edith surprised her by turning and walking into
her office, and slamming the door behind her.

The rest of the day at work was
torture. Edith came back out and watched Belle and Agnes with an
eagle eye, taking her anger out on Agnes with a continual stream of
insults, muttered just low enough that the customers couldn’t hear
them – but Agnes and Belle could.

Knowing that she could never talk
to Axel again hurt her deeply, like a bruise deep inside her that
would never heal. Something had flared up inside her when Axel had
flirted with her, a fierce, primitive joy she’d never experienced
before. Being forcibly separated from him felt like one of her
limbs had been torn off. It made no sense, she barely knew him, but
her reaction to him when he looked in her eyes earlier had been
instant and primal.

When they closed up shop, Belle
and Agnes followed Edith outside. Edith’s husband Jeb had pulled up
in front of the store and Edith glared at Belle and gestured at his
pickup truck.

“
Get in,” Edith bit out the words
as if they tasted foul.

Belle stared in shock, looking
from Jeb to Edith in bewilderment. They never offered her a ride
home, even in deepest winter when the snow was piled high on the
ground. She always shifted into panther room and ran the three
miles to their farm, which was on the outskirts of town. It was the
best part of her day; she was completely free, the wind and the sun
caressing her, with all the scents and sounds of the forests
rushing through her.

“
I…I don’t need a ride. I can run
home,” she protested.

“
I’ve had enough of your
disrespect. Get in the truck if you want your friend to be able to
set foot in any business in this town,” Edith 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.

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.”