Mistakenly Mated (9 page)

The cloth felt cool as it glided over Kerry’s skin. She felt the pain the second it touched the wound and had to look at the long gash in her side which ran from the front of her body to the back. It would heal but it would be a nasty pink scar—even her healing couldn’t prevent that.

“It’s not that bad so why did I pass out?”

“Shock and blood loss. I don’t know what they teach you nowadays but we are still mostly human.” Her mother re-covered the wound with fresh gauze and bandages, easing Kerry down onto her back so that she could see her face.

“You scared us, honey. You have to be really careful until the moon. We don’t want to lose you.”

Kerry closed her eyes. “I don’t remember much of what happened. Dick and Caleb were fighting. I broke them apart and then
bam
I was hit. How did I get home?”

The phone rang on her night stand. Kerry’s mother looked at the caller ID before picking it up.

“Hello Paulie. Yes, yes. She’s awake now. I’ll let you talk to her if she’s up to it.”

Kerry looked at her mother and gently nodded her head.

Her mother covered the mouthpiece with her palm. “He and Susan have been alternating calling every two hours since last night. Try to sit up and I will let you have the phone.”

Kerry pushed herself up, wincing a little. When she was up enough, her mother passed over the phone and gave her some privacy by taking the bloodied water to be drained.

“Kerry. O.M.G. Are you alright? Tell me you’re alright. Talk to me. Kerry?”

“Sorry. I was waiting for you to take a breath so I could get a word in,” she said with a smile.

He huffed. “Well, you sound just fine.”

“I’m doing alright. Momma says it’s not that bad, just creased my side. I’m so sorry to scare you guys. What happened after I passed out?”

“Susan and I came out to check on things and found Caleb and Dick leaning over you. We thought they’d killed you. Caleb lifted you up—all dashing prince style,” he said. There was a note of disdain in his voice. “Carried you to his car, and laid you out on the back seat. Susan went back to get Luka and we all followed him back to your house. Your daddy threw a shit fit when Caleb carried you in. Dick went running in after. Your Momma carried you upstairs and your daddy laid both of them out on the floor.”

Kerry placed a hand to her forehead and then shook her head back and forth. Her father needed to find better outlets for his anger.

“He yelled at them to get the hell out of his house and never come back but they both wouldn’t budge. We got to the door and it looked like Caleb and your daddy were going to go
mano a mano,
so we booked it out of there. No one messes with your old man when he’s got a head of steam on.”

“Did any of you see anything? Know who shot me?”

“No. I’d tear the son of bitch a new one. Susan was crying all over Luka. He had to drive in the end ‘cause she wouldn’t stop blubbering.”

Kerry smiled softly. Susan and she were very close and Susan often had her emotions in extremes.

“She was worried about me.”

“Still is. We’ve been callin’ and callin’ but you’ve been out of it. We promised whichever of us got through first would call the other. Susan says she’ll take your shift at Bart’s tomorrow.”

Kerry cut him off. “No. I’ll go to work tomorrow.”

“Kerry,” growled Paulie, getting all big brothers protective on her. “You just got shot. You cannot be thinking of working tomorrow. You need rest.”

“I can’t
not
go in. I’ve never had a day sick and I’m going to heal so fast there isn’t any point in telling him I got shot. I might as well work. I’ll ask Bart if I can man the desk all day—that won’t be too taxing.”

“I can’t talk you out of this, can I?”

“Nope. Sorry. Tell Susan thanks though.”

Chapter Eight

Bart had no problems when Kerry asked him if he’d let her man the desk for her entire shift. He hated to stand there, ringing up purchases. He preferred the dingy, dark smell of the stock room or the upstairs stacks putting out new books or re shelving misplaced titles.

Kerry’s side twinged every time she had to reach for something but of the few customers they had, only one older lady asked if she were alright. Kerry assured her that she was fine. She rang up a book on knitting patterns for children’s jumpers and wished her a very pleasant day. Kerry practically had to sneak past her momma to get out of the house that morning. Luckily, her father left for work at the cotton mill early.

Her mother called the store the minute she knew Kerry was gone and reamed her up and down for worrying her half to death. Kerry assured her mother about ten times that she would be fine. She told her how she’d managed to walk into work without any trouble. It was a lie because she’d been panting and out of breath when she reached the employee entrance. She assured her mom she would be home promptly at the end of her shift for dinner without any deviations before her mother finally got off the phone.

The day looked like it would pass without incident until Caleb came storming in. He was more casually dressed than she’d seen him before. He wore the same tight black jeans she’d seen before but this time he wore a short-sleeved, dark blue T-shirt that strained at his biceps. He was also thunderously angry, balling his hands into fists. His shiner had already healed but he still had a pair of dark sunglasses sticking out of his pocket even though the day wasn’t as bright or warm as it had the last few days.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled at her.

Kerry straightened up her from her position. She’d been reading more chapters in
What to Expect When You’re Mated
. She slid the book back into her purse, expecting a fight on its way. Kerry sensed them, like a vibration in the air.

“Hello Caleb. I’m at work right now. This isn’t the time or the place,” she said calmly. She hoped if she kept her voice calm, it wouldn’t escalate.

“That is exactly my point. You shouldn’t be here. You should be at home, resting,” he said through gritted teeth. He looked around the near empty store and lowered his voice. “You aren’t well.”

Kerry motioned for him to come closer to the counter. “I am perfectly fine. The fever is gone. I’m taped up tighter than a nun’s chastity belt. I will be okay. Now, if you will calm down…” Kerry knew her mistake the minute she had said it.

Caleb fumed and smashed his fist into the top of the desk. The whole thing shuddered and the drawer on the cash register popped open. Kerry shut it quickly, making her side twinge.

“I will not calm down. You should have more sense than this.”

“You barely know me so how can you tell that for sure?”

Caleb growled at her and it drew the gaze of a middle-aged woman browsing their small selection of diet guides.

“I won’t get to know you at this rate.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Are you completely dense? Someone tried to shoot you, ergo that means someone wants to kill you. You just walk around out here in the open where they can try again.”

Kerry raised a finger at him, turning it nail down to make it clear she was making a point not going to poke him with it.

“You listen to me…” she said, getting a little of her own anger flowing. “I am not going to sit away in my house and hide. I have a life and I am not going to let anyone take it from me. You may be my mate, Caleb Vander, but you do not own me. You cannot tell me what I can and cannot do.”

“I am your mate and you should heed my advice.”

“That’s just it—you can give your advice. I’m not stopping you. I’m just plain old ignoring you.”

Caleb glowered at her and she glowered right back. She crossed her arms over her chest and refused to drop her gaze. She was not subservient to him.

Caleb turned to the side, rounding the counter towards her.

Kerry rushed to push him back. “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t come behind here.”

“I am taking you home.”

“I’ve told you, ‘no’. I’ve only got a couple more hours to work and then I will take myself home. No one is going to come into a busy shop and off me.”

Caleb looked around the bookstore rather pointedly, demonstrating how little foot traffic they had.

Kerry growled, balling her fist and punched him in the arm hard. Caleb barely winced but he looked at his arm and then at her, displeased.

“I’m beginning to think I’ve got myself mated to a huge jackass.”

“ I’m stuck with a stubborn bitch who won’t let me do for her like I am supposed to.”

Kerry didn’t flinch at the word bitch. The way Caleb said it wasn’t like when calling someone a name but more as talking about an animal’s gender. She was the bitch to his dog.

“Then just go home and let’ what happens happen. Then you’ll be able to chose whoever the hell you want when your free of me, won’t you? I’m obviously too much trouble for you.”

Caleb looked at her like she had slapped him with a Chevy. He blinked at her.
Did she really think I would just let her die?
That she wasn’t what he wanted with every fiber of his being even though she was difficult as hell and completely bent on ignoring every tradition drilled into him since he was a pup. Caleb grew up an alpha male. He made enough that he didn’t have to work a whole lot. He could take care of a woman. He could protect her but she wouldn’t let him.

He felt helpless. All the things he thought having a mate meant, all the things he thought he would have to do as the male and Kerry made him useless. He tried to touch her, use their physical connection to persuade her to come with him but she stepped out of his reach. A couple of people watched their fight now so Caleb felt vulnerable and exposed—a feeling he didn’t like.

“Why do you make this so hard? I just don’t want anything to happen to you.” He walked back around the counter and out the door.

Kerry felt immediately guilty. She took a deep breath and went after him. She wasn’t surrendering ground, she just didn’t want him to go away on such a sour note. Like her momma taught her:
never go to bed on an argument.
Okay, they weren’t going to bed right that moment, but Kerry told herself it was the same sort of principle.

Caleb stopped when he heard the door open and close behind him. He was halfway across the road. The street wasn’t busy and his car was parked just on the other side. He twirled his keys on his finger and prepared for a quick exit.

“Caleb, wait,” called Kerry, stepping out from between two parked cars and joining him.

He turned around, looking down at her. “Changed your mind?” he asked a little bitterly.

“No, I’m still working to the end of my shift but I don’t want you to go away like this. I don’t want this to be one of those relationships where we fight and one of us storms off all the time. Now, if you’ll just listen to me. I am glad you’re worried about me, that you care. I will tell you that up until the fighting I had a good time dancing with you that night.”

Caleb smiled a little. He had enjoyed dancing with her too.

She continued, “I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing so for years because—up until last moon—I thought I would spend the rest of my life either on my own or with a human.” She tactfully didn’t say with Dick because she wanted Caleb to be less angry not more. “I may be a woman and your mate now, but I am as capable as I have ever been. I am not dumb just because I didn’t go to a fancy boarding school in New York—oh, Ye of little accent.”

Caleb stared at her but he smiled softly. “How do you know I went to boarding school and where?”

Kerry’s cheeks flushed a little. “You are not the only one who can tap into the kitchen and beauty parlor gossip circle. I want to know more about you and I can find out just as easily as you can.”

“You could just ask me.”

“I will when we get to a point where you stop yelling at me because I won’t put on a pinafore dress and turn into my momma. I will when you stop saying stupid things to me that make me get all mad. Maybe then, I would think about things like moving in, planning a wedding, and pups. Right this minute, it’s too much all at once.”

Caleb took a couple of steps closer to her, reaching out his arms to embrace her.

Kerry didn’t move from her spot. She relaxed her shoulders and prepared to let him hug her.

A deafening roar of an engine broke into their moment. Caleb’s hug turned into a shove which knocked her over on her ass, back in the space between the two park cars. He dove, barely missing the fender of the car which tried to steam right into them. It bounced off a parked car just past them and then turned, squealing around the corner before Caleb could get in a position to see the license plate.

Kerry heard someone inside the shop scream. People, including her boss, came pouring out to see what had happened.

Kerry groaned, she’d landed badly on her side, reopening her wound. She was bleeding through the white of her T-shirt. Caleb ran over to her, dropping on his knees next to her.

“Is she bleeding? Did it hit her?” asked her boss, looking over at him. Bart’s face was pinched with fatherly concern and his distinct lack of stomach for violence and blood.