Miri: A Paranormal Romance (Plenty of Shift Book 1) by Carina Wilder

talking to him, how the hell would she ever size other people up in five minutes?
    Everything in her felt like a failure. And life felt pointless.
    When she’d made her way into her apartment she strode immediately to the bathtub and turned on the taps. A bath wouldn’t cure anything, but it wouldn’t hurt. She wandered back into the living room to plug in her phone, whose giant battery light mocked her, flashing red as though to say, “Fuck you, Miri.”
    Sighing heavily, she returned to the bathroom to undress, and sank into the tub of hot water, trying to let the toxicity of her feelings soak into the liquid around her. She tried in vain to drive thoughts of all of it out of her mind: of the grizzly tormenting those wolves. Of Malcolm’s face when she’d told him off. How the hell had he looked so sad? As though it was he who was suffering a loss, not her.
    He had no idea what he’d done to her. He had no idea that her heart was aching for a man she’d never really had, and that somehow made it even worse.
    She stayed in the tub until the water began to feel like ice on her skin and finally rose, no less hurt. No less sad.
    It wasn’t until midnight that she finally amassed the courage to check her phone, where she found a text from Jenn:
    Wolves grabbed me in the bar. Malcolm saved my ass. Kor and I got out. That man is a hero, Miri. You chose well. I hope you and he are having a great night.
    Oh, God. Had she really misinterpreted what she’d seen? Had she really gotten it so wrong? The text was followed up with a wink. Oh, if only Jenn knew how ill-placed such an emoticon was.
    Miri picked up the phone, her hand shaking, and dialled her friend’s number.
    “Miri, it’s after twelve. What’s going on?”
    “I fucked up, to put it very mildly. I fucked everything up. But Jenn—tell me what happened.”
    Jenn explained—the strange behaviour, the aggression. How Malcolm had ordered Kor to take her away.
    “But why would the wolves do that?”
    “Kor talked to someone in the Grizzly Clan. Apparently the wolves are staging these acts in businesses run by other shifter groups. They’re wreaking havoc so that they can drive others out of town. They were trying to make Malcolm look like a ruthless bully who shouldn’t be allowed to run a bar.”
    “Well,” said Miri, choking on the words, “It worked.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Silence.
    “Oh, Mir, you didn’t. I’m sorry. You should talk to him, though. He’ll understand.”
    “No. I don’t think he will, Jenn. Listen—I need to get some rest. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
    She hung up, wondering if she’d ever sleep again.
----
    A week had passed since that horrible night when Miri had told Malcolm in no uncertain terms that she wanted him out of her life. She hadn’t spoken to him, but every waking moment, she’d wanted to. She’d wanted nothing more than to swallow her pride and explain to him what had happened. But it was too late; it had to be. He’d probably forgotten about her existence by now.
    Jenn was sitting with her on the couch, as she’d done each afternoon for the last four days.
    “Do you want to go out tonight?” asked Miri. “There’s a new movie I was thinking of checking out.”
    “I’d love to, hon.” Jenn’s head was once again tilted in sympathy. Damn her for that. “But I promised I’d have dinner with Kor’s parents tonight. Rain cheque?”
    “Of course.”
    “I’ll take these and hang them up,” Jenn said, grabbing the pile of multi-coloured flyers that sat on the coffee table. They’d agreed to put off the Open House for a week, but Jenn, determined to get Miri some clients, had been aggressive in her campaigning.
    She left Miri with a warm hug and more promises that things would improve. These were the times when Miri found it particularly tough; the lonely, interminable evenings, and the wondering if things could get better. There was nothing wrong with being single, after all. Plenty of