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

people were.
    But of course, it wasn’t about that. It was about what she’d lost. It was about the man who could have made her happy, if she’d only let him. If she’d gotten over her stupid, ridiculous prejudice against her own kind.
    “Screw it,” she muttered. When she was younger she’d occasionally gone to movies on her own. How was tonight any different? It would be fun to head out and have a little solitary adventure.
    So she got dressed in jeans, a cream-coloured sweater and a jacket, and headed out. The cinema was only a few blocks away, on the border of Bear-Town and Wolf Central. So the audience might be made up of any combination of those, or shifters like her who fit into neither category. Possibly a few humans, even.
    The film was a romantic comedy: the story of some woman who’d gone back to the little town where she’d grown up, only to discover that the man who’d been her high school sweetheart had grown a giant cock. Or something to that effect; she hadn’t finished reading the synopsis. It didn’t really matter, anyhow; she was just looking for light entertainment.
    She bought a small popcorn and a drink and headed to the exact centre of the theatre, where she found herself grateful to be surrounded by this and that single body. Some were shifters; she could tell by their scents.
    In the section to the left, by the stairs, sat two little old ladies, which was sweet to see. She hoped that when she was their age she’d still be going to movies with Jenn.
    Mostly, the crowd was made up of couples, though at one point a series of young men—wolf shifters, by their scent—made their way in. It was an odd display, to say the least. Men and romantic comedies usually didn’t mix unless the man were looking to pay proactively for getting laid later in the evening.
    Ignoring them, she nibbled slowly on her popcorn as she waited, trying in vain to answer quiz questions about stars she’d never heard of. Audience members continued to wander in, finding vacant seats to plant their asses for the evening.
    And then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him. Malcolm. Wandering in alone, popcorn in hand.
    Miri’s heart did back-flips inside her chest, torn between urging her to go to him and telling her to run away as fast as her legs might carry her. He looked…well, he looked good. Of course.
    He seated himself behind the two old ladies, his eyes fixed on the screen. Miri smiled in spite of herself, amused that he would choose a film like this to come to on his own. For a moment she considered walking over and inviting him to sit with her. But how could she, after what she’d said? He’d never forgive her for it; for being so nasty to him. He’d protected her best friend and she’d exploded at him as though he were no better than a common criminal.
    So she just stared at him, asking herself how she could ever have pushed away such a gorgeous creature.
    Finally, she was put out of her misery as the previews began rolling and the cinema went mostly dark. Miri sat back, wondering how she’d manage to escape at the end without running into Malcolm or letting him know she’d seen him. But she’d cross that bridge when she came to it; for now she’d do her best to enjoy the film, which she was quite sure would be awful.
    It began with the perfectly-made-up heroine looking forlorn as she left her current home. Clearly some fool of a man had split up with her for a younger woman, and she was devastated to no longer have his sorry ass in her life. Silly girl. Didn’t she know that she was better off? That now she could start up her own dating service, meet a sexy hunk of a man, and… oh, right.
    As the predictable plot dragged on, Miri noticed that the row of male wolf shifters wasn’t paying any attention at all; not even pretending to be interested in the film that they’d allegedly come to watch. Not much surprise there, but still—they whispered loudly among themselves, their voices harsh