Page 53 of Pack Scratch Fever
My pre-Heat symptoms have been out of control.
Especially after my kiss with Avery and latest encounter with Poe.
Our dinner is at the beginning of next week, but I’m not sure how I’ll get through it without going into Heat.
Part of me thinks I should cancel, but the other part wants to be there just to greedily scent the three of them again.
They belong to us,my inner Omega purrs.We’ll never be alone again.
But my rational side knows that’s not how this works.
Sure, the attraction and chemistry are there, but we don’t know each other as much as we should.
Despite how hot my make out session with Avery was, there’s still a part of me that worries that I won’t be able to impress him and his packmates. Sure, his scent is still on me—chamomile and sweet tea practically pulse through my veins—but this isn’t a fairytale.
Avery’s a photographer and a professor, Maddox is a computer whiz, and Poe is alawyer.
I end every day cleaning litter boxes and worrying about making rent.
I swallow, absentmindedly petting Alvin when he yowls at me.
Maybe I should cancel dinner. Once they find out more about me, they’ll realize they’re in over their heads.
Maybe it’s better to just live in the what-ifs and imagine having a pack.
That way, nothing bad can ever happen, and we won’t disappoint each other.
“Get out of your head,” Blair says. “You’ve got that look on your face.”
“What look?”
“The look where you’re going to cancel your dinner date and continue to live as a hermit.”
I don’t have a clever retort. “Nah-uh,” I say finally.
Of course, I filled Blair in on all the details about what happened with Avery and my conversation with Poe. She’s thrilled and refuses to let me back out of my plans.
There are two different monologues going on in my head.
My inner Omega won’t stop screamingscent match.
She won’t stop celebrating that Mister Whiskers is finally opening up to someone, and that it means something pivotal.
The other part of me is terrified.
Terrified that this is all because of biology and I’m wearing blinders.
Or that once the initial shock of our potential match wears off, the Alphas will want nothing to do with me.
In other words, I’m fucked.
“Don’t make me get the others involved,” Blair threatens. “I’ll tell everyone at the event what’s going on. And you know how they love to gossip.”
“You willnot.Or I’ll make them setyouup.”
Our volunteers have the biggest hearts—residents show up to help every other weekend at the local pet store to host adoption events with us.
But damn, they love to talk when there are no customers around.
