Page 78 of Pack Scratch Fever
I decide to be vulnerable.
“The first day I met you, you reminded me of what Ididn’thave,” I explain. “You showed up at three in the morning at our packhouse because you care about what you do. You didn’t have to. You could have ignored Avery and Maddox panicking and told them to deal with the cats themselves, but you didn’t. Then I came home, miserable from working eighteen hours, and you’re on my couch, chatting with my packmates with this…firein your eyes.”
She squeezes my hand back.
“You’re what I want to be, Piper. You love what you do. I don’t. Avery and Maddox enjoy their jobs, and at times it feels as if I’m just doing what’s expected of me. I’m jealous of you because you have autonomy over your career. You’re as hard on yourself as I am, but you’ve done something remarkable with that pressure.”
I finally spilled it all to her.
I’ve put so many years into the firm, but recently, it hasn’t felt like enough.
It’s been eating at me and turning me into someone I don’t want to be.
The job has become mind-numbing, and it’s reached the point where I dread waking up in the morning.
But I don’t know exactly what to do about it.
All I know is that Piper, this Omega who smells like heaven, makes me want to do more with my life.
My chest is tight as I wait for her response. She stares at me, searching my eyes with her own troubled ones.
“Certain people wouldn’t agree with you,” she says, her voice clipped.
I don’t know who thesecertain peopleare, but I have a feeling it’s the same ones that told her she could be doing more.
“Certain people arestupid,” I spit. She turns away from me to study the garden. She frowns, and I follow her gaze.
A grey blob with a long, fluffy tail sniffs around my herb garden, and I sigh at the interruption.
Piper smiles.
“I recognize that one,” she says. “That’s the tomcat likely responsible for that entire colony.”
As if the cat can understand English, he looks at me and lets out a dramatic yowl, then heads over to us.
He leaps swiftly onto the table before I can blink, his large green eyes meeting mine as he plops near the ledge.
Piper laughs as I hold a staring contest with the cat, bewildered.
“What the hell is going on?” I demand, and she only laughs harder.
“I’m telling you, it’s the catnip scent,” she chuckles.
The cat gives me a slow blink; its fluffy tail swishing behind it.
I chance a look at Piper, who is giving me a breathtaking smile.
“He’s fixed and vaccinated, but Mari thought he wasn’t adoptable,” she says with wonder. “You’re just a cat whisperer.”
A deep, strong rumble sounds from the feline, who continues to slow blink at me.
“I genuinely don’t understand what’s happening right now,” I mutter.
“The same thing that happened with Mister Whiskers. He likes you. This is a pretty big deal.”
“But why is thishappening? All because of my scent?”
The cat moves a paw closer, and I hold out my hand to push him away, but he simply nuzzles his cheek against me.
