Page 9 of Pack Scratch Fever
I rub my eyes as a headache forms. I don’t have the energy for this. “Well, it’s too late now,” I sigh. “It is what it is.”
“You’re such a Scrooge,” Avery mutters. “You smiled around that damn kitten, whether you wanted to admit it.”
“I did not.”
“You totally did. But stay miserable, Poe. I can’t stop you from doing that.”
The words are cruel coming from Avery, one of the kindest people I know.
I have been sort of insufferable lately.
Maybe not just lately. Ever since my job has taken over most of my life. My legal partner left, and I find myself working fourteen hours a day, reviewing documents repeatedly.
All I do is eat, sleep, and work.
It makes me a miserable person, and I haven’t been the best pack leader or the best friend.
Maybe if I wasn’t so overworked, I wouldn’t have been such a prick to that sweet Omega who looked at me with fire in her eyes when I told her I didn’t want to keep the kit—Snow.
“Look, Avery, I’m so?—”
“GUESS WHAT!!” A voice booms, so loud that both Avery and I startle. Maddox barrels into the kitchen, a grin wide on his face, then falters when he sees me. “Why do you smell so good?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’ve smelled like lemon bars since you came in,” Avery says patiently. “But you were too busy being negative that I didn’t bother to comment on it.”
“Dude, you smell like lemon bars and mojitos—” Maddox sniffs the air dramatically, then his mouth hangs open. “Where were you?”
“I was dropping off the cat,” I say.
“Snow,” Avery corrects. “You were abandoning Snow.”
I scowl. “I wasn’t abandoning her?—”
“Is she single?” Maddox interrupts, and I stare at him.
“Who?Snow?”
“The Omega you ran into,” he says, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame. “Is. She. Single?”
I shake my head and scoff. “I don’t know! What does it matter?”
I glance at Avery, who shares a glance with Maddox.
“Youcannotbe that dumb,” Maddox deadpans. “Please don’t tell me you’re that oblivious.”
We haven’t had an Omega in…forever.
We haven’t been actively searching either. All three of us have been busy with work—me catching up on my extra workload, Avery teaching photography, and Maddox trying to reprogram an entire inventory system at a startup.
“I’mnot,” I snap. “I was there to drop off the kitten. That’s it.”
“Was it Furs and Purrs rescue?” Avery asks, his attention turned back to his laptop. He points to a photo on the screen. “Was this her?”
Maddox comes to lean over the couch, letting out a low whistle. “Which one is she? Please tell me it’s the brunette.”
I see the Omega’s smiling face in the photo, along with another woman I don’t recognize.
