Page 40 of Sincerely, Pack Pucked
I smirked. “Well, Maple, I hate to break this to you, but I am an expert on voices, and from your voice alone, I can tell you’re cute as a button. How goes your Internet search?”
“Good… chaotic… I could have sworn I’ve heard your voice before. Sorry! I shouldn’t say that. Anyway, it’s getting late, I’m so tired. I think I’m going to make it an early night.”
The moment she mentioned my voice, her tone became flustered, almost panicked. Did we know each other? Out of all my pack mates, I was the one who spent the most timeon campus and had the highest chance of bumping into our anonymous omega.
“Hey, there’s a chance we’ve bumped into each other before—the campus is a big place. Don’t stress, I’m chill.” That was a bald-faced lie; I was anything but chill. “Now if this were J we were talking about, then he may grab a boom box and go wandering the streets of campus, playing love songs, demanding attention from his Maple. Never fear, though, we have a basement we can chain him up in if he becomes too annoying… Sorry, I’m rambling.”
I threw my phone down, internally groaning at myself. Why was it so hard to keep my cool with Maple? We had been talking for almost two years, and now it felt all the more real. Before, I hadn’t heard her voice.
And, fuck, that voice. Buttery sweet, the kind of voice I wanted to fall asleep to. Her comment about familiarity kept nagging at me, because she was right. Her voice was oddly familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on if or when I had heard it before.
A buzz alerted me to a new message. It wasn’t a voice note, as I had hoped, but it was still from her.
Maple
Thank you.
P
Any time, Maple.
Chapter 13
Mable
My phone was ringing.
No one called me anymore—well, other than my mother. I glanced at the screen, brow furrowed. I was trying to study in my nest because I had a busy week of classes.
J.
Why was he calling me? We had moved on to voice messages, but a call was something entirely different. There was no time to gather my thoughts, just a constant flow of conversation.
I chewed on my lip for a moment, trying to decide what to do.
I liked talking to J, and he was sweet as could be.
So, I pressed accept.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Hey! I’m lying here, bored and wanting to chat—I hope you don’t mind the call. This way, we don’t have to wait for each other’s replies.”
“That’s okay,” I said, my voice small and nervous.
“Do you have class tomorrow?” he asked.
“I do, same as every week.”
“That’s no fun—what do you do to relax? Other than work on your plants and plot world domination?”
I chuckled lightly. “You’re the one who plans world domination, not me.”
“No, I bought five chickens and put them in S’s room to piss him off.”
“You didn’t!” Even as I said the words, it dawned on me that was very much something J would do to irritate his pack mate.
“I did! It wassofun. I would send you the footage if you were cool with faces.”
