Page 13 of Match (Damselverse #1)

Chapter thirteen

Halle

I ’m just sweeping up the vet floor when Katie rushes into the room.

She’s Aiden’s assistant, and the pair of us hit it off right away. She’s several years younger than I am, and she even has a little brother who’s still at school.

I think she’s taking a gap year before she heads off for vet school.

“Halle! Penn!”

Penn appears from the backyard, carrying a long stick with a cat toy at the end. It looks as if he has been playing with the cats at the catio again.

“What is it, Katie?” he asks.

She gasps for breath, flapping her arms around as she tries to get her words out. “It’s Dane. He’s…he’s brought backa… a… ”

Before the nineteen-year-old can get the rest of her words out, Dane appears in the doorway of the surgery, carrying a small, shaking dog in his arms.

My heart bleeds.

His right ear is burned, and I cover my mouth, eyes filling up with tears.

Oh, no.

Penn has the same stricken expression, and absentmindedly, he comes closer, putting his shoulder in front of me as if to protect me from the distressing sight.

I’m grateful because my eyes are brimming with tears. I get like this. I see a hurt animal, I weep.

It's only a small dog, too, probably a mongrel.

Dane places him down on Aiden’s examination table. Aiden rushes into the room, throwing on his vet coat as he checks over the dog.

Penn’s hand hovers close by as his fingers brush mine, but then he stops himself, trying to look distracted.

“Will he be okay?” Dane asks, his voice thick with emotion.

Aiden sighs, putting down his stethoscope. “He will be, but he has suffered quite a few burns. We will need to keep him in for a few weeks.”

A huge weight lifts from my shoulders, and then I smile, meeting Aiden’s gaze.

He watches me for a moment before he goes back to treating the dog, and I’m just glad Dane rescued him on time.

It will have a happy ending after all.

***

To take my mind off things, I join Penn as we play with a litter of eight-week-old kittens.

Someone brought them in this morning, and they are the cutest things I have ever seen. Pure fluffy chaos and nothing more.

Now I laugh freely as the kittens crawl all over Penn. One even disappears inside his sleeve, and I pull it out before it gets lost.

The Alpha glances at me gratefully. “Thanks.”

“It’s no problem, but you really shouldn’t wear your best clothes when working with animals.”

The Alpha still wears his tweed jackets and fancy turtlenecks, yet he still doesn’t have a hair out of place.

I, on the other hand, am completely covered in fur and scratches.

“Old habits are hard to break, I guess,” he mutters as he pulls a kitten off his shoulder.

Unfortunately, it latches on with its tiny claws and sticks onto his jacket like Velcro as he tries with all his might to pry it free.

“Here, I’ll get it,” I say as I pry the cat’s claws from his nice jacket, holding it up for the Alpha to see.

“Aw, look at him… I’m going to call him Penn .”

“Why?” the Alpha asks, wiping his shoulder.

I bite my lip in concentration. “Because he has a pair of little glasses. Look.”

I point at the tiny cat’s eye markings, and the Alpha chuckles. I watch him fascinated. He rarely laughs, and I savor the rare sound.

“How observant of you. Well, I’m going to call one Halle.”

I giggle. “Which one?”

The Alpha peers around at the kittens. He ends up grabbing a little white fluffy one, and it mews in his massive hand.

While they’re all cute, this white one is by far the prettiest of the bunch. It will definitely get adopted soon.

“This one,” he says.

“And why that one, exactly?”

The Alpha falters, and then his cheeks redden as he holds up the wiggling kitten. “I don’t know. It…just reminds me of you. For one, it’s rebellious.”

I laugh louder now as we continue to play with the kittens. “Wow, thanks.”

It's good to see that we are finally putting the past behind us. So what if I burned down his bookstore? All seems to be forgiven.

Penn speaks again. “Just so you know, my bookstore should be up and running again in a few weeks. I spoke with the insurance company this morning.”

I gasp. “That’s wonderful news!”

A quiet settles over the kitten pen as the little cats continue to get up to mischief around us.

“If…if you want... You’re free to join me there anytime. I…could always do with the help.”

I stare at the Alpha, bewildered. He wants me back in his bookstore? I don’t believe it. He truly is full of surprises.

“I would love to,” I reply.

The Alpha smiles at me shyly, and my heart beats faster when I spot the dimples on his face. Damn, I need to get him to smile more.

I’m distracted by something behind him, and I press my lips together to smother a laugh.

One of the kittens has gotten up on a shelf, and now it readies its body to pounce, wiggling its butt as it launches itself at Penn’s head.

The Alpha yelps as the cat free-falls on his head, knocking his glasses off.

“Darn cat!” he curses as my laugh rings across the yard.

In the end, I pick up his glasses, placing them back on his face, and all the breath leaves the Alpha’s lungs when his eyes shoot up to mine.

They’re so brilliantly gray, I could stare into them for hours.

My gaze trails to his full, sculpted lips, and not for the first time, I think about kissing him.

If only I could just get this Alpha out of his shell.

Before I do something foolish, Aiden steps into the backyard, smiling when he sees us. “Penn, Halle.”

He must be here with an update with the dog. I rise to my feet, wiping the cat fur from my leggings as Penn and I leave the kitten pen.

Judging by the smile on Aiden’s face, it’s good news.

I look at him hopefully. “Good news?”

He smiles and nods. “Good news. He’s going to make it.”

I release the breath I had unconsciously been holding all afternoon, sagging slightly, glancing over at Penn.

He meets my gaze, and the three of us share relieved smiles.

It is good news.

Thank goodness. All is right with the world once again.