Page 9 of Match (Damselverse #1)

Chapter nine

Penn

W ell, Halle is… something.

I can’t stop staring at her as she fills her sweet face with spicy noodles. She must have been hungry.

Or horny. It's hard to tell which.

I try to focus on my own noodles, as she's doing things to my Alpha. Unspeakable things.

“So, Penn, I was thinking that you could help me out in the clinic. At least until you’re back on your feet again and the shop is up and running.”

I look at Aiden.

He's slurping on his own noodles. Meanwhile, Halle is still devouring hers, and Dane won’t stop staring at her.

He licks his lips, then meets my eye, wiggling his brows.

Yeah, I see how hot she is, too. The girl makes eating noodles look like an art form or very hot porn.

Halle opens one of her blue eyes, and they fix on me.

Aiden continues. “The choice is yours, of course. I know how you get over cat shit.”

I fiddle with my own noodles, picking them up with my chopsticks. “As you can see, I’m still eating. Please refrain from talk about feline fecal matter.”

Dane laughs at the words “feline fecal matter.” Someone seriously needs to leave Neverland and finally grow up.

The Alpha only stops when Halle looks at him with noodles hanging from her mouth, and he fake coughs, resuming his consumption of his own noodles.

Aiden shrugs. “Well, the offer is there, Penn. Just remember, six a.m. sharp. Those litter trays aren’t going to clean themselves.”

Is that a trick question? Six a.m. is late! I’m normally up at four a.m., reading a good book.

“I will consider it,” I reply.

Aiden smiles. “Good. How are you liking your noodles, Halle?”

The Omega slurps them up, and she’s already eaten four dumplings and a bag of chili fries. It’s heartbreaking to see how hungry she is.

Well, at least she has a full stomach now.

“I love it. I haven’t eaten like this for a while.”

None of us speak as her sad declaration echoes through the kitchen. The only sound is Sabrina lapping up water from her bowl.

Aiden sighs, gazing down into his noodle box. “Well, you won’t have to worry about going without food for a long time. You can stay here until you get back on your own feet.”

Halle wipes her mouth, looking my way. I avert my gaze, pretending to be fascinated by the contents of my own noodle box.

“Actually,” she begins to say. “I was hoping that I could help out at the clinic, too. I love cats.”

Aiden grins. “Me too. Their paws, especially … All right. You and Penn will start at six a.m.”

Oh, great. Forced proximity.

Now I will have no choice but to be in Halle’s presence while we both clean out cat shit. She makes me so unsure of myself, and I don’t know where I stand with this Omega.

She’s my scent match, but I’m afraid of losing control around her.

No. I won’t. I’m the smart one. I won’t cave…

“I look forward to it,” Halle says, peering at me again, but I just go on as if she doesn’t exist like a big old jerk.

Here's to six a.m.

***

With a sigh, I open the door to the outdoor catio, and as soon as I shake the box of biscuits, I’m attacked by the glare of cats.

Fuck. Their claws are sharp.

All the litter trays had already been cleaned by the time I arrived at six a.m. this morning. A little fairy must have broken into the catio to do the honors.

That same fairy is currently walking Sabrina around the yard, so it’s just me and the cats for now.

Halle must have woken up even earlier than me, which is saying something, since I’m a four am starter.

Did she sleep at all?

Damn, Aiden has a lot of cats in residence right now. He’s never been one to turn away a stray.

It’s just how he is.

When the adoption center gets too full, they all come to Aiden. He even spays and neuters them for free before he finds them their forever homes, and he’s picky when it comes to adoption.

Extremely picky.

Many of them have been rescued by Dane on his shifts; hence why Aiden is very protective of his babies.

He even gives them names.

His precious cats crowd me now as I try to get to their bowls, mewing and yowling as they rub against my legs, and I growl in frustration.

Now I’m covered in fur.

That’s what I get for wearing my best pants.

“Move, please. I need to feed you all.”

They all give me a simultaneous, “Meow!”

Why do I bother?

“Ow, fuck !”

One sneaky tabby decides to climb up my leg like a tree, digging his claws into my pants, and it’s a good thing I’m an Alpha.

I am built for pain and endurance, and that goes for tiny kitten claws, too.

The stripey little monster stops at my waist, giving me a prolonged meow. I really have gone down in life.

I should be shelving books and categorizing them by genre right now. Not feeding these tiny fiends.

How does Aiden do this every day?

I finally get to their bowls, filling them up with biscuits, and now the sound of crunching fills the catio.

On rainy days, they go into their indoor enclosure. It’s a brilliant setup. They have towers and bridges to move around.

I sneak out the door while the cats are distracted. Unfortunately, one adventurous feline decides to swoop out from beneath my feet.

It's the tabby again. Of course it is. Those little guys can just never keep still.

Thank goodness the backyard is enclosed. Aiden built a mesh wire fence around the yard in the eventuality that a cat may escape.

Just like now.

“Hey, get back in your catio!”

Yet the cat merely taunts me, swaying his body from side to side as he sticks his tail up in the air.

I go over the list of cat names. Thankfully, Aiden added a picture to each name because I would be totally lost.

“Simon!”

It's not as if calling his name makes a difference. The cat still ignores me.

He stops to sharpen his claws against a tree. Then he spots a bee as it lands on a daisy, crouching down low as he prepares to pounce.

“Simon,” I warn.

When I approach, he startles, zooming up the tree and way out of my reach. Now he lands on the roof of the shed and great, fucking fantastic.

Well, at least someone is enjoying himself as he rolls around on his back, having the time of his freaking life.

Someone giggles, and I peer around. My cheeks burn up when I spy Halle walking Sabrina at the other end of the yard.

Her own cheeks flush red when she finds my gaze, and then she acts nonchalant as she continues walking the retriever.

The dog, however, stares at the tabby as if he’s her new best friend, and now the dog starts dragging Halle toward the shed.

Shit.

“H-hey! Sabrina, stop!”

It looks as if Aiden’s lead training still needs some work. That nine-month-old puppy is walking the Omega now.

“Sabrina!”

The dog reaches my side, barking up at the cat on the shed. The tabby fluffs up his fur, hissing and growling down at the happy dog beneath him.

“Sabrina, get back,” Halle orders, tugging on the dog’s lead; yet she’s having trouble.

In the end, I decide to offer her my help. The least I can do.

She’s still awkward around me, and I reckon she thinks I hate her because of the bookshop.

I don’t.

I’m just glad that the only thing that got hurt were the books. And my pride.

So long as she is safe, I don’t care.

“Here, we can trade,” I suggest, regaining control of Sabrina as I take her lead. “I can walk Sabrina while you get that stripey monster back into his catio.”

She stares at me, confused. “Catio?”

I stammer. “Um… A portmanteau. Patio/Catio.”

“Oh…That’s clever. Did you come up with that?”

“No. That was Dane.”

By the expression on her face, I wish I had, though.

“Well, I like it. Catio... Well, what do you need me to do?”

I look back up at the tabby on the shed. Now he’s licking his goddamn ass as he swings his leg over his head.

Nice.

I continue. “As you can see, he’s stubborn, so it may take some time. But with a little coaxing, we should get him back inside the catio.”

“Okay, I think I can do that,” she replies. “What’s his name?”

“Simon,” I tell her.

Halle approaches the shed, calling out to the cat. To my surprise, Simon jumps straight into her arms and lets her carry him back to the catio.

He purrs in her arms, and I raise my brows, keeping Sabrina at bay as she eagerly tries to play with the cat again. “Wow. That’s impressive. He was toying with me before.”

Halle shrugs. “I’ve surprisingly always been good with cats.”

I’m not surprised, given how sweet she is…and did I really just think that?

I follow the Omega to the catio as she slips the tabby back inside. She wipes fur off her long shirt, which looks like one of Dane's, as she steps toward me again. “I take it you’re not much of a cat person?”

It's not that I don’t love cats. I do. I just prefer to be in a dark, quiet library with all my books.

“No. I love cats. I had cats growing up. It’s just…” I don’t finish.

Guilt takes over her features as she hangs her head. “You miss the bookstore.”

Just when I was trying so hard not to let the conversation steer in that direction.

She looks up again, and I’m swept away by her eyes. They really are beautiful.

“Again, I can’t apologize enough, Penn. I will keep trying to find ways to make it up to you.”

I smile tightly. Like waking up early and making sure I didn’t have to clean out any litter trays?

I’m still touched by the gesture, and I ignore the stifling sensation that forms in my chest next.

It's guilt.

What did I do to make her so cautious around me?

I scratch the back of my head. “It’s no problem, Halle. Honestly? I’m still shocked that I never noticed you for the whole week you were in the basement. How did you do it?”

She shrugs, wiping away more fur. “I guess I’m just nimble on my feet.”

Among many other things . I resolve to figure those out later, and direct my thoughts elsewhere as I point at the surgery door.

“Come on. Let’s see if Aiden has any more work for us.”

“S-sure,” she stutters.

We walk back to the surgery in silence, and the next few weeks truly are going to be awkward.

I just hope we can finally put the past behind us.

Maybe then, she can look me in the eyes without feeling any amount of shame.