Page 11 of Pack Scratch Fever

AVERY

Her scent.

Her goddamn scent.

I’m trying my best to be as polite as possible, but the Omega in front of me is beyond tempting.

This is nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

Piper is a ray of goodness, a beam of light I didn’t know I needed.

She’s witty, sarcastic, and clever. There’s a hint of sadness behind her eyes that I can’t place, but it only makes her more interesting.

She’s a story I want to uncover, a mystery I long to solve.

It’s rare to find anyone who cares so much about what they do.

Her passion for the rescue reminds me of the way I feel about photography—it brings me joy and gives me a deeper purpose.

And I want to share that joy with Piper.

I want to connect with her in that way.

The way her face lit up when I offered to photograph the cats will forever be ingrained in my memory.

She’s stunning, and she doesn’t even realize it.

“Are you sure you don’t mind staying past closing?” Piper asks softly as she and Blair tidy up the front area. “You can always come back another time. I don’t want to keep you longer than you need to be.”

Blair shoots me a look and rolls her eyes, pointing at Piper.

I smile. Apparently, Blair and I are on the same page, and she knows exactly how I feel about her best friend.

“I’m happy to stay as long as you want me,” I clarify, and Piper’s face flushes. Her scent blooms, fresh mint and lemon making my mouth water.

“I would like that,” she says. “We could do little cat photo sessions?”

“Absolutely,” I nod. “I even have backdrops in my car we could use.”

The corners of her eyes crinkle, and she scrunches her nose. “Yes! Could you grab those, and I’ll start setting up the cat room?”

“I would love to.”

After I retrieve the rest of the items needed, Blair says her goodbyes and locks the door behind us.

But as excited as I am to be alone with her, I can’t help but think of the incident earlier.

“I know that guy was bothering you. Are you sure you don’t mind being alone with—” I start to say, and Piper shakes her head and smirks.

“I have a good feeling about you, Avery,” she interrupts. “If I didn’t want to do this with you, I would say so. I’m comfortable with you.”

A warm, solid weight settles in my chest. “I have a good feeling about you, too,” I say softly.

Her grin makes my heart skip a beat.

“Let’s do this,” I continue. “Let’s start with the easiest cats to work with.”

“I think we found him,” Piper says fondly, and a content Alvin comes up to me and rubs his sides against my legs. “He’s a ham; he’ll eat up all the attention you give him.”

We lead him into the cat playroom, and both of us end up on the floor, Piper watching as I snap photos from different angles of all the cats in action.

“So, why photography?” she asks. “What made you get into it?”

I sit back against the wall, shuffling closer to her so we can look through some of the photos on the camera’s screen.

Our shoulders touch, and I greedily inhale her scent.

“My mom had an old camera, the kind with film you develop, not digital. I just started snapping pictures of everything one day—my sisters, the sky, random things I found on the ground. Then, when we got them developed, and I saw the results, I became obsessed. It’s been—” I pause, doing the math in my head.

“Shit, I’ve been taking pictures for more than twenty years. ”

Piper makes a pleased hum when I stop on a picture of Alvin pouncing midair. “Ah, so you’re an old man, then.”

“Do you consider thirty-seven old?” I tease, and she meets my eyes with a smirk.

“Ancient,” she deadpans.

I nudge her shoulder playfully, looking for any reason to touch her. “Not all of us can be young and beautiful like you.”

At my compliment, she averts her gaze and bites the inside of her cheek. “You mentioned the other night that you teach, too?” she asks.

I don’t call her out for changing the subject. “At LCC. Luna Community College,” I reply. “I’ve been there for seven years.”

“And you like it?”

I zoom in on a photo of a tuxedo kitten that’s batting a toy fish.

“I do,” I say earnestly. “I’m lucky to teach something I’m passionate about.

Of course, sometimes you get the students who are there because they just need to take an elective and don’t really care about photography, but I’m still helping them create art. ”

It’s why I feel so terrible for Poe.

He spends so much of his life devoted to something that makes him miserable.

So miserable that he doesn’t even see what’s right in front of him.

I still can’t believe I’m even sitting with Piper. It’s just the two of us, surrounded by happy cats, and I have her all to myself.

Even though my back aches a little from my sitting position.

“Oh, my god,” Piper breathes, and I look at her curiously.

“What?”

“I was a student while you were teaching there,” she admits. “At LLC.”

I groan. “Now you’re really making me feel old.”

She giggles, the first true carefree laugh I’ve heard from her, and my breath catches. “You wouldn’t have liked me. I hated college. I forced myself to get two years of business done, just so I could have some type of education certificate. I was a little brat.”

“Brats can be fun,” I say too quickly, unable to stop myself.

Oops.

I can’t help but have a flash of an image in my head.

Piper sitting on top of the desk at my office while I kneel in front of her…

Embarrassed by my outburst and subsequent thoughts, I look to her, ready to apologize, but her answering smirk tells me there’s nothing to forgive.

“I was an insufferable little shit,” she says. “What’s your idea of a fun brat, Avery?”

So, she has no problem flirting, but when I truly compliment her, she blushes and looks away?

Interesting.

I want to answer her question. I do.

But I also don’t want to scare her away.

Especially if she knew the horrid, impure thoughts I’ve been thinking since I met her.

So, I simply shrug and smile.

I want to flirt with her badly.

But I also don’t want to be like that Alpha from earlier that obviously made her uncomfortable.

A sudden growl makes me turn my head, and Piper lets out a groan.

“Good luck photographing that one,” she says, leaning her head dramatically against the wall. “I doubt he’ll even let you get near him.”

My gaze follows hers to the cat that’s glaring at us, its pupils turned to slits.

“Hey,” I say. “That’s Mister Whiskers, isn’t it?”

She turns to me, her eyes bright and her smile blinding. “You recognize him?”

I chuckle. “Yeah. He was on your website.” I lean slightly closer to the cat, and he lets out a warning growl. “Relax, buddy,” I say. “I’m just trying to get your glamour shots.”

The cat doesn’t relax, though. Instead, I catch him mid hiss, dramatic fangs and all. When I show the photo to Piper, she laughs so hard it startles the other cats.

“He’s a terror,” she says. “I’m not sure that’s the best photo of him.”

“It catches his spirit,” I reply, snapping a few more. I can feel Piper watching me as I do my best to capture the cat’s good side.

“I don’t know what to do with him,” she admits, defeated. “He’s so unhappy, and I’m not quite sure what he wants. We’ve tried everything with this cat. We’ve brought in cat psychics, therapists…he’s just a crabby man.”

“Sounds like Poe,” I say, and she huffs out a sigh.

“You’re not doing a very good job of selling your packmate to me, you know. Aren’t you guys a package deal?”

I chuckle and stand to stretch, raising my arms above my head. “Maybe Mister Whiskers just needs patience and understanding. Maybe what you offer is what makes him better.”

The truth is, I know Poe likes her.

I can see it in the way that his eyes flare when I mention Piper.

He and that damn cat are a lot alike.

Stubborn, irritable, but still secretly wanting to be cared for.

The idiot owes Piper an apology, and hopefully, what he has planned will make up for his past behavior.

Piper stays seated on the ground, her denim-clad legs stretched out. “Did you grow up with cats?” she asks, her eyes curious with interest. “You seem to have an understanding of them. Most people have something cruel to say about Mister Whiskers.”

I shrug. “My sisters would bring home stray cats all the time. I’ve been raising them forever.”

Her eyes brighten, and her lemony scent sweetens. “Wait. Then why don’t you have any pets at your house?” she says, sitting up straighter.

I shrug, not wanting to tell her it’s because of Poe. “We have a whole cat colony now, right?” I ask. “I think that’s more than enough.”

She beams at me, and my breath catches.

She’s so beautiful .

“Let’s finish these portraits,” I tell her. “Then, I’ll be happy to edit them for you and show you the final results.”

Her smile slightly falls, and I try to decipher why. I search her eyes, but she bites her lip and motions for me to follow her past the playroom and into a room with kennels. She stops at the largest one, opening the gated door.

“Would a backdrop look good here?” she asks, still not looking at me.

I nod, confused. “Yeah,” I say slowly. “It should only take a few more minutes to get these all done.”

Her shoulders hunch slightly, and I catch a look of disappointment before she covers it with a polite smile. “Great.”

Oh.

It’s a risk. I could be wrong…

But I go with my instincts.

“Hey,” I say, clearing my throat. “After this, do you want to get dinner?”

She blinks, and her brow furrows in confusion.

Oh, shit. I was wrong.

Shit, shit, shit …

“Hell yes,” she says. “I’m starving.”

My inner Alpha roars in triumph.

My intuition was correct—Piper didn’t want to say goodbye to me just yet.