Page 27 of Pack Scratch Fever

I should hang up and never speak to him again. Blair and I have discussed going no contact with both my parents, but I just can’t yet.

If I did that, I would also have to do that with my siblings, which would be more complicated.

So, for now, I just tolerate phone calls.

“Sydney bought a house,” my dad says. “Just closed on it, with Nolan.”

I roll my eyes. The last thing I care about is my sister buying a home. If she had wanted to tell me about it, she would have. The only time I hear from her is through a birthday or holiday text, and she doesn’t offer up any information about her life.

“That’s so cool,” I murmur, trying and failing to sound like I care at all. “Good for her.”

“Thirty-six hundred square feet. Five bedrooms, seven baths.”

“Okay.”

“And you’re still living in your apartment, huh?” He doesn’t hide the mockery in his voice or the obvious resentment he has for me. It echoes throughout my car and blares through the speakers. “With your grandpa’s inheritance?”

I grit my teeth. “Yes.”

I focus my vision on the cat rescue, dissociating by staring at Blair sitting at the front desk taking a call. Her brow is furrowed, and I wonder who she’s talking to.

“The inheritance that was meant for your college.”

Fury bubbles in my veins. We’ve had this fight for years now. It’s the same conversation over and over, but he and my mom love to rehash it.

I’m the only daughter who didn’t finish college.

The only child who never left Luna County.

“You already know what I’ve done with it, Dad,” I say evenly. “Yes. I’m partially using it to pay rent. It’s my inheritance.”

“If Grandpa had known what you were going to do with it, he never would have given it to you.”

Alvin hops onto the front desk, his tail swishing behind him. I watch him closely through the window while my dad launches into a tirade, giving me a monologue of everything I’ve done wrong in my life.

He called me just to torment me.

Alvin catches me watching and slow blinks at me, and a smile creeps back onto my face.

I love cats and my cat rescue.

No matter how much my parents complain about it, I know I’m doing the right thing.

That matters more to me than a family that couldn’t care less about who I am.

“Piper? Are you even listening?”

I clear my throat. “Yeah, Dad.”

“I have no idea where we went wrong with you,” he sighs. “I just don’t know how your life could have turned out like this. Look at your sisters. Don’t you want to be more like them?”

The words stopped hurting a long time ago. I let them bounce off me.

There’s no point in telling him that I’m doing what I love and that I’m making a difference in the world.

Cats are important to me. They always will be.

“Do you really want to end up an old cat lady, all alone and wasting away in your apartment?”

Your words can’t hurt me.

Eventually, my mom joins the call. “Piper, your dad and I were talking,” she says matter-of-factly.

“We think it’s time for you to be on a payment plan back to us.

You didn’t use the inheritance the way you were supposed to, so it should have gone to us, not you.

I’ve had our lawyer draft something that will be emailed to you tonight. ”

My eyes widen, and I look around my car for hidden cameras, convinced that I’m being pranked.

This isn’t normal. This isn’t how parents are supposed to treat their kids.

I hate you; I want to scream at them. I hate you.

“Maybe once you get a pack, they can help you pay us back,” my mom adds, like she knows anything about what it’s like to be an Omega.

Like I can just pick up a pack of rich Alphas that would be willing to hand over money to my parents.

“Just so I’m clear,” I croak. “You’re suing me?”

“We’re making it right ,” my dad corrects me. “Let this be a learning lesson for you.”

I’m not going to cry on the phone with them, even though the betrayal pierces my lungs and steals my breath.

I knew they disapproved of who I am and my choices.

But I never expected this .

“I can’t pay you back now, Dad,” I whisper. “You guys don’t even need the money.”

“It’s not about us needing the money, Piper,” my mom adds sharply. “And it’s not a lawsuit. It’s a payment plan. All you have to do is agree to it, and everything will be fine. We’re doing this for your own good.”

Alvin stares back at me through the glass door, still perched on the counter.

“Why are you doing this to me?” A lump forms in my throat, and my eyes sting.

“Like I said, Piper,” my mom snaps, “you’re twenty-six years old with no degree, and no real job. A cat rescue doesn’t matter in the long run. This will be good for you. We just want the best for you.”

“Honey, you’re wasting your life there,” my dad adds. “The way you’re acting, you’re a waste. And that’s not how we raised you to be.”

Sweat beads on my forehead, and my vision blurs.

“That’s not true,” I argue weakly, my voice pathetic and small. “I’m not a waste.”

“Then stop acting like one,” my mom says.

I can’t afford a payment plan with my parents. That inheritance rightfully belongs to me, but I can’t pay for a lawyer to fight them.

It would be easier just to give them what they want.

I begin to plan.

Blair could get me a job at Scents, and even if I just work one or two shifts, maybe that could cover the payments to my parents each month.

“A thousand a month is generous, Piper. We could be asking for a lot more.”

My dad’s voice echoes in the car speakers as my hopes are dashed.

A thousand a month.

It’s impossible to do that.

I catch Blair looking at me, concern on her face. She worries her lip, and I can tell something is wrong.

Whatever call she took upset her.

A thousand a month.

I can’t think. My chest aches, and I wonder if this is the beginning of my first panic attack.

“Piper? Why are you breathing so loud?” my mom demands. “What’s wrong with you?”

I can’t pay them back. Their lawyer will ruin me. I’ll have to quit the rescue.

But then a familiar face enters my vision, and my stomach plummets.

A man with cropped copper hair and thick-rimmed glasses walks into the building carrying a manila envelope, and Blair’s face crumples.

Our property manager is here.

It normally wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But Blair and I have known for a while that the rent here is a steal, and if Chet is coming by unannounced, it’s likely bad news.

My parents are still babbling nonsense about the list of my supposed failures, and I snap.

I end the call without saying goodbye, turn off my car, and stumble through the front door of the rescue.

Alvin yowls and rushes toward me, while Chet gives me a grim smile.

“Good to see you, Piper,” he says, while Blair shoots me a worried look. “I was just on the phone with Blair.” He pulls a piece of paper from the manila folder and hands it to me. “The building has been sold. The new owner has requested a rent increase.”

I stare at the number on the paper in disbelief.

Blair looks like she’s about to cry, and Alvin flops around at my feet, oblivious to what is happening.

“I’m sorry.” Chet says. “I did what I could with them. I tried to negotiate.”

I believe him. Chet is a cat person himself, and he’s always been supportive of our cause. But at the end of the day, he’s still a property manager with a job to do.

That’s when I catch the signature at the bottom of the document.

The signature of the lawyer responsible for the sale.

Poe Carlsen .