Page 3 of Pack Scratch Fever

“There’s no reason for us to not have a pet,” he argues. “She just waltzed right into our lives, and you rush her away.”

I rub my eyes as a headache forms. I don’t have the energy for this. “Well, it’s too late now,” I sigh. “It is what it is.”

“You’re such a Scrooge,” Avery mutters. “You smiled around that damn kitten, whether you wanted to admit it.”

“I did not.”

“You totally did. But stay miserable, Poe. I can’t stop you from doing that.”

The words are cruel coming from Avery, one of the kindest people I know.

I have been sort of insufferable lately.

Maybe not just lately. Ever since my job has taken over most of my life. My legal partner left, and I find myself working fourteen hours a day, reviewing documents repeatedly.

All I do is eat, sleep, and work.

It makes me a miserable person, and I haven’t been the best pack leader or the best friend.

Maybe if I wasn’t so overworked, I wouldn’t have been such a prick to that sweet Omega who looked at me with fire in her eyes when I told her I didn’t want to keep the kit—Snow.

“Look, Avery, I’m so?—”

“ GUESS WHAT!! ” A voice booms, so loud that both Avery and I startle. Maddox barrels into the kitchen, a grin wide on his face, then falters when he sees me. “Why do you smell so good?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve smelled like lemon bars since you came in,” Avery says patiently. “But you were too busy being negative that I didn’t bother to comment on it.”

“Dude, you smell like lemon bars and mojitos—” Maddox sniffs the air dramatically, then his mouth hangs open. “Where were you?”

“I was dropping off the cat,” I say.

“Snow,” Avery corrects. “You were abandoning Snow.”

I scowl. “I wasn’t abandoning her?—”

“Is she single?” Maddox interrupts, and I stare at him.

“Who? Snow ?”

“The Omega you ran into,” he says, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame. “Is. She. Single?”

I shake my head and scoff. “I don’t know! What does it matter?”

I glance at Avery, who shares a glance with Maddox.

“You cannot be that dumb,” Maddox deadpans. “Please don’t tell me you’re that oblivious.”

We haven’t had an Omega in…forever.

We haven’t been actively searching either. All three of us have been busy with work—me catching up on my extra workload, Avery teaching photography, and Maddox trying to reprogram an entire inventory system at a startup.

“I’m not ,” I snap. “I was there to drop off the kitten. That’s it.”

“Was it Furs and Purrs rescue?” Avery asks, his attention turned back to his laptop. He points to a photo on the screen. “Was this her?”

Maddox comes to lean over the couch, letting out a low whistle. “Which one is she? Please tell me it’s the brunette.”

I see the Omega’s smiling face in the photo, along with another woman I don’t recognize.

“Yeah,” I grumble. “That’s her.”

Piper Rhodes.

“She’s stunning,” Avery says softly.

Yes, it’s true, Piper is attractive, and she smells incredible. But my goal was for her to take the cat, and nothing more.

Even though my inner Alpha growls at the sight of her.

“Well?” Maddox turns to me expectantly. “What was she like? What did you say to her?”

“I said, ‘I have a cat to drop off,’” I snap. “What else was I supposed to say?”

“How about ‘thank you for what you do; it’s not easy to run a cat rescue, and if I weren’t a complete moron, I would ask you out?’” Maddox’s blue eyes narrow. “Seriously. What is wrong with you?”

“Yeah, Poe. What the hell,” Avery murmurs, not looking at us. He’s scrolling through the rescue’s website, letting out a displeased grunt. “These photos are awful.”

“What a fumble,” Maddox sighs, shaking his head. “I expected more from you.”

“What? You want me to go back in there and ask her out? I didn’t make the best first impression.”

Maddox scratches at his stubble and groans. “Of course you didn’t. You also look like you haven’t slept in forever. I wouldn’t want to go out with you either.”

“Maddox,” Avery warns. “Be nice.”

Usually, I can handle Maddox’s banter, but I’m so exhausted from the last few weeks that I snarl at him.

“We’re never going to see her again,” I snap. “So fucking drop it .”

But instead of Maddox matching my energy, he simply gives me a shit-eating grin while Avery sighs.

“That’s not true at all,” he says gleefully. “Because guess what?”

“What?” Avery asks, closing his laptop and turning to look at him.

“Snow has a sibling,” he says mischievously. “There’s a little white kitten in your herb garden.”

I let out a groan, remembering Piper’s words from earlier.

Sorry, I don’t control the cat distribution system.

Well, that’s just great.

“There’s another cat?” Avery asks, delighted.

“We’re not keeping it,” I snap.

“That’s not up to only you,” Maddox says. “But…this does give us the perfect reason to visit Piper.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not going.”

“Of course you’re not going,” Avery says, standing and heading toward the backyard with Avery. “You’d just mess it up.”

I scowl as my two packmates leave me in the front room, my headache growing worse.

Great .