Page 32 of Pack Scratch Fever

Mari turns to me. “My nephew. He mentioned meeting you the other day,” she chuckles. “I guess you two didn’t get along.”

It takes me a moment to realize who she’s talking about, but once it clicks, I let out a soft growl, startling both Maddox and Mari.

Kyle, that foul-smelling Alpha that made Piper uncomfortable.

Was Mari trying to set Piper up with him before she met us?

Absolutely not .

“We didn’t get along well,” I confirm. “With all due respect, Mari, I hope your nephew would know better than to try to interfere with scent matches.”

Mari’s eyes widen, and she nods, delighted. “Scent matches! Oh, that’s wonderful. I knew you two were special. Keep up the good work, and you won’t be on my list anymore. Just keep those litter boxes clean, and Piper will love you again in no time.”

Maddox raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything.

Love?

I’d be happy for Piper just to like me again.

I’ll take whatever scraps of her heart she wants to offer me, because I’ve become a lovesick, hopeless romantic.

Just a whiff of her scent could get me by.

“Let me get my purse, and you two can walk me out,” Mari says, heading to the back room.

When she’s gone, Maddox looks to me. “Do I need to kill him?” he asks quietly. “This Kyle guy?”

I consider my answer.

“Not yet,” I say. “One thing at a time.”

Blair doesn’t send word that Piper is alright.

I end up nervously pacing in the living room that evening, anxiety eating away at me.

She’s fine. She has to be fine.

Blair also didn’t respond to my texts.

“I have an idea,” Maddox says, staring at his laptop while I pace. “We pay the rent.”

I keep pacing. “Yeah, that was my thought, too.”

“We could make it an anonymous donation for a year. It would be easy.”

“And who’s to say she’ll use it for rent?” I ask. “Or would she feel guilty and give some away to other rescues or charities?”

“Fuck.” Maddox sighs and leans back on the couch. “You’re right. I don’t know what to fucking do!” he snaps. “We have to do something big . How the fuck do you say, ‘ I’m sorry my packmate was a piece of shit ?’”

My pacing grows faster. I go back and forth through the living room, exhaling slowly.

“If you keep doing that, I’m going to lose my mind,” he growls. “I already can’t think or sleep. The only time I felt half normal was when I was with those fucking cats.”

“I wonder if that’s how Piper feels,” I say softly.

Helping out at the rescue has been the only thing that’s made me feel marginally better.

I’m away from my scent match, from the one person that makes my life complete. But it seems as if connecting with what she cares about connects me to her, in a way.

If I can’t be physically close to her, I can be close to her in this sense.

Through her love for cats.

I don’t think anyone has noticed, but I added a few plush animals to her nesting room—no matter what Piper says, it’s still going to be her room, if she ever changes her mind.

If she ever wants us back.

There’s no one else for me after this, and I’m sure it’s the same for Poe and Maddox.

She’s our mate.

“I need to know she’s okay,” I mumble, and Maddox frowns, furiously typing at his keyboard.

“I’m sure she is,” he says, even though I can hear the disbelief in his voice. “If we go stalker mode on Blair, she won’t appreciate it.”

“You want to, though,” I accuse.

“Of course I fucking want to,” he snarls, and I stop pacing.

“You think you’re the only one struggling without her?

It consumes me. She’s fucking hurt, and I can’t do anything about it, so yes, I’m tempted to do some shady shit.

I’m tempted to fucking hack both Piper and Blair’s phones, just so I can know if Piper is alright.

But I won’t, because it will upset her in the long run. Okay?”

I nod, chastised. “I know.”

Maddox rarely opens up about his past anymore, but I know he began to see Piper as an extension of his family.

He’s lost so much of that in his lifetime, and he’s struggling more than he lets on.

“She’s alright, Avery,” he says in a low voice. “Blair would tell us if something was wrong.”

I know that.

I know that.

I head into the kitchen, still brainstorming what we could do to make this better.

That’s when I see movement out of the corner of my eye and turn my attention to the backyard.

Through the glass door, I see a flurry of movement in Poe’s herb garden, and my eyes widen.

Cats furiously dig at the dirt, while others roll around in it. One is chewing happily on leaves that sprout through the chicken wire, and a particularly large cat I’ve never seen before is relieving itself in one of the planter boxes.

I should shoo them away, but I watch the animals wreak havoc instead.

Maybe it’s poetic justice for how insufferable Poe has been.

I’m so enraptured by the scene before me that I don’t even realize my pack leader is in the kitchen with me until I turn my head. He’s watching the chaos silently with his arms crossed, his mouth pulled into a frown.

“I deserve that,” he murmurs when he notices I’m watching him.

I shrug. “Probably. It might make her feel better.”

I don’t need to let him know who her is.

He turns to face me. His button-up shirt is wrinkled, his usually styled hair disheveled, and stubble covers his jaw. Bloodshot eyes indicate he likely hasn’t slept in a day or so.

But the look on his face isn’t one of defeat—it’s of determination.

“Where have you been?” I demand.

“Working.”

Of course.

I sneer. “Oh, so the one thing that ruined what we had with her. Sure, dump yourself into that.” I spit the words at him, venom lacing my tone.

But the accusations don’t affect him. Instead, he quirks his lip, amused.

“I have an idea, Avery. I know how to get her back.”

I search his eyes. “What?”

“We can win her back.”

I don’t believe him, despite the confidence in his demeanor. “And if we can’t?”

“Then we at least make sure she’s happy.”

I swallow.

I can live with that, I think.

“Tell me how.”