“Do you wanna leave me, too?” I ask Rodney.
“Nah. Someone’s gotta take one for the team and take care of your ass.”
“My ass is fine. It’s the rest of me that doesn’t feel well.”
Rodney rolls his eyes. “Gayle will probably be back later this week. We’ll keep you company, Kei.”
“Okay,” I say softly. “Thanks for being here, Maki.”
“Thank you for allowing me to be included in your event. It was truly remarkable.”
A few days later, finds me in my cat form, sitting in a tiny nest that Rodney has made me in the window sill by the front door. The sun is shining down on me. I’m content. Or as content as someone who feels like absolute dogshit can feel.
The after-stream gunk has hit me and this year, I swear it’s somehow hit me worse than usual. I’m so sick with a fever riding my ass. In my human form, I’m sweaty yet cold, my entire body aching, my head throbbing, my nose clogged. I feel like hell.
In my cat form, I feel marginally better.
Something catches my eye. I watch as Azaad walks up to our front door, a large basket in his hands. He knocks on the door. Thankfully, Gayle answers so I don’t have to rush into shifting.
With a stretch, I get up from my little perch and head into my room in order to shift back into my human skin. I put a robe on, shivering as the cool air hits my bare skin. A moment later, Gayle is knocking on my door.
“Hey,” he says, handing over the basket. “Azaad said this is from your favorite mod? He said you’d know what that means.”
My eyes widen down at the basket, my stomach doing some weird shit inside of me.
“Thanks,” I say, taking it. Gayle leaves me and I stare down at the care package. I set the entire basket on my desk, looking through it. It’s filled with my favorite tea, a container of soup, the good kind of tissues that have lotion built into them, and at the bottom is a hoodie.
My hands shake as I pull everything out, setting them carefully on the desk. Finally, I touch the hoodie.
It’s black and soft. Almost like I can’t help myself, I bring the material up to my face, breathing in.
“Fuck,” I hiss out.
I’m not sure how I’m feeling right now.
When Gayle said who the package was from, I knew who Azaad meant was Sookie. We always tease about how he’s my favorite mod even though he’s only on the team because he has blackmail on me. It’s been a running joke for years.
I don’t know if I was hoping the scent on this hoodie would be awful, so I could finally put this weird ass crush to rest, or if I wanted it to smell amazing. My sense of smell is overwhelming on the best of days. On days when I’m sick, it can be even more awful.
Sookie’s hoodie smells amazing. Which means,hesmells amazing.
He smells like raspberry tea but with the musky stink that comes with being an alpha shifter. Soft. Comforting. Safe.
“Fuck me sideways,” I say again before putting on the stupid hoodie and getting into bed, rethinking all of my life decisions and feeling extra sorry for myself.
Chapter Three
Shiloh
I open the doorto my studio apartment, finding my alpha dad looking at me with a small smile. He leans his hip against the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Hi, Shiloh,” he says softly.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Are you busy? It’s okay if you are.”
“Someone call in sick?”
