Page 34 of All Packed Up

Arlo’s heart sank, but he didn’t jump to conclusions. “I’ll keep an eye out,” he said.

After a few muttered words, the alphas dispersed, and Arlo continued on his path… to the end of the block, where he took a sharp right, hiding him from the alphas’ line of sight. He sprinted to the other end and to the back of the building, where he used his key code to let himself in through the emergency entrance.

He took the stairs two at a time to get back to his apartment.

What are the chances a group of alphas would come looking for an omega with a cat around the same time Nic hooked up with an omega who had a cat?

He had his keys ready to go by the time he reached the door, and he was sweating by the time he slid the key in the lock and rushed inside.

Tate’s irritated voice welcomed him. “I haven’t had enough time to take a shit, let alone find something to do with this guy.”

“Don’t take the cat anywhere,” Arlo said.

Tate blinked at him before a slow smile curled his lips, and Arlo waved a hand before the alpha could come to a wrong conclusion. “Not because I want to keep him, but because there’s a pack of alphas outside the building looking for him.”

Tate’s grin widened. “That’s great! We can just return him to his owner—”

“They are not only looking for the cat,” Arlo interjected.

He paused, and the cat jumped down from Tate’s arms. The well-used leather recliner let out a creaky protest as it took the added weight of the feline, and the cat stared at him.

With weirdly knowing yellow eyes.

He narrowed his gaze at the creature before Tate snapped his fingers between their stare off.

“Hello? What’s going on?”

“The alphas downstairs were looking for an omega, and had a picture of one cuddling that cat,” he explained, pointing at the offending animal.

The feline huffed at him.

Tate stared, brows furrowed in confusion. “What am I not getting?”

“Nic, like, just brought this omega home, right?”

Tate nodded.

“And he mentioned the omega has a cat, yeah?”

Another nod.

“The alphas downstairs were looking for an omega with a cat. That cat,” Arlo finished, and pointed a finger at the offending feline.

The lightbulb finally blinked to life behind his eyes. “Oh shit. But she’s in heat, and Nic is—”

“Exactly.”

“Oh.”

Silence filled the room as Tate absorbed the information.

“So what do we do now? What did you tell the alphas?”

Arlo shrugged. “I told them I didn’t recognize her. I didn’t want to sell Nic out. But then they said she’s sick.”

“She’s sick? What’s wrong with her?”

“They didn’t say. Just said they wanted her home before something bad happened.”