“The jury’s still out on that, Maeve,” Piper deadpans, then her eyes turn back to me. She places the kitten gently into the box and plucks another one out, angling the nipple of the bottle into its mouth. It latches immediately, happily drinking the formula. “She’s not here, by the way,” she says. “She left a few hours ago.”
I nod, trying not to let disappointment cloud my features. “That’s fine,” I lie. “I haven’t met her anyway. I’m here to see if I can get these kittens some help.”
Maeve continues to stare at me, her eyes wide. “Wow.Wow.This is so weird.”
“Maeve,” Piper warns, but I just chuckle humorlessly.
Maeve isn’t wrong.
This is awkward as hell, and also bizarre.
I can’t escape Blair, yet I haven’t even met her.
“Wait! You have Ash, right?” Maeve adds. “How is he doing?”
At that, my lip quirks. “He’s great,” I say. “We all get along with him. He’s happy, fat, and purring.”
“We don’t use the term ‘fat,’” Piper corrects me gently. “We say ‘soft.’”
I chuckle. “Yeah. He’s verysoft.He seems to be growingsofterby the day.”
Piper smiles. “Good. I remember Ash was a friendly boy. He would do well with more cats in the home. Is that the only cat you have?”
“Uh, yeah,” I say, mesmerized as the kittens drink from the bottle. The other two that have been fed are back in the box, milk-drunk with full bellies.
“Can I…can I try feeding them?” I ask, and Piper nods, handing me both the kitten and the bottle.
The kitten makes small snuffling sounds as it happily drinks from the bottle I hold. I balance the furry body with hand, holding it to my chest while my other hand tilts the bottle.
“You can do a combo of milk and wet food for the next two weeks,” she adds. “After that, you can just give them wet food, and we’ll eventually find good homes for them.”
“You’re really good at this, Rowan,” Maeve observes. “Hey! Now you’ll have something to talk to Blair about.”
“Holy shit, Maeve,” Piper sighs, glaring at the Omega. “Stop.” Then, she turns to me. “Sorry. This is awkward because we don’t know you, but Blair is my best friend, and I feel obligated to protect her.”
I nod. “Understood.”
“Me, too,” Maeve adds. “And if you end being her scent match like your brother, you better learn how to bottle feed a kitten. Cats are about to become your life.”
Piper observes me feeding the kitten. “You are doing a pretty decent job at it. The kittens seem to trust you, and when you brought them in, they weren’ttoostressed out,” she muses.
“Maybe Ash could be the big brother they need,” I mutter. I remove the bottle from the kitten’s mouth, and my lip quirks at the formula stuck to the fur around her face.
I came in here expecting to drop these kittens off and possibly see Blair.
But, as I hold one of them in my arms and meet their blue eyes, the storm in my heart quiets.
Blair isn’t here, but these three kittens are.
And that’s something.
“So, what does it mean to foster? What exactly would I be doing?”
“Wait. You’re interested?” Piper asks, surprise flashing in her eyes, while Maeve grins.
“How could you not be? Cats are the best animals in the world! Theyadoreyou, Rowan!”
I scoff. “I don’t know aboutthat, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
