I gritted my teeth at the use of my full name, the smell of smoke and the sound of crackling wood filled my nose for a moment before I took a long cleansing breath and got a hold of myself. I pushed all of my irritation down deep and locked it up tight before finally replying:
“Yeah.”
Stan would never have made this mistake. Stupid flu.
The guy grabbed whatever was in my cubby and slid it across the counter to me, along with a paper log. “Sign.” That was all he said.
I scribbled my name and snatched up my things—a box and several envelopes—and walked away from the window without so much as a goodbye for the mail guy. I hoped that Stan was back the next time that I checked my mail. I hated when my routine was wrecked.
I carried my packages to the coffee counter and ordered myself a caramel iced coffee and a bagel with extra cream cheese...and two cookies. I was starving after my three-day sex marathon with Pumpkin and I deserved a sweet treat with my breakfast. Besides, I need to keep up my girlish figures, so two cookies it was.
Balancing all of my spoils on top of the package, I dodged the throng of omegas that had begun to fill the coffee shop. It was the brunch rush and many omegas were coming from their first set of classes of the day. I managed to snag my favorite table, it was big and round and tucked next to the window of the cafe. I loved to watch the pedestrians out on the street as they walked to their destinations. Like a fish watching the humans who owned them from the inside of a fish tank.
On that incredibly pleasant note, I put my food and coffee to the side and focused my attention on the package. Did I order something off of Amazon and forget? Eloise wouldn’t have sent me anything—she would have just dropped it off at the academy to me instead.
I used the little plastic butter knife that came with my bagel and sawed through the tape, curious about what the contents of the box were.
I slid my fingers inside of the flap and jerked it so that the tape on either end would open with apop! With that, the box was open. Whatever it was, it was wrapped completely in bubble wrap. But what I saw was quickly replaced by what I couldsmell.It smelled like something had rotted inside of the box and I was sure that it was some kind of fresh ingredient that I’d ordered and it had never gotten to me.
It was pungent and I gagged a little bit and began to peel away the bubble wrap, a dark mass of, well, something. It took my brain a minute to catch up with my eyes and tell me what I was actually seeing, but once it did a scream ripped out of my throat. Everyone in the coffee shop around me went silent as my scream tapered off and I pressed a fist into my mouth to keep another one from bursting free.
Inside of the box, wrapped in bubble wrap, was a very dead, very bloody, gray kitten.
CHAPTER 4
––––––––
“Someone mailed me adead kitten,and you’re going to stand there and tell me that this happens all the time?” My voice was shrill and incredulous as I sat in a conference room, glaring at the people surrounding me. It had only been thirty minutes since I’d opened the package with the kitten inside of it. Academy officials had quickly swooped in after I screamed and had taken the box away. I was led upstairs and into one of the many conference rooms that the academy had used.
My body still trembled as I absentmindedly rubbed the faded tattoo on my wrist. Iknewwhat that kitten meant. I had carried a kitten just like that almost nine years ago right before my entire world had caught on fire. It wasn’t the same kitten, of course not, but the message was clear. I looked at Gary and Carolyn, they both stood directly in front of me and I realized, with a start, that neither of them looked surprised about the dead kitten mail that I had received.
“You all knew about this, didn’t you? How many dead things have I gotten in the mail that youaren’ttelling me about?” I accused, anger filling the pit of my stomach as the safe bubble that I had lived in for ten years began to thin dangerously.
They all remained silent, but I knew exactly who the weak link amongst them was: “Gary?”
Gary jumped guiltily and he pulled a nearby roller chair in front of me so that he could be eye level, which was never a good sign.
