Chapter 03

Give me!” I exclaimed the second Nolan came barreling through the front door of The Treehouse. I held my hands out and waited for my coffee. We’d run out of it in-store, and I was in desperate need of some. “Give me, give me, give me!”

“I… don’t have it,” he said. He hesitated. Oh, why did he hesitate? “I got distracted and sort of… forgot.”

There was only one thing on the planet that’d make him forget my coffee. My eyes narrowed as I scrutinized him.

“Nolan Callahan Byrne,” I began, “did you find another cat?”

He shushed me and waved to the office door, which was right behind me. I understood why. For the past month or so, Declan had been using the office for his business purposes. And Declan had feelings about Nolan’s cat adventures. Not that I entirely blamed him at this point. Between Wutherford, Dart, Barry, Maxwell, and Sir Remington, Nolan had a full house in his small apartment. There just wasn’t room for another.

And as Nolan’s best friend, I had somehow adopted those cats with him. So they were our cats. We had five cats living in his little apartment, which I helped him with. I had to put my foot down somewhere.

“Nolan!” My eyes widened. “You don’t have… fine, just walk out on me.”

I stared at his retreating back as he hurried out the parking lot door. Rude.

Nolan Byrne was a nerdy little force of nature when he wanted to be. Despite his tell-all Byrne blue eyes, he was the oddball in the Byrne family. Sure, he was tall like the rest of them, but it pretty much ended there. He was lanky and lean with dark hair hiding copper tones, a baby face I’d never seen a beard on, and a thick-rimmed pair of glasses straight out of a 90’s sitcom.

Oh, and the flannel shirts seemed to be a family thing too. Everyone in Cedar Harbor wore flannel in the cold seasons. The Byrnes just somehow made it a year-round thing. I had a feeling it was more a poke at Declan than anything else.

When Nolan came back in, a tiny fluffball of an orange cat flailed damn near violently in his arms. Its clear attitude problem went unnoticed by him. Nolan collected cats. A wolf who collected cats. Truly, it was endearing. He had a heart bigger than anyone I knew and filled all its empty spaces with cats.

Unfortunately, any resolve I had to fight Nolan soared straight out the window when he handed me the kitten. It sank into the folds of my chunky sweater, and I melted with an audible sound.

Damn it. We now had a new kitten.

“Don’t tell Declan,” Nolan whispered.

“I can hear you, Nol,” Declan called out.

“No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.”

“If I can pretend I don’t hear you screwing your fiancé in your office when you think I’m not here then you can pretend you don’t know about the new cat,” Nolan shot back. The playful animosity that had blossomed between Declan and Nolan over the last month or so was gold-star entertainment.

The following pause was palpable. I giggled. Raven giggled from wherever she was in Declan’s office—painting thankfully and dealing with her gallery manager in Chicago.

“What cat?” Declan relented finally.

“Exactly.” Nolan leaned against the counter and affectionately scratched the kitten behind the ears. A fond smile crossed his lips as he studied the orange fluffball. “Clover.”

“Clover? Is that her name?” I was guessing. I couldn’t tell a male kitten from a female kitten.

“I found her in a little crate with a clover on it,” he explained. Oh, I liked that. “It seemed fitting. But I don’t think Sir Remington will take to another cat. He just barely tolerates the others now.”

“Make her Declan’s office cat,” I suggested playfully, knowing full well that Declan was listening to us. The scrape of wheels on the tile made me laugh. Seconds later, he appeared in the doorway with a deep scowl on his bearded face. Where Nolan was lanky and all limbs, Declan was a solid wall of muscle with broad shoulders, muscles made for one of Nolan’s romance books, and this whole rugged lumberjack thing about him. Granted, maybe that was because he was a lumberjack.

“No cats,” Declan announced with an attempt at finality in his voice. Like he had a choice. If this little kitten was going to be an office cat, he’d be stuck with her. When Nolan said nothing on the matter, Declan sighed and ran hand through his auburn hair. “I can’t have a kitten fucking up all my client files, Nol.”

“You won’t even notice her,” Nolan said.

“Look how small she is!” I swooned. I held Clover up, pressing her tiny little cheek to mine as we tried to talk Declan into it. That scowl only deepened. “But she’s so cute!”

“I want to see!” Raven shouted.

“Raven! Honey! What the fuck are you doing?” Declan demanded, freezing as she crawled under his legs.

“You’re blocking the door, baby,” she retorted as her blonde head popped out of the doorway. I laughed and angled the kitten in her direction, watching her whiskey eyes light up with excitement. She was on the cat train with us.

“Then ask me to move!”

“Oh, we need an office cat!” she exclaimed, completely ignoring him. She crawled the rest of the way out and hopped to her feet. I handed Clover over for a shower of kisses and baby talk. “Aren’t you just the cutest little thing? How can you say no to this face, Declan? Look at her itty bitty nose!”

“It’s a nose,” he said dryly. Despite his tone, I caught the little smile hiding behind his beard as he watched her melt. He always looked at Raven that way—like the sun rose and set with her. I had a feeling that’d never change. I hoped that never changed for them. It was enviable. “All cats have noses.”

“She can’t live in the store, Nolan,” Raven told him. “She’ll get lonely.”

“She has a point,” I agreed. I would’ve offered to take her, but truthfully, I didn’t want a cat in my house. Entertaining and loving on Nolan’s was enough for me. “It’s not fair for her to be stuck down here while you’re upstairs. Especially not when she’s so little.”

“I guess I can ask around and see if someone can take her,” Nolan replied wistfully. Oh, he was already attached. Poor guy.

“No,” Declan cut in immediately. I glanced away from Nolan long enough to see Raven and Declan in a stare-down.

“We can’t just leave her here,” Raven replied.

“He can find her a new home.”

“Holly could use a friend.”

“Holly has you,” Declan said with the utmost seriousness. “Her job is taking care of you. She doesn’t need a cat distracting her. What if something happened to you while Holly was distracted?”

She chewed her bottom lip, and I turned away to give them a moment. Raven had a sleep disorder and sleepwalked in a completely terrifying way—more than once she’d almost killed herself. Unfortunately for Raven, her wolf was tied to her sleepwalking, which meant it came out uncontrolled whenever she unknowingly put herself in danger. Her wolf had once been a scared predator, attacking anything that put Raven in danger—including killing her late husband and attacking Declan once. Holly was Declan’s solution to calm and distract her wolf when it came out. They were also training the puppy to assist in getting help if Raven sleepwalked without Declan realizing it.

“We could train Holly,” she whispered. Oh, I knew that look on her face. It was the look she got when her sleepwalking was brought up.

“If you ask me to pick between protecting you and taking home a kitten, I know you know the answer,” he told her softly.

“It’s okay,” Nolan interjected, his tone gentle. “I know plenty of people who could take her.”

The stare-down between them continued despite Nolan’s words. And for the life of him, I could see Declan’s resolve fracturing. When he inched back his chair and motioned for her to step inside, I knew. I just knew that man was about to let her bring home a kitten, even if they were about to discuss it in private.

“I swear at this point I just need a notebook full of notes on Declan’s behavior,” Nolan told me when the office door shut. “He’s a prime book boyfriend example. My ladies would eat him up like Thanksgiving dinner.”

I snorted because it was true. Nolan wrote smutty-as-hell romance novels under a pen name. He didn’t do events or signings or anything, but he did have a social media group that I ran for him. Thirsty internet women reading smut were a breed of women in and of themselves. We had entire wine and bitch-fests about them.

“I mean you already have the secret dirty talk Declan notebook,” I said with a laugh.

“Excuse me?” The door to the office flew open to one very unhappy Declan. He growled, “You have what, Nolan?”

Inside the office, Raven wheezed with laughter. Not that I blamed her. I did my best not to laugh, but man, my sides hurt with the effort. The absolute look of building horror on his face was comedic. Nolan, however, was completely unfazed as he plucked cat hair off his sleeve. Somehow, that made it all the funnier.

“I may write down what I hear,” he said.

“No eavesdropping, Nolan! That’s the rule!” Declan exclaimed. “You can’t be writing that shit down.”

“Then don’t be saying it in my bookstore where I can hear you.”

“Eavesdropping from upstairs with your wolf hearing isn’t the same,” he snarled.

“I know good writing material when I hear it!”

“You know, maybe putting you two working in the same space wasn’t a good idea,” Raven commented as she appeared behind him. To me, she asked, “Were they always like this?”

“A little bit.” I shrugged. “They weren’t the worst ones, though.”

“We’ll take the cat on a trial basis,” Declan said, and Raven squealed with excitement. God, he was such a sap. Big burly man catered to a tiny chaotic artist because he loved her. Nolan was right. The ladies would love a book about a man like Declan. Though, I refused to read the dirty-talking Declan notebook. Some things I didn’t need to know. I didn’t want to know. Knowing about their around-the-town sexcapades was my limit. “But if it distracts Holly from doing her job, I don’t care what time of night, I’m showing up on his damn doorstep to give it back.”

“Deal!” Raven beamed. “We’ll get you all the toys! And just wait until you meet Holly.”

“This is Henry and the goddamn chickens all over again,” he muttered and went back to his desk.

“Is Henry still trying to give you chickens?” I asked.

“Every chance he gets.”

“He showed up here and offered me half a dozen baby chicks.” I laughed. “Even told me he’d pay you to build me a chicken coop.”

“Of course he did,” Declan said. “And I want that notebook, Nolan.”

“Nope,” Nolan replied quickly. “It’s for research purposes.”

“Fuck your research.”

“Come on,” I whispered and grabbed Raven’s hand, dragging her to the door. “They’ll be at this all day. Let’s go get more coffee for the store.”

“Cat food, bowls, litter box, litter, scratch pad, treats, and toys,” Nolan called after us. “I’d also make sure she has a hideaway in case she struggles to acclimate. You may have to play mediator to a cat and dog, and she’ll need a safe place.”

“Thanks, Nolan! Bye, baby! I love you!” Raven shouted from the door.

“Love you too. Be safe,” Declan replied. “I won’t be home until after dinner.”

“Have fun with your other girlfriends.” She laughed as he groaned.

“Tell Esther and Vera we miss them!” I chimed in, smiling wide. “Show them the abs, Declan. They haven’t seen them in a while.”

“No.”

“Oh! There’s a carrier in my car.” Nolan chased after us.

“Oh, she’s fine,” Raven dismissed. Clover was half asleep in the crook of her arm, which was fine. For now. But when she woke up? Well, I’d been around enough cats to know she was better off in a carrier. Chaos would ensue if she wasn’t. Granted, I firmly believed Raven’s middle name was chaos, so she wouldn’t mind.

“This wasn’t my best idea,” Raven muttered, making me laugh. “I can’t hold coffee, hold a cat, and push a shopping cart.”

“I can help,” I offered and took a sip from my coffee. Freaking orgasmic. There was no better way to describe the sweet and savory pumpkin spice concoction. I wasn’t even sure there was coffee in it, but I didn’t care.

“No, I’ve got it,” she said in her true stubborn fashion despite how she struggled to balance all three. Her need for control was a legendary beast. Not that I was one to talk. I had my own issues. We were a hell of a pair. So, I let her while still casually resting a hand on the far corner of the cart. If she noticed, she didn’t say anything about it.

We wandered up and down aisles with Raven tossing things in the cart while I silently helped. The level of unwillingness to disturb the sleeping kitten reminded me of Nolan. I’d made this exact same trip with Nolan more times than I could count. And while he’d suggested a cat carrier, he’d also hand-carried Wutherford and Barry into more stores than I could count.

“Have you been to this Fall Games thing?” Raven asked.

“A few times,” I said.

“Declan says it’s just drinking, partying, and more drinking.”

“It is.” I snorted into my coffee. “Look, the Stones, Ironwoods, and Byrnes are all full of shit.”

“Oh, bold words.” She laughed.

“They are!” I exclaimed. “We’ll end up driving to Colorado, where they’re going to big up and boast all about doing their little wolf scavenger hunt in the desert canyons. The Stones win that every year. Cole runs a search and rescue team in the desert. He’s the best tracker out of the lot of them just because he knows the area. But before that is two days of drinking, partying, and hanging out. One night for the scavenger hunt, and then it’s another day of drinking chaos followed by everyone heading to the Ironwoods. Where they keep drinking, partying, and hanging out. I will say it gets pretty intense because they end up doing fight club. The Byrnes don’t end up participating often. Sometimes Lucas or Sam might, but it’s not their thing. The Stones and the Ironwoods enjoy beating up each other—even Alice kicks some people’s asses from time to time. It’s a big part of where the joke between Alice and Declan comes from.”

“What joke?”

“The one where Alice could take on Declan in a fight.”

“I don’t think Declan could throw a punch, even if they wanted him to,” she commented. Oh, sweet Raven. I’d grown up with those boys. For as gentle as Declan was, he’d still been a teenage boy once. I’d seen many fights break out between the Byrne boys when they were younger.

“After all is said and done,” I continued, “they’ll have one wild night of karaoke between the pack leaders to see who’s best. The Ironwoods clear out the bar, so it’s just wolves and no humans. It’s rowdy and wild and Cole Stone wins every year. He has a band. No one is beating that.”

“Oh, well that’s just cheating,” Raven replied. “Do you sing?”

“There’s not a chance in the world that anyone is getting me up on that stage to sing,” I answered quickly. “Not unless I’m very drunk.”

“Duly noted.” The hint of trouble in her voice wasn’t lost on me.

“And then they all pack up and come here,” I said. “They do the track run through the woods. Nolan competes every year, but his social anxiety gets the better of him, and he loses. Usually, the Stones bring it home every year. Alice and Danica are wicked fast. They usually trade off who does the race every year.”

“Not faster than me,” she replied with pride, and I grinned. Nolan had been training Raven to do the run this year. According to Nolan, Raven was a beast in the woods and hard to keep up with. I was excited to see what would happen with the Fall Games. The Stones had won for years. This might be the first year the Byrnes win.

Winning was really just a proverbial right to say we were better. That was it. There was nothing else involved.

“After that, it’ll be drinking, cookouts, and hanging out until everyone goes home,” I finished.

“So, basically it’s like a two-state, three-pack house party,” she summed up.

“It’s exactly that.” The Fall Games were always absolute chaos. I loved it, even when I only participated in whatever happened at the Byrne pack house. “You’ll love it.”

Honestly, I was more excited for the Fall Games than I’d been for anything in a long time. Nolan and I were making a whole trip of it—dirty audiobooks, snack foods, the works. Raven and Declan planned to be right behind us. We even had halfway plans. It was exactly the vacation I needed.