All Chapters of The Purrfect Wingman: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Balancing grad school, hospital rotations, and a heavily pregnant foster cat in a Newark walk-up wasn’t the dream life I had envisioned at age twelve, staring at a career board with “Doctor of Psychology” scrawled across it in pink gel pen. But it was my life—and most days, I had it under control.Most days.Today was not one of them.I was three pages into a paper on trauma-informed therapy approaches, halfway through reheating leftover pasta, and midway through talking myself out of crying over an unsent text from my residency supervisor when a yowl broke through the apartment like a foghorn.“Spitfire,” I groaned, slamming the laptop shut as the tab with my half-finished reference list blinked at me in judgment. “What now?”Another yowl. This one was somehow louder and more dramatic, as

I was having a nap.A perfect, glorious nap in the laundry basket—freshly filled with warm towels and socks that smelled vaguely like roasted anxiety and lavender detergent. The overhead light was off, the space heater had clicked on with a soft hum, and Ofelia was in her usual end-of-day spiral on the couch, eating pasta and muttering about academia. Everything was right with the world.Until it wasn’t.The scent hit first. Sharp. Acidic. Smoky. Like something synthetic was throwing a tantrum in the hallway. I twitched one ear, flicked my tail once in protest, and promptly buried my nose in a folded sweatshirt. Not my circus, not my problem.Then the alarm started.Not ours—yet. But close. And shrill enough to jangle my whiskers.Ofelia swore, which wasn’t unusual. The girl cursed more than she slept. But then came the telltale signs of Trouble: hoodie flung on, phone grabbed, her footsteps creaking toward the door.

I barely made it two steps into the firehouse before Dez’s voice rang out like a siren on a caffeine bender.“Look who’s back from his heroic hospital bedside vigil!” he crowed, grinning as he spun around in his desk chair. “Did you bring flowers, Romeo? Or was it just a single rose and a whispered promise to wait forever?”Nas, who was pouring coffee into a mug labeled Property of No One Because Sharing is a Myth, didn’t even look up as he added, “Tell me you didn’t read to her out loud. Please. For the sake of my remaining faith in your masculinity.”I dropped my gear bag with a thud and shot them both a withering look. “You two done?”“Not even close,” Dez said, leaning back dramatically. “I mean,

I didn’t hesitate—I pulled up Jules’s contact and hit call, putting it on speaker before the first ring even finished. Ofelia was crouched near the makeshift nesting box, pale and wide-eyed, one hand hovering like she was afraid to touch anything. Spitfire let out another guttural cry, legs twitching as her sides clenched.“Come on, Jules, pick up,” I muttered.She did. “Zach? You better not be calling to flirt—I’m elbow-deep in a golden retriever’s mouth.”“Spitfire’s in labor,” I said, kneeling beside Ofelia. “It’s early. She’s howling, panting—Ofelia doesn’t know what to do.”“Okay. Okay, good you called. Please put me on speaker and listen carefully

Walking back into the station felt weird. Not bad—just off. Like I’d stepped back into a version of my life that no longer fit the same way it had forty-eight hours ago. The overhead fluorescents buzzed faintly above me as I made my way past the gear lockers and toward the main office, the weight of sleep deprivation starting to settle behind my eyes.I hadn’t gone home yet. My jeans felt stiff from yesterday, my hoodie smelled faintly like cat fur and cheap hotel soap, and I was 99% sure there was some stray litter stuck to my left boot. I’d meant to grab a change of clothes before heading in, but I was more focused on talking to my Captain about time off than going home to wash up and change clothes.Captain Reyes looked up as I knocked once and pushed open her office door. She was halfway through a protein bar and typing with the intensity of someone trying to beat the clock.“Dayton,” she said, then squinted. “You smell like a vet clinic.”“Hotel room