The Alpha's Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger by Ejiofor Dorcas

34 Night shift II

Lyla

My smile didn’t waver, but my eyes turned cold.

“I’m afraid that’s not on the menu. Coffee and pastries, however, are. Would you like to order? Can I get you guys started with water first before you decide on what you want to have or should I ask you to leave?”

The guy’s friends snickered but he looked taken aback by my firm response. After a moment of tension, he straightened up. “Fine. Five large black coffees. To go.”

I moved over to the counter and in a few minutes, I‘ had their order ready, I package it in the to–go box

and went over to them with c

OS.

“Hey!” I said casually – they stopped talking as soon as I approached them but I paid no attention to them. I dropped the coffee on the table. “Here you go gentlemen,” I flashed them a smile but my eyes held a warning. “Before you pay, are you sure you don’t want me to get anything else for you guys? Our Lemon cake is quite popular.”

19:25+

1/9

“No, lady!” their leader huffed and brought out his card. After swiping up and confirming their payments, I thanked them again and went back to the counter marvelling at my composure, In the pack, I would have shrunk away from such confrontation. But here, in this small coffee shop, I found a strength I didn’t know I possessed. It was as if a lot of things had changed since I got back.

To say the truth, it hasn’t been all sun and roses. I remember when I and Nanny – Miriam had first arrived in the human world exactly 3 years and six months ago today. We had little more than the clothes on our backs and some money my parents had given me. It had been a hard transition, especially for me who was used to living in ple

Having whatever I

wanted to eat, all the clothes that I liked… and also for Miriam who was used to the structure of the pack life.

But we had managed, surviving on Grace’s little savings and the little money I had left.

For six months, we wandered from one shop that was looking to employ. We didn’t have referees or CVs as the human called it. They couldn’t trust us enough to let us work for them. Despite, our willingness to work

34 Night shift II

without being paid until they realized we weren’t fraud, they had all refused.

Finding this job had been a stroke of luck for us. One of the days, famished and munching on hamburgers we got at a place where they gave free food, we stumbled upon the ‘Help Wanted‘ sign in the Coffee

Nook’s window.

taken one look at us and hired us on the spot.

had said peering at us “And they’re

needs.”

for references or even our experience, he just smiled and told Miriam after she finished recounting how her husband

left the pack that I felt seen for something more than my past. We settled into the little apartment above the coffee shop, and for the first time, I started to believe

here.

C

shift II

It was simple, predictable – everything our lives at Blue Ridge wasn’t. A year later, we’ve saved up enough money and moved out of the apartment above the coffee shop and Mr John made Nanny

to the customer, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I frowned,

for me

my phone before stepping into the back

I said, but all I heard was

I repeated, a knot forming in my stomach.

to hang up when I thought I heard something – a voice, perhaps? – buried beneath the white

shift

disconnected.

stared at my phone. Almost

–

it was

This time, I answered with a sense of urgency. “Who is

Again, only static.

repeated several times over the next hour. Each time I thought I could almost make out something in the static – a word, a name, warning? – but it slipped away before I could grasp

and unnerved, I

as

a

off my

the wall.

on? The constant calls were grating on my nerves, adding to the stress

a sudden need for air, I called out to Nanny, avoiding her knowing gaze. “I’m going to step out for a minute.”

of the shop, then went towards the suggestion box that no one ever uses and retrieved a pack

shift

I should break what I’d worked so hard to leave. I’ve been sober for

inhaling deeply as I took the first smoke. It was a habit I had picked up at seventeen, finding it an easy way to deal with all the bullying in school. I had promised Nanny that I would quit but right now, I needed something to calm my nerves. The day had been too strange – first school, then these phone calls. And that man… Mr Dupree… there was something about him that set

smoke curl into the evening air. The memory of M upree’s eyes on me earlier sent a fresh wave of fear down my spine. Who was he? Was he really Xander’s dad? And why did he make me feel so uneasy? Why does it seem like I’ve met him before? I had never reacted to anyone like that before. It wasn’t just fear…