/ All of this silence and patience, pining and anticipation / My hands are shaking from holding back from you /
Thinking I had some sort of magical power was bizarre, but witnessing said power and actually wielding it was even crazier. I'd gone through several self-doubts in my life just like the next person, but this one was the hardest pill to swallow. I was at a loss about what to do.
Did I need a mentor? Would I become an apprentice of another witch in order to be able to learn how to control my power? What was my power, honestly? Was it just telekinesis or something more? What else could I possibly do? These questions only added to the piles of things that I needed to figure out.
I'd gone to sleep and yet by the time I woke up in the morning, I still had it. Using the red smoke, I opened the curtain and it worked, confirming that it wasn't just a dream last night. Well, the part where Alana possibly had or would murder someone was still a dream. Fortunately, after that horrible nightmare and actually experiencing being Alana The Killer, I hadn't had any dreams and had been able to rest peacefully.
The next several days since that day had gone by like the usual, with Ryker being detached and keeping his distance. Although fussing about the graduation prom and actually attending it with Dmitry out of people had been rather a distraction, I couldn't shake off the loneliness. My friend Davina had her own life at the Center, so even though I enjoyed being there with her, I eventually had to go back to the North. The pack house was quiet and I had no one there. Trish's absence made me realize how much I missed her and I hoped she would come back soon from her trip to London.
It was Friday of the same week when I'd decided to look for part-time jobs after school. During my previous trip to District 8 with Dav, I recalled seeing a 'wanted' sign in a café. The cafe was called 'Bean There Done That' and they were in need of a server. Being a server wasn't as hard as mixing drinks or creating latte art, so I steeled myself and went to the cash register. A tall man, who I assumed was either the manager or owner, was standing behind it. There was only a blonde girl in a pigtail in the queue and I stood behind her while waiting for my turn. After she'd paid and gotten her receipt, she moved away and I stepped forward.
"Hi, how may I help you?" inquired the man with a friendly smile.
"Um, actually I was looking at the sign you put at the front. Is there a chance that you might still need a server?"
"Yes." He nodded and his smile grew wider. "I reckon we should've put the word 'waitress' there instead. Have you waited tables before?"
"No," I answered truthfully.
"Well, one can always learn." He gave me an encouraging smile. "You will need to remember the drinks, the tables, and the customer's faces. This may seem strange, customers may give you their order when you clean their table or when they call out to you. Remembering their face can be helpful, particularly when there is more than one person at a table."
I responded with a brief nod. That actually made sense. I went to cafes with Dav before and the waiter or waitress always put down my order without me having to clarify which was mine and which was Dav's. "I think I can do that." I didn't have a photographic memory but I could remember people's faces or at least, tried my best to.
"Good." The tall man seemed to notice a customer standing behind me and gestured for me to step out of the line. Once he'd settled the customer's order and informed the barista, he returned to me again. "How many hours can you work in a day and how many days per week?"
"I just graduated so I don't have schools so I can definitely work more hours. But I live in the North so it will take time for me to travel here. So about five to seven hours a day, if the traffic allows," I answered him while trying to jumble my thoughts.
"How about weekends?"
"I don't have much plan on the weekends." No one was ever at the pack house during weekends. Ryker was off to god knows where and Dmitry was more of a mystery. "If you need me to work longer hours in weekend, I can do that too."
"That's wonderful!" The man looked extremely pleased. "We need someone who can cover more than two or three hours a day." Then, as if he'd just remembered something, he shook his head and put his hand out. "Silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Lukas, by the way. My grandparents used to own this cafe, and it got passed down to my parents and then to me."
"That's really cool." I returned his smile. "My name is Xyrra. Nice to meet you."
"Xyrra. That's a unique name. I will remember that." He gave me a kind smile, which gave me an indication that he wasn't mocking my name or anything. "Okay. So the wage is four pounds per hour. Would you be okay with that? If you do well in the first month, I can increase your hourly pay by five pounds next month."
A five-hour workday would result in a daily earning of twenty pounds. A week's worth of work would be one hundred forty pounds. That was good enough for me. "Sounds good to me."
"Okay, brilliant." Lukas leaned down, looking like he was trying to get something from below the register. After straightening up, he gave me a form and pen. "Here. You will need to fill out this form and once you're done, you can start, let's say, tomorrow? How's that? Does that work?"
"Yes." I grabbed the form and the pen, then went to sit at the nearest table and began filling the form. Most of it was normal questions, asking about my name, my age, and if I had transportation to get to work, etc. In just ten minutes, I completed it and handed the form back to Lukas, having signed it at the bottom.
"Here." Lukas handed me a styrofoam cup. "I took a wild guess and made a mocha latte for you. You're going to work here, so at least you should have a taste of our coffee. That way you could say you've been here and done it." He grinned as if he'd thought that was the best pun ever.
Not wanting to ruin the mood, I accepted the cup and muttered my thanks. I tasted the delightful blend of coffee and chocolate. "This is really good," I told him with a note of wonder in my tone. The coffee is much better than I thought it would be. I'd even be prepared to lie if the coffee ended up tasting bad.
"See, make sure you tell that to your friends and our customers," said Lukas with a wink. Looking up, something caught his attention causing his eyes to narrow and his happy expression to fade into annoyance.
Out of curiosity, I followed his line of sight and saw a guy wearing a dark blue jumper walk into the cafe. His blonde hair seemed to be styled messily to look like he'd just gotten out of bed. The guy was still trying to get something out of his sling bag when Lukas said, "You're late."
"Oh, come on, man," he pulled out the apron and was in the middle of ironing the shriveled fabric with his hand while he was speaking, "you know fifteen minutes is not late unless—" The second he looked up and met my eyes, he stopped talking. His eyes widened and that boyish grin appeared on his face. "Xyrra."
Lukas blinked and looked at me, then at the guy, and then back at me. "Do you two know each other?"
"Considering the fact that she punched and broke my sister's nose, yeah, I'd say we know each other all too well."
"He's not serious." I forced myself to smile in the hope that Lukas wouldn't think that I was too violent to be a waitress. "Miles is joking."
"He always does," said Lukas with a sigh, seemingly to believe me, then turned to Miles, "I've already gotten Bryant to cover you for half an hour so go chill out for fifteen minutes before you come and clock in."
"Will do, Boss." Miles gave him his most serious look but once Lukas was back behind the register, he motioned me to follow him outside. Once we stepped out of the cafe, he immediately turned to me. "What are you doing here? Why are you hanging out with Lukas?"
I indicated to the 'wanted' sign on the glass behind me. "Clearly your tardiness means another spot is open."
Miles blinked. He appeared completely taken aback. "You're going to work here?"
"Yes," I replied curtly. Miles had been transparent in his intentions, so I didn't want to give him any false hope. I meant what I'd said to Ryker about my understanding of the boundaries. Miles might haven't found his mate now but one day he would. Despite finding him incredibly charming and rather good-looking, I had no interest in him. Not in the way he probably wanted me to.
He still had that easy-going smile on his face but his gaze turned serious and he looked at me as he was trying to figure me out. "Why? Would Ryker even allow you to do that? If money is what you need, I'm sure he has tons of it."
I didn't need any reminder that Ryker and his rich family owned half of Europe. Above all else, I didn't want people thinking that I would come to Ryker if I needed financial aid. Not that what they thought mattered but it bugged me that they thought of me using him as my personal ATM. One of the reasons why I wanted to work was so that I could pay a rental fee or something to Ryker. That way, I didn't owe him anything. I knew this kind of logic might not be easy to understand but I hated having to live there and eat his food without giving something in return.
Something must've crossed my face because Miles paled a little and he nervously cleared his throat. "I mean, it's good that you're working and being independent."
"Yeah, I think I would enjoy this."
His smile returned, as well as the color back to his cheeks. "Now that you're here, I'll be sure to arrive at work on time."
I laughed. "Good to know that I contribute to that." Then I realized we were standing too close and the last time that had happened, his sister came and slapped me so just to be on the safe side — and because I hated hurting animals— I subtly took a step back.
Apparently, not that subtle because Miles noticed it and caught my arm. "Hey. Don't worry. My sister won't be here."
"That's what I thought last time too but nope, she came out and you know what happened."
"No." Miles shook persistently. "This time she won't."
"Why? Because she is busy having her nose fixed?" I tried to take another step back but Miles prompted me.
"No, because she's locked up in the basement."
That got me to stop struggling to break my arm from his hold. "W-what? Locked up? In whose basement?"
His gaze fell to the ground. "Yours," he said quietly.
"Mine?" I felt like I couldn't get more surprised and yet he'd just proven me wrong. "Wait, Miles, what do you mean she got locked up in my basement?"
This time Miles looked up and his eyes met mine. "I mean the packhouse. She's serving her punishment."
"By being locked up," I reiterated, still not understanding completely what he was telling me. "Why? What did she do?"
Miles lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "She harmed the future Luna."
"The future Lu—" I blinked. "Me?"
He nodded. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's a common thing. If it's another pack, I'm quite certain she'll be dismembered or something worse. I'd say she got off quite easy."
I couldn't understand his logic. Don't get me wrong, Alana did piss me off when she struck me like that, but I'm not sure if she deserved to be locked up. I mean, I'd broken her nose. That was punishment enough. "How's being locked up down there considered easy?"
"Well, aside from the silver she must endure, she still gets food and a roof over her head, so that's good." Miles must've seen the confusion and guilt on my face because he put one on my shoulder while the other under my chin and he tilted my face to meet his eyes. "I'm her brother, and I'm okay with that. Thank goodness Alpha Ryker is not dumb and he could tell that she was lying when she told him you punched her nose while she was trying to be friendly to you."
"I wouldn't call slapping someone's face as friendly," I commented, couldn't hold back my tongue.
"Exactly. So he told Alana to go downstairs and put the silver chains on herself. Then he locked the door." Miles shrugged. For someone whose sister was being locked up, he seemed to be pretty chill.
"Wait, do you mean she's willingly put on the silver chains even though she knows it hurt her?"
He nodded. "Yeah. The Alpha has given her his verdict and what her punishment is. I'd say that's quite merciful, if someone harms my mate, I'd probably make a wolfsbane juice and make them drink it."
"Enough with the gross, violent story." I shuddered a little. This whole thing just reminded me of what I'd found in my house's basement, that room where my dad had tortured his wolf, Atlas. There had been silver there too and pieces of Atlas. My hand shook, and I quickly clasped them together. "I should go."
"Yeah. Lukas will come out and yell at me if I don't go in right now." Miles smiled. He looked through the glass and gave an okay sign to Lukas, who was no doubt giving him a signal that it was time for work. Before he went in, he caught hold of my hand and tried to reassure me one last time. "Don't feel bad. My sister shouldn't have done that. And don't be mad at Alpha Ryker either. He's being quite merciful, given the situation."
Without uttering a word, I simply looked at him. He let go of my hand and walked into the cafe. As I approached my parked motorcycle, I couldn't decide whether I should be angry with Ryker for punishing Alana. Ultimately, I decided Alana was a member of The Ethereal and Ryker was the Alpha. Whatever verdict or punishment he gave her, it was within his rights to do so. As I'm not a wolf or a part of their pack, I'd refrain from meddling in their affairs.
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A/N: Dear Readers, this author has been torn whether to add a Bonus Chapter (Xyrra going to prom with Dmitry) or not. Needless to say, this author is very much tempted to do so. What do you think? Also, if you have a minute, please Vote for this chapter & share this story in your social media or to your friends. That would help so much. Have a wonderful weekend!