The Villain's Love

Mayra. “A rogue can’t be my mate.” I always wondered if I was not born a rogue, would he have accepted me as his soulmate? If I had not been begging for food outside of his birthday party or if I had not met him in such an embarrassing situation? The charming handsome Alpha’s pity-filled gaze on me made it clear as water to my heart when he was breaking the mate bond from his side. I may have been afraid to show him weakness, I did not want to ugly cry in front of him so I shed tears behind my long hair. “Is there someone here to take orders?” A man yelled, pulling me out of my thoughts. Goddess, I was dreaming with open eyes. Two years had passed but the memory of that day was still fresh in my mind, thanks to my recurring dream I had about him every night. His gaze that had been filled with nothing but pity that was directed towards me was cemented in my heart from the moment that he rejected me in my dust-covered and torn clothes. “Coming,” I smiled, racing to take the order. The man looked at my unmarked neck once before he became extremely polite and flitorious. Over the years, I had learned to ignore and even smile at men's comments for the sake of business. “Mayra, I can’t continue to work here. I am quitting,” Rick tossed the apron on the table that attracted a lot of customers' attention. I was taken aback by his sudden frustration. “Rick, let’s talk in the kitchen,” I quickly led him inside and closed the door. I had heard a few customers gossiping about it earlier. This was bad, very bad. “Now tell me what’s wrong?” I turned to face Rick. “Why do you suddenly want to leave? '' I wrapped one of my arms over my chest, trying not to reveal how panicked I was over his statement. “Mayra, you should have known that it was coming your way when you are not able to pay your employees,” Rick claimed. “I paid you last month, Rick,” I pointed quickly, hiding the fact that it was out of my own pocket. That money, I had been saving money in particular for months, but Rick was one of the best employees I ever had. To keep him here, I had to cut down many necessary expenses of my own. “Yes, but I can’t manage the whole bar on my own. One by one, all of the other employees have left because you could not pay them. Handling every barfly on my own, I feel like a workhorse no matter how much you pay me.” “Rick, I believe some part-timers will join the bar staff soon. We just have to wait it out, ” I tried to handle the situation with the only employee that I could ever risk losing or my business would truly be lost. “I have a feeling that they will leave just like others once they learn how badly your bar is doing,” Rick spit out the bitter truth that I was already painfully aware of. “I will get everything back on track soon,” I assured him. This bar had been run by my mother, now I had taken it over caring for it like my child. “That might be, but for that to work you have to get rid of your stepfather. He causes trouble with almost every customer,” Rick sighed, pointing at Carter who was flirting with a mated she-wolf in a dark corner of the bar. She was giggling and pushing her boobs up to his view, clearly giving him ideas. She was a rogue. What more could you expect? “He is the number one reason your bar is doomed,” Rick added when Carter was punched by the woman’s mate. “f**k!” Carter growled in fury. “You are really asking for it, you little fucker,” he spit out a glob of blood as he glared at the man with his in his wolf eyes. “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!!!” the drunk customers in the bar started to chant and cheer until I quickly opened the window before the situation could get completely out of control. “CARTER!!” I screamed before Carter could punch the man back. My stepfather was in his early thirties and a strong, handsome man. People always mistook him for my brother. A single attack from him could make another man vomit blood but it was also spelled doom for my bar. I refused to bear any damage in my bar. It was already a dislikable place with the smell of wine and dirty wolves. My yell attracted everyone’s attention, while Carter turned to face me right away. “Please, bring Aaron in here,” I put on a very charming but fake smile to cover my sudden outburst. “Okay,” Carter rubbed the back of his neck as he quickly picked up the menacing aura behind my smile. The drunks sat back in their chairs in disappointment as they had not gotten a good show. “Ha, playful bastard, but at least he knows who the boss is here,” Rick chuckled. I closed the window, turning to face him. “Can you at least work until closing?” I asked. “Okay, I can do that much,” he exited the room. I took a deep tired breath as I leaned against the table behind me. It had a pile of unpaid pills stacked on it. We had received the final notice and soon they were going to cut off both the electricity and water. “You know that I was just having a little fun earlier,” Carter entered the kitchen with Aaron. “Those pricks made it sound like a fight,” he laughed, explaining away his own poor choices. “Save it for later,” I rolled my eyes. “Mayra,” Aaron raced over to hug my legs happily. “I am back.” “How was kindergarten today?” I laughed, placing him on the counter and ignoring Carter completely. Aaron was Carter and my mother’s son, but after the death of my mother, I raised him as my own. I never let him feel like he was my stepbrother. “It was fun but the teacher asked that you pay the fee once again,” Aaron innocently explained. I had a hard time keeping the smile on my face. It was not like I had forgotten about the fee. I was just hoping to be able to collect some money but I never had the chance. Especially when I had other expenses that I could not ignore. “Mayra, I don't want to go to kindergarten.” “Why?” I exclaimed at his unexpected statement. “Is someone bullying you?” “No,” he shook his head. “Then what’s the problem? You can tell me anything, you know that, right?” I smiled, looking deep into his eyes. “I want to help you at the bar. I want to support our family,” he replied once again, making me speechless with how smart he was for his age. I never let Aaron know how financially unstable we were, yet he was smart enough to understand our situation. “I am so glad that you care so much about our family,” I lovingly cupped his face. “I will be looking forward to that day, but for now you have to go to school and become a good person, Aaron. That is enough for me,” I kissed his forehead. “Okay,” he smiled. “Good, now who wants some pudding?” I raised my brows with a playful smile. “MEEE!!!” he chirped, jumping down from the counter and running to the fridge. This bar was our home. I had lived with my mother in that one room before she married Carter. Then Carter joined us and now it was a habit. After all, some rogues never even had the chance to find shelter. When Aaron was far enough away that he could not hear anything, I turned to Carter. “Alright, why are you so upset?” Carter raised his brows. “Rick just quit.” “How dare that asshole? I will teach him a lesson!” Carter growled. “There is no need,” I snapped at him. “He has freedom to leave just like anyone else. If I was in his place I would do the same.” “He was talking bullshit about me again, right?” Carter rolled his eyes, grabbing a piece of bread. “He is not wrong. You gamble, drink, and do all sorts of bad things, but I bear your presence because Aaron needs his father. The bar would be better off without you. How about you go and find a job that suits you? Become useful so that we can actually manage to pay Aaron’s school fee?” I raised my brows, trying to sound as much like a b***h as I could but Carter’s skin was thicker than I had ever imagined. He continued eating. “Am I not working? Protecting you from the bad guys that come in the bar?” he argued. “Bad guys want beauty and money. I lack both of those things. No one would get serious when they see an ordinary she-wolf like me. So I don’t need your protection, Carter,” “I know but a father’s heart can't be at ease when his daughter works around drunks,” Carter put a fatherly hand on my head, messing up my hair. “So you think you are a father yet you still will not tell me why you had disappeared for a month?” I slapped his hand away and fixed my hair. He always treated me like a little girl even though there was only a ten year age difference between us.. “Were you worried,” he gasped dramatically. “Aaron was crying without you. I could barely handle him,” I reasoned, not letting him know about my worry. No matter what, Carter was the closest thing I had to my family and I saw him as a father figure. “You never let Aaron cry. Did something happen in my absence? Did someone bother you? I will pluck out the punk’s eyes and…” “Yeah… yeah… until you get drunk and I have to bring you back from puking the back alley,” I rolled my eyes, cutting him off. “You have no respect for me,” he pouted. “Respect?” I shot him a tight-lipped smile as I picked up a tray from the side and passed it to him. “How about doing some work that will earn you some respect? Go and serve some drinks. It’s time for my show.” “You are so mean. Stop being so grumpy or you will never get a boyfriend,” he got up lazily and finally did some work. I went to put on my revealing clothes and make-up before stepping out onto the stage to sing. My mother used to do it for extra money, I did it to keep the remaining customers coming back to my bar. All of them were rogues, lone wolves, and sometimes even criminals. It was a place for low lives like us to go. A series of whistles and catcalls started like usual. Whenever I stepped onto the stage, I became a different person, one who did not care that people were talking about me. As soon as they began to throw money on the stage, Carter jumped up to pick the money from the ground. He winked at me and cheered for me to continue singing. He loved the money I earned way too much. Everything was going smoothly. It was my last song and I was looking forward to ending my set but then I noticed a few dangerous looking men walking into the bar. My wolf instantly grew alert. They were werewolves, those who belonged to a pack, which was something that was rarely seen at my bar. Pack wolves hated places like this. Their unexpected arrival was quite alarming, but their reason for coming seemed to be something specific. Were they looking for something? I followed their line of sight as I watched Carter climbing out of a window. I panicked when four men ran after him, but I could not leave the stage. What was going on?! I had a bad feeling about this. That’s when I saw a tall man cladded in gray entering with a group of wolves, then stood in front of the stage with his eyes fixed on me. He was an Alpha.