Alpha Varkon’s Human Antidote

6| EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES

ZEPHYRA

“Lily, I’m not talking to you right now, leave me alone…” I moaned, trying to claw her off my back where she pressed her body against mine and wrapped her arms around me.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll say it as many times as you want until you forgive me. Fine. Don’t go back to him.”

I scoffed. “I wasn’t going back to him in the first place. Cillian is an i***t, and I deserve better.”

“I guess you do.” Lily spoke, and I tsked, rolling my eyes. She would never see my point. She was all for Cillian, didn’t give a f**k about my feelings at this point.

What picture of perfection did she have in her head on our behalf?

This time I grabbed her arms and flung them off me.

“Zeph!”

“I’m late for work. The bills won’t pay themselves. I don’t have time for this.” I turned around a blew her a kiss, then ran straight for my bag on the chair.

“You know you shouldn’t be at work so soon. Your leg is still healing.” She complained.

“I’m tired of sitting around. I need to work. Don’t worry, Lilith. I feel so much better. I’ll cope. Just some pain here and there, nothing painkillers can’t handle.”

With one last smile in her direction, I rushed to the door. Lily didn’t call after me again and I was super grateful for that.

I got to the cafe five minutes earlier than my shift, and the moment I pushed open the doors and slipped in, screams filled the small space. I leaped up and down in excitement, bracing myself as Ana and Sam rushed over to throw their arms around me.

Pain shot through my leg and hand from the accident, but I bit down on my cheek, holding back a scream.

“Oh my Zephie! We missed you Zephie!” Ana yelled, and I pouted with tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.

“Really?”

“Really!” Sam laughed. “We sure missed our cheeky little server, and our regulars missed you too. They couldn’t stop asking where you went. Don’t worry, we respected your wishes. Didn’t tell them anything.”

“Great.” I smiled. “Thank you guys. And I missed everyone, too.”

I stopped talking to glance around, then leaned in to whisper to them, “Even if our manager is the biggest d**k ever.”

“I heard that!” I heard Mrs Owen scream from the back of the cashier table. She poked her head through the door leading to the back. s**t. Of course, her werewolf hearing.

“Just get to work, Zephyra. I don’t have the time to deal with that naughty attitude of yours.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs Owen.” I simply responded, deciding to pick a truce over further argument. It was my first day back anyway. She didn’t respond to me.

We changed the sign in front of the door from closed to open after all that, and I stood behind the server table, ready to put my all into my job today. Operation drown all thoughts of my ex with work.

I heard the door open and close while I was looking through the menu in my hand. A performative smile plastered on my face, and I glanced up. The smile dropped immediately, replaced with a small gasp when my gaze locked on the first and only person who’d entered the cafe today.

The man bent to pass through the door, causing my knees to buck a little. Damn.

His woody, expensive smelling perfume filled the room, and my knees bucked a little when he looked up at me. His brow shot up, and he paused a bit.

Definitely wolf. He was so built and otherworldly beautiful. It was even a guess. I’d gotten better at telling them apart. I immediately stood straighter, squared my shoulders.

Gee, why did he look so familiar?! It was like I’d seen him somewhere before. Those silver eyes… But where?

I shook my head as if it would get rid of my confusing thoughts.

My lips pulled into a smile, and I prepared to be the bubbly server I was known to be, but this man beat me to it.

His voice sounded as heavenly as he looked, but the words that left his mouth, “How long are you going to stand and gawk?”

My mouth dropped.

“What?”

“I want to get coffee. Black.”

What?

I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, then clasped it shut again. I swallowed the anger rising in my veins, and turned back to prepare his drink with angry, shaky hands.

Such an annoying piece of s**t, I thought. There goes my little crush for him—if I could even call it that, it lasted less than two minutes. Why do the fine ones always have to be from the deepest pit of hell?

I pushed the coffee latte to him, gasping when it spilled a little onto my hand. “Sorry! Sorry.”

“What’s this?” He questioned while I was still wiping the table with a towel, and I stopped in my tracks. He picked the cup off the table slowly.

“What?”

“You heard me. What is this?” He repeated sternly.

“Didn’t you…” I started to run my mouth but caught myself before I could go any further. “I mean, it’s… this is exactly what you ordered.”

The man cussed under his breath.

“Are you intentionally trying to piss me off?” He snapped. “You can’t hear basic English?”

“Okay, you will not speak to me like that.” I snapped, unable to take it anymore.

He raised a brow. “Excuse me?”

I didn’t hold back. “If you can’t speak politely, don’t freaking speak at all.”

“You got my order wrong!” He insisted. “I asked for black coffee.”

“I don’t care what you asked for! I might have gotten it wrong, but I was going to fix it, it can be fixed. You don’t have to be an asshole about it. Everyone makes mistakes.”

His mouth was slightly ajar, but he quickly clamped it shut and looked behind me, “Who’s there? Why am I being disrespected like this?”

I blocked his path. But someone already poked a head outside.

“What… is everything alright out here?” I heard Mrs Owen ask. My heartbeat picked up. His ears stood straighter. Of course he could hear it.

“I-It’s fine. I’ll handle it.” I answered.

“Sir?” Mrs Owen pressed. Varkon’s eyes held mine for an uncomfortable moment. Then he spoke slowly to me,

“Fix it.”

I nodded eagerly, taking the cup off his hand, only to freeze when a jolt of electricity passed through my hand. He jerked back too, and the coffee spilled over our hands even more.

I hissed at the burn, watching his own redness lighten up in seconds. I glanced up at him, and his orbs had changed to red, veins appearing under his eyes. I shuddered.

“A-are you okay?”

He hadn’t even responded when a strange headache hit me abruptly. I groaned and shut my eyes, grabbing my head in my hands. A flicker of the wolf I’d seen my dreams appeared in my mind, as clear as I’d seen it last night.

The headache disappeared alongside the image, and I straightened slowly.

Swallowing, I muttered under my breath, “I’m sorry. I’ll just…”

I looked up, and he was gone.