Chapter Four
1429 Words
Table for one, one man said. His voice wasn't just deep; it was heavy, like a bomb that wants to explode
I didn't have to turn around. The air in the diner didn't just shift; it shattered. That suffocating, sharp scent of wet iron flooded the room, cutting through the smell of coffee
Elisa! Quit standing there like a statue and pour the coffee! Sal barked, slamming his hand on the counter. You’re moving like a snail today.
My hands betrayed me by shaking so bad. Just be human, I told myself, my voice a silent scream in my mind. Be the fragile, broken dishwasher. Don't look at his eyes. Whatever you do, don't let him see the wolf.
I limped toward table five, my ankle pulsing with an agonizing sound. I poured the coffee, keeping my head bowed so low my hair acted like a curtain.
You lost something in the road, didn't you?" the man murmured.
My heart didn't just beat, it hurt my ribs. I froze, the steam from the coffee rising up to sting my eyes. "I... I don't know what you’re talking about, sir."
He didn't touch his drink. He sat as still as a predator in the tall grass, his gaze pinning me to the floor. "A silver locket. A very rare, very expensive piece to find discarded in the trash.
I forced a dry laugh a , cracking sound that felt like glass shards in my throat. It Must have been someone else's. I’m just the help here."
He leaned in, his voice dropping into a low, jagged growl that vibrated in my very marrow. Stop the performance, little rogue. My boss is very interested in why a wolf is playing waitress in a dump like this.
"Hey!" Sal stomped over, his face purple with genuine, oblivious rage. You bothering my staff? You want coffee, drink it, but if You want to cause trouble, get the hell out of here.
The hunter slowly turned his head to look at Sal. For one agonizing, strobe-light second, his eyes shifted—a flash of unnatural, burning yellow. Sal went completely silent, his jaw going slack, his eyes turning dull and vacant as if his soul had been temporarily unplugged.
My apologies, the hunter said, his voice smooth and cold as ice. "I was just... looking for something that I lost.
He stood up, going round me. He leaned in until his lips were inches from my ear, his breath directly in my ears. You can’t run from a storm, Elisa. The Alpha is already on his way.
He dropped a fifty-dollar bill on the table and walked out.
What did he say that the problem is?" Sal grumbled, shaking his head and blinking hard, as if pulling himself out of a thick, muddy dream. And why are you shaking like a leaf?
I... I think I'm coming down with something, Sal, I whispered, gripping the edge of the counter until my fingernails wanted to break.
Whatever, Sal grumbled, turning his back to clean the grill. Just finish the floor I thought that the guy wanted to cause trouble.
Then a screech of a car was Heard. I ran to the front window. A convoy of black SUVs started rolling in.
The sun had already gone down, and the city outside was glowing with bright lights. Cars passed by the diner, their headlights flashing through the glass windows for a second before disappearing again. Inside, the diner looked warm and normal, with its yellow lights, the smell of fried food, and the sound of plates but to me, it didn’t feel normal at all.
It felt like a trap.
I stood behind the counter with a rag in my hand, trying to wipe the same table for the third time, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. My heart was beating so hard that it felt painful, like it wanted to break through my chest and run away before I could.
Elisa! Sal shouted from the kitchen. Can you Stop daydreaming and wipe that table properly!
His voice made me jump so hard that I nearly dropped the rag.
Sorry! I called back quickly, forcing my voice to sound normal but that was the problem.
Everything around me looked normal, but I knew it wasn’t.
Not tonight.
Not after what I had seen. Not after the feeling in my chest that had been growing all evening like a warning. Something was coming. Something terrible I could feel it in my bones.
Every time the bell above the diner door rang, I jerked my head up so fast that my neck started to hurt. A customer would walk in, and I would let out a breath, only for fear to return again a second later.
I kept on scanning everywhere with my eyes.
The front door, The back door, The windows , The dark parking lot outside. Even the reflection in the glass coffee machine.
I was watching so much that my eyes started to hurt, but I couldn’t stop. I felt like a hunted animal cornered in a cage, waiting for the hunter to finally step inside.
Elisa, are you okay?
I turned sharply and found one of the regular customers staring at me with concern.
It was Mrs. Parker, an old woman who came in almost every evening for coffee and pie. She has kind eyes and soft white hair. Normally, seeing her would have made me smile but I could barely breathe now.
Yes, I lied I’m fine.
She didn’t look convinced, but before she could ask another question, the bell above the diner door rang again.
This time, the sound cut her off. my blood turned cold immediately I looked up.
A man in a black suit walked in.
He wasn’t like the other customers. He didn’t glance around the diner. He didn’t look at the menu hanging on the wall. He didn’t even seem interested in food.
He walked straight to the counter with slow, calm steps, like he already owned the place.
Then he sat down. Without saying a word, he placed one arm on the counter. The sleeve of his black suit shifted, revealing a gold watch around his wrist. He turned it slightly, staring at the moving second hand as if he had all the time in the world couldn’t move for a moment.
Every instinct inside me screamed the same thing.
To Run but my feet was frozen to the floor.
The man finally lifted his head.
Bring me Coffee, he said.
Just one word.
He didn’t look at me while he said it. He simply sat there, watching the watch on his wrist, as though counting down to something only he understood.
I swallowed hard and forced my legs to move.
Y-yes, I whispered, reaching for the coffee pot.
My fingers were so shaky that I nearly dropped it. I turned to pour the coffee into a mug, and that was when I saw it.
In the reflection of the metal coffee machine, his eyes were on me.
He was staring at the bare skin just below my ear the place where a wolf’s mark should have been.
My stomach dropped.
No, No, no, no.
He found me.
I tried to breathe, but my lungs suddenly felt too tight.
Slowly, I set the mug in front of him. “Here.”
He still didn’t touch it.
Instead, he leaned back slightly, and a strange smile touched the corner of his lips.
The Alpha is waiting, he continued, still watching me through the reflection. And you are making him very angry.
I forced myself to look at him, even though fear was crawling all over my body.
I don’t know who you are, I said.
I tried to sound like a normal human girl. Just a waitress. Just Elisa. Nobody important.
But the lie felt weak even to my own ears.
The man’s smile disappeared.
He slowly lifted his head and looked straight at me.
You know exactly who I am, he said quietly.
His voice had changed now. It was no longer soft. It was dangerous.
He leaned forward over the counter, close enough for only me to hear.
You only have five minutes here .
My fingers went numb.
Then we will take you.
My heart nearly stopped.
And if your human friend tries to stop us…” His eyes flicked toward the kitchen, where Sal was humming while washing plates, completely unaware that death had just sat down at his counter. “He dies first.
- Writer
