182days at the Lycan’s palace

I rest my head on the counter, feeling the cool surface against my skin. My eyes close and I take a deep breath, trying to get the sleep I desperately deserve. It’s only seven am and I’m feeling extremely drained, I guess that coffee I took earlier isn’t strong enough.

Sighing, I realized how much I loathe mornings because I'm always exhausted. The struggle is real--waking up by six in the morning and getting to bed by eleven at night is just so daunting. And the annoying part of this is that I have no choice because my first job requires me to be there by seven am. This is because my boss says that "People need to have their breakfast early" but I seriously think he said that because he likes to earn more money that’s why he opens the cafe by eight am and closes it by ten. Every single day is the same stress and pressure except for Sunday when I use my church time to sleep. I know it’s not the right thing to do but I’m pretty sure God will forgive me for that.

Ugh, it's happening again. Just as I am hoping to get some much-needed sleep, the heat and commotion from the kitchen disrupt me. Can this day get any worse?

"No sleeping today, Bella," Anna orders taping the counter and making me raise my head immediately. "Go get table two’s order." She commands

I rub my eyes with the back of my hand before I respond "I can’t, I’m working,"

"Sleeping ain’t working. Now go!." She commands. With a groan, I step away from behind the counter and head to take the order.

Just like every single day, Anna pushes me around. I mean it’s not even my job to take orders, but here I am taking them. If I remember clearly when I signed up for this job I was only told to stay behind the counter and attend to customers but Anna being Anna just have to push me around all day because I’m an omega and she’s a gamma which means she’s higher than me; whenever I think about this, I feel like hitting my head in the wall, I just hate being an omega, it’s like I don’t deserve any respect at all.

"Welcome to centra cafe, what would you like to order?" I ask once I approach the table. I keep my gaze on the notepad ready to write down what they want.

"Bella?" I hear a familiar voice. I lift my gaze to look at the person and a groan escapes my mouth. This day is gonna be worse than the other days.

"Bella, it’s been so long. How are you?" He asks, grinning. Sitting in front of me is my Uncle Martin and a random lady. I hate him so much. He and my aunt are the worse people in this world, they took everything away from me when my parent passed away, and not once did they ever come to check on my sister and me without creating a big tantrum about getting me married, they literally want to sell me off.

"Uncle Martin, it’s good to see you here." I lie with a gritted smile.

"You too, I really miss you."

"I bet you do."

"So how’s life been, you work here? Like as a waitress?" He ask raking his eyes on my dress as if disgusted. Another reason why I hate this man, he never respects my job. I mean, I know it’s not something to be proud of but at least I’m doing something, unlike his son who is a street stripper.

"Yes, like a waitress." I say with a fake smile.

"Ohh I see, well it ain’t like you deserve any better." He chuckles and I stare at him in annoyance "Anyways, how is Layla doing? I hear things aren’t going pretty well for her, you know cancer is a tough thing."

I hand fist into balls when he mentions Layla. I hate it; I just hate it when he talks about my sister. I know he doesn’t care and I know he’s only saying this to hurt me, to make me remember how much of a jerk he is.

Groaning I hide my anger with a smile "So you are on a date huh? Does Aunt Masha know about this?" I smirk. This will shout his stupid mouth.

"So, what are the specials on the menu?" He changes the menu

"Cheesecake, you want that?"

He looks at the menu for a while before he responds "Yes, two of that and two ice coffee."

I write it down and say "I will get that for you in a minute."

I turn around and am about to get the order when the room abruptly goes quiet and the air went still. It was a weird sensation--like everyone around me had paused in time. Suddenly, a gust of wind picks up and it felt like I was hit by a wave. I was confused but that feeling only lasted for a second before I instantly realize what is going on; they are coming. The Lycan king and his men.

My breath goes numb as the door opens and the men start to walk into the cafe. I release a heavy breath as I take in the looks of each one of them. They all had a straight face but regardless, they looked no less than handsome. My gaze moves as their legs do the same, shifting my gaze to the man in the middle; the Lycan king. I gulp taking in his features.

His hair is black but it’s shorter around the side and falls across his forehead messily. He has the most beautiful ocean-blue eyes that I’ve ever since. His face is perfect just like an angel’s. His body would be incredible too- I could see that even though it was covered with a plain, white T-shirt and ripped jeans. He looks like he’d just stepped out of a magazine shoot and was easily the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

I don’t know if it’s me but his face appears to be slightly different every single day. I keep stealing glances at him, even though he's now sitting down. Looking at the way his hair bounces back when he runs his hand through it makes me feel like I am under his spell.

"Bella, Bella, Bella." I hear Anna say but I don’t respond as all my attention was only on the Lycan king. Sometimes I wonder how someone so hot and dashing will be so cruel and wicked. I’ve heard so many stories about this man but every time I think about it, I find it hard to believe.

"Bella." Anna taps me on the shoulder, pulling me back to reality.

"Huh!!"

"What is wrong with you?" She asks

"Nothing." I say almost immediately.

"Well, why are you standing here, go get their orders." She instructs

"What! No, I can’t." I don’t think I can walk over there and talk to them without me shivering. As much as they are good looking they are very frightening.

"Why?"

"Because I just took the order of table two and I have to go get their food."

"I will take care of that one, you just go take care of that." She takes my notepad and replaces it with hers.

"B-but."

"Go." She instructs.

I groan, turning to leave. Did I mention how bossy Anna could get? I so much hate how I can’t do or say anything when she’s pushing me around. Anna is the boss's daughter and I can’t disrespect her, well I can if I do not want to keep my job. And I know she’s only sending me to them because she knows what happens when you mistake the Lycan’s order or even make slight eye contact with him.

Taking a deep breath, I approach their table and say "Welcome to Centra Cafe, how can I help you?"

"We want our usual." The guy with the red T-shirt responds.

I know their usual order but I don’t want to mess it up so I ask "Which is?"

With my gaze on the notepad, I feel his eyes glaring at me but I refuse to look at him.

"Four espresso and two lime pie?" I inquire feeling the heat of the surrounding.

"Yes." He says

I write it down and immediately head to get the order. The last thing I want to do is get their order late or worse make a mistake like Marco did. Marco use to work here before he left or should I say before he got fired for making the coffee too hot and bitter. He also brought the order a minute late so all combined, he offended the Lycan.

After making the coffee, I lay everything out perfectly on the tray, I make my way over to their table to serve them. As I did, I turn to leave but before I could, I hear an angry growl from behind me. "Who made this coffee?"

My heart pounds in my chest and all I could think of is getting fired. I can’t afford that right now.

"I said who made this coffee!" The deep pitch voice says again. Sighing, I turn around to see it’s the Lycan; I have never heard him speak before.

"I…. I made this coffee." I say quietly.

He turns his gaze to me; his cold stare makes me gulp. I feel myself moving backward as he takes steps toward me.

"You made the coffee?" His voice was quiet and rough. His eyes swirled with gold, making them even more mesmerizing.

I take a slow breath, noticing how good he smelled. Husky from training yet earthy.

The smell of sweat and cologne mixed to create something entirely new. "Y… yes," I respond

"Well, I don’t like it." He pours the coffee on the floor.

My eyes widen as I look at the coffee and then him "Make me a new one." He commands

"No." I caught myself saying.

A startling squeal left my lips as the Lycan

shove me against my wall. The pictures hanging on the wall rattled with the impact. And his eyes never left mine

"What did you say?" He growls, his eyes had become completely gold and I stare into

their depths unwavering.

Something had to be wrong with me.

Instead of feeling afraid, I felt angry. Why wouldn’t I? I really put my best into making this coffee, and I do that every single morning. After Marco got fired, I became in charge of making the coffee and since then he has been taking my coffee without any complaints, why is he suddenly complaining?

I’m not gonna lose my job because of this. I made this coffee and I know there is nothing wrong with it.

"I…umm, I mean if you wanted me to make you another coffee I would but you didn’t have to pour that one away." I stand my ground

"I do want I want to." He towers over me as I am trapped against the wall. His earthy cologne scent is everywhere. It wasn't that it didn't smell good, it was just really strong.

"I know but that doesn’t mean you do what’s right," I say.

His straight angry face falls as he lets out a silent growl and he takes a step backward. That’s it, I’m gonna get fired.

I wait for him to speak but he doesn’t so I decide to just go make him a new coffee, that’s if I’m not fired already. Turning around, to leave, he clasps my hand and pulls me to his chest.

"We are not done talking." His hot breath fans my face as his chest collides with mine. His golden eyes convey no emotion other than anger as he looks down at me.

"I admire your confidence, I have a job for you."

"Huh!" I bit my lip sheepishly.