Chapter 55 The Bounty

Chapter 55 The Bounty
Aurelia

Call me stupid, but I went back to that restaurant and groveled for pity. Three days of sleeping in bus stations and alley corners had stripped away whatever pride I had left.

I couldn’t keep walking the city with no place to lay my head. It was too risky and too exposed.

And the men here? Goddess, they were unhinged! If they sensed you were wandering without purpose, they’d harass you, corner you, touch you like you owed them something just for breathing in their air.

Lia stared at me across her tiny office desk, arms crossed, her mouth pinched into a thin line.

She didn’t speak right away. She simply let the silence press down until I felt every second of it.

Finally she leaned forward.

“I’ll let you come back,” she said dryly, “but only if you stop fighting off the male customers’ advances. It makes the restaurant lose money when you slap hands away or walk off mid-order.
You want to keep this job? You smile. You flirt. You let them think they have a chance. That’s the deal.”

My throat burned with shame so hot I almost choked on it.

“Okay,” I whispered.

She nodded once, satisfied, and slid my apron back across the desk.

“Uniform’s in the locker. Second shift starts in ten.”

So here I was again, back in the same black skirt that hugged my hips too tight, the same white blouse that stretched across my chest like it was daring someone to stare.

Just like yesterday, I was aking orders, moving between tables. Swallowing every filthy comment about my ass, my thighs, my “fuckeable” curves when some guy thought he was clever.

I’d learned fast: smile. Nod. Walk away. Let the words burn my throat instead of letting them burn my job.

I was too exhausted by the unfairness of it all, too bone-deep tired of being the villain in every story they told themselves, to notice the moment Zhayad lowered the wall between us.

‘Where are you?’

His voice poured over the bond like cool water on fevered skin, deep, urgent, edged with something that sounded dangerously close to fear.

Oh, goddess. I froze mid-step, the tray wobbling in my hands.

A shiver raced down my spine, raising every hair on my arms. I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t give my location away. Not yet. But Zhayad wasn’t done.

‘Aurelia, where are you?’

The deep rumble of his growl rolled through me, vibrating in my chest until I felt it in my teeth.

My breath hitched. I wanted to ask him, ‘Took you days to figure out you've been with the wrong Aurelia?’

But I just stood there, rooted to the spot like a statue while the restaurant noise faded to a dull roar in my ears.

“I ordered medium rare!” The woman whose plate I’d just set down snapped. My heart nearly burst out of my chest. “What is this on my plate?”

I blinked hard, dragging myself back.

“I’m sorry,” I rushed out, the words tumbling over each other. “I was distracted for a moment. I’ll be back with your correct order. I deeply apologise for my lack of concentration.”

I turned to flee to the kitchen, but a loud commotion outside stopped me dead. Distant screams echoed down the street, panicked, and overlapping.

“Shifters! Close your shops! Close down your shops!” A guy pedaling on his bicycle screamed as he cycled past.

People were running, spilling out of cafés, out of eateries, tripping over each other in blind terror.

Hold on a bit. Shifters in the human territory? 

“Werewolves!” someone shrieked from the sidewalk.

Our customers leaped to their feet. And the restaurant exploded into chaos. Chairs toppling, tables rocking, fighting to make it out the door.

They shoved, pushed, stumbled over each other like rats fleeing a sinking ship. I'd never seen this kind of madness before.

This had something to do with me. Zhayad and his shifter warriors were here. It must have been the reason he finally let down his walls.

He'd sniffed me out, or he had eyes in the city. I was counting on both.

“They’re here! They’re coming in! Run back inside!”

One of the first ones that got out screamed in alarm, shoving people back into the restaurant even as others fought to get past him.

The woman I’d been apologising to smacked me in the face with her hair as she spun to flee for the back exit.

My eyes watered as I squinted at the glass doors. It wasn’t Zhayad who led the shifter warriors through the door.

It was Alpha Varrick. He strode in like he owned the place, his eyes scanning the chaos with cold precision.

Behind him poured six warriors. They were all armored, armed, faces set in grim lines. They looked so out of place in this place.

Lia appeared beside me, but her presence didn’t comfort me in the least. She’d been watching me, suspicion growing in her eyes like mold.

The look on her face now said she’d had enough of my baggage. Varrick’s gaze swept the room, then locked on me.

A slow, predatory smile spread across his face. I remembered the way he'd wanted to take me against the bark of a tree that night I escaped from the abandoned shed, and I shuddered.

“Found you,” Alpha Varrick said, his slimy voice carrying over the screams and crashing furniture like grease sliding across a blade. “I didn’t take you for a runner, but into the human territory? Zhayad must be ripping himself apart right now.”

He turned his attention to Lia with a lazy, charming smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Thank you, my lovely. Your smart work has earned you two thousand dollars.”

My stomach dropped through the floor. What? Lia leaked my location?

How… how could she have known I was wanted? No, that was the wrong question.

Why was Alpha Varrick here?

I faced Lia, searching her eyes for any flicker of guilt, any sign of betrayal.

But she looked exactly like she always had: calm, professional, and a little tired.

Only now her smile was conspiratorial, a quiet little curve that said she’d been waiting for this moment.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” she asked lightly, almost amused.

“After that guy called you a werewolf whore, I suspected you were the girl the shifters were hunting. You should feel lucky that it was him who found you first. Bounty hunters are sniffing round the city for you, girl.”

“No wonder you accepted me for the second time without a hassle.” I said.

She shrugged.

Varrick stepped closer, his boots crunching over broken glass.

His warriors fanned out behind him, their eyes scanning every corner of the restaurant like they were looking for threats. Or prey.

“You’ve been busy,” he said, his gaze sliding down my uniform, lingering on the skirt, the blouse, the way the fabric clung. “Playing human. Waiting tables. How cute.”

He tilted his head. “But games end, little witch. And yours just did.”

Lia gasped. “She's a witch?! Look, Alpha, I run a business. I can’t have trouble walking in my door every day. You all need to go. If people discover I hired a witch, they'll never eat here again!” She sounded alarmed.

“You were trouble from the moment you lied about your name. I should have known, Aurelia.” She hissed the name at me.

I stared at her, the woman who’d given me a roof, a job, a sliver of safety, and felt something inside me crack.

“You knew,” I whispered. “You knew the whole time.”

“Please, take her and go. I don't want to be in the news for harbouring a witch!” Lia half yelled.

Varrick clicked his tongue. “Unfortunately, I'm taking you, too, my lovely. I don't want anyone flapping their big mouths, saying I kidnapped someone in the human territory.”

Lia tried to run, but his shifters caught her before she made it three steps away.

“Zhayad will come for me.” I told Varrick as he pushed me out of the restaurant.

“If he did, why is he partying in the Moonrise Celebration with the clone hanging on his arm right now as we speak?” He asked in my ear.

My heart sank low. This couldn't be true. Zhayad had lowered the wall a few minutes ago. He'd spoken through the bond!

I refused to believe Varrick as he forced me outside. A blindfold was slapped over my eyes, and everywhere went dark.