Page 19 of Impregnated By the Alpha

“Can I help you?” The woman behind the bar prompted, startling Jonah from his melancholy daydream. “Oh, you’re—“

“Jonah,” he said, preparing himself for the next barrage of vitriol.

She studied him, hooking her hair around her ears and out of her face. “Cute. But I hear you’re a menace. What can I get you?”

Jonah sighed in relief. A menace was one of the nicer things he’d been called. “A cappuccino, please, and a biscotti.”

The case beside the counter was stocked with various baked goods. Jonah realized he hadn’t eaten since breakfast, his stomach grumbling in protest. She handed it to him, wrapped in wax paper, and turned to make his coffee.

“You know that’s from Moira’s bakery,” the barista said from somewhere behind the immense espresso machine. He could barely hear her over the hiss of it.

The biscotti, dotted with pistachios and dipped in dark chocolate, looked perfect. He should’ve known it came from Moira.

“Do you think she put a curse on it?” He asked, eyeing it warily. His stomach rumbled again, and he decided that curse or no curse would be worth the risk.

“Sounds like she’d be justified if she did.” The barista eyed him, steaming the milk until it foamed to the top of the silver jug. “She hates your guts.”

“Yeah, I kind of hate them too at this point.” He took a bite of the biscotti and closed his eyes. It was crunchy, lightly sweet, and the best thing he’d ever eaten. “Wow. She’s good. This is delicious.”

The barista slid his cappuccino over, the white mug filled to the brim. “She’s the best.”

“And she deserves more than this rundown town has to offer.”

Jonah turned to find the source of the new voice. A woman sat, curled like a cat in an emerald armchair, its arms partially encircling her. Even if he hadn’t recognized her, he would have known her to be Moira’s sister, Vera. They had the same blue eyes, black hair, and ceramic doll skin. But where Moira was soft and curvy, Vera was narrow and lean, like sinew stitched to bones.

With her eyes narrowed above her high, sharp cheekbones, she resembled a bird of prey, sighting its mouse far below. Her book was facedown in her lap. Jonah glanced at the title. A dry, nonfiction book on diseases in domestic rabbits. Some light, evening reading.

“Hello, Vera,” Jonah said, holding his cappuccino between them like it might offer some protection against her glare. “It seems like she loves that bakery, though. I don’t get the impression she wants to leave.”

Not that he could blame her if she did. The sad town didn’t seem long for the world, and everyone should be abandoning ship while they still could, before it dragged them down with it. It would take a better man than Jonah to bail it out now, to save it from sinking, but he might be all the town had.

“Because she’s stunted. She doesn’t have any ambition. I blame you for that, you know. All your bullying in high school.” Vera had three empty cups on the table beside her and the intense focus of someone with far too much caffeine.

He backed away a little, looking for an empty seat far away from her. She was just as scary as Moria, too, but in a different way. More like something hungry and hunting than something wounded and lashing out.

“Right. Right. Been hearing a lot about that lately.” Jonah took another step back, slowly. He didn’t want to set off her prey drive. “I really was just teasing. I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“Just teasing? Just teasing?” Vera spat, her fingers digging into the arms of the chair.

Jonah readied himself to shift if she lunged at him. There was such fury in her eyes that he wouldn’t put it past her to attack right then and there. Where Moira had been timid and quiet in school, Vera’s reputation for scrappy fights in the halls and bathrooms had been well-known even by Jonah, who was two grades below.

“Look, I know better now. I was a stupid kid, and that’s no excuse, but if I had known the damage I was doing, I would never have done that. I wish, more than anything, that I could take it back.” How different would everything be now if he had just kept his mouth shut then? “But I can’t. I can just beg forgiveness.”

“Oh, so you don’t think she’s a sad fat, little goth anymore?” Vera threw his own words back at him.

He groaned. “No! She’s beautiful. She’s perfect.”

He wanted to melt into the floor as soon as he realized what he’d said. Had he just admitted that out loud? In front of all the people in the cafe?

But Vera didn’t look mollified. She scoffed. “Great, now you’ve got a crush on her. That’s the last thing she needs.”

Then a look passed over her face, somehow more awful than the furious one from a moment before. Her eyes fixed on Jonah.

“What is it?” He said, bracing himself.

“Actually, this is perfect.” She settled back into the chair with a half-smile on her face, fingers relaxing. “I think I’ve found the one thing that could finally drive Moira out of this town. The one thing that might push her to try in life.”

The barista watched the exchange with fascination. He had no doubt it would be the talk of the town in a few hours’ time. Gossip traveled fast in a small town. She made no effort to hide her interest, either, leaning on her elbows over the coffee counter.

---