The Alpha’s Exiled Mate

“Luna, take this request to table five, please,” said my co-worker on the plate without much sympathy or delicacy.

I took the order silently, moving quickly through the kitchen. That hamburger restaurant was the most famous in the city, and all the fame was due to its efficiency, so I wouldn’t be the reason to delay any service.

All those wolves rejected by their packs had found a home in that place. Some even lived in the quarters at the bottom of the docks because it was safer. We all knew what it meant to live in the city, the fact that we had to go through many humans to get to our own homes. Those were dark times; some didn’t even get home when they crossed the city.

Not that there were no cruel creatures out there. Some were. Some badly faced vampires, some mermaids with a short wick, and there were even the hot metamorphoses. The real problem was humans. They hated us. They ate our food and frequented our places but hated our presence. There was a time when we were respected, creatures that caused fear and admiration. But that’s over. Now there was only fear, and not on their part.

“There she comes,” I heard the little group of humans gathered at a table whispering. Either they were too dumb or they didn’t imagine that my hearing was so sharp. “I bet twenty bucks that I make her drop the soup on her clothes.”

“Make her get a fire,” asked a laughing and drugged girl, passing a note to the girl sitting on the lap of a man next to her. “I’m dying to know what happens to their skin when they get burned.”

“We could take one of them and take it to the alley outside,” suggested the boy who smoked, far from the two couples and who looked at me with intrinsic evil. “I’d love to put some cigarettes in your eyes.”

The group laughed loudly and shamelessly, and I finally reached the table, placing the tray with the dishes. As expected, the one who had spoken first really tried to throw the soup plate at me, but I quickly held his hand. The group watched me in shock and even with an even greater mockery. I would have a problem with those when it was time to leave. Humans were very good at not forgetting to take revenge. Many of them did the same every day; I was already used to it.

“Don’t get confused, you’re in the minority,” I threatened with a gentle smile on my face.

“You talk like one of us,” said the boy with the forgotten cigarette between his fingers. “Do you also scream like one of us, or do you cry like a dog?”

“Why don’t you try to see?” I replied boldly.

The group let out a howl of mockery. Everyone inside the hamburger restaurant started to pay attention to the scene. From afar, I was just now holding the empty tray. It was quick to move and even more to disguise inconveniences. That group was just another group of young humans who thought they could impose their wills. They swore that we had no right to a dignified life. I was tired of them. I already knew how to deal with everyone.

I didn’t bother to keep listening to the mockery, nor did I care when one of the girls threw the dry bread she had asked for on my back. The smell of garlic from the bread seasoning had impregnated my apron, but I only changed the piece when I entered the kitchen again. Nobody asked anything. Nobody defended me. Nobody cared.

Those were difficult days. We swallowed each of the offenses and evils that humans used to throw in our direction because there was still no government with laws and sanctions to protect us. It was us for ourselves. Sometimes, I got involved when I saw some humans picking on unsuspecting children who came back from school in the reserve and ended up taking the wrong streets. I used to help, but others didn’t.

Sometimes it was difficult to go home at night and ignore the small bodies of little lobees hanging from trees in the park in the center. Humans had a perverse mood, especially when it came to humans who used drugs. There was a new drug spreading around the neighborhood, a drug that took away any sense of humanity from those people. They became animals, irrational, and punished us for simply existing.

“You’re thinking too much,” the chef, Greta, scolded me, who at the moment I looked at her was throwing a hamburger into the air. The smoke covered her dark neck and was deformed by her gills. “Did humans criticize the food?”

“No, they were just planning to throw something hot at me,” I said naturally, placing the tray over the sink. Some in there laughed, but others, who had probably gone through the same and barely had time to defend themselves, closed their faces. I sighed. “There’s still a long way to go?”

“Did you forget our opening hours?” asked Schapiro, laughing.

I shrugged.

“No, I was just thinking that it could be released a little earlier tonight. It has been dangerous to walk through some streets of the city.”

“It’s dangerous everywhere, girl,” Greta said, whistling. “Isn’t Mia coming to pick you up with that ridiculous motorcycle of hers?”

I laughed. Mia’s motorcycle was her trademark. It was noisy, small, and orange. Everyone knew when she was coming, and she always came to help me. Some nights I just got rid of those stupid humans when Mia showed up to rescue me. She was also a wolf, but unlike most of us, she was not an exile. She was part of a pack, and they always protected themselves.

No one ever messed with someone with a tattoo engraved on their body. It was funny that even humans took advantage of those drawings to make their bodies more beautiful. However, for us werewolves, tattoos meant belonging. I had my body completely clean of drawings. I was exiled and expelled from my pack many years ago due to the mistakes of my parents. I had no brothers or sisters, I never knew our legends told around a bonfire, and I never let my wild side take shape.