AN; Sorry for the short and late update! I want to take a moment and thank you  all for the 650 reads and 127 votes! Stay healthy, stay safe, and stay smart. You need all three to stay healthy! Thanks for reading, Sam<3
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Seeming to sense I was behind him, the boy turned his head to look at me. His bright green eyes stared up at me from under his unruly brown hair. His clothes were different, now more substantial for the winter that had Pine Ridge gripped it its icy fingers. But it was no mistaking it, he was the boy from the Red Crescent pack that had shown up at the Barns back door just the day before.

"Hello," he said and raised a steaming white coffee cup to his lips and took a sip. "I'm ready to order."

"I'm sorry, I still need to clock in and hang up my coat. Our other waitress, Annie, can take care of you."

"I don't want her to take care of me, I requested you. I don't mind waiting."

"Okay, I will be out in a second to take your order."

I backed away from the table and made my way back to the back room.  I took off my coat and hung it on one of the many hooks. "I inhaled deeply to try to calm my pounding heart.

Why did this boy from the Red Crescent come to the dinner and demand for me to be his waitress?

The answers I came up with in my head were terrifying. Even us
Luneras in Pine Ridge knew what the Red Crescent pack did to their Luneras.

I walked back out into the dinner and up to the mint green seats of the booth where he still sat. " Has anyone given you a menu yet?"

"No, but these places always serve the same stuff. Just get me some eggs and bacon with a side of toast ."

"Sounds like you would like our two egg omelets with a side of bacon."

I turned to leave and in a blink of an eye, he reached out and grabbed my wrist.

"Hey!"Annie yelled from across the dinner. "Paws off pal!"

"I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to talk," the boy gazed up at me. "Just give me a few moments of your time, please."

"Then let go of me because you are alarming the humans," I jerked my head towards Annie and our chef, Kevin, who had emerged from the kitchen, knife in hand.

He released his grip on me. And I took a step back so I was now out of his reach.

"I'm fine. He just forgot to tell me that he wanted his eggs sunny side up," I called over my shoulder.

Kevin pointed the knife at him. "No touching the girls, or you are out of here!" He turned and walked back through the kitchen's swinging doors.

I lowered my voice. "I'm not going to tell you anything about the Pine Ridge pack if that's what you are looking for."

"That's not why I sought you out, it was for an entirely different reason."

"Then why did you track me here ?"I asked.

"I'm looking for my little sister... Everlee."

He stared up into my face intently.

"I don't know anyone by that name."

"Everlee..." he repeated.

"Yeah, there's no one by that name I know. If your sister is missing, take it up with the Alpha."

"So you don't know anyone by that name?"

"I need to put your order in, excuse me,"I replied and back away from the table, careful not to turn my back to him too quickly, and made my way to the kitchen, where I assured Kevin I could handle this, while I put in his order.

By the time I re-emerged, a couple of our regulars had stumbled in and were now lined up along the counter.

I gratefully busied myself with taking care of them, before returning to the mysterious boy with egg and bacon.

"Why do they have you here working anyways?" he asked, while I placed his breakfast in front of him.

"I told you, I'm not giving you any information on the Pine Ridge pack!"

"But I'm not asking about them I'm asking about you? If you can't tell me why you are employed at a human dinner, it must mean that the Pine Ridge pack is doing something shady."

"What the Pine Ridge pack does is none of you concern!"

"So they are up to something."

"If you want to know what I'm doing schedule a meeting with Alpha Luka.  I'm sure he would love to tell you all about our program at Pine Ridge."

"I'm sure he would be more interested to know that you are Grayson's mate, than him telling me about the program you are in. What do you think he would think? Do you think he would still tell me about the integration program after learning about that?"

I stared at him blankly while my heart skipped a beat in my chest.

"Well, what do you think he would think?" he repeated.

I lowered my voice to just an octave above a whisper. "What do you want from me?"

"I told you, to help find my sister Everlee."

"I don't know anyone by that name. I promise you I'm not lying."

" I believe that you aren't lying.

I stared down at him and he looked up at me with calm, expressionless eyes.

"I'll need to make some arrangements first. Your job now will be to come when I call, and your payment will be my silence," he held out his hand to me. "Deal."

"How will I know when you call? We don't have phones at the Lunera house."

"The kind of calling I don't need a phone. Oh and reframe from telling anyone about our meetings here. All affairs between us are to remain secret unless I say otherwise."

I reach out my hand tentatively but heisted before I touched him. Something felt off, although I could not pinpoint just what exactly. The boy abruptly grabbed my hand.

The next instant, I felt a spark jump between us and I stumbled back and fell out the white and black checkered floor in surprise. The dinner grew silent, while everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to us.

"What was that!?" I  asked while I stared down at my hand in both shock and bewilderment.

"Binding spell, now you will  have to do whatever we agreed on, or you will begin to feel pain, like you never felt before, throughout your entire body."

"H-"

The boy's eyes moved to something behind me, "Looks like we are about out of time.  Remember to come when I call."

"Hey! I said no touching!" Kevin roared.  He stormed towards us, with Annie hot on his feet.

The next instant Kevin had the boy by the front of his shirt and dragged him towards the doors, and all but tossed him out into the snow. The regulars cheered loudly from the counter, the second the two glass doors swung shut

When the doors swung shut behind the boy, he turned
His attention to me and helped me to my feet. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I assured him.

"You don't look fine. Why don't you go into the back room and take a break?"

"Okay,"I agreed while I looked up at the windows just outside, only to find a pair of green eyes staring at me through the glass. He raised his arm and gave me a fair well wave, before turning away into the snow.

"Creep!" Annie muttered under her breath she turned towards me and said something else. But I didn't hear just what she said, my mind was one thing and one thing only.  I had to contact Grayson and tell him someone other than the two of us knew we were mates, and figure out what we would do next. My life could very well depend on what solution we came up with together.