His Unidentified & Untouchable Mate

Lunch Date (2)

Zahraa POV

The relief I felt having my friends behind me was staggering. I released a breath I hadn’t been aware I was holding, and then we loaded into Alanis’s cherry red Volkswagen and headed into town.

Los Angeles was bustling no matter what time it was, and today was no different. We parked in a slower district, then ordered coffee in a bustling café, only to take it into a staff closet and open a Door to where we wanted to go.

I was much faster than driving there and struggling to find parking.

“Hey, even if you’re mysterious as hell, that whole Door thing you do is pretty nifty,” Alanis purred.

Ingrid always looked a little extra nervous when I used my powers in public – naturally. Were I caught, there would be few things I could say in defense of myself. But crowds were a kind of camouflage. If a store was bursting with people, no one paid too much attention to restrooms or dressing rooms – which meant that four girls coming out of the women’s restroom in a Sephora would almost always go unnoticed.

And while some might quirk an eyebrow at four girls going into a staff closet together, unless it was an employee, no one really cared.

We sipped our lattes while walking down the street, eyeing the window displays of shops and discussing who might look good in what. I was happy that talk of Jacob had died down – especially considering how tumultuous my feelings were.

Ingrid kept shooting me what she thought were discreet glances, and I knew she worried that the only reason I wasn’t ecstatic about Jacob was because of her.

Which was true – so I continued avoiding her stare.

“There’s the place I was telling you about!” Alanis said excitedly, pointing across a busy street. “I heard about it from some of my friends in the coven,” she added, lowering her voice. “They cater to our kind very well. It’s a little underground hot spot.”

I raised my brows, fascinated.

“Want to eat there?” Tanis asked, in a much calmer fashion.

“Girl, yes,” Alanis laughed, shoving Tanis’s arm lightly. “I hope they don’t require a reservation.”

We crossed the road, with her twittering all the while about things she’d heard about the service and the food. When we got to it, it certainly looked underground. There was a hostess with a stand outside the door, who seemed to size people up as they approached.

Ahead of us were two human girls. Before they could even open their mouths to speak, the hostess asked, “What name is your reservation under?”

The girls deflated. “Oh. We, uh. We don’t have-”

“Then we don’t have a table, sorry,” she replied, without looking very sorry at all. “I’d be happy to set one up for you. My next availability is…” she tapped on the screen a few times. “In… next December.”

The girls exchanged an irritated glance. “Never mind,” they said, before walking off with a huff.

I would have prepared to walk off after them, but Alanis had no such qualms. And, surprisingly, neither did Ingrid.

“Ash,” the wolf greeted with a large smile. “You’d said you got a part-time job. I didn’t realize it was here.”

She nodded, her icy demeanor melting in order to smile at Ingrid. “Yep. It pays surprisingly well just to sit here and be mean to humans.”

Tanis snorted her laughter. “Nice.”

“Yeah. Anyway – table for four?” she asked, tapping on the tablet.

I blinked in confusion. “I thought you said there were no tables?”

She looked up at me, “Yeah. Well. None for them – the unenlightened sort. We do a dinner like once a year for humans who are persistent. That’s what the reservation is for – and we’re booked up this year, so.” She offered a shrug, as if she couldn't care less. “Anyway – go ahead and go through. Jaques will be there to show you to your table.”

We opened a set of French doors to a hallway that only steepened the air of mystery around this place – red curtains hid the walls, and at the end of the entrance was a set of bead curtains. A man – I could sense something from him, but I wouldn’t be able to place his race – opened the curtains for us and ushered us through. “A table for four, yes? Right this way.”

Alanis and Tanis exchanged a look, as though they would try to make his man their next meal.

Ingrid and I also shared a look, but I could tell we were both wondering if his thick, French accent was fake or not.

The tables were covered with a thick, white tablecloth with gold embroidered around the hem. The menus were thick, leather-bound folders, and filled with dishes that I had to read the description to understand. For such a fancy place, they had a culmination of foods – some Mexican, some French, some American staples, some Asian and some Italian.

“A little bit of something for everyone,” Alanis said when she saw my absent-minded stare.

“There’s a lot of my pack members in here,” Ingrid said, paying more mind to the clientele than the menu. She sniffed the air in a way that wasn’t discreet at all. “And I don’t smell any humans.”

“You wouldn’t,” Jacques replied with a charming smile. “This restaurant is for our people – for the shady underbelly of LA.”

Ingrid blushed. “Oh. Well… it’s lovely.”

“It must be your first time here. You ladies pick an appetizer, and I’ll make sure it’s on the house,” he said, winking at Ingrid.

Goddess, I’d never seen her act like a blushing schoolgirl before.

“Can we get a charcuterie board for the table, then?” Alanis asked, batting her eyelashes.

Jacques nodded and laughed, “Sure thing, miss. And what to drink?”

“Do you have O-?” Alanis asked.

Jacques nodded, “A bottle of O-, sure. For you?”

We ordered our drinks and Jacques went on his merry way, stopping at tables to chat as he went.

Then, I noticed something.

Among several tables, I was getting stares – intense, angry stares. When I met their gaze, they turned their eyes away, but the whispering…

It felt as though the sounds of the restaurant – clinking of dishes, the silverware against glassware, drinks being set down, the talking and laughter of patrons – it all died away until all I could hear was the goddess-forsaken whispering.

“Zahraa,” Ingrid touched my hand, and I snapped back to reality. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” I breathed, but it was a lie. I knew it was lie. I pushed my chair back and stood, throwing the napkin I’d settled on my lap back onto the table. “I just… I need to go to the restroom real quick.”