The Beauty and the Biker Alpha

Chapter 3: Forces of Nature

Chapter 3: Forces of Nature

Calla

I could hear Nick nervously greeting Alpha Callum, followed by the hasty footsteps of Sailor and Sonia running up to help seat the group and take their orders. I chanced another look and saw they had been given the largest booth directly in the middle of the diner. Connor had been ousted from that booth and was now at the adjacent booth, trying unsuccessfully to talk with one of the Biker Beasts. They didn’t seem like they wanted to socialize with him or with anyone else, for that matter.

Sonia and Sailor were both writing quickly, their pencils flying across their notepads.

“We need all hands on deck,” called Nick.

Oh no. I would have pissed myself if I hadn’t gone to the bathroom earlier. I was suddenly so self-conscious. It was like I was back in high school at one of those dances. I had always been kind of a wallflower.

“Calla!” Specified Nick.

I could quit. Yeah, that was it. I could just quit, even though I had just begged for my job back.

“Calla!” Screeched Nick, his voice cracking a little as it was more high-pitched when he was nervous.

I couldn’t even laugh at him because I could hardly move. What was wrong with me?

“You have an insubordinate in your ranks,” said a deep voice that had to belong to Alpha Callum.

His voice was like the rumbling of a mountaintop during an avalanche. He was like a force of nature.

“She’s just a little new,” lied Nick, making a rare excuse on my behalf.

“She’s been working here seven years,” snickered Sailor.

My stomach did a backflip. That b***h. Why would she say that? Was she trying to make me look bad? She was supposed to be my friend. My best friend. I pushed the thought from my mind. She had been snippy with me earlier. She was probably just stressed or tired or something.

“CALLA!” Boomed Alpha Callum.

I had been leaning my back on the now closed door. I turned so fast when he said my name that I slipped on some suds on the floor and fell. Ouch. I crawled out of the kitchen on all fours like a lunatic. It was a good thing they couldn’t see me here behind the counter.

“Ah, there you are Calla, thank you for joining us,” said Alpha Callum, saying my name again after sensing I was behind the counter.

How could he know I was here? I slowly got to my feet, rising up from behind the counter.

“Good afternoon, Alpha Callum,” I said in one quick breath, deciding to use the title everyone kept bestowing upon him. “Welcome to the Road Alpha Diner. May I take your order?”

Alpha Callum grinned. I could see his dark blonde hair shining in the sunlight streaming through the windows. It reached his leather-clad and spike-studded shoulders. He looked like an ad campaign. An expensive one. A small smile formed on my face. I felt a bit giddy.

“Come here, Calla,” said Callum.

He wasn’t my boss. Nick was. I felt like telling him off a little, but my feet were already guiding me towards him as if I were in a trance. I stood right at the side of the booth he was in. This booth was semicircular and seated about eight to ten people normally, but I counted only seven Biker Beasts sitting there, including Alpha Callum. That’s how big and buff they all were. They also seemed to like their personal space. No one was squeezed together to accommodate anyone else. Alpha Callum was at the end of the booth, on my right. To my left, a few Biker Beasts were seated in the adjacent booth. I counted the four of them. A flush heralded the arrival of a missing member. Almost as big as Alpha Callum himself, he returned from the bathroom and walked right up to Callum. He balled up the tissue he had used to wipe his hands and tossed it in the bin. Callum and his second-in-command bumped knuckles before he took his seat with the three bikers on the left. During this little interruption, I had managed to calm myself down a little bit.

“What do you recommend?” asked Callum.

Nothing from this hellhole.

“What do you like? Chicken or beef?” I asked weakly.

“Beef,” he said.

“You do seem beefy…like a beef guy…like a guy who would want beef,” I said, sounding like a crazy person.

I wished the earth would open up and swallow me. His Biker Beasts were all snickering at me.

“I’m beefy. Does that make you the chicken?” asked Callum.

Milan, Sonia and even Sailor were in hysterics like they were watching the best comedy routine imaginable. That annoyed me more than it should have.

“No, no chicken here, but I think there might be a pig,” I said, screaming internally, begging myself to shut up.

Why would I say that? There was a collective gasp and then, the diner fell eerily silent again. Alpha Callum smiled. I couldn’t tell if it was a good smile or a bad smile. Was this a sadistic murderous smile or an appreciative humorous smile? I wasn’t sure that bikers like him could laugh at themselves.

“Come closer, Calla,” he said simply.

It was a sadistic murderous smile, I decided. I remained rooted to the spot. Callum raised an eyebrow at me under his dark shades. I took a small step closer.

“A little more,” he said, his smile disappearing.

I stepped towards him again.

“And a little more,” he said, motioning with his hand.

I was close enough to reach out and easily touch him or vice versa.

“Great, see, you’re not that insubordinate after all,” he said serenely.

You could hear a pin drop. It was unnaturally silent. It seemed like the desert wind had momentarily stopped blowing. I realized I was close enough now to catch a whiff of his cologne. He smelled expensive. He smelled amazing, actually. I had never smelled anything like it. I expected the Biker Beasts to all smell like sweat and motor oil, maybe with a hint of alcohol or tobacco. I wasn’t picking up any of that.

“What would you do to you if you were me?” he asked.

This was obviously some kind of test.

“If I were you, I would finish ordering and then give me a huge tip,” I mumbled.

No one laughed at my joke, but Callum’s smile widened.

“I’m gonna have to teach you some manners,” he said.

“No, no, that won’t be necessary… Sir,” I said quickly. “Thank you,” I added.

Callum took his shades off. His blue eyes met my brown ones. I tilted my head to the side a little, feeling confused. He had a knowing smile on his face. He did have mesmerizing eyes.

Callum

I had a sneaking suspicion that my life was about to change from the moment I spotted the place. The Road Alpha Diner. It looked like a cheap greasy fast-food joint with red and white stripes everywhere. I was strangely excited upon seeing the diner which made no sense. My crew wanted to eat here, not me. I sped up, my Harley-Davidson motorcycle thundering down the dusty road. I took a sharp turn to the right and the bike roared until I pulled it to a swift halt. My Biker Beasts caught up with me in a few seconds, parking their bikes alongside mine. We didn’t secure the motorcycles. No one in the right mind would steal from the Biker Beasts unless they had a death wish.

Someone had told a bunch of pack members about our arrival because the place was filled with both familiar and unfamiliar faces. However, I could tell they were all our wolves by their scents. Nothing smelled unfamiliar until I heard a little sound. I looked up and spotted a flash of movement behind the door behind the counter. An unfamiliar aroma wafted towards me. This was not a pack member. There was one outsider here, a female. I couldn’t detect any sign of her wolf, though she didn’t smell completely human, but who could in a place like this? Wolf smells were everywhere, masking hers a little. I focused on hers. She smelled…absolutely amazing. Uh oh.

I sat, ignoring everything and everyone until I realized the owner. What was his name? Rick? d**k? He was kind of an i***t? His friend, Connor, was completely an i***t. I heard the owner call for her to join the two girls already taking my beasts’ orders. We could really shut down a place. Their appetites were vociferous. Calla. That was her name. She wasn’t coming out, not even in response to her boss yelling her name. I smirked to myself.

Mate, said my wolf, confirming what I had already suspected.

We were both somewhat proud that our mate wasn’t quick to follow orders. A Luna lives to give orders, not follow them. As long as she listened to me, I didn’t mind if she was willful in general.

“CALLA!” I bellowed, getting impatient.

I wanted to get a good look at her, and then a good grasp on her. And then I’d give her a good fu…well, she would find out soon enough. I heard the muffled sound of someone in the kitchen slipping on the soapy for and then hitting the ground with a splat. I winced a little, feeling for her. Why would my mate be so clumsy? I could hear her moving across the floor through the kitchen door into the room I was in. Her delicious scent and her frantic heartbeat told me she was behind the counter, still on the ground. I acknowledged her presence and encouraged her to join us.

She slowly rose from behind the counter, her frame stopping sooner than I had expected. She was short. She was human. I was sure of it now. I had never anticipated having a human mate, a human Luna. Did she even know what I was? She was olive-skinned and brown-eyed. She had the eyes of a doe, prey, not predator. Her dark brown hair fell in ringlets and waves that swirled and bounced around her. She was very, very beautiful and had a smart mouth. She answered my questions, going head-to-head with me and giving me tit-for-tat. I enjoyed riling her up a bit until she insulted me outright. Now, that just wouldn’t do. I asked her to decide her own punishment, and she had a smart-ass answer for that too. Her aroma was so intoxicating. She smelled like sea salt, cedar and coastal flowers. I beckoned her closer and closer still. I took my shades off so that we could finally lock eyes. There it was. The mate bond hit me in full effect. It reminded me of how I would jump over the waves at the beach as a kid and if I misjudged a big one, it would knock me off my feet, the water enveloping me in a confusing swirl until I ended up on the wet sand, confused and coughing. Calla wasn’t just a wave though. She was a tsunami, and I was a drowning man.