4
AREZOO
The lunch rush hit the café like a tidal wave, and Arezoo barely had time to breathe between taking orders, preparing drinks, and delivering trays to tables. The line at the counter stretched almost the entire length of the café area, filled with impatient immortals seeking their midday caffeine fix and a bite to eat.
"One cappuccino, extra foam," Arezoo called out, sliding the cup across the counter to a waiting guy. "Your turkey avocado wrap will be out in just a moment."
She wiped her hands on her apron and turned to the next customer, remembering to smile despite her aching feet.
It sucked being the only human working with an immortal and a hybrid Kra-ell who both looked as fresh as they had in the morning and could keep going until closing without needing a break.
A small voice in the back of her head whispered that she could be an immortal too if she chose one of the guys who'd signaledtheir interest. The problem was that even thinking about being intimate with a male made her nauseous, or worse, sweaty.
Would this ever go away? Would she one day feel attraction to someone again?
Arezoo hadn't been this way before the abduction. She'd been a typical teenager who had crushes on movie stars and gossiped with her friends about their boyfriends and who had dared to do what. She'd even gotten excited hearing some of those tales.
Not anymore, though.
Perhaps she should schedule a call with the clan's psychologist and get herself sorted out.
"Arezoo!" A familiar voice cut through her unpleasant thoughts.
She turned to see Drova weaving through the tables, her tall, slim frame making it easy for her to navigate between them. The Guardian uniform looked good on her, even without the insignia she coveted but wouldn't receive until she graduated from the training program.
"Can I get you a juice box?" Arezoo asked while pumping syrup into a latte.
The box only appeared to contain juice but was actually filled with synthetic blood for the Kra-ell, who couldn't consume anything else. Well, except for black coffee and alcohol, which Drova had no problem with.
Her friend leaned against the counter. "No, thank you. I'm not hungry." She looked at the packed tables. "The whole village must have decided to have lunch here today."
"It surely looks like it." Arezoo finished the latte and started on the next order. "Don't you have Guardian training?"
"Lunch break." Drova shrugged. "Not that I need it. I had a nice drink of fresh blood yesterday, so I'm good for the next two days. But the other Guardians in training need food, so we are on a break, and I thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing."
Arezoo loaded a tray with three drinks and two sandwiches. "I'm swamped, as you can see, and my feet are killing me."
"I'll take it." Drova snatched the tray from Arezoo's hands before she could protest. "Where does it go?"
"Table seven, the one under the willow tree." Arezoo pointed. "But you shouldn't be doing this. You don't work here."
"I can help a friend if I want to." Drova was already moving toward the table, balancing the tray with ease. "Besides, we can talk while we are delivering the orders."
Arezoo was too tired to argue, so she nodded and followed Drova with a coffee carafe to refill cups on the way.
When she returned behind the counter, Aliya took over the deliveries so Arezoo could stay in one place. "One iced Americano, one blueberry muffin," Arezoo announced, setting them on the pickup counter.
"Your mother and aunts must be proud," Drova said. "The grocery store is really happening."
"They're excited." Arezoo started on another espresso. "They cleared out the house Ingrid arranged for them. Every piece of furniture is gone, and they're scrubbing every surface in preparation for the refrigerators and shelving units that are supposed to arrive tomorrow or the day after." She felt a twingeof guilt in her stomach for not being there to help. "I should be there scrubbing with them, but I need this job. My mother offered to pay me, but I can't take money from her. My sisters will help her."
"I get it." Drova crossed her arms over her flat chest. "Working for family is complicated. That's why I'm happy to be in the Guardian program instead of training with my mother."
Their eyes met, and Arezoo felt a kinship with the Kra-ell girl. They weren't even the same species, and yet they had a lot in common. They were both refugees from oppression and had controlling mothers. Both of them were carving out their own paths, separate from their mothers' expectations.
The difference was that Drova was her mother's only child, and that she was a warrior born and bred and seemed to fear nothing, while Arezoo was afraid of her own shadow.
Drova's lips quirked in what might have been a smile on a more expressive face. "I'm a better fighter than my mother, and she's even acknowledged that, but that was it. I've never heard a compliment from her."
