War of Hearts (True Immortality) - S Young Page 0,16

particular attention to her.

Well, that wasn’t strictly true. The middle-aged American couple she was serving were watching her with a gleam in their eyes she recognized and did not like. She nicknamed them The Oranges as soon as they walked in because they were both wearing fake tan. They weren’t exactly orange, but it was obvious their current skin color had been purchased. The Oranges signaled to her as she was passing. “I’ll be right there,” she promised.

Once she’d given an order to the kitchen, she reluctantly returned to the couple’s table. “Would you like to see the dessert menu?”

Mr. Orange curled his finger at her. An unpleasant feeling roiled in Thea’s stomach as she bent toward him.

“My wife and I,” he said in her ear, his lips almost touching her skin, “were wondering …” Thea felt his hand smooth over her ass. “If you’d like to join us at our hotel after your shift? We’ll generously compensate you.”

If Thea hadn’t been exposed to the worst of humanity at such a young age, perhaps she would have scoffed to hear such a story. It was so cliché. A western couple with more money than sense trying to pick up a poor fellow countrywoman in a foreign country working a menial job, to prostitute her for their shared pleasure.

Well, clichés were clichés for a reason.

They were often goddamn true.

And it wasn’t the first time Thea had to brush off that kind of offer.

She pushed his hand from her ass and straightened. “I’ll bring you and your wife the check and then you should probably leave.”

Mr. Orange’s face reddened to blood orange with indignation while Mrs. Orange’s lips pinched together. Not long later Thea gave them the check and returned to get the cash they’d left while they were over at the alcove by the door to the kitchen, shrugging into their coats.

They hadn’t left a tip.

At all.

The guy felt her up and then attempted to prostitute her and he hadn’t even had the decency to tip her.

The bitter ugliness that Thea tried so hard to fight down bloomed in her chest. Pasting a serene expression on her face, she strolled toward the kitchen and just as she reached Mr. Orange, she pretended to trip on a chair leg. Colliding with him, she expertly slipped her hand inside his coat to the inner pocket where he kept his wallet and withdrew it. As they fumbled against each other, she slipped the wallet into her apron pocket.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. No one was the wiser.

“I am so sorry.” She gave an embarrassed, innocent smile as she stepped away from him.

“Clumsy girl,” Mr. Orange huffed, tugging on the lapels of his coat.

“Really, I’m so sorry. You have a wonderful day.” Thea turned away as Mrs. Orange muttered something insulting about Thea to her husband, thinking she couldn’t hear.

Smirking to herself, Thea wandered through the kitchen, grabbed a filled trash bag, and stepped out into the alley behind the restaurant. The feeling of being watched lessened, and she dumped the trash before opening the wallet. She grinned seeing the wad of zlotys and promptly hid the wallet beneath the wheel arch of the left back tire of Anthony’s car. Zuzanna said the car had sat untouched in the alley for months because he hated driving in the city.

If the Oranges returned before her shift was over, looking for the wallet, they wouldn’t find it on her or in her locker. After her shift, she’d grab the wallet and dump everything but the cash.

That Thea didn’t even feel guilty about it probably made her a terrible person, but there was no one in her life to judge her, to care about her actions, so why should she?

As Thea stood from her haunches, the hair on her arms and neck rose like she’d walked through static. Reflexive instinct made her whip around, and she choked out a gasp at the appearance of the tall man towering before her.

Where the hell had he come from?

The surrounding air shifted and an earthy scent like damp soil passed over her.

She knew that base scent.

He wasn’t a man.

He was a werewolf.

Hence all her hair standing on end.

But the back of her neck wasn’t tingling, and her heart wasn’t beating fast, so apparently, he didn’t present a danger.

Still, she glanced around, freaked out he’d gotten this close before her instincts kicked in.

How?

Looking at him, Thea wanted to take a step back, but she worried he’d misconstrue it as