Celeste managed to go a whole week after that first encounter without seeing Bane again. It was starting to feel for her like things were shifting to normal. As though the meeting hadn't happened in the first place.
The only part that bothered her and kept repeating in her mind was the fact that she had been made to put a blindfold on before he agreed to let her leave.
Doing this made it impossible for her to know where she was at beyond the fact that she had been in a hospital. Privacy and to maintain their safety were the only reasons she could think of as to why they would make her do that. She hadn't been allowed to even take it off once she was inside whatever car Bane had lead her to.
She didn't even have any sense of time to know how long they were driving for either. The werewolf didn't make the drive any easier either because he was completely silent the entire trip except for the tension that was coming off of him in waves.
Celeste had only been allowed to take off the blindfold once she had heard the car drive away and when she did, she realized that she had been drop off only a ten minute walk from where she lived. Did Bane do that on purpose? She wasn't quite sure. Either way, it made her uncomfortable that he had come so close to her apartment.
The fact that he had made her wear a blindfold rather than allow her to see where she had been gave her further validation that she had made the right decision to avoid Bane, his brother and whoever else in order to stay safe regardless of the mate stuff the other had brought up to her.
It also influenced her decision to not bring the matter up to the police. Would they be likely to believe her anyways? A story about her witnessing these strange animal-like creatures attacking and killing each other in front of her but no bodies or proof? They would likely think it was some type of prank and blow her off.
Instead, she opted for hoping that her she wouldn't have to cross paths with the other and everything would return to normal if she tried to forget what happened and go back to normal.
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Celeste's joy at being able to slowly forget about what happened over the week and start her new job in peace had been short-lived.
She had managed to snag a position at one of the Think Coffee locations. It wasn't her ideal job but it was money and they didn't pay half-bad.
The manger was also nice. He was middle aged man with sandy blonde hair and kind eyes that matched his personality.
He had gotten so used to work with new employees over the years that hardly any kind of mistake bothered him anymore because- everyone had to start learning at some point and mistakes were just part of that process.
Celeste wasn't given any jobs that were too difficult. She only had to take orders, report them to another member on her team to make them. She would watch the process as she could so she would have less of a difficult time learning it later. She also helped keep everything stocked up and delivered orders to those who wanted to dine-in.
Not very long into her shift, she became stunned when she noticed a very familiar face had entered the coffee seeming much more at ease compared to the state that he was in when she had left.
This time though he wasn't wearing a suit. Instead, he had on a dove gray turtleneck sweatshirt and pants. He'd even adorned glasses which she assumed were for reading the contents of the folder tucked under his left arm.
Bane had entered the coffee shop as it was one of his favorite places to visit when his mood was off and he had important work that he needed to focus on.
Today though it seemed like he was in for more of a treat then he had bargained for when he saw who was manning the front counter. She must've been a new hire as he was fairly certain he'd remember if she had worked there before.
As he approached, he made to keep his calm nature in place so that he wouldn't end up scaring her again or causing a scene with so many humans around. It would be troublesome.
"Well glad to see you've come back as usual." The manger stepped out from behind the counter to shake the other's hand.
"Of course I would Edgar. I wasn't joking when I said it is one of my favorite places to work. The coffee is always amazing and I think that it might've just gotten slightly better." Bane replied as he looked over the other's shoulder to see Celeste who was busy taking the order of another customer.
"Do you two happen to know each other?" Edgar asked noticing the odd tension that seemed to be going on around them.
"No." Celeste was quick to reply before the werewolf had a chance to say anything.
"Really? I'm rather wounded that that is the way you choose to treat the person who rescued you the other day." Bane replied back as he kept his eyes fixed on Celeste to see what her reaction would be. She choose not to reply though she seemed a touch Anita by what he had said.
"He rescued you, from what exactly?" Edgar asked, nosey to know what the relationship between his new hire and favorite customer were.
"She got lost on her way back home the other day and I simply helped her find her way in the right direction." Bane replied smoothly. It had been a partial truth about the situation.
"I see. Well then I think Celeste you should be more polite towards someone that helped you out."
Celeste couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. He didn't know anything about the truth of the situation but he was taking the werewolf's side? That felt rather unfair to her.
"I will try." was the curt response she gave to this before focusing on taking more orders and making sure customers were happy.
Edgar thanked Bane for what he did and shooed him off to go find a table to sit at since he already knew what kind of coffee the other would want.
He pulled Celeste to the side for this and had someone else take over the counter. He didn't think it could hurt to teach Celeste to make the kind of coffee Bane enjoyed.
After all, if his favorite customer had taken an interest in her, wouldn't it only help to keep him around if she was the one to learn how to make his coffee.
What Edgar didn't know was the fact that Bane would keep coming back regardless of who served him coffee so long as his little human mate worked there.
Even if she didn't want to talk with him, that didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy her presence while he worked.