Mason awoke to a dull ache in his stomach and no liquid on his sheets. He sighed in relief, thankful that his heat was finally coming to a close. He'd still smell sweeter than usual all day, but it shouldn't be enough to make Alphas lose control.

Skipping to the shower, Mason cleaned himself meticulously before putting on his clothes and heading down the stairs. It was five in the morning, meaning Henry should be there soon to bake so they could have fresh biscuits by six when they opened.

"Morning!" Mason called when he saw Henry already at work. "How were things without me?"

Henry poured a large amount of flour into the mixer and turned to greet his friend. "They've been fine, Lucille has a doctor's appointment this morning but she'll be in by noon at the latest. And I got you some paper and pens so you can write an apology to Terrance," he said, tasting the dough before adding a bit more salt.

"Who's Terrance?" Mason asked as he entered the front of the store and began to take chairs down and clean the tables. "And why am I apologizing to him?"

Henry walked out to help him finish the chairs before handing him the paper and pen. "He's your mate and the one you told was only good for sex so that you'd be in less pain," he said, lightly pushing Mason so he was sitting down. "He's been coming in every day, asking about you and making sure you're alright. He's also asked to preform tonight."

Mason narrowed his eyes. "Alphas don't like poetry. Besides you," he said as he scribbled a half-hearted apology and gave it to Henry.

"You can't just say 'sorry my heat made me bully you'! Come on, Mace! Where's the compassion? And Alphas can like poetry whether they're like me or not. You're the one constantly competing with biological norms and then you say shit like that."

Mason grumbled under his breath, taking a new piece of paper out to write a better apology. "I'm not that sorry. My heat caused it."

"No, your heat and inner wolf made you want him, but normal Mason is too scared so he had to be rude in hopes of chasing Terrance away," Henry called as he went into the back to cut out his biscuits. "And I've prepped most stuff, so you have the whole hour to work on your apology!"

Mason stuck his tongue out at Henry while his friend continued to prep, bringing him a hot chamomile tea while he tried to decide what to write. He wasn't that sorry... the sooner he got Terrance to back off, the better off he'd be.

Stupid Alphas.

"Let me see what you've got," Henry said five minutes before they opened, taking the paper from Mason. "Seriously? That's it?"

"I said I was sorry!"

"That's even worse than the first one! And you spelled his name wrong!" Henry growled, looking at the letter which simply said:

Terrence,

Sorry.

Mason just shrugged. "I don't even know him," he said once again.

Henry flipped the closed sign and grabbed the apology note and threw it in the trash. "Fine, you get to work the front today and you can apologize in person," he said, making Mason falter for a second.

"No! That's stupid! I don't want to!" he complained, blaming the mate bond for the surge of guilt in his gut. "I'm not even sorry."

Rolling his eyes, Henry disappeared to the back to finish some pastry work when their first customer came in. She was a regular who always got a coffee with a toasted bagel on her way to her teaching job, so Mason got to work making it while she counted out her change.

"Nice to see you back," she said cheerfully as she put her cash near the register and a tip in the jar. "You were gone all week."

Mason scoffed, handing her the bagel. "You're an Omega, Viv. You know how it is," he said as he finished up her coffee. "But we've got to work. We're both unmated so we gotta survive somehow."

"Your Alpha would take care of you if you didn't want to," Viv said, nodding toward Henry.

Irritably, Mason finished making her drink and handed it to her. "You're lucky we're friends or I'd splash this on you," he said bitterly. "He's not my Alpha and I don't need nor want a mate."

Viv realized she'd offended him and apologized before taking her drink and leaving.

Mason continued through the slow morning, wishing he took the day off. He thought he wanted to go back to work, but he still had some slight aches in his gut and could've used the extra day to rest and recover. Plus, they were opened until seven instead of five because of poetry night.

They called it poetry night, but it was just an open night for people to perform music, work, and whatnot. It was one of Mason's favorite nights, since it was a place where students could feel comfortable to share their work and it gave them a safe space. He couldn't close the cafe and take that from them.

Mason took a break when Lucille arrived, not bothering to offer Henry one since he took breaks in the back whenever he wanted.

Taking his bagel sandwich and iced coffee, he sat at an open booth and played with his phone. Since only Henry and now Lucille's contacts were on his phone, he played a lot of games on his phone during his break since he couldn't escape upstairs to paint or draw because he liked keeping an eye on his shop.

He was halfway through his coffee when he felt someone slide into the booth across from him. Glancing up, he saw Paul, sitting with a coffee and a smirk on his face.

"Get out of my cafe," Mason growled, realizing that Lucille didn't know who the asshole was.

"I told you to stay out!"

"Funny, the lady at the register didn't ask me to leave."

"She's a new worker so she doesn't know that you're on our 'keep out' list," Mason said stiffly, trying to keep from attacking Paul. "Leave. Now."

"I'm not going to have an Omega boss me around. That's my role," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

"Get out," Mason snarled, standing up. "Or I'll get Henry to kick you out."

As he stood up, Paul's hand closed around his arm, his scent turning angry and intimidating, making Mason freeze for a second before he brushed off the unnecessary Omega fear and forced himself to growl.

"Let go," Mason threatened lowly, pulling his arm but the Alpha didn't release him.

"Why should I?" Paul asked as he used his other hand to rub his wrist along Mason's neck, publicly scenting him and embarrassing him. "This should make other people back off."

Mason flushed bright red, both in anger and shame. It was embarrassing in general to be scented in public unless an Omega accidentally went into heat or was stressed and needed comfort, and it was even more embarrassing when the inner wolf knew it wasn't their mate, making them feel guilty and ashamed of themself.

"Stop," Mason said in a broken voice, so embarrassed that he wanted to cry and scream, but he still didn't want to disturb his customers. "Get away!"

He managed to push the Alpha off, only to trip into a customer and cause him to spill his drink and cover Mason in coffee.

"Boss!" Lucille exclaimed, rushing over to him and kneeling down. "What happened?!"

"Give him a refund and a free drink," Mason mumbled, referring to the person he'd just run into, thankful the drink didn't spill on the customer.

Henry ran out after hearing someone fall and when he saw Paul and Mason on the ground, his eyes darkened in anger. "Get out now!" he roared, not caring who he disturbed.

The other Alpha just snarled, clearly annoyed that he was being kicked out a second time. He raised a fist to attack Henry, but he never made it there.

Another had stepped in and knocked Paul out with one swift hit, growling the whole time.

"Terrance," Henry stated, glancing at Mason who seemed even more annoyed.

"Call the police," Terrance ordered Lucille, and she immediately listened as Henry stood over the knocked out Alpha and Terrance helped Mason over to a booth. "Are you okay?"

Mason glared at him. "I'm fine. If you don't mind, I'm going to go take care of myself and shower to get this coffee and scent off of me," he said, stomping toward the back room.

Terrance followed him like a lost puppy, only for Mason to stop him.

"Don't follow me," Mason growled, despite his inner wolf crying as he rudely turned his mate away. "Unlike every other Omega in this world, I don't need you to hover over me like I'm helpless."

"I never said-"

"Just go," Mason said, stomping up the stairs. "You can have a free coffee for knocking that ass out, though."

Terrance sighed in defeat, going back to the front and ushering people out so they could close the cafe and wait for the police. He hoped that Mason could get over his obvious embarrassment and anger so he could bring to attention the fact that they were mates and he didn't want to lose the chance to be with Mason.