#m manticore

“Hey, boss, we got several one star reviews and they all seem to say the same thing.”

Oukraz frowned and maneuvered his large, manticore body through his bakery to his employee. He stared at the phone, glaring and scrolling down.” He breathed heavily through his nose. “That… competitive…” He growled quietly and made sure his wings would not move in an erratic way. He did not want his customers to hear or see. He nodded. “I will get this sorted.”

He didn’t know how it began, but a rivalry had started between his bakery and the cafe next door. Him and the owner had gone at each other for years. He was getting tired of it. When he closed the store, he went next door, where the coffee shop was. He’d offered to provide food for her once, but that had spiraled into their first argument. He took a deep breath and walked in, spotting the redhead immediately.

Bess was sweeping. She’d had an incredibly long day. They’d had to ban someone from her cafe and it had chased away customers. She’d bought this shop on a whim when her son had moved out, but now, she was tired of the customers. She didn’t know if this flash of independence was worth it anymore. She’d been at it for ten years and, forty-six, while still young, was starting to show the softer sides that chafed against being a business owner. She’d worked two jobs while she’d raised her son, so she was used to the work, but being a business owner needed one to be invested all the time and it was hard to do when there was just her.

When the door chimed, she turned to say they were closing, but the overshadowing stature of Oukraz was there. He turned her sign to closing before facing her fully. Her chest fell as he did so. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. “I don’t want to talk,” was all she could muster to say.

He snarled. “I know we’ve had our rivalry, but you’ve sunk low this time, Bess.”

She rolled her eyes. “What nonsense are you on now? What other random act of violence have I done this time?”

He stood over her, glaring, wings flapping open as his anger grew. His tail swished back and forth in agitation. “Don’t act like you don’t know! How did you find the time!?”

“Oh for goodness sake, Oukraz, out with it, I’m not in the mood for your riddles.”

“I’m not a sphinx!”

“I didn’t say you were!” She glared, setting the mop down. “Sphinxes aren’t the only beings that can speak in riddles! Jeez,  you’re sensitive tonight!” She had the shortest temper with him and it surprised her, even tonight when she was supposedly too tired to argue.

“SENSITIVE!? I wonder why!” He thrust a phone at her.

She looked at it. “Wow, your bakery’s not doing good.”

He pulled the phone back. “My bakery’s fine! But these are going to tank it! Why’d you write them!?”

She scoffed, too surprised to really react. “What do you mean!?” She glared at him, but more than anything, she felt strangely hurt. “You think I would do something like that?”

“Did you!?”

She scoffed again. “Oh, now you ask? I’m not going to answer you when you come in throwing accusations around without any evidence! Or asking!”

He growled. “You stubborn woman! Just tell me the truth and then you can make it up to me!”

“You are so dumb sometimes!” Her heart rate was rising and she was going to lose control, but after the day she had, having to keep it all in, Oukraz was providing a nice outlet. She moved within reach of him. “Sometimes you make me want to-” She screeched angrily.

“What? You want to hit me?” He leaned down to her height. “Do it. Hit me.”

She didn’t hit him. She had never been one for violence. Instead, she pulled him into a kiss. She didn’t know why when she’d finally exploded it was with a kiss, but there she was, kissing someone for the first time in twenty-eight years.

Without hesitation, Oukraz grabbed her and lifted her up, kissing her back. His kisses were incredible and out did hers by miles. He moved them through the cafe to her back office, slamming the door closed. The room was small, but he had enough room to reach around her and push papers out of the way on her desk.

Bess clumsily undid her pants and tugged them off. He yanked them all the way off, throwing them across the room. He shoved his down to his knees. She got only a glance of his cock before he was against her again and rubbing her pussy with it. It seemed to move on its own as he ground against her.

They had been quiet the whole time, but now she moaned. He rested his hand on the wall above her head, caging her in as he rubbed her to an orgasm. It surprised her how fast he’d gotten her to cum. He slipped his cock in now that she was wet enough. He was large and stretched her some, but it made them both sigh in pleasure.

He pressed his hand on her back so when he fucked her, she didn’t move. She rested on a hand behind her while the other gripped his shirt, stretching it in her fist. Her forehead pressed against his chest, his head ducked down over hers, breath hot on the back of her neck.

It was hard, rough and made her orgasm twice more before he growled loudly and his tail pierced the wall loudly with a loud thud! He pulled out to cum on her thigh.

Oukraz breathed heavily, watching the thick stream of his cum lace over her soft thigh. This was not where he’d expected things to go. He hadn’t thought she’d kiss him in a million years and even more shocking was that he’d kissed her back. His frustration at the woman manifested again as he watched his cum begin to drip down her thigh. He put his cock away and zipped his pants back up and growled at her, annoyed at she’d gotten to feel anything towards her. He slammed her office door, leaving her alone in the cafe.

He spent the rest of the night making loaves of bread. Beating the dough, his mind churning their encounter over. He could still feel her head pressed against him and how she’d tugged on his shirt. He stared down at it. She’d balled it in a tight fist and he could still see the impressions of her fingers.

He slammed the dough on his counter, anger coursing through him. He was furious that she’d manipulated him into sex just to avoid talking about the reviews. He was furious at the reviews. He was furious he hadn’t spent more time with her. That last one was hard for him to handle. That he wanted more of Bess. So, he took it out on his dough and ignored it.

--

Bess blinked as Oukraz slammed her office door. Her body tingled and then started to ache. She stared up at the wall where his tail had punched through it. She was going to have to hide that. She looked at all the papers on the floor under her clothes. She sighed and slid off the desk and found something to wipe herself off. She felt more relaxed than she had in years, but she also felt tired. If this is what things had become, she was going to sell her cafe. She gathered the papers to organize at home.

It had taken no time to put everything back in order. Which was not what she’d wanted. She showered and made dinner with a glass of wine. She scrolled through her phone at the reviews. She hadn’t written them, but as she stared at the usernames, they became familiar.

“Shit.”

She called her son. He answered in his normally warm tone. “Hey, Mom!”

“Please tell me you did not spam Oukraz’s bakery with negative reviews. I recognize these from when you lived at home.” When there was silence she dropped her head onto the counter. “Vergil!”

“I’m sorry! I just got sick of how he treated you!”

“We’ve treated each other with the same amount of distaste! And as sweet as it is that you were trying to protect me, my personal issues with him have nothing to do with his business.”

“But if he’s crap to you, then he’s crap to others!”

“We don’t know that. I’m crap to him and am I crap to others?”

There was a long sigh. “Alright, what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to take all of them down right now.”

“Fine.”

“And I expect you to apologize to him. Tomorrow.”

“What!?”

“In person.”

Virgil relented. Once she hung up, she created a profile for her cafe and wrote a five-star review, going into detail about all the pastries and the employees and the owner and how it had been such a pleasure to work next door to him for six years. It had been hard, but not as hard as she’d have thought.

Writing out everything made her realize just how right it was. He was an incredibly good boss and just as good of a baker. And how many times had she found herself pausing as she walked by to watch him work? She smiled at she submitted the review with a plan to try to find some reconciliation between them.

--

The next day, as they were closing, Bess slipped into the bakery with a tray of different drinks. Her chest tightened when Oukraz saw her and frowned. He was on the other side of the counter, body stiff, wings tucked as close to his body as possible. She wondered if things had finally gone too far and he wanted nothing to do with her now.

“Uhm…” She spoke cautiously, trying to smile politely. “I just wanted to give these as an apology. I don’t know if I can ever make up for what my son did, but-”

“I didn’t know you had a son,” he said.

“Oh… Yes,” she laughed nervously. “My one and only. I didn’t know how protective he was. I’m really sorry-”

“You must have had him when you were young.”

She faltered, unsure what he was getting at. Was he winding up for a hard blow.

He shrugged at her silence and took his apron off. “Something he said made it seem like that.”

“Oh. I didn't think he'd say that much. He told you that?” 

Oukraz hummed. He was not looking at her. She didn’t like how quiet he was being.

She nodded and spoke to cover the silence. “I had him when I was eighteen. His father was a piece of shit and left the moment I told him I was pregnant.” After a long pause, she continued, “Well, I hope these are good enough, I don’t know what you or your employees drink, but they should keep until tomorrow. Again, I’m so-”

“That must have been hard.” He came out from behind the counter and sat in the chair closest to her.

She frowned. “What?” 

“Raising him on your own. Working two jobs.”

She blinked and frowned. “What did you two talk about? Did he tell you our life’s story?”

He shrugged. “Mainly that my behavior wasn’t okay.”

She scoffed. “I talked with him about that. I’m just as much to blame. My temper has always gotten the better of me.” She set the drinks on a table. “I’m sorry if he lectured you. Anyway, I’ll… Get out of your hair.”

“I hate fighting.”

She stopped and sighed. “Honestly, I do too.”

“I used to fight in the manticore wars. After all that, settling down to the quiet life started to kill my sanity. The bakery helped fill the day with something to do. I had been a baker before the wars so it came naturally.”

She nodded. “I opened the cafe to assert freedom and independence. You did it for mental health and to reclaim what you’d lost.” She smiled. “Thank you for sharing that with me.” She hesitated. “I hope… We can start mending this feud between us…”

He tapped the lid on one of the drinks. “What are each of these?”

She quickly told him.

He took the sweetest one and sipped it. “This is really good. They’re going to be jealous I had a fresh one.”

She waved his comment away. “No, I’m sure my cafe isn’t nearly that good, but you and your employees are welcome to a discount if you ever decide to get anything from there.”

“I’m sorry.”

Bess fell silent. She nodded.

“Your review has brought in a lot of customers.”

“I thought it was the least I could do, I’m glad it’s already helped.” When he fell silent again, she couldn’t help herself any longer. “Are you alright? I’ve only known you yelling, I don’t know if this is your actual norm or if something else is bothering you.”

He finally looked at her. “Bess…”

The tension turning her insides to knots was too much for her. It booked over and she kissed him. Immediately, she pulled away. “I’m so sorry!” Her cheeks grew hot. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me! It's been so long since I've been intimate with anyone, it's like I forgot all decency. You just looked so serious and forlorn…”

He stared at her. “Do you regret what we did last night?”

She shook her head. “No. I mean, I’d have preferred it to be more meaningful, but we both seemed to need to blow off some steam. I had to ban a customer and threaten to call the authorities and I’m sure those reviews were devastating to see.”

He nodded.

She sighed. “What’s really going on? What do you really want to say?”

When he looked away, returning to a passive, unsure version of himself. She frowned, her frustration getting the better of her. She snatched his drink from his hands and held it behind her back. “Tell me and you’ll get this back.”

He finally looked at her and frowned, reaching around her back to grab it. He pushed his arm against her back, making her step closer, his tail wrapping around her legs . “I want to get to know you more. I’ve been next door to you for six years and never knew you had a kid.”

His arm was strong and warm on her back. She’d forgotten what it had felt like to be held. “What do you mean by get to know? What exactly do you want?” Her grip on the drink tightened.

He sighed. “I want to go on a date. See if we have more in common than just arguing.”

She let go of the drink and he removed his arm, taking a drink.

“I like that idea.” She smiled.

For the first time, he smiled at her. “Yeah?”

She nodded.

“Good, I thought we’d go to the park.”

“No nice dinner?”

He stared at her. “I think we both know we’re too picky to go to dinner.”

She laughed.

He smiled again. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you laugh.”