Alpha's Twins Chapter 291

**The Next Day**

Natalia was running way too late for her shift at the coffee shop. She'd caught a nasty cold—should've listened to Max last night instead of dancing around in the rain like an idiot.

When he'd dropped her off at home, she was already sneezing up a storm. This morning she woke up with a fever and basically slept until noon.

After a quick lunch, she dragged herself to work anyway. It wasn't like she owned the place and could just skip whenever she felt like it. Besides, Liana was too good of a boss to screw over like that.

"You look like death warmed over. What happened?" Liana asked the second she walked in.

Natalia filled her in on last night's rain adventure, and Liana just laughed.

"You kids and your rain dancing, I swear."

"Hey, not all of us are crazy. Max tried to drag me inside like five times. Should've listened to him."

Liana whipped up a cappuccino and slid it across the counter. The smell alone made Natalia feel semi-human again.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver."

She chugged the coffee and got back to work.

The afternoon flew by in a blur of renovation chaos. Liana had this whole grand plan to redesign the shop to pull in more customers, so Natalia was basically running point with the contractors, directing traffic and making executive decisions.

The architect team kept staring at her like she'd grown a second head—apparently they hadn't expected a barista to know jack about marketing strategy or financial planning.

Then one of them recognized her. Word got around pretty quick that she used to run Blue Blood Pack, back when every Alpha in the city was trying to get a meeting with her.

"Seriously, Natalia, I don't know what I'd do without you," Liana said as they wrapped up for the day.

"Don't mention it," Natalia said, then immediately sneezed.

By evening, she glanced outside and groaned. Rain season meant this crap was probably going to keep up all night.

"Go ahead and take off. I'll handle closing tonight," Liana said.

Natalia almost argued—she could totally handle it—but her head was pounding like a jackhammer.

"Yeah, okay."

She untied her apron and checked the time. Nine PM already.

After saying goodbye to Liana and the crew, she headed out into the night.

Halfway down the block, she realized she'd left her umbrella inside. But whatever—she could probably flag down a cab in a few minutes, and the rain wasn't that bad yet.

Except there were zero cabs anywhere. Like the entire city had conspired against her.

The drizzle turned into a downpour, and her headache cranked up to eleven.

Her steps got slower and slower until she felt like she was walking through molasses. Everything started getting fuzzy around the edges.

She blinked hard and realized she'd somehow wandered all the way to the highway.

Looking left and right for any sign of a taxi, but the rain was coming down so hard it felt like needles on her skull.

Her eyes slipped shut as the world started spinning. Her body felt weightless, disconnected. She grabbed her head, about to collapse right there on the pavement, when strong arms caught her.

She forced her eyes open, trying to focus on whoever had grabbed her, but she could barely make out his face through the rain and dizziness.

"Adrian?"