Page 115 of The Alpha and the Baker
“I suppose I had a pretty big hand in this being possible,” Felicia said cheekily. She wasn’t one to waste time with false humility, but she never seemed all that eager to take too much credit for the truly incredible thing she had accomplished. Part of me wondered if she didn’t even realize it. She’d whirled into both of our packs’ lives, and in less than a month had completely revolutionized the trajectory of... Well,everything.
Out of nowhere, the tension between our packs had nothing to fuel it any longer. My people were given a chance to finally make right for the things our ancestors had done long ago. Things were far out of our hands, but we had still directly benefited from it. And while reparation negotiations were still going on, the fairies did seem to be putting actual effort into it. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were so on top of the ball because they feared Felicia, because they respected her, or because they were just that addicted to their own rules and contracts. I liked to imagine the first two rather than the latter.
“Honestly, we should probably dedicate this whole party to you. Carry you around like we did at the bake-off.”
She flushed slightly, and even after all of our weeks together, I still loved to see it. Such an accomplished, fearless woman, and yet I could still make her blush so easily.
“With all due respect, my love, I think I would rather die.”
Her deadpan delivery had me tipping my head back and laughing in surprise. Her sense of humor wasn’t for everyone, but it most certainly was for me.
“We can’t have that, now, can we?” I chuckled before scooting her chair closer to mine and resting my hand on her thigh.
We sat like that for the rest of our meal, although we were interrupted a few times, and then I was off to help with more things. Refilling coolers, hauling ice, helping with booboos. But as busy as I was, I was still having a great time. If my father could only see the scene all around us. Wolves, paw in paw, interacting like we were always meant to.
Sure, there were some holdouts, some Grumpy Guses from both our packs that chose to opt out of the party. To each to their own. But what warmed my heart was that I noticed a dozen or so of the more uncertain ones from my pack on the fringes of the event or sitting quietly in the tent and eating. That was a victory in my opinion, especially since I was pretty sure I spotted some similar folks from the Ramirez pack.
It was okay that not everyone was onboard right off the bat. We were dealing with complex emotional and social stuff, as well as conflict that had been baked into people’s whole lived experience since they were born. I was all right with taking baby steps with them.
Yet, as busy as I was, I made sure to make myself available once the sun went down, when I knew exactly where my love would be.
And sure enough, there she was, standing on the edge of the dancing area, waiting for me. God, she made me wish I could paint so I could capture that moment. Her in her lemony sundress, the last line of coral faintly staining the onyx of the night sky, her dark hair blending into the night like she was part of it. A goddess made flesh. A goddess that I was somehow lucky enough to know. To love.
Perhaps if I played my cards right, I’d get to worship her later. That all depended on how much food we’d stuffed ourselves with. But given that she felt up for dancing, chances were looking good.
But even if the cards didn’t play out that way, I still would be happy to just hold her and fall asleep together, both of us meeting in our dreams to spend even more time together.
“Hey, ya gonna ask me to dance or just keep staring at me?”
I blinked, not realizing that Felicia had drawn closer to me. I couldn’t help but grin at her like a goof, and in an echo of her first date, I offered my hand out to her.
“Forgive a guy for being distracted by your beauty.”
“Nah, I don’t think I will.”
She batted her eyelashes like she always did when she was feeling a bit brattish.
“You’re lucky that I’m absolutely besotted with you.”
“Yeah,” she said, smiling up at me as she took my hand. “I am.”
Now it was my turn to blush. I’d never had a partner who was also so unabashedly in love with me, and honestly, I didn’t think I could ever go back to living without it. I’d heard once that to be seen was to be loved, and I never really got it until I was with Felicia.
So, with our hands joined, we went out on the dance floor. It wasn’t romantic at first, with Cotton-Eye Joe being played and thenLa Vaca(moo), but it was hilarious nonetheless. However, when a slow song did eventually come on and the young ones cleared the meadow with a groan, I was happy to take Felicia in my arms and sway to the rhythm.
“Sometimes, it’s hard to believe this is all real,” Felicia murmured, and I was right there with her.
“It really is like a dream,” I agreed.
“Which part?”
“Everything. You. Me. The fairies. The unification of our packs. I’m completely serious when I say that we owe you, and we likely will for the rest of our lives.Allof us. Both packs.”
Even though it was dark, I could see her blush travel down into her neck and that décolletage of hers that I wanted to nip and kiss.
“I know you don’t like me going on and on, so I’ll just leave it at that. I know you’re not likely to ever really take advantage of it, but any pack member would do anything for you.”
“Actually…” she trailed off, but it was too late. Not to be a stereotype, but I was like a dog with a bone. I’d suddenly gotten a hint that there was something my girlfriend wanted, and goddammit, I was going to make it happen. “Never mind.”
