Page 77 of The Alpha and the Baker
“Because I offered the same grace to you,” I answered calmly.
Sal narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Just last week, little Daniella had a school event that brought her here. Selling cookies, I believe. Naturally, she wasn’t here alone, but I let your pack members be. Even though they were in violation of the same rule I am right now.”
Sal’s face went carefully blank while one of the two in front of me puffed up his chest. “Bullshit! He’s lying.”
“Ask your packmates.” I willed my scent to remain neutral. Difficult to do when all my instincts were screaming at me to rip out their throats.
God, why did everything have to be so complicated? I’d just wanted to pick up some dates for the woman I was dating, and somehow, I’d ended up in a diplomatic incident. I couldn’t help but think that maybe things would be better without the strict fairy oversight, but then again, that would leave us on our own with the humans.
“I’m gonna make some calls,” Sal said after a beat. “Go get your dates. But don’t leave. You won’t like it if you try to split before we resolve this. Alpha to alpha.”
Was he about to challenge me? Although I’d prefer to avoid a fight, a not-so-small part of me wanted to bury my teeth in Salvador’s shoulder andshake.Not enough to kill him, no, but enough to hurt him real bad. To make him submit to me, the stronger, mightier?—
I cut off that line of thinking. I had no problem throwing down when the occasion called for it, but this wasn’t it.
“Thanks. I’m parked all the way in the back lot if you want to discuss things there. Away from prying eyes.”
“Si.Too many humans around here anyway.”
I refrained from remarking that, of course, there were tons of humans in a human city at a human market, but the temptation was there. Nodding to the trio, I walked around them to the date stall. Naturally, one of them tried to shoulder-check me as I passed, but that didn’t work out well for him.
I wasn’t some sort of juggernaut among alphas, but Iwasstrong, and he bounced off me slightly. It was actually a valid excuse by wolf laws to fight him, but I simply tipped my head to him.
“Apologies,” I said with just enough alpha tone to be a warning.
The muscled shifter turned red, and I wondered if he was about to escalate this, which was the last thing I wanted. Sure, I was risking my pack by violating the treaty, but that was a relatively minor offense compared to getting into an actual physical brawl in front of far too many humans.
Thankfully, Sal’s hand dropped onto his underling’s shoulder. “Take a walk, Keokuk. You need to breathe.”
The shifter looked like he wanted to argue, but after a moment, he wilted. “Yeah,” he said simply before heading off.
And that was that. I went to get my dates, internally dreading the situation that I had just put myself into. I had to hope that Sal would be reasonable, but I also had no reason to believe he might be.
What a pickle.
That was probably the mildest way I could put it. As much as the back of my mind would love to give in to the panic, I knew it wasn’t an option for me. I was an alpha first and foremost, and my people needed me to keep a level head.
Still, I was almost in a fugue state as I made my way to the stall with the dates. I was so distracted by trying to stay calm and also trying to anticipate anything that Sal could do that I endedup with three pounds of dates instead of two, some baklava, hummus, and honey mangoes. Well, at least I could afford it.
I kept my head high as I completed the transaction and headed back to my car, trying to appear as relaxed as I could under the circumstances. I didn’t want them to think that I was trying to escape or that they’d succeeded in intimidating me. I had no interest in rolling over and showing my belly.
Even with my leisurely pace, I made it to my car far too soon. I put my bags in the back seat, then leaned against the side of my car to wait. It was excruciating, and I was reminded that patience wasn’t my strong suit. Hopefully, Felicia wasn’t too worried about me. I wasn’t overly delayed yet, but I had no guarantee that the situation would end anytime soon.
The more I waited, the more irritated I got. Each minute grated against my nerves, making it harder to maintain my cool. By the time I spotted five of the Ramirez pack casually strolling toward me, I was breathing deeply through my nose and exhaling slowly through my mouth.
“You were telling the truth,” Sal said once he was close enough, standing in the center of his line-up, arms crossed and face carefully blank again.
“I’m sure you could smell as much.”
He shrugged. “You never know.”
“So, now that you’ve confirmed I was telling the truth, am I free to go?”
“You just gonna let him talk to you like that?” one of the other shifters growled.
Talk to him like what?
