Page 86 of The Alpha and the Baker
“That’s because they were wiped out two hundred years ago, and any survivors scattered to other continents.”
My eyes shot open at that. “Wait, they what now?”
“Like I said, you don’t violate fairy contracts. There are consequences, which all those Native shifters found out. They managed to band together. That stopped the encroachment of settlers, fairies, my ancestors, and the Brouchards for a while, but with everything going on against Indigenous people, their numbers continued to fall.
“Eventually, it seemed like they were going to vanish entirely until they were contacted by scouts from a faraway tribe in Mexico that was facing the same thing. They both worked out a deal with the fairies to allow them to unite and officially claim the land to the east and north of the city that was forming.”
“So, this basically goes all the way back to Manifest Destiny?” Wow, I’d gotten involved in something much bigger than I had thought. Fuck.
“Yeah. And I can’t exactly tell them they’re wrong for being upset. We did wrong by them, and we’ve never paid for it.”
“Why not do that then?”
Cas gave me a curious look. “What do you mean?”
“Pay the consequence. Like, give them some of your land or work out some sort of treaty. After so long, don’t you think it’s time to mend fences?”
“I wish we could. The whole reason my father ended up challenging the previous alpha was because Barris was trying to incite violence against the Ramirez pack to cover up hisgambling problem. He always wanted to try to fix things, but the fairy contracts keep our hands tied.”
“How so?”
“Well, both our packs have sworn fealty to the fairies. If they’re ever in a fight and need muscle, or another magical war happens, we come in clutch. There’s also whispers that the fairies use us for assassinations when they don’t want to get their hands dirty, but that’s a little old world in my opinion.
“And in return for this loyalty and the taxes we pay them, they protect us from human technology, provide any sort of spells for the safety of our people should we need it, and keep us safe from other Wild Folk.” He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed again.
“Part of me would love to just give the Ramirezes their land back and find a new place for my pack, but we’re bound to the land and our contracts. It’s a catch-22 no matter how you look at it.”
“You didn’t explain all this before,” I said lamely, thinking back to our walk together. He had mentioned the fairies and the fact that they complicated things but not much else.
Suddenly it made much more sense why he’d been so tight-lipped about the entire situation. I knew enough about Cas to know that he had a pretty strong moral compass, and obviously what happened to the Natives in the area was pure wrong. I knew if he could, he’d want to fix it.
But why didn’t the fairies want to? That was what baffled me. Surely, they had to know all the damage they were causing. Sure, I got that power and contracts were like theirthing, but they had to be in a pretty comfortable position after so many centuries of being in charge.
“That’s because it’s messy and complicated. While everyone kind of knows the generalities of what happened to the Indigenous folks of America, it’s another thing entirely tocontextualize it, you know. I feel guilty for things I had no hand in, but I profit from violence that hurt hundreds of thousands of people. Systematically, at that. I didn’t want to burden you with that.”
“Cas,” I murmured, leaning my head on his shoulder. “I’m a first-generation Asian-American woman and an orphan. I get it. Existence is complicated nowadays.”
He let out a soft little breath and squeezed me a bit tighter. “If I’m being completely transparent, I was also afraid of what you’d think of me. It’s hard not to feel like I should be the hero who solves the whole situation. But I just don’t know how. Especially since Sal’s brother soured a lot between our packs.”
“What did he do?”
Cas waved his hand. “A lot of shitty stuff. He’s banished now. He’s lucky he got away with his life, to be honest.”
More stories and more to learn. Hopefully, I would get the chance.
“So, this bake-off is a much bigger deal than you led me to believe, isn’t it?”
“Yes and no. Technically, it is just a silly competition. No real stakes beside pride.”
“Technically?”
He grimaced. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re too perceptive?”
“Yes, but they usually phrase it as being too smart for my own good.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Nope, don’t like that. Sounds threatening.”
“I took it as a compliment. But you’re not distracting me from my question, Cas. What’s really at stake here?”
