Page 91 of The Alpha and the Baker
“Cakes look nice,” he said with a simple nod to me before hurrying off.
That was sweet.
“Thanks,” I called after him before immediately opening a bottle and downing half of it. “All right, I better head out.”
“Is this the baker of those gorgeous cakes?” a voice behind me called, and goodness, if it didn’t remind me exactly of my high school drama club teacher. Turning, I saw a short, older woman who looked to be around Auntie Siobhan’s age, dressed in a burgundy gown covered in jewels. Her long, salt-and-pepper hair was done up in an impressive crown of braids on her head, and a glorious technicolor pashmina was draped across her shoulders. “They smell incredible. I couldn’t believe they were from a human. No offense.” She sashayed right up to me,then took my face in her many-ringed hands and kissed me on both cheeks. Normally, I would be pretty uncomfortable with someone manhandling me like that, but something about the woman put me at ease. “Who is this visionary creature standing here before me?”
Sal’s long-suffering sigh told me this had to be one of his direct relatives. Cas had explained to me that in packs, they all used the honorifics of Auntie and Uncle for adults whether they were blood connected or not, and I figured the Ramirez back was similar. “Abuelita, this is Felicia. She’s the human baker I was telling you about.”
“I thought so!” The older woman said, releasing my face with a flourish. “How does it feel to be behind enemy lines,mija?Are we the monsters you were told of?”
I opened my mouth to answer and defend Cas while I did, but the woman was already looping her arm through mine and pulling me away. “Come, come! I will give you a tour of the place! You will want to see the opening number,si.My beautiful Aiyana has been practicing for months.”
Quinceañeras had opening numbers?I really had a lot to learn.
No time like the present, I supposed.
“Abuelita!You can’t just kidnap a service worker,” Sal objected behind us.
“Nonsense. I’m not going to let this lovely young woman’s impression of us be from a bunch of countrygringos.Let me be the ambassador for our people.”
I got the distinct feeling only the woman beside me could talk to the pack’s alpha like that, and honestly, I found it far more amusing than I should have.
Yeah, Gammy McCallister andAbuelitaRamirez would most definitely be a pair to be reckoned with. Maybe the universehad a reason for keeping them apart. They’d probably cause an explosion of awesome.
I enjoyed walking around onAbuelitaRamirez’s arm. She seemed to take distinct pleasure in correcting anyone who pointed out that I was a human by telling them that I was a humanin the know.Mostly people just nodded and moved along with the conversation, but every so often someone asked why, and an exasperated Sal would say it was the McCallisters’ fault.
There was a brief moment where I had the horrifying thought that Sal would use that against Cas if we lost the bake-off, but I had to put that completely out of my mind otherwise I’d ruin the entire mood. I just had to win, plain and simple. As lovely as the people were all around me, I still was determined to stomp them.
I liked to think I sowed a little goodwill as I met and talked to dozens of people from the Ramirez pack. Just tiny snippets of peace that could potentially take seed in people’s minds. I knew it was probably a long shot, but I figured it was better to take the opportunity than to waste it.
Eventually, the endless procession of new faces ended when the lights dimmed andAbuelitalet out a happy squeal. “It’s time for the number. Come, sit with me. I have the best seats in the place.”
Still arm in arm, she hauled me over to seats right in front just as the lights dimmed. A spotlight lit up, and a beautiful young woman in a truly opulent dress appeared on stage through the velvet curtains. Three of me could join arms and still not be able to fully encircle the bottom of her dress—it was so large and completely covered in crystals. Whew, that must have cost a pretty penny.
A dozen other young men and women in classic tuxedos joined her, and they all began to do a group dance showcasing Aiyana. It was magnificent and made my heart soar.
I didn’t care what crazy magic the fairies had or how airtight their contracts were—I was going to unite these two packs if it was the last thing I did.
There would be peace between the McCallisters and Ramirezes.
I just needed to figure out how to do it.
Castiel
Dessert Day
The dayof the bake-off had arrived.
Where had the time gone? I couldn’t understand it. One day I was organizing a surprise delivery to Felicia’s shop, the next I was driving Gammy McCallister and my mother to the market well before dawn.
“We’re going to do great,” my mother said from the passenger seat, resting her hand on top of mine. Even after thirty years, I didn’t think I would ever take the gentle comfort of her voice for granted. We’d been through a lot, me and her. From being just members of the pack until I hit puberty and was revealed to have the same alpha gene as my father, to my father challenging Barris, to being the lead family of the pack. It had been one transition after another, and yet she’d always been a stalwart force in my life.
I really needed to visit her more often. Sometimes I got so caught up in the tussle between being an alpha and having a personal life that it was easy to let time slip by.
Like, for example, the two weeks before the bake-off.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, trying to project coolness and confidence. Easier said than done. Tensions were high for prettymuch everyone involved except Felicia. Maybe it was just in my head, but it felt like something had changed since she’d baked for the Ramirez party. Despite wanting to give her privacy as well as prove to her that I trusted her, I’d asked her a lot of questions. She told me she’d had a wonderful time, and brought in a massive tray of food from her car, half of it being dessert. She called it “research”, and the two of us ended up devouring all of it that night. It was eye- opening, that was for sure. Sal and everyone else was right to brag about their dishes. The food was just as good as what could be found at any of our parties, and certainly had a lot of different flavors that we didn’t use.
