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“Are these…” his eyes rounded as he took a deep breath.
“I wanted to make sure you had them. I don’t know how the day is going to go, and if we’re busy later, I don’t want you to leave without them.”
“Thank you.” Konrad gave me a beaming smile. “You didn’t have to, but I really appreciate it. I’ll settle up for them later.”
I shook my head. “No charge. Seriously. They aren’t even on the menu today. If your mate comes by, give them to him.”
Konrad’s eyes widened. “Why would I do that? If I gave them to him, they would be gone before I could even get home, and I’d not get any again.”
“All right. Well, put them off to the side for you for later.” It was odd. Konrad was over three centuries older than I was, and so was Elias. Yet they were here to help. It just felt…weird. But I was so thankful for Konrad and Elias. They both helped out in various places when needed, but for the most part, they both spent most of their time taking care of their grandbabies.
When I stepped out of the back room, to say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. We were only going to be open for two hours today, from four to six, and then there would be a council cookout. The council was celebrating something, and Evan had told me it had to do with the really big assignment they had when they were going to and from Italy a lot. He didn’t tell me much more than that, but there was a big family fun day and cookout planned, so here we were.
But as for me, today was a trail run, and tomorrow would be full-on, opening at seven in the morning. Thankfully, I would only have to be here until six in the evening. Yes, it would be long hours, but I was lucky in that I could use magic and didn’t need to come in hours before we opened in order to start the day’sbaking. Nor would I need to stay for hours after closing in order to clean up. It was a win-win, really.
There was already a line that was solid from the door to the cabinets. Elias and Konrad were both busy helping customers, and immediately, I joined them. I pasted on the biggest smile I could and hoped that everyone here found something they wanted and they would be repeat customers.
We passed out puffs, cookies, cupcakes, full-sized cakes, breads—you name it, we sold it. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since we’d had that solid line of customers before I managed to move close to Konrad to whisper to him, “There aren’t this many people on this mountain, are there?”
Konrad smiled. If I didn’t know the dragon omega’s age, I would swear he was in his early thirties at the latest.
“No. But the council has invited the pack, den, and pride that are just off of the mountain around the lake as well. The family fun day is for all of the paranormals in the area. There will be a large run later for those that feel like shifting and going for a run through the trees if they so wish. It’s going to be a huge thing.”
“There he is,” a familiar voice said. I turned at the sound of my brother’s voice and smiled.
“I was wondering when you were going to get here.” I held my arms out at my sides. “What do you think?”
“I believe that your place is a hit,” Evan said. He tilted his head to the side before he moved down to the far side of one of the cabinets. I followed, wondering what it was that he needed.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. I just wanted to tell you how proud I am. I know you worked hard on all of this, and granted, a lot of magic was used, but you still put in the effort to plan it all.”
“Thanks, Ev. I’ve been terrified about what was going to happen. My biggest worry was that everyone was going to hate all of my things.”
Evan shook his head. Something caught my eye, and when I looked toward my left, I saw a group walk in that absolutely had to be a pair of twin dragon brothers.
“Who’s that?” I asked, curious about the brothers who were both holding babies.
“Where?” Evan asked. “Everest there?”
“Everest?”
“Yeah, the sandy-blond wolf shifter? He’s an enforcer.”
I shook my head. “No. The tall twins? Are they dragons?” I asked just as one turned his head and looked directly at me.
“Oh. No, they’re gargoyles. The one with the taller blond is Raiden, and the one with the tiny blond with him is Ramsey.”
“Gargoyles?” I’d not ever met gargoyles that I knew of.
“Yep.” Evan leaned to his right and then left before he shook his head and looked back at me. “I was looking for the rest of their family, but I guess they’re either not here or are outside.”
“There’s more?” I asked, surprised.
“Yeah. There’s a lot of families that are all involved with the council in some way.” Evan chuckled. “You work for their bakery, and I’m an enforcer. Same thing.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess so.” I glanced over at Konrad and Elias and realized that I’d basically abandoned them. “I need to get back to helping. Is there something you wanted?”
