Page 74 of Duke's Baby Deal
This grocery store was way closer than the other two, and the thought that maybe I’d been wrong to push Cas on this began nosing around. He wouldn’t send me to the others if there wasn’t a problem with this one.
Boy, was I right.
We were hardly in the door when the looks started. Staff became obviously alarmed, and I could hear the whispers flying around us. An old man stared at us and grumbled about fucking mutts being in the store. A woman with a toddler in her cart spat at us and told us to get out. And then, the final insult, after about a dozen more, was the staff member very obviously following us around in case we, I didn’t know, stole something. Or ate a customer or whatever.
But, as much as it made me nervous, it also made me more stubborn. I got over my amazement at the rows and shelves of food and began calmly filling our cart, chatting with the pups, while the alphas kept a wary eye out and maintained a kind of perimeter around me, which I thought was foolish. So far, there’d only been words. No one had tried to get close.
Until another old lady, grizzled like the witches in puppy tales, and her only slightly less repulsive friend, began to yell at us. At me, in particular.
“This store isn’t for your kind. You shouldn’t even be here! Dirty, vicious beasts. You shouldn’t be allowed to breed.”
The friend was on her phone and it sounded like she was calling the police on us.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered, and craned my neck, trying to figure out where the baking aisle was. I wanted a big bag of flour, not the tiny thing that we already had in the kitchen. Sugar, yeast, and shortening for making bread. Spices for cookies and muffins, and more herbs for main courses. We needed potatoes and a big bag of rice and—oh, Lady of Wolves—fresh produce! I ignored crazy lady in the aisle behind us and poked Duke in the back. “Go find me carrots and a turnip and anything else over there that you want. Apples, a squash, other stuff the babies might like. Peas?” I wanted oatmeal too, that I could grind down into cereal for them, because it was about time they started on solid food. “Cas, a big bag of rice? Can you grab one and meet me in the aisle with the flour and stuff?” I didn’t wait for them, but powered on through the aisle, heading for the sign that read ‘Baking Supplies’.
The alphas trailed behind me, stubbornly refusing to do what I asked. “Guys,” I said, doing my best to keep my temper and remember that they were alphas. “Really. Go get the stuff and come right back. I’m okay.” Barring the crazy lady following us around the store, shouting things I was glad the twins weren’t old enough to understand yet, though her tone was making them anxious.
“I’m not leaving you by yourself,” Duke muttered, his eyes flicking back and forth, watching for threats.
I turned to Abel. “I guess you’re no one.”
Abel frowned at me. “You have two babies with you. If something happens, I can’t defend you if I’m holding one of them. Let’s just get out of here.”
They didn’t understand that a kitchen needed these sorts of things, or they’d starve. They’d just keep eating until there was nothing left but each other’s ankles to chew on. Silly alphas. “I’m fine. I want to get settled in tomorrow.” I turned to Cas. “And yes, I see what you mean. How are the other ones better?”
“The closer of the two pretty much ignores us. I think we’ve been around long enough, maybe, or they’re more interested in our money. They other one, there’s staring, but I think it’s more that they don’t see us very often, so we’re a novelty. A few people might get upset, but the store itself seems to feel our money is as green as anyone else’s.”
I nodded and pushed the cart around the end of the aisle. “Then that’s where we’ll go next time.” Ah, flour. “Cas, put that in the cart, like a good alpha?”
Cas gave a snarling sigh and looked at Abel. “You didn’t warn me about him.”
“I tried.” Abel’s eyes lit momentarily with amusement. “You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Fuck,” Cas muttered, and bent to pick up the flour.
Something went flying through the air and clipped him on the side of the head. He fell to his knees, one hand braced on the bag of flour, the other over his ear. As I watched in horror, blood began to seep out between his fingers and down the side of this face.
Abel spun to face our attacker, and Duke grabbed Isolde, who began to wail at the top of her lungs. I was right behind him with Jedrick, and I hunched over my little boy to protect him, and he clung to me like a vine while I went to see what had happened to Cas. “Cas, you okay?”
“Yeah.” He staggered to his feet, his eyes wandering a little. They didn’t seem to be quite focusing on the same point either. “I need a rag or something.” A can of soup rolled away under the shelves. It must have been what was thrown.
“I have some clean ones in my bag.” I ignored the argument that was starting at the end of the aisle between Abel and the humans, and pulled the cart forward. “Here.” I dug out a clean cloth and handed it to him, then checked out the disturbance. “Abel, come on. We need to take your brother home.” Dammit. I put Jedrick back in the cart and took Isolde from Duke. “Go get the vegetables. Now.” I shoved him in the direction of the produce and stormed over to grab Abel by the back of the shirt. “Come on. Take your brother out to the van.”
The old woman grabbed a box of something, it had a slice of cake on the outside, and lifted it to throw it. Abel put a hand up to catch it, but I stepped around him.
“I don’t know why you’d be so cruel. You’ve frightened the babies. Is that how you like to think about yourself?”
“Dammit, Bram, this isn’t home!” Abel yelled at me, and I could see fear in his eyes.
The old woman launched the box at me and I batted it aside. “Stop that, right now! I’ve looked after pups with better manners than you!” Abel grabbed me and began to haul me away while the human yelled curses and kept throwing things. I was ready to scream and tears of rage were pouring down my face. I let Abel hustle us off to the front of the store, only to have the manager meet us there.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave,” he said firmly, but his eyes were wide and I smelled fear off him.
Abel opened his mouth to say something, but I got my shot in ahead of him. “Oh, don’t worry. I wouldn’t buy hundreds of dollars worth of food here now if you were the only place in the city.” I gave him a stern look, then turned away to check on Jedrick. And my mate, who was giving off waves of murderous intent. “Come on babies. Let’s go somewhere else.” I slung my bag over my shoulder and sailed out of the building.
The alphas followed me in silence, but I could feel and smell their tension, and, really, it had cast a shadow over the evening. “We can go to a different one,” I told them, hoping to lighten the mood.
“It’s too close to curfew,” Cas said as he unlocked the van. “We can go tomorrow on the way back from the college.”
