The Alpha And The Baker

“No worries.” The wait was more like ten minutes, but I wasn’t worried about it. The place was fancy, all right, but not over the top. There was definitely a lot of mood lighting that made me wonder how well the humans around me could see. I couldn’t exactly turn to Felicia and ask how…

But sure enough, when I focused on Cas’s other arm, I saw that he’d caught that too and was balancing it like it was nothing. Who was this guy? “Are you okay there?” he asked, voice layered with concern, which definitely did things for me. Was that weird? Maybe. I was pretty sure I was…

“Can you take me on a run?” I paused mid-chew and looked at Arietty. She’d stopped eating long enough to ask me a question. Just as we’d thought, her appetite followed her mother’s example, and she’d been eating pretty much non-stop since she woke up. It would taper off naturally once her body got used…

There were a few yips of agreement, but mostly I was met with the sound of more panting and our many paws across the ground. I didn’t mind. Shifter-speak sometimes took a while to get the hang of. Besides, I understood if the younger ones were caught up with everything around us-the scent of earth…

“Sorry about that,” I said, putting a bit of breathlessness in my voice. “We were working on some voice commands, and-Oh, Felicia?” I probably laid it on a little thick, but whatever, I wasn’t an actor. “Holy shit, didn’t expect to see you here.” Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but I swore…

“Got date.” I sighed, something strange to do in my wolf form. The whole thing had indeed been planned. That was incredible, and I was torn between being flabbergasted, impressed, and a little concerned. “How did you even know where to find her?” “Googled name I saw on van. Planned to go all the way…

I relaxed internally, reprimanding myself for being so on edge. “Yeah, they’ve done some incredible things to survive into the modern era. Not many old packs are so lucky.” “Exactly.” My phone buzzed with a text. I was all set to ignore it-even though we were at a red light-but Chris picked it up and…

And then I waited. Maybe the word waited wasn’t exactly accurate, because I walked a few feet away before returning. And then I did a round of double-checking the ovens, and then I checked it again. I was getting almost nothing done. Thankfully, my phone started ringing. “Hello?” I said, even though I knew exactly…

“Yeah, it is, that’s why I was surprised that you were up and about, let alone in the city.” His smile turned a bit bashful, and although I didn’t know why, I still found it pretty cute. It was both weird and welcome that a guy who was so drop-dead hot could also be pretty…

“You’ve got that right. How are you feeling? How’s Bethany? Arietty?” “Arietty is at home, in bed, and snoring like a log. She got her human form back a while after you left, and I’m sure she’s going to want to eat every steak we have in the house. Tomorrow afternoon, I’m going to ask…