The Alpha And The Baker

We grew a lot of our own food and hunted-sustainably, of course, with us hunters sometimes traveling quite far to where there were reports of deer or other animal overpopulation-but there were some things our climate didn’t allow, or we couldn’t keep up with. Like strawberries. No matter how many of our gardeners had their…

Okay, maybe that last part was the alcohol talking. Mama needed her bucks after all. I wrinkled my nose at myself for that particular line of thought. Since when did I call myself Mama? Really wasn’t my vibe at all. But maybe it was Tipsy Felicia’s vibe. She was a bit of a wild card.…

Wait, was she trying to subtly remind Gammy that I was Asian and possibly an immigrant? No, no, no. Everyone had been so nice. Not a single person had asked “where are you really from?” since I’d arrived, so the least I could do was give them the benefit of the doubt. Normally, I would…

“Hey,” he murmured, his voice like straight syrup to my soul. “The dancing’s about to start. Do you want me to sign that receipt and walk you to your car?” Part of me knew I should say yes. That I had overstayed my welcome and needed to get going. But another part of me didn’t…

A bunch of the kids groaned or outright complained only to be shushed by a nearby adult. The dogs also seemed less hyped about the choice and wandered to the sidelines to flop into the grass. But as for Cas and me… Well, we were just staring at each other. “Do you need to rest?”…

So, I would count that as a success. The drive into the city was relatively pleasant, with Felicia stirring every so often to look out the window as if she was making sure we were on the right track. I didn’t take it personally. As a woman in the car with a man she only…

But it was touching, really, to hear her talk about the woman who raised her in such a breezy, sort of tipsy earnestness. There was no guile to her, no deception. She wasn’t trying to convince me of anything. She was just recalling beloved memories with a lovely soul who she missed. It didn’t surprise…

I grinned at that and followed her to the parking area where the pack members who didn’t live locally parked their cars. Truthfully, almost everyone in our pack lived on the ancestral lands we had left, but almost didn’t mean all by any means. There were some who chose to live in the city, a…

“I’d smell that jam and cream anywhere. I might be old, but flour is flour, and butter do be butter.” That last part was a nearly perfect imitation of her great-grandniece, and it would have been amusing if I wasn’t rapidly putting together how wildly my pack had just stepped in it. Somehow, in the…

“Oh!” Felicia said, smiling broadly before laughing. “No, I’m just a baker.” She swallowed a big swig of her juice. “And I am tipsy!” “Tipsy?” “Elizabeth had Felicia here sample the punch,” I said with plenty of weight to my voice. “Oooooooh.” The sound came from the entire group of four elders, and it would…