“You expect a little old lady to know?” she quipped back in a way that told me that she was far from just a little old lady.
“I’ve always been told to respect the wisdom of my elders.”
“Your elders. Not ours.”
“You don’t think that you have wisdom to impart to us-what did you call us? Bumpkins?”
“I suppose I did say that, didn’t I?”
By then we’d reached the bleachers, where a group of Ramirez shifters were already sitting. Their heads snapped sharply in my direction, and a couple instantly sprang to their feet.
“Oh, calm down,” the elder Ramirez said with a heavy sigh. “Can’t a woman get an escort by our sworn enemy without any drama?” She looked up at me with her slightly milky eyes and gave me a wink. She must have been quite the troublemaker in her day. “Actually, I love the drama. Makes me feel young again.”
“You’re only forty, how much younger could you possibly need to be.”
“Forty! Did y’all hear this? Now I know how you got that sweetie on your arm.” I helped her into her seat and handed her the water bottles I’d tucked under my arm. “But in all seriousness, thank you dear. I’ll make sure Sal knows how you treat his abuelita.”
Wait. I had just escorted Sal’s grandmother?
“Speaking of which, where is my grandson? I haven’t seen him all morning.”
“He’s with the team,
Abuelita
Ramirez.”
Yup, that confirmed it. Sal’s grandmother and I had just exchanged playful banter.
Seeing an opportunity to excuse myself, I did so quickly before I could further entangle myself. As I walked away, I couldn’t help but wonder if the interaction would be a good or a bad thing. I could see it going either way.
Just another thing to shove to the back of my mind for the moment.
I went back to work, or at least tried to. While Chris and I were walking back to his car to restock the coolers, I heard a sharp, familiar yelp. I whirled, recognizing the cry of pain from one of the young ones from our pack.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
So, that was a no from him. Generally, Chris and my senses were on par with each other, but he was a few steps ahead of me and preoccupied with finding his car, so perhaps he was too distracted to hear the soft but alarmed cry.
“I’m not sure,” I said, even though I was very sure it had been one of our kids. I didn’t want to sound the alarm unnecessarily, so I waved him ahead. “I’ll go check; you get those drinks and snacks.”
“Righty-o.”
With that handled, I hurried toward the sound. Sure enough, less than a minute later, I spotted one of our little ones, Bobby, sitting on the ground, the sharp tang of blood in the air.
He wasn’t alone.
No, kneeling next to him and applying a Band-Aid to the young boy’s scraped knee was none other than Sal. I could hear him murmuring soft assurances while Bobby chowed down on an empanada.
“You’re a brave boy, but even as a wolf you need to be careful, okay? You can’t just run around with all these strangers. You don’t have your wolf yet, so they could snatch you up just as easily as they do their own kind. Don’t you think that would make your mama sad?”
Bobby nodded dutifully, his mouth too full to speak, and judging from the pleasant aroma, I couldn’t blame him for stuffing his face.
“There you go. All patched up. Now, why don’t you finish that treat, then run back to your pack, okay? And this time look both ways when coming out from behind cars, okay? That way you won’t run into anybody else.”
“Can you tell ‘im I’m sorry?” Bobby managed to get out after a couple more hearty chews.
“I’ll tell Keokuk, but I’m sure he’s already forgiven and forgotten.”
“Okie, thankies.”
“No problem, little one. And don’t forget to drink a lot of water today. Especially if you’re gonna be playing.”
“Okies!”
Sal stood, and I knew the moment he clocked my scent, because his eyes began to scan for me. I wasn’t trying to hide myself, so I tipped my head to him when his gaze landed on me.
“Thank you,” I said simply. I meant it. Funny how I’d never personally interacted with the other alpha before, and now we could communicate near wordlessly with just a glance. I got the distinct feeling that Sal was a lot like me. He was a young alpha who had stepped into a somewhat tenuous position and was only trying to do right by his people in a needlessly complicated situation where outside interference was the main issue. If anyone understood that, it was me.
“Ain’t no thing,” he said with a shrug before walking off.
But to me, it was a thing. A thing that left me feeling even more conflicted than before. Depending on how this bake-off went, I had a lot to think about.
As much as I would have loved to put it out of my mind, I found those thoughts popping up every so often as I continued to help with the prep. There was a surprising amount to do considering that every step that could possibly have been completed beforehand had been done, but that seemed to be how baking worked.
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