Page 4 of Roman (Destined Paranormals #7)

Chapter 4

Beau

I was trying my best to be positive, but there was so much going on. I had gone through several trial runs in the past week, and I was almost certain I was ready for what was about to happen, but were you ever truly prepared for something as life-changing as a grand reopening? The answer was no. There was nothing I could do that would actually prepare me for what I was about to experience.

Konrad had been an absolute savior. The dragon omega was the sweetest, and he was a complete wizard in the kitchen. I had learned that he was mated to Aleric, and together, they had claimed this mountain a long time ago with Ferdinand and Egon. Aleric was the head enforcer for the council, which apparently was a very important position. I had no doubt, but the way Konrad had described it, Aleric was in more of an administrative role rather than someone who went out on field assignments like my brother.

Along with Konrad, I had Elias’s help. He, too, was a dragon shifter and had been good friends with Konrad for most of their lives. Sadly, they wouldn’t be able to stay and help permanently. That was all right, though, because I was going to be getting permanent help in a week. I was a bit surprised by that, but that was what I’d been told by Alistair. Whatever that was, I wasn’t going to say no.

“You are going to be amazing.”

I turned at the sound of Konrad’s voice and smiled. “It’s not just me though. You and Elias have helped so much.” Konrad rolled his eyes while shaking his head.

“All we do is run everything out to the display cases. You’ve done all of the work and are offering more than what the previous proprietors did.” Konrad moved a step closer. “And I really do want to ask for the recipe for those filled puff things.”

I smiled. Konrad and Elias had taken goodies home all week, and after Konrad had taken home the almond paste–filled puff pastries, he’d come back the next day and asked if they were going to be on the menu frequently. I chuckled. It came out later that Aleric had eaten all but two, and that was only because Konrad had somehow managed to get them away from him and shove them into his mouth before his mate could eat them all.

“If they are immensely popular, things will be on the daily menu. Most other things will be available on a rotating menu. But I can always whip up a batch for you to take home.”

Evan could sort of cook, but he absolutely could not bake. Not beyond basic biscuits. But me? I could bake just about anything I wanted. Maybe it was because I’d not had those things after our parents went missing. I’d ended up spending a lot of time hanging out at our village’s bakery, and eventually, they offered to give me a job. I jumped at the offer, and I’d had a love of baking ever since.

That had been just shy of a decade ago and an entire realm away. Did I miss it? Sometimes. But if our parents were still alive, at this point, I was upset with them. Well, unless they were forced to be away from us. But deep down, Evan and I agreed: something had happened, and they were no longer alive.

“You just got sad. I didn’t mean to pressure you about the puffs. Aleric will survive without them.”

I snorted. “That isn’t what I was upset about. I was actually thinking about my parents and wondering if they would be happy for me and Evan.” I smiled. “That and the fact that my brother can barely cook and absolutely cannot bake a thing beyond biscuits.”

Konrad tried to hide his smile but failed.

“It’s all right. You can laugh. He seriously cannot bake. We didn’t starve, and he can cook basic things. But beyond that, no.” I sighed. “I can’t be upset. He stepped up and took over raising me when he didn’t have to. Evan was too busy trying to take care of a growing teenager when he himself was still one. We had support from others in the village, but it wasn’t the same as our parents.”

Konrad offered a sad smile. Over the past week, I’d shared my life story with him and Elias. It wasn’t that I was ashamed of my past. Evan and I weren’t the first to lose our parents and sadly wouldn’t be the last. Unfortunately, it happened.

“I am sorry you and your brother had to go through that.” Konrad placed his hand on my shoulder. “It is good that the two of you had each other.”

“I agree.” I remembered Konrad’s own sad story about how he lost not only his parents and brothers but his entire village.

“It’s time,” Elias said as he came rushing into the back room. “It’s time,” he repeated with a little squeak in his voice. I couldn’t help but start laughing. Thankfully, it wasn’t incredibly early today for our relaunch. No, that would come tomorrow morning.

Konrad started to walk toward the front of the bakery, and I stopped him with a touch on the shoulder. When he looked back at me, I held out my hand with a large bakery box in it. “Set these somewhere for you to take home,” I told him. I knew that with the excitement the council had been getting for us, we would most likely be busy, and I would most likely forget about Konrad’s almond paste puffs later.

“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’s baking. 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?”

Evan shook his head. “No. If I really want something, I can always ask for it later,” he told me. “But I have a container of cupcakes and another of cookies at home. I think it’s safe to say that I’m covered for now.” Evan gave me another smile. “I’ll be back at six when you close up. We can go to the cookout if you want. The council is going all out. It’s not just burgers and hot dogs. We’re talking complete spread with briskets, steaks, burgers, dogs, all of it. All of the sides too.”

I moaned internally. I’d not eaten much lunch because I’d been a bit too nervous. But at the mention of all of the food, I was suddenly ready for it to be closing time so I could have some of that delicious-sounding food.

“See you soon,” I told Evan. He waved as he walked away from the counter. I rejoined Konrad and Elias, jumping in to help. “Sorry,” I told them.

“Don’t be,” Elias said. “It’s expected that your brother come in and see how things are going for you. He’s showing you support, which is amazing.”

I nodded. It was. Evan had always been supportive of anything I had ever wanted to do. I looked up just in time to see one of the gargoyle twins that I’d been asking Evan about approach the counter. He was the one that had the shorter blond with him. The blond was now holding an adorable little girl. I couldn’t stop my smile if I tried.

“Hello, cutie,” I said as I reached out and waved to the toddler. “Can she have a treat?” I asked who I was certain were her daddies.

“She can, but she will make a mess,” the short omega holding her said.

“Oh, I have the perfect thing for that.”

I turned and found Elias already holding up the chocolate chip cookie. One-half of it was dipped in chocolate, and we’d been gifting them to the kids all day.

“How are you doing, Phineas?” Elias asked.

“I’m good. Tired lately, and I can’t figure out why.”

He took the cookie from me, and his daughter squealed in delight as it was handed to her.

“Can I get the two of you anything?”

“Is it possible to get a few of these brownies here, as well as some of these…are they donuts?”

I smiled up at the gargoyle. “You can. Is there anything else?”

“Not for us,” he said before he turned around. “Raiden? Is there anything you and Alexander want?”

The other blond man popped forward in the crowd and looked at the cabinet. “Ooh.” He gasped. “Are those beignets?”

I smiled. “Yes. Did you want some of those?”

“Yes. As many as I can.” He looked over at who was obviously his brothers-in-law and opened his mouth. “We need to let Matteo know. He and Justin will need to know that there are beignets here.”

I offered a smile as I pulled out the tray of pastries and started putting them in the box. “I think they were here earlier? Short vampire with curly hair? They had a pair of little ones. A girl and a boy?”

“That was them,” the man told me. Then he looked over at the shorter blond. “I can’t believe they didn’t let me know there were beignets here.”

“Are there any cupcakes?” another voice asked. I started to feel tingles in my body as I finished filling the box with the beignets, and when I looked up to hand the box across the counter, I found myself staring at a tall man with somewhat messy sandy-blond hair and blue eyes. He offered a smile before he turned his head toward the toddler he was holding.

“Roman wants cupcakes,” Raiden said. “Do you have any left?”

I looked back up at the gargoyle and nodded. “Yeah, they’re…” I glanced down at the cabinet that Elias was standing in front of.

“I sold the last six we had about two minutes ago,” Elias told me.

“There’s some more in the back. I’ll go get them.” I quickly rushed away and noticed that the tingling in my body started to soften as I left the front. There was no way. Not today. Not now. How was that even possible? I was twenty-two. Evan was twenty-seven. He should find his mate first. Besides, I didn’t have time for a mate. And there were so many people in the bakery I’d never be able to figure out who it was.

I grabbed the new tray of cupcakes, these ones with rainbow swirl frosting, and took them back to the front. I slid the tray into the cabinet and then looked back up at the gargoyle. More people had joined their group, and I had to blink a few times. There were two sets of twins? Really?

“Do you have any maple donuts?” the new twin asked. I nodded slowly.

“Yes,” I said. I glanced around and found who I thought was Roman, who had asked for cupcakes. “How many cupcakes did you want?”

“Four? Is that too many?”

I shook my head. He came closer, and the tingles in my body started up again. I tried to look around him because I knew he wasn’t my mate. He obviously already had one—he was holding a toddler.

“Anything else?” I asked as I put four cupcakes in a box. Elias handed me a box, and I looked at him in question.

“They’re Philip’s donuts.”

I nodded. “Can the little ones have treats?” I asked them.

“They can,” the short blond said. I didn’t know who he was exactly, but I turned around and grabbed three more cookies and handed them over after passing the boxes off to one of the gargoyles.

“Can we get another cookie? Knox is outside with Madelyn because she was fussy.”

“Of course.” I turned and grabbed another cookie. I handed it across the counter, and after it was passed off to someone else, I tried to offer a smile. My body was vibrating now, and that meant my mate was somewhere nearby, but I didn’t know where. There were at least twenty people waiting near the cabinets, and I wanted to cry because I absolutely did not have time to search for my mate at the moment.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

Several glances were exchanged, and I smiled at them. “Konrad will check you out down that end,” I told them.

The group moved away from the front of the cabinets, and I had assumed that my mate would move closer, but the vibrations coursing through my body didn’t increase; they started to soften again. That was odd.

I looked back at the group that was now chatting with Konrad, and I found blue eyes staring intently at me. That was so incredibly odd.

“Can I get some of those cookies you were passing out?”

It took a moment for me to break the penetrating stare of those blue eyes, but when I looked at the customer that was across from me, I smiled. “Hey, Lukan. Those are for the little ones, sorry. They all get a special treat today.”

“Seriously, Beau? That’s just not right.”

I chuckled before shrugging. “Kids only,” I told him.

Lukan sighed. “Fine. What do you have that’s chocolate? Lots of chocolate.”

I chuckled again as I reached into the cabinet for the double fudge brownies. They were the most chocolate thing we had on the menu today.

“Beau?” I turned my head and looked at Konrad. “Are you going to the cookout?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Evan is going to meet me outside when we close up, and we’re going to go check it out.”

“We’ve already secured an area for all of us,” Lukan added. I smiled at the fae enforcer.

“Is that needed?” I asked him.

Lukan shrugged. “Not sure, but we claimed a spot. Lots of people are. We picked one that was away from the bouncy houses and slides.”

I frowned. Why would they do that? Both of those sounded like lots of fun.

“Konrad will check you out if there’s nothing else.”

Lukan took his brownies and started eating one before he even made it to Konrad. I shook my head at the enforcer before looking out toward the still-long line. It wasn’t looking like we were going to be able to close up at six like we were supposed to. I had to wonder: would it always be this busy?

I noticed the tingling in my body had softened even more. What did that mean? Had my mate been here and left and I’d not even gotten the chance to meet him? I sighed. Oh well. I’d get to meet him when the time was right, and obviously, now wasn’t the correct time.