Page 10 of The Alpha and the Baker

I would do it, obviously, because someone had to, and it made sense to be me.

But I also was going to miss the very event I’d been working so hard on all day, and frankly, been looking forward to.

Sure, perhaps I didn’t have a mate to share it with, or children, but that didn’t mean I didn’t cherish the times of celebration I did get with my family.

“All right, you guys enjoy each other’s company for a bit,” I said, trying not to sound disappointed. “I’m going to go make some arrangements, then I’ll drive Felicia home.”

“Why?” Gammy McCallister objected, which I hadn’t expected. “She’s already here, and I enjoy her company. Besides, we can’t have kept her smelling all this good food for so long only to tell her she can’t try any!”

“I…” I wanted to object that she wasn’t a shifter, and asking nearly a hundred of us to keep ourselves in check while we were supposed to be free to be ourselves was bordered on foolhardy, but I couldn’t exactly say that with Felicia right there.

She was tipsy, but she wasn’t blackout drunk. Thank goodness for that.

To my surprise, the entire group of elders chimed in, all agreeing and giving different reasons why they wanted Felicia to stay.

It wasn’t that we were antisocial as a people, but it was strange to hear them so emphatic about a human they’d known for only an hour.

The baker must have made one hell of a good impression.

Not that I was surprised. She’d certainly made an impression on me.

Felicia was blushing a bright pink that was absolutely adorable. Her cheeks were flushed, not only from the alcohol, but also from all the positive attention. It made me want to compliment her all the more, and maybe even tease her a little just to see what she’d say.

Huh, that was an urge I hadn’t had in a long while.

“Shucks guys, I don’t want to be a bother.”

How was she even cuter? It didn’t seem possible, and yet I was seeing the evidence right in front of my own eyes.

“You couldn’t be if you tried,” Claudia said, all smiles.

There was another round of agreement amongst the older folks, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether they had plotted something while I was off looking for Felicia.

Of course, that was silly, so I stood there, thinking about the logistics of everything.

“Come on,” Gammy McCallister urged, “what happened to your sense of hospitality?”

I was stuck in such a strange position where I couldn’t explain why that was obviously a terrible idea because of Felicia’s presence, but also, I kind of didn’t care that it was a terrible idea.

The idea of having her around, being able to talk to her and get to know her a little better, was certainly intriguing.

Besides, Gammy McCallister really didn’t ask for much very often. She mostly busied herself with cross-stitches or her soaps on TV. She could still move around a bit, but that usually exhausted her, so it wasn’t unusual to see her sitting in a garden pavilion, or on her front porch to have company.

So, despite my responsibilities as alpha, I gave in. “All right, all right. Felicia, if you don’t mind keeping everyone company, I’ve gotta go handle some last-minute arrangements, and then we can fix you up a nice plate before you head home.”

God, the way she grinned at me from ear to ear… If she batted her eyes at me, I might kneel at her feet like a knight out of an old legend and swear fealty. I couldn’t say what about Felicia had me so captivated, but I also couldn’t deny what was happening.

“Are you sure?” she asked, sounding only a little uncertain but mostly delighted. “Only if I won’t be an inconvenience.”

I wanted to take her hand and reiterate Claudia’s point that she could never be an inconvenience, but that would be damn inappropriate, so I kept my mitts to myself.

“I promise you won’t be,” I said instead.

“Okay then, I would love to stay. Watching that food table get loaded up has been awfully tempting.”

I found myself grinning yet again. “Well, I’ll be back lickety-split, so we can get you a plate. I’ll show you all the best stuff.”

“You’d do that for me?” she said, her pitch rising just a bit as her blush deepened.

Fuck. That just wasn’t fair . “Yeah, I’d do that for you.”

And a whole lot more.

I breathed in through my nose and tipped my head, hurrying off before I said something stupid.

Thankfully, my head started to clear once I got some space from her bedazzling scent and her delicious smile.

Which was definitely a good thing considering I needed to warn as many people as I could that we had a human in our midst.

Nothing was ever boring in the McCallister pack.

It took me fifteen minutes to run around and inform as many adults as I could of the situation. Between them and the handful of teens I reached, they’d spread the information. We were taking a risk, and a stupid one at that, but something in my gut told me it was worth it. Or maybe I was biased.

To me, the reasoning didn’t particularly matter. What was important was that the elders would be appeased and Felicia would have time to sober up. And if I got to hang out with her a little longer, well, that was just a nice bonus.

“Sorry that took so long,” I said once I got back to the tent.

I wasn’t surprised to see that everyone had already started digging into the appetizers, as those were kind of free range until I gave the signal that it was time to start the meal.

And considering that everything was outside on hot plates or cooling mats, it was definitely time to dig in.

“I’m just going to go make the announcement to start things. ”

“Ohmigod, you have to try one of these deviled eggs,” Felicia said, standing on wobbly legs and holding one out to me. I knew it had to be a coincidence, that there was no way she knew I loved those things, but I felt strangely flattered. Thought of.

“Thanks,” I said, before popping it into my mouth. Sure enough, it was good. Not that I had any doubts. “All right, be right back!”

“I’ll be here,” Felicia said cheerily before plopping back down on her seat and picking up another deviled egg.

“What are you waiting for?” Gammy teased. “We’re all starving!”

I looked down at her very full plate of fixings and raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you are.”

I hurried to a spot between the food tent, the drink tent, and two of our seating tents.

Putting two fingers between my lips, I whistled as loudly as possible.

Maybe at a human gathering, people in the field wouldn’t be able to hear me, but we were shifters, so pretty much every head jerked in my direction.

“Hey, everyone! Scrub-a-dub-dub, it’s time for the grub!”

Was it cheesy? Probably. But my mom had used the saying when I was a kid, and I wanted to carry on the tradition. While I did believe in change when it was necessary or prudent, some things were worth clinging to.

Besides, no one commented on it. Suddenly everyone was flooding the tents and organizing themselves into a mostly functional line.

I didn’t blame them—I wanted to eat my fill too.

Even the young ones who hadn’t gotten their wolf forms yet still had far higher caloric needs than humans, so hunger certainly hit different for us.

Before I could join the line myself, though, I had a guest to attend to.

It wasn’t exactly easy moving counter to the crowd, but I made my way back to where Felicia was.

None of the elders had gotten up, but that didn’t surprise me.

They likely already had someone who’d offered to bring them food and knew exactly what they liked.

It was one of the benefits of growing up in such a tight-knit community.

While we weren’t all related, the majority of us were, which further strengthened our bonds.

Felicia, for obvious reasons, didn’t have anyone to do that for her, so I was more than happy to fill the position.

“You ready for a plate?” I asked, offering my hand to her. When she took it, I swore I could feel her heartbeat in her palm ricocheting through my body. My wolf was definitely interested, and he raised his head in curiosity.

“You betcha!” she said as if she wasn’t driving my instincts haywire. “Lezzzgooo!”

The two of us walked over to join the food line, and I was keenly aware of so many eyes on us.

None of them felt negative, but it was still quite a lot.

Not that I could blame them. After all, I was strolling around with a human in the middle of a wolf-fest. Not exactly a usual scenario.

It wasn’t like they were being unsociable, because many of them greeted us and introduced themselves to Felicia while I was trying to explain the spread to her.

“So, you wanna make sure you save room on your plate for the good stuff,” I said between interruptions and handed her a plate. While she swayed ever so slightly, she was mostly steady on her feet.

“Cas, if I’m being honest, it all looks like the good stuff.”

“Good point, but trust me, the brisket, ribs, the Asian cucumber salad, the toasted ravioli, and the cheese curds are the all-stars. During our summer parties, you can add the fresh fruit to that cause they’re freshly cut from our gardens and orchards.”

“You have summer parties too?”

“Oh yeah,” I said as I scooped things onto her plate. “We do the holidays, but we also tend to do one just because. And we have a post-harvest party, of course, and then a frost party.”

Maybe it was a little overboard, but I loved having all of the events. Seeing my community come together to make delicious fare, to eat and laugh together, to play and to run… it made being an alpha all worth it.

“That’s so much,” she said, but I could tell from her tone it wasn’t in a judgmental way. No, in fact, her tone was full of wonder.

“Is it?” I countered. “How often does your family get together?”

A strange expression darkened her features for a moment. “We don’t.”

Ah.

I’d stepped right into it, hadn’t I?