Page 15 of The Alpha and the Baker

Castiel

Tension Lines

I never could have predicted how my day would go after I returned from my morning run, but as I stared down at the flushed face of the woman in my arms, I couldn’t be happier.

I knew that there wasn’t really anything between us besides some mutual attraction, but with her in my arms, my nose filled with her scent, it was easy to forget that. Easy to pretend I was mated, perhaps with a few pups of our own at home. Easy to imagine an entire life lived together.

It was an escape, and only that, but I reveled in it, nonetheless. Besides, despite the unfortunate consequence of getting an innocent human drunk, it loved that I’d made Felicia’s day so good. She seemed like an incredibly hard worker but also a nice human, and she deserved a little reward.

Life could be so cruel sometimes, and it made me feel a little less powerless to make a bright spot for someone else. Especially someone so lovely.

If I could have stayed in that field dancing with her forever, I might have.

But eventually her eyelids began to flutter.

I wasn’t surprised. From what I knew about bakers, they got up insanely early to prep doughs, and then she’d spent the entire day baking, and here at our reunion with so many people around.

Not to mention the whole accidentally getting drunk thing.

But I would wait for the song to end, even though it was a ten-minute ballad. And I waited for the next to end too, wanting to stay all pressed up against her. But the pace picked up again and I knew it was time.

“Hey, how about I sign that receipt and get you home?” I murmured just loud enough for her to hear.

“I…” She heaved a sigh that settled heavily over my soul. “Yeah, we probably should.” We parted, and she stumbled ever so slightly. Not enough that I needed to catch her, but definitely noticeably. “Shoot.”

I knew what she was worried about, and guilt ricocheted through me again. “How about I drive you home?”

She gaped up at me with slightly bleary eyes. “You would do that?”

“Of course. It’s our fault your entire schedule got thrown off.”

“But how will you get home?”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. I’ve got it handled.”

If Felicia was sober, she’d probably ask how that was possible, but then I wouldn’t have to drive her home in the first place.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

She let out the sweetest little laugh, then looped her arm through mine again. I wasn’t averse to physical touch at all, but I certainly wasn’t used to so much of it from someone who wasn’t in my pack. And I was definitely finding out that I liked it. “You’re a real sweetheart, you know that?”

“Just doing my duty.”

“Well, if that’s the case, why don’t you dutifully walk me to my van, then we’ll go.”

“And sign the receipt,” I reminded.

“And the receipt.”

I said a couple of goodbyes on the way to her van, but when everything was said and done, it only took about ten minutes to get her into the passenger seat, sign the receipt, and have her hand the keys over to me.

I fully recognized how unorthodox the situation was, as well as the huge amount of trust Felicia was putting in a strange man, and I didn’t take it for granted.

Even if I never saw her again, I had no doubt that the woman dozing in the passenger seat was an incredibly special person.

My pack was friendly, but I’d never seen anyone just slide right in like she belonged.

It really was a miracle that she hadn’t been suspicious of anything, especially since I had come to realize my pack was absolutely terrible at disguising our shifter tendencies.

But terrible subterfuge skills or not, we’d made it through without her pointing at anyone and screaming werewolf! at the top of her lungs.

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 barely knew, there were certain risks that she was facing that I would never experience.

And although I wanted her to know that she was safe with me, I understood it didn’t mitigate her need to be aware of her surroundings.

I roused her fully once I’d parked behind her tiny bakery. She took a moment, but once she realized where she was, a bright grin spread across her features.

“I’m home.” She still sounded so incredibly sleepy that I wanted to bundle her up in a blanket and put her to bed. But that was far more familiar than I had any right to be, so instead I unbuckled her seatbelt, then got out of the van to open her door. “You’re such a gentleman.”

Although she didn’t look as inebriated anymore, I wondered how much she’d remember when she woke up in the morning. Whatever it was, I hoped it was all good things.

“I do try,” I said, giving her a little bow before walking her to her door.

“You have a good rest now, Felicia. Thank you for making my family reunion something special.” Although I hadn’t gotten to enjoy a slice of the cake, I’d noticed all three sheet cakes had been completely decimated, leaving only crumbs.

Normally, I’d be upset about missing out, but considering how much time I’d gotten to spend at the Felicia’s side, I didn’t mind.

“You, too. And thanks again for driving me.”

“It really was no problem.”

Neither of us moved, as if she wasn’t ready to enter her apartment yet and I wasn’t ready to go.

I wondered if I should lean in and kiss her.

No, that felt like far too much far too soon with someone who wasn’t sober, so I didn’t.

Maybe that was a mistake, but I preferred my partners to be completely aware for something as important as a first kiss.

Not that she was my partner, but still.

“Goodnight,” she said finally before opening her door and stepping in.

“Goodnight,” I answered, my voice full of fondness.

And then she closed the door. I was all set to leave when the door opened again, and Felicia pointed at me.

“Hey, you!” she said, all grins.

“Hey me? Did I do something?”

“Yes. I mean, no. I mean… I just wanted to tell you that you should hang out with Gammy McCallister and Auntie Hellier more often. They’re cool.”

“You mean Claudia?” I asked after a beat.

“Yeah. Claudia.”

“Haha, okay, I will.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” I meant it. Considering some of the horror stories I’d heard from traveling shifters, the elders in our pack were incredibly cool.

Sometimes, I got so wrapped up in the day-to-day responsibilities of being an alpha that I forgot to slow down and enjoy what it meant to be part of a pack.

“Good! Okay, goodnight part two.”

“Goodnight part two.”

With a lackadaisical smile, Felicia went inside again, closing the door behind her. I went around to the front of the building and waited until I saw a light turn on upstairs, then I strolled off, hands in my pocket and whistling a tune.

When was the last time I had been so surprised by something that turned out to be so incredibly lovely? It felt like it had been a while. While I loved my life, and I loved my pack, most surprises were either complicated or awful. And Felicia was the opposite of those.

I waited until I was at the edge of a park a couple of blocks away from the bakery before I ducked behind some bushes and shifted into my wolf form, fur rippling up my frame as it expanded and shifted.

Shifting could be painful, especially when one was new at it, but my wolf and I had been together so long that we’d managed to streamline and smooth out the process as much as possible.

There were still aches, still cracks, but they were few and far between, and within a few moments I was trotting out of the bushes back toward home.

It wasn’t my first time in the city, so I knew which paths had the most cover. It helped that it was dark. It would have been much more complicated to run around in my wolf form in broad daylight.

Arietty and many of my pack members were small enough to come across as very large dogs, but I wasn’t. Not even close. No, I stood taller than a Great Dane, taller even than a wolf. I was nearly five feet from my paws to the tip of my ears, and six and a half feet long.

I wasn’t the only massive wolf in my pack—McCallisters tended to arrive right out of the oven jumbo-sized—but as an alpha, I most certainly was the biggest. If I was ever lucky enough to take a mate, she certainly wouldn’t have an easy time with our pups.

But having children wasn’t a priority for me, so I didn’t worry about it.

My pack wasn’t desperate to increase the population, so as long as I was taking proper care of them, I was content.

But it was nice to daydream. Especially about raven-haired bakers who smelled like pomegranate.

I took a bit longer to get home than I normally would because I was dilly-dallying.

I felt no need to rush, even though I was missing some of the night-time festivities.

Honestly, it was nice not to have anyone ask anything of me while I trotted along, recalling all the lovely memories of the day—and some of the stressful ones that now, in retrospect, were actually kind of funny.

But I did pick up my pace once I reached the woods at the edge of the city. And then, when I began to scent my pack and heard the faintest notes of music, I burst into an all-out run.

My wolf loved that, of course. I was incredibly lucky that he’d always been measured, and even as a teenager, we’d had a very clear understanding of each other.

We were both the same person, two halves of a whole, and yet we are separate enough that we needed to choose to work together.

I’d heard some terrible tales of other alphas who had to work to rein in their wild instincts, so I had always been grateful to my wolf for being just as dedicated to being a good alpha as I was.