Page 33 of The Alpha and the Baker

Bit by bit, we used slightly more involved methods until I knew where she’d gone to college, what she’d graduated with, and we’d even found an article she herself had written in high school for a competition with a $5000 prize package for a night on the town and a day at an exclusive spa.

Nothing to sneeze at, that was for sure.

It felt like an intrusion to read it, but I did anyway, and what I found matched up with everything that she had told me. It also contained so much more, painting an even starker picture of the journey that had led Felicia to where she was now.

I miss my father.

I don’t know how I can miss someone I never met, but I see and hear his echoes everywhere. In the pictures on the mantle. In my mother’s sighs. Sometimes in the mirror. I wish I could have known him, but I will always carry his stories.

I think he would be proud of me. That he would taste every cake and bread I make, even the burnt ones.

I imagine that he would smile at me and tell me I’ve already improved so much.

And that he would mean it. I think that he and my mother would very seriously reserve my time for their anniversary cake, saying they had to get in before I was too famous.

But my dad is gone, so it is only my mother doing everything.

Every day. Every. Single. Day. She’s there for me in any way that I can ask.

So that is why I’m entering. If I were to win this prize, I’d take her out to the steakhouse she’s always eyeing but pretending not to.

I’d make sure she had flowers waiting for her after her spa day, along with cold water, a freshly made bed, and the laundry done.

If I could just pay back a single iota of everything she’s done for me, I would be happy.

I’m not some great writer, or next world wonder, I’m just a daughter who’s eternally grateful to the woman who’s shaped my life in every way possible. So I humbly hope that this letter conveys all the love and admiration I have for her.

- Felicia Nga

I sat back, digesting that. I’d already known her journey hadn’t been easy, but I hadn’t expected that.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that doesn’t really sound like some hunter to me,” Chris said cautiously, after what felt like a literal age of silence.

“I know some things can be faked, but not a whole life. And besides, most of those guys are super racist from ancient European families that haven’t changed their views since the witch trials. ”

He had a point, but Felicia was definitely ambitious enough to be the first Asian and female hunter I’d ever heard about.

Still… that was seeming less and less likely by the moment.

“It’s pretty sad, isn’t it? Did you know about any of this?”

“I knew her mother had passed,” I said, pulling myself out of my contemplation. “And that her mother immigrated here and raised her alone. I didn’t know her father had died too. I guess I assumed he was just out of the picture.”

“I’m gonna be real with you, Cas, I just don’t think this woman is a Wild Hunter or even associated with hunters. Say what you want about the fairies, but they’ve made sure not a single one has managed to be successful in our state, which is largely why we put up with them in the first place.”

That was a generous way to put it. Most of us accepted the will of the fairies because they had the money, the power, and the magic.

The deals they’d struck with our ancestors were iron-clad, protected by the fact that the contracts had been willingly signed.

Maybe we could find a loophole or wiggle out of them with some hot-shot witch who wanted to re-ignite the centuries-old conflict between magic casters and the fairies, but honestly, most of us didn’t want to challenge the status quo considering the lasting peace we’d had for so long.

“Then what? She’s just a random woman who figured it out and now we have to deal with the very real possibility that she’s going to expose us to the world to go viral?”

“Yeah, that’s definitely a possibility. But another possibility is that she figured it out and accepted it anyway.”

I blinked at him, wondering if my brain had short-circuited. “You wanna run that by me one more time?”

“I mean, think about it. You said your date was great, right? And she wore something that she heard wolves liked. Maybe I’m just a hopeless optimist, but doesn’t that kind of seem like she was trying to impress you? Both sides of you?

“She’s not the first human who’s managed to puzzle some things out. We’ve just been lucky that most of them are dismissed as crazy cryptozoologists online.”

“They are crazy cryptozoologists. The fairies specifically hired shifters to reveal themselves to people seen as delusional for plausible deniability. They’ve been doing it pretty much since the printing press.”

“Right, I forgot about that. Still, I’m sure there are some humans who put two and two together on their own.”

The idea of Felicia not being a hunter was certainly appealing, but how much of that was just wistful thinking?

I was so turned about inside my mind. My embarrassment at how fast I’d peeled out of her place was growing by the second.

Should I have laughed it off? Pretended she was crazy?

Heard her out? Had my panic and fear of failure overridden everything?

“Hey, I know this is a lot. Why don’t I walk you to your cabin and then you can sleep on this? There’s nothing you can do about it right now. It’s amazing what rest can do to remedy a bad situation.”

I nodded dully, so incredibly grateful for my best friend. While I was particularly apt at catastrophizing, he was definitely a glass-half-full kind of guy. I needed that.

“Okay,” I said, and then the two of us made the short walk across our yards to my place. But before I could enter, Chris embraced me.

“It’s gonna be okay. I promise. I’ve got a feeling about this, okay?”

“Okay,” I repeated, this time with more steadiness to my voice. The endless dread and fear that I’d doomed those I loved was waning, but now my mind was swirling around what it would mean if Felicia was just a regular human who figured everything out.

“Goodnight, Cas.”

“Night, Chris.”

“You sure you’re gonna be all right? I can crash on your couch.”

“No, I’m good. I promise. Getting some sleep will help everything.”

“Sounds good. But if you need me, just give me a howl.”

“Roger.”

He walked off, and I entered my dark cabin, trying to convince myself that everything was going to be okay. But as I collapsed into my bed, I couldn’t get Felicia’s scent out of my nose.