Page 34 of The Alpha and the Baker

Felicia

One Hell of a Hunch

Huh, so I’d guessed right.

I hadn’t really expected that outcome, and I didn’t know what had prompted me to drop the bomb like I did, but Cas’s reaction had proved my suspicions to be true.

Part of me was in shock, because he’d ran out of here like his ass was on fire, but I was still so full of those amazing feelings he’d drawn out of me that I wasn’t all that bothered.

I figured he’d had to keep things a secret for a really long time, so it must have been pretty alarming when a random woman figured it out.

It was perfectly natural for him to panic.

Hopefully, he’d text me in a few days when he realized I wasn’t a danger to him.

Sure, maybe I would be the first one to message him, but I knew enough to recognize that it was far too early for me to extend that bridge.

Despite his very abrupt exit, I still had hope. Perhaps that was why I picked his shirt up off the ground and decided to sleep with it. Despite the shock of everything, I was pretty exhausted and ready to sleep.

As I settled into bed, I wished his warm body was still next to me, that his warm breath was on my neck. Hopefully, with a little time, a little patience, and a fewer life-changing revelations involving bar soap, we’d be able to do it again. Only time would tell.

I had a whole lot to think about in the meantime.

I woke up with Cas’s shirt tangled up in my arms, defying my very first conscious thought, which was that last night’s craziness had been all a dream.

Nope, it was real. The wonderful date. The best sex of my life.

Cas pulling a runaway bride off into the night.

I’d heard of “wham-bam thank you ma’am”, but he’d taken it to a new level.

I wanted to lie in bed and contemplate the fact that werewolves were real, but I had a bakery to run. After allowing myself ten minutes to come to terms with my new reality, I got up and started my morning routine.

And if I did spend what spare time I had looking up more things online…

Well, that was my business. Maybe also the business of my printer since I had to spend twenty minutes unjamming it after trying to print out an article about a millennia-long conflict between ancient witch covens and fairy conclaves.

There was a surprising amount of information to be had, but half of it directly conflicted with the other half, and a truly incalculable percentage seemed convinced that the government was involved in the cover-up of magical beings as some sort of psy-op.

I was sure that wasn’t the case. Cas didn’t really seem like a government man, but what did I know?

I’d just found out that werewolves existed.

Unless… unless he was just freaked out because I’d suggested he was some sort of animal. Maybe he just had a deep and abiding fear of furries, and I’d triggered him. Stranger things had happened.

Like sleeping with a probable werewolf and not being that concerned about it.

I knew I should have been a lot more worried about our intermingling, but I wasn’t.

I couldn’t really explain why, but something inside me refused to believe Cas would purposefully hurt me.

If there were negative consequences to our coupling, I fully believed he wouldn’t have let it happen.

He didn’t seem like the type who would let harm come to anyone just so he could get his rocks off—at least not without consent.

My mind immediately supplied a thought of his teeth sinking into my skin at very specific places, or his claws nicking me as he held me tightly, and I was entirely onboard.

Which was kind of surprising. I’d never thought BDSM was my thing, but maybe I had a tiny streak of masochism in me, because thinking of Cas being a little rough had blood rushing to my cheeks and my underwear growing damp.

Not the right time, girl, I chided as I piped raspberry frosting between layers of the mini-cake. It was more of a summery flavor, but I figured the promise of warmth would be perfect if an adventurous customer came in.

“Focus, Felicia.”

I did. For a time, at least. But whenever I had a few minutes to myself, I was looking at my phone for more articles and message boards.

As confusing as it all was, by the time closing rolled around, I had come to a concrete conclusion: werewolves were not evil by nature. They were just like humans in the fact that there were lovely ones, horrible ones, and plenty of neutral ones.

I was certain of where the McCallisters fit.

Even with the full force of my creative imagination, I couldn’t imagine Penny or Polly being evil, bloodthirsty creatures who ripped innocent people limb from limb. Nor could I imagine the pile of young wolves I’d cuddled with hunting down a human.

No, if they were werewolves, they were lovely ones.

The real question was… did I even care?

I didn’t think so.

So what if they were mythical creatures? What did it matter? In fact, it was actually pretty cool. Other than wondering about the complications of being a shapeshifter in the modern age, the whole thing seemed pretty irrelevant to me.

I suppose I had my answer then. The guy I was interested in was likely a cryptid that had inspired many movies, stories, and scary stories. So what?

“That’s it then,” I said. Perhaps I’d come to my conclusion a little fast, but when I knew something, I just knew it.

There was enough self-doubt in the world.

“But now what?” Did I wait for him to calm down and realize I wasn’t an enemy?

I didn’t know anything about the magical world, really, but it was probably a big no-no that I’d puzzled things out.

I went to my side door and peeked out the window that overlooked my narrow driveway. His car was still there. His keys were probably still on the floor in my bedroom, along with his belt. Would it be crazy if I returned his vehicle to him? Or just polite?

Eh, who cared? It wasn’t like my mother taught me how to broach the topic of apologizing for pre-emptively figuring out my date was a werewolf.

I couldn’t help wondering what she would think of the entire situation.

I could almost hear her voice in my ear, a bit incredulous but also with a hint of pride.

Trust my little sayang to have no human meet her standards. Good for you, hati . Just be careful!

I let that hang in my mind, not wanting to dismiss the image of her—the corner of her eyes only just beginning to wrinkle, the hair at her temples only slightly tinged with gray. She never even had time to get old.

God, I missed her.

But if she were present, she would tell me to be brave, to pursue everything I wanted, and not let fear dictate my actions.

So it looked like I was going on a drive.

I went up to my room first, and after about ten minutes of hunting, I found his keys tangled up in my lacy underwear.

How those two had ended up remotely near each other was beyond me, but I was glad they were there.

Otherwise, I would have had to stake out his car and wait for him to return.

And who knew when that would be? Despite the complicated recipes I occasionally pulled off, patience wasn’t really my strong suit.

Ignoring the somewhat gray area of driving another person’s car without permission, I went out the front door and hopped into it. Naturally, I had to move the seat pretty far up and adjust the rearview mirror, but I figured it was a small price to pay for a custom car delivery service.

Granted, I was kind of forcing Cas into driving me back, otherwise I’d have a very long walk or a really awkward wait for what could be the most expensive Uber of my life in store for me.

Yeah, I was definitely gambling on a good outcome, but I figured it was worth it. There was something about Cas that I just wasn’t willing to give up on, moonlight proclivities or not.

However, I wasn’t a total moron, so I took the two silver necklaces and one bracelet I owned and put them in my pocket. I didn’t think I’d need them, but better safe than sorry.

After punching his address into my phone’s map app, I drove off.

Normally, I liked to jam out to music while I drove, but I chose silence now. My mind was far too loud for music. Every two minutes or so, another way everything could unfold popped into my mind. Some of them quite positive, some of them terrible, and some downright catastrophic.

With so much going on in my brain, the drive passed quickly, and before I knew it, I was turning onto the same dirt road my journey had started on. And then I was driving past the party area. And then down a long drive toward several houses that I’d only spotted vaguely at the reunion.

Oh boy.

I’d forgotten that I had no idea which house was Cas’s. Hell, I had no idea where he would even be on the massive property. I supposed I could call him, but I had a feeling that he wouldn’t answer.

So, what to do?

My answer came when I spotted Cas and another man standing a bit down the road, openly staring in my direction. Well, it looked like I had definitely been spotted, but honestly, I was relieved. Especially since I was pretty sure that the other man was Arietty’s owner, the large dog, who?—

Wait.

Wait a minute.

That dog was probably a werewolf. Wild. I would have to recontextualize pretty much everything since I’d met the McCallisters.

Oh well. That could wait. Right now, I had a certain handsome man—or werewolf—to talk to.

Nerves bubbled in my stomach. I parked the car and got out, trying to keep my body language casual. Really difficult considering the entire situation.

At least Cas didn’t run off. After he’d torn out of my house before I could do so much as blink, I knew I’d never be able to keep up. Instead, he started walking toward me.

Hopefully, that was a good thing.