Page 37 of The Alpha and the Baker

“Feel free to help yourself,” Siobhan continued to Felicia as we settled. “Trust me, you won’t be able to keep up with our appetites, so you can stuff yourself silly and not so much as put a dent in things.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Oh please, you know our secret. Call me Auntie Siobhan.”

“Thank you then, Auntie Siobhan.”

“Isn’t that so cute when you say it?” The corners of the older woman’s eyes crinkled. “You don’t have much of a city accent, but when it comes out, it’s quite sweet, isn’t it, Valerie?”

“I’d say it is. Much better than that man at the car dealership who tried to upcharge me for having a uterus. I told him I’ve been drivin’ my husband for four decades and didn’t appreciate him treatin’ me like some sort of Sunday driver just cause I’m an old biddy now.”

“You’re not old,” Felicia objected as she took the plate handed to her.

Valerie just smiled. “I’ll have you know I’m ninety-seven years old. If I ain’t old, I don’t wanna know what is.”

“Ninety-seven?” Felicia echoed.

I hadn’t really gotten the chance to explain that shifters aged slowly. Yet another reason why wolf-human relationships tended not to work.

Felicia recovered less than a beat later. “Well, I don’t think you look a day over seventy!”

Valerie and the older women all laughed at that, and Felicia’s nerves faded. Good. I wanted her to have a good time, and I couldn’t just wave my hand and make everything go smoothly for her.

Thankfully, it seemed a good time was exactly what was had, with laughter, good food, and plenty of exaggerated storytelling.

I didn’t burst any of the elders’ bubbles by calling them on it.

That was supposed to be one of the perks of getting old, right?

Getting to spin wild yarns that were perhaps a hair or two more epic than reality.

And it wasn’t like Felicia didn’t give in turn.

Between a truly nightmarish tale about a graduation party from hell, as well as her first fraudulent-refund Karen, there were multiple times she had folks around her eating out of the palm of her hand.

It was impressive, honestly, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d have assumed she’d always been a part of the pack.

Maybe because she was meant to be.

Another thought to purposefully not concentrate on. I tucked it away, although it was difficult not to at least give it a little thought on its journey to the dark, dusty closet in the back of my mind where I put things I didn’t want to deal with.

At least I knew Felicia was definitely having a good time because once the meal wrapped up, I gave her at least two opportunities for us to duck out, but both times she declined with literally zero hesitancy.

The first time, she returned to the animated conversation with Jason, David, and Valerie.

The second time, after we’d moved to the living room, she’d delighted in the four teens who were in some sort of competition to show her how long they could grow their teeth without shifting.

Yeah, I hadn’t exactly gotten the notification that being a baker was cool now, but it definitely seemed so with how the teens crowded around Felicia. Or maybe that was just her. Granted, I figured a lot of the little ones were just enjoying getting to showboat in front of a non-shifter.

“Wanna see how high I can jump?”

“Whoa, whoa there now,” I cut in quickly. “Why don’t we wait for a nice sunny day to do that? I don’t think Auntie Siobhan would take too kindly to any of us breaking her fine china.”

A collective groan rippled through the kids, but no one tried to do any sneak-jumping behind my back, so I took it as a win.

Eventually, Felicia’s eyelids fluttered a little, and her head started doing that sleepy bob. I checked my phone for the time. Nearly ten p.m.! No wonder she was nodding off.

“I think we’re going to have to call this a night,” I said to the small group we were sitting with. We’d made it all the way to the kitchen in Valerie’s attempt to make Felicia a plate for the next day but hadn’t progressed much farther than that.

“But it’s so early!”

“Not when you’re a baker,” Felicia answered with a sleepy smile. “It’s actually an hour past my bedtime.”

“What? You’re kidding!”

“Afraid not. But you know, there are pros and cons. I get to be done with work by two p.m., so that’s pretty cool.”

“I suppose there are indeed trade-offs. All right, let me finish this plate for you and send you on your way. Thanks again for coming to dinner.”

“Please extend my deepest thanks to Auntie Siobhan for inviting me. I had so much fun.”

“She’ll be pleased as punch to hear that. Don’t be a stranger now. We don’t have many humans in our inner circle, but it’s safe to say you’re a pretty big hit here.”

That was putting it mildly. Felicia and my family got along like a house on fire. And I wasn’t complaining about it. No, if anything, it made me glow with pride.

Felicia sniffled slightly. Horror racked me as I smelled the telltale scent of tears coming from her. She took the heaping plate that would have overflowed if it weren’t for the foil covering it.

“Thank you so much,” she murmured.

Not for the first time, I was blown away by just how much Felicia was able to feel and express so easily. Sometimes I felt like I was so locked within the confines of my position and my own anxiety that I couldn’t emote outside of my own skin. But Felicia? She was as real as they came.

Maybe that was why she got along so well with us.

I wasn’t leading a pack of warriors, and I was sure some would consider our life boring, but I was so incredibly lucky to be surrounded by kind and welcoming souls.

I would much rather worry about preteens shifting a bit too early, and possibly being set up on dates by those preteens than territory disputes or a coup to wipe out our entire pack.

Some alphas longed for the blood and bone of battle, but not me. All I wanted was for my people to be happy. And as for Felicia? Well, she was very rapidly becoming what me and my wolf considered our people.

“You handled that well,” I murmured as we walked out into the night. If anyone cared to listen they would be able to hear us, but the conversation was still going strong inside.

“It was fun,” Felicia answered. “Your family really knows how to throw down, culinary-wise.”

“We try,” I answered with a chuckle. “It used to be only certain members of our pack were gifted in the kitchen, but the newer generation seems much more hands-on.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you as culinary-inclined as some of your members?”

“It’s safe to say that’s a solid no,” I admitted, more than a little embarrassed about it.

Felicia was an incredible baker, so me not having any amazing skills felt like some sort of character flaw .

“Don’t get me wrong, I know my basics and I can get by, but no one is lining up in my kitchen for a second serving of anything. ”

“Maybe I could give you a cooking lesson sometime,” she said, her tone sliding all the way back to flirtatious. I would be lying if I didn’t admit my heartrate ticked up. Could it be, after all the missteps, that she was still interested in me?

“Oh, yeah?” I countered. I swore I had something more clever to say, but then her fingers were intertwining with mine.

So simple. Just palms touching palms. And yet it felt so much more intense than that.

Her heartbeat thudded steadily against my hand, reminding me we were both very much alive.

And even if she was a human, even if I was a wolf, we both had hearts that pumped blood throughout our bodies, kept us warm, and thundered in our chests—as mine was doing now.

It was hard to believe Felicia could be real. Yet when I looked beside me, she was there, real and beaming at me like I was something— someone —special. She didn’t look at me like I was a new alpha struggling to do right by his people. She looked at me outside my role, outside my wolf.

And I really fucking liked it.

We walked on in silence, but a question hung heavy in the air between us. She was pushing a query my way. A simple question asked with our interlocked digits.

I could only let my anxiety dictate my life for so long, so I gently squeezed her hand once, twice, thrice. A simple code that needed no translation. Despite all the emotional turmoil since I’d bolted out of her apartment, peace radiated through me.

“So, this means we’re dating now, right?” she asked when we reached my car, and I opened the passenger side door for her. Something about the earnest, hopeful way she said that startled a laugh out of me.

“If you’ll have me.”

“I didn’t drive your car to you like a personal chauffeur to just kick you out on the curb,” she said, grinning up at me.

I had no idea what I had done to have her gaze up at me like that, but by God, I was quickly resolving that I would keep on earning it.

Even if it was something I never expected to have to do.

“I’m glad to hear that. But how about I take you home, sleepy girl?”

“I’d like that,” she murmured. “But…”

“But?”

“Do you have to come right back home?”

I paused, genuinely surprised, then my mind began to rapidly play back our last time in bed together.

“I suppose I could stick around for a while.”

“Good,” she said, looking far too pleased with herself as she settled into the seat. My mileage was definitely ticking upward way faster than usual, but I wasn’t going to complain. “Let’s go home then.”

“Yes, let’s.”