Page 43 of The Alpha and the Baker

My mind drifted as I strolled through the covered pavilion that held the most coveted spots.

The stall that sold the dates was toward the back.

I went from thinking about getting Chris something thoughtful, just to show him how much I appreciated him, to wondering if our pack budget had enough extra money in it for me to send flowers to every mother once Mother’s Day rolled around.

I’d been single for so long that I was quite out of touch with the going-rate for a bouquet.

My mother had never really been one for flowers since she grew them in her garden, so I usually made donations to local pet shelters in her name, then took her out to dinner where she could look through a little booklet of all the animals the money had helped.

I was so lost in my thoughts, idly navigating around other shoppers, that I didn’t notice two people were deliberately standing in my way until I was practically punched in the face by their scent.

The Ramirez Pack.

I shook off my hazy, daydream state to see a couple of large, muscled shifters standing about two feet in front of me, their arms crossed and forcing everyone else to go around them.

Shit, it was their day at the market.

Irritation rose in me. Sure, I had been lenient when I’d run into them here on our day because of their little girl, but I had no guarantee that they would do the same for me. I was putting my pack in quite a precarious position if they chose to report us to the fairies.

Maybe I was wrong, but I had a strange feeling that the fairies had been keeping a sharper eye on my pack ever since my father took over and they stopped winning our land from Alpha Barris.

It was infinitely weird to me. If the fairies wanted our land, they were powerful and connected enough to simply take it.

Then again, their tricky contracts were a double-edged sword.

The magic that made them so insanely binding affected the fairies just as much as it affected shifters.

At least if one learned to play by their rules, it was easier to stay out of trouble.

“What are you doing here?” one asked, irritation heavy in each syllable.

I supposed it had been too much to wish they would extend the same kindness and politeness I’d given them, but it was easy for me to take the high ground—so to speak—when my family was living on land that had been stolen from them ages ago.

Sometimes, I wondered if we should give it back, but that would be to the detriment of my pack.

We deserved a place to live too, and it wasn’t like we could just go live somewhere else.

No, our contract with the fairies meant we were stuck where we were if we wanted protection from modern technology.

As much as I like to think that we were independent folk, we needed that protection.

“Apologies,” I said, allowing the slightest bit of alpha tone in my voice. Not enough to intimidate, but enough to let them know I was being serious. “I got my days mixed up. I only need a couple of pounds of dates—I’ll get in and out of your hair in just a minute.”

“Ain’t that just like a gringo,” the other groused, and the hatred in his tone matched that in his eyes. “Ain’t enough that you guys are always given the center of the meat, you gotta come gobble up every little thing that isn’t yours, too.”

“Look, it was an honest mistake,” I said, keeping my tone flat. Not exactly easy to do since my wolf was beginning to bristle. He didn’t care that the Ramirezes were in the right, and that I was breaking the rules by being here.

Part of me wished we could just duke it out.

That if we could fight like in the old day, we could put tension between our two packs to rest and move forward.

But the fairies discouraged physical fighting between us.

And fighting in view of humans was a good way to be banished entirely.

Then, my whole pack would be scattered in the wind.

I had never witnessed it myself, but I’d heard horror stories of fairies cursing contract-breakers.

Some stories said the contract-breakers could never speak to another pack member again, others said they were blinded to members of their own pack, and others said they would burst into flame if they ever tried to touch another shifter.

That was magic I didn’t want to mess with, and I was sure the Ramirezes wouldn’t want that either

Then again, perhaps the best way for them to get their land back was by getting me and my pack in trouble. Had I just unknowingly gotten my people in hot water?

Again ?

“You texted?”

I looked a bit past them to see a semi-familiar man emerge from behind a crowded booth that looked to be selling all sorts of minty plant starts. I recognized him as none other than Salvador Ramirez, the alpha of the rival pack.

He was younger than me by a couple of years, and had only recently taken over as alpha after his older brother was sent off to Mexico for repeatedly getting in trouble with the fairies.

Naturally, he had something to prove. I understood the feeling, but I wished it wasn’t currently directed in my direction.

“Eh, what are you doing here?” he said, and to his credit, his expression was much more neutral than his two friends’. “It’s not your day.”

“I realize that now, and I apologize. I got a bit mixed up on when it was. I swear, I just want a couple of pounds of dates for a friend, then I’ll be on my way.”

Was I stupid to keep arguing about the dates? Perhaps. But they’d already seen me, so turning around and walking away empty-handed wouldn’t do me any good.

“You know, I’m sure the fairies would love to hear about you shirking their rules. Last I heard, they ain’t too happy since your papi took over, yeah?” And there it was. The one threat I was hoping to avoid.

My first instinct was to snarl. The man was threatening everyone I knew and loved because of an accidental foible?

It was only my dedication to protecting them that kept me even-keeled.

I couldn’t afford to fly off the handle.

That was something Barris would have done, and likely would have lost us even more land.

It wouldn’t benefit the Ramirezes because the fairies would keep it rather than returning it to its original owners.

“I think you’re probably right about that,” I answered as calmly as I could, keeping my alpha rumble in check. “But I ask that you do me the favor and don’t.”

“And what possible reason would I have to grant you any sort of favor? Your people’s foot have been on our necks ever since you colonists came to this land. If it weren’t for our Mexican ancestors coming up here, y’all would have wiped all of us Natives out.”

He was right, in a way, but it was so incredibly frustrating that I couldn’t do anything about it.

I wasn’t one of the people who had persecuted and hunted down his forefathers, but I was directly related to them.

I’d benefited from their evil. It wasn’t like I could give up the land.

The fairy contract had bound it to my pack’s blood.

We took care of it and lived by their rules, paying them in physical protection and wolf soldiers when they needed them, and they used their magic to protect us from humanity.

It went beyond just the McCallister pack being homeless.

If we gave up the contract, then we’d be eradicated .

Even if the humans didn’t find out about us, the fairies would have to wipe us out as threats of exposure.

That was how they kept their power. No one was willing to go against them because the magical isolation meant certain death.

“Because I offered the same grace to you,” I answered calmly.

Sal narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Just last week, little Daniella had a school event that brought her here. Selling cookies, I believe. Naturally, she wasn’t here alone, but I let your pack members be. Even though they were in violation of the same rule I am right now.”

Sal’s face went carefully blank while one of the two in front of me puffed up his chest. “Bullshit! He’s lying.”

“Ask your packmates.” I willed my scent to remain neutral. Difficult to do when all my instincts were screaming at me to rip out their throats.

God, why did everything have to be so complicated?

I’d just wanted to pick up some dates for the woman I was dating, and somehow, I’d ended up in a diplomatic incident.

I couldn’t help but think that maybe things would be better without the strict fairy oversight, but then again, that would leave us on our own with the humans.

“I’m gonna make some calls,” Sal said after a beat. “Go get your dates. But don’t leave. You won’t like it if you try to split before we resolve this. Alpha to alpha.”

Was he about to challenge me? Although I’d prefer to avoid a fight, a not-so-small part of me wanted to bury my teeth in Salvador’s shoulder and shake. Not enough to kill him, no, but enough to hurt him real bad. To make him submit to me, the stronger, mightier?—

I cut off that line of thinking. I had no problem throwing down when the occasion called for it, but this wasn’t it.

“Thanks. I’m parked all the way in the back lot if you want to discuss things there. Away from prying eyes.”

“ Si. Too many humans around here anyway.”

I refrained from remarking that, of course, there were tons of humans in a human city at a human market, but the temptation was there. Nodding to the trio, I walked around them to the date stall. Naturally, one of them tried to shoulder-check me as I passed, but that didn’t work out well for him.

I wasn’t some sort of juggernaut among alphas, but I was strong, and he bounced off me slightly. It was actually a valid excuse by wolf laws to fight him, but I simply tipped my head to him.

“Apologies,” I said with just enough alpha tone to be a warning.