Page 49 of The Alpha and the Baker

“It’s hard to say. Maybe take some of our land. Maybe conscript some of our members into their personal guard. Banish me. Whatever they want to do, really. They’re not exactly pleased my father took over and that things have been going so smoothly for a while, so I don’t expect them to be lenient.”

My hands curled into fists at my side, and I started to tremble. I didn’t lose my temper that often, but when I did, it made me feel like crying and punching something.

“That’s not fair! Cas! How could you not tell me how important this was!”

“Because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on you.

I knew it would upset you.” He stood, turning me to face him.

“Felicia, I know how big your heart is. And I’m sorry for keeping this from you, but I promise, down to the bottom of my heart, that I truly believe in you.

I have zero doubts that you will not only win this thing, but you’ll decimate the competition. ”

That softened my worries, but only by a bit. My mind was racing like it was trying to encode everything I’d just learned and figure out a way to solve it in five minutes flat. Definitely not possible, but that was my probably undiagnosed ADHD talking.

“Oh, I nearly forgot,” Cas said, straightening suddenly and reaching for his pocket. “Gammy McCallister wanted me to give this to you.”

Now, it was my turn to be surprised. “Gammy McCallister said something about me?” We’d had a great time together, and I owed her for being the one to accidentally get me to stay at the reunion, but I’d figured she’d forgotten about me.

After all, she was old for a shifter, and her memory wasn’t exactly the best.

“Of course. She’s mentioned you at least a couple of times. She says it’s not fair that Auntie Siobhan got to have you all to herself at dinner and wants you to visit again. I figured maybe we could do something right after the bake-off. I know my mother would love to host you in her home.”

“She does know there were like twenty people at that dinner, right?”

“She does. In our pack, that’s a calm night.” He grinned before finally pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket. “This is for you, from her.”

I took it delicately. It was wrapped around something. Abruptly, all my feelings of anger, injustice, and frustration shifted into something much more positive.

“She really got this for me?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Sweetheart, it’s because you’re a lovely person and she likes you. I wasn’t kidding when I said you’re a part of the pack. And in packs, it’s normal for elders to give gifts to family members.

Elders. Pack. Family.

His words echoed around my head. I’d known I was welcome on the McCallister lands, but it was another thing entirely to hold physical proof of that in my hands. Cas had told me plenty of times that I wasn’t alone anymore, that I was a part of his family, but it seemed so much more real now.

“Are you going to open it?” Cas asked softly, gently squeezing my arms to ground me.

“Yeah, I am. Just… savoring the moment, I suppose.”

“You take as long as you need.”

I slowly untied the paisley kerchief. Practically holding my breath, I pulled a necklace from the soft fabric.

“Oh, Cas, it’s beautiful .”

It wasn’t anything fancy. No jewels or diamonds, but that didn’t matter one iota. It was made out of dark green beads with little silver flower spacers between them. At its center was a river stone that had been polished to a bright shine and was engraved with special runes

“It’s for protection,” Cas said softly.

“Oh, is Gammy McCallister a witch?”

He chuckled. “No, nothing like that. But you don’t get to be an elder without picking up some old traditions, and this is one of them. She said her uncle Davis made her one when she was a little girl, so she wanted to pass the tradition onto you.”

“Me?” I echoed, my fingers tracing the tiny, rather delicate symbols. “And she made this?”

“Well, she had help from some of the kids. Jason has a knack for the tiny knots needed for the beads. Apparently, it’s made in a way so that if the string breaks, all the beads won’t all just fall off the cord.”

“Oh my gosh, I love it,” I said, handing it to him and turning around. Cas brushed my hair away from my neck and fastened the necklace. I rested my hand on the smooth stone. “I have to see what it looks like on me,” I said quickly before running to my bathroom upstairs.

I was a little out of breath when I got to my bathroom, but it was worth it to see the necklace in flattering lighting. It was slightly longer than most of what I would wear, resting just below my décolletage, and yet it felt right. Like it was exactly where it needed to be.

“Cas, it’s beautiful!” I called down after realizing my love wasn’t beside me. For some reason, I’d expected him to follow me. Silly of me. I hadn’t communicated that. “Come see.”

“Uh… just a minute,” he called back. Something about his tone instantly aroused my suspicions. Why did he sound like he was trying to be sneaky?

Necklace momentarily forgotten, I hurried back down the stairs. I wasn’t quite sure what could be going on, but considering the week I was having, I figured it could be anything from the Brouchard pack coming back from the dead after centuries or Santa Claus himself.

But no, it wasn’t zombie werewolves or a cultural figure. Instead, it was the delivery service.

I frowned. “Why is that here on a Monday after work?” Maybe it wouldn’t throw most people through a loop, but running a bakery left me with a very particular schedule. I wasn’t used to things happening out of sync.

Shit, had I somehow put in a double order? While I was doing a lot better financially, having that much go to waste would be a good way to ruin that.

“I don’t know,” Cas said in such a completely fake innocent tone that I instantly knew this had something to do with him.

I narrowed my eyes. “What did you do?”

“Nothing crazy. It’s the supplies you’d need for the bake-off. I figured it wasn’t fair for you to pay for it all.”

Further narrowing of my eyes. “Those supplies wouldn’t need an entire truck . ”

“Yeah, well, while I was at it, I also might have ordered your coming week’s supply list.”

I couldn’t believe it. I was utterly speechless. Every time I thought Cas was as kind and thoughtful as he could possibly be, he went and topped himself all over again.

“How did you even know what I would need?” I asked incredulously.

For some reason he seemed even more sheepish at his answer, which was weird since he was pretty much the ultimate Prince Charming.

“I, uh, took photos of all your ingredient lists, then wrote down what was low while I was cleaning. Oh! And I took this.” Crossing over to the bag he’d left on the counter, he pulled out my notebook. “Hope I didn’t cause any issues.”

“So that’s where that went,” I said, hastily taking it. “I thought I lost it.”

“Sorry about that, a necessary deception.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” I said, hugging him with my free arm. “Babe, this is incredible. You didn’t have to do any of this.”

He kissed the top of my head, and I nearly melted right there and then. “Like I said, pack watches out for pack.”

“And I’m pack now.” I tried to say it without any question, with all the confidence I could muster. It was still so new to me.

“As long as you want to be,” Cas said before kissing me. I clung to him, half-afraid everything would vanish in a flash. I wasn’t used to things going so well or easily in my life. It felt like a trick was waiting right around the corner.

Actually, maybe that was the fairies.

A knock on the door had us separating, and just in time because I’d actually managed to forget about the delivery within seconds of kissing Cas. There was something about the tenderness of his embrace and the way his lips moved against mine that never failed to capture all my attention.

“We should probably get that,” I said with a laugh, disentangling myself from the man.

“Yeah,” he said, grin crooked and a heat to his eyes that told me we’d likely be having another late night. “We probably should.”