Page 53 of The Alpha and the Baker

She turned to me, and her eyebrows nearly rose to her hairline when she spotted me.

“You know what I’m talking about, young man?

” she murmured, and I was glad she didn’t go for my throat on sight and make a scene.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have interfered, but how could I leave her on her own with a staff member who already seemed far too overwhelmed by the festivities of the day?

“I do.” I offered her my arm. “I’m happy to show you.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she took my arm. “By all means, lead the way.”

In truth, I had no clue where the water stations were, but Chris had brought a cooler full of ice, water, and electrolyte drinks in case the spring warmth turned into early summer heat.

Loading her up with a couple of portable ways to refresh herself was better than making her stand in line for lukewarm water.

“I know who you are,” the woman said as we walked back over to the kitchenette area. That didn’t surprise me. I was the alpha of their rival pack, after all.

“I figured as much,” I answered simply. I figured it didn’t matter one way or the other.

“I have to say, you’re less of a bumpkin than I expected.”

“Uh, thank you?”

She tilted her head back and laughed as we approached the cooler. I grabbed her a few bottles to tide her over for at least a couple of hours. Downside of having an insane metabolism was that it required a little extra attention when it came to hydration, especially for the elderly.

“That lovely lady you’re dating is something special,” she said out of nowhere as I walked her back toward the bleachers. And while I couldn’t help but agree, I was kind of surprised to hear her say that.

“You met her?”

“Yes, at my great-niece’s quinceanera. It was a beautiful event. You should have seen it. Except, I’m sure some of los jovenes would have torn you limb from limb for daring to appear on our lands.”

That sounded about right. “But you wouldn’t mind that I was there?” I countered with a wink. I didn’t know where I got the gall. The Ramirez pack took elder respect very seriously, but maybe it was the over-the-top, ostentatious yet also poised comportment of the granny on my arm.

“Now I never said that. Your people have put an awful taste in my mouth, I’ll have you know. Your daddy did a lot to calm things down, there isn’t any denying that, but the way I see it, none of ya have ever repaid the debt you’ve incurred.”

She had a point, the same one that I’d already thought to myself. “How do you think we should pay that back?”

“You expect a little old lady to know?” she quipped back in a way that told me that she was far from just a little old lady.

“I’ve always been told to respect the wisdom of my elders.”

“ Your elders. Not ours.”

“You don’t think that you have wisdom to impart to us—what did you call us? Bumpkins?”

“I suppose I did say that, didn’t I?”

By then we’d reached the bleachers, where a group of Ramirez shifters were already sitting. Their heads snapped sharply in my direction, and a couple instantly sprang to their feet.

“Oh, calm down,” the elder Ramirez said with a heavy sigh.

“Can’t a woman get an escort by our sworn enemy without any drama?

” She looked up at me with her slightly milky eyes and gave me a wink.

She must have been quite the troublemaker in her day.

“Actually, I love the drama. Makes me feel young again.”

“You’re only forty, how much younger could you possibly need to be.”

“Forty! Did y’all hear this? Now I know how you got that sweetie on your arm.” I helped her into her seat and handed her the water bottles I’d tucked under my arm. “But in all seriousness, thank you dear. I’ll make sure Sal knows how you treat his abuelita. ”

Wait. I had just escorted Sal’s grandmother?

“Speaking of which, where is my grandson? I haven’t seen him all morning.”

“He’s with the team, Abuelita Ramirez . ”

Yup, that confirmed it. Sal’s grandmother and I had just exchanged playful banter.

Seeing an opportunity to excuse myself, I did so quickly before I could further entangle myself. As I walked away, I couldn’t help but wonder if the interaction would be a good or a bad thing. I could see it going either way.

Just another thing to shove to the back of my mind for the moment.

I went back to work, or at least tried to. While Chris and I were walking back to his car to restock the coolers, I heard a sharp, familiar yelp. I whirled, recognizing the cry of pain from one of the young ones from our pack.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

So, that was a no from him. Generally, Chris and my senses were on par with each other, but he was a few steps ahead of me and preoccupied with finding his car, so perhaps he was too distracted to hear the soft but alarmed cry.

“I’m not sure,” I said, even though I was very sure it had been one of our kids. I didn’t want to sound the alarm unnecessarily, so I waved him ahead. “I’ll go check; you get those drinks and snacks.”

“Righty-o.”

With that handled, I hurried toward the sound. Sure enough, less than a minute later, I spotted one of our little ones, Bobby, sitting on the ground, the sharp tang of blood in the air.

He wasn’t alone.

No, kneeling next to him and applying a Band-Aid to the young boy’s scraped knee was none other than Sal. I could hear him murmuring soft assurances while Bobby chowed down on an empanada.

“You’re a brave boy, but even as a wolf you need to be careful, okay? You can’t just run around with all these strangers. You don’t have your wolf yet, so they could snatch you up just as easily as they do their own kind. Don’t you think that would make your mama sad?”

Bobby nodded dutifully, his mouth too full to speak, and judging from the pleasant aroma, I couldn’t blame him for stuffing his face.

“There you go. All patched up. Now, why don’t you finish that treat, then run back to your pack, okay? And this time look both ways when coming out from behind cars, okay? That way you won’t run into anybody else.”

“Can you tell ’im I’m sorry?” Bobby managed to get out after a couple more hearty chews.

“I’ll tell Keokuk, but I’m sure he’s already forgiven and forgotten.”

“Okie, thankies.”

“No problem, little one. And don’t forget to drink a lot of water today. Especially if you’re gonna be playing.”

“Okies!”

Sal stood, and I knew the moment he clocked my scent, because his eyes began to scan for me. I wasn’t trying to hide myself, so I tipped my head to him when his gaze landed on me.

“Thank you,” I said simply. I meant it. Funny how I’d never personally interacted with the other alpha before, and now we could communicate near wordlessly with just a glance.

I got the distinct feeling that Sal was a lot like me.

He was a young alpha who had stepped into a somewhat tenuous position and was only trying to do right by his people in a needlessly complicated situation where outside interference was the main issue. If anyone understood that, it was me.

“Ain’t no thing,” he said with a shrug before walking off.

But to me, it was a thing. A thing that left me feeling even more conflicted than before. Depending on how this bake-off went, I had a lot to think about.

As much as I would have loved to put it out of my mind, I found those thoughts popping up every so often as I continued to help with the prep.

There was a surprising amount to do considering that every step that could possibly have been completed beforehand had been done, but that seemed to be how baking worked.

I helped pull things out of the three mini-ovens in our kitchenette and set them on a cooling rack for either my mother, Aunt Letitia, or Felicia to check.

I watched them use a thermometer, toothpick, or butter knife to judge whether the stuff was cooked through.

It fascinated the hell out of me. I wished there was more time to ask and learn, but this was a competition.

My responsibilities went beyond the kitchen, of course. Chris and I corralled pack members and directed them to the bleachers, but a lot of them wanted to explore the market. I came here fairly often because I was one of the designated shoppers, but it was novel to a lot of my pack.

Huh.

Sometimes, it was easy to forget that beyond school and work, many of my extended community had almost no in-person interactions with humans.

And while humans could be a terrifying threat, they also had an incredible knack for pack-bonding with anything.

No wonder both packs had had practically adopted Felicia.

Granted, I would be entirely willing to chalk that up to how amazing she was, but I was biased. Extremely biased.

“Attention all, our annual community bake - off will be starting in just ten minutes! Come join a good cause and see members of our city compete with delicious fare. Extras from each round will be made available to all who buy a five - dollar taster’s ticket immediately after judging, and those proceeds will be donated to this year’s chosen charity, the Trevor Project!

Taster’s tickets and programs are available at the customer service booth. Remember, it’s first come, first serve!

“So it begins,” Chris said gravely beside me before cracking a grin.

I took a deep breath. I was much more tense about the entire situation. Soon, I would find out exactly how much trouble I was in, and it would all be borne on the back of a cupcake.

Technically there’s no cupcake round, I reminded myself, but it did little to cheer my mood.

There was a lot of hubbub and flurry of activity as everyone completed their final prep—pulling whatever was needed out of ovens, setting them to cool, and putting things that had cooled a little too much back in the oven. Felicia was putting the finishing touches on the first round.