Page 60 of The Alpha and the Baker

Then, one by one, the fairies began to bring their own creations to the table as well.

Of course, they didn’t carry them like me, the plebeian mortal.

No, they moved their hands, and their incredible creations floated in the air in front of them like the magical things that they were.

It was very clear that this bake-off had never been a fair fight, which was no doubt why the fairies had all agreed to it.

“That’s what you made?” the fairy with the slicked-back hair asked when he set his massive cake beside me.

“It is,” I answered simply. He could look down on my cupcakes all he wanted. Even if he thought they were not worth his time, he still had to try them no matter what. After all, the contestants were the judges.

Once everyone was assembled, I cleared my throat and clapped my hands. “All right, it’s time for the tasting! Let’s all start with me, contestant one, then we’ll go down the line.”

“I’m not entirely convinced you didn’t orchestrate this so you could eat your fill of fairy delicacies, the likes of which most humans will never even comprehend,” a different fairy said to me, the one who had blown sugar like glass.

That actually did startle a short laugh out of me, which I didn’t expect. Was there such a thing as friendly fairies? Because so far they just seemed like soulless lawyer types.

“It would be one hell of a last meal, wouldn’t it?” I shot back, and that seemed to surprise the fae just as much as she’d surprised me. Maybe they would do well from interacting with people just to be social rather than always trying to trick others into giving up more than they should.

One problem at a time, Felicia. For now, I was focusing on the packs’ problems, not the deep-seated issues of the fairies, who could probably conjure the most magnificently beautiful or the most comfortable clothes in existence yet still chose to wear suits.

There wasn’t much more banter before everyone was crowded at my station, and each of us took a cupcake. I’d made a baker’s dozen, which was the exact amount we needed. For some reason, it felt right to me. Like everything was meant to be.

“Bon appetit,” I said before taking a big ol’ bite of mine.

Just as I hoped, the flavor was rich as it hit my tongue, with the slightest bitterness of the cocoa powder used to balance out the cream cheese frosting.

It was just warm enough to be slightly gooey, and yet the frosting was solidly on there with no drips down the side or sliding off in a melted heap.

Oh yeah, they were definitely the best cupcakes I had ever made. And what a time to do it.

I watched the fairies’ faces as they all took a bite, and I reveled in the shock I saw there. They really hadn’t been expecting that, had they? Well, good. Maybe they would realize that their hubris was likely to come before a fall.

And maybe pigs would fly.

But hey, fairies had the magic to do that, so maybe that was even more likely.

“You are talented,” their ringleader said. “But surely you don’t think this can hold up to our creations?”

I shrugged and took another bite. “You should finish it before you pass judgement. Besides, we still have to taste all of yours as well.”

“Indeed, we do.”

“I believe mine is next,” the woman with the phone-scroll thing said primly.

And so began the most magical meal of my entire life.

I supposed “meal” wasn’t the right word for it considering it was all dessert, but they were truly the most magnificent, ethereal, and amazing things I had ever put in my mouth.

The taste? Delicious. Actually, delicious wasn’t even enough to describe it.

Each dish was somehow the most incredible thing I’d ever eaten, and I knew that I was going to have to wait several months before being able to enjoy my mortal baked goods ever again.

Oh well, my blood sugar would probably thank me.

One by one, I was treated to flavors and textures that I knew I’d never have again. Citrusy, sweet, rich, fresh, light, comforting. I went through the entire gambit.

And unlike the other judges, I didn’t limit myself to one bite, and neither did the fairies. It seemed like their appetite for power and money were second only to their appetite for sweets. No wonder they were so good at making them if they liked them so much.

All in all, it took nearly an hour for us to taste all the creations, and yet I wasn’t tired at all.

We finished the last bite from the most opulent entry—the crystal fondue fountain that wasn’t fondue at all, but rather an incredible fruit syrup that shifted from a berry, to a citrus, to a more herbaceous blend depending on which baked good it fell onto.

How that was possible most certainly had to be magic, but hey, I wasn’t complaining about the experience.

“It looks like it’s time to judge,” one of the fairies said, clearing his throat slightly. No doubt from all the sugar that was coating it. “And as per the contract, only one of us needs to win in order for you to lose.”

His eyes landed on me for that last part, and I knew he wanted me to cry, to beg, but I just sent him a serene smile.

“I remember the terms,” I said simply. I could be wrong, but I’d gotten the feeling that one of the reasons the fairies acted like they did was because they loved the drama.

From the phone-contract to rolling up in a convoy like the Secret Service, all their actions were flashy and meant to intimidate the shifters.

Maybe that’s why they were so heavy-handed. They couldn’t do it to humans because it was too dangerous for a crowd to witness anything, but shifters? Who were they gonna tell?

“So it’s a death wish, then?” the cellphone woman asked.

I gave her the same placid smile. “I don’t follow?”

“You’re standing there so calmly amongst the beauty we’ve created, and you’ve clearly lost! You are going to lose your name, all of your history and that of your family, but you look as if you couldn’t be fucked!”

Oh, I’d gotten a swear out of them? It seemed that I really had gotten under their skin.

“You think I’m going to lose?” I asked.

“Of course you’re going to lose! You brought cupcakes—simple, stupid cupcakes —to a bake-off against fairies. ”

I took a deep breath, thinking it was funny that my calm was pissing off the woman when my heart was pounding so hard I wanted to throw up. But I reminded myself I needed to stay cool and take as much time as I could.

“If I have lost, I have already lost—there’s nothing in this moment I could say to change that,” I said slowly, carefully. “But I need to remind you, we haven’t made our final judgment yet, so until then, I have just as much a chance to win as any of you. We all promised to be unbiased, yes?”

“You—” she cut herself off with a sharp cough, and it was hard for me not to smirk. Oh yeah. I definitely had gotten under their skin. Good. “Fine! If no one has any objections, we should give our final judgments.”

“Agreed.”

There was a chorus of concurring answers in the fairy group, interspersed with throat clearing or a couple of them drinking from flasks they pulled out of appearing and disappearing pockets, until finally all were staring at me.

“All right then,” I murmured, the weight of everything threatening to crush down on me. But I thought of Cas, and his sense of purpose. I thought of Gammy McCallister and the necklace of hers I was wearing right now. I thought of Abuelita Ramirez and the protection pouch.

And I thought of my mother. Her gentle smile. The way she would always tell me how proud of me she was. Her laugh. Her smile. Everything.

Despite everything, I knew deep in my heart that no matter what the fairies did, I would never lose that.

“Let’s start the final judgment,” I said with a finality that felt like a shockwave.

It seemed that it was time for me to lose.