Page 64 of The Alpha and the Baker

“Not at all,” I answered with a shake of my head. “We’d be happy to have you. All of you.”

“No matagot that I know of would turn down such delicious aromas,” he said happily, mood visibly lifted.

And I couldn’t help but think that this was what it was all about.

Those damn contracts and living in constant fear of violating some fairy rule or flying under their radar had stolen so much community from us.

It was going to take a whole lot of work, but I was eager to get it back and find out who we shifters could be without a bunch of legalese deciding our rate. “I park over there?”

“Sure do,” I answered, nodding at his pointed finger. “Food’s still cooking, but we’ve got some snacks out and plenty of drinks. Your kiddos would probably love the bounce house we got set up.”

“Bounce house?”

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

With that handled, Sal and I headed back to our tasks.

I wished I could say the day’s pace stayed as leisurely and sedate, but that was not the way of being an alpha.

I ended up being called over to help change out a propane tank, to solve an argument between two teens, both being my pack, and then three teens being split between our packs.

I also saw Sal carrying a kid to my mother’s house who was bawling with a bloody nose, and then carrying a wheelbarrow full of dirt to who-knew-where another time.

It made me chuckle, in a way, to know that even though we lived completely different lives with completely different packs, some things were just universal to being an alpha.

But it wasn’t all just slaving away. When it was time for food, I found Felicia again, and we sat down to quite the spread.

We had all the McCallister classics, but there was a truly incredible amount of dishes from the Ramirez pack as well.

That was how we ended up with meatloaf next to empanadas, deviled eggs next to tostadas, fresh sourdough next to yellow rice, and so on and so forth in delicious fashion.

“This is all because of you,” I said, leaning over to whisper to Felicia.

While we had been an official couple for about a month, I hadn’t told her that I’d taken to referring to her as my mate.

There was still a lot we had to discuss for that, including whether I would bite her or not.

If she ever indicated that she was ready, I would be down in an instant.

I knew without a single doubt that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful woman beside me.

“I suppose I had a pretty big hand in this being possible,” Felicia said cheekily.

She wasn’t one to waste time with false humility, but she never seemed all that eager to take too much credit for the truly incredible thing she had accomplished.

Part of me wondered if she didn’t even realize it.

She’d whirled into both of our packs’ lives, and in less than a month had completely revolutionized the trajectory of. .. Well, everything.

Out of nowhere, the tension between our packs had nothing to fuel it any longer.

My people were given a chance to finally make right for the things our ancestors had done long ago.

Things were far out of our hands, but we had still directly benefited from it.

And while reparation negotiations were still going on, the fairies did seem to be putting actual effort into it.

I couldn’t help but wonder if they were so on top of the ball because they feared Felicia, because they respected her, or because they were just that addicted to their own rules and contracts.

I liked to imagine the first two rather than the latter.

“Honestly, we should probably dedicate this whole party to you. Carry you around like we did at the bake-off.”

She flushed slightly, and even after all of our weeks together, I still loved to see it. Such an accomplished, fearless woman, and yet I could still make her blush so easily.

“With all due respect, my love, I think I would rather die.”

Her deadpan delivery had me tipping my head back and laughing in surprise. Her sense of humor wasn’t for everyone, but it most certainly was for me.

“We can’t have that, now, can we?” I chuckled before scooting her chair closer to mine and resting my hand on her thigh.

We sat like that for the rest of our meal, although we were interrupted a few times, and then I was off to help with more things.

Refilling coolers, hauling ice, helping with booboos.

But as busy as I was, I was still having a great time.

If my father could only see the scene all around us.

Wolves, paw in paw, interacting like we were always meant to.

Sure, there were some holdouts, some Grumpy Guses from both our packs that chose to opt out of the party.

To each to their own. But what warmed my heart was that I noticed a dozen or so of the more uncertain ones from my pack on the fringes of the event or sitting quietly in the tent and eating.

That was a victory in my opinion, especially since I was pretty sure I spotted some similar folks from the Ramirez pack.

It was okay that not everyone was onboard right off the bat. We were dealing with complex emotional and social stuff, as well as conflict that had been baked into people’s whole lived experience since they were born. I was all right with taking baby steps with them.

Yet, as busy as I was, I made sure to make myself available once the sun went down, when I knew exactly where my love would be.

And sure enough, there she was, standing on the edge of the dancing area, waiting for me.

God, she made me wish I could paint so I could capture that moment.

Her in her lemony sundress, the last line of coral faintly staining the onyx of the night sky, her dark hair blending into the night like she was part of it.

A goddess made flesh. A goddess that I was somehow lucky enough to know. To love.

Perhaps if I played my cards right, I’d get to worship her later. That all depended on how much food we’d stuffed ourselves with. But given that she felt up for dancing, chances were looking good.

But even if the cards didn’t play out that way, I still would be happy to just hold her and fall asleep together, both of us meeting in our dreams to spend even more time together.

“Hey, ya gonna ask me to dance or just keep staring at me?”

I blinked, not realizing that Felicia had drawn closer to me. I couldn’t help but grin at her like a goof, and in an echo of her first date, I offered my hand out to her.

“Forgive a guy for being distracted by your beauty.”

“Nah, I don’t think I will.”

She batted her eyelashes like she always did when she was feeling a bit brattish.

“You’re lucky that I’m absolutely besotted with you.”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling up at me as she took my hand. “I am.”

Now it was my turn to blush. I’d never had a partner who was also so unabashedly in love with me, and honestly, I didn’t think I could ever go back to living without it. I’d heard once that to be seen was to be loved, and I never really got it until I was with Felicia.

So, with our hands joined, we went out on the dance floor.

It wasn’t romantic at first, with Cotton-Eye Joe being played and then La Vaca (moo), but it was hilarious nonetheless.

However, when a slow song did eventually come on and the young ones cleared the meadow with a groan, I was happy to take Felicia in my arms and sway to the rhythm.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to believe this is all real,” Felicia murmured, and I was right there with her.

“It really is like a dream,” I agreed.

“Which part?”

“Everything. You. Me. The fairies. The unification of our packs. I’m completely serious when I say that we owe you, and we likely will for the rest of our lives. All of us. Both packs.”

Even though it was dark, I could see her blush travel down into her neck and that décolletage of hers that I wanted to nip and kiss.

“I know you don’t like me going on and on, so I’ll just leave it at that. I know you’re not likely to ever really take advantage of it, but any pack member would do anything for you.”

“Actually…” she trailed off, but it was too late. Not to be a stereotype, but I was like a dog with a bone. I’d suddenly gotten a hint that there was something my girlfriend wanted, and goddammit, I was going to make it happen. “Never mind.”

“You and I both know there’s no way on God’s green earth that I’m gonna never mind,” I said with a rumble, leaning down to rest my chin atop her head.

Felicia let out a sigh, but I understood that it wasn’t actually negative. “Let’s finish dancing first.”

“That’s fine with me,” I said, having no intention of letting her leave my arms just yet. “But don’t think I’ll forget.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.”

And as eager as I was to find out what Felicia’s request was, I was in no hurry to shorten our time slowly moving together to the music.

Maybe she wasn’t human at all, and she was actually a muse, because now I wanted to espouse poetry to her.

To tell her exactly what she meant to me and how she inspired me every day.

But that kind of wordsmithing wasn’t really my thing, so I contented myself with holding her until the three ballads they played in a row transitioned to the electric slide.

I was actually surprised they’d played so many romantic songs back-to-back, but as I glanced over, I saw Chris was manning the music, looking quite satisfied with Bethany in his lap.

Yeah, he really was the best beta.

Felicia still wasn’t done dancing, so we continued to cut a metaphorical rug for another hour or so, with both of us taking breaks to get water or do silly TikTok trends with the young ones. Not well, of course, but our attempts were genuine.

However, the thought was always floating in the back of my mind as I waited for us to wrap up.

I didn’t want to be impatient, because every moment with her was a gift, but I was eager to know what she could possibly want.

As much as I loved doting on Felicia, she was fiercely independent, so she didn’t ask for much.

All she wanted was to be loved and cherished and occasionally have heavy flour bags moved for her.

So, when we finally sat down and helped ourselves to some drinks—a sports drink for her and shifter punch for me—I broached the subject.

“Your request?” I asked, trying to act nonchalant about it.

“You sure you’re not an elephant shifter?” she teased back, but when I steadily held her gaze, she gave the tiniest of sighs. “I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m a… a bit embarrassed almost.”

“Embarrassed?” I repeated. That was just about the last thing I expected. What could she possibly want that had her embarrassed ? “You don’t have to share if you’re not ready.”

“No, no, this would be a great night for it.” She fiddled with her hands and looked down on the ground. What could it possibly be? “It’s just… I realized right before the bake-off that I’ve… that I’ve…”

That she what?

“That I’ve never seen you shift.” She gripped the hem of her dress like she was making an illicit confession to me. “So I’d really, really love to see your wolf. If that’s okay?”

It was so rare to see Felicia nervous that there was a bit of a delay on my answer. But when I did gather myself enough to do so, I put my hand on hers.

“Felicia, I’d love to show you my wolf.”

It was almost hard for me to believe that she had never seen it, but when I thought back to all of our interactions, I realized I had been in my human form for every single one of them.

Even when I had fled from her apartment, I had waited till I was far enough away before shifting into my animal form.

I was so used to everyone in my pack being well acquainted with my alpha wolf that I hadn’t even thought about introducing my girlfriend to that side of me. An oversight on my part, but one I was happy to fix immediately.

“Really? It’s not too invasive of me to ask?”

Sometimes, it was so easy to forget that Felicia hadn’t grown up in the pack. She fit in so well. But every now and then, she asked something that reminded me that she had essentially immigrated into the shifter world very recently.

“It’s not too much to ask at all, and I’m sorry I made you wait this long.” Draining the rest of my drink, I stood, and this time I offered her my arm. “How about we go on a walk?”

She was beaming ear to ear as she took my arm and stood. “There’s nothing I’d like more.”

The two of us walked toward the tree line together, and maybe I was a little too much in my feelings, but I couldn’t help but think that we were walking into our future together as well.