Page 10 of Violet Moon (Pitch Mountain Pack #1)

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Starting that afternoon, Seraphine was going to be a top-notch, modern Beta.

She was going to wake up early enough to take care of her plants without rushing and make coffee for the pack on her way to the greenhouse.

She’d have plenty of time to pick flowers for Parisa.

She was also ready to tell Emmaline she was ready to take her up on her offer to learn how to bake.

With her new baking book and red binder in hand, she strolled through the hallways of the pack house with a bounce in her step, passing Benny helping Olive study for an exam in the living room.

The sight made her happy, but it also picked at her heart in a way that stung and she wasn’t going to let anything slow her down.

In the kitchen she made a new pot of coffee before pouring a cup for herself and heading to the greenhouse to carefully pick out a small bouquet of autumn mums for Parisa.

Content with how they looked tied up with some silver ribbon from the bakery, she headed for Parisa’s office and knocked on the door.

“Ready for me?”

“Always,” Parisa replied.

Sera walked in with a smile, presenting the flowers.

Parisa held them close to her face for a long moment, looking at the little blooms intently before she finally put them away. “They look perfect. Thank you.”

Sera felt her cheeks warm. They hadn’t been able to chat as often by the fireplace lately, so Sera wanted to talk as much as she could about anything other than pack business before Wilma arrived.

She landed on the first thing she could think of.

“Hugh tells me a new family of cat-shifters recently moved here. Bobcats, he thinks.”

“Are they attached to any groups?”

“They came here on their own from the sound of it.”

“I hope they find a community here.”

“We’re a welcoming bunch in Hickorywood.”

“Some of us anyway.” Parisa said. Her shoulders tightened as she sat forward and tented her fingers. “There’s always a few bad eggs who seek to ruin things unnecessarily.”

Sera hated the change in tone, but thought she might be close to finding out what had been bothering Parisa for so long. She drummed her fingers on her leg but tried to calm her heartbeat before Parisa noticed. “Has there been anything like that recently?”

“It’s always something.” Her gaze drifted back to the mums. A smile flickered across her face before it faded. She turned to Sera. “But nothing a little brightness can’t fix. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For doing this every day. I need it more than you’d believe.” She paused. “What’s that under your arm?”

Sera had forgotten she was carrying the book. “I’m going to learn to bake,” she said, feeling self-conscious. “Finally. That way I can help out more than I can now.”

“ Azizam , you do more than you give yourself credit for, but if you want to learn how to bake, I’d never stop you. It’s one of my greatest joys. I’d love to share it with you, too.”

“Maybe one day I’ll work up to helping you out with your bread.”

“I don’t usually like anyone around me when I bake, but for you, I’d make an exception.”

“A Beta exception?”

Parisa grinned. “Something like that.”

Wilma walked into the room and stopped short of the chairs, glancing between the two of them. She hung around in the doorway like she had stumbled across something she wasn’t meant to see, but Parisa welcomed her in and she took her seat.

As their afternoon meeting began, Sera was ready to take notes and crush this whole being a better Beta thing.

“The most important thing for us to get through today is full moon preparations,” Parisa announced towards the end of their time. “Seraphine, do you have a preference between assisting me with bakery affairs or house affairs before we go?”

Sera gave her a puzzled look. “Typically both are within my role.”

“With Wilma here, I thought it was a good opportunity to take a few things off your plate.”

“Of course. I’m happy to share.” Having less to worry about as her emotions and wolfish tendencies flared before the full moon would be fantastic, but that silly part of her that she couldn’t silence felt as though Parisa must be disappointed with how Sera had handled things in the past. “Which would you prefer?”

Wilma considered it for a moment. “I’m still picking up more tasks at the bakery, so maybe it’d be best for me to help out at home.”

Parisa clapped her hands. “Then it’s decided. This is exactly what I was hoping for when I brought the three of us together like this. A pack in perfect harmony. A pack ready for anything.”

“Emmaline!” Sera flung open the back door to the bakery. “I’m ready to bake!”

“Now?” Emmaline replied with a chuckle.

“Well, no, not right now. I have work to do. But in general. I’m ready to try again.”

“Glad to hear it. We could always use another set of helping hands around here. And who knows? You might have a specialty like Parisa’s bread somewhere inside of you.”

“I highly doubt that, but thank you.” Sera rounded a counter and presented her book. “The recipes seemed easy enough. Any suggestions on where I should start?”

“I’d thumb through the pages myself, but I’ve got —” She held up sticky, dough-covered fingers before getting back to work. “Cookies are very forgiving.”

Sera flipped through the beginning of the book. “There’s a whole cookie section.”

“See? A great place to start, then. No matter how they come out, it’s easy to say you intended for them to be that way. Over-baked? You wanted them to hold up to milk. Under-baked? You wanted them to be soft and chewy.”

“I like it. And it’d be nice to move beyond the pre-made dough I buy and still manage to mess up from the store.”

“Do you want some help learning? My offer still stands.”

“I don’t want to bother you.”

Emmaline raised an eyebrow and leveled her stare at Sera. “My offer still stands.”

Sera puffed out a laugh. “Fine. I’d gladly welcome the help.

Just not tonight. Tonight’s my night out with Parisa.

” A shiver of anticipation rolled through her.

It felt like ages since the last time they’d got to be around each other without talking about pack business for longer than a cup of tea by the fire.

“Y’all should really do that more than once a month or so. Lord knows Parisa needs it. And you, too, for that matter.”

“Pack business comes before Alpha and Beta bonding.”

“Your Alpha and Beta bond is the foundation of this pack. It deserves to be more of a priority.”

Downtown Hickorywood smelled like forests, patchouli, and hops.

It was filled with hippies and werewolves, hipsters and vampires, and a little of everyone else.

It was once a small mountain town with a different name, but the people there had dreams of becoming something bigger, so they renamed it Hickorywood — the Hollywood of the mountains.

Over time it grew into a thriving small city with a booming arts scene, artisan shops, and more breweries than anyone could ever need.

Sera stepped into her favorite restaurant and searched for Parisa. She found her at their usual table in a deep navy dress with a matching bow at the collar and a subtle polka dot pattern in the full skirt, sipping a glass of red wine.

Parisa spotted her and raised her wine glass as she approached. “To Alpha and Beta bonding.”

Sera took her seat and reached for the glass that had already been poured for her. “To bonding.”

Parisa took a sip, then held it up again in a mock toast. “To talking about something other than pack business for a little while.”

Sera feigned surprise. “Wait. I wasn’t ready for that. You mean I had to prepare topics besides bakery schedules and the way the washing machine is acting up again?”

“There’s always catching up on the latest gossip. What’s Hugh heard recently?”

Sera sat down her glass and leaned forward, a gleeful smirk on her face. “So, you know that older vampire that’s not part of their coven? Well, you already know about how he and Clemente have butted heads for who knows how long, but do you know where that all started?”

“No, but I have a feeling you do.”

“Oh and it’s good. It’s got everything.” She tapped a finger for each point. “Past relationship. Broken promises. Feuds. Secret meetings of the salacious variety. Fights over prime real estate downtown. I probably shouldn’t have ended on that last one. It’s the least interesting.”

“I don’t know what you mean. Prime real estate is worth more than a secret, lustful affair with an enemy.” She shrugged with a grin. “And I always suspected something between them.”

“Really? I would have never. Hugh acted like I was silly for not seeing it either.”

“They’re so clearly attracted to one another. It’s why they’re at each other’s throats so much.” She puffed out a laugh. “The whole ‘I want you but you’re the actual worst’ feeling.’”

“I could never deal with all the drama.”

“Yet you thrive on the chaos in the house.”

Sera waved a finger. “Nope. No pack talk. You said it yourself. And we were doing such a good job!”

“You’re right, you’re right.” Parisa waved a hand in acknowledgement. “Now tell me about this drama you claim to want to avoid yet soak up with such hunger.”

“I want to hear about it. I don’t want to be in it. And Hugh is so good at it.”

“Collecting gossip?”

“Being an observer. The man sees everything!”

“You live as long as him, you’d be a fine study of human and supernatural behavior, too.”

“So how good are your skills, then?”

Parisa splayed her hand across her chest in mock offense. “I am a spry young thing. How dare you insinuate I’m as old as time like those vampires.”

“Hugh’s not that old.”

“And I’m even younger than him.”

“By how much exactly?”

Parisa tapped the table with her fingertip while a smile played at the corner of her lips. “You know, I used to keep that information from everyone on purpose and now I’ve simply forgotten.”

“Oh come on, Pari. I feel like a detective trying to piece together clues stretched out across years and years.”