All Chapters of The Alpha And The Baker: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

“She wasn’t by the dessert table?” At forty-two years old, Penny was only twelve years older than me, but she had been one of my babysitters when I was younger. I never really needed one, as I was fairly well-behaved—or too well-behaved, as Chris put it—but my mother liked that Penny got me out of the house to play instead of training or studying to take over from my father.“No, I just came from there.”“Huh. Maybe she’s at her van? Here, I’ll walk you to it. Getting my steps in today, that’s for sure.”I grinned at that and followed her to the parking area where the pack members who didn’t live locally parked their cars. Truthfully, almost everyone in our pack lived on the ancestral lands we had left, but almost didn’t mean all by any means. There were some who chose to live in the city, a few who chose to live a county or two over, and several who had married into other packs but still liked to visit a couple of times a year. Hence the whole reunion.“Ah, there’s her van. Oh, but I

“Why?” Gammy McCallister objected, which I hadn’t expected. “She’s already here, and I enjoy her company. Besides, we can’t have kept her smelling all this good food for so long only to tell her she can’t try any!”“I…” I wanted to object that she wasn’t a shifter, and asking nearly a hundred of us to keep ourselves in check while we were supposed to be free to be ourselves was bordered on foolhardy, but I couldn’t exactly say that with Felicia right there. She was tipsy, but she wasn’t blackout drunk. Thank goodness for that.To my surprise, the entire group of elders chimed in, all agreeing and giving different reasons why they wanted Felicia to stay. It wasn’t that we were antisocial as a people, but it was strange to hear them so emphatic about a human they’d known for only an hour. The baker must have made one hell of a good impression.Not that I was surprised. She’d certainly made an impression on me.Felicia was blushing a bright pink that was absolutely adorable. Her cheeks w

But it was touching, really, to hear her talk about the woman who raised her in such a breezy, sort of tipsy earnestness. There was no guile to her, no deception. She wasn’t trying to convince me of anything. She was just recalling beloved memories with a lovely soul who she missed.It didn’t surprise me that her words moved me—I liked to think I’d always been a fairly empathetic person—but what I hadn’t expected was to get a little choked up. And now her answer about her family never meeting up took on an entirely new meaning. It seemed that not only had I stuck my whole foot in my mouth, but I had decided to chew the boot and the laces.“She sounds lovely,” I said quietly, not wanting to interrupt Felicia’s concentration but also feeling like I needed to say something.“She was,” Felicia said with a faraway smile. “She really, really, was.” She heaved a sigh, and the softness in her expression faded. “I think she would have loved something like this. To have a family that was so big

“It’s a pleasant surprise, I’m sure,” I said, reaching for my juice. It was empty. Bummer.“Depends on who you ask. But I’d like to think I’m one of the biggest influences to encourage Cas’s pappy to challenge the previous al⁠—”“Patriarch.”“Yes, thank you, Claudia. Anyway, helped challenge that old man so he’d stop gambling off so much of our land. Lost nearly half of it to the fairies! Greedy buggers.”I had been vibing so hard and really enjoying myself, that it took a couple of beats for her words to sink in. I knew Gammy was older, that much was obvious, but I hadn’t quite expected that terminology from her.“Uhhh, I don’t think gay people as a whole are responsible for buying up your land,” I said cautiously, trying to go through her story mentally in my head to see if I’d missed some context.“Oh, that’s more of that old-fashioned slang for lawyers,” Claudia corrected. She sounded exasperated. “We don’t have anything against gay folks, promise.”“Huh? Why would I?” Gammy said,

“I could.” I didn’t know where my bravery came from, but I took a small breath and looked up at him through my lashes.“But I could keep dancing.”One of the corners of his lips curled up and his gaze grew even darker. “Could you?”Oh my god, double-gulp in a cup. His voice had dipped lower, and I was not expecting that. It was like it rattled through my bones and vibrated right down into my soul. I didn’t think I’d ever had a physical reaction to someone’s voice before, but that was absolutely what was happening.And I didn’t think I could blame it on the alcohol.“I could,” I confirmed softly.“Then let’s dance.”Gently, oh so gently, he pulled me closer until we were practically touching, and his other arm slid around my waist. It was like the entire world around us crumbled away, leaving only our heartbeats and the music. “Just follow my lead. I’ve got you.” He most certainly did.Mouth dry, heart thundering, I swayed along with him to the gentle lilt of the string music. We were