His Possession or His Princess

Fifty-One | Baking

Titus

It’s lunch time and I just finished working out with Hugh and we are walking back inside the pack house. I smile immediately whenever Calliope’s tropical scent hits my nose. I will never grow tired of her scent.

I see her in the kitchen and rush over to her and pull her against me as I bury my nose into her neck. She gasps, startled by my actions, but wraps her arms around me in a tight hug and she whispers in my ear, “Are you okay, love?”

I smile as I pull away from her, “I’m great. What have you been up to today? I know things have been kind of hectic.”

“Honestly, most of my day I’ve spent making Amish bread.”

My face crinkles in confusion and she laughs and says, “My mom had some bags of the dough in her deep freezer as home that was ready to go so I’ve been coming up with ways to defrost and get started on the bread. Your mom told me that after she became Luna she visited everyone’s homes to bring them cookies and to get closer to the people. She told me if I really wanted to do something today that she couldn’t think of a better use of my time.”

“So what is Amish bread?”

“It is like a sweet cinnamon bread and it’s incredible. But after you get your loaf you also pass along a starter bag of dough along with the instructions so that they can make it as well! It’s a way to provide unity and if you don’t have anyone to send the bags off to, well you can freeze them until you want to make it again. Thankfully my mom always froze ours and also got in the habit where she would fully prep the bag and then freeze it so all we would have to do is wait for it to defrost and then we would bake it. I’m making the Amish bread for some of our higher ranked members and as they pass it along eventually everyone in the pack will have some! For the rest of the pack members I am going to make my famous white chocolate cranberry cookies.”

My mouth waters at the sound and I say, “Make some extra for me, okay? I can’t wait to try your famous recipe.”

She giggles and says, “You’ll find I’m quite the baker, Titus. Let me know when you have cravings and I’ll whip something up for you.”

I chuckle, “I think you’re going to make me a fat and happy Alpha.”

She waves her hand dismissing the idea, “I’m sure those workouts of yours will keep you in tip top shape for this pack.”

I chuckle and say, “I may have to add some stuff to my workout to stay in ‘tip top shape’.”

She smiles at me and then seems to notice Hugh and says, “Hi Hugh! Would you like a cookie?”

He grins, “I’d love one, Cal.”

I open my mouth in shock and ask, “Where’s my cookie?”

She chuckles as she passes a cookie wrapped in a napkin to Hugh and she says, “You instructed me to make extra for you so now you have to wait.”

Hugh snickers at her comment and I roll my eyes and begin to tickle her sides until she gave in and gave me one of her delectable cookies.

Cal

Titus leaves me much sooner than I would’ve liked for him to. As I’ve been baking it’s been very hard not to get lonely because Olive and I are upset with one another and I know that Britt is trying really hard not to pick sides. I appreciate that about her, but it makes it hard on me.

I hear soft footsteps and murmurs and I know if I tuned into my wolf then I would be able to clearly hear what they’re saying, but I choose to ignore it and focus on my own little world. I add the cranberries into my cookie mix when I hear someone clear their throat.

I glance up and see Olive and Britt standing across from me. Britt offers me a small smile, but Olive leaves her arms crossed as she looks me up and down. I say, “Hi Olive, hi Britt.”

Britt comes beside me and says, “Oh, you’re making your cookies! Can I help out?”

I nod in response and glance back up at Olive. She sighs loudly and says, “I’m sorry, okay?”

I chuckle, “That tone sure doesn’t sound sorry.”

She closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath and says, “You and Alexander have so much history and like, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

“But do I ever look at him like that?”

She shakes her head no, “No, you don’t. Just… you smelt like our old pack and we had a hard time moving on from how he treated you that to think that you would go running back to him hurt a lot.”

I feel conflicted by her words and I ask, “You had a hard time moving on? Do you know how hard last summer was for me? It made me not want to be with him.”

She gave me a skeptical look and I scoff, “Even if I wanted to be with him, the words that he said to me I wouldn’t ever be able to forget. I had no choice, but to move on. So, I did and by the time I met Titus, yes, I was hesitant, but only because I was scared of getting hurt again. But I’m marked, and Titus is marked, this is it for me- forever. You don’t need to worry about me running back to Alexander. It really hurts my feelings that you thought I would do that.”

She sighs and comes closer to me, “I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to think that way. Could I help you bake and let’s move forward?”

I hug her tightly and say, “Of course, but for future disagreements, could we maybe do them somewhere more private?”

She chuckles, “Sure.”

Britt squeals and wraps her arms around us, joining in our hug, and says, “Thank God the feud is over! Now let’s continue baking and then Cal, we have to get you ready.”

I bite my lower lip nervously, but I know I need to correct her. I say, “Actually I’m getting ready with my mom and Luna Amy.”

Both of the girls murmur, “Oh.”

I say, “I’m sorry, but I think it’s really good for me to spend this time bonding with Luna Amy.”

Britt pouts a little but nods in understanding and Olive says, “Of course, that makes sense.”

I smile and say, “Thanks for understanding, girls.”