Chapter Two #2
Hunt nods. “Yes, it’s Prince Archer. Archie, your parents are going out of their minds with worry. How did you end up here?” he asks, turning a suspicious glare on me, but I don’t cower under his stare, I just glare back at him.
The boy loses his glare, and his bottom lip starts to quiver.
“I’m sorry, Hunter, don’t be mad.” The child obviously knows this man, which is a relief.
“I snuck out of the castle so I could play with the kittens in the stable last night. A strange man was there. I didn’t recognize him as one of the grooms, and he smelled funny, like moldy hay, not like a shifter.
I told him he had to leave, but he just laughed and grabbed me. ”
“Witch,” the blue-eyed shifter growls, and the two of them exchange a loaded look.
“He took me out of the castle grounds and tried to put me into the back of a van. I tried to fight him, but he was too big, so I shifted and scratched him. He dropped me, and when he tried to grab me again, I ran, and I just kept running until I couldn’t run anymore.”
“Holy shit, how did a little thing like you run so far? That has to be like five leagues.” Blue eyes sounds both impressed and skeptical.
The little one wraps his arms around his body, shuddering with fear. I hurry to the cupboard and pull out a clean baker’s top, but as I approach him to give it to him, Hunt growls, so I stop, not willing to upset this mountain man, and hold it out.
“For the boy.”
He slowly reaches out and takes it from my hand before stepping closer to the child. “Here, put this over you.” Hunt uses gentle hands to help him into the shirt. I’m not a tall person, only five-five, but the shirt swims on the child.
“I just kept going until I couldn’t run anymore, and I found a space to hide, but it was raining, and I was cold and hungry, and when I saw the pretty lady, I couldn’t stop crying.” The boy bites his lip and stares down at his feet, looking ashamed.
“You have nothing to be ashamed about.” Hunt crouches again and puts both hands on the boy’s little arms, giving them an encouraging squeeze. “You did the right thing, but how about we get you back to the castle and to your parents and grandparents? Everyone is frantic and looking for you.”
The little boy sags and collapses into the arms of the blond watchman who gathers him and stands up. Without another word, he turns and leaves my kitchen, not sparing me another glance.
“Thank you for everything you did for him.” The blue-eyed man holds out his hand. “I’m sure the royal family will reward you for it.”
I scowl at him. “I don’t need a reward for doing the right thing.
I’m just sorry the operator didn’t care enough to listen to me so you could be here sooner.
” I take his hand, giving it a perfunctory shake, but I flinch back when a spark of something ignites between our hands.
I look down at my palm, but there’s nothing there, so I give it a little shake.
It must have been static from all the starch in the air.
The shifter’s eyes narrow slightly before he growls. “Yes, the operator will be suitably punished. No matter what is going on, your call should not have been blown off. Hell, the reason we were so busy was because we were looking for the boy.”
“I’m just glad he’s okay. Poor thing has been through so much. I would have asked questions, but he stayed in shifted form.”
“Yes, shifter children need help from an alpha to shift back. It’s why they are not allowed to wander on their own until they get control with their shifting around the age of twelve.”
I’m almost positive that information is not common knowledge. I certainly didn’t know it.
“Again, thank you.” He nods and turns to leave, but not before snatching up a penguin and a tiger marshmallow. “You know what else would look cool as a marshmallow? Dragons and wolves.” He gives me a wink and leaves, shoving the penguin into his mouth.
I gape at the now empty kitchen and nervously brush my hands over my apron, heaving out a breath of air.
Now that they are gone, my nerves catch up with me, and I shakily lean against the prep table.
They were fucking intimidating. Luckily for me, the child was able to tell them I wasn’t involved in any of it, and they believed him.
What did they call him? Prince Archer? Holy fuck, I had one of the royal kids in my kitchen. I’m probably lucky I’m not dead.
I’m still trying to swallow my nausea when Olivia sticks her head in and looks around. “Are they gone?” she asks nervously, and I glare at her.
“You knew they were here, and you left me alone with them?”
She shrugs sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry, but shifters scare the shit out of me.”
I frown at her words. I’m sure I asked her about her feelings regarding shifters when I hired her. I can’t have anyone working here who can’t tolerate either species. She must see my look, because she quickly shakes her head.
“Oh no, I don’t hate them or anything, but I could practically feel the menace flowing off those two and didn’t want their attention on me.
They were fucking scary dudes. Hot though.
I peeked through when I heard voices, and they were some fine man meat.
” She chuckles, and I lose my annoyance.
“I don’t know how you stood there and looked them in the eye. I was virtually shaking in my boots.”
I think about my reaction. Sure, they were intimidating, but I didn’t feel any fear or menace. All I felt was their curiosity and suspicion, which turned to worry and relief when they saw the cub. Even when they were growling, I felt nervous but not terror.
“Oh well, hopefully that’s the last of that,” I tell her as the door chimes as another customer enters the store. “I’ll finish up here and get the marshmallows into the display cabinet, then I’ll clean up and help you with the breakfast rush.”
“Sure thing, boss.” She salutes me and goes out to serve, her friendly demeanor firmly back in place.
It’s one of the reasons I hired her. She always has a smile on her face and is really good with our customers.
My other employee, Justin, isn’t as good with the customers, but he makes a mean sandwich and is a whizz with the coffee machine.
He comes in a little later, closer to lunch when his skills are more in demand.
For breakfast, we offer savory muffins and quiches, which we prepared last night, and bagels, which I bake twice a week.
Thankfully that was yesterday morning’s job, so I don’t have to bake any this morning.
They are all ready to go with a variety of schmears on offer.
It means we have a good flow of customers for breakfast, and it doesn’t require a lot of work on my part except to fry up some bacon and eggs if people want a fresh bacon and egg bagel.
We aren’t run off our feet this morning, and I have time to put the lunch rolls in the oven so they are ready in time.
If I decide to add the marshmallows to my menu permanently, I’m probably going to hire someone else.
It’s a lot of work and gives me little time for the rest of the prep work.
Thankfully, I thought ahead last night and prepared batches of muffin and cupcake batter that only needed to have the wet ingredients added, mixed, and then put into the oven this morning.
I’ll do the same this afternoon as well.
It’s going to be a long week, but hopefully it brings new customers into the bakery.