Page 94

“Oh no.” I waved my hands quickly. “Nobody asked me to. I’m a baker, and I like doing this. I just wanted to make them something special.”

She studied me for a few seconds, then nodded. “Ada, bring Lady Stormforge an apron.”

I could’ve hugged her. “Thank you.”

The pantry was enormous, and after looking around, I decided on vanilla-cardamom custard buns. Gilda and Ada brought me everything I needed, and once I started working, things felt wonderfully normal.

Dough was dough. It didn’t care that I was on another world or making breakfast for five Alpha mates. My hands knew what to do.

“You’ve made this often,” Gilda said.

“Lots of times.”

Ada stayed beside me, asking questions, so I showed her how I judged the dough rather than just giving her measurements. She shaped one of the buns herself and frowned when it came out a little wonky.

“It’ll taste exactly the same,” I told her, fixing the end. “And now I’ll know which one’s yours.”

That made her smile, and by the time the buns went into the oven, Gilda already had a notebook open for the recipe. Every so often, she asked me to turn things like a generous spoonful into an actual measurement, which was much harder than it sounded.

When the first tray came out, the whole kitchen smelled of butter, vanilla and cardamom.

I broke one open so we could all taste it. Gilda inspected the inside before taking a bite, and I tried—really tried—not to stare at her.

“The crumb is light,” she said. “The cardamom complements the vanilla, and the custard has set well.”

“Do you like it?”

“You’re an accomplished baker, Lady Stormforge.”

I couldn’t help grinning.

Ada tasted hers next. “May we make them again?”

“As often as Gilda lets us,” I said, chuckling.

“We’ll enter the recipe in the kitchen book,” Gilda said.

That made me far too pleased.

While they finished the rest of breakfast, I arranged the buns on a pale glass plate beside bowls of porridge, bread, cheese, fruit and tea. There was enough food to feed far more than six people.

I stared at the trolley. “There’s enough here for twelve people.”

“There are five Alphas, my lady,” Gilda said.

Well, that explained quite a lot.

By the time I got back to my room, Alaric and Lucien were reading, and my other three mates were still half buried beneath the blankets.

“I’ve come bearing goodies. Anyone fancy breakfast in the nest? It’s probably far too late to call it breakfast, but that sounds much better than lunch in the nest.”

“I’m famished,” Leon said from beneath the blankets.

“It smells wonderful, my heart,” Alaric said, taking the trays from me and placing them in the middle of the nest.

Once I’d climbed back in and the food was between us, I put the plate of buns right in the centre.

“It occurred to me that we could do this every now and then. Make it a Pack tradition. Whenever we all sleep in the nest, we have breakfast here the next morning.”