Unicorns and Honey Cakes Read online

  Gale hesitated, his fingers still ruffling through Brioche’s fur. “You already know about the fact I can make plants grow just by touching them. But there’s more to being a shifter than just having an extra power or two. Though I didn’t even really think about it that much myself, until my powers started going haywire.”

  Sylvie cocked her head, not sure what he meant, until Gale reached into his pocket and pulled out the –

  “So that’s where that fork went!” Sylvie exclaimed as she saw the fork she’d been looking for yesterday in Gale’s hand. “Did you take it as a souvenir or somethi—”

  She stopped short as Gale put the fork down on the table in front of her, and she saw the white blooms and green leaves that were growing from the wooden handle. She stared.

  Huh. Well, those weren’t there before.

  “That’s been happening more and more over the past couple of months,” Gale said, sounding just a touch frustrated. “Usually I can control these things. But recently, whenever I’d touch something made of wood, or stepped on any patch of dirt… well, this would happen, totally out of my control. Flowers and leaves everywhere. It was getting a bit difficult to deal with.”

  Speechless, Sylvie picked up the fork and turned it over in her hands. She pinched the petals of the flowers between her fingers, bruising them slightly.

  Okay, well, they’re definitely real, she thought. There’s no trick there. They really are just growing out of the handle.

  “So… why was this happening now?” she asked, looking up.

  “That’s what I’ve only just realized,” Gale said, holding her gaze steadily. “The reason was that… well, my unicorn was telling me it was time to find my mate. And it was getting impatient about it.”

  Sylvie’s mouth dropped open. “Your… mate?”

  “That’s right.” Gale nodded. “A mate. All shifters have one, though not all of us find them. A mate is… well, the best way I can describe it is to say they’re the person you’re meant to be with. You know it as soon as you touch them – sometimes as soon as you see them.”

  Gale’s silvery eyes were intent on hers. Sylvie felt her heart stop in her chest.

  Wait… is he saying…

  “What are you saying?” she blurted out, before she could let herself finish the thought.

  “Sylvie, I’m saying you’re my mate.” Gale’s voice was quiet, but completely sincere. There was no way Sylvie could ever have doubted his words.

  Still, they left her feeling more than a little winded.

  “Okay,” she finally managed to get out, after struggling to take in a couple of deep breaths. “Okay, I guess I can deal with that.”

  Staring at Gale now – at his chiseled jaw and silver temples, his perfectly formed Roman nose and his striking eyes; not to mention his kindness, his attentiveness, and the fact that Brioche had seemed absolutely wild about him at first sight – she thought she could more than deal with it.

  “Wait,” she said, shaking her head. “That sounded a little lukewarm. Let me rephrase.”

  She wasn’t sure how to tell him, however, that she’d been attracted to him since the moment he walked into her shop, that she’d been left flustered and breathless by everything he did even before she knew he was a unicorn with magic fingers. Her emotions always got the better of her in the end – she knew she was completely transparent in how she felt, and one look at her face was always enough to give away whatever she was thinking at any moment.

  Well, why not let my emotions get the better of me now?

  She didn’t give herself time to second-guess the impulse. Leaning forward, she ran her fingers over Gale’s arms, watching as his skin rose into goosebumps at her touch.

  Wow, she thought vaguely, in the moment before she continued leaning, until her lips found his.

  Oh. Oh wow.

  Gale’s lips were soft and warm against hers. There was the same tingling sensation as every other time he’d touched her, this time starting in her lips and running through her whole body, like little electric shocks, setting her nerves alight.

  She was so caught up in the kiss that she didn’t register that Gale had moved until she felt his warm palm pressing against her cheek, drawing her more deeply into the kiss, and setting off the same thrilling sensation against her skin.

  What I wouldn’t give to feel that everywhere… Sylvie thought hazily, as she let herself fall even more deeply into the kiss.

  By the time they broke apart, Sylvie felt utterly breathless. She’d never been kissed like that before. She hadn’t even known anyone could be kissed like that.

  “Okay, wow,” she mumbled, her brain feeling just the tiniest bit scrambled. “So, uh, in case you couldn’t tell, I’ve been wanting to do that since the first moment I saw you. I guess that’s the, uh… the what did you call it?”

  “The mated bond,” Gale said, looking and sounding just as breathless as she felt. “And yes – from everything I’ve heard, it’ll do that to you.”

  “Okay. Right. I see.” Sylvie nodded as if she understood perfectly, but to be honest, she still had about a thousand questions running through her mind. Questions that she should probably ask, but right now, she decided they could wait until later.

  Unable to stop herself, she leaned forward, kissing him again, feeling the heat of the kiss flowing through her, gathering in her belly.

  “Gale,” she said, breaking apart from him, “I know this might sound a little forward of me, but, uh, do you want to… what is it the kids call it these days?” She could feel herself blushing to the roots of her hair at her own boldness. “Netflix and chill?”

  “I have no idea what that means,” Gale said, looking mystified, but also extremely sexy and well-kissed, “but if you’re asking me if I want to spend the rest of the day with you here, then the answer is definitely yes.”

  “Well, okay then,” Sylvie said with a smile, taking his hand and standing up, pulling him up with her, before leading him down the hallway toward her bedroom.

  Chapter 7

  “I guess I was due a little luck to come my way,” Sylvie said the next morning over breakfast.

  Her hair was still tousled from sleep – well, not that they’d gotten a lot of sleep – but Gale thought she looked all the more sexy for it. Even in her old bathrobe, she still looked like the most desirable woman in the world to him – a woman he hoped he’d be making breakfast for every day for the rest of their lives.

  She gazed down at the eggs benedict he’d spent the last half hour whipping up. All they’d had to eat yesterday was the slice of honey cake they’d emerged for, and then a sandwich instead of a proper dinner. Gale could only speak for himself, but he was absolutely starving, and thankfully Sylvie had had the ingredients for his favorite breakfast in her fridge.

  “It’s almost a shame to eat this,” she said, picking up a fork, “because it looks seriously awesome.”

  We have provided for our mate! We have brought her sustenance! Gale’s unicorn pranced joyfully, tossing its head and kicking up its heels. Gale resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

  “I got a lot of practice with it – I worked at a breakfast bar for a little while.” Unable to wait any longer, he broke the yolk of one of the poached eggs balanced on the muffin and bacon, digging in.

  “Okay, I take it back, I am definitely eating this,” Sylvie said. “That bacon smell can’t be resisted.”

  Despite how busy he was with his prancing, overjoyed unicorn and his hunger, Gale hadn’t failed to notice that Sylvie had mentioned she was due some good luck.

  She mentioned that yesterday too, he thought. It might be just the garden, but I think there’s something more to it.

  Immediately, his unicorn raised its head. Then we must help her.

  Gale nodded. Of course he would. He’d do anything for her. Anything that it was within his power to give her, he would.

  She’s my mate, he thought, his chest aching as he stared across the table at her. My perf
ect, beautiful mate.

  “You mentioned you’ve been having a bit of bad luck recently yesterday as well,” Gale said, once Sylvie had finished eating and was sipping her coffee. “Is it something I could help you with?”

  Sylvie hesitated. “Well… I’m not sure. And honestly, I don’t like to complain and drag you into my problems…”

  Immediately, Gale reached across the table, covering her hand with his. “Sylvie, you’re my mate. There’s no such thing as something that’s only your problem. From now on, anything that’s bothering you is also my problem, and I’ll do anything I can to help you solve it. So try me. Anything I can do to help, I will.”

  Sylvie blinked her huge green eyes at him, as if surprised. “Thank you,” she said sincerely after a moment or two. “I guess… I guess I’ve been doing things on my own for so long now, I kind of forgot what it’s like to ask someone to help out. Well, you know, I have Emily to help me at the shop, and everyone in town is so friendly, so I…” She shook her head. “I’m getting caught up. You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah,” Gale said, smiling. “I do.”

  She told him the whole story over the dregs of their coffee – about how well her bakery had been doing at first, but how reliant it was on tourists passing through, so when Johnson’s Pies and Bakery had opened up down the street with their bigger, fancier storefront and eye-drawing sign, she’d had a huge drop-off in trade. And then, on top of that, they’d started somehow stealing her recipes, and bringing out products she’d spent months planning and developing before she had the chance.

  “I just don’t get how they’re doing it,” Sylvie said, her frustration clear in her voice. “I never discuss these things with anyone except Emily. And I trust Emily completely – I know she’d never do a thing like that. There’s no one else in town who I think would do it either, but they couldn’t anyway, since no one knows my recipes except me and Emily.”

  Gale frowned. He had a suspicion, but first, he thought, he needed to know a little more.

  “Have you ever met the person who runs the other bakery?”

  Sylvie shook her head. “No, never – as far as I know, neither has anyone else in town. He’s not a local – I’ve only seen him from a distance when he’s turned up and gone straight inside, I guess to check on how things are going. No one really knows his staff, either. They’re not from Girdwood Springs.”

  “I see.” Gale swirled the last of his coffee around the bottom of his cup. “So you never noticed anything… unusual about him?”

  Sylvie cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

  “No, it doesn’t matter,” Gale said, shaking his head. “I don’t think you would have noticed anything.”

  It’s not like a human can tell a shifter just by looking at them, after all.

  “You’re thinking… maybe he’s someone like you?” Sylvie asked slowly, looking at him from across the table.

  “Yes,” Gale admitted. “It wouldn’t be the first time shifters have used their powers for the wrong reasons, unfortunately. I don’t really like that it was my first thought, but if there’s really no way Johnson’s Pies and Bakery could have seen your recipes, then it’s something worth thinking about.”

  “But… how?” Sylvie asked. “I think I would have noticed, oh, I don’t know, a dragon hanging around my shop, eavesdropping.”

  Gale laughed. “I’m sure you would have. But as you saw with me yesterday, shifters don’t have to be in their shifter form to use their powers.”

  “Oh… so they could be a shifter type with super-hearing, or something like that?”

  “Maybe,” Gale said. “But there’s also shifters who have telepathy powers, though I don’t know exactly how it works. I don’t think they can read anyone’s mind at will.”

  “Okay… well… that’s a relief,” Sylvie said, looking a little rattled. She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t have telepathy powers, do you? You, uh, didn’t hear all the stuff I was thinking about you yesterday, did you?”

  “No, I don’t,” Gale said, laughing again. “But I can probably guess.”

  “I’ll bet,” Sylvie mumbled, burying her face in her hands and shaking her head, but Gale could see her shoulders shaking as she laughed. “Well, that aside,” she said when she emerged, “is that the kind of thing we’d be dealing with? Shifters with extraordinary powers like that?!”

  “Potentially,” Gale said cautiously. “But mythical shifters are very, very rare. If this guy is a shifter, he’s probably something much more mundane.”

  “Maybe he’s one of the cats that prowl around the alley,” Sylvie said, frowning. “You’re right, I probably wouldn’t think too hard about that. I bet he’s been eating all the scraps I put out for the other strays, too.”

  “If he’s been using his powers to steal your recipes, then I wouldn’t put it past him.”

  “But… I don’t really understand,” Sylvie said, shaking her head. “Why go to all this trouble? Why not just use his own recipes?”

  “Well, the food industry can be pretty cutthroat,” Gale pointed out. “Some recipes can sell for tens of thousands of dollars, if they’re a signature of the brand.”

  “But I’m just a small-town baker!” Sylvie wailed, throwing up her hands. “I’m not exactly a titan of industry, or even trying to open a second bakery! That’s for big city stuff, not me!”

  “That’s true,” Gale admitted. He sighed. “I suppose we won’t know until we have a chance to find out more. Or just ask Johnson himself, whoever he might be.”

  Sylvie’s eyebrows drew together. “You want me to go in there and confront him?”

  “No, nothing like that,” Gale said quickly. “We don’t know who this guy is. I want to find out more before we make any kind of move.”

  “What should we do, then?”

  Gale paused. “Well, I’m guessing he already knows you, and Emily as well. But I only arrived in town yesterday. I could always go into his bakery and have a quick look around – nothing much, just ask a few inoffensive questions, things like that.”

  “That couldn’t hurt,” Sylvie said. “You could be all, ‘Oh my God, this is the best pie I’ve ever had! Where do you get your recipes from? I want to speak to the manager to tell him personally just how great this pie is!’ And then at least you might be able to get a look at this Johnson, though like I said, it seems like he’s almost never there.”

  “Something like that,” Gale said, laughing. “It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”

  Sylvie nodded. “Yeah – better than my plan, which was ‘stew angrily about it for weeks and feel powerless.’”

  Our mate should never feel like that! Gale’s unicorn reared up, fury flashing in its eyes. Our mate should always know her value, and know that she is the most powerful, the most beautiful being in the world!

  And for once, Gale found that he couldn’t agree with his unicorn more.

  “Oh my God – no. No way.”

  Sylvie stopped in her tracks where she’d been walking next to him on the sidewalk. After they’d finished breakfast, they’d decided there was no time like the present to put their plan into action, and since the day was one of those fine, clear fall days where the wind was cool but the sun was warm, they’d walked to Girdwood Springs’ main street.

  They’d only just turned the corner, but Gale could see right away what had made Sylvie cry out: the large blackboard sign in front of Johnson’s Pies and Bakery.

  The sign that read:

  This week’s special: hot apple and thyme pie!

  Next week’s special: butterscotch honey cake!

  Gale glanced at Sylvie, taking in the furious expression on her face. Her eyebrows were drawn together, her jaw clenched. Her eyes flashed with rage.

  “No way,” she said again, shaking her head. “Those… those assholes. They’re not stealing my grandma’s recipe from me. This means war.”

  Gale felt his own corresponding anger simmering within him. He’d needed only to
glance at the look on Sylvie’s face to know how much her grandmother – and her grandmother’s honey cake recipe – had meant to her.

  But still, he couldn’t let Sylvie take any risks by marching into Johnson’s Pies and Bakery and confronting him herself – which she seemed to be extremely determined to do, judging by the way she began marching angrily up the street toward it.

  “Sylvie –” Gale called out to her, reaching out to touch her arm gently, hoping to bring her back to herself. “Sylvie, wait a moment.”

  Sylvie glanced back at him, angry tears in her eyes. Gale’s unicorn reared up at the sight of them, churning the air with its hooves, fury coursing through every sinew of its being.

  Destroy them! Destroy the ones who have made our mate feel this way! It is our duty!

  Gale was completely in sympathy with how his unicorn felt, but he wasn’t sure they should jump straight to destruction just yet – that might get the police involved. Right now, he thought it might be better to stick to their original plan… and if that didn’t work, then move on to destruction.

  “Sylvie, I understand how you must feel. But let me just do what we originally talked about for now. They haven’t started selling the honey cake yet. It’s still yours. Let me see what I can find out – and if that doesn’t work, I have a few other ideas I could try.”

  Such as destruction, his unicorn seethed. Gale did his best to ignore it.

  Sylvie gazed up at him, her lips pressed together in a thin line. She blinked back her tears, taking in a shaky breath. “Okay,” she muttered after a long moment. “You’re right – going in there guns blazing probably won’t do anything. But I really want to know how this keeps happening. I told no one about the honey cake plan. Not even Emily. I only just finished working out the recipe yesterday.”

  “I promise you Sylvie, we’ll get to the bottom of this,” Gale said, putting his hands on her shoulders. He meant it, too – even if he did have to resort to his unicorn’s suggestion of destruction, he was going to make sure whoever this Johnson was wasn’t going to walk away with another customer who should have been Sylvie’s.