Chapter 33: Rejected by the Beta, Claimed by the Alpha

"No practice first! Practi- oohhh..."

I cringe as Axe ices his cake. The flower he was trying to build on it ends up looking like a pile

of poop and I have to say, he's probably not ahead right now.

Alpha Vicious who's battling on the American side may have overcooked his cake a little bit, but

it's definitely more presentable looking.

The icing is smooth for the most part, whereas Axe's is rough and has crumbs in it. Vicious even

put on some nice icing ribbons. I'm impressed to say the least, but my mate is obviously

struggling.

"Two more minutes!" Anita calls.

She's been having a hay day critiquing every little mistake to my father who is eating up her

attention. Strange as it may be, I guess Anita's growing on me. She's not so bad, even if she does

eat, sleep, and breathe food. American food specifically.

Leeland wanted to catch up earlier, but all he really had anything to say about was how upset

Reece is that I haven't been calling or video chatting. I promised to do better, but he didn't really

have anything to say to me, so he went to rest before he goes home tonight. We're all going

tonight, but Lethal and Vicious have invited us back, both wanting us to meet their mates and

become friends. We agreed that we'd come visit every two months at the least and we're all

chalking up to be pretty good friends already. Vicious has such a dry humor and Lethal is more

of the actual joker. so different, but so understandable.

"Time!" Anita calls making the alphas throw down their icing packages.

Vicious throws his hands up with a smile, assuming an early victory as he face times his mate

and Axe looks at his sticky fingers with a frown, wondering how he got covered in icing.

I laugh and slide off the counter, kissing his face which also has some icing on it and smiling at

the sweet flavor.

"Great job babe," I say receiving a raised brow as he side eyes his masterpiece. "I bet it tastes

great," I rephrase.

Anita cuts into both cakes and distributes two slices on a round of several plates, handing them

out and stabbing plastic forks in them.

Alpha Lethal whispers with his mate in the corner, who I'm sure is pretty new to the pack. She

doesn't seem close with Lethal yet and it's almost like when she blinks twice, it's a secret

message for help.

I bite into Vicious' slice first, admiring how the icing looks borderline professional. Rookie

professional at least. It's pretty dry, but still bearable if you have enough icing to go with it. I try

Axe's next and my mouth waters. It's so fluffy. It's moist and it's perfect in flavor. If I didn't see

how displeasing it was to the naked eye, I might have thought Anita made it.

Axe nods as he tastes his own cake and shrugs.

"I like both."

I nearly scoff at the obvious difference in taste, possibly biased because anything Axe makes

would most likely taste pretty good to me.

I wait for Anita and my father to finish their cake before waiting on the consensus.

Anita rubs her hands together and stares between the two alphas in suspense.

"Alpha Axe and Alpha Vicious, you both have made two very interesting and different cakes.

Though the same flavor, they look and taste the polar opposites of their counterparts."

Part of me wonders if she watches a lot of baking shows, but then I bet that she secretly hosts her

own when my dad is at training. I could see her talking into a spatula and narrating everything

she does. I bet my dad even caught her doing it once or twice. I look at him while he watches her

with starry eyes. He used to look at mom like that, but I'm sure Mom doesn't mind. As far as I

can tell, Anita takes pretty good care of him and that's something that I can get on board with.

"Alpha Vicious representing the American packs, your cake was overcooked and almost

prematurely stale. Your decoration game however, was the better half. That looks like a cake that

a grocery store would sell and I am impressed by your steady hand. Alpha Axe, your cake was

delicious. The light and fluffy texture had it melting in my mouth and I am in awe of how you

make a boxed cake mix taste like it was made from scratch. Your decoration game however, was

an epic failure. I mean, I've trained sixth graders who ice better than you. It was that bad and if

this competition was only about flavor, you might have had a running chance for the win.

However, I have decided to call this competition to a tie! What the Canadian side lacks in

aesthetics, the American side makes up for and vice versa. The only way to have a cake worth

being judged is for Alpha Axe to bake it and Alpha Vicious to decorate it. That being said, there

a whole army of warriors out there and they're hungry. Get cooking boys," Anita demands

walking off.

I chuckle and pat Axe on the back.

"Just one more time," I say knowing he didn't enjoy this competition at all. Another hour is about

to be spent, but if this is what it takes for the blood oath to be complete, I think he can manage

baking one more cake.