Page 11 of Daddy Frost

“Delta.”

His mate stopped dead.

The last thing Kalen wanted to do was use his commanding tone with Delta, but if his mate was in some sort of trouble, he wanted the guy to know he was there for him. Kalen would be his safe space, and he had the power to bring down pain on anyone hurting or harassing the human.

Although Delta didn’t turn around, his shoulders grew rigid. “My uncle uses that same tone with me, Kalen. If you’re just another alpha-male jerk, I think it’s best we part ways right now.”

Kalen had just gained a little more insight into his mate’s life. “Does he hurt you when he uses that tone, muffin?” Kalen asked softly, anger simmering in his gut.

A slight chuckle escaped Delta. “Did you call me that because I ordered a muffin?”

Delta still hadn’t turned around.

“I thought it sounded better than calling you banana nut,” Kalen admitted but wasn’t sidetracked from his question.

Taking a deep breath, Delta walked back into the main part of the bakery. Kalen cursed. He’d just made a grave error with his mate. Normally, his commanding, yet quiet tone was enough to yield results.

He would have to use a different approach with Delta because his uncle had caused him to be frightened of it.

Kalen would really love to have an up-close-and-personal talk with the uncle. There was nothing worse than a bully. Delta seemed delicate to Kalen, unsure of himself, and somewhat lost. What the human didn’t need was someone intimidating him.

With a silent curse, he exited the kitchen. Delta stood at the counter, smiling and talking to Kayla, but Kalen noticed how his mate stiffened when he entered.

“Thanks for the muffin and coffee,” Delta said with a sweet smile Kalen wanted aimed at him. “They both smell delicious.”

Kayla handed Kalen his coffee. When he pulled his wallet out, she shooed it away. “Delta already paid.”

Kalen wasn’t one to judge, but if his mate was working at the diner, he probably didn’t have disposable income. At one point in his life, Kalen had been down on his luck. That was before he’d met his wife and had children. He’d had to hustle to make ends meet, and he knew how it felt when every dollar counted.

“Thanks.” He smiled at Delta. “Ready to resume our walk?”

“Ready to eat this muffin.” His smile was teasing, and damn, was Kalen blushing? When was the last time he’d blushed? With a huge grin, he held the door open for Delta.

“Thanks, Kayla,” he said.

“Bye, guys. Enjoy the rest of your day.” She grinned, a sparkle in her eyes.

“Same to you.” Delta waved to her before he walked out.

Kalen was honestly trying to get a read on his mate. One minute he was flirting, and the next, he had a somber look on his face. Kalen was usually able to read people pretty easily, but he was grappling when it came to Delta.

They headed toward the park, which wasn’t busy this time of morning. Not even the ice cream hut was open. They took a seat on one of the picnic tables, sitting on the table portion, resting their feet on the bench.

Once again, Kalen was amazed at their size difference. Then again, at six-five… Not true. There were plenty of men in Midnight Falls as tall or taller than Kalen. Like his son-in-law. Casimir had him beat by two inches, and the fae was a lot more muscular than Kalen.

But Casimir was a warrior, with a thousand years of training, and his muscles were hard and honed.

Still, when Kalen had moved behind Delta in the bakery, he’d noticed his mate was nearly a foot shorter than him.

“Okay, muffin.” Kalen took a sip of his coffee. “I see I have to remind you that I’m a pretty good listener.” He smiled down at Delta. “It’s up to you, but do you want to tell me what you were about to say in the bakery kitchen?”

When his mate glanced away, Kalen added, “Or we could talk about something else.”

After taking a bite of his muffin and swallowing, Delta took a sip of his coffee. Kalen was dying to kiss his mate’s swan-like neck, to leave a love bite just under his ear.

“You said you were married. Did you have any children?”

“Three boys.” Kalen nodded, knowing he had to navigate the subject carefully. Shifters lived to be a thousand years old, so they aged slowly. A few men and women he’d dated over the decades told him he looked somewhere in his late thirties, maybe early forties. That was not old enough to have three grown sons who appeared to be in their late twenties.

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