by Terry Spear
Except…except she hadn’t changed. How long had it taken for the humans to turn? Then again, maybe, because she was a fae, it was taking longer to affect her. Maybe her body was fighting it, even though she couldn’t feel that it was.
Then she saw Myla coming into the hut. “Oh, you should be in bed,” Letta said, thinking the poor woman looked ill to the bone.
“I wanted to see how you are doing, and I wanted to thank you personally for saving my life,” Myla said.
“Why are you up and about?” The healer sounded annoyed. "You will undo all the good I've done, well, and that Letta has done for you."
Myla entered the cage. “Have you had any urge to shift?” she asked Letta, ignoring the healer.
“What would the urge feel like?” Letta asked. “Except for being hot, then cold and achy all over, I don’t feel anything else.”
“Okay, your muscles will stretch. You won’t feel anything but a warm sensation filling every pore. It won’t hurt. And then you’ll shift in a flash. Just like that.” Myla snapped her fingers. “Just a beautiful blurring of forms.”
“I don’t feel anything like that. Just tired, and all the rest.”
“Okay, well, I’ll return to bed and check on you again as soon as I can. I feel like that myself. Thanks again for saving my life. Even though I couldn’t open my eyes, or respond, I heard you talking to me, and I so appreciated you fighting the wolf and taking care of my injuries.”
Letta barely heard what Myla was saying, because in that instant, she was feeling really strange. And before she knew it, she was sitting on the mat as a wolf. Not that she could see herself in such a bizarre way, but she could see she had furry forelegs that had taken the place of her arms, and she was sitting on a furry behind.
“Back out slowly,” Myla said to the healer.
“I’m backing out,” the healer said, a quaver in her voice.
But Letta didn’t feel in the least bit feral, not like the humans had reacted. She was still feeling feverish, worn out, and so she laid down on the bedding. The healer had backed out of the cage, but Myla was standing near the entrance, watching Letta.
Myla was frowning at Letta. “I don’t think she’s going to react like the humans who were turned.”
“Maybe because she’s a fae. But maybe she will change her mind and come after us. Please, Myla, come out of there now so we can shut and lock the door.”
“You won’t hurt me, will you?” Myla approached Letta.
Letta knew that with animals, if they showed their belly, they were indicating their subservience. Not that she wanted to pretend being subservient to anyone, but she wanted to show Myla she had no intention of harming her. She rolled over on her belly, legs stretched out, tail sweeping across her mattress in a friendly wag. She even closed her eyes, as if she were one relaxed wolf.
Myla approached her then. “Don’t bite me or my brother will kill you.”
Letta knew Myla was serious. She glanced at Myla and wagged her tail even harder. This was a lot more work and wearing than she thought it would be. She just wanted to sleep. She didn’t have any urge to do anything else, but sleep. Though she did feel a strange urge to make her bedding more comfortable, and then she thought of Simon’s words to her to not scratch at her bedding.
Myla was being careful not to scare Letta and she appreciated the wolf shifter’s concern. The healer’s brown eyes were wide with worry.
Myla reached Letta and crouched down to pet her. Letta rolled over onto her side, and Myla smelled like fear, but even so, she stayed put and rubbed Letta’s head. “We’re going to get along just fine,” Myla said. “We’ll be the best of friends.” She smiled. Then she frowned. “I’m afraid my brother is going to give you a hard time. Just don’t bite him and everything will be fine.”
A man came into the hut and gasped. “Myla!”
“We’re fine. I’m leaving. Just don’t upset her. Letta is doing fine.” Then Myla ran her hand over Letta’s head again. “Sleep well, Letta. I’ll return later to see how you’re doing.”
Then Letta closed her eyes, glad she’d made a friend in the wolf pack. Ohmigoddess, she realized what a mistake she’d made in telling them she had met Princess Alicia of the dragon fae and the others, and that’s why she had come here though.
What if they talked to them and learned that Letta was a scorpion fae? And thought she could cause real trouble for them?
6
Simon had been searching everywhere for the brown wolf and it was getting dark, though as a wolf, he could still see well. The same was true of the dragons, as far as their night vision went. Some of his men were still searching the woods for the wolf. Others had returned to check on the wolves in the cages and to see if Letta had turned. He wanted to return himself in the worst way and check on his sister also, but he needed to capture the menacing, brown wolf and put an end to this.
What he hadn’t expected to find was the scent of the wolf heading into the cliffs. A wolf couldn’t climb them. A mountain goat, yes. Or a person, maybe. He shifted and started to make the climb, then he saw a cave about twenty feet above him. He didn’t know what to expect to find. A bloodthirsty wolf? Or a human or fae now, in the fae form.
He hoped she didn’t attack him when he was just making his way into the cave before he could shift. If she did, he was grabbing hold of her and taking her with him off the edge of the cliffs. She wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again.
Then he heard crying inside the cave. She was in the cave, much deeper, so he thought he could still shift before she did and attacked him. When he finally breached the cave, he saw a blond-haired girl sitting on the cave floor, her arms around her knees as she sobbed. She was wearing only a nightgown and shivering in the cold cave. He needed to get the dragons’ help. They could carry her down to the base of the cliffs easier than he could. And if she shifted in the meantime, she couldn’t injure them.
He called out to the dragons. “Here! Over here! Inside the cave. She’s returned to her fae form!” He hoped the dragons were still circling near enough to hear him, though they had exceptional hearing just like the wolves did.
Then he turned back to the woman, hoping she hadn’t shifted and was coming after him. But she was just sitting there still, looking lost and unsure of herself. “I’m Simon, and from what I understand, you’re Hannah?”
She nodded, her eyes glistening with tears.
“Okay, listen, you’re a fae wolf shifter. Like I am. Like my sister Myla is. You injured her badly. For whatever reason, you finally came into your ability. You bit the human named Bryan, and you turned him. Then he bit Mark. Now the two of them are wolves and are just as growly as you were.”
“I’m…I’m sorry. I couldn’t control myself at all. I…I just had to get away from everyone, from everything, until I could control the…the beast in me. I took refuge in the cave and I guess Myla thought I was a threat and was planning to steal the gold. She attacked me first. I just reacted.”
“The wolf is not a beast. It’s part of who we are. The wolf. We have the enhanced abilities of sight and sound, taste and touch. You’ll learn to live with it and we’ll help you. My pack and I. You also bit another fae, a woodland fae. Letta. Why did you bite her?"
"She was standing in my way. I had to escape the cave and run far away. I lunged at her, meaning only to make her get out of my way, but the next thing I knew, I'd clamped my teeth down on her arm. I could have broken it. I didn't. I tasted blood, she zapped me with a taser-like light, and then I was out of there. I'd run for a long time as a wolf, saw the cliffs, and thought about climbing up them to the cave above. Then, then…I suddenly was back to the way I was before, and I climbed the cliff to seek refuge in this cave, praying that no other wolves were in here. How is Letta and your sister doing?"
"Letta shouldn’t turn, but she’s feverish from your bite. My sister is doing better.”
“Or you would have killed me. Go ahead. I don’t want to feel so out of control like th
is. I don’t want to hurt people.”
“We’ll help you to learn to control it.” Simon couldn’t believe he was saying that to the young woman. Not after what she had done to his sister. “All right? Come with us and we’ll put you up in our village.” In a cage, of course. They couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t go on another rampage.
She didn’t move from her spot of rocky floor. Then he heard flapping and she looked alarmed.
Ena entered the cave and shifted. “I ought to flame you right now for what you did to Bryan and Myla. Letta too.”
That wasn’t what Simon thought Ena would say. He was trying to convince the woman to go with them so they wouldn’t have any trouble with her before they imprisoned her.
Halloran and Alton entered the cave next, Brett following.
The three men shifted. Brett asked, “So is she going to stay like this for a while?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Simon said. Everyone looked at him, and he was certain they realized what he intended to do with her. “If one of you can carry her to the village, I will be grateful.”
“I will,” Ena said.
“No! I want him to carry me.” Hannah pointed to Brett.
Simon didn’t think that either Ena or Brett appreciated her demanding tone.
“I’ll take her,” Halloran said, as if he was trying to avoid his sister and her mate having issues over this later.
Halloran didn’t wait for Hannah to agree, just shifted, grabbed her arms in his talons, and flew out of the cave. That’s what Simon liked to see, action, but then he wanted to make sure that she was incarcerated right away. “I need her to be locked in a cage, just like the others.”
“We’ll make sure she is.” Brett shifted and flew off.
Ena frowned at Simon, then shifted and took off after her mate.
Simon realized he should have asked one of them if they would be kind enough to carry him to the village. Now, it would take him twice as long. There was too much iron ore in the rocks which disabled his ability to fae transport.
Climbing down, he finally reached the bottom of the cliff, shifted, and howled, to let the other men know to quit searching for the brown wolf and return home.
Resounding howls rent the air and the wolves hurried to return to the village. They joined up with Simon below the cliffs. He led the pack and they finally reached home. Intending to check on Myla first, he hurried into the healer's hut to find his sister wasn’t there. Neither was the healer. Now what? Had Myla gone home to their cottage?
He went to the hut where the cages were to check on the newly turned wolves and couldn’t believe his eyes. His sister was sleeping beside a wolf in Letta’s cage.
“What is going on here?” he demanded.
Inside the cage, the healer was sitting on a mat nearby. “Your sister and Letta have become fast friends and are sleeping.”
As if he couldn’t see that part. What he wanted to know was why the two of them were in there with a recently turned wolf! “I want the both of you out of there now.”
“We are fine. When Letta turned into the wolf, she was totally subservient. Not once did she act growly in any way. It’s as though she’s always been one of us. I don’t believe you need to worry about her. I’m staying here also, to ensure they’re both feeling okay through the night though.”
Simon couldn’t believe it. He glanced around the hut and saw that Hannah had indeed been locked up in a cage also. At least his command was honored with regard to her. She was sleeping on her mat as a fae. Mark and Bryan had shifted into their wolf forms—Bryan, more of a reddish-colored wolf, and Mark had a gray, black and tan coat—and were watching them from their mats.
“What are you going to do with Hannah?” Ena asked.
“That remains to be seen.” Simon wasn’t going to speculate about anything any further, not after seeing the girl crying in the cave, and his sister sleeping beside Letta, the wolf. He wanted to learn the truth—had Hannah acted in self-defense at every turn? If so, there was hope for her yet.
"Then we’re going home now," Ena said, Brett and Halloran agreeing.
They said goodbye to Mark and Bryan, and then left.
Simon was glad they left so he could do what he felt he had to next. It would be bad enough that the rest of his pack would learn of it.
He entered the cage, closed the door, and shifted, taking guard watch over his sister and the healer, in the event Letta woke and became dangerous. He didn't want to assign any of the men to the task because he wanted to be the one responsible for how he handled her.
Then he thought about how she knew Princess Alicia. He would pay her a visit tomorrow and learn the truth about who the fae was.
ENA WAS SO angry with Brett for challenging her when she wanted to do something for Letta, and she was ready to explode when they arrived home. Her brother had come with them and she suspected he wanted to protect her mate!
Brett instantly pulled Ena into his arms and hugged and kissed her.
Ryker belatedly came to greet them, the rest of the staff already asleep. Brett shook his head at him, telling him wordlessly to return to bed. Ryker turned and headed back to his chamber.
Halloran didn't say a word, just waited to see if he was needed.
Ena finally relaxed in Brett's arms, feeling weary all of a sudden. She didn't know why she was feeling so…emotional over practically nothing. They took turns deciding things, they always had since Brett had become her mate. She knew she was being unreasonable, yet she couldn't help herself.
Brett ran his hand over her back and kissed her again. "It's the babies."
She frowned up at him.
"I watch TV. Or I did when I was a human and living among the humans. Women would become unbal…uhm, emotional."
It was a good thing he hadn't called her unbalanced!
"It's nothing that you can control, and you love to be in control. It has to do with hormones." Brett smiled at her. "I love you, and we'll get through the mood swings. I'll always love you."
She sighed. If that's all it was, she felt better about it. "Okay, I'll work harder at trying to control my temper."
Halloran folded his arms. "Thank the goddess for that."
"Go home, brother," Ena snapped.
He smiled, bowed, and quickly exited the castle.
Brett locked the door, then took Ena to bed.
"I want to see Princess Alicia tomorrow," she said, snuggling with Brett in bed.
"You know, you are a princess now and you no longer need to call her one. She is your equal."
"She is the crown princess and will someday be queen."
Brett sighed. "True, but she has accepted you as an equal, and for our kind that's really important."
"Okay, agreed. I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. You are just as obstinate as I am about doing things your way, and I realize how unreasonable I was when Letta could have injured any of us. Not just you or me, or the babies even, but the rest of our staff also, if we had brought her home with us and she couldn't control her wolf. I want to check on Mark, Bryan, and Letta tomorrow too to see their progress though."
"Not Hannah?"
"She has always been a disagreeable human; now she's a disagreeable fae wolf. I can't imagine her being anything other than contrary."
Brett rubbed her arm. "You do remember we have a mission: find the prized goat before it perishes."
Ena groaned. Unless she was on another mission, which she had been, she never left her work undone.
"I could do it while you're talking to Alicia."
Ena considered it for a second, then shook her head. "Then when you found the goat, you would get the credit and all the treasure for it."
He laughed.
It was a standing joke between them because all her treasure was his and all his was hers. They piled it all in the dungeon and loved to go down there together to count it from time to time. They were dragon shifter fae after all.
"Okay, what if I fly
over there tomorrow first thing and talk to her, and then meet back here to see to the goat. And, darn, I needed to tell the queen that Mark won't be working for her after all," Ena said.
"Halloran will tell her and there was nothing that could be done about it," Brett said.
"I love you, Brett."
"I love you right back," Brett said, and she knew he meant it with all his heart. Just as she did with him.
Tomorrow, she'd learn just what kind of fae Letta was, and then she and Brett would be on their way together to search for the special goat. But they'd see Brett's friends too, Letta, and Myla. And yes, Hannah, too.
LETTA WOKE WITH A START, surprised to see she was in a cage and a wolf was sleeping nearby, when it all came back to her. She'd been bitten by a wolf, turned by the wolf, and had fallen to sleep as one. Right now, she was back to her fae self, thankfully, and alone with Simon, the wolf. Why was he in her cage? She couldn't hurt anyone here, not locked away like she was. She vaguely remembered how Myla had even slept with her for a little while. Letta couldn’t appreciate her more for her kindness.
She glanced at the others in their cages also. They were all sleeping as wolves. She was glad she was back to her normal self.
Simon lifted his head and his eyes widened. She suspected he was surprised she'd shifted.
"I'm hungry. When can I eat?" Letta folded her arms and looked cross at him.
Simon glanced in the direction of the other cages and saw all the sleeping wolves. He shifted into his fae form. "Shift for me."
She sighed. She didn't want to be a wolf.
"Try. Think of being a wolf."
She didn't want to be a wolf!
"You don't have any control over the shifting then," he said, baiting her.