by Terry Spear
Then she realized what he was getting at. If she couldn't control her shifting, she couldn't be let out of the cage. Then she was getting out of here for good. She'd find somewhere else to live.
She concentrated on shifting and turned into her wolf and he smiled. Really smiled. She thought he had a handsome smile, for being a brigand. Then she realized he hadn't shifted into his wolf to attack her in the event she attacked him.
"Shift back," he said.
He was so unbelievably bossy! But she'd do it because she wanted to be fae, not a wolf. She shifted and folded her arms. "Enough! I'm hungry."
"Shift again."
She frowned. "No! Feed me first."
"Shift."
She figured he would never let her out of here unless she shifted a million times for him. She noticed the other wolves were sitting up, watching them now.
She shifted back and forth five more times, not waiting for him to tell her to do it. She was tired of him telling her what to do. She was a powerful scorpion fae after all. When she was a fae again, she folded her arms…again.
He smirked. "Willful fae. I'll be back."
He exited the cage and locked the door. She couldn't believe it! It had been unlocked all night? And she could have slipped away while he was snoozing? She could have screamed. Or shifted and growled. She didn't want to eat in the cage! Hadn't she proved she could shift at will now?
Simon left the hut and the one in the cage named Hannah shifted.
It looked like Hannah had her shifting under control too, but she hadn't wanted to prove it to Simon. Letta didn't blame her, though it could afford Letta some freedom, she was hoping.
"So you were living in the human world, a fae seer, before Ena brought you here?" At least that's what Letta thought from the conversation she'd overheard.
"What's it to you?" Hanna snapped.
Oh, my. Letta was ready to zap with her magic her again, except using a little more strength this time. "We're both caged here, so it would be nice to know who the goddess bit me and put me in this predicament."
Hannah smiled a little at that, and her smile wasn't in the least bit friendly. More so that Hannah was glad that she had done it. "You were in my escape path. Myla had already attacked me, protecting the treasure from an unknown wolf. It stoked my ire and I tore into her. I didn't know my own strength. Then I made a hasty retreat, once I was sure she couldn't come after me, and here you are, standing in my way."
"You didn't have to bite me. You could have gone around me."
"I saw you as a threat. Someone who would tell on me. Someone who would kill me if you could have."
"I could have," Letta said. "Believe me, I could have."
Hannah sobered a bit with the news. "Sorry."
Letta didn't feel that the wolf shifter's word was sincere. If Letta was in charge here, she'd leave Hannah in that cage for a very long time, until she learned to apologize and mean it. "You bit Bryan, a human friend of your own?"
Hannah glanced at the cages where Mark and Bryan were watching her, neither of them shifting out of their wolf forms. Letta thought they might not be able to. She felt bad for them because they hadn't done anything to deserve this. Well, neither had she!
"Sorry, Bryan. You tried to stop me, and I couldn't allow it. I was…kind out of my head when I turned into a wolf and I was frightened. Ena already hated my guts, and I figured that would be the last straw."
Letta really liked Ena, and she couldn't imagine the dragon fae shifter would treat anyone poorly without good reason. "So why don't you and Ena get along?"
Hannah shrugged.
Letta glanced at the wolves. They would know the truth, if they could shift and tell her. But neither was shifting.
Simon suddenly entered the hut with a collar in hand, and his gaze drifted from her to Hannah.
Letta closed her gaping mouth. He was going to put a restraining collar on her so she couldn't run off? She so wished she had woken last night and slipped out of there when she could have.
"So you can shift on your own now?" he asked Hannah, pausing at Letta's cage door.
"Yeah." Hannah shifted three times for him to prove it.
"Good." Then he turned to Letta. "Don't give me any trouble, and you can come join Myla and me for breakfast."
Letta would like to have breakfast with Myla, but she didn't want to have anything to do with Simon.
He unlocked the cage door. "You're doing great so far."
It appeared he wasn't letting Hannah out of her cage anytime soon, and, since she wouldn't apologize with any real conviction to Letta, she hoped she stayed in there for a lot longer.
Letta nodded, and he opened the cage door. He still approached her with caution, with a wolf's wariness. But she wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize her freedom for even a few precious moments. The more they let her out and she showed she could be trusted, the better chance she had of running off.
He put the collar on her neck, his fingers touching her skin and she felt some kind of strange kinship, as a wolf, she guessed, but more too, as if this darkly, annoying wolf was fascinated with her. As much as she loathed to admit it to herself, she felt just as much fascination for him.
Either she'd gone mad, or this was all so new to her, that she couldn't control how she was feeling.
He pulled his hands away from her neck and motioned for her to lead.
The iron collar would keep her from fae transporting out of here, but couldn't she just shift into the wolf and run off? She suspected there was more to the collar than met the eye.
"I could let you learn the truth on your own. Sometimes experience is better than being warned about something." He walked her through the woods to another hut.
She knew it.
"We have adapted the collar to be like one that a human uses to control his dog."
She frowned, not following what he was saying.
"It zaps the dog into compliance when a trigger mechanism is used. It makes for an obedient wolf when one is being obstinate."
She wanted to shift and bite him right then and there.
He smiled knowingly at her. He must have smelled her scent change from annoyed to aggressive. She wasn't used to being able to use her sense of smell to detect changes in a person's emotions. It could come in handy, once she was more aware of it. She wondered if there was any way of controlling her own scent, so she wouldn't be an open book for other shifters who would be well-aware of what she was feeling.
They entered the hut and she smelled both Myla and Simon's scent the strongest. She wondered if they lived in the cottage together. Myla was looking so much better, Letta smiled at her.
"I'm fixing eggs and bacon. Thanks again for all your care. Simon tells me you have your shifting under control." Myla motioned to a chair, indicating she wanted Letta to sit there.
Letta asked instead, "Can I help you without anything? You look really well today, so much better than yesterday."
"Thank you, no. I'm just serving up the food. And you look good too."
"I'm feeling much better, thanks."
Simon took a seat across from them. "The humans haven't changed from wolf to human again."
"Fae, right?" Letta asked. They weren't humans any longer.
"Right."
Myla smiled at Letta and served up the food.
"But Hannah demonstrated she can shift. She says you attacked her first," Simon said.
"She's right." Myla served up the food and coffee. "I was protecting the treasure, as was my job. The wolf was unknown to me. I only growled, raised my hackles, and meant to chase her off. She acted like she didn't understand the cues I was giving off. I raced at her to snap at her, not intending to bite her unless she still didn't leave, and she attacked me. I'm sure to her, it looked like I was attacking her. And once we knew she had only come into her wolf shifter abilities, we also know that she probably didn't have much control over her behavior and didn't know how to react."
"She's alpha." Letta took a b
ite of her eggs. "These are great."
"Thanks. Yeah, she's alpha." Myla added sugar and cream to her coffee.
"Ena doesn't like her, that much is sure," Simon said.
"Do you think Hannah's made a play for her mate?" Letta asked.
Simon smiled at her, and Letta felt her cheeks fill with heat. Then he finished off his eggs. "You'll watch over Letta while I'm gone?"
Letta couldn't believe he'd leave her in the custody of his sister. Then again, her sister was a wolf, a guard wolf, and she would most likely do her duty and keep Letta in line.
"Yeah, sure. Go do whatever you have to do. What about the others?" Myla asked.
"They stay in their cages. They need to be fed, but they won't be released. I don't trust Hannah. As to the men, I don't trust them either, but only because they're so new to all of this. Hannah? I imagine she's going to give us trouble." Then he looked at Letta.
She wondered just what he thought about her.
Simon finished his coffee. "Letta can stay with us tonight at the cottage, if all goes well today."
Myla smiled. Letta didn't. Did he mean that she would be stuck living with him in the same cottage? Ugh.
Simon smiled at Letta, as if he knew just what she was thinking. "I'll be back as soon as I can." Then he left, and Letta finished her breakfast.
"He's all right." Myla started clearing away the dishes. "He's just ultra-protective of me."
Letta helped her clean the dishes. "Were you sleeping with me as a wolf last night for a long time?"
"Yeah, you are kind of like a new wolf pup, needing a pack mate to give you comfort. You hadn't hurt anyone, and from the way you reacted to me, your actions indicated you wouldn't hurt me either. I stayed for half the night, then Simon made our healer and me leave to get some rest. I wouldn't have agreed to it unless he stayed with you to keep you company in case you woke."
"He stayed all night."
Myla smiled. Someone knocked on the door of the cottage, and Myla got up and glanced out the window and frowned. "Oh no, I should have warned you. Gia is here and she's a wolf who has the hots for Simon."
"So?" Like that meant anything to Letta.
"Gia is afraid you will try to steal him away."
"She doesn't have to worry about me in that regard."
"Gia didn't like that you and Simon slept together in the cage all night."
"As if that was my choice! And he was across the cage from me, not sleeping with me."
Myla chuckled and opened the door. "Hi, Gia. Do you want to come in for some coffee?"
"Sure." Gia entered the cottage, her red hair twisted into a bun in back, her green eyes narrowed as she gave Letta the once-over in a way that said she'd like to rip her throat out as a wolf if she could.
Letta carried the fresh mugs of coffee to the table. She couldn't believe the wolf would be worried about her wanting any intimacy between her and Simon.
"So what are you going to do with her?" Gia asked Myla, then turned her attention to Letta, her look malevolent.
"Simon wants to keep her in the pack. She's a healer, and she has some…special skills."
Gia turned her attention again to Myla. "Such as?"
"Special…combat skills. Magical skills. I wouldn't want to test her." Myla almost looked happy to share that bit of news with Gia.
Letta was afraid Gia would try to provoke her just to see what she could do. Maybe even discredit her as being a viable member of the pack, if she forced Letta to fight her. Which was fine by her. She still had Ena's offer to be her midwife, and she had every intention of taking her up on it.
"You fed her. You've done your duty. Do you want me to take her back to her cage?" Gia smiled a little evilly at the prospect.
"She's not going back there. She proved to Simon she can control her shifting and she did save my life," Myla said.
Gia's smile slipped. "Yet he put a collar on her."
"Yes, so she'll stay with us and we can teach her our ways."
"It sounds to me like he doesn't trust her." Gia eyed the collar.
Letta had hope then. The woman hated her, and Letta thought she might want to remove the collar from around Letta's neck so she could leave. Then Gia would be free to have Simon like she wanted.
Letta just had to figure out a way to see Gia on her own, without anyone stopping them, if Gia was even agreeable. Gia might realize it could backfire and Simon would be furious with her.
Maybe Letta could tell her that she could pretend to threaten her with her magic, and Gia removed the collar out of fear. Letta smiled. That's just what she'd do as soon as she could meet up with her privately.
7
Simon soon met up with Princess Alicia at her castle, but he wasn't surprised to see Ena there to speak with her also. Good. He could question Ena about Hannah and give her a report about how Myla and Letta were doing. The news about the two men and Hannah wasn't as promising.
"What are you doing here?" Ena sounded irritated that Simon was there.
Princess Alicia smiled. "Why don't we go into my sitting room and talk over whatever you came to see me concerning."
Alicia led the way and then they all took their seats on blue velvet couches covered in gold embroidery. Simon bit his tongue before he questioned Alicia, allowing Ena to go first. Ena was a princess too now, and she'd also saved Alicia's life, so they had a special bond. He could be considered the king of his wolf back, though they didn't have titles like that. He was the leader of his pack and that was good enough for him.
"Ena?"
"I suspect Simon and I are here for the same reason. A fae showed up in his territory and she saved Myla's life after—"
"Wait, Halloran told me about all this last night. How is Myla doing?" Alicia asked Ena.
Ena deferred to Simon to answer the question.
"She's much better," Simon said. "Thanks for asking. She is up and about and feeling like her old self."
"What about Letta, Bryan, and Mark?" Ena asked, now that they were on the subject of the wounded and newly-turned wolves.
"Letta seems to have good control over her wolf shifting. Myla slept with her half the night. I slept with them both and when Myla left, I continued to stay with the woman."
Ena's brows rose.
"I mean, as her guard."
“So she was turned also,” Ena said, frowning.
"Right. As to Mark and Bryan, they were wolves this morning. They seem to have no control over their shifting. They're still in their cages and being well-cared for. Letta is staying with Myla and me in our cottage."
Ena raised a brow in speculation.
"I wouldn't put her up with anyone else while we know so little about her." He frowned at the annoying dragon fae shifter.
"Good. Now, Halloran said the woman who saved Myla’s life is Letta. For your information, she’s one of the scorpion fae. And yes, she was telling the truth when she said she had met us before," Alicia said.
Both Simon and Ena closed their gaping mouths. Simon spoke first after that. "They no longer exist. The race died off centuries ago."
"They didn’t though. They took us hostage, fed us, and released us. We had no idea where we were when this all happened. Their king looked like a boy, but it was fae glamor. They were so warlike, they practically annihilated their kind, you're right. But when each of their kind come of age, they move on and live among other fae."
Simon didn't like the idea of that one bit. "So she's not a woodland fae, but a scorpion fae." Her fae aura was silvery when he’d first seen her, but after the wolf changed her, now it was more of a silvery green.
"She's a wolf fae shifter now," Alicia said. "And she's your charge."
He didn't need to be told that.
"Unless he's afraid to keep her in their village, and she'll come home with me." Ena folded her arms.
"She stays with me. With my people." Why did he sound like he wanted to keep the woman for himself when she could be real trouble for their kind? For a
ny fae kind? "I have a question for you though, Ena. What is the matter with Hannah that you and she don't seem to get along?"
"Has she been pleasant to you?" Ena asked.
"I think she was making the attempt when she thought it could free her from the cage."
"Was she able to control her shifting?"
"Yes. She only showed me she could when she thought it would benefit her though," he said.
Ena shook her head. "She is contrary and won't work unless her life depends on it. She was supposed to be working with Mark and Bryan on the gardens, but she did as little as possible. Before she came to our world, she was the leader of a group of fae seers who were trying to kill our kind. Bryan and Mark tried to convince her to do her fair share of work in the gardens, but I know they were covering for her. Whenever I returned to the castle after a flight somewhere, I'd swoop over the gardens to see what she was doing. Bryan and Mark would be busy weeding or planting new plants. Hannah? Sitting on her butt on a bench watching, as if she was too good to dirty her hands. When we had rescued him from the fae seers, Bryan wanted to take her with us, thinking she could be a fae like us, given time. And he knew any fae seers would kill her if she had been living there still. You may keep her. I don't want her back. She is one of you anyway. Maybe you can work with her and she will come around."
"But you doubt it." Simon could tell from Ena's whole expression that she thought the woman was nothing but trouble.
Ena shrugged. "I doubt she would behave for me. Maybe, since you're a wolf, and she's one also now, you'll have better luck with her."
"All right, thanks, princess. Princess." Simon got up to leave.
"Thanks for the update," Alicia said. "My mother wondered if Mark will be able to plan her gardens anytime soon. She realized he might not be able to."
"It remains to be seen. But if they get their shifting under control, we'll send him or Bryan back to her." Simon then left the sitting room, glad for answers, but worried about Letta's scorpion fae heritage. He suspected Hannah was going to be way more trouble than she was worth. Hopefully, like Ena said, the wolves might be able to get her under control.
Before Simon could get very far down the hall, Ena chased after him, surprising him. "Wait! I'm sorry if I've been kind of out of sorts with you—"