by Terry Spear
WOODLAND FAE
THE WORLD OF FAE, BOOK 10
TERRY SPEAR
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Terry Spear
Woodland Fae
Copyright © 2018 by Terry Spear
Cover Art by Alexis Frost
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
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Discover more about Terry Spear at:
http://www.terryspear.com/
ISBN-13: 978-1-63311-041-0
Thanks so much to Sarah Quiring for being excited to read the newest edition of The World of Fae! We all need a little fantasy in our lives, right?
SYNOPSIS
Synopsis
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Letta is a scorpion fae, pretending to be a woodland fae, since her own kind had practically annihilated their own. She's come of age and must leave her kind behind to make her way in the world. Taking refuge in a cave during a storm in wolf fae territory, she's attacked by a wolf shifter fae and saves another's life, who happens to be the pack leader's sister. But now Letta has a new problem. The bite she'd received turns her into a wolf shifter also, but will the wolf fae pack accept her or scorn her for being one of the deadly scorpion fae if they learn the truth?
Simon is the pack leader for the Wolf Mountain pack and he's unsure what kind of fae Letta is, not having heard of a woodland fae before. Yet he's attracted to Letta like he's never been to a she-wolf before. That causes dissent among some of his wolves who believe another wolf should be his mate and he must prove to his pack that he has what it takes to lead.
1
“Where’s Bryan?” dragon fae shifter Ena asked, as she and her mate, Brett, and others of her household sat down to eat the morning meal at her castle. Well, it was now Brett’s and her castle. She wasn’t quite used to thinking of it in that way. Dragons didn't share. What was theirs was theirs. So this was a totally new experience for her.
She swore Brett's human friend Bryan ate more than anyone else in their household, though she had to admit the human and his friend Mark had worked wonders on her gardens. So much so that her dragon shifter friend Alton, who was known to have beautiful gardens, tried to steal Bryan and Mark away from her with a bribe of treasure untold.
Alton should have known it wouldn't work. Not when her mate, Brett, mage, phantom fae, and dragon shifter, was a good friend of both the teens when they’d lived in the human world. Friendship trumped treasure in their book. Besides, Ena paid them plenty of her own treasure to keep them satisfied and working hard.
Lila, her cook, served more eggs and cinnamon rolls, the sweet confections were some of Brett’s favorites. Before Ena received Brett in payment for saving Princess Alicia, crown princess of the dragon fae, Brett had been a fae killer, but only of the unseelie kind. To his credit.
Everyone looked at Mark to see if he knew where Bryan was. The other human who’d joined the staff was also a fae seer like Bryan. If they were anything like Brett, they still might be fae, but just hadn't come into their fae powers yet. The problem was, what kind of fae would they be? Dragon fae didn't get along with all fae kinds.
Mark shrugged. “I wanted to start work on a water garden this morning—”
“Water garden?” Ena couldn’t be more thrilled. She had told them she wanted them to plan the gardens, hoping they wouldn’t make a mess of them. But she’d been thoroughly pleased to see the way the gardens were turning out.
She’d heard rumors that Queen Viviana, ruler of the dragon fae, would make Bryan and Mark her master gardeners at her castle, if she learned what miracles they had done with Ena’s flowers, arbors, gazebos, and bridges, all making for the perfect getaway for Ena and Brett. After a harrowing, long day, or several, of taking on missions—which was their dragon shifter heritage—they needed the time to chill.
“Beg your pardon,” Muriel, her lady’s maid said, “but Hannah left the castle. We’re not sure when. Maybe Bryan went with her? To look after her?”
To keep her in line? Ena frowned. Despite that the human was a fae seer, who had used Bryan in an attempt to lure the fae into a killing trap, and the leader of the gang of thugs, Ena had allowed Hannah to live among them—just in case she was truly a fae who had been living with the humans. Her abilities just might not have shown up yet. Mark and Bryan might be the same way, which was part of the reason why they’d wanted to give up killing the fae who dropped into the human world and instead, seek out adventure in the fae world.
Both hoped they’d end up being like Brett, in his words, a paladin, a great warrior, who was also a mage. Though he said that the paladins he’d played in video games weren’t also dragon shifters. In truth, he’d turned out to be a prince. Who would ever have thought that? And her prince. Which meant, Ena was now a princess. But she still was Ena, wearing her black corsets, form-fitting leather pants, and boots and her black hair cut short—her look, her way. On occasion, she did wear a gown, just because she wanted to.
Bryan had been protective of Hannah, when no one even liked the fae seer. She was belligerent, rude to everyone, and even Ena’s threat to turn her to toast—using her dragon fire—had no effect. Hannah could have at least pretended to be afraid of her. Ena even threatened to return her to her own world, let her face the consequences, should she be a true fae, show off her fae aura, and have to deal with the fae seers back home. They would want her blood.
“She’d better be working in the gardens.” Ena knew the girl wasn’t, but she wanted to impress upon Mark and Bryan that if Hannah slept in her castle and was given food and clothes, she had to work for the privilege. Ena had gotten way too lax with the human. She didn’t want her other staff to feel they worked hard when some human didn’t.
“She does,” Mark said.
“Good, because I have half a mind to send her back to your people, the next time I hear she’s caused anyone any trouble.”
Mark looked at Brett, as if thinking he’d protect Hannah.
Brett shook his head. “Don’t look at me. You and Bryan and I wanted to be here. Ena could be doing her a great service if Hannah turns out to be like me. Ena’s right about Hannah working here and getting along. There’s no reason to keep her here, if she continues to be so hateful.”
Ena appreciated Brett’s words of support, though she wouldn’t have expected anything less from him. Her sparing his life had made him grateful to her beyond words. Not like Hannah.
“Do you want me to check Bryan’s chamber and see if he’s sick?” Mark asked, sounding worried that Bryan could be running around somewhere with Hannah and getting himself into trouble.
“No, finish your breakfast. I can hardly wait to see what you come up with in the water garden, Mark.” Ena knew he’d check on Bryan as soon as the meal was done. He may never be more than a human, bu
t he and Bryan had grown on her. In part, because they’d helped her to fight her battles, but now also with creating beautiful gardens. She’d never dreamed hers would rival Alton’s.
Every time Alton came over to see them, she swore his dragon shifter-golden fae mate Kayla, would console him that their gardens filled with lavender—her special gift—couldn’t be beat. It was true that they received tons of income off her lavender, that was made into everything from seasonings and teas, to cloth dyes. Not only that, but Kayla had started a business of offering mushrooms on the side, but she wouldn’t say where she was harvesting them from so she wouldn't have any competition.
Ena didn't blame her in the least. Fae could be untrustworthy.
After breakfast, Mark hurried off to see Bryan, as she knew he would. She and Brett had a mission to go on: look for a highly prized and well-loved goat this morning. They took their business of searching for lost objects and people seriously.
Brett wrapped Ena in his arms and kissed her. “Cook made those cinnamon rolls for you too, you know.”
Ena arched a brow.
Brett smiled and kissed her mouth. “It didn’t go unnoticed that you always eat two of them when she serves them. Lila was most pleased.”
Ena hmphed. “She made them for you, because she knows how much that pleases you.”
He smiled. “By making what I like, she discovered what you also like, since you’d never had them before.” Then he frowned and ran his hand over her belly. “I know that you get a lot of exercise, but you seem to be gaining a bit of weight lately.”
She glanced around the empty dining hall before she spoke softly to Brett. “I want to see the healer first to confirm this, but we might be having the first dragon shifter baby born here in years.”
Brett smiled, looking pleased and she was glad.
“But, I don’t want you to tell anyone yet, before it’s a sure thing.”
“I couldn’t be happier, and before Alton and Kayla have any too.”
She scoffed. “This is not a race.” Though she knew Brett and Alton were always trying to outdo each other.
Mark rushed into the dining room, startling them and Ena knew right away he had bad news. “It’s Bryan. He’s in his bed, burning up with a fever and his skin is white as ice.”
Muriel hurried into the dining room to join them. “I’ll get the healer.”
Ena hadn’t expected that news. This was some of the trouble they had with keeping humans in the fae world. They didn’t heal as quickly as the fae did. And not as well on their own sometimes, depending on what ailed them.
“Some human illness?” Ena asked, and she and Brett hurried after Mark to see Bryan in his chamber.
“He won’t say, but he looks like he’s dying,” Mark said, tears clogging his throat.
GRAY WOLF shifter Myla guarded the cave full of treasure for Alton and his mate Kayla, now, the wolves loving to do it because they could receive gold coins to pay for supplies. Many worked tree farms and other kinds of gardens, loving nature. She’d checked all the piles of treasure, smelled them, and knew her brother Simon had been here earlier. She’d relieved Clarita, a winged wolf shifter fae, but Myla’s wolf family didn’t have the wings. She thought they were cool and sometimes wished she had some too.
Nothing extraordinary had happened here in months, so she wasn’t expecting any thieves to show up. Still, she always wore her wolf coat when she guarded the treasure, just in case.
She was glad she was in here, truth be told, because she had smelled the rains coming and liked a nice dry spot to stay in. Though their double coat of fur would keep the rain collecting on her outer guard hairs from reaching her skin.
She paced some more, then settled on the floor deep inside the cave to wait for her shift to be over. It was an easy job and paid well. She never slept while she was here, but if she had fallen asleep, any little sound would have alerted her that something had moved inside the cave. Usually, it was just a mouse or a rat.
She needed something easy to do for the next four hours. She’d helped with her sister’s rambunctious wolf pups for a couple of hours earlier, and though she adored them, the four were a handful.
And then she heard something that made her hackles raise. A wolf running into the cave. No one should be here, but then she suspected someone needed to tell her some news.
When the wolf finally made its appearance at the opening to the treasure room, Myla saw that she was a brown she-wolf, no one she’d ever seen before. She instantly jumped to her feet and growled low, warning the wolf to leave the cave at once. No wolves were allowed in here unless it was official pack business, or one of the wolves paid to guard the treasure.
When the wolf bared her teeth at Myla, she rushed forth to nip at her, to give her the message she couldn’t be in here.
What Myla hadn’t expected was for the wolf to come out of the dark and attack her! The creature didn’t have any reason to come at her like that, unless she intended to steal some of Alton’s treasure. She couldn’t allow it and needed to alert the pack. Even though it was her job to protect it, the standing rule was to call for backup too, in the event of trouble.
Before she could howl to her pack, the wolf tore into her.
Myla knew the wolf was so vicious, she would kill her if she let down her guard. She fought with all the training she’d had over the years, play fighting with her brothers and sister and others in the Wolf Mountain pack. She’d never fought another wolf for real though.
She smelled her blood and she swore the attacking female was driven by the smell of blood. Her blood!
Myla was so busy fighting back, she didn’t even feel the pain of her wounds. She growled and snarled as much as the attacking wolf did and got in a couple of bites that made the wolf dodge away from her. But she couldn’t howl for help. Every time she tried to lift her chin to howl, the wolf raced forward and the two clashed again, snapping jaws, teeth scraping against teeth, except now Myla smelled the wolf's blood too.
Again, she tore into the wolf, tearing her ear flap and the aggressor ran off a little way, as if needing time to catch her breath before she charged in again.
Then they heard something—the sound of rain pouring down outside. And then something else. Someone coming, footfalls, a fae's, not a wolf’s.
Before Myla could call out a warning to the newcomer, hoping it wasn’t this wolf’s accomplice, the brown wolf swung around and attacked her again.
LETTA HAD FINALLY LEFT King Tameron and her people behind in the woodland community where they lived to start out on her own, like any of the scorpion fae had to do when he or she came of age. Tameron had insisted on it, telling their kind to scatter about the fae world so they wouldn’t end up in a cataclysmic fight and kill each other off like they had done in their kingdom of old: the scorpion kingdom. No one, who had known of them, knew any of them existed any longer. Well, except for the one time when the king had taken a group of fae in to learn why they were at a human Renaissance faire in their territory. Normally, they’d preferred to keep their secret…secret. They were known to be a war-like race, as if it was in their genes. But she didn’t think she had the dark heart that those who fought in the wars had.
Now, she was alone in the woods, looking for a place to call home near the dragon fae territory. She knew how to build a shelter, but for now, she just wanted to take refuge from the torrential rain in a nearby cave she’d spied. Hopefully, nothing would be skulking around inside it.
She had magic skills, though she preferred using her healing skills, rather than her magic for fighting. She was afraid, if she used those skills, she might like it too much and fall down the same dark path her ancestors had taken.
She should have known what a mistake it was to enter the cave when she smelled the recent scent of a wolf. More than a wolf. Two of them. But she needed to get out of the rain. The wolves didn’t. When she used her fae light, she saw only the dark cave’s interior. Maybe the wolves had been here, but were n
ow gone.
She didn’t plan to go very far into the cave. Just far enough to get out of the downpour that was splashing rainwater inside. That’s when she heard a low growl. Right before the brown wolf lunged at her from the shadows.
2
Brett was so thrilled that Ena might be pregnant with a child of their own, that he couldn’t believe any news could eclipse that. But when he saw his friend Bryan burning up with fever and looking like death-warmed over, everything else was forgotten.
“We need to get cold compresses to bring his fever down,” Brett quickly said. “Do you have the flu, Bryan?”
His eyes unfocused, Bryan just stared at him as if he was delirious.
Eyes widened, Mark pointed to the covers. “There’s blood on the quilt.”
Alarmed, Brett moved the quilt aside and saw that Bryan’s arm was sporting a vicious bite from a large animal, the area red and bleeding. “It's a defensive wound."
“We might not be able to take care of this ourselves,” Ena warned.
Brett knew that taking him to a human hospital could have consequences too. He also wasn’t sure that the fae could bring him back to health. Their own people were so resilient that all they needed was the help of herbs and rest, oftentimes, except for the time he was struck with two crossbow bolts. And Ena’s brother had broken one of his ribs when trying to remove one of them to save his life.
“A hospital,” Brett said, as Cook hurried in with cool cloths.
“Not the same one you keep going to,” Ena warned. “Every time we show up there, so do the police.”
“It’s the closest one to our location in the fae world, but you’re right. We’ll have to go to another one. What bit him?” Brett breathed in the scents around the bed with his enhanced dragon smell. “Wolf?”
