by Terry Spear
“You're right. Wolf. Alton has wolves guarding his treasure at Wolf Mountain. I know they live elsewhere too, but I’ve never heard of them entering a castle and attacking anyone. How would he have gotten in?” Ena asked.
“Unless Bryan had been outside the castle walls and was bitten,” Brett said.
One of Ena’s maids hurried into the chamber. “Could a wolf have taken Hannah away? I just ran in there to see if she was in her room and make sure she was okay. There are signs of wolf fur all over the bedding and the floor.”
“What do we do now? If your healers can’t take care of this, we’ve got to get Bryan to a hospital,” Mark said.
“Mark's right. A bite like that could become infected,” Brett warned.
“I’m tracking down the wolf,” Ena said.
Brett knew Ena would kill the wolf. The problem was the wolf could injure or kill any number of people during the rampage it was on now. Still, he thought they should talk to the leader of the wolf pack and get his help in this, if the wolf was one of his own. Simon could have a stake in this also.
“What if it was Hannah?” Muriel was wringing her hands. “What if she doesn’t know how to deal with being a wolf, if she’s now a wolf shifter fae?”
“Bite the hand that feeds you?” Ena said, angry.
Despite not wanting to believe Hannah was now a dangerous wolf, Muriel was right. Hannah might have found her fae abilities.
Jacob, their wheelsmith, who had been helping a lot with the gardening, since he hadn’t needed to maintain wagon wheels that much, hurried into the chamber. “Ryker overheard what happened and came to get me. I can take Bryan to a hospital. Mark can come with me. I’ll leave, if any fae seers suddenly show up. Since Mark and Bryan are human, no one will suspect they're one of us, in a manner of speaking.”
Ryker was Ena and Brett's butler, though he often did more than that.
“What if any fae seers learn he was with you?” Ena sounded worried.
“Okay, then I can just drop the two of them off and…well, hide somewhere. But I’ll be there in case they need a quick transport out of there,” Jacob said.
“You can’t carry two humans with you. Someone else will have to go with you,” Brett said.
“You, Brett. They’re your friends. You know the layout of hospitals better than any of us would. Take them, and then return when you can,” Ena said.
Frowning at her, Brett took hold of her hand. “Wait for me then. Until I return. I’ll help you to locate the wolf.”
She shook her head. “This is what I do. I can’t let a menace run wild through the kingdom.”
“But you’re—”
She gave him a sharp look, and he knew she didn’t want the word to get out she was pregnant until she knew for sure. “I’ll take Alton with me. He knows the wolves better than any of us. If the wolf is part of their pack, he can deal with Simon. If not, then he can help me track her down.”
“You know for sure it's a she?” Mark asked.
Muriel nodded. “The wolf was a female. The fur she left behind is brown. So you should be looking for a brown wolf.”
Brett didn’t want Ena to go without him, but he knew the dark look she was giving him meant to tread lightly with what he had to say. She’d been doing things like this for a long time. He was new at it, new to their world and ways still, no matter how much he’d had to deal with dangerous situations already. Sometimes, he felt he was old hat at it, but he had only learned a little about their kind. His kind too now.
“All right, but don’t take any risks that you shouldn’t.” He loved Ena with all his heart and if he lost her, he would lose part of his soul. He kissed her mouth, and then leaned over and kissed her belly before she could stop him, her face turning red with embarrassment. He hadn’t meant to do it in front of her staff, particularly when they didn’t know if she was pregnant or not. Well, and she wasn't for sure either.
The startled looks on their faces said it all. They knew he was worried about her…and a baby.
“Maybe, Halloran should go with you, Princess Ena,” Jacob offered, as he went to lift Bryan from the bed.
Halloran was her brother, but he worked for the queen now, and Brett knew she couldn't ask him to come on this errand.
“Go! Take him to a hospital. Now.” Then Ena squeezed Bryan’s hand, though he didn’t seem to hear or see anything that was going on. “You have too much gardening to do to die on me, human.”
Mark smiled a little at her, then Brett said one last time, “Maybe—”
But her reproachful look made Brett change the topic. “We’re going. Just…be careful.” Then he took hold of Mark’s arm, and he and Jacob and Bryan returned to the human world, but if anything happened to Ena, Brett would track down the wolf and kill her himself. No questions asked.
LETTA THREW a spark of white light at the attacking brown wolf, and it yipped. Singed fur and a curl of smoke filled the air as Letta dashed for the side of the cave to give the wolf a way out before she killed it. But the wolf attacked her, biting her arm, and Letta zapped her with a higher voltage of electricity. The wolf fell away and raced out of the cave.
It was so easy to use her spells to hurt someone, Letta thought with horror. Though she reminded herself, as a woodland fae, all she had were her magic spells to protect herself and the wolf had attacked her with wicked teeth. But what if the she-wolf had pups in the cave, a den, and it was protecting them?
Worried she might find wolf pups mewling for their momma, Letta rushed deeper into the cave to find a severely wounded gray she-wolf, her gray and blond fur with black guard hairs covered in blood. Letta realized then that the brown wolf had blood on her mouth before she’d bitten Letta. But what if this was a bad wolf and the other one was a good wolf? What if Letta saved this wolf's life, if she could, and the other wolf’s pack came after her?
She didn’t hesitate to throw her backpack on the floor and rummaged through it, but when she couldn’t reach her medical supplies quickly enough, Letta finally dumped the contents on the floor. She grabbed a mortar, measured out herbs, and ran to the entrance of the cave to catch some of the rainwater. Then she hurried to mix the herbs with the water into a paste using a pestle as she stalked back to where the wolf lay bleeding.
“I’ll patch you up in no time,” Letta said, trying to comfort the wolf, if she could hear her, could smell her unique scent, and knew she wasn’t a wolf, or the one who had attacked her. She began to apply a paste of the healing herbs to the wolf’s wounds, and then she hurried to bandage them. “I wish you could howl for help, if you’re the innocent one here. Except, I would hope they know I aided you and didn’t hurt you.” She ran her hand over the wolf’s back where she was uninjured. “You’ll make it. I’m a great healer.” Though she did do well with her healing skills, this wolf was severely injured and Letta didn’t know if she’d stopped her lifeforce from draining out of her body fast enough. Even if she lived, she might never be the same. Letta cast a healing chant over the wolf.
Then she took a break and applied some of the healing salve to her arm and repeated the same spell to attempt to heal her wound faster. Right before her eyes, the wound began to seal, the bleeding slowing, and she took a relieved breath. It would continue to heal until every vestige of the wound was gone. Her sleeve was bloodied and torn where the wolf had bitten her.
Letta couldn’t wait for anyone to come and find the injured wolf. First, she checked deeper in the cave, just in case there was another entrance and the brown wolf came back to try and finish them both off. What she saw made her gasp. Mountains of treasure!
And that’s when she realized she smelled dragon. Ohmigod, this was a dragon’s lair? She was so dead meat. Had the badly injured wolf been protecting the treasure? Why would the other wolf need the treasure? Maybe it was a feud between the two wolves?
Letta hurried back to the wolf and heard the unmistakable flapping of wings. Two dragons? She thought it was bad enough that a wolf pack might find her here with
the wounded wolf, but dragons finding her “stealing” their treasure? She knew there was nothing she could do to fight them, so she would have to do the next best thing: start talking in a hurry.
Two dragons. She was in serious trouble.
The male and female dragons settled on the floor in front of her, looking cross and ready to terminate her. One was olive green in color with narrowed green eyes, the female, smaller than the blue-scaled dragon, the male.
“A brown wolf attacked this one and I zapped her with an electricity spell. Not enough to kill her,” she quickly said, just in case the other wolf was the good one and this one was the bad one. “I’m a healer and took care of her injuries the best I could.”
Both dragons shifted and hurried to look over the injured wolf. Letta was surprised to see that the woman had her black hair cropped short, unlike most fae women who wore theirs long. And she was wearing a black leather corset and pants and thigh high boots, instead of a gown like most fae women wore. And the male looked like he'd been to the human world, dressed in a t-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers.
“Myla,” the male dragon shifter said. “Myla, can you hear me?”
When the injured wolf didn’t respond, he said to the female dragon, “I’m taking her to her people. Wait here with this one, Ena. If the woman moves a muscle, take care of her.”
“I didn’t do this to her.” Letta hated that she sounded desperate to plead her case. Then realizing they had to smell the wolf bites on Myla, and Letta couldn’t have done it, she felt a little relief. Then she recalled the mountains of gold. Great. Just great. Now the dragons would think she knew too much about where their stash of treasure was and eliminate her!
“I’ll wait. Go, Alton. Take Myla to her family,” Ena said.
He shifted and lifted the wolf in his talons and flew out of the cave. Letta was glad the male dragon was gone, not that the female was any less dangerous. Letta was gladder still that the male would take Myla to her family, especially if she didn’t make it through the night. She should be with her family, her pack.
Ena cocked her head to the side a little. “What kind of fae are you? I’ve never seen your kind before.”
“Woodland fae,” Letta quickly told her, as if she had something to hide. Which she did.
“Woodland fae,” Ena said, her eyes narrowed. “I’ve never heard of such a fae.”
Letta tilted her chin up, as if telling the mighty dragon shifter that she wasn’t scared of her. The truth was, she was. And of the male dragon. And the wolf pack. Here she came from the mighty scorpion fae and thought she wouldn’t fear anyone. Maybe after all these centuries, the dark heart of their genes no longer existed. She was afraid she’d have to toughen up if she was going to deal with the dragon shifters, when the other returned and took her to task for knowing where his treasure was.
But then Letta’s healer instincts came to bear and she frowned, gazing at Ena’s belly, listening for more heartbeats, and then heard them. Faint. Two. The dragon was going to have twins. Maybe this could be Letta's salvation.
“Do…you have a midwife to deliver your babies?” Though Letta had never delivered dragon fae babies before. Did they come in a shell?
THIS WAS GOING to be tough to explain, Brett thought, as Jacob carried Bryan into the hospital, and they were asked all kinds of questions about how they were going to pay for the hospitalization. Brett didn’t think he’d ever have to call on Queen Viviana for anything, but he’d saved her life, and now Brett had to ask her if she’d save Bryan’s.
“I’ll be right back,” Brett said to Mark and Jacob.
“Where—” Mark said.
“To see if Queen Viviana can pay for his hospitalization so Bryan can be seen.” Brett fae traveled to the dragon fae’s castle, and when he arrived, he saw Halloran, Ena’s brother, and Dragon at Arms, right away. "Halloran, can I secure an urgent meeting with the queen?"
“For what purpose?” Halloran asked, as he and Brett strode toward the queen’s throne room where she was having court to mete out justice for minor infractions of her laws.
“A wolf bit Bryan, but his blood is badly infected. We need hospital insurance to pay for his coverage. Viviana used to have it in the human world when she lived there. We thought, I thought, she might be able to finagle something.”
“The queen does not finagle things.” Halloran escorted him to the throne room where a courtier was pleading his case.
As soon as the queen saw Brett and Halloran, she motioned for the man to quit speaking, and called them forth.
Halloran explained the situation, and she frowned at them. “All right. I’ve heard he is doing an exquisite job for you with the gardens.”
Brett knew Ena would have a fit if the queen wanted Bryan to work for her instead, and she’d save his life. Then again, he knew Ena would want Bryan alive and healthy, no matter where he worked.
“I will see to court upon my return, tomorrow,” the queen said, waving for a dismissal of her people. Then she followed Brett and Halloran into the hallway. She was wearing her gold crown, and a pale blue gown of silk, not her usual red gown when she was holding court. “How did Bryan injure himself so badly?”
Brett explained about Hannah, possibly being a fae wolf shifter, and biting him.
“Ena is hunting her down as we speak, I would hope,” the queen said, her eyes narrowed.
“Aye, with Alton. Though I wanted to go with her.”
“You’re a good mate, but your friend needed you. Now he needs me. But I will require payment of his services afterward.” Then Viviana abruptly switched subjects. “So, Hannah isn’t a human after all.”
“If the wolf fur that we found in her bedchamber is any indication, no.”
“I need to change attire.”
Brett was surprised that, once she had returned to the dragon fae kingdom, the queen still had human clothes to wear in their world. Then again, so did they, so when they wanted to visit the human realm, they would look the part. Not that any of the rest of them had taken the time to change out of their tunics, trewes, and thigh-high boots before going to the human world this time.
She soon joined them, wearing blue jeans, sneakers, a sweater, no crown, no fae gown. She looked like she’d fit into the human’s world just fine. Mark, Jacob, Bryan, and Brett, on the other hand, looked as though they were playing a game of ”Dungeons and Dragons.”
3
When they arrived at the hospital, Viviana didn’t act like a queen. She portrayed a concerned mother, worried that her boy was going to die. Which he could.
Brett had to give her a gold star for the ultimate performance. She didn’t leave it at that, but stayed with them in Bryan’s hospital room. Brett couldn't have appreciated her more for it. Mark, Jacob, and Brett pretended to be Bryan's brothers. And then the cops came. Every time they ended up at a hospital, cops were called. Brett should have known when Bryan was bitten so badly that they'd want to find the dog—they couldn't say it was a wolf—and put it down before it attacked anyone else.
“Where was the dog that bit him? We need to take it down and ensure it didn’t have rabies,” the police officer said.
Poor Bryan was still out of it, and Brett worried they were too late. When Brett had lived in the human world and was in Boy Scouts, his leader had died from a sinus infection, his whole body becoming infected before they could stop it. So he knew how serious this could be.
They weren’t about to say it was a wolf. There were no wolves in Texas any longer. But if the hospital staff tested the bite mark, they could determine it was wolf’s saliva.
Bryan’s vital signs were stable, but he wasn’t coming out of the coma, and that didn’t bode well. Maybe he was in a vegetative state. Maybe he’d never be able to come out of this. Brett felt awful that Bryan’s willingness to be with them in the fae world could come to this. That his liking Hannah could have resulted in this.
What irritated Brett was that he was a powerful mage, a dragon shifter, an
d yet he couldn’t do anything for his friend. Mark was scowling, looking angry that he couldn’t do anything for Bryan either.
“We don’t know, sir. He called us and said he had been bitten and by the time we reached our home, he was already out of it,” Brett lied.
“Where had he been? Did he tell you anything before he was bitten?” the officer asked.
“No. Mark and I were going to bring a pizza home later and watch a movie. By then, he’d called to say he’d been bitten. I asked where the dog was, what it looked like and said we were on our way, but he was non-responsive by that time. This is the way he was when we arrived at the house. We called Mom, and she rushed home from the mall to help us bring him to the hospital.”
“You didn’t call an ambulance?” the officer asked, brow raised.
“We live out in the country. Sometimes people get lost trying to reach our place,” Brett said. “We just figured it was faster to bring him here ourselves.”
The police officer glanced at Viviana. She nodded.
The officer snapped his notebook closed. “We’ll check back with him, when he comes out of the coma. We’ll need the home address.”
Vivian gave him her old home address. Then the officer left the room.
Brett breathed a sigh of relief. New hospital, new police jurisdiction. The officer didn’t connect the dots of who Brett was, when he’d had serious medical issues from being hit by a crossbow’s bolt, two, in fact, or the sword wound Brett had suffered. Living in the fae world did have some dangerous consequences.
Once the police officer shut the door to give them some privacy, Viviana said, “Maybe this is best for him."
Mark turned his dark look on her, and she frowned at him. She was still a powerful dragon fae queen, not their mother. Though her look softened at once. She had lived among the humans for years. She knew the dangers they could face with a simple infection. And she knew the boys had been friends for years.
Brett gave Mark a look that said to apologize to her, but Mark only turned his worried gaze on Bryan.
