Woodland Fae: The World of Fae, Book 10

by Terry Spear

  “All right. But Letta will watch over me in the meantime.”

  Seeming pleased that he would get to deliver her babies, the physician bowed his head, smiling.

  Brett didn’t think Ena meant it. She didn’t need anyone watching over her. He suspected, for whatever reason, she was on a new mission to save the woodland fae. Another misfit to join their ranks?

  “You are sure she is safe to have around?” Brett asked. Now that they were going to have two new members of the family, Brett wanted to ensure they were well-protected.

  “No, but everyone can keep an eye on her.”

  The physician gave Ena a list of things she should and shouldn’t do during the various stages of pregnancy, then he bowed to them, and left.

  Brett wanted to see the list, but Ena quickly perused it and stuck it down her bodice. He smiled at her. He would learn what the queen’s physician said she could do or not do, with or without her cooperation.

  They heard shouts of glee and Brett smiled. “Sounds like your staff—”

  “Our staff.”

  “Our staff likes the news.”

  She sighed. “I don’t want anyone making a big fuss about this.”

  Then someone knocked on the door and Brett knew it was Ryker from his firm knock. “Yes, Ryker.”

  “Halloran is here to see Ena.”

  She groaned. “I hope this is not about the babies. I want some normalcy around here for the next few months.”

  Brett helped Ena from the bed, and they went to the door.

  Halloran was looking like one proud uncle, grinning from ear to ear. “You beat Alton out!”

  “Oh, for heaven's sake. This is not a contest.” Ena brushed past him.

  Halloran slapped Brett on the back. “For being only human, as far as we all knew, you sure have made an impact on our kind.”

  “I thought maybe you and the falcon fae were becoming an item.”

  “Nah. I was just teasing her about her locket. She needed to be with her own kind.” Then Halloran looked serious. “Queen Viviana said that Bryan must be handed over to the wolf pack at Wolf Mountain. I want to go with you when you do it. I assume, because you have magical skills and you’re his friend, you’ll want to do it.”

  “Yes. I welcome your company. I don’t want Ena to go though.”

  Ena was already below stairs, so she didn’t hear what he’d said, but Brett was serious. He didn’t want her getting into the middle of this wolf mess in case Bryan woke and went crazy again.

  “I agree. Let’s do this.”

  Brett hoped it wasn’t a mistake to take Bryan to the Wolf Mountain territory. But he hoped they would be able to help him cope with all the changes he was going through. Brett knew Mark would miss Bryan. All of them would.

  When they reached the common area, all of Ena’s staff was surrounding her, tears in their eyes, except for Jacob and Ryker. But the ladies were all thrilled. Of course, so were the men. They'd be the babies' protectors, no matter the cost.

  Mark wasn’t there with the others and Brett suspected he was in the dungeon, checking on Bryan.

  “We’re taking Bryan to Wolf Mountain,” Brett said.

  “I’m going with you,” Ena said.

  Halloran objected first. “He’s dangerous, Ena. You have the babies to think of.”

  “I want to check on Letta. She’s supposed to be a midwife, if she was being honest with me. I want her turned over to me.”

  “The queen’s physician is delivering the babies,” Halloran said.

  “He agreed that Letta could be there also. Mark is down in the dungeon seeing Bryan. Let’s go.”

  Brett knew from the way Ena was looking so stubborn, he didn’t stand a chance of talking her out of going. Truth be told, that was part of the reason he loved her. She was protective of those who needed protection, despite her dragon persona of been tough to the scales.

  When they reached the dungeon, Mark was reaching through the bars, petting Bryan, talking to him, consoling him.

  “No!” Brett said, and instantly, Bryan snapped and snarled, and Mark jerked his hand through the bars, but too late.

  “Did he break the skin?” Ena asked, angered. “You were supposed to work on the gardens, and you even became the queen’s Royal Master Gardener. Now this!”

  Halloran folded his arms and shook his head.

  Brett examined Mark’s bite wound. “Yeah, he broke the skin. I don’t know if it means you’ll shift for sure, but we’ll leave both of you with the wolves for a time. What were you thinking?” Though Brett knew Mark was only concerned about his friend and was offering him comfort.

  “That he was scared in there. Wouldn’t you be?” Mark said, though he was furious sounding, he also sounded worried.

  “Yeah. But at least when I turned into a dragon, I knew I could protect Ena,” Brett said.

  She snorted. “Look what that got you.”

  “Two bolts in the side. I know, but I did protect you.” Brett cast a spell to put Bryan back to sleep. “Okay, who’s taking whom this time?”

  “I’ll take Mark,” Halloran said. “I’m not sure I trust your sleeping spell all that well.”

  “Yeah, but what if Mark turns on you?” Ena said, sounding worried about her brother’s safety.

  “He can’t hurt a dragon.”

  SIMON WASN’T sure what to do about Letta, though he didn’t want her ill-treated after she had saved his sister's life. The easiest thing to do would be to let her go to live with Ena and her staff. She didn’t belong among the wolves.

  But when Brett arrived with a sleeping gray wolf, Halloran had brought another human with him. Halloran was Dragon at Arms, so Simon wondered why he was even here. And Ena had come too. Simon was afraid that she was going to insist that Letta go back with her.

  The wolf council wanted Letta here for now. They wanted to know more about what kind of fae she was and about the place she was from. They always had to be careful about mystery fae and their true intentions. She could be a scout for her kind, for all they knew, looking for a new place for her kind to settle.

  Letta was in Myla’s cottage, seeing to her. She seemed genuinely worried about her, maybe about her own fate too.

  “What are you doing here?” Simon asked Halloran, his gaze taking in the human. And then he saw his bloody hand. “No.”

  “Yeah,” Halloran said. “I hope you can manage two of them.”

  Simon shook his head. “Yeah, but we need to take that other wolf down.”

  Then Ena said, “Where’s Letta?”

  “In the hut with Myla.”

  “I need to see her.”

  “She’s in that hut.”

  Ena stalked off that way, and Bryan stirred in Brett’s arms. “Have you got a secure place for them? Can they be together, or would it be less dangerous if they each have their own cage?”

  “Separate. We don’t know how they’ll react toward each other, any more than we’ll know how they’ll react to the rest of us. Cages are over there, and I suggest you put them each in one. Now.”

  5

  At the healer's hut, Letta was feeling awfully strange, just where she'd been bitten. Though the wound appeared healed—it was itching. She'd never experienced anything like it after healing a wound. Usually, she felt no after-affects at all. And it wasn't just her skin, but deep beneath the skin. She worried that she'd turn into a wolf next. How awful! She liked the beauty of the wolves, when they weren't trying to kill her, but she really didn't want to be one of them.

  Simon glanced over at her and frowned. "What's wrong?"

  She looked out the window at the wolf and the human in the large cages, tall enough to accommodate a man standing six-foot-four. A large mat and bedding filled part of the cage. She sure didn't want to be locked up in one, if they thought she might turn. But Simon had said that fae couldn't be changed. Still, she was feeling awfully lightheaded all of a sudden. She didn't feel herself at all.

  One minute, she was stan
ding, and the next she was in Simon's arms, and she had no idea how that had happened.

  "Is she feverish?" Ena asked, sounding concerned.

  "Yes. But I can't leave her in the healer's hut. Not if she turns into a wolf." Simon sounded worried about her and about his sister. "I don't want to kill Letta after she saved my sister's life, but I will, to protect my sister and the pack. Family means everything to us."

  "No one's killing her. I'll take her home to my castle to recover," Ena said.

  "No," Brett said.

  Ena gave him a murderous look. Letta took that to mean Ena didn't like her mate telling her what she was going to do. Good for her.

  "Not when our babies could be at risk," Brett said, trying to reason with her.

  Okay, Ena's mate had a point.

  Ena said to Simon, "I thought you told us that a wolf bite couldn't affect a fae."

  "There's never been a documented case of it. Our people normally don't bite humans either. But the brown wolf hasn't been raised with our kind from birth, if what we suspect is true. That she is the human who had been staying at your castle," Simon said. "Then again, we don't really know what Letta is. A fae kind none of us have heard of?"

  "Letta is burning up with fever, just like Bryan was," Brett warned Ena.

  Then they heard another wolf snarling.

  Simon glanced out the window. "Mark, the other human who was bitten just turned. Letta goes in a cage."

  If Letta could have used her magic, she would have zapped the wolf holding her in his arms. Though he'd probably drop her and that wouldn't help her. She felt she didn't have any energy to do anything but just lie there.

  "Brother," Myla said, finally coming to, and Letta was afraid Simon would drop her to go to his sister. "She saved my life."

  Simon looked down at Letta as if he hadn't already known that, or he needed to be reminded. "I'll be back."

  Letta knew he was going to put her in a cage. And he was going to do it himself.

  Ena hurried after him, and Letta thought she had a real advocate in the dragon fae. "I'll take her home with me," Ena insisted.

  "No," both Brett and another man said, hurrying after them.

  "Halloran," Ena said, "butt out. And, Brett—"

  "You have no say in the matter, Ena," Simon said, his voice stern. "She was caught trespassing in our cave, on our land—"

  "And saved your sister's life." Ena folded her arms across her waist.

  "She very well could be one of us," Simon finished. "Go home. I've got this under control."

  "She's feverish," Ena said.

  "If she turns, she'll overcome the fever," Simon said.

  Letta didn't think he knew that for sure, especially since he didn't think a wolf could turn one of the fae.

  Ena looked at Mark and Bryan in the cages. Mark was growling and biting at the cage bars. Bryan was sitting on his furry butt, looking sad, his head down. He glanced at Brett as if, since he was his friend, he would be his salvation.

  Letta knew Simon wouldn't budge on his decision. She just hoped Myla would get well fast and could help her out, if Letta was stuck in a cage and was lying there dying of a fever. Sure, their fae healing genetics could usually make them heal faster, but she had no idea how this would affect her long-term, if she managed to live through it.

  She never thought taking refuge in a cave to get out of the rain could lead to this.

  Then it began to rain again. On top of them.

  "If you put her in a cage in the rain while she's feverish, and you don't even know for sure that she's going to turn into a wolf…," Ena growled.

  Letta appreciated Ena for sticking up for her.

  Simon moved Letta back into the healer's hut and laid her on a bed. Ena had followed him inside. He looked like he was torn about what to do next.

  Letta would have smiled if she hadn't been in such a bind. She closed her eyes and let them work it out among themselves, hoping she wasn't going to be caged, sitting out in the rain.

  "Move the wolves to a dry hut," Simon called out, not moving from where he stood next to Letta.

  She suspected he was afraid to leave her alone with the dragon fae, not so much that she might harm his sister. If Ena wanted to, she could turn into her dragon and carry Letta off. That's what Letta figured he was afraid of.

  Halloran and Brett joined them in the healer's hut.

  "They're settled in a hut where it's nice and warm and dry with fresh dry bedding. Mark's calmed down," Brett said. "We promised them we'd find Hannah, if that's who it was that attacked Myla, Letta, and Bryan."

  Ena was glowering at Simon. He wasn't backing down. He was too alpha for that, Letta thought. Ena wasn't backing down either. She was just as alpha.

  "Please, Ena," Brett said, taking her hand, and kissing it. "Simon and the others will take care of Letta. We'll return here after we've searched for the brown wolf. We have the advantage of soaring high above the forest and seeing the smallest movement way down below."

  "You and I need to talk," Ena said to Brett, and Letta assumed they were not going to have pleasant words. To Letta, she said, "I will be back to check on you."

  Letta said, "Thanks."

  Then Ena left the hut, Brett followed, and Halloran eyed Letta for a moment before leaving, frowning at her, then followed the others out. Once they heard the flapping sound of the three dragons leaving the area, Simon lifted Letta into his arms—at least he was gentle in his actions—then he carried her into the hut where the other two wolves were staying. And right across the hut from them sat a nice, large cage, just for her. Another one was empty that she assumed was for Hannah, if they didn't kill her outright when they found her.

  Letta figured Simon wouldn't let any dragon tell him what to do. Not unless it had to do with guarding Alton's gold. Other than that, the dragon fae had no say in how they ruled their own lands.

  Simon carried Letta into the cage, then set her down on the bed someone had made for her.

  "If you shift, don't tear up your bedding," he warned her. "It's all you've got."

  She wondered why he'd think she'd tear up her bedding! She wasn't a wild beast.

  "Wolves tend to scratch at their bedding when they're wolves to make it theirs and more comfortable. Just saying."

  Great.

  He locked the cage. “Our healer will see to you in a little bit.”

  Then he left her with the wolves and she could have growled she was so angry. And she wasn’t even a wolf!

  SIMON RETURNED to the healer's hut to see his sister. She was scowling at him. It seemed he was at odds with everyone right now, but he wouldn’t put her life, or any of the other wolves’ lives in the pack, at risk because they didn’t know what would happen to Letta.

  Myla told their healer, “Go see to the fae. I’m fine.” She was still lying on the bed, her wounds covered in bandages. She looked paler than he’d ever seen her. “You said a wolf couldn’t change a fae. Make up your mind,” Myla snapped at Simon.

  “She’s running a fever, like the humans had done before they shifted. She was bitten by the she-wolf, like the one human had been,” Simon said.

  Myla scoffed. “She’s a fae.”

  Simon stared out the door at the rain. “A mystery fae. A woodland fae! There is no such thing. She lies. Why did she really come here?” He turned to face his sister.

  “Certainly, not to see you. Or to be attacked by one of our kind. Why don’t you go help the others look for the wolf?”

  Simon let out his breath in exasperation. “I’m watching over you.”

  “You are doing nothing of the sort. I’m fine. Are you afraid the brown wolf will tear into you like she did me, if you find her?”

  Simon growled. The very idea. “All right. I’ll go. But I want you to stay right in that bed and do whatever the healer tells you to do.”

  “Of course. Do I look like I want to leave the bed?”

  No. His sister might be resting there, talking, ordering him about, bu
t she still looked like it would take some time for her to heal.

  He sighed. “I’ll return soon.” Truth be told, he did want to take care of the brown wolf, one way or another. Sitting here babysitting Letta and his sister wasn’t his idea of fun, especially when his sister was just as annoyed with him. Then he shifted and ran out the door as a wolf. He hoped he could get this done soon. He wanted to take the wolf down before she hurt anyone else.

  He returned to Alton’s cave of treasure, then followed the brown wolf’s scent from there.

  He smelled a lot of wolves’ scents who belonged to the pack: his two brothers that he’d sent after the wolf, and others who had gotten word that the wolf had injured his sister and chased after her on their own.

  Way up above, he saw the dragons circling, looking for any sign of the wolf. He wanted to kill her for nearly killing his sister, but he reminded himself the wolf hadn’t been herself and hadn’t learned their ways. He still wanted to kill her. She was just lucky his sister was recovering.

  LETTA WAS LYING down on the mattress, feeling horrible. Her whole body ached, and she felt feverish, then chilled. She drew a blanket over her and then saw a woman coming into the hut. She was the healer, who had been caring for Myla.

  “I’m here to see to your needs,” the older woman said. She eyed Letta with the wisdom of an older wolf. “I’m coming into the cage. Please don’t shift and tear into me like the other wolf did Myla.”

  Letta shook her head. “I’m just feverish and chilled, not turning into a furry wolf.”

  The woman didn’t look reassured but opened the cage and walked inside. She shut the cage door but couldn't lock it while she was inside.

  Letta did have the notion of rushing past the healer and making her escape, but that was all she did. Thought about it. She was aching too much to get up and do anything. Besides, if the wolves found her, they might kill her, thinking she was going to be too much trouble.

  Still in their wolf forms, Mark and Bryan were now laying down in their cages, heads on paws, watching them. She wondered when they’d turn back into their human forms. Or were they fae now? She guessed they were. If they had been a different type of fae, and their bodies still hadn't taken on the new fae form, why hadn’t their bodies blocked the wolf change? She was beginning to think Simon didn’t know what he was talking about and any fae, who wasn’t a wolf shifter, could be turned by a wolf fae if bitten.