Simon knew he was going to have real trouble now. The problem wasn't just Gia, but her three brothers. They could be real hotheads and when they saw what Letta had done to Gia, ignoring what the wolf had done to the scorpion-wolf, he knew he was in for a fight. He also knew just whose fault this was. Well, Letta's for running off, but he knew Gia was the one who chased her down and tried to kill her.
He really couldn't blame Letta for making a run for it either. Wolves didn't like to be incarcerated, free-spirits that they were. Well, truth be told, none of the fae did. But she would have been safe if she'd stayed with them. Gia wouldn't have dared to hurt Letta in the village, and even if she had attacked her, it would never have gotten this far.
He hadn't wanted Myla to go with them, but as soon as she learned Letta was missing, she thought she could convince her to come back to the pack. When they smelled Gia's scent all along the trail that Letta had left, they knew the wolf was after her, and that she hadn't intended to bring her back to the village either.
At some point, Gia's brothers had joined up with them. Simon had regretted that, until he thought that it was better that they see the situation for themselves, whatever it was, than letting the other wolves there explain what they had seen.
He and Myla stripped some fabric off their clothes to make the bandages, then wrapped them around Letta’s wounds the best they could. Gia's brothers had done the same for her, but she wasn't as bad off.
Carrying Letta in his arms, to show the other wolves with him that he was her protector—and nobody better find fault with her over fighting Gia—Simon headed home.
Letta was unconscious; Gia was wide awake, and her brother Tomas was carrying her back to the village.
"She goes now," Tomas said to Simon.
"Gia?" Simon glowered at Tomas, who was wearing his own stormy expression.
No wolf told Simon what to do with regard to the wolves of his pack. And for now, Letta was a wolf in their pack, until he said otherwise.
"She's a danger to our females," Tomas growled.
"Gia is. Yes."
Myla was trying to keep up with Simon and he wanted to slow down for her, worried she wasn't feeling well still, surprised she'd been sleeping when he'd returned home to check on what she and Letta had been doing. But he couldn't slow down, not when he was so concerned about Letta’s wounds. She needed to see the healer at once. If she didn't make it, he was banishing Gia from the pack. Her brothers too, if they couldn't live with his decision. That was a strict possibility anyway, even if Letta recovered. He wouldn't allow for anarchy in his pack. What Gia did was wrong and went against everything he stood for.
Letta stirred in his arms and muttered, "Bad wolf." But that's all she said and then she seemed to be somewhere else far from here.
He hated the idea that if he'd let her go to live with Ena and Brett, none of this would ever have happened.
"I know what you're thinking, brother," Myla said, sounding way out of breath, "but you can't think in that way."
Myla couldn't read minds, but she got darn close to reading his. "Myla, slow down and walk with some of the other men. Or someone's going to have to carry you back too."
She snorted, but she did slow her pace and their brother Ronan stayed with her to carry her back home if he needed to.
The women had run a long way and it took them forever to reach the village. Now he had a problem. They had one healer, and two injured wolves. Since he knew Letta wasn't the one at fault and she was injured worse, he wanted her seen to first. But he knew there were already hard feelings that she and Gia had battled each other. Simon suspected Gia’s brothers believed that if Letta hadn't come into the pack, Gia would have been his choice to mate. That would have given them better standing in the pack also, but it would never have happened. If she'd had any notion that she had a chance to mate him after this happened, she had to know she'd blown it.
He carried Letta into the healer's hut and the healer hurried to take care of Letta's injuries. Tomas brought Gia in and laid her down on another bed, looking furious that Letta would get special treatment when Gia had been a pack member all along.
The healer continued to work on Letta, removing her bandages, cleaning her wounds, and wrapping them with clean bandages when Myla finally made it to the hut. Simon asked her if she was all right.
“Yeah, thanks, Simon. I’m just tired, but I was worried about Letta,” Myla said.
"Gia is a member of this pack," Tomas said, their other brothers trying to come into the healer's hut to see her.
Ronan said, "Everyone, out, except for the injured women, our pack leader, and Myla." He shut the door on their exodus.
Simon heard all the grumbling outside and knew he'd have to call a pack council meeting as soon as he was sure that Letta would pull through. "How is she?" he asked the healer.
"As injured as Myla had been, I'm afraid. I wish I could use Letta's healing abilities to help. Will she stay with us, or will you send her away so she isn't killed by one of our own?" The healer sounded just as irritated that Gia would do this to Letta and glanced in Gia's direction with a hateful glower.
Gia scowled at Simon. "Okay, listen, I believed she was running off and so I followed her. I thought the collar was supposed to stop her, so I just continued to follow her, thinking she’d scream in pain and turn around. But it didn't stop her. She just kept going."
"You waited long enough. You could have returned and told me Letta had run off," Simon said.
"It would have taken too long. I barked at her to stop. I shifted and pleaded with her to return."
“Why didn’t you stop her right away? Closer to the village?” Simon asked, knowing all Gia’s words were lies.
“I thought the collar would work!”
"How dumb do you think my brother is?" Myla sounded as furious as Simon felt.
"Do I get to tell my story, or what?" Gia directed the question to Simon as if Myla had no business saying anything.
"Go ahead." For what it was worth. Simon knew Gia had waited until Letta was far enough away that her howls wouldn't reach far enough for anyone in the village to hear her. The only reason they heard her howls, crying for help, was that he’d already discovered Letta missing and he and several other male wolves had been racing to find her. Then he and the other wolves had realized Gia was following her and he'd figured nothing good could have come of that.
He knew the confrontation between the women wouldn't have ended well. The healer did all she could for Letta and began to take care of Gia's wounds.
"Anyway, the scorpion fae turned and growled at me, teeth bared. She has some notion you want her for a mate," Gia said. "And because of that, she attacked me, thinking I had a chance with you. I hadn't provoked her in the least. I wouldn't have. She's an unproven wolf in her fighting skills and I was afraid she'd be seriously injured if we sparred. What was I supposed to do? She attacked, and I had to defend myself. I was only trying to injure her enough to get her to stop attacking me."
"She howled for help," Simon reminded Gia.
"She only did so as a ploy to make it sound as though she was the innocent one. She's a devious scorpion fae. They're dark of heart. They killed their own people. Everyone knows that.” Gia took a deep, steadying breath. “She set the whole thing up. I didn't realize she knew I was following her until it was nearly too late. She waited until we were so far away that I couldn't howl and reach anyone for help."
"As if you would," Myla said. “I don’t believe a word you say.”
Glancing at his sister, Simon tilted his head to the side, telling his sister to stay out of it, no matter how good her intentions were. He didn't want her making an enemy of Gia also, though he suspected it was too late for that.
"Normally, I wouldn’t have howled for help. You’re right. I would have handled it, like an alpha would. Like a potential leader would," Gia said. "I wouldn’t have howled, looking to be protected like some little beta wolf. Or pretended that I was the innocent one, needing to be rescued."
Letta groaned and Simon quickly took her hand. “How are you feeling, Letta?”
Myla was at her side too, taking her free hand. “You’re safe now.”
“As if I’m the big, bad wolf,” Gia said, sarcastically.
Letta glanced at Gia. “Sorry for your injuries. You shouldn’t have attacked me and I wouldn’t have had to defend myself.”
Scowling, Gia snorted. “Ha! Make up a story, why don’t you.”
“You’re the one who’s made up a story.” Letta turned to Simon. “I don’t have to stay here, do I?”
“Maybe in a cage,” Gia said, as if she had any say in it.
“We’ll move you to our cottage, Letta,” Simon said. “Myla, can you watch over her there? Or do you need to rest and Ronan can watch over her?”
“I’ll be fine. I can take care of her.”
“You can stay here,” Simon said to Gia, and then he lifted Letta in his arms and carried her out of the healer’s hut.
“I’ll come check on Letta later,” the healer called out to them.
“I’m so sorry,” Simon said to Letta.
She didn’t say anything.
“I shouldn’t have put the collar on you.” Simon couldn’t believe Gia would stalk Letta down and attack her.
“It didn’t knock me out.” Letta gave him a small smile of victory.
Glad she didn’t seem angry with him that Gia could have killed her, Simon smiled down at her. Then Myla opened the door to their cottage for him.
He carried Letta into the room that was now hers and laid her in the bed, and then Myla covered her with a blanket.
“I’ll be here to get you anything you need,” Myla said.
Simon cleared his throat. “I need to leave. I have to speak with the council. But I wanted to ask before I go, why did you leave, Letta?”
“I wasn’t leaving you and Myla or the pack. I was going to see if Ena or Brett could remove my collar and then I was returning here to gloat.”
Simon nearly laughed, except that this was so serious, he shook his head instead. He removed the collar from around her neck, wishing he’d done so earlier. All that had mattered at the time was that she was brought home to have her injuries taken care of.
"We don't want you to leave us," Myla said.
"She's right," Simon said. "I'll be back in a while." He left the cottage and stalked through the woods to the council hut.
Ronan had already alerted the elders of the council as to the problem between the two she-wolves, so they had gathered, and he was guarding the council hut for the moment. Simon thanked him and entered the hut, then closed the door.
"You can send her away," Argos, the leader of the council said.
"Her brothers would object," Simon said.
Argos lifted a brow. "The scorpion fae has brothers also?"
Simon let out his breath in exasperation. He had suspected who Argos had meant by saying Simon should send her away, but he wasn't allowing Argos, or anyone on the council, to change his mind about this. The only way he'd let Letta go was if she didn't want to remain with them, and who could blame her?
"You know very well who I mean. Any wolf who injured one of our own would be banished, unless there was good evidence the wolf was acting in its own defense," Simon said.
"Gia's brothers say the scorpion fae attacked her first."
"Gia's words against Letta's," Simon said. "I can tell you that Letta didn't start the fight and that Gia had no intention of returning Letta to the pack. She had every intention of finishing her off before we could rescue Letta. Why would Letta attack Gia?"
"Gia wanted to please you, so when she learned the scorpion fae had run off, she tried to convince Letta to return with her," Argos said.
"So she nearly kills Letta? Letta is new to our ways. No one has taught her how to fight as a wolf. What would she gain by taking on Gia?" Simon knew the council members understood the right of it, but he was also certain they worried about the consequences of Gia's actions and if Simon banished her, her brothers would go too.
They were good fighting men, and had been loyal, up to this point.
"I would never have mated Gia, even if Letta had not come to our village. Gia doesn't get along with most of the she-wolves in the pack," Simon said.
Beatrice, the only woman on his council of five, agreed. "She minds herself when she's around your sisters and me," she said. "The younger she-wolves, she has nothing to do with, nor does she with the older ones. But when it comes to eligible she-wolves…" Beatrice shook her head. "I've counseled her numerous times over her behavior. If she sees you are remotely interested in or friendly to an eligible female and she learns of it, the wolf will have to deal with Gia's wrath."
"Why has nobody said anything about this to me?" Simon knew she wasn’t pleasant with the other she-wolves, but he hadn’t known she would bully them.
"The strongest of us leads," Beatrice said. "If she became your mate, then you and she could make a powerful team."
"If I ever learn you know something like this about the pack members, and you don't keep me informed, you'll be removed from the council." Simon was furious. No wolf would bully other wolves in his pack. Yes, in the wild, the wolves that were not fae wolf shifters, did, but he needed his pack to work as a cohesive team, a family.
Beatrice inclined her head, acknowledging his ruling.
"So now do you see?" he asked the others on the council. "Gia has had it in for Letta from the beginning."
"She's a scorpion fae," Argos said.
"She's a wolf shifter like us. And she's a healer. Not to mention she has some special skills none of us have. She could be an asset. Many of our people have welcomed her to the pack for saving Myla." Simon paced in front of his council members. He knew they'd have heartburn over sending Gia away, and her brothers following her, but he wasn't sending Letta away.
"She ran." Steel was Simon's age, the youngest man on the council, everyone else gray-haired and much respected by the pack. Though he was just as respected for his just and fair opinions. Simon had included him on the council to help represent a younger point-of-view. "The scorpion—"
Simon gave him such a sharp look, Steel corrected himself, "Letta. She ran. Why would you want her back? Send her to the dragon shifter fae. The princess wants her. Let her deal with her."
"She wasn't running away," Simon said. Everyone looked at him with disbelief. He didn't blame them, since he'd thought the same thing until she told him why she had left. "She was going to find Ena and see if she, or one of her staff, could remove the collar. And then she was returning here to prove I couldn't control her. She wants to stay with us."
The council members exchanged looks.
"I'm sorry," Beatrice said. "I should have told you about Gia's actions before this."
Simon nodded. "After what Gia pulled with Letta, and after hearing Beatrice's testimony, how Gia's reacted to other females in the pack, I would feel compelled to banish her. But the consideration must be made concerning her brothers. So here's my recommendation. We keep Gia in the pack, with a stern warning that if she intimidates any she-wolf in the pack, she'll be banished. The same goes for Gia's brothers, if they attempt to hassle Letta in any way. Letta stays with the pack, unless she chooses to leave. If Gia starts a fight with Letta, she's banished."
"What if Letta starts a fight with Gia?" Steel asked.
"I'll deal with it."
"You can't be thinking of taking the wolf as your mate," Argos said. "She's a—"
"Wolf shifter like us." It didn't mean that Simon was going to, but he wanted them to know that he was open to the notion, if she was interested too, at some point in time. He couldn't even believe he was considering it.
All of his council members were each mulling that over, and he knew that they realized she could be their co-pack leader, so they'd better treat her well. Not that she would treat them badly, if they didn't, but karma could bite them back.
Usually, when they had a situation of this magnitude, his council members made recommendations first, and then he told them what he was going to do. This time, he couldn't help jumping in with both feet and telling it like it was going to be from the beginning. He knew they would have defended Gia’s actions over a wolf who hadn’t belonged to the pack all these years. "Do you have any other concerns or suggestions?"
Steel cast Simon a small smile. "You do realize if you keep her, Letta, in the pack, you might have some bachelor wolf fights over her."
Simon figured that. He guessed that no one had shown Gia much interest because they thought Simon and she might become mated. Maybe now, they would make an attempt and she’d become mated and the rivalry would end between her and Letta.
"You?" Simon asked his friend.
Steel just smiled.
Simon smiled darkly.
No one else on the council had a thing to say, and he figured they assumed his mind was already made up as far as where this would go. It was.
Ronan was outside, keeping any wolves away from overhearing what was being said inside the council hut. Wolves had such good hearing, that it was important to keep the council meeting private until all was decided. Concerning his decision, Simon would tell the parties involved, Gia and her brothers first, and then Letta. After that, Argos would let the rest of the pack know that no wolf would badger any other wolves in the pack.
When Simon left the council hut and headed to the healer’s hut to talk with Gia and her brothers, he overheard Gia’s brothers talking inside the hut about what they would do if Simon kicked Gia out. They would fight him to take over the pack, leave and gather their own pack first, or try to convince him to change his mind, let Gia pay for the consequences of her actions, or all leave and they wouldn't look back.
Simon opened the door. When Simon entered the healer's hut, the brothers cast him superior looks. Gia appeared worn out, good one on her.
Simon explained what he'd decided, prefacing it with, "We've known each other from the time we were young pups, and I'd hate for something like this to come between us. Gia will remain in the pack. If you agree with my decision, we go on about our business. We'll give the women a chance to heal, and from there, if they choose to be friends, it's up to them. But no more fighting between the two of you."
"What if she starts—" Gia began to say.
Simon raised his hand to stop her objection. "We fight as a unit, always ready for the worst-case scenario, and no fighting within our ranks. If you badger any female, you're banished, Gia. If you have issue with my ruling, tell me now."
The men all shook their heads, looking relieved they didn't have to leave the pack because of their sister's shenanigans. But Tomas was smiling a little, and Simon wondered what was up with that. He had known him forever, so he could pretty much guess what he was thinking. Not this time.
Simon bowed his head to them in agreement and they did the same to him, all but Gia. She was one obstinate wolf, who reminded Simon a lot of another. Hannah.
Simon left the healer's hut then and headed for his own cottage to speak with Letta and prayed she was doing better. But when he arrived, he found her sound asleep.
"What has been decided?" Myla asked.
"Gia and her brothers will stay, but no more infractions of the rules. Did you know that Gia was giving some of our she-wolves a hard time?"
"No. Who said she was? I mean, I know she snaps at some of the she-wolves, but I’ve never seen her get physical with them. She doesn’t dare do anything like that with me. Mostly, I’m sure, because I’m your sister, have your confidence, and I’m no threat to her in the mating department."
"Beatrice is the one who finally said so. She's been warned also that if she withholds information about something this important, she could find herself dismissed from the council. And Steel is testing me."
"Oh? How?"
"He intends to court Letta."
Myla sighed. "Does he not realize he won't win against you?"
Simon smiled. “Who says I’m in the running?”
Myla took his arm and led him into the kitchen. “Because I know you, dear brother. Help me make lunch. It is time and Letta was going to help me, but she’s now indisposed.”