Simon was glad that Letta was trying to resolve this business with Hannah, showing she could take care of a situation as a pack leader, despite the misgivings she had about the woman. He was busy making sure that everything was running smoothly at the games. With this many wolves from different packs, there were bound to be some disagreements. Then he noticed Ronan hurrying to meet with him, his expression anxious.
“Is there something wrong?”
“I overheard Letta asking if anyone had seen Hannah. Is there something going on with the cantankerous woman?”
“Do you know Barrow?”
“Vaguely.”
“He’s said that Hannah is his sister.”
“Oh, really.”
“Letta located his father and questioned him about it. She informed me his father says he was never mated before.” Simon explained the rest. “So we’re not sure what’s going on. I need to be here for the games. Myla went with her earlier, but had to help prepare the next feast. Crystal went with them also, but she has winged wolf games she’s participating in. When I asked if Letta needed any help with this, she said she would be all right as long as she was just among our pack members.”
“After what happened to her because of Gia and her brothers?” Ronan scoffed. “Do you want me to go with Letta to help her with this if she is agreeable?”
It was important for Letta to feel as a pack leader she could sort out an issue regarding the pack for herself. But she was still a new wolf and new to the pack. If anything went sideways with this, Simon would always blame himself if he didn’t have someone providing backup for her. He slapped his brother on the back. “Go, help her in any way that she thinks you can to speed up the process.”
Ronan looked relieved and pleased all at once that Simon trusted him to assist and protect his mate. Simon watched his brother stalk off, but then he noticed that all his brothers were standing some distance away. Ronan headed straight for them, motioning with his hands to their territory, the brothers nodded, and then took off. Simon smiled. All his brothers had Letta’s back. He couldn’t have appreciated them more for it.
Then Simon saw Silas and wondered how the pack leader was feeling about Hannah possibly going to the other pack. He wondered about Silas’s claim too. What if what he said wasn’t true. That Hannah’s mother had been part of his pack to begin with. Simon saw one of Silas’s pack members, a woman who often won at the pie contests. She was at every Gathering because she won so often and she was old enough that she could have been Hannah’s grandmother, so she’d know about a woman leaving with a baby earlier on. Simon walked off to join her and ask her about her pies and pack history.
“Emmaline, what kind of pies did you bring this time?” he said, drawing close to where she was setting up her pies.
“Chocolate cream pie is my latest creation.” She beamed at Simon. “Did you want to be one of the first tasters?”
“You know I always have to vote for your pies. They’re the best.” Simon took a slice and ate it, loving the creamy, chocolaty taste. “I’ll have to check out the others, but I think this is your best one ever.” He always said that because they were always the best. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into joining our pack?” He asked her the same question every year, knowing she wouldn’t leave her own pack behind, but he loved to tease her and she smiled with pleasure.
“You only say that because you want me to win the pie competition for your pack.”
“My wolves would be at your shop every day, eating your meals and keeping you well paid.”
She smiled again. “Thank you for your kind words, Simon. You are a charmer. Other packs hate that I usually win, beating out the competition. But you are always so gallant and understanding. Even when your own sister is competing against me.”
“See, that is part of my ploy. You can teach her how to make pies like you do.”
Emmaline laughed. “Then I would be competing against myself.”
Simon smiled, then he changed the subject to the one he needed to discuss. “Silas said you had a woman who left the pack with a baby girl some years ago. Her mate had abandoned her.”
Emmaline frowned. “I know Silas has been saying so, but I don’t recall anything of the sort. Now, I did hear rumors about Rupert’s pack having a situation like that.”
“And the woman’s mate? Where did he end up, do you know?”
She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know that, but I’d check with Rupert’s pack about the mother and baby. Maybe they’ll even know about the father of the baby.”
“Thanks, I will.” Simon wanted to ask why Silas would make up the story if Hannah’s mother hadn’t been with the pack, but he didn't want to antagonize Silas should he get word Simon had questioned Emmaline about that. Simon went in search of Letta or his brothers to tell them to ask any of the older members of Rupert’s pack if they knew about Hannah and her mother.
He wasn’t having any luck finding Letta, but he saw Myla setting out the dishes for the nooning meal. She smiled brightly at him. “I saw you talking to Emmaline. I know you’re going to vote for her pies over mine.”
He laughed. “But your veal always has my vote. I tried to talk her into teaching her secret recipe and tips for making her pies, but you know she won’t budge.”
“I think she will take her knowledge to the grave. I’ve asked if she has anyone that she’s apprenticing in her pack, but she’s not. She says it’s because she doesn’t go by a recipe. She adds a pinch of this, a little of that. I know what she means.”
“That’s a shame. Have you seen Letta or any of our brothers?”
“Not for a while. What’s up?”
“I learned some news about Silas’s pack. Hannah might not belong to them after all. Emmaline says that she thinks Rupert’s pack might actually be where Hannah and her mother originated.”
“No. What is going on? I thought Rupert’s pack said she wasn’t one of theirs.”
“Yeah, they did. Maybe her attitude gave them heartburn and they didn’t want her in the pack.”
“So why do Barrow and Silas want her?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. If you see any of our brothers or Letta, let them know what’s happened, all right?”
“Okay, yeah, sure. What are you going to do?”
“See if I can locate any more of Silas’s older wolves and Rupert’s also to learn if anyone for sure knows that the wolf was with their packs.”
“Good luck, Simon. I hope it doesn’t mean we’re stuck with her.”
“Well, we still have two people who want her.”
Myla smiled at him. “I know you won’t give her up unless you know for certain she’s going to be treated right, despite what she did to me and the others.”
Simon inclined his head to his sister and searched the area for any sign of his brothers or Letta, or the people he could question to sort this all out.
Back at Brett and Ena's castle, Ena was thrilled to get some news about the prized goat she'd given to Queen Viviana and to share it with her mate. “The queen's new goat won the competition. You see? Finding the goat but not getting paid for its return has its own rewards. She was delighted and gloated about it in front of the former owner, who was out-of-sorts that he lost the contest with his new ‘prized’ goat that couldn’t beat the other.”
Brett gathered Ena in his arms and kissed her. “And I hear she is much pleased with the gift of koi you made her.”
“Hmpf. She was supposed to pay for those.”
“Well, I have good news. We are officially the queen’s choice for taking on quests. If anyone in her employ needs a dragon’s help, they must come to us first. So I agree. A little bit of generosity pays back in a big way.”
Ena sighed. “All right. Then I”—she frowned as Duke began to squat—“He’s going to potty on the floor.”
Brett turned into his dragon and lifted the startled puppy off the floor, as Ryker hurried to open the door for Brett.
“Just in the nick of time,” Ryker said, amused. “I’ve cleaned up one too many messes of late.”
“Hurry, Ryker, grab Duchess—oh, forget it.” Ena shifted into her dragon and took hold of the puppy and joined Brett outside. She set the puppy on the grass and shifted. “We’re going to have to schedule puppy sitters throughout the day until they’re housebroken, and they’re leashed-trained.”
They’d been shifting in front of the puppies to let them know their other appearance so they wouldn’t be scared by it, even though the puppies could still smell that they were the same person.
“That sounds like a good idea to me. I was thinking we should take a vacation before the babies come. Once they’re here, we’ll feel more tied down,” Brett said.
“Human world? Or our world? Maybe take on a quest to pay for the trip?” As if they didn’t have enough treasure to pay for vacations a hundred times over. And if they took the vacation in the human world, they wouldn't have to pay for anything.
They saw Halloran in his green dragon form headed their way and Ena wondered what he wanted now. Halloran dropped into the courtyard, shifted, and smiled. “Taking the pooches for a walk, I see. Somehow, I never imagined Ena taking in puppies. Then again, my sister’s always taking in strays.”
“Don’t you have a job to do for your queen, Dragon at Arms?” Ena asked, annoyed.
“I do. The queen has an important mission for you.”
“We were—” Brett started to say.
“Good. We’ll do it.” Ena was always ready for a mission. “What is it this time?” She was thinking maybe the treasure they'd receive from the task would help pay for their trip and they wouldn't have to borrow from their treasure pile.
“She wants housebroken puppies. She heard all about yours.” Halloran cast her an evil smile.
Ena couldn’t believe it!
“It’s the highest form of compliment, you know. That she wants to copy everything you do.”
“But housebroken.”
“Two. Yes. What were you going to say, Brett?” Halloran asked.
“We were going on a vacation before Ena has the babies.”
“No problem. You will have months before that happens.”
“I want to ask Max and Bryan if they’d like to help me with this,” Ena said. “But they’re at the Gathering.”
“They can help you later. These two can be the queen's since they have a head start on housebreaking.”
“No way,” Ena said. “Duke and Duchess are part of our family now.”
Halloran smiled. “I think Ena’s maternal instincts are coming to bear. Good show and good luck.” Halloran shifted into his dragon. The puppies woofed at him, acting as though they were protecting Ena and Brett, and then Halloran flew off.
“I can go with you to the pet shop this time,” Brett said.
“What if you wanted to bring home more puppies?”
“I think we have our hands full with these—well, and the queen’s, now, once we pick them up.”
Looking panicked, Jacob came running outside, then saw them with the puppies. “Oh, I was afraid we’d lost Duke and Duchess.”
Ena smiled. “No, but we’re going to need a puppy-watching schedule. And the queen wants us to housebreak two puppies for her.”
Jacob’s eyes grew big. “To pick them out for her too?”
“Yes. We’ll wait until Mark and Bryan are done with the Gathering, but I’m going over there and give them a heads-up.”
“I’ll go with you,” Brett said. “I’d like to see how they’re doing at the games. Of course they might not be allowed to participate, as new as they are to all of this.”
“I’ll take care of Duchess and Duke then and have a puppy schedule drawn up,” Jacob said and picked up each puppy and headed inside.
“Shall we?” Ena took Brett’s hand and they transported to the Wolf Mountain pack territory. When they arrived, she was caught up in the excitement just like all the contestants and observers were. The dragon games were just like that for them.
She couldn’t see Mark and Bryan for all the people here and she said to Brett, “Let’s shift and soar over the area to see if we can locate them.”
He agreed and they shifted, then took flight.
She saw wolves in tug-of-war competitions and other wolves hurriedly searching for hidden objects. She thought that was fun and wondered if they couldn't add something like that to the dragon games, but it would have to be objects hidden high above the ground for the dragons to find. Then she saw a man arguing with Hannah, and at first, Ena thought the woman had caused some trouble. Ena didn’t know the man, or whether or not he was in Simon’s pack or another.
But when he grabbed Hannah’s arm and she tried to pull away, Ena went into dragon-protector mode. It was so overcast, Ena and Brett’s dragon forms didn’t cast a shadow. Neither Hannah nor the man saw Ena coming. In her peripheral vision, she saw Brett headed in the same direction.
Before the man could transport Hannah somewhere else, if he intended to, Ena swooped down and grabbed Hannah by the shoulders and carried her off. She screamed in terror, but realizing it was Ena, she shut up. Ena hovered above the top of a large rock and released Hannah. Brett brought the man with him and set him down as Ena settled on the rock and shifted.
“Okay, what’s this all about?” Ena asked.
Brett landed on the rock, but remained in his dragon form, a deterrent for the man if he thought to grab Hannah again.
They knew Hannah could be totally at fault, so they knew to expect anything.
“Barrow lies about being my brother! His father denies I’m his daughter! And another pack leader claims I’m one of his people when his people say I’m not. And another pack won’t claim me, when pack members say I’m part of the pack.”
Ena smiled. She couldn’t help herself. If Hannah had been likeable, Simon would most likely have convinced her to stay with his pack.
“There!” Letta said from down below, pointing at them sitting high up on the rock. She was with Simon and his brothers and they appeared to be concerned for Hannah.
They all had to climb up on top of the rock and Ena was eager to hear what was going on.
“This man had accosted Hannah,” Ena said first.
“Apparently,” Simon said, “a couple of packs have some grievances with fae seers, and they have the notion that they can use Hannah to go after them.”
“But she’s not truly a member of their packs,” Letta said. “Thank you for coming to Hannah’s aid.”
“It looks like we have confirmed that she belongs to another pack,” Simon said.
“That doesn’t want me,” Hannah said.
“Why?” Ena asked. Unless they knew her personally, she didn’t understand why a pack wouldn’t want to take in a former member who had been abandoned in the human world for who knew what reason really. And Hannah had nothing to do with that.
Hannah brushed away tears. “I don’t belong anywhere. Even you don’t want me back.”
“Is that no wonder?” Ena wasn’t about to sugarcoat Hannah’s circumstances. She wasn’t going to roll over and say Hannah could return to her employ, when she wouldn’t work at all.
“You can stay here with our pack until we sort it out,” Simon said. “But Ena’s right. You have to earn your keep, just like everyone else does.”
Bryan and Mark joined them then, Bryan saying, “We overheard some of the conversation. Man, we can’t believe how much we can hear with our wolf senses. Anyway, Mark and I have been offered jobs to create gardens for various people—like the dragon shifter, Alton and his mate. So if you want to help us plant and pull weeds and remove existing plants to make way for new plants, you can come to work for us. But you won’t be able to get away with what you used to pull. Not now that you’re a fae like everyone else here. It was one thing when you were a mopey human fae seer. You’re not that any longer. Not that it gave you a good excuse to shirk your responsibilities before.”
“Yeah, we’re willing to give you a chance to help us create beautiful gardens, but it means lots of hard work. If you don’t want to help, you’ll have to find work somewhere else,” Mark agreed.
Ena suspected Bryan still felt some responsibility for Hannah since he was the one who wanted to take her to the fae world with them. She was glad he offered. She hoped Hannah would finally get her act together.
“By the way, when you’re free, would you like to go with me and return to the human world to pick up some more puppies?” Ena asked Mark and Bryan.
“You want more underfoot?” Mark asked, sounding surprised.
“No, Queen Viviana wants them.”
Bryan and Mark laughed. “Don’t get anything else new or she’ll want it too,” Mark said.
“I want to go too,” Hannah said.
Not once since they’d taken Hannah with them to the fae world had she been allowed to return to the human world. But now that she had fae traveling abilities, she could go there whenever she liked. They couldn’t stop her, unless they made her wear a fae collar, but why bother?
Ena just wasn’t sure that it was safe for them to take her with them.
Mark and Bryan were watching Ena, trying to decipher which way she would go on it. She finally nodded. “All right, but you listen to whatever any of us have to say.”
“I will. I know how dangerous it can be if fae seers see us. Even if my friends, former friends, were in the area, I would be on their target list now,” Hannah said.
“We’re free now if you want to go,” Mark said.
“After the trials. The queen will have to wait to take her puppies home after they’re housebroken anyway. We’ll take care of that part, but I just thought you’d like to go with us to pick out the puppies and select whatever else they need before we turn them over to the queen.”
“Yes,” both Mark and Bryan said.
Even though Hannah didn’t chime in, she looked just as eager to go with them.
“Do you mind if I go with you this time?” Brett asked.
“We’d love to have you come along. You can help run interference if anyone thinks we haven’t ‘paid’ for the merchandise.”
“I could help,” Letta said.
“If you go, I’ll go too. You’re not thinking of picking up a puppy of your own, are you?” Simon asked.
Letta just cast him a devious smile and Ena suspected that’s just what she had intended.
“We could just get a puppy somewhere around here, you know,” Simon told her.
“I know, but where’s the fun and excitement in that?” Letta said.
“All right, it’s settled. Return to my castle when you have finished your games and we’ll go on a puppy hunt,” Ena said.
Then she and Brett shifted, flew off the rock as dragons, and headed home.
“Do you want a puppy?” Simon asked Letta. He knew that a dog would soon become one of the pack, even though no one in his pack had one. A few fae had them for pets, cats, and birds too, but most had them if they were working animals. Cherished still, but useful in some way, other than just a companion.
“Sure? Why not? They make cherished companions.”
“You have me.”
Letta laughed. “Of course I do. I grew up around dogs. When I had to live with my grandfather, he wouldn’t allow me to take my dog with me. My brother took care of her until she died.”
Simon nodded. “A puppy it is.”
“Maybe two so that she’s not lonely.”
He smiled. As soon as Ena had mentioned getting puppies for the queen, he saw the interest in Letta's expression. He would get her anything to make her happy. "You'll have to be in charge of puppy training. I'll help, but I haven't the foggiest idea how to take care of a puppy. I mean, as wolves, we're similar but we're also fae."
Letta laughed. "Good thing too."
Simon was called up for the final tug-of-war contest between wolves and he hoped they won, but he'd already won the greatest contest of all—Letta's heart and his pack leader mate.