Page 59 of Rejected Nanny Mate
“Enough!” I snarled, my voice echoing with power, and everyone went silent. I finally pulled Mia off of me and steadied her on her feet. She did look like hell, as if she'd been attacked, but even though the two women disliked each other heavily, I highly doubted that Gwen had anything to do with her injuries.
“Everyone, meet at my house in an hour, and we will sort this shit out. Mia, go with Malcolm.” I motioned the Beta forward and turned Mia over to him. “I'll take Gwen, and we'll figure this out there, away from the surge that I know we all can smell.”
There were murmurs of agreement, and the hunters helped Malcolm take Mia back towards the safe zone, while the rest of my wolves began to make their way to my house. Once they were gone, I turned to Gwen, who was white as a sheet.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, not looking at me. “I'm fine. I... I just can't believe she said that. I would never attack her. I was trying to help…”
“I know.” I put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her into my side as we started walking towards home. “It's going to be okay, Gwendolyn. We'll get through this.”
She spoke very little on the way home, but called Kiera and Samson, as I had asked her to, and the Saltfang Alpha and Luna met us in my driveway. There was already a significant number of my pack waiting inside. Word had spread about Mia's accusation, and everyone was there to see the outcome.
And that was why I needed Kiera.
Mia was sitting at the dining room table, right in the middle of all the other wolves, still crying quietly. My Beta looked frustrated beyond measure with her, but everyone else seemed sympathetic. Not everyone looked at Gwen with outright hostility, but a healthy measure of skepticism was evident on many faces.
I'd have been a terrible Alpha if I punched that expression off of them, but the temptation was still there. Powerfully.
Gwen was clearly intimidated, but she kept her head held high as she walked in beside me. Still, I could feel her terror in how hard she was gripping my hand. Her other hand was on her chest, rubbing hard, and I remembered that I'd meant to ask her about that particularly nervous tic before. Kiera noticed, too, and was immediately at Gwen's side.
“Breathe, babe,” she said, “Just like the doctor taught you. Breathe.”
In the midst of all the chaos, that made me pause. “Doctor?”
Kiera looked at me, baffled. “She didn't tell you?”
“Kiera, no,” Gwen wheezed, but her friend ignored her.
“She has generalized anxiety disorder, and it causes anxiety attacks,” Kiera's voice was low, so only Gwen and I could hear, and she was looking ahead, so no one paid any mind to ourprivate conversation. “She should have told you when she moved in. Now. Gwen. Breathe.”
Gwen did as Kiera asked, sucking in a deep breath, and I let go of her hand to rub circles into her back, giving her all the support I could. The tension in her shoulders eased, and I realized that I had more to worry about than just Mia's accusations. “We'll talk about this later,” I told Gwen quietly, but I couldn't hide the hurt in my tone. She nodded, looking away from me, and Kiera wrapped her arm around her waist.
“You okay, honey?” She asked, and Gwen nodded again, but she didn't look at me.
“Come on, Gwendolyn,” I said, and Kiera stepped back, allowing me to lead her over to the table. “Let's settle this so we can send everyone home.”
Mia wasn't officially part of my pack yet, but just last week, she'd begun the process to join. She'd been working with Kiera and Nayeli to break the bonds of her old pack, a favor that the Lunas were doing for me, but it was slow going. The Lunas told me that it seemed like her old bonds were protected by some sort of shell that they were having a terrible time trying to break.
But the fact that she'd started to process made the pack view her as one of their own more than Gwen, who was still firmly a Saltfang. I cringed, realizing that bringing the Saltfang Alpha and his Luna to help only increased the starkness of Gwen's otherness, but Nayeli was in a more delicate state than Kiera, and I'd had little choice.
I needed a witch, and Kiera was as good as they came.
When we reached the table, I looked down at Mia, whose face was tear-streaked. I expected to feel sympathy for her, even if she'd falsely accused Gwen, but I oddly felt nothing. “State your accusation.”
“Gwen attacked me,” she said, voice shaking. “I was trying to find a quiet place in the woods to meditate, and she came up on me out of nowhere. She tried to strangle me with her magic, and she kept saying how she hated me.”
Gwen inhaled sharply, and I squeezed her arm. “Do you have any proof?”
“Of course not!” Mia threw up her hands. “I fought her off, but she knocked me out.”
“You are a much more accomplished witch than Gwen. How did she manage that?”
Mia lowered her eyes, almost demurely, “I'm close to my heat, and my power is more erratic, so I didn't want to accidentally kill her.”
Gwen gasped, and this time, it was Kiera who squeezed her arm. “That's not true! I've never hurt anyone in my life—”
“And I haven't either!” Mia cried, looking back up at me. “Joseph, please. You can't really believe her over me.”
