He stepped forward, drawing everyone’s attention.
“There are two Montgomery packs,” he said. “One pack is Lieutenant Montgomery and Lizzy. The other pack is that Cyrus, his mate, and their two pups. While they came from the same family, they are now separate packs, are adversaries. That means the other pack members can be loyal to one or the other but not both. The rest of the family now must consider what each pack has to offer.” He looked at Miss Twyla. This would hurt her, and he was sorry for that. “Choose.”
She stared at him, the tears still flowing. Then she took tissues out of her pocket and wiped her eyes and nose.
“Guess I always knew it would come down to this, but I can’t choose between my children. Not that way.” Miss Twyla straightened her shoulders. “Crispin asked me to come here and help him with Lizzy, and I’d like to keep on doing that. But even if I have to turn away from one of my children, I don’t want to turn away from any of my grandchildren.”
“You have to choose,” Simon said with regret.
She nodded. “I choose your pack, Mr. Simon.”
“What?” Simon gave Montgomery a look that said, Does she know what she’s doing?
“Mama?” Montgomery’s look at Simon said, She knows.
“I’ve put my hand to different kinds of work over the years, Crispin,” Miss Twyla said quietly. “There is plenty of work to be had, and I could find a job in this city. But this Courtyard feels more like the neighborhoods your daddy and I lived in when we were newlyweds and when you and Cyrus were young—a place where people looked out for each other. Haven’t lived in a place like that for the past few years, and I’ve missed that. I’ve done what I could for all of you, but my children are grown, so I’m making a choice for myself first.”
“All right, Mama.” Montgomery didn’t sound happy. “If this is what you want.”
Simon looked at the Sierra. “Now you. Choose.” He held up a hand and noticed the patches of fur on the back. Damn. What else didn’t look completely human? “Understand the choice you have to make.”
“I know the choice,” the Sierra said bitterly. “I have to choose between Jimmy and CJ.”
“No, you have to choose between that Cyrus and your pups.”
He heard several gasps. He suspected those had come from all the females in the room, including the female still standing just inside the door.
“If that Cyrus is so important to you that you’ll crawl for his approval, that’s your choice. But your pups would be the lowest members of that pack, considered orphans if that’s what he wanted, and pups in that position don’t often survive if food is hard to find. Odds are one or both of your pups would die of hunger. So if you want that Cyrus, you can live as another female in his pack. But your pups won’t go with you. They’ll be transferred to another pack that will be able to care for them.”
“You can’t take my children!” the Sierra cried.
“Yes, we can. And we will. Or you can swear to the members of the Courtyard who are here and to the human witnesses that you will not give that Cyrus food or money that you need for your pups. No excuses.” Simon bared his teeth. “And know this: if you steal from us, we take a hand the first time. The second time we take a lot more.”
“CJ?” The Sierra turned to the brother who gave his love.
Montgomery shook his head. “Sissy, if you want to find another job and another place to live that isn’t under Mr. Wolfgard’s jurisdiction, you can do that. But I’m guessing you’d have to do it soon.”
“We would give her a week,” Simon said. “Then we would drive her out of our territory.”
“Even if you found a place you could afford and work to support you and the girls, who would stay with them?” Montgomery continued, then added when the Sierra slid a look at Miss Twyla, “Mama has a job and her own bills to pay.”
“That’s right,” Miss Twyla said. “If you and the girls are here, I’ll help you look after them, same as I’m helping Crispin. But if you leave, maybe you’d best think of going a long ways away from all of us. Maybe one of those towns out west that need good workers. And if you leave and have any sense at all, you won’t tell Cyrus where you’re going.”
Sobbing, the Sierra fell into one of the chairs.
“For you, being around that man is like drinking a glass of poison every day,” Nadine said. “Maybe it just makes you sick, makes you weak, makes you forget who you really are and what you really want. But if you keep drinking, sooner or later, the poison will kill you.”
Simon wondered if Nadine had drunk that kind of poison when she was young. If she had, she’d also stopped drinking it. So had Theral MacDonald. She’d run away from an abusive mate. That Jack Fillmore was still sniffing around, still a threat, but Theral wasn’t crawling back to him. So there was a chance the Sierra would make a good choice for herself and her pups if she had a little time to think.
“We’ll all meet back here in one hour,” Simon told her. “You’ll give us your answer then.”
The Sierra ran out of the coffee shop, brushing past a female, who looked at them with big eyes and said, “Is it always so dramatic here?”
“Who are you?” Simon snarled. He wasn’t close enough to catch her scent, but her voice sounded vaguely familiar.
“Emily Faire. The nurse practitioner who is going to be working here? I have a letter from Mr. Ferryman for Mr. Wolfgard.”
Simon nodded, remembering where he’d seen her before. She had been in attendance as the healer when Meg made the cut and saw the possible future for the River Road Community.
He looked at Vlad. <You weren’t much help.>
<Why should both of us wear a target?> Vlad replied. <Besides, I was keeping track of the fluffball to make sure she didn’t grab a teakettle and hit someone.>
For the terra indigene, Merri Lee would always be the Teakettle Woman from Charlie Crowgard’s song about Teakettle Woman and Broomstick Girl.
“Come up to the office and we’ll discuss your employment,” Simon told Emily Faire. Then he pointed to Nadine. “This is Nadine Fallacaro. You’ll have a room in her apartment on the days you’re working here.”
“Really?” Emily Faire didn’t sound enthusiastic. She probably wondered how often Nadine attacked other females with a knife.
They hadn’t seen this behavior in the woman until now, but Simon was wondering the same thing.
Nadine sighed. “I’ll show you the apartment when you’re ready.” Her eyes widened. “Gods! I forgot about the muffins. Didn’t even hear the timer.”
“I took care of them,” Tess said, stepping in from the hallway. Her hair was green and curling. She wasn’t calm, but she was safe enough to be around the rest of them.
Simon walked past Montgomery on his way to HGR’s office.
“Simon,” Montgomery said quietly. “Would you really take Sierra’s girls away from her?”
“Yes.”