For the past three weeks, Cassidy had been focused on reaching Nic. He was a sea dragon, a fire-and-lava-spewing shifter. Even the fae didn’t mess with an adult dragon.

She hadn’t expected he’d have other men with him. He was a lone wolf. At Shannon, he’d pitched in with anything that needed doing, and he’d contributed fish to the kitchens, but he’d shrugged off the other men’s attempts at friendship until they left him alone. Some weeks, he’d spent more time in the ocean than at the base, exploring Ireland’s wild western coast.

Now her stomach sank as she gazed around at the four men. She’d heard enough to know Nic and his men intended to fight for her and Rianna, and she hated that in coming here, she’d endangered not just Nic, but the other men as well.

But it was the way of their kind; the fada treasured their young. Even her own clan would’ve protected Rianna, but Cassidy would’ve had to explain why the fae were after Rianna, and she’d been afraid to let anyone know that she was a dragon.

Besides, the only way to protect Rianna would have been to keep her behind the base’s wards for decades until she was a full-fledged adult. The fae wouldn’t have given up—Rianna’s heart was worth too much. Cassidy couldn’t condemn her daughter to a childhood hidden in Shannon’s caverns. A pup needed to play in the sunshine.

So she’d taken Rianna and run, but the damn fae had dogged her every step of the way.

“Rianna’s asleep?” Nic asked.

“Yeah.” She jammed her hands in the back pockets of her shorts. “I owe you an apology,” she said to Marlin, Joe and Ben.

They gazed back, clearly mystified.

“For what?” Marlin asked.

“For dragging you into this.”

Marlon grunted. “Hell, we could use some excitement.”

Nic rose from his seat to wrap an arm around her. “You did the right thing,” he said as the other men murmured agreement.

Cassidy stiffened, but Nic pulled her closer. She resisted, but the temptation to lean against him tugged at her. She was so tired, and he felt big and warm and comforting.

He blew out a breath and released her as Joe hung his ukulele on its hook.

“With your permission,” he said, “I’d like to check you for a tracking device anyway.”

“Joe’s a mako,” Nic said. “He can detect things we can’t. It’s worth it to let him check you over.”

She moved a shoulder. “Be my guest.”

“The rest of you step back,” the lean Hawaiian said. “This works by sensing electrical charges in the body. Anyone nearby can cause interference.”

The other men nodded and stepped back to give them space.

Joe approached Cassidy. “Stand with your arms a little away from your body.”

When she obeyed, he raised his hands to her head. Eyes half-closed, he moved them over and around her skull, always keeping them a few inches from her skin, and then continued down her body.

When he reached her injured leg, he drew a sharp breath. “It’s here.” He tapped the jagged starburst on her calf. “I sense something pulsing.”

Cassidy twisted her leg so she could see the scab. “Are you sure? It itches sometimes, but I figured it wasn’t healing because I was so stressed.”

“I’m sure.” Joe straightened up. “How did it happen?”

“The bastards hit me with a fae ball. In Ireland.” Her mind churned. “So they’ve been tracking me the whole time? That thing has been in me since Ireland?”

“Looks like it,” he replied.

Her heart pounded in her ears. “Oh my God.” She gulped and met Nic’s eyes. “I led them straight to you. I—”

“Sit down.” He guided her to a stool by the firepit. “You’re white as a sheet.”

“Holy mother.” She sank onto the stool.

“Take it easy.” He sat down beside her and rubbed her back, his big hand making slow circles. “We’ll figure this out.”

“But how? The fae ball—how the bloody hell did they get a tracking device into it?”

Joe took the stool on her other side, while Ben and Marlin hovered worriedly nearby. “Probably a magical dart. They’re similar to fae balls. Same bright light, and they hurt like hell. The tracking device is in the point.”

Nic frowned. “So it was a sun fae then?”

“Could be ice fae.” Joe crossed his arms over his chest. “In fact, they’re more likely to use darts. The sun fae usually stick to fae balls.”

Cassidy examined the starburst wound with a sick disbelief. They’d hit her at an angle, so the injury was to the muscle on the calf’s right side. She felt violated—that the fae had inserted something in her without her knowledge and then used it to track her across the country…

“Get it out,” she gritted at Nic. “I don’t care how you do it. Just get the bloody thing out.”

Sympathy flickered across Joe’s hard face, the first emotion she’d seen him show. “We don’t know how deep it is.”

“I don’t care. Take my damn leg off, then—before they follow me here.”

Nic squeezed her shoulder. “Calm yourself, querida. We’ll figure this out.”

She shook him off. “Don’t you understand? They may already be on their way. You’re all in danger—especially Rianna.” Her voice broke.

“I understand. Now, let me have a look. I have a small Gift for healing, remember?”

She took a deep breath and nodded. Nic was right, she had to calm down. Panicking wouldn’t help. But it made her skin crawl to think the fae had been tracking her the whole time.

In fact, why had they let her get this far? Were they toying with her—or had they hoped she’d lead them to Nic?

She hissed and grabbed his arm. “What if it’s you they’re after, not Rianna? Or the both of you? And I played right into the bastards’ hands...”

Nic’s face hardened. “Then they’re in for a surprise.”