Nic ran his hands over Cassidy’s injured calf, his dragon coldly enraged. The fae had attacked both his mate and his daughter, and inserted some bizarre device into his mate. As far as he was concerned, they’d signed their own death warrants. They had no idea how powerful his dragon had grown.

Cassidy’s too-thin body trembled. “What have I done?” She dragged her fingers through her cropped hair, leaving it sticking up wildly.

“Hey,” Nic said. “I’m an adult dragon. They try and take me, I’ll fucking incinerate them.”

Her throat worked.

“Cassidy.” He cupped her face in his hands. “You came to me for a reason—because you knew I could protect you and Rianna. Right?”

She jerked her chin in assent.

“Then trust me to do the job.”

“All right,” she whispered.

He released her face to look at her calf again. “First, we have to get this dart out of your leg.”

“Please.” She glared at the offending limb, her fine features twisted with revulsion. “I want the bloody thing out—now.”

He hovered his palm over the scabbed-up wound, wishing his Gift was more powerful. A strong healer could probably remove the device by magically manipulating the cells, but he’d have to physically dig it out. He looked at Marlin. “I need a scalpel.”

“Got it.” The dreadlocked shifter retrieved their first-aid kit from a shelf over the kitchen sink and set it next to Nic.

Meanwhile, Ben left the dining hall to get a sleeping mat, which he placed on the floor near the firepit. “You’ll want to lie down,” he told Cassidy.

Before she could move, Nic lifted her in his arms. He needed to hold her for a few seconds. She gave him a startled glance and then let her head rest against his shoulder.

Heart full, he squeezed her to him. He wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of the right words, so he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then set her on the mat. Cassidy rolled onto her left side so he could operate on her calf.

Ben sat cross-legged on the floor near Cassidy’s head, his powerful body radiating calm. He fingered his quartz crystal. “I can put you under so you barely feel it,” he told her. “But you have to trust me.”

Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Earth fada had a mystical connection with their quartz, drawing on the tiny crystals inside for life-energy. Ben wore his day and night, even when he shifted to his cougar. Nic didn’t know exactly how the quartz worked, but he did know that if you somehow got it away and smashed it, Ben would be hurting—bad.

“It’s a type of hypnosis,” the Navajo shifter replied. “But I promise, I only want to help you. Okay?”

Nic set his hand on her hip. “Ben’s been with me for over a year. You can trust him. If he says he can help you, then he can.”

She gave a hard swallow but nodded. “All right.”

Ben removed his quartz and dangled it near her face. “Look into my quartz,” he told her in his deep voice. “Good. Now relax. Breathe in and out. Slow, even breaths. You’re relaxed and calm. Nic’s going to take the dart out of you. You may feel a pinch, but it won’t hurt.”

Cassidy stared into the pyramid-shaped gray-and-white stone. The center glowed with a pale purple light that Nic had never seen before. It was strangely mesmerizing. He swayed forward to get a closer look.

Ben cursed under his breath. “Nic, Marlin, Joe—don’t look at the quartz.”

Nic dragged his gaze away, and gave a shake of his head to clear it. The other two men did the same thing.

“Nice trick,” Marlin muttered while Joe’s customary scowl deepened.

“It is,” the big earth fada replied tranquilly. He continued murmuring to Cassidy until her breathing slowed and her eyes drooped shut. “Nic,” he said in even tones, “you can start now.”

Nic had been running his hand up and down Cassidy’s calf, instinctively trying to soothe her pain. His Gift awakened, and he sensed the wrongness an inch deep in her flesh. Small, but buried in her muscle. He’d have to work with a delicate touch.

He removed her sock and placed a folded up towel beneath her injured calf. Taking a scalpel from the first-aid kit, he sterilized it in the fire. “Here I go,” he muttered, and sliced into her flesh.

She tensed, and his chest squeezed. Deus, he hated hurting her, but it was better than leaving that fae-spawned device in her. He steeled himself and went deeper.

“Breathe,” Ben crooned. “It’s only a pinch. You’re relaxed…sleepy.”

“Okay,” Cassidy said in a sleepwalker’s voice.

Blood spurted around Nic’s fingers. Marlin soaked it up with a wadded-up cloth, while Joe sterilized a pair of tweezers for Nic.

“Thanks.” Nic held the flesh open with his thumb and first finger and aimed for the wrongness. There—a shimmering object about the size of a small pearl with a hook on one end.

He closed the tweezers around it and gave a tentative pull.

“Steady now,” Marlin murmured.

Nic nodded without taking his eyes from the wound. The damn thing resisted, but Nic gritted his teeth and continued pulling gently but steadily. “Come on, you S.O.B.”

It released with a tearing sound that made them all wince. Cassidy moaned and went limp.

Nic’s heart wrenched. All he seemed to do was cause her pain.

“You got it, dude.” Marlin placed a clean cloth on top of the wound to absorb the blood while Joe held out a metal cup. Nic dropped the device into it.

“It’s fae-made, all right,” Joe growled.

They all peered into the cup. The hooked pearl appeared more light than substance. It darkened for a moment and then started growing brighter—white with a hint of cobalt blue. They watched, open-mouthed, as it retracted the hook so it was a perfect sphere. Then it jerked into motion, rolling from side to side. With each pass, it moved higher up the cup.

“Get a lid,” Nic rapped out, “before the damn thing escapes.”

“Here.” Marlin grabbed the empty wine bottle from dinner. “Put it in the bottle.”

Joe took the bottle and tipped the tracking device into it, and Marlin popped a cork on it. The object pulsed several times and then went dark. They let out a collective exhale of relief.

“Keep an eye on it,” Nic told Joe. “As soon as I finish with Cassidy, I’ll take it out to sea.”

He turned back to his patient. She was still unconscious, her skin paper-white, her breathing short and shallow.

“Almost done, minha querida,” he murmured in case she could hear him.

He removed the cloth covering her wound and hovered his hands a half-inch above it as he pictured a warm golden energy infusing her calf. Closing the deep cut taxed his small healing Gift to the max, but he tightened his jaw and kept it up until the blood clotted. He did what he could to heal the rip in her muscle and then closed up the wound.

Drained, he sat back and examined his work. Cassidy would have to take it easy for a few days, and she’d probably always have a scar, but fada healed fast. Now that the tracking device was out, her body should be able to do the rest.

Ben rose from the floor. “Good work.”

“Here.” Marlin set Nic’s beer in his hand. “You look like you could use this.”

“Hell, yeah.” Nic gulped the rest of the beer.

He bent over Cassidy. Her cropped hair was so fine, his breath ruffled it. The color—a sun-streaked red—had always fascinated him. He fingered a short gold strand that stood out among the red.

Her eyes fluttered open. “Did you—?”

“Yes. It’s out.”

She heaved a relieved breath. “Thank you.” She struggled up on her forearms.

“Take it easy.” He pressed her back down on the mat. “I just closed up your leg. You need to stay still for now.”

She gripped his arm. “I want to see it.”

“Let me help you then.” He placed an arm under her shoulders and lifted her high enough so she could see her calf. “We got the device out, and your leg is healing nicely.”

“Where is it?” She looked around.

“Joe has it.” Marlin pointed at the Hawaiian shifter.

Joe held up the wine bottle. The device started glowing again, as if sensing Cassidy’s interest, and Joe hurriedly clapped his hand over the glass to cover the light.

Cassidy’s mouth dropped open. “What in bloody hell is that?”

“Exactly what we thought,” Nic said grimly. “A fae device. It has to be how they were tracking you. It had a hook on one end to keep it in your leg.”

“Holy blue seas.” She passed a hand over her face. “I thought there might be a chance the gobshites had done something to keep it from healing—to slow me down, you know—but I never suspected they’d planted a feckin’ device in me.”

Nic slid his hands under Cassidy’s shoulders and legs. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“Do you need any help?” Ben came to his feet.

“Just bring her some water.”

Nic lifted Cassidy as smoothly as possible and headed into the tunnel. In his bedroom, Rianna was curled into a tight ball on the futon, thumb in her mouth. Something moved in his chest. His sleeping daughter looked so small and defenseless. How in Hades could anyone want to harm her?

He eased Cassidy onto the mattress next to her, careful to keep Cassidy’s injured leg on the outside so the little girl wouldn’t accidentally bump it in her sleep.

Cassidy pushed herself up so her head and shoulders were supported by the pillows. Rianna turned over and without opening her eyes or taking her thumb from her mouth, fitted herself like a barnacle against her mother’s side.

“Hush now, alanna.” Cassidy patted her back. “It’s only me.”

Rianna murmured sleepily and subsided.

Nic slipped a pillow under Cassidy’s right calf to keep it elevated, and then tucked the covers around them both. Ben arrived with the water and handed it to Cassidy. She drank it down and handed back the cup.

She smothered a yawn. “I’m so tired.”

“Rest. It’s the best thing now.”

“It’s truly out? You got the whole thing?”

“Yes. I’m sure of it. Don’t worry, sweetheart.” He ran the backs of his fingers over her soft cheek.

She caught his wrist. “Can we talk—alone?” She glanced at Ben, standing at the foot of the bed.

“Of course.” The earth fada turned to go.

“Wait!” Cassidy let go of Nic’s hand to smile at Ben. “I didn’t thank you yet.”

He inclined his head. “I’m glad it helped.”

“I don’t know much about your quartz, but I bet you drained its energy for me.”

He shrugged a massive shoulder. “It will replenish itself.” He nodded to them both and left, shutting the door behind him.

Nic pulled up a stool next to the futon. “What is it, querida?”

“That.” She waved a hand between them. “You calling me sweetheart…touching my face. I don’t see you for almost four years, and you act like nothing has changed. Well, it has, Nic. You made it clear you don’t want me. My being here doesn’t change that.”

“No?” He flicked a glance at Rianna, curled up with her head on her mama’s shoulder. Like hell things hadn’t changed. But he wanted Cassidy to stay willingly, and for that, he needed time to court her—and if he had to use their daughter for leverage, he would.

“I can protect you from the fae this time,” he said, “but are you willing to risk taking Rianna home to Shannon? Next time, you might not get away from the fae.”

Her full mouth compressed. “Damn you, Nic do Rio.”

He took her hand. “Would it be so bad? Rianna needs me for more than protection. If her sea dragon showed itself so young, she’s going to be powerful. I can help her tame the dragon so that she’s in control, not it.”

“Fine.” Cassidy pulled her hand from his. “I’ll stay until I can figure out something better—but no touching. I want your promise.”

He blew out a breath. “I’m not going to make a promise I can’t keep. Because you’re wrong about one thing, Cassidy. I do want you.”

Her brows flicked up. Good, he’d surprised her.

She shook her head. “It’s too late.”

Panic clutched his heart, made his next words a growl. “The hell it is.”

Her chin jutted. “Your promise.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

He scowled. “I can make you want me.”

“I already do,” she shot back, “but that’s not the point, is it?”

Confusion roiled in him. “Then what’s the problem? If this is about punishing me, then I deserve it. But I’m sorry, and I’ll do anything to make it up to you—and Rianna.”

She glanced away. She chewed her lip, looking forlorn and exhausted.

Nic cursed himself and immediately backed off. “Sleep.” He made to smooth the covers around her, and then halted and brought his hands back to his thighs. “I have to take the tracking device out to sea before this storm ends. We can talk later.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you,” she said, each word a hard little stone. “It’s that I don’t trust you.”

“I see.” He drew back, reeling. A vise squeezed his lungs. For a few seconds he couldn’t speak. “I’ll leave you alone then,” he finally managed to say. “No more touching.”

Cassidy’s eyes looked huge in the dark. “Thank you,” she said in a barely audible voice.

He rose to his feet and walked blindly toward the exit. His heart physically hurt. He pressed the heel of his hand to his chest, trying to rub away the ache.

When he reached the archway between the inner and outer room, he paused and said without looking at her, “I’ll be gone for a few hours getting rid of the tracking device. If you need anything, call out. One of the men will come.”

“I won’t need anything.”

His claws pricked at his fingers. “Even so. Promise me you’ll call them. You shouldn’t walk on that leg.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

He jerked his chin and strode out of his quarters.