“What?” Nic snarled, anger a live wire in his veins. “The devil they do.”

The other three men made shocked sounds. “Like hell,” Marlin growled.

Nic’s grip tightened on the small, trusting weight in his arms. Everything in him revolted at the idea of anyone harming a little girl.

His little girl. His daughter. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that he had a child.

Cassidy regarded him with shadowed eyes. She had dark blue irises, the color of the deepest ocean. That summer with her, Nic had believed he could drown in her eyes, and die a happy man.

“I can’t protect her,” Cassidy said, “and she’s too young to protect herself. Yes, she has a dragon’s natural immunity to magic, but you know that if they get hold of her, they’ll just kill her. They don’t need magic to do that. They can put her in an iron cage and starve her.”

Iron was poison for the fada and fae. An iron cage would weaken Rianna and steal her ability to shift. Once Rianna died, they could cut out and preserve her heart.

Nic felt his eyes flash a dragon-gold. “Over my dead body.”

Marlin crossed his arms over his chest. “And mine.”

“And mine,” echoed Joe and Ben.

“We’re all in this together,” Marlin added. “Nic’s ours, which means you and your daughter are, too.”

Cassidy bit her lip. “Thank you. I’m so sorry to bring this on you.” She gave the three men a wobbly smile. It wasn’t lost on Nic that she didn’t include him, but then, he didn’t deserve her smiles.

“Who is it?” He wanted names. As far as he was concerned, they were dead men.

“That’s just it. I don’t know.” She passed a hand over her face. “There are four of them. They have the scent of a fae, but I can’t tell which kind. They’re disguising their scents somehow, and using a glamour to hide their true faces. They could be sun fae or ice fae, or even night fae. If I had to guess, though, I’d say ice fae.”

A chill slid down his spine. “They followed you to California?”

“Yes. My first stop was Maryland. I was hoping you’d be at Rock Run, but once I got to the States, I could tell you were further west.”

“You saw my family?” Nic’s oldest brother Dion was alpha of Rock Run, and his younger brother and sister still lived there as well.

Cassidy shook her head. “I remembered what you said—that no one at Rock Run knows about your sea dragon. Once I knew you weren’t there, I kept going. We took a bus.”

“From Maryland?” That would’ve taken days, cooped up with smelly humans.

“We didn’t come straight here. I was trying to lose them. A couple of times, we hitchhiked. By the time we got to California, we were worn out—and Rianna had gone too long without being in the water.” Cassidy finished her wine and set the cup on a nightstand. “We went up to Chicago first, and then across to Denver and then Utah and Nevada. It was so dry—we barely made it to Lake Tahoe in time. We spent a few days in the lake, but like me, Rianna needs sea water, so as soon as she was strong enough, I set out again. When we finally reached the coast, I realized you were somewhere out in the ocean. I just didn’t have the strength to keep going, so I checked us into a motel in Ventura.”

“I wish I’d known you were that close. I would’ve come to get you.”

“Yeah?” Her head tilted in disbelief.

He scowled. “Of course I would’ve.”

She shrugged. “Well, I didn’t have a way to contact you.” Water fada couldn’t use cell phone except for brief periods—something about their bodies shorted out small electronics. Most clans had a landline installed in their base, but there was no way Nic could run a landline ten miles offshore.

He grimaced, accepting the blame. If he hadn’t ruthlessly cut off all contact with Cassidy, she could’ve left him a message at the fada bar in Ventura.

“Anyway, they found us this morning.” Her hands curled into fists. “Thank the Goddess I sensed them coming. We barely got away. They shot at us, the bloody bastards—the bullets went right by us. Scared the shite out of Rianna.”

Nic’s claws pricked at his fingertips. With an effort, he willed them back. He was coldly furious, but he had to save his anger for the men who dared hurt what was his.

“And your leg?” he prompted Cassidy.

She rubbed the rough red scab. “A fae ball. That was in Ireland. They almost caught us the night we sneaked out of the base. That’s when I knew for sure the fae were behind—"

Rianna chose that moment to wake up. She tensed until she saw Cassidy. “Mam!” She leapt off Nic’s lap.

He itched to hear the rest of the story, but he couldn’t help smiling as Cassidy wrapped Rianna in a hug.

“You’re okay?” she asked.

The little girl sniffed. “I was a-scared.”

“I know, alanna. But you’re safe now.”

Nic exchanged looks with his men. From their frowns, they were as outraged as him.

Outside the storm still boomed. From time to time, a lightning bolt hit the island hard enough to shake the caverns. It was fixing to be one of California’s rare but powerful storms.

“Even if they knew where your woman and the girl were headed, there’s no way they could get through this storm,” Joe said to Nic. “A boat wouldn’t get a hundred yards in this, and no one but you could swim in it now.”

Cassidy looked up from where she was murmuring to Rianna. “They can’t know where we are. Even I didn’t know. I just followed the bond west.”

Joe nodded. “As soon as the storm dies down, I’ll change to my shark and patrol the perimeter of the island. No one will get close without me knowing it.”

“Thank you,” Nic said gratefully. He’d gotten to his feet and was pacing the cavern floor.

Cassidy shivered, and he swore under his breath. “You’re still cold.” He grabbed two sweaters from his shelves and handed them to her. “Put these on—both of you.”

Cassidy nodded her thanks and pulled the smaller sweater over Rianna’s head. It was light green and the pup looked adorable, even if Cassidy had to roll up the sleeves multiple times.

Rianna smoothed a hand down her front. “It’s pretty. Thanks, mister.”

Cassidy pulled on the other sweater, a thick blue wool that set off her eyes and made her hair appear even more red. “I’m guessing our things are at the bottom of the ocean.”

“You’re welcome to the sweaters,” he told her. “But I saw where your pack went down—I’ll get it in a minute.”

Cassidy blinked. “You can dive that deep? And even if you saw it go down, the current could’ve carried it a mile along the bottom by now.”

“I’ll get it,” he assured her.

The sweater covered Cassidy to her thighs. Nic felt a primitive satisfaction at seeing her in his clothing, his scent all over her. He fisted his hands to keep himself from reaching out. He wanted to pull Cassidy onto his lap, cuddle her as he had Rianna.

Rianna scrambled back onto her mother’s lap, and Cassidy made a face at Nic. “She’s not usually so clingy, but the poor things had a rough few weeks. And you men are strangers…”

“It’s all right.” Nic’s voice was gruff, and Cassidy flinched.

But he wasn’t angry at her. He was pissed off at himself—because damn it, he shouldn’t be a stranger to his own daughter.

Rianna perked up. “Can you find our rucksack, mister?”

Nic’s eyes met Cassidy’s. He ached to ask Rianna to call him Papa, but he wouldn’t. That was for her mother to decide.

“Nic,” he said at last. “Call me Nic.”

“Thank you, Mister Nic.” Rianna put her mouth to Cassidy’s ear. “I want my Annie-doll,” she whispered.

Nic raised a brow, having heard her perfectly well with his shifter’s enhanced hearing. “Her Annie-doll?”

“It’s her ragdoll,” Cassidy explained. “My aunt Maire made it for her.”

“It’s in the pack?”

Cassidy nodded, and Nic crouched next to the futon so he was at Rianna’s level. “I’ll get your Annie-doll.”

The little girl lifted her head from where she’d buried it in her mother’s neck. “Promise?”

“Promise,” he replied gravely.

Rianna nodded, satisfied.

Cassidy frowned. “If he can find it,” she added with a warning look at Nic.

Nic knew what she was thinking—that he shouldn’t make a promise to a child that he might not be able to keep. But then, she didn’t know that a sea dragon could pretty much find a needle in a haystack.

“I’ll find it,” he repeated as he rose back to his feet. “Tell me something. These men who are after you—do they have a teleporter with them?” Teleporting was a fae Gift, although fortunately, a rare one.

“I don’t think so. And even if they did, they can’t know where I am.” To ’port, a fae needed an exact location.

The other men stood up, too. “As far as they know,” Marlin said, “you two could be anywhere off the coast of California. The storm should help. No one could’ve followed you in that. Even another fada would’ve had a helluva time.”

Cassidy briefly closed her eyes.

Nic touched her cheek. “You’re safe, querida.” Sweetheart.

They both felt the electricity. Cassidy jerked away.

Nic’s jaw tightened. She couldn’t have rejected him more clearly.

“I’ll go get that pack.” Without waiting for a reply, he turned and strode out of the cavern.

As soon as he was out of sight in the tunnel that led to the main entrance, he halted and bent over, hands on his thighs, sucking in breaths. Seeing Cassidy had been a kick in the chest, but finding out they had a daughter had gutted him.

When he’d left Cassidy behind in Ireland, a huge part of his heart had remained with her. He’d known he’d never mate, never have a child.

To see Cassidy would’ve been a shock in itself, but he could’ve handled it. But to meet his daughter for the first time was too much—and to know they were both in danger was his fucking worst nightmare.

He pushed himself back to standing and continued down the tunnel.

Rianna. He had a daughter, and her name was Rianna.

He strode through the dining hall and dove into the water at the other end. Even as a human, he was a powerful swimmer. Three strong stokes took him through the ten-yard-long tunnel to the exit—and then he was slicing through the Pacific for the second time that afternoon.

He remained in his human form, relishing the fight against the heaving waves. It beat the hell out of thinking.

Because when he let himself think, regret threatened to swamp him. He’d left Ireland because he’d known it would never work with him and Cassidy. Or maybe it would’ve, but he couldn’t do that to her. If they’d mated, her whole life would’ve changed. She’d have been in constant danger of kidnapping.

The fae couldn’t harm or glamour him with their magic, but grab his mate, and they knew Nic would do anything to rescue her.

And Cassidy O’Byrne had been a free-spirited, laughing soul, with a loving family and friends of every age. If they’d mated, she would’ve had to leave all that to come with Nic. She would’ve ended up on this barren rock in the middle of the Pacific with only him for company, because at the time, he hadn’t even known Marlin, Joe and Ben.

Hell, he wouldn’t do that to any woman, but especially not to a woman he loved.

He’d tried to do the right thing. He’d kept away from her, but she’d persisted, so he’d tried warning her off. “I’m not looking for anything permanent.”

She’d tossed her red hair and said, “And what makes you think I am?”

Fada lived a long time, and Nic was already in his eighties. At thirty-two, Cassidy seemed so young and naïve, especially to a man who’d hid his dragon-self from everyone, even his own clan.

So when she’d said, “I still have a lot of living to do before I mate,” he’d taken her at her word.

He’d been so hungry for her. So very, very hungry that he hadn’t been thinking straight. He’d told himself it was just sex. A summer romance, as if he’d ever indulged in one of those in the past.

And then that last week, his sea dragon had broken the leash, and Nic had barely escaped from Shannon with his hide intact.

Now a pod of dolphin raced past, hot on the trail of a school of fish, and Nic’s internal GPS alerted him that he’d reached the place where he’d found Cassidy and Rianna. He shifted to his dragon and dove deeper, sweeping the depths with his sonar.

The current had dragged the backpack a half mile south, but Nic found it within ten minutes. He snagged it with one huge claw and headed back to the surface.

His dragon’s heart was normally cold, but it warmed, picturing Rianna’s smile when she saw her Annie-doll.

A dragon pup—and a woman to mate with.

Because Rianna changed everything.

Nic would do anything to keep Cassidy with him now. It was what he wanted with his whole body and soul anyway.

As far as the dragon was concerned, it had been a very good day.