Nic allowed Cassidy a minute before following her back to the surface. Rianna was still crouched with her ragdoll, babbling about how everything was all right now, and that they were safe with Mister Nic and his friends.

Deus, she was adorable. Nic’s chest tightened with unfamiliar emotion. He’d keep her safe no matter what.

And Cassidy, too. He glanced at where she stood waist-high in the pool, checking on Rianna. Now that she wasn’t covered in blankets, he could see how thin she really was—her stomach hollowed out, her ribs prominent. Her hips were less rounded than he remembered, but her breasts were still nice and full.

And he was a sick bastard for lusting after a woman who was hurt and exhausted, but then, Cassidy had had that effect on him from day one.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Cassidy called to Rianna, ignoring Nic as if he weren’t treading water a couple yards away. “Do you want to swim some more or should we go back to the dining hall?”

“Swim!” Rianna carefully placed her ragdoll in a niche in the stone wall, and then bounded down the steps to take a flying leap into the water. Cassidy caught her and they both submerged to reappear a short while later in the center of the pool, giggling.

A smile tugged at his lips. Cassidy was so good with the little girl. It was clear she was a great mother.

He wished his own mom could’ve seen her granddaughter, but his parents had disappeared more than fifteen years ago somewhere in the North Atlantic. They might be dead, or maybe they’d been captured by the ice fae. His parents had a history with Sindre, the ice fae king, and they’d been near Iceland when they disappeared.

Not knowing was the worst. Nic and his brothers had searched for months, until his oldest brother Dion had called off the search. Their father had been Rock Run alpha, so Dion had reluctantly declared himself the new alpha.

Nic hadn’t stuck around for long after that. He was too strong to live as a subordinate to his brother. And his sea dragon had become a constant itch—wanting out more and more, until Nic feared someone at Rock Run would discover his secret. Water fada could take more than one form, so as far as the clan was concerned, Nic’s primary animal was a river dolphin.

Nic had waited long enough to see his brother established in his new role and then shipped out with the Merchant Marines, who were always eager to hire water fada. The clan was hurting, so he’d sent half his money back to Rock Run until he’d heard Dion mated with the sun fae queen and turned things around. Nic had stopped back to congratulate his brother and meet his mate, then finished his stint with the Merchant Marines and struck out on a tour of the world’s oceans.

He’d ridden the waves for a couple of years before ending up at Shannon, where he’d met Cassidy the first day. Orphaned as a young girl, the pretty red-haired shifter had been raised by an aunt and uncle, and had a passel of cousins who treated her like a sibling.

But Nic knew Cassidy wanted a family of her own. Something a sea dragon couldn’t give her—except he had. His gaze slipped to Rianna.

“Mister Nic!” The little girl swam to him. “Want to see my dragon? Oops.” She clamped shut her mouth and darted a gaze at her mother, treading water nearby.

Cassidy sighed. “It’s okay, baby. He’s a dragon, too. But don’t forget. No one but Mister Nic can see your dragon.”

“You’re a dragon?” Rianna’s big green eyes widened as if he were some strange species—but then, he was.

He tapped her cute little nose. “I am—just like you.”

“What color are you?”

“Mainly gold, but I have some blue and green, too.”

Nearby, he was aware of Cassidy’s interest. He’d never shown her his dragon. His beast had wanted to shift in front of her, but Nic had resisted. He’d been afraid he’d lose Cassidy if she learned what he really was. He couldn’t bear the thought of her smiles turning to loathing. And even if she’d accepted his dragon, it was too dangerous a secret. He couldn’t do that to her.

“That’s a nice color,” Rianna told him. “Guess what color I am.”

“Hm.” He pursed his lips. “Pretty pink?”

A gurgle of laughter. “No.”

“Purple with yellow polka dots?”

A shake of her wet curls. “No!”

“Then what color are you?”

“I’m a rainbow!”

She dove beneath the surface. Light shimmered in the depths below, and then a little sea dragon shot out of the pool, her blue hide overlaid with opalescent pinks and purples and greens. She arced over his head, tiny wings flapping, and dove back into the pool before resurfacing in front of him, a toothy grin on her face.

He smoothed a hand over her hide. “You’re the prettiest dragon I’ve ever seen.”

She trilled, a happy dragon-sound that made him smile.

Cassidy’s eyes met his over Rianna’s head. “That’s what I tell her. She can’t understand why she can’t show her dragon to everyone.”

“It was easier for me to hide it,” he said as Rianna left them to loop through the water in excited figure eights. “My dragon didn’t appear until I was eighteen turns of the sun. Everyone thought I was a dolphin until then. I didn’t tell anyone but my father, and he advised me to keep it a secret.” His jaw worked. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. She is what she is—and I love her exactly the way she is. I’m just sorry the rest of the world won’t leave her in peace.”

He’d been apologizing for giving Cassidy a dragon for a daughter, but now he stared at her, arrested.

“You’re right,” he said slowly. Because Rianna was a beautiful little person, and a gorgeous dragon. If the world couldn’t handle that, then the world needed to change, not his daughter. “Still, there’s one thing I’m sorry for—getting you pregnant and then leaving without letting you know how to find me.”

She glanced away. “I hated you for that.”

He nodded, accepting that. It hurt, but it was what he’d expected. What he deserved.

“I don’t blame you.”

She blew out a breath. “But you weren’t to know I was carrying her. In the end, I didn’t hate you for that—I got Rianna, after all, and I wouldn’t give her up for a roomful of gold. But—” She shook her head.

“What?” They’d drawn closer as they both tread water so that now they were only a foot apart. He could see water droplets on the dark lashes framing her intense blue eyes, and the smattering of copper freckles across the bridge of her nose.

“What I couldn’t forgive,” she said in a voice harsh with pain, “was that you rejected the mate bond. Me, in other words.”

“I’m sorry.” He swallowed. “I thought that if I didn’t accept the bond, you might mate with another man.”

“You could’ve lived with that? Me mating with another man? Because the thought of you with another woman about kills me.”

No. Never. His claws pricked his fingertips. “I would’ve wanted to rip his fucking intestines out.” He hesitated, then added, “If it makes you feel better, there’s been no one since you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Hah.”

“It’s true—I swear on my grandmother’s grave. You know fada can’t lie.” The fada’s touch of fae blood meant that even a white lie made you nauseous, and a flat-out lie could make you as sick as a dog.

“Goddess,” she said between clenched teeth. “I don’t understand you.”

“And you?” He had no right to ask—and it wouldn’t make a difference even if she had—but he couldn’t help himself. He had to know. “Have you been with another man?”

“Me?” Her chin jerked up as if he’d struck her. “What do you think, you bloody arse?” She whipped around and swam for the steps, calling to Rianna. “Come on, love. Let’s wash our hair and then go back to the dining hall.”

The little blue dragon looked from him to her mother and then shifted back to a girl. Cassidy got a bar of soap from the rucksack. They washed in the freshwater pool and then Cassidy toweled them both off. She pulled on a T-shirt and jeans, dressed Rianna in a miniature version of the same outfit, and with a stiff nod in Nic’s direction, gathered up their things and disappeared with Rianna into the tunnel.

He growled under his breath in Portuguese. “You ass.”

What devil had made him ask such a stupid question? He knew damn well Cassidy hadn’t been with another man. A mate could sense these things. Even thousands of miles away, he’d have known if Cassidy had taken a lover.

Which meant she was his. He just had to woo her.

He’d done it once—surely he could do it again.

Getting out of the pool, he grabbed his clothes and followed them back to the dining hall. Cassidy, Marlin and Joe were playing cards. In the kitchen, Ben was searing striped bass in an iron skillet.

He returned the firepit to its place at the center of the four black lava stools and realized Cassidy and Rianna needed their own seats. Happy to do something for them, he faded back into the tunnels and shifted to his dragon. As he formed the stools, the patter of small feet made him turn his head.

Rianna looked up at him fearlessly. “You’re big.”

“Mm,” he rumbled.

“Wow.” She touched the smaller of the stools, her mouth round with awe. “How’d you do that?”

He shifted back to man and pulled on his shorts. “Only big sea dragons can breathe lava.”

“Will I be able to when I’m all growed up?”

“Probably. I only know one other sea dragon, but he could do it.”

She nodded sagely. “Mam says dragons are special.”

“Yeah, we are.” He crouched in front of her and took her hands. “Don’t let anyone tell you different.”

Wiry arms wrapped around his neck. “I like you, Mister Nic.”

He stilled. A shock of emotion swept over him. “I like you, too,” he managed to say. “Very much.”

Cassidy appeared in the tunnel. Their eyes met over Rianna’s head. At the yearning on her face, his heart punched in his chest.

Then her eyes shuttered.

Rianna released him to run to her mother. “Look what Mister Nic made.” She tugged Cassidy over to admire the stools.

“Very nice,” she said.

“They’re for you and Rianna.”

“Thank you,” she said in a polite tone that made him want to shake her. “Ben says it’s almost time for dinner. I wondered where we should put our things.”

“In my quarters.”

Her chin raised. “I’m thinking that’s a bad idea.”

Nic hefted the stools in his arms and tried not to growl. Patience. Don’t rush her.

But it was damn hard not to.

“We don’t have any spare beds. You two can have my bed. I’ll sleep on the futon in the outer room.” Before Cassidy could object, he added, “You’ll have your privacy, but I’m not letting you two out of my sight.”

Her mouth compressed, but she said, “Okay. I suppose it’s for the best.”