Thank the gods he’d furnished the place. He’d rented a boat and brought over a couple of futons—a king-size futon for him to sleep on, and another that served as a couch in the outer room. His dragon could spew lava, and he’d used it to form a couple of stools, a nightstand, and shelves to store his few belongings.
Joe pulled down the covers on the king-size futon and Nic set Cassidy onto the mattress. Ben placed the girl next to Cassidy, and she wrapped her thin arms and legs around her mother like a monkey. Her breath sighed out.
Nic tucked the sheet and another thick wool blanket around both of them, and then stared hungrily down at Cassidy.
She was different. Too thin, with her fine red hair cut short so that he could see the shape of her skull. She had dark smudges beneath her eyes and a bruise marring one creamy cheek. One narrow foot peeked out from beneath the covers. He frowned at the wicked-looking wound in the shape of a starburst on the side of her right calf. That wound had been burned into her skin by a fae ball.
What in Deus’s name was going on?
But it was Cassidy, the woman who haunted his dreams…and a small girl.
He turned his gaze on the pup. As her hair dried, it formed dark corkscrews around her piquant little face. She had olive skin, a pert nose and a round chin. She whimpered and pursed her rosebud lips in a worried frown that did funny things to his heart; no child should be so anxious that even in sleep they couldn’t relax.
Turning back to Cassidy, he stroked the backs of his fingers down her cheek. He couldn’t believe she was really here, that this wasn’t a figment of his imagination.
He scowled at how chilled her skin was. A water fada’s metabolism ran cool, but Cassidy felt like ice.
“She’s too cold,” he gritted. He grabbed another blanket and tucked it around the two of them.
“I’m on it.” Marlin entered with the portable fire pit they used for cooking and set it up near the futon. Joe added a couple of logs, and then the two men stepped back.
Nic shifted just enough to shoot a stream of fire at the logs. They burst into flame.
“Damn, that’s handy,” Marlin said. He set the mesh lid over the metal pit and dragged it closer to the futon.
Joe noticed first. His nostrils flared as he used the incredible sense of smell he’d inherited along with his shark genes. “She’s your mate,” he said in his flat voice.
“Not claimed,” Nic returned. But the possibility was there. That one night, when he’d said the hell with it and loved Cassidy all night long, they’d both felt the connection.
His gaze kept going to the dark-haired pup.
It wasn’t possible. The fada rarely had children outside the mate bond.
Marlin stepped closer and drew a deep breath. He gave Nic a quizzical look. “You didn’t know?”
“That she’s my mate?”
“Not her. The girl.”
“What do you mean?” Nic asked without taking his eyes from the two females.
“She’s yours,” Marlin said.
Nic’s lungs seized. He shook his head slowly from side to side as the truth crashed in on him. Every single one of them scented it. The girl was his daughter by Cassidy.
“No,” he managed to say. “I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true,” Joe said.
“The woman didn’t tell you?” Marlin’s tone held disapproval.
“No.” He scraped his fingers through his wavy brown hair—hair that the tiny person snuggled up to Cassidy shared. When he’d last seen Cassidy, her hair had been long and red and waterfall straight. “But that’s my fault, not hers. I didn’t stay around long enough for her to tell me.”
“What’s her name?” asked Marlin.
“Cassidy. She’s a sea fada from Ireland—the Shannon Clan.”
His friend whistled. “They’re a long way from home.”
“I know.” Nic shook his head. “I don’t even know how in Hades she found me.”
“Through the mate bond,” said Ben.
Nic’s hand went to his chest. He’d thought he’d shut down the bond, but now it twanged as if to call him a fool.
Marlin stepped forward to scrutinize Cassidy. Nic was moving before he realized it, elbowing his way between Marlin and the bed. “Stay away from her.”
He might not have mate-claimed Cassidy, but his dragon wouldn’t tolerate another male touching her.
“Hey, no problem.” Marlin backed off. “But you should check her for injuries.”
Nic was no healer, but he had a small Gift—enough to detect anything major, like broken limbs or internal bleeding—and to boost healing. If Cassidy had been able to swim from the mainland, she was probably okay, just exhausted.
He pulled on a pair of shorts and ran his hands over her. As he’d thought, Cassidy was fine, just at the end of her resources. He sent a pulse of healing energy into her chest where it would do the most good, starting with her heart and lungs and then spreading to the rest of her body.
“She’s worn out and half-starved, but okay otherwise.” He frowned.
Why was Cassidy so thin? The Shannon Sea Fada were one of the largest and richest water fada clans in the world, and all shifters cared for their women and children. The males and older females would’ve gone hungry themselves before letting a mother with a young pup go without.
Marlin leaned in again, and Nic snarled. “I’ve got this.”
His friend smirked. “You’re fucked, man.”
The kid chose that moment to open her eyes. Her small mouth trembled at the sight of the four strange men standing in a circle around the futon, staring down at her.
“It’s okay,” Nic hastened to say. “You’re safe.”
Big green eyes widened. She stuck her thumb in her mouth and sucked hard as she shook her head, tears leaking down her cheeks.
“Hell,” Nic said, but that only made her cry harder. He patted her back helplessly. “It’s okay, little one. Don’t cry.”
Marlin and Joe looked as uncomfortable as him, but Ben said, “Maybe she’s hungry.”
“Is that it, querida?” Nic slipped for a moment into his native Portuguese. “Do you want something to eat?”
A vigorous nod. “I’m hungry,” she said around the thumb.
“I’ll get her something.” Ben slipped out of the room.
The kid gave another sniff and rubbed her eyes with her fists, but mercifully, she’d stopped crying. Sitting up, she touched Cassidy’s shoulder. “Is Mam okay?” she asked in an adorable Irish accent.
“She’ll be fine,” Nic told her. “She’s just sleeping.”
She turned her big eyes on him. “The bad fae won’t get me?”
Nic’s heart squeezed. He exchanged glances with Marlin and Joe. What the hell was going on?
“No, sweetheart,” he said. “No one is going to get you. I promise.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You sure?”
“Yes. When I make a promise, I keep it.”
“Mam, too?”
Nic realized she was asking if he’d keep Cassidy safe, too. His chest tightened even more. “Of course,” he said around the grapefruit-sized lump in his throat.
Ben returned with a metal plate heaped with leftover fish, a skillet biscuit and a sliced apple. He set the plate on the little girl’s lap. “What’s your name, honey-bear?”
She looked from the food to Ben, and decided to trust him. “Rianna.”
“Rianna,” the big Navajo repeated. “That’s pretty.”
“Thanks.” She popped a piece of the fish into her mouth. The four of them watched while she demolished first the fish and the biscuit, and then started in on the apple slices.
Ben chuckled. “You were hungry. Do you want any more?”
“No, thank you.” She popped the last apple slice into her mouth and handed him the plate.
“Would you like some water?” Nic asked.
She shook her head. “Milk, please.”
“I’m sorry, but we don’t hav
e any milk. Here.” He handed her the glass of water that Joe had produced. “Drink this.”
She crinkled her nose but drained it.
With the females warm and safe for now, Nic turned to the others. “Cassidy had a backpack. I’m going to get it.”
They nodded. He was the only one who could retrieve it. The ocean out here was too deep for Marlin and Joe’s animals, and Ben was a cougar.
Rianna’s small face screwed up again. “No. Stay with me and Mam.” She patted the mattress.
“It will just take a few minutes.”
His daughter’s mouth set. She shook her head.
With a shrug, Nic sat next to her. She crawled onto his lap and he froze. It had been so long since he’d held a child. He’d been on this island for over three years, leaving only occasionally to work one of the fishing boats based in Ventura. When he had enough cash for staples, he retreated to his sea cavern hideaway.
His dragon craved the solitude.
And this wasn’t any child. This was his daughter.
It didn’t seem possible, but it was.
Rianna laid her head against his bare chest and put her thumb back in her mouth. Slowly, carefully, he lifted a hand to stroke her curls. They were still damp and stiff from the salt water. He should rinse her off, but he was afraid that if he took her from Cassidy, she’d start crying again.
Rianna’s breath sighed out and her body went limp. She’d fallen asleep.
In that moment, Nic tumbled head over heels in love with her. He gathered her closer and blinked tears away. He looked up at his men, unashamed.
“She’s beautiful, bro,” said Marlin.
“She is.” His chest was hollow with love—and fear. “What in the name of Deus am I going to do with them?”
Cassidy’s eyes flew open. She struggled up on her forearms, alarmed.
“You don’t have to do…anything,” she rasped. “We just need…somewhere to hide…for a few weeks, and then…we’ll be gone.”
5
Cassidy fought her way to consciousness. Rianna—she had to save Rianna.
Her hand touched a small foot. She closed her fingers around it as she struggled to wake the rest of the way up.
She was in a bed, and Rianna was next to her. And Nic.
Thank the Goddess. Nic had found them. They were safe for now.
Then Nic asked what he was going to do with them.
No.
Alarm made her force open her eyelids.
Nic wasn’t going to take over—they just needed somewhere to hide. She told him so, her voice hoarse from swallowing seawater.
“Cassidy.” Nic met her eyes over Rianna’s curly head. “Take it easy. You’re both safe.”
Tears leaked from her eyes. She’d been running for so long. Even now, she knew they weren’t safe. Still, maybe, just maybe, they had a fighting chance.
She knuckled the tears away. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Nic’s brow furrowed, but before he could act, a big, square-faced man with a long black braid moved into view. “Shh. Don’t try to talk.” He held out a metal cup of water.
She struggled to sit up, the sheet clutched to her bare chest. Besides Nic and the big man, two other men were in the room, standing at the foot of the bed, eyeing her with varying degrees of suspicion.
The big man held the cup to her lips and she gulped the water down. It was heaven—cool and fresh, soothing to her scratchy throat.
“Here.” He refilled the cup from a canteen, and she drank that down, too.
“More?” he asked, and she shook her head.
“No, thank you.” Her gaze went to the quartz around his neck. “You’re an earth fada?” She couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice. Water and earth fada were natural enemies.
“I’m Ben,” he said by way of reply as he took the cup from her, “and I guess you know Nic.”
She gave a last sniff and nodded. “I do.”
“These two are Marlin and Joe.” He pointed first to a wiry man sporting long blond dreads and colorful board shorts, and then to a shorter, unsmiling man with warm brown skin and black hair. “I’ll get you something to eat.”
“Thanks.” She pushed herself back against the headboard.
Nic sat cross-legged nearby, Rianna asleep in his arms. His wavy dark hair was longer than it had been four years ago and he’d grown a mustache, but the rest of him was exactly as she recalled. Same hard, sculpted face. Same stormy green eyes, a few shades darker than Rianna’s. Same powerful, rangy body.
He’d wrapped Rianna in a wool blanket and was holding her as if she were the most precious thing on Earth. Cassidy’s heart turned over. She’d wanted this so badly. Rianna deserved to know her daddy.
Rianna moved in her sleep and he crooned something soft in Portuguese. He’d been born into Maryland’s Rock Run River Fada Clan, but the founders of Rock Run had been from Portugal and the clan still spoke Portuguese at home in their caverns along Rock Run Creek. Nic spoke perfect English, although with a faint accent. But when they’d made love, he’d murmured to Cassidy in Portuguese…
His gaze turned to Cassidy and hardened. “What’s going on? Why were you out in the ocean in the middle of the storm?”
She tucked the sheet closer around her body. Fada were casual about nakedness, but she felt too vulnerable with a group of men she didn’t know.
Nic wouldn’t let them hurt you.
She knew that in her bones. Nic do Rio would protect her to the death. It was why she’d run to him.
“Cassidy?” he prompted. “What are you doing in America? Why would you need to hide out for a few weeks? And why did Rianna ask me to stop the bad fae from getting her?”
She held up a hand. She was tired and her chest ached from swallowing what felt like half the Pacific, but he deserved answers. “I’ll tell you everything. But first, is she okay?”
She touched her daughter’s back. She would’ve demanded Nic hand her over, but Rianna looked so comfortable.
“Yeah.” Nic gathered the girl closer. “I checked her out. She’s fine—just worn out and in need of a few good meals.”
Cassidy nodded, aware of Nic’s Gift for healing. She moistened her lips, trying to think where to start.
When she glanced up, Nic’s gaze was fixed on her mouth. A hot, hungry look. Their gazes snagged, but Cassidy jerked hers away. She wasn’t here for that. She needed somewhere to hide with Rianna, and that was all.
She looked around at the other three men. “Can we have some privacy?”
Nic held up a hand. “They can stay. If I’m right, you want protection, and we’ll need them, too.”
Cassidy rubbed her forehead. Her brain felt rusty; she was so damned tired and weak. But she wasn’t sure Nic knew what he was saying. “Do they know about—?”
“Yes. We don’t have secrets from each other.”
Cassidy’s brows shot up. The Nic she’d known had been so close-mouthed that even she hadn’t known he was a sea dragon until almost the last day.
“If you’re sure….”
“I am. They’ll guard Rianna with their lives.”
“Hell, yeah,” said Marlin while the other two nodded.
“Okay, then.” Cassidy glanced at Rianna again to make sure she was sound asleep. The three-year-old knew something was wrong, of course, but she didn’t need to know the nightmarish details.
“Rianna’s a sea dragon,” she said in a low voice. “And she’s right. Some bad fae are after her.”
“No.” It wasn’t easy to startle Nic, but his eyes went wide. “It’s not possible. Sea dragons—”
“Are incredibly rare,” Cassidy finished. “And they jump generations. The odds of you fathering another sea dragon are a million to one. But you did.”
Nic’s strong throat worked. He smoothed a hand over Rianna’s head.
“I didn’t know myself until a couple of months ago,” Cassidy said. “She’s young, and she hadn’t shifted yet.”
; The men nodded. Fada rarely shifted before their first birthday, and with some, it took several years.
“We were playing in the estuary. The Shannon Estuary,” she added for the benefit of the other three men. It was at the mouth of the Shannon, where the big river emptied into the Atlantic. “She likes to ride on my back when I’m a dolphin. She slipped off, but I wasn’t worried. She’s a good swimmer, and I was right there. But a motorboat went by and before she could get back on, the wake smacked her in the face. She got scared and shifted.”
Ben returned with a plate of food—fish and salad wrapped up in a large piece of fried bread. “Thank you,” Cassidy said as he set it on her lap. It smelled delicious. She eyed it longingly and tried to ignore her growling stomach.
“Eat,” Nic told her. “We can hear the rest after you get some food in you.”
She was too hungry to argue. She lifted the fried bread and took a bite. Meanwhile, Marlin passed around cups of red wine, and then took a seat with the other two men on the edge of the futon.
The food was delicious. Cassidy tried not to stuff it into her mouth, but she’d been hungry for too long.
While she ate, she took in her surroundings. The cavern was huge, a good forty feet in diameter, with a saltwater pool on one side, and an arched entrance to another cave that appeared to be a living room. The walls were a rough, dark gray basalt except where someone had carved out shelves. Three fae lights floated near the ceiling, casting a soft aqua light over the sparse furnishings.
Cassidy glanced at the pool. She’d learned the value of an escape route over the past few weeks. “You can reach the ocean from here?” she asked Nic around a mouthful of food.
“Yeah, but this is my quarters. Our main entrance is down that passageway.” He indicated a door in the outer room.
Cassidy set down the fried bread wrap. She’d only finished half, but her stomach felt uncomfortably stretched.
“I didn’t realize it at the time, but the men in the boat must have seen Rianna’s sea dragon. Word got out, and suddenly, it was like that summer you were in Ireland—‘scientists’ were everywhere. Some were human, but I’m sure some were fae pretending to be scientists. A couple of our own people disappeared. The alpha put the Shannon base on lockdown.”
Sea Dragon's Hunger: BAD Alpha Dads (The Fada Shapeshifter Series) Page 2