At least Joe had escaped.
At the bow, Blaer and Jagger stared around them as Jagger aimed the boat east around the island.
There was one flicker of hope. The fae didn’t have a fix on Cassidy anymore. They were going to have to track her in the caverns, where the fada had the advantage. But the seat behind Nic was stacked with scuba equipment, showing Blaer was prepared to search however long it took.
Still, Cassidy was smart—she’d keep on the move with Rianna. It might be hours, even days, before the fae found them.
And they’d have to kill Ben and Joe to get to Cassidy and Rianna.
If only Nic could get this damn collar off before it stole his strength. He tried wrenching it off a second time, but it tightened in response, searing his neck and fingers.
He cursed under his breath and released it.
“There.” Blaer pointed at a large bottlenose dolphin spy-hopping on the ocean surface. “Follow Evan.”
Jagger increased speed, following the dolphin in the direction of the den’s entrance.
Nic’s stomach bottomed out. They’d found the fourth man, who wasn’t a fae after all.
“Sea fada,” he mouthed at Marlin. “A bottlenose.”
The game had just changed—for the worse. A sea fada would be able to track Cassidy and Rianna inside the caverns. This man—Evan—might even be a spy for Blaer, planted in the Shannon base, so could already have their scents.
Hell, he might even convince Cassidy to trust him.
Marlin scowled and wriggled furiously in his bonds. To Nic’s amazement, they loosened. His friend was almost free.
Marlin gave him a victorious grin full of teeth.
Nic jerked his head at the water, silently ordering Marlin to leave. Even if he couldn’t get free of the net once he was in the water, the magic would eventually wear off and the net would fall apart. Marlin could shift to his fish and survive for several days in the ocean even bound in a net.
Marlin shook his head, his jaw set in a stubborn expression that Nic recognized. Marlin might be a laidback California sea fada—but only up to a point. He’d clearly decided to stay with Nic no matter what. Marlin stopped his struggles, and the bonds tightened, but Nic could tell they were looser.
Nic looked back at Blaer. Distract her.
He stood up. A wave of nausea hit him; the poison was spreading fast. He clenched his jaw and fought to remain upright.
Blaer whipped around, hand upraised. Beside her, Jagger slowed the boat and looked between the two of them.
“A bargain,” Nic said before Blaer blasted him with her magic.
She raised a slim dark brow without lowering her hand. “I’m listening.”
“You promise that everyone in my den goes free—two females, three males. You will never try to harm them in any way.”
“And in return you’ll go with me?”
“Yes.”
Her lip curled. “Why should I bargain with you, fada? You can do nothing with that iron collar around your neck.”
He growled and lunged for her, but she slapped her palm on his chest. Cold streaked through him, combining with the poison to create an agonizing pain. Black spots danced in his vision.
“Attack me again,” she hissed, “and I’ll kill every last man and woman in your den.”
Nic’s breath shuddered in. “You’re a dead woman.” A cold promise.
“Perhaps.” Blaer removed her hand and gave him her back, an insult in the fada world.
Nic’s body went taut, but he couldn’t afford to let his rage rule him. He sank back onto his seat as Blaer pointed at the black arch that marked the den’s main entrance, her face alight with triumph. “That sea cave up ahead.”
Jagger nodded. “That fits the last known coordinates.”
They’d found the den.
Nic’s hunter’s brain made rapid calculations. At his feet, Marlin had nearly freed himself. Maybe he could save his friend and distract Blaer at the same time.
He struck, lifting the dreadlocked shifter and heaving him over the side of the boat—and then followed him into the ocean, iron collar and all.
He just hoped that in saving Marlin, he hadn’t doomed his mate and daughter.
Nic let himself sink. Above he heard Blaer rap out an order, and then he was too deep to hear her. The iron collar helped, its weight dragging him into the depths.
He clutched the iron collar, trying to pull it over his head, but it tightened until he could barely breathe and his fingertips were burnt to the bone.
He released it to help Marlin, who was thrashing around a few yards above Nic, trying to slip out of the magical net.
Joe appeared and ripped at Marlin’s net with his teeth. Nic kicked up to help, but as soon as they got the fucking thing loose one place, it tightened somewhere else.
Why hadn’t Marlin changed to his fish form? In their human forms, water fada could stay underwater several minutes, but after that, they had to surface to breathe. Both he and Marlin were running out of oxygen.
Above them the powerboat circled. Blaer and Jagger were probably getting into their scuba gear. It wouldn’t be long before they descended into the water.
“Shift,” he mouthed at Marlin.
“Can’t,” his friend mouthed back.
Nic stared back at him, stunned. The net must be preventing Marlin from shifting. In a minute he’d have no choice but to return to the surface.
Then Nic had an idea. He grabbed a handful of net and pulled, and when it elongated, touched it to the iron collar. The piece shriveled and disappeared. Marlin saw what he was doing and undulated his body so that he flowed past the collar, while Joe backed off to watch with cool mako eyes. More of the net shriveled, enough that Marlin could finally pull it off. He kicked forcefully away from it, Nic and Joe following.
Together, they turned and watched as the silvery strands flowed away with the current. Nic only hoped it wouldn’t trap some poor sea creature in the future.
Abruptly, the adrenalin that had carried him through their escape ran out. The iron collar felt tighter than ever, his body weaker with each passing minute.
Marlin wrapped an arm around Nic’s chest and swam in the direction of a narrow underwater passage a few hundred yards from the den’s main entrance. The passage led to a small cavern that was underwater during high tide, but fortunately, it was low tide and they were close enough that the swelling waves pushed them into the narrow tunnel.
Joe came up beneath him, sliding between Nic’s legs so that Nic could ride him. Marlin let go, and Nic wrapped his arms around Joe, light-headed from lack of oxygen, his strength almost gone. Between Joe and Marlin, they got him through the narrow passage, their bodies scraping against the rough basalt. They reached the small, dank cavern at the end and broke the surface.
Nic and Marlin dragged in a breath at the same time. Marlin found a ledge to stand on and pulled Nic up with him. They were waist high in the water. They sucked in air while Joe swam in tight circles nearby.
A few feet above was a narrow ledge. Nic forced his leaden arms and legs to obey his will so he could clamber onto it.
Marlin gave him a shove, and then followed him up. The two of them sat on the ledge.
The dreadlocked shifter looked at the iron collar. “We have to get that fucking thing off you.”
Nic spread his hands, showing Marlin his seared, bloody fingers. “But how?”
The other man inhaled sharply.
Joe didn’t shift—too many shifts drained your energy—but Nic could tell he was listening.
“Joe,” he said. When the mako turned in his direction, he continued, “Watch the tunnel. The fourth man is a sea fada. A bottlenose.”
The shark fada moved his bullet-like head in assent.
Nic stared down at his bleeding hands. The iron seeping into his skin prevented them from healing. If there were any true sharks in the vicinity, they’d be on him in a flash if he tried to go back into the ocean.
“We need a pair of wire cutters,” Marlin said.
“Or one of Joe’s knives.” They looked at each other, and then at the pack strapped to Joe’s back.
“Iron will cut iron,” Marlin said. “Even fae magic can’t prevent it.”
Joe shifted to man. “Let me.” He withdrew an iron blade from his pack.
“I’ll keep an eye on the entrance.” Marlin dove into the water and changed to his fish.
Joe didn’t so much as climb up to Nic as flow up the rock, the dagger’s ivory handle between his teeth.
“This has diamond dust to make it sharper.” He angled the blade to show Nic. “I should be able to cut through the iron, but it’s going to take a few minutes.”
Nic tilted his head so that the other shifter could access the collar. For a dominant fada, exposing his throat to a man lower on the hierarchy was damned uncomfortable, but he clenched his jaw and muttered, “Just get the fucking thing off.”
Joe slid the blade beneath the collar and started sawing. He had worked for a couple of minutes when they heard thrashing at the other end of the tunnel.
“What the fuck?” Joe sawed harder.
“Hurry, damn it.”
“Doing my best,” Joe snapped back. He stilled. “Hell. Someone’s coming.” He withdrew the blade from beneath the collar and crouched on the ledge, a knife in either hand, scanning the darkness with eyes an eerie night-glow silver.
The water swelled in and out of the passage. By some trick of acoustics, it made a mournful wail similar to Nic’s sea dragon’s howl.
Fine hairs arose all over his body. He forced himself into a battle-ready crouch, even though the iron burned like a fire in his veins. If he had to die, he’d take a fae with him.
A dull thud sounded and a bottlenose dolphin floated into the cavern belly up, blood leaking from its body. It was larger and heavier than a typical bottlenose. Joe’s breath whistled between his teeth.
“That’s Cassidy’s fourth man,” Nic said, “although he’s apparently a sea fada.” Bottlenoses generally were. “But was he local or from Ireland—or even somewhere else?”
Joe’s nostrils flared. “Dead,” he said flatly.
“Good. Saves us the trouble of killing him.” Nic scanned the passageway into the cavern. Marlin must have killed the dolphin—but where was he? If only this damn cavern wasn’t a dead-end, but the water-filled tunnel was the only way out.
A glimmer of light appeared in the water, and then two scuba divers swam into sight, their way lit by fae lights. Their long, lean bodies and blond hair left no doubt that it was Blaer and Jagger.
Joe moved like a flash, leaping at the nearest fae, who happened to be Jagger. The wayfarer never had a chance to evade him. Joe wrapped an arm around his neck and slashed his throat in a swift stroke that confirmed Nic’s suspicions that the shark fada was a trained assassin.
But when Joe turned to Blaer, she disappeared, only to reappear on the ledge next to Nic. She sent a blast into his collar.
Pain seared down his spine. His back arched—and then he blacked out.
21
Cassidy paced across the stone floor of Nic’s quarters. Ben was stationed by the door to the tunnel, looking ready for anything.
She fingered the handle of the dagger in her back pocket. In the pool nearby, a subdued Rianna paddled aimlessly on the surface.
Cassidy’s nape prickled. The fae were almost here.
She ran over the hiding places Nic had showed them in her mind. He’d made sure she had dried fish, packed in her rucksack, and she’d filled two canteens with fresh water.
Nic was right. It was time to stop running and take a stand. These sea caverns were a water fada’s natural habitat. The fae would be uneasy in the dark, and with her night vision, Cassidy would see them before they saw her. If they used fae lights, it would make them even easier to locate.
Even a dolphin fada could go clawed. She’d rip out their throats before they got her daughter.
Footsteps sounded in the hall. Rianna scrambled out of the water and ran to Cassidy, but Ben said, “It’s all right. It’s just Mister Marlin.”
Cassidy and Rianna stepped into Nic’s outer room. The dreadlocked shifter sank down on Nic’s futon, breathing hard and bleeding from his right arm and leg.
“Marlin?” Cassidy crouched next to him, Ben on the other side. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” He inhaled raggedly. “Just had a run-in with a dolphin fada. Don’t let anyone tell you that bottlenoses are all fun and games. That was one nasty mofo.”
“I know,” she returned dryly. “I’m one myself.”
He managed a crooked grin. “Right. Anyway, he’s dead.”
“Dead—a bottlenose fada? What’s going on?”
“That’s what I came to tell you.” Marlin dragged in another breath and then with an obvious effort, pushed himself up to standing. Ben was instantly there, bracing him with an arm around his shoulder. Marlin looked at Cassidy and shook his head.
She rubbed her hands down the sides of her jeans. “What is it?”
“It’s Lady B, like Nic figured—and she bound him with iron,” Marlin told them. “He’s stuck in his human form, in a fucking iron collar. The bitch wrapped me in a magical net, but Nic helped me escape and we managed to get it off. But Nic can’t get out of the collar.”
Cassidy pressed a hand to her mouth. “How is he?”
Marlin cut his eyes at Rianna, who had an arm wrapped around Cassidy’s leg and was hanging on their every word. “As good as can be expected.”
Cassidy lifted Rianna into her arms. “She wants us too, doesn’t she?”
Marlin’s jaw set. His mouth opened, then shut.
Rianna stuck her thumb in her mouth and sucked furiously.
Ice settled in Cassidy’s stomach. She tightened her grip on her daughter. “Tell me the truth. A lie will only harm you, and I deserve to know what’s going on.”
“I don’t know.” He dragged a hand over his wet dreadlocks. “I didn’t stick around to let her capture me a second time. But I’d say the answer is yes.”
“Joe?” asked Ben.
“In the ocean, sticking with the powerboat.”
Cassidy nodded and set Rianna down. “Why don’t you go back in the water?” She rubbed her wet curls. “The big people need to talk.”
Rianna’s little brow creased with anxiety. “I want my Annie-doll,” she said around her thumb.
“She’s in the rucksack. You can play with her next to the pool.”
Marlin waited until Rianna was seated by the pool murmuring to her ragdoll before saying in a low voice, “The collar burned a line into Nic’s throat. You could smell his flesh. Joe tried to saw it off with his knife, but he ran out of time.”
Nausea clogged Cassidy’s throat. Gods, she hated to think of what Nic must be suffering. “Where is he now?”
“She ’ported him back onto her boat.”
“The bitch is a teleporter?” Ben asked. “Fuck.”
“Yep.” Marlin’s mouth set in grim lines. “Thank the gods she doesn’t know the caverns or she could ’port right in here.”
Cassidy and Ben nodded. A teleporter needed a picture or coordinates to ’port to a place they hadn’t seen before.
“Nic killed a male ice fae.” Marlin held up his index finger. “And then I got the dolphin fada, and Joe took care of a third man, another fae.” He raised two more fingers. “That’s three, which means the only one left is Lady B. I waited to see if she’d leave with Nic, but she anchored the boat near the main entrance. Joe’s in the water keeping an eye on them.”
“She wants Rianna, too. That’s why she hasn’t left.” Cassidy clenched her fists and stared at the ceiling, stomach knotted at what she had to do.
But there was no choice. “I have to go to him. She knows that if I’m here, Rianna can’t be far away. I can distract her long enough for the rest of you to rescue Nic.”
“No freakin’ way.” Marlin hel
d up a palm. “You can’t go—you’ll be playing right into her hands. She’ll capture you, too—and if I live through this, Nic will slit my throat for allowing it.”
“And what about Rianna?” Ben added in his deep, calm voice.
“Yeah,” Marlin said. “We can’t leave her here alone.”
“But if we don’t try,” Cassidy returned, “Lady B will take Nic back to Iceland to the ice fae court, and we’ll never see him again. She might not be able to kill a dragon, but with that collar on him, he’ll wish he was dead.” Her voice broke. “I couldn’t live, knowing he was being tortured by that fae woman.”
They all looked at one another. Nic would be in pain, but worse―to a fada, imprisonment was worse than death. That alone might kill him, even if Blaer didn’t torment him so she could feed on his negative emotions.
Marlin scowled and shook his head.
“I say we try it,” Ben said. “Rianna can hide in the pool as her sea dragon. Nic says it has an exit to the ocean.”
Cassidy nodded. “He told me.”
“If the fae lady gets past all of us, Rianna can head into the ocean and back to the mainland. There are sea fada along the coast—they’ll find her eventually.”
Cassidy bit her lip. “But would they take in a sea dragon?”
They stared at each other. “Tell her to shift when she reaches the beach,” Marlin said. “The humans will take care of a little kid like her until she’s old enough to return to Ireland.”
Cassidy’s whole being revolted at the idea of leaving her baby unprotected. “I have a better idea,” she told Marlin. “You stay with her.”
“Me?” His start of surprise would’ve been comical if this wasn’t so serious.
“Yes. You can hide with her at the bottom of the pool where Ben can’t. And besides, you’re hurt. You need time to heal.”
He passed a hand over his face. “I don’t know, Cassidy.”
“It’s the only way,” she returned.
Beside her, Ben nodded.
Marlin shook his head and then gave in. “All right. But when this is over, I’ll have to head to Mexico, because Nic is going to be after my fucking hide.”
Sea Dragon's Hunger: BAD Alpha Dads (The Fada Shapeshifter Series) Page 13