“Thank you.” Cassidy hugged him.
He blew out a breath. “I can tell Nic’s going to have his hands full with you.” But he gave her a hard squeeze back.
“So,” she said before he could think of another objection. “How are we going to do this?”
“You distract Lady B,” Ben said. “Joe and I can free Nic.”
He laid out a simple plan: Cassidy would take out a kayak. Meanwhile, Ben would swim next to her, using the kayak to block Blaer’s view from the powerboat so she couldn’t see him in the water.
Ben would be armed with an iron dagger, and presumably Joe would see what was going on and join Ben. While Blaer was distracted with Cassidy, the two men would slip onto the boat.
“We’ll take care of Lady B.” Ben touched his quartz, and it glowed a soft purple—a sign he was accessing his earth fada strength. “If anything goes wrong, we’ll toss Nic into the ocean. He’s weak, but he should be able to make it back to the caverns.”
Marlin nodded. “That should work. It’s two against one now, not counting Nic. And Cassidy, of course,” he added when she quirked a brow at him. “The fae bitch is powerful, but she’s drawn heavily on her magic for the past couple of hours. She has to be weakening.”
Ben showed his incisors, reminding Cassidy his animal was a large, predatory cat. “Easy prey.”
“Let’s do it. But I’ll be armed, too.” She tapped the iron dagger in her pocket. “Just in case.”
She glanced at where Rianna played next to the pool. Now for the hard part—telling her daughter she had to stay behind. Cassidy sat next to her and explained what they’d decided.
Rianna’s lower lip trembled. “But I don’t wanna hide in the pool without you.”
Cassidy lifted her onto her lap. “You have to, alanna. I need you to be my brave little fada right now, okay? I don’t want to leave you, but the bad fae has Daddy. We have to go help him. Mister Marlin will stay here with you.”
Two tears squeezed from those green eyes that were so like Nic’s. Her thumb went into her mouth and she gave a few hard sucks, before saying, “Okay,” in a resigned voice that tore at Cassidy’s heart.
“That’s my girl.” She tightened her grip on Rianna, a hairsbreadth from crying herself. “I love you fierce. You know that, don’t you?”
Rianna nodded against her shoulder.
“Hey.” Marlin crouched down on the other side. “It will be fun, princess.”
“I’m not a princess,” she returned automatically.
“You’re Princess Rianna of Dragona Island.”
“Truly?” She lifted her head.
“You betcha. After we’re done hiding, I’ll make you a crown. Okay?”
She gave him a tremulous smile. “Okay.”
“Time to shift, love.” Cassidy rose to her feet with Rianna in her arms. “And then stay underwater with Mister Marlin until I come back. The only time you should come up is to take a breath, and make sure nobody’s around when you do it.”
Rianna tightened her grip on Cassidy. “Promise you’ll come back.”
Her stomach twisted. She exchanged a look with the other two men over Rianna’s head. They looked as upset as her.
“You know I will.” She hugged her daughter tight against her heart. “But if anything goes wrong, head into the ocean, okay? You know how to get back to the mainland—swim east toward the sunrise, and when you get to the beach, shift to a little girl. Got it?”
“Swim toward the sunrise,” Rianna repeated.
“And shift when you get to the beach,” Cassidy reminded her. “Remember, no one sees your dragon. Right?”
She waited until Rianna nodded and then dropped a kiss on the top of her head and set her down. The little girl walked into the pool, shoulders drooping, and changed to her beautiful, iridescent dragon. Marlin slid into the water after her.
Cassidy swallowed over the rock in her throat. This plan had so many holes, she could drive one of those smelly human buses through it, but she couldn’t stand by and let Nic be imprisoned and tortured without doing anything. Only she could distract Blaer—the fae would kill Marlin or Ben before they reached the boat.
She touched the iron dagger for luck. “I love you, sweetness,” she called and waited for Rianna to acknowledge her with a slap of her tail against the pool’s surface before trotting with Ben to the main entrance.
The earth fada stripped out of his clothes and grabbed a kayak for her while she got a paddle.
Cassidy itched as if a thousand ants were crawling over her skin. “She’s close.”
Ben’s expression was somber. “Hell, even I can feel her now.” He slid the kayak into the water and held it steady while Cassidy lowered herself into the cockpit. “Ready?”
“I am.” She slid the dagger under her right thigh. The ocean surged into the tunnel. Cassidy readied the paddle and waited until the water headed back out. “Now.”
Ben put his dagger’s handle between his teeth and shoved her into the current. She bent at the waist so she wouldn’t hit her head against the low, jagged roof and paddled. The current grabbed her and she shot through the archway and into the ocean, Ben right behind and on the kayak’s starboard side so that he was hidden from the sleek white powerboat lurking thirty yards away.
One side of the boat was charred. Cassidy smiled. Nic had apparently gotten a few licks in.
A tall blond woman in a slinky ice-blue gown stood at the boat’s helm—Lady Blaer.
On the seat behind her, Nic slumped, head listing and his right hand shackled to a rail.
Cassidy’s breath snagged. She paddled faster.
Blaer’s gaze fixed on Cassidy, her spooky black eyes lit with an unholy satisfaction.
“Cassidy O’Byrne. Come here, or I’ll cut out your mate’s heart.” A wicked silver blade seemed to jump into her hand.
Cassidy stilled, wishing she knew more about sea dragon physiology. As a dragon, Nic was immune to fae magic, but Blaer had him trapped in his human body. And silver had special properties. Could she carve out his heart?
Nic’s head jerked up. “No! Don’t come…any closer, querida. It’s a bluff.”
The fae lady flicked her fingers and he jerked, his fingers going to the collar around his neck. The scent of burning flesh wafted toward Cassidy.
He growled and set his jaw. “Go,” he mouthed at her. “Please.”
Cassidy’s heart hurt at that please. She knew how hard it must be for Nic to see her heading into danger.
She put down her head and continued paddling. A hundred feet to her right, a shark’s fin appeared—Joe.
The fae’s eyes narrowed. “Where’s the girl?”
When Cassidy didn’t respond, Blaer sent a whip of energy at her. It wrapped around her throat with an icy-hot pressure—and squeezed.
Panic raced through Cassidy.
You’re distracting her, forcing her to drain her magic. That’s good.
But the primitive part of her brain screamed at her to claw at the icy white rope, to get it off.
Blaer’s spooky eyes flashed red. “I said, where’s the girl?”
22
Nic ached everywhere. Even breathing hurt as the iron continued its relentless march through his system.
This time, Blaer had made sure he couldn’t escape. She’d tossed him into the boat and ’ported somewhere. He’d tried to make himself move, but he was too weak. By the time he’d managed to pull himself up on the seat, she’d returned with an iron cuff. She snapped it around his right wrist and locked it to the boat rail.
“Why?” he asked as she anchored the boat near the den’s entrance. “This isn’t about that night we spent together?”
“No.” Her scarlet mouth quirked. “You were good, but not that good.”
He grimaced. Thank Deus for small mercies.
“Then this is because I’m a dragon. But how did you know? I bought the best available glamour.”
“I didn’t know—not that night. But I
sensed you were using a glamour, and I guessed you might be a do Rio. You’re not the only brother who keeps sniffing around, seeking answers about Ula and Nisio.”
“Because they’re our parents,” he said between clenched teeth, “and the king kidnapped them once and trapped them in one of his damned illusions.” His parents had wandered in a white mist for over a week until they’d gone half-mad from sensory deprivation. “Who’s to say he didn’t do it a second time?”
The fae’s smile was enigmatic. “You’d do anything to know what really happened, wouldn’t you?”
A growl filled his throat. Inside, his dragon lashed its tail.
Blaer leaned back against the console, arms folded over her chest. “I was curious about who you really were. So after you fell asleep, I hid a tracking device in your backpack. I followed you to Ireland, and found out you were the grandson of the alpha, and Nisio and Ula’s middle child. I have a spy or two in the Shannon base. I asked them to keep an eye on you.”
“The dead dolphin,” Nic muttered.
“He was young, and easily persuaded.” Blaer moved her shoulders in a tiny shrug. “Then I heard rumors of a sea dragon, and put two and two together. But I lost you when you left Ireland.”
“The backpack fell apart. I bought a new one from a Shannon seamstress.”
“So you never found the device. I didn’t think you had—I wove it into the fabric—but I wondered.”
“But why go after me? Your magic is useless against an adult dragon.”
She smiled. “I’ll have centuries to study you. I have men constructing an iron cage back in Iceland.”
The full horror of what Blaer had planned for him slammed into Nic. “Try it, and you’re dead,” he gritted. “I don’t know how or when, but you…will…die.”
“Then I’ll have to make sure you stay locked in your cage.”
His nostrils flared. His left hand twitched on his thigh, his fingers itching to wrap around her throat.
“My spies told me you’d impregnated a Shannon female. It was just possible you’d passed on your sea dragon genes. I’ve been keeping an eye on little Rianna ever since she was born.”
“Mãe de Deus.” If only he’d known. He narrowed his eyes. “You can’t hold me forever. You’ll slip up, and then I’ll slit your fucking throat.”
Blaer’s smile was as cold as the Arctic tundra from which her people had sprung. “I won’t have to. You’re going to sacrifice yourself—or your mate and daughter will die.”
“Like hell I will. They’re safely hidden. If you knew where they were, you’d already have them. And if you go inside the den, you’re dead.”
He bared his teeth at her. Stalemate.
Blaer considered him, and then turned to scan the cavern entrance.
He drew in a breath. He had one last bargaining chip. Like dragons, the fae had a weakness for shiny things.
“What if I give you my treasure?”
Her attention snapped back to him. “I’m listening.”
He knew his dragon was staring out of his eyes. Giving up the treasure would be like ripping off a limb, but the dragon was in full agreement—no payment was too great to ensure Cassidy and Rianna’s safety.
Blaer blinked, but held his gaze. “Well?”
“A lot of ships went down in this area. I’ve had several years to comb through the wrecks. I found diamonds, rubies, Spanish doubloons—gold and jewels that would be worth millions in the human world.”
“Where is this treasure?”
A cold satisfaction curled through him. He’d hooked her. Now to reel her in.
“A place where you’d never find it. And don’t bother trying to capture one of my men and torture the information out of him. No one but me knows where it is.”
The fae considered him, and then shook her head. “It’s tempting, but no. You alone are worth a thousand times that, and if I had your daughter, too…” She trailed off, leaving him to glare at her.
“Wrong answer,” he advised in his dragon’s chilly rasp. “Take my offer, otherwise you’re dead.”
“Says the man wearing my collar,” she sneered.
Their eyes locked. Nic’s claws pricked out of his fingertips. Could he lure her close enough to tear out her throat?
Then Cassidy appeared in the bright yellow kayak, and Blaer’s attention turned to her.
A giant fist clamped around Nic’s lungs. What in Hades was she doing?
He glared at Cassidy—and the mate bond chose that moment to burst fully to life. He felt her love, coupled with a steely determination to save him.
“No,” he roared through the bond.
She faltered. Their eyes locked.
“Where’s the girl?” Blaer demanded. When Cassidy didn’t respond, she asked again.
She raised the silver blade in her hand and smirked at Nic.
Could silver cut him in his human form? If only he knew more about a dragon’s special powers. But in the eight decades he’d been alive, the only other dragon he’d met had been an old, bearded Chinese male who’d jealously guarded his territory. He’d tolerated Nic for a day before ordering him to leave.
But he scented Blaer’s uncertainty. She didn’t know the truth any more than he did.
“No!” he begged Cassidy. “Don’t come…any closer, querida. It’s a bluff.”
The fae lady flicked her fingers and the collar tightened around his neck, searing into his flesh like a fiery brand.
He growled and set his jaw. “Go,” he mouthed at her. “Please.”
To his despair, Cassidy put her head down and resumed paddling.
Didn’t she realize that to Blaer she was a fucking pawn? The fae bitch wouldn’t hesitate to torture her to get to Rianna.
And why was Cassidy in a kayak, anyway? Why not swim to the boat as her dolphin?
Then he saw the mako fin cutting through the ocean toward the boat.
He stilled. Could this be some insane rescue attempt?
A few seconds later, he heard a splash in the water behind him, so quiet only a fada would’ve detected it, followed by the faint scrabble of claws against the hull.
Ben. He recognized the fada’s distinctive earthy scent.
So Cassidy was a distraction, and Marlin must be with Rianna.
What were they up to? His fists clenched. He hated being in the dark like this.
A wave of nausea hit him. Blaer had loosened the collar again, but it had eaten through his skin, and his right wrist felt like it was on fire. He ignored the pain to gather his last bit of energy. If a rescue attempt was underway, he’d help any way he could.
Blaer raised a hand and blasted magic at Cassidy. A shimmering noose snaked around her neck.
His gutsy mate lifted her chin. “Get it off”—she tapped the magical rope as if it were nothing—"or you’ll never find my daughter.”
Blaer’s mouth curved. “How do you know I haven’t already tracked her?”
She phrased it as a question, so it wasn’t a lie, even if it wasn’t the truth either. A typical fae trick.
And Cassidy knew it, too. Her fingers tightened on the paddle. “Don’t play your bloody games with me. If you knew where she was, she’d be shackled next to her dad.”
Nic’s lips peeled in a feral smile. That was his woman.
“You’ll tell me.” Blaer narrowed her eyes. Magic shivered in the air…a night fae’s dark magic.
Cassidy flinched. Nic’s jaw tightened. He could only guess what bleak thoughts Blaer had pulled from her.
But not even the most powerful fae could draw on their magic indefinitely. Sweat gleamed on Blaer’s forehead, and her mouth pressed into a thin line. The silver knife had vanished.
His heart gave a hard rap. Blaer was juggling too much. She was heading for a crash.
Cassidy shook her head. “You’re not a mother, are you?”
“What?” The fae lady frowned. But Cassidy had clearly pricked her curiosity, and perhaps she was almost out of juice. For
whatever reason, Blaer dropped her hand and the magical rope evaporated.
Cassidy paddled the last few yards to the boat’s port side. Standing up, she leapt for the rail and pulled herself lithely onto the boat. The two women squared off in the cockpit.
Behind Nic, Joe had shifted and joined Ben. He had a dagger in his hand, and as Nic glanced down, Ben handed him another. Joe put the second dagger between his teeth, and the two of them clung to the stern just above the waterline.
Then everything seemed to happen at once.
Cassidy moved like lightning, grabbing Blaer’s long hair and jerking back her head. She set an iron dagger to her throat. “Let. My mate. Go.”
Blaer set her hands on Cassidy’s shoulders. Cassidy jerked as Blaer muttered something in an arcane fae language—and then froze. Literally. Ice formed in her short red hair and glittered on her eyelashes as a white frost spread over her skin.
Nic’s heart stopped.
Joe exploded into action, swarming over the side of the boat with Ben’s huge cougar right behind. Ben leapt over Blaer and Cassidy to land on the bow and spun to face them. Long canines appeared as the cougar roared in Blaer’s face.
Joe touched the dagger tip to the catch of Nic’s wrist shackle. The shackle released.
“How the hell did you figure that out?” Nic jerked his hand free.
“A fae shackled me once.”
Adrenalin surged through Nic. He vaulted over the seat to reach the two women, Joe right behind him. Somehow Cassidy hung onto Blaer, pressing the blade deeper into her throat, while at the same time, Blaer drained Cassidy’s life-energy.
“Don’t!” Joe grabbed Nic’s arm. “Every time we get closer, she sucks more energy from Cassidy.”
Nic gulped and nodded. Ben was still on the bow in his cougar form, his quartz glowing on his furred chest. The three of them formed a tight circle around the women.
Nic dragged in a breath and managed to speak calmly. “You’re out of options, Blaer. Set her free, and we’ll let you live.”
The fae lady slanted him a glance, her eyes black holes in her pale face. “Stay where you are.”
Sea Dragon's Hunger: BAD Alpha Dads (The Fada Shapeshifter Series) Page 14