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W ith the base on alert, Dion had ordered the sentries to double up, some to patrol the forests and vineyards, some to patrol the water.

Rosana reported to the marina for duty early Tuesday morning to find she’d been paired with Chico Nobrega, her brother Tiago’s best friend, and assigned to the section of the Susquehanna River north of Rock Run Creek.

The two of them walked to the end of a dock and peeled off their clothes with the nonchalance of old friends.

Chico was frankly gorgeous, with cropped brown curls and soulful dark eyes.

More than a few hearts had been bruised when he’d mated with a human named Jenny.

But to Rosana he was just a man she’d known since she was a pup, almost a fifth brother.

“Beat you into the water,” he said and leapt, shifting to his dolphin in mid-air. She landed in the river a second after him. Just so he didn’t get too cocky, she waited for him to surface and then slapped her tail on the surface, splashing his face.

Chico wanted to talk about the mysterious brown wolf, of course. Everyone did. Their orders were to capture the wolf if he set even a paw on their land. If he resisted, they were to kill him.

You hear anything else? he asked as they dodged between two fishing boats.

No, she returned shortly.

The endless speculation was driving her crazy. Adric wouldn’t have sent a wolf to Rock Run. Not when he was in Lewes with her.

But if he hadn’t sent the wolf, then why had it been on their territory?

She had a bad feeling it was the same earth fada who’d led the fae to the B&B—which opened up more questions, like why look for Adric at Rock Run?

Or had the wolf been looking for her, Rosana? Which made even less sense.

Davi says Adric didn’t know one of his own men was on our land. Chico shook his head. What’s up with the Baltimore fada, anyway? They have no fucking discipline.

She moved her body in the dolphin equivalent of a shrug. Maybe they had their reasons.

If they do attack, it won’t be from the river. Chico’s disappointment was clear. Adric’s not stupid. Water’s our element, and he knows it.

She released a forceful exhale through her blowhole. They’re not going to attack, period. Adric told Dion straight out he had nothing to do with it. If he was lying, Dion would’ve scented it.

Okay, okay. Chico gave her the side-eye. Hell, you still have a thing for him, don’t you?

That was the problem with people who’d known you since you were a pup. They knew you too well.

So what if I do? She circumvented another fishing boat. It’s not like it’ll ever come to anything. She tried to sound matter-of-fact, but her bitterness must’ve seeped through because Chico brushed his flank over hers.

Sorry, Rosie.

She body-checked him. I told you not to call me Rosie.

For once, he didn’t tease her back, just nodded.

With a powerful pump of her tail, she shot forward. Beat you to the dryads’ islands.

And she did beat him, because he let her win. She, in turn, taunted him for being too slow because otherwise, he’d keep shooting her those concerned looks and she just might break down and embarrass them both.

As Chico had predicted, the river was quiet.

They cruised around the trio of islands inhabited by Alesia and her two sisters.

The trees were bare, their branches stark against the cloudy sky.

Alesia waved at them from high up in an oak tree, but her sisters didn’t leave the camouflage of their forests.

The rest of the day dragged on, the only excitement coming when they had to rescue a human fisherman who’d fallen into the icy river.

Rosana steadied his boat while Chico shifted to human and heaved the half-frozen man back onto its shallow deck.

They pushed him back to a Grace Harbor marina and then returned to Rock Run, where she left Chico at the operations room to make their report to the tenente .

As Rosana headed back to her quarters, Chico’s mate Jenny waved from the other end of the stone corridor. “Hey, girl! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Rosana smiled and waved back. The two of them had become good friends in the year and a half since the human had moved into the base. “What’s up?”

“I want to know what you think about that piece I’m making for Lady Olivia.” Jenny’s jewelry was rapidly becoming famous in both the human and magical worlds, but she’d been shocked—and flattered—when Lady Olivia, Cleia’s intimidating older cousin, had commissioned a pendant.

“Sure.” Rosana fell in beside the human. Anything to take her mind off Adric and the mysterious wolf fada.

“And you can tell me all about your trip to Lewes.” Jenny’s grin was knowing. “You met him , didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” Rosana grimaced. “Someday, I’ll tell you all about it. But not today, okay?”

“That bad?”

“Worse.”

Jenny shook her head, sending her long black braid dancing. “Men are asses. Except when they aren’t.”

“Yeah. The thing was, it was…incredible. Except when it wasn’t.”

They exchanged a look and burst out laughing. Maybe Rosana’s laughter was edged with pain, but it still felt good.

“Just keep it quiet, okay? I’d rather not get into it with my brothers.”

Jenny traced an X on her chest. “Cross my heart.”

“Rosana, Jenny—wait for me!” It was Merry Jones. They halted as she loped down the hall toward them.

Rosana still recalled the night Rui do Mar had brought the orphaned earth fada back to Rock Run.

She’d been all big eyes in a narrow, sharp-chinned face, her body too thin, her arms and legs brown sticks.

At fourteen, she’d filled out some, but she was still skinny, with long legs and a lanky, boyish body.

Merry bumped her shoulder against Rosana’s. “What’cha doin’?”

“Going to Jenny’s.”

“Can I come? Please?”

“Sure.” Jenny slung an arm around the teen’s slim shoulders. “I could use your opinion, too. You have an artist’s eye.” Jenny had been teaching Merry basic jewelry-making techniques.

“You think?” Her thin, mobile face lit up.

“Yep. In fact, I think you’re ready to start that bracelet for your mama.”

“Seriously? I can give it to her for her birthday.”

Jenny’s big gray tabby was waiting on a ledge near her apartment. He leapt off the ledge and brushed between Merry’s legs, meowing in welcome. Merry’s animal was a jaguar, and Max had apparently decided that as the only other feline at Rock Run, she was a kindred spirit.

“There’s my sweetie.” Merry scooped up the cat and rubbed her face against his. He butted his head into the space between her jaw and throat, purring loudly.

Jenny chuckled. “I swear that cat is crushing on you.”

The teenager gave one of her rare, slow smiles. “Well, I love him, too. He’s a handsome cat, aren’t you, meu querido ?” She cuddled the tabby closer, and his eyes slit in bliss.

Inside, Jenny prepared Max a small plate of sardines in her kitchenette and set it on the stone floor. While the cat made short work of his dinner, the three of them traipsed into the workroom that Chico and Tiago had built for Jenny off the sala .

A sturdy table had been installed along one wall, with shelves above for supplies.

Every spare surface was cluttered: gemstones in all the colors of the rainbow, boxes of crystal beads, spools of wire, scraps of metal.

Wire cutters in three different sizes lay next to pliers and calipers, and a ceramic brick held a jeweler’s soldering torch.

An idea board was covered with photos and sketches, and a slit in the cavern ceiling provided light and ventilation.

“Lady Olivia gave me a pink diamond to work with.” Jenny took an object wrapped in cotton from a shelf.

“I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a pink diamond,” Rosana remarked.

“Right? She liked that necklace I made for Cleia, so she brought me this pink diamond, told me to see what I came up with.” Jenny unfolded the cloth to reveal a thumbnail-size diamond set off-center in a hammered gold sun with wavy rays.

“Wow.” Rosana’s eyes widened. “Just wow.”

“Genius,” Merry breathed at the same time.

Jenny beamed. “I just hope Lady Olivia thinks so.”

“She’ll love it. Even Lady Olivia can’t find any fault with this . May I?” Rosana stretched out a hand, and when Jenny nodded, fingered the pendant.

“You know,” her friend said, “Cleia would give you a pink diamond—you just have to ask. Or any gemstone. And I’d make you a pendant for free. You’d just have to pay for the materials.”

Rosana hesitated, tempted, and then resolutely shook her head. “I know she would, but I’m trying to be more independent, and that means earning my own way. But thank you—that’s really sweet of you to offer.”

Her friend nodded. “If you change your mind, let me know.”

“You know I will.”

Jenny rewrapped the pendant, and they returned to the sala for snacks and girl talk. It was exactly what Rosana needed. For the next hour she didn’t even think about Adric—at least, not more than once every ten minutes or so.

Then Chico returned and pulled his mate into a kiss that made her heart constrict with envy.

She was happy for them, she was. Really.

She just wanted what they had.

Chico released Jenny, and they all chatted for a few more minutes until Rosana rose to her feet, saying she had to go. “I promised to meet Isa for dinner.”

Merry jumped up as well. “I’ll walk you to your quarters.”

Rosana blinked. Her apartment was on the base’s opposite side, while the do Mar’s apartment was just a few minutes away.

But she waited until they were alone before slanting Merry a look. “Something wrong?”

“Not here,” the teenager said. They were in a large, well-traveled hallway filled with people on their way to the dining room.

Taking Rosana’s hand, she pulled her into a side corridor.

“I want to know what’s up. Something’s wrong, I know it is.

They barely let me outside these days—and my papai won’t tell me anything. ”

Rosana hesitated. “I’m sure they have their reasons.”