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B etween them, Jace and Zuri managed to get Adric back to his den before he threw up again. At least this time, he made it to the toilet first.

After rinsing out his mouth, he staggered back to the living room to collapse on the couch. He lay there shaking, his body exuding a rank odor.

Zuri sat on the couch’s other end. “I’m staying here tonight. I can sleep in Jani’s room.”

His glare dared Adric to object, but Adric just nodded. “Works.”

Jace remained standing, his brow creased with worry. “I have to go back to Grace Harbor. I don’t trust the night fae not to mess with Evie and Kyler, even with Horace there.”

“Go,” Adric rasped. “But call Merry. In the morning.”

Because Langdon would investigate to see if she was really dead.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t call her adopted parents, because water fada couldn’t use small electronics—their bodies tended to short them out. Meanwhile, Merry was protected by Rock Run’s wards, and Adric didn’t want to scare her—the kid was only thirteen, after all.

Besides, Rui do Mar, her adopted father, was a scary-ass shark fada. If Langdon wanted Merry, he’d have to get past do Mar, and the shark shifter would die before he let that happen.

“Tell her…get a new quartz,” he added. “Throw…the old one in the river. The ward of protection—the prince might be able to trace her through it.”

She’d lose the protection, but with Tyrus dead, it probably wasn’t necessary anymore.

“Will do.” Jace shook his head. “Lord, you’re a crazy mofo. I can’t believe you told a fae prince a lie right to his face. But you’re right. Let him think she’s dead—at least until she’s grown up.”

“The sun fae queen will protect her,” Zuri interjected.

“Yeah.” Adric hadn’t thought of that. But Queen Cleia loved Jace’s skinny, serious niece. “Do Mar.” He clamped his jaw shut against another wave of queasiness.

Jace understood. “I’ll tell Merry to have him contact you.”

“Make sure…he knows it’s important. The Full Moon Saloon.” It was a shifter bar in Fells Point. “Tonight, seven o’clock.”

Jace studied him doubtfully. “You sure you’re up for it?”

“Yeah.” Adric rested his head against the couch’s worn fabric. “Just need…sleep.”

The rest of the night passed in a feverish haze. Jace left for Grace Harbor, and Zuri contacted Suha. He tried to help Adric to bed, but Adric bared his teeth and he backed off.

And he did it, even though it took him a good five minutes to strip to his boxers and ease himself under the sheets.

Suha arrived shortly after, dressed in a bright, tribal-patterned tunic and leggings. The clan’s head healer was a deer fada with short black hair, a pretty oval face, and a doe’s calm brown eyes. One look at him, and her full mouth tightened.

“Holy shit, Ric. What did you do now?”

Zuri opened his mouth, but Adric stopped him with a look.

“I told a lie.”

That was all Suha needed to know. The healer might be like family to him and Jani, but secrets had a way of spreading through the clan. And right now, the clan didn’t need any more upsets.

Her fine dark brows climbed. “A whopper, from the looks of it.”

Zuri got a stool from the living room and put it next to the bed. Taking a seat, Suha removed her quartz and held it over his heart, her other hand on his arm.

Zuri hovered on the other side of the bed, his good-looking face grim.

“For fuck’s sake,” Adric said. “I’m not going to die.”

Zuri backed up a step and folded his big arms over his chest. “From where I’m standing, that’s debatable.”

Suha touched the wolf fada’s leg. “Why don’t you go get something to eat, babe? The bar on the corner makes killer quesadillas.”

“And then get some sleep,” Adric growled. “I don’t need you standing guard over me. If I need you, I’ll call.”

Zuri hesitated and then jerked his chin. “All right.”

Suha waited until the front door closed behind him and then murmured, “Breathe. Let the warmth fill you.”

She moved the quartz in a slow circuit from his throat—which had spoken the lie—to his still-upset stomach, and then back to his heart.

Adric rarely allowed Suha to use her healing Gift on him. Healing burned a lot of energy, and he preferred she save it for the clan members who really needed it.

But he had to admit, it felt good. He sighed with relief as a pleasant heat spread like warm honey throughout his body. His painfully clenched stomach eased.

“That’s it.” The healer’s eyes were half-closed. “Relax. Let your own energy work with mine.”

His own quartz hummed in response, accepting Suha’s healing energy and using it to counteract the toxins that the lie had released in his body.

His eyelids shut. The next thing he knew it was five in the afternoon, and Zuri was frowning down at him.

“Ric. You all right?”

“Yeah.” Adric sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Yeah,” he repeated, more firmly. He felt a little dizzy, but his stomach had settled.

Suha’s healing energy had done the trick.

It would be a few days until he was back to a hundred percent, but his head had cleared and he was no longer shaking.

From the kitchen came a mouthwatering fragrance. His stomach growled.

“You made me your mom’s soup?” Zuri’s spicy chicken soup—a Moroccan recipe passed down through his mom’s family—was famous in the clan.

“Yep.” The tall, brown-skinned lieutenant broke into a rare smile. “But first, take a fucking shower.”

Adric rubbed his nose. “I was hoping that smell wasn’t me.”

By 6:45 p.m., Adric was at the Full Moon Saloon, having showered, dressed and downed a big bowl of Zuri’s chicken soup.

At ten to seven, Rui do Mar roared up on a big black bike. Adric nodded to the bouncer to let him in. They’d cleared the bar of everyone but Zuri and a handful of trusted soldiers. Even the owner had been told to wait in his office.

Do Mar was a large, olive-skinned man with short dark hair, a square jaw and hooded green eyes.

He strode inside, took one sniff and headed for the dark corner table where Adric waited.

The shark shifter could scent a few drops of blood in a fast-flowing river.

Detecting Adric’s scent in an uncrowded bar must be child’s play for him.

“Lord Adric,” he said in his Portuguese-accented English as he dropped into the seat across from Adric. “Merry says you wish to speak with me.”

No preliminary bullshit with this guy—he went straight to the point. But that was fine with Adric.

“We have a situation. The night fae prince.”

“And?” Do Mar lifted a black brow.

“You know his son died.”

Do Mar nodded. “We do.”

Of course they did. Adric would bet Rock Run even knew that a Baltimore fada had killed Tyrus. But most people believed it had been Adric who’d knifed the man—because that was how he wanted it.

“He asked about Merry,” he told do Mar. “He wanted me to agree to give him access to her.”

“In exchange for what?”

My sister’s life. “ That’s clan business. But I lied—told him Merry was dead.”

Adric caught a hint of surprise in the other man’s scent, but his face remained impassive. “I see.”

“She got rid of her quartz?” Adric asked, even though he knew the answer. He no longer felt the thin bond connecting him to Merry.

“ Sim , yes. It was hard, but she trusts you.”

Adric’s cheek flexed. “I’m sorry.” He was Merry’s alpha. It was only right that she trusted and obeyed him—no matter that Rock Run had claimed her as an honorary river fada—but he’d hated like hell to give the order. It hurt an earth fada to remove their quartz. “It’s for her own protection.”

“She knows.”

“Make sure she finds another quartz—soon. She’s still growing. She needs the energy more than ever right now.”

Do Mar nodded. “She’s already looking for another one. We have a few small deposits within the base.”

“Good.” The Rock Run Base had been carved out of underground caverns near the mouth of the Susquehanna River, an area rich with quartz deposits.

“There’s more,” Adric added. “Our best guess is that Tyrus was trying to wipe out everyone connected to Merry. That’s why he targeted Jace.” He blew out a breath. “And when I met with the prince, he made a point of telling me that all three of his sons are dead.”

Adric didn’t have to connect the dots. Do Mar bit out something dark in Portuguese. “He wants Merry.”

“He didn’t say it straight out, but she’s his only living heir.”

“So he has changed his mind.” Do Mar rubbed a hand over his face. “Before, he didn’t want his people to know he had a half-blood son with a human. He was happy for us to keep Merry at Rock Run.”

“She may be only a quarter night fae, but she’s his blood. His only granddaughter.”

Their eyes met. Do Mar’s shark shone in his eyes, and Adric knew the other man could see cougar-blue streaking his.

“No fucking way,” Adric ground out, “am I going to let Merry be raised by the night fae. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, let alone a sweet kid like her.”

“Agreed. We will keep a close watch on her. We have one advantage—Dion’s mate, Queen Cleia. She loves Merry.”

“I’m counting on it.” Adric had never thought he’d be grateful the Rock Run alpha had mated with the sun fae queen; it gave Rock Run too much power in their little corner of Maryland. But now he thanked the gods that Merry had Cleia to protect her.

“She’s already volunteered one of her best spellcasters to cast a look-away spell for Merry’s new quartz,” do Mar said. “The prince may look for her, but he won’t find her.”

“Thank you.”

“I have no need of thanks,” the other man said as they rose to their feet. “You still don’t comprehend, do you? Merry is my daughter, here.” He touched a fist to his heart. “I would do anything to keep her safe and happy. And my mate—Valeria—feels the same.”

Adric nodded—and then stuck out his hand.

Do Mar’s hooded eyes flickered with surprise. In all the years they’d known each other, they’d never touched. Touch was reserved for clan members, or at least people you didn’t see as an enemy. But Adric could no longer see the shark fada as an enemy, even if he was the Rock Run second.

The other man gripped his hand firmly. “Peace to you and yours.”

Adric met his eyes. “And to you and yours.”