He swatted me aside with a meaty fist. Ursine shifter. “Lady, I don’t know what you’re quacking about.”

“There was a mermaid.” I pointed to the drag marks in the sand. “Right there.”

“Hey, Phil, did you see a mermaid?” he yelled to the guy with a flipper.

“Nope.” He waved at me with the webbed hunk of plastic. “I doubt I would have been hauled out of bed at the butt crack of dawn if they already had a mermaid on site. Wasn’t there a contractor working these things? Whatever happened to her?”

“Yes.” I pointed at my feet. “That was her. She was right here. Ask the bean sidhe. He can tell you I’m not crazy.”

“Leonard?” the ursine called. “What’s all the noise about?”

“There was a mermaid.” A cold spark lit his eyes, and his gaze shot to the forest as if magnetized. “I saw her myself.”

“Come on, lady. Think about it.” The ursine shifter must have heard my molars grinding. “This close to water? She probably ducked into the lake to heal.”

“She’s a saltie.” Admitting Harlow was human and that’s why she wouldn’t have returned to the water to regenerate was a bad idea. Harlow was defenseless in her current state. Humans were soft, their bellies tender, and every fae here was a predator. “I’m going to search the woods.”

“Don’t wander far.” Leonard’s voice thickened like his mouth had trouble forming the words. “Stay where I can see you. If I have to bring you down, you won’t like it.”

Chills swept over me. No. I suppose I wouldn’t. I’d had enough near-death experiences for one night, thanks. I wasn’t about to pit my pitiful athletic abilities against a death-touched fae. Death always won in the end.

The sky lightened. Violet clouds faded to ones with soft pink lining. The brighter conditions made searching easier. Wargs—on two legs and four—had trampled the area. There was no hope of picking a single path as the one medics might have taken. Careful to stay in sight of Leonard, I swept the outskirts of the forest for a hint of where the trio had gone. Several yards deeper than I should have ventured, a dark blob puddled on a smattering of leaves. Casting a wary glance over my shoulder, I located the bean sidhe. His rich skin had paled, and he wet his lips as though a fierce hunger had ignited in him. Making use of his distraction, I stalked deeper into the woods. I toed the clump with my boot, and it made a squishing sound. Confident the mass wasn’t something disgusting, I bent down and pinched what I now felt was a ball of wet fabric between my fingers.