The letter had only my name on it. I tore at the seal and pulled out the piece of paper inside.

“What does it say?” Dullahan asked. After reading it, I snorted and bit back a smile.

“They regret to inform me that I am now number one on their dangerous supernaturals list and that we four have a permanent spot there. They plan to continue taking aggressive tactics.” I handed Dullahan the letter. “They’re never going to stop trying,” I said with entertainment. “They must like the taste of defeat.”

“You know what this means, don’t you Lacey?” Puca asked with a devious smile.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Your contract with Dullahan to protect us until the Council ends its threat...It appears it will continue on indefinitely,” he said.

“Yes, I suppose that's true,” I commented with a smile. Puca slid close, his hand grabbing my neck to hold me in place aggressively. He looked down at me, his golden eyes sweeping over my face.

“You better not break the deal, Lacey. I’d hate for you to lose your head.”

“They switched you from number three to number two on the list,” I whispered to him.

“They have some common sense then,” he whispered back before his teeth sunk into my lip.

* * *

I dragged myself up from the ocean, groaning. A large pale sign proclaimed I was at the Gold Sands Beach Resort of Neo Atlantis. I was hoping I’d crawled up somewhere else, anywhere else.

I flopped over on my back in the sand. The families attempting to enjoy a pleasant day at the beach all shrunk back as I rolled over and heaved up a gallon of ocean water. I undid my gun belt and pulled a fish from my pants, tossing it further up the beach to suffocate in the air. I took some small pleasure in watching it gasp and flounder.

I flopped on my back again, breathing air for the first time in a month. My lungs felt like sponges that kept attempting to drown me but the more breaths I took, the more they dried out.

Through my closed eyelids I saw a shadow cast over me.

“Hey, cowboy,” a woman said. My eyes flew open. The sun blazed behind her, making her hard to see but Lacey Flanagan was not easy to miss. Her jewelry practically blinded me as it sparkled in the bright day.

“Shit,” I rasped. She chuckled and bent down next to me. The only thing I could do was lay like a dead starfish on the shore while her glowing green eyes swept over me. She snorted and her smile spread. The bitch looked absolutely delighted by how much I looked like I’d suffered.

“Looks like you’ve had a tough time,” she said. I’d been through plenty but getting blown up and sent to the bottom of the sea for God knows how long topped the fucking list.