“Pull a what?”
“Andrea, I am your father. It’s not as though your name is on my birth certificate or we can do a paternity test.” Andrea paused. “Although, to be fair, he really was Luke’s father.”
Fionn looked puzzled—as puzzled as an impossibly tall warrior in chain mail could look. “I do not understand these words. Your world is confusing to me.”
“As yours is to me. How do you even speak English?”
“I knew a little from academic studies on Earth languages, which are required curriculum. Your mother taught me much more. I studied on my own after that, so that when I saw you again, I could communicate well with you.”
“When you saw me? Not if?”
“I always planned to find you when I could. I have been watching you, waiting until it was safe.”
Andrea’s anger boiled out of her. “Watching me? What the hell? If you really were my father, and really were watching me, why didn’t you burst in and stop all the bad things that happened to me? Where were you when the pack leaders wanted my stepfather to strangle me at birth? How about when my mother died? Or when I was shunned for most of my life? How about when Jared tried to force a mate-claim, with the entire Shiftertown to back him up? And when Jared went on to stalk me and terrorize me? Tell me, Daddy Dearest, where the hell were you then?”
“Hiding you. Keeping you from my enemies.”
Andrea’s words faltered. “What?”
“Daughter, when the Fae wage war, it’s brutal and ruthless. I am the head of my clan. If the leader of my rivals knew I’d fallen in love with a Shifter, that I’d sired a child on her, your life and hers wouldn’t have been worth a breath. The other leader wanted to win at any price, and you would have been part of that price. He slaughtered half my men, almost all of my Fae family. Dina died here in this harsh world from illness when she tried to have a Shifter child, and I didn’t dare go to her for fear my rival would find you. You were all I had left. When I say I watched you in secret, I mean I kept it secret from everyone. Which means it had to be a secret even from you.”
Andrea listened in growing shock. “And this guy, this rival. Where is he now?”
“Dead.” The word held triumph, simple and raw. “I myself ran my sword through his black heart. And so now I am free to reveal myself to you, my beautiful daughter, and to bring you home to me at last.”
Andrea stepped back, putting herself well out of the man’s reach. “When you say home, you mean in Faerie, with you?”
“It is where you belong, Andrea Gray. You are the only child of a warrior lord, the warrior who essentially rules the land of Faerie. You belong at my side, a highborn lady in your own right.”
A bubble of hysteria worked its way upward and burst out as a laugh. “You mean I really am a Faerie princess?”
“Essentially, yes. The equivalent rank of one, though you wouldn’t be of the royal house.”
Fionn’s deadpan explanation made Andrea laugh harder. He scowled as she wiped her eyes. “Sorry,” she said. “This is a lot to take in. And to believe.”
“You must believe me, child. Take my hand, come to me, and I will show you. I will give you visions of how I met your mother if you want. If that will convince you.”
“Oh, right.” Andrea took another step back. “Why don’t you just come out here and get me yourself?”
“You know that I cannot. I need your touch to come to you. But why should I? Yours is a dirty world, full of cold iron. You come into Faerie and be with me.”
“And then what happens? You laugh maniacally, say ‘I’ve got you now, my pretty’? Maybe you are my father’s enemy trying to fool me in order to get to him.”
Now, he grew annoyed. “God and Goddess, what will it take to convince you?”
“Let me think about it for a while. What you say could be true, but I’m not gullible enough to drop to my knees, throw my arms around your waist, and scream Daddy.”
He gave her an impatient look. “I was right when I said you were just like your mother. She drove me insane before she’d even let me touch her.”
“Good for her. If you really are my father, you’ll be kind enough to give me time to accept what you say.”
Fionn frowned again, obviously not used to people who didn’t simply obey his every command. He was a bit like Dylan in that respect.
“Time is a mutable thing,” he said. “Don’t take too much of it. And while you are thinking, daughter, let me have the Sword of the Guardian.”
Andrea laughed again. “You are amazing. If I steal the sword—and worse, hand it to a Fae—the Shifters will kill me. Why would you want that to happen?”
“If you don’t bring it to me, Shifters will die for it. The stirrings among the Shifters are dangerous, and disaster could come of it. You need to give me the sword.”
His words, especially after what had happened with Callum at the bar, made her nervous, but she kept her voice steady. “I’ll need to think about that one too. Good night, Father.” Andrea turned around and walked away, pretending nonchalance.
Fionn called after her. “You will regret so much if you do not listen to me.”
Andrea gave him a cheery wave and kept walking. Something flashed behind her, and she knew that if she turned around, Fionn would have vanished, the way to Faerie closed again.
She didn’t turn, though. She also wasn’t surprised to find Sean on the back porch of Glory’s house, scanning the darkness for her, ready to start after her. He growled as she came out of the trees, his eyes Feline slits.
“Don’t even ask me where I’ve been,” Andrea said, walking past him and into the house. “Right now, I’m very tired of males expecting me to do everything they say.”
Andrea went into the house and slammed the door behind her, not waiting to see whether Sean would follow her in or not. He did, but he didn’t ask questions. He simply made love to her in fierce silence until they fell asleep, curled together in blissful exhaustion.
Bloody females made him bloody furious. Sean’s legs were cramped from sitting in the booth at the bar, but damned if he was going to leave until Andrea was done working her shift. She was closing tonight, so that meant he had to stay here at least until two.
She hadn’t spoken to him much today, not to tell him why she’d been running around outside near dawn or whether she’d seen the Fae again, although Sean knew damn well she had. He’d smelled the stink of Faerie wafting in from the clearing when she’d come in, like acrid smoke laced with mint.