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I had no idea. We hadn’t gone through any protocol on how to handle a crisis.

Two men were finally racing in my direction. My God. They had their guns out ready to use them.

“Mina!”

At least they realized what I was shrieking about, picking up some speed, but they had their weapons in front, aiming at nothing on the beach. What the hell did they think they were doing?

Laughter. I heard laughter coming from somewhere. I twirled around again, finally catching sight of both the little girl and her dog. She was throwing him a ball and he was chasing it into the surf.

Relief rushed through me until she ran toward him and the water while a wave was getting ready to crash against the shore.

When it did, she went down, Shadow caught by the raging water as well. The moment of terror continued while I pumped my legs, running to try to save her.

She was still giggling as if not realizing how much danger she was in. Shadow bounded over her, knocking her onto her back.

The wave retreated and both were perfectly fine.

Meanwhile, I was completely out of breath, a series of stars floating in front of my eyes. I turned around, noticing the soldiers were close. Thankfully, they were slowing down as well. I threw out my hand.

Thank God, they figured out what I was telling them, both putting away their weapons.

“Izzy. We’re playing fetch.”

I slowed my gait, taking gasping breaths as I approached. “I can see that.” Now wasn’t the time to chastise her, but I thought she knew she wasn’t supposed to leave the house without an adult. How horrible for a child that she couldn’t take her dog outside to play with.

Shadow came bounding toward me with the ball in his mouth and his tail resembling a helicopter. Both were happy as could be while I was at the point of passing out.

Mina huffed and pulled herself to a standing position, trying to wipe wet sand off. She was completely unaffected by my reaction, still smiling at being outdoors. How was I supposed to be angry with her?

“You scared me. I couldn’t find you.” My tone might sound singsong, but my heart remained in my throat.

Woof. Woof.

Shadow’s happy barks were another reminder she deserved some sense of normalcy. I tossed the ball, finally taking a long and very deep breath.

“I’m sorry, Izzy. He had to go to the bathroom.”

“I understand, but next time, just let me know. Okay? You don’t want to give me gray hairs.”

The soldiers were hovering around. The fact they’d been so slow in finding out what was happening pissed me off.

“Throw a couple more and we should go in after that. Okay?”

She wrinkled her nose, but nodded, chasing after Shadow until she was able to get the slobbery ball from his mouth. As she was giggling, I took the opportunity to storm over to the men and perhaps for the first time, I decided to take out my frustration on them.

“Where were you? Do you know what could have happened?”

At least one of the two had the good sense to appear ashamed. The other? Merely annoyed.

“What’s wrong with you? Don’t you understand the level of danger she’s in?”

“We’re sorry, Ms. Dayne. We didn’t think anything of seeing the dog on the beach. We’d just done a sweep. The exterior is secure.”

“You’re Kristoff. Right? And you’re Jake?”

Jake smiled. “You’re right.”

I wasn’t in the mood to argue with them. In fact, I had a raging headache at this point. “Okay. That’s fine. Just fine, but don’t ever point your weapons in her direction again.” But it wasn’t fine. I wasn’t adept at handling being the lady of the house. Maybe I should take comfort in knowing they were completely aware of the surroundings. “Am I clear?”