Martha had worried that her inner coyote would be panicked by the unnatural environment. She needn’t have feared. Her animal’s tail was wagging so hard, it made her own tailbone tingle.

Coyotes were tricksters at heart. And as far as her coyote was concerned, this was the greatest trick ever.

Chase those, her coyote urged as a brilliant shoal of tiny yellow fish swirled past. And those. And those!

Martha giggled at her animal’s enthusiasm, a stream of silver bubbles rising from her mouth. Succumbing to temptation, she flicked her flippered feet, propelling herself toward the nearest group of fish. They scattered at her approach, exploding in all directions like Fourth of July fireworks.

Better than pigeons! her coyote crowed. Oh, good mate, excellent mate, to lead us to such fine hunting grounds. Chase that one!

Martha firmly reined in her inner coyote before the fool animal had her panting after the poor fish like a dog chasing squirrels. She looked for Finn, and discovered him effortlessly keeping pace, a little above her. Though he was still in human form, he didn’t seem to be having any trouble breathing underwater either.

Did he make himself a pearl too?

She wanted to ask him, but only bubbles came out when she tried to speak. Catching his eye, she pointed at the locket he’d given her, then gestured at him in silent query.

He shook his head in answer, lifting his chin to show her the gills that had opened in his neck. His hands had become webbed, and his skin had taken on a steely cast, echoing his color in his full shark form. She’d heard of shifters who were able to do partial transformations, though she’d never seen one before.

Just as well he can. He’d beach himself if he shifted this close to shore.

But that meant that these sunlit, teeming waters weren’t where he truly belonged. Martha could have spent all day marveling at the jeweled fish—not to mention the crabs and urchins and other creatures she didn’t even have names for that were bumbling busily around the sea floor—but they weren’t what she’d come here to see.

She wanted to know his true home.

She kicked her feet, heading farther out to sea. She wasn’t normally a strong swimmer, but now she soared through the water as easily as a bird through the sky. The saltwater tasted pure and sweet in her mouth, as natural as air. She was weightless. Free.

If this is what it’s like to be a shark, I don’t know how he can stand to come up onto land.

She’d been expecting the rippling sands of the sea floor to slowly drop away, but instead the transition from shallows to deep sea was sharp as a cliff. She hesitated at the edge of the drop-off, peering down. All she could see below was a murky, blue-green void, fading into blackness.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself—but Finn caught her hand before she could push out into that terrifying emptiness. Wait, he mouthed.

He dove into the abyss, barely seeming to need to move a muscle to propel himself through the water. Even though she knew he was perfectly safe, she couldn’t help her heart skipping a beat as he disappeared into the dark. More than ever, she wished that they were fully mated, so that they could speak mind-to-mind.

A shockwave of displaced water shook the sea, tumbling her head over heels. By the time she’d righted herself, his iron-gray form was rising back out of the depths.

Even though she’d seen him before, she still caught her breath in awe. He’d been big enough viewed from above, from the safety of the boat. Now that she was actually in the water with him, he seemed to fill the entire sea.

She had to dog-paddle madly to hold her position as he swept past, the currents from his passage tugging at her limbs. His mouth was barely open, but she could still have walked straight between those serried teeth without having to duck her head. If he opened his jaw fully, he could swallow the whole world.

He circled round, slowing as he returned, though he never quite came to a complete stop. He’d warned her that his type of shark needed to keep swimming in order to breathe. This time as he came past, she’d recovered enough presence of mind to swim out to him as they’d agreed.

She caught hold of his towering dorsal fin. Now she understood why he’d insisted she wear diving gloves—his hide was coarse as diamond-grit sandpaper. If she’d been bare-handed, just the slightest brush would have taken the skin off her palms.

Feeling rather like a tick hitching a ride on a bull, she nestled down against his back. She patted him to signal that she was ready.

The great muscles flexed underneath her. Even though she’d been braced for it, she still nearly fell clear off his back as he swept forward. She tightened her grip, water streaming through her hair.

Good Lord, he was powerful. From the slow sweeps of his tail, he was barely making an effort, yet his massive form cut through the water with dizzying speed.

She squinted her eyes against the current rushing past. Already, she could barely see the glimmering surface overhead. Deep blue engulfed them. Every stroke of his fins carried her further and further away from everything she’d ever known.

She breathed deeply, water flowing through her mouth, and tried to calm her racing heart. She pressed against his rough back, drawing comfort from his vast strength. She was with her mate. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

This was where she was meant to be.

He slowed a little, his great head questing from side to side as if sniffing out a scent-trail. Maybe it was the shark-pearl he’d made for her, but Martha could have sworn that she too could taste a difference in the water. A hint of a hidden current; a cold, foreign thread.

I will take you through a Sea Gate, he’d told her. There is an ancient one here, so old that no one knows which Emperor or Empress first created it. It will take us to Atlantis.

A thrill went through her at the prospect of more magic. She strained her eyes, looking for—well, in truth, she wasn’t quite sure what. A big stone portal, maybe, or a glowing underwater whirlpool.

Instead, the Sea Gate turned out to be much less dramatic than she’d expected. Curving his body, Finn propelled them through a patch of water that looked no different from any other bit. Except then—they were somewhere else.

Martha gasped at the suddenly ice-cold sea. These weren’t the gentle, tropical waters of the Caribbean, but the chill depths of the northern Atlantic. She shivered in her wetsuit, instinctively hunkering close to Finn’s back, although in truth he was no warmer than the water.

Then she looked down, and forgot all about being cold.

Atlantis gleamed below them. Pearl-white towers rose from the seven tiers of the city, glittering with lights like sunken stars. A golden palace crowned the very tip of the underwater mountain, bright as fire in the dark water. Shimmering bubbles of air enclosed some buildings, but most were left open to the sea.

It was something out of a fairytale. Just like he was.

Finn had gone still beneath her, as if he was trying to judge her reaction. She pressed her body against his back, spreading her arms as wide as she could.

Thank you. Thank you for showing me your home. For letting me in.

Even though she could only span a tiny fraction of his vast form, she knew he’d recognized the hug from the way his taut muscles relaxed. He started swimming down toward the city, his body undulating in slow, easy movements.

Good mate, excellent mate. Her coyote pranced in circles, eager as a pup. So much to see, so much to sniff! We will run and hunt and dig. And when the pack gathers to chew stories like bones under the moon, this is the one that they will beg us to tell, over and over again.

Her animal’s insatiable curiosity made her smile…but even as she did, a shiver of unease twitched her shoulders. Her coyote thought this was all some grand adventure. A story to tell their grandpups. Her animal didn’t yet realize that this was going to be their new home.

New home? Her coyote twitched an ear, as if bothered by a fly. Nonsense. Our pack is not here.

Our mate is here, Martha pointed out to her beast.

Of course he is. Because we are here. Her coyote yawned, utterly certain of itself. And when we go home, he will come with us. Good mate, strong mate. He will help protect our cubs.

Martha shook her head, knowing better than to try to argue with her stubborn animal. No matter what her beast thought, Arizona was no place for a shark, while a coyote could make itself comfortable just about anywhere.

And her kids were grown-ass adults, as Nita so often reminded her. It was about time she learned to back off a little. She’d still be able to go visit them. This was no different to retiring to Florida or wherever. Just…a little farther off.

If you have to work so hard to convince yourself you’re doing the right thing, Manuel had told her on more than one occasion, you probably aren’t.

Martha squelched the ghostly whisper in her memory. She was doing the right thing. Now that she’d seen Atlantis, she was sure of it. How could she ever ask Finn to leave all this shining wonder for the dull, everyday world above the water?

Holding tight to his back, she let her mate carry her home.

* * *

By the time they finally made it back to the resort, Martha’s legs felt made of lead. She stumbled up the sloping beach, every step a huge effort after the weightless freedom of the sea. But the physical exhaustion of her body was nothing compared to her overwhelmed mind. Her head was so stuffed full of marvels, it was a wonder pearls weren’t leaking out of her ears.

The coral-paved streets and intricate mosaics, the underwater gardens and the elegant, shell-white towers…it all blended together in her memory like a dream. And the people, the people! The beauties of the city were nothing compared to the splendor of its inhabitants.

Towering sea dragons with jewel-toned hair, their language more like singing than speech. Quick, fluid seal shifters, so graceful it was a joy just to watch them walk down the street. Orcas and dolphins, walruses and whales…more types of shifter than she’d ever imagined existed.

She’d even met the Pearl Empress—an astonishingly tall, breathtakingly beautiful young woman with calm, sea-blue eyes. Martha hadn’t needed the crown on her head or the retinue of knights attending her to know that this was a person of power. Yet the Empress—the ruler of the whole sea!—had smiled at her, taking her hands in her own.

“I hope you will be very happy here.” Bizarrely, she’d had a soft Scottish accent, totally unlike the alien tones of every other sea dragon she’d heard that day. “If there’s anything I can do to make you feel at home, tell me. I too know what it’s like to be a newcomer to Atlantis.”

Then the Empress had actually winked at her, lowering her voice. “I can assure you, I’ve at least improved the food down here.”

Martha had been too tongue-tied to do more than stammer out a few incoherent words in response. The grandeur, the magic, the glittering sea dragons swimming through the city in their native forms…it was all too overwhelming.

Now she felt like she needed to sit in a darkened room for a week, just to process everything she’d seen. Even her coyote was exhausted, lying belly-up and panting at the bottom of her soul.

“Martha.” Finn touched her shoulder, and before she knew what was happening she found herself scooped up in his arms. “I am sorry. We should not have stayed so long.”

“It’s all right.” She leaned gratefully against his broad shoulder. “There was just so much to see. And I still don’t think I saw a tenth of it.”

“There is plenty of time to see the rest.” He fell silent for a moment, carrying her up the beach. “If…you are still certain.”

She kissed his neck, tasting the saltwater on his skin. “I still want to be with you, if that’s what you mean. And Atlantis is marvelous. Thank you.”

Though having seen the place, she had no idea what she was going to do there all day. Apart from just gape at everything like a country bumpkin.

We’ll figure it out. She snuggled closer into her mate’s neck, wrapped in the security of his strong arms. We’ll be together. Everything will be fine, as long as we’re together.

She sighed, a twist of anxiety knotting her gut. Even though she knew she was making the right decision, she still had no idea how she was going to explain this to her pack. To her family. They’d probably think she’d gone stark raving mad when she announced that she was off to live with a shark shifter under the sea.

No sense putting it off. I have to tell them at last.

Finn put her down gently outside the door of her cottage, opening it for her. He started to follow her in, but she put a hand on his chest.

“I need to call my family. Tell them what’s going on.” She attempted to smile at him. “Probably best if you don’t listen in. There’s likely to be a lot of yelling.”

He hesitated, his eyes shadowed in the moonlight. “Martha-“

“No, go on, shoo.” She gave him a firm shove. “This isn’t something you can help me with, Finn. It’s okay. They’ll understand eventually.”

I hope, she added to herself, as he reluctantly left. Closing the door, she collapsed back against it with a sigh. She was strongly tempted to just fall into bed and call her family in the morning, but she’d never been one to avoid trouble.

Still, she could at least peel out of her clammy wetsuit and wash the salt out of her hair. She took a shower, for rather longer than was usual, until she could no longer deny to herself that she was just trying to delay the inevitable.

Steeling her nerve, she picked up her cellphone.

26 missed calls, said the screen.