Soren swam alongside the sphere-shaped submersible.

From a distance, he looked like a human scuba diver. His long legs kicked and two flat, wide scuba fins scooped the water.

But he carried no tank. His lungs pulled in water and released it out the gills in his lower back. He wore no wet suit—or any clothing at all. And his “scuba” fins were actually his feet, accordioned so the skin between the bones stretched thin.

Soren was furious.

A fish eye window curved over the front of the submersible. Small lights flattened the ocean around it. Inside, a black-souled man worked the controls.

This evil male had attacked Soren’s home city, Atlantis, and severed their holy Life Tree. Right now, the Life Tree was scissored in a metal claw attached to the front of the submersible. And worse than the Life Tree, which gave life to his city, was the crushed, injured human female, Aya.

She had swum down hundreds of feet from the surface to warn Soren about this attack. Then, she’d tried to stop the submersible herself. But the submersible hadn’t stopped. She’d been pinched against the Life Tree, causing a mortal injury.

Soren could hear her moans and see her fading soul light. She did not have long. The Life Tree still shimmered pure, white light, spreading its life-giving radiance to all mer warriors of the city. But it would soon die, too. And with it, all Atlantis.

What was this human male’s name? Blake?

Soren pounded on the thick glass.

Blake jumped. His mouth opened in a scream. It barely crossed the glass and penetrated the water.

Soren pounded harder. “Open your metal claw. Release our Life Tree and face my wrath!”

The glass held.

Blake’s shoulders relaxed. He laughed and shouted. His words were muffled but his sneer and gestures passed the barriers just fine.

This invader dared to taunt Soren? First Lieutenant of the renegade city Atlantis, demon warrior without honor?

Soren rested both fists on the glass, summoned his rage, and roared. The thick submersible glass vibrated. Tiny cracks raced from his fists to the edge of the metal frames.

Blake stopped laughing.

Soren scratched at the cracks. He would peel open this metal monster and drag the human out, shake the dark-souled Blake until he realized his mistake, and deter all other invaders.

In the metal claw, Aya whimpered and pitched over.

His heart stopped.

Soren transformed his fins to human feet and pushed off the glass. Flicking back to fins, he kicked over the unbreakable metal joints to the front of the claw. Aya hung limp as a prey being carried in the mouth of a metal predator. Soren gripped the two pincers, gathered his strength, and pulled with all his might.

This machine was stronger.

Aya shifted. Tiny bubbles escaped the hose clenched in her mouth. Behind her glass diving mask, agony pinched her features.

Soren released the claw again. “Aya. You should not have come.”

He spoke in the mer way – as a wordless vibration deep in his chest. Humans couldn’t understand it. But sometimes people with compatible souls could sense the meaning.

Soren and Aya should not have compatible souls.

He had refused to claim Aya at her company’s bride pageant in Miami even though every fiber of his being reached out to her, craving her like sunlight. He would fight his attraction. She deserved a worthier warrior.

Now, it was almost too late. Her inner sun was going out.

“Aya,” he said again, in his chest.

Her long, curved lashes fluttered. “Hnn?”

“Your injuries are too severe. You must transform into a mermaid to survive.”

She shivered.

He searched through the pure, white branches of the severed Life Tree behind her. One blossom would hold the nectar she needed to transform.

Transforming for the first time would heal her critical injuries.

The nectar would zip through her veins, transforming her from human into mer. Gills would form in her lower back, enabling her to take off the cracked, leaking air tanks. She would no longer be cold, and could swim naked like him. Someday, she’d be able to form scuba-like mer fins.

But there was no blossom.

An alarm on her wrist beeped shrilly. What was its meaning? He brought the small machine to his eyes. It flashed unrecognizable symbols.

Aya’s blue eyes clouded with pain. Her chest caved in as though she were gasping.

His belly twisted sickly.

The Life Tree had to produce a blossom. It had to react to the presence of a bride with such a bright soul. It had to give him something…

This beautiful, captivating, determined female would not die in front of him. She would live. Somehow.

Curse that Queen Elyssa had broken off a Life Tree blossom weeks ago. Usually blossoms died immediately, but she’d used her queenly powers to bring the blossom back to life several times. She’d worn it in her hair until she’d taken it to the surface and given it to Aya.

There was no way a mere human could keep a Life Tree blossom alive on the surface.

What was that twinkle at Aya’s collar? He pulled open the ripped, black suit.

Around Aya’s neck floated a glimmering glass necklace. He captured it. It was a vial of seawater. Inside, danced a tiny blossom of the Life Tree.

How?

Soren clasped the glass. He would not question this miracle. Mermaid queens had a unique connection to the Life Tree and they gained mystical powers written about in the ancient texts. Back when queens were as common as warriors today. Before the great catastrophe that destroyed the harmony of mer and human, and mer queens died out, and only warriors were born.

“Open?” Aya spoke weakly into the air hose she clenched in her teeth. “Turn clock—”

He clenched his hand. The glass burst. Sharp stings pierced his palm. He opened his hand. The tiny blossom fluttered.

“—wise.” She picked a shard out of his hand. “Soren.”

Forget his bloodied hand.

He ushered the tiny blossom to her mouth. “Drink.”

She picked out another glass sliver.

He tugged the air hose going into her mouth. “Aya.”

She froze. Her brows entwined in worry. “Drink? No.”

“Yes.”

Tears filled her eyes inside the bubble of air pressed tight by the mask against her face. She shook her head. “We tested. I failed. Won’t… work.”

“It will work. Put the blossom in your mouth and swallow.”

Aya lifted one gloved hand to cup his jaw. “Did…best.”

Huh? What was that supposed to mean?

She spit out the air tube and breathed out. Bubbles curled around her open lips. The tiny blossom twisted and gleamed, flaring with the Life Tree’s healing energy. He wafted the bloom into Aya’s open, pink mouth and closed her jaw.

Nothing happened.

“Aya?” He shook her. “Swallow, Aya.”

She looked like she was trying.

But it wasn’t working.

Accepting the elixir was an intimate act. She had not asked for this fate. She had competed at the bride pageant to join with a king, not with Soren. His feelings whirled in chaos. She deserved a better male than Soren. A male with honor. A male with a bright soul to match hers. A male she deserved.

She deserved more.

Aya spasmed. Her arm flailed and knocked off her mask. Her wrist smacked his chin. She opened her mouth and coughed the blossom out. Its life force drained into the water.

No!

He forced the limp, darkening flower back in her mouth. “Aya, swallow!”

She pushed him away.

He fought her. She would live.

Her resistance gave way. She went lax in his arms.

Even though the flower was in her mouth, the nectar wasn’t working.

He would force it to work.

Soren gripped her jaw. “I do not wish to claim you. But I must save your life.” He lowered his mouth to her lips. He covered her mouth with his kiss.

Her lips were soft and cool. Sophisticated, like the rest of her, and pert. He had admired her lips since the first moment, when they were covered in the glossy red paint that accentuated their full, clever, capable shape.

Live. I need you to live. He peeled back her black hood and knotted his fingers in her short, ice-blonde hair. Please.

Nothing.

He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. It wasn’t enough. His wish to save her wasn’t enough.

Then…

If she lived, he would claim her as his bride. Even though she did not wish it. Even though his soul was so black it would damn her as much as it would damn him. If, someday, she should claim him back, then maybe the darkness poisoning his soul could be removed. If it was her, maybe it was possible.

Powerful commitment blazed in his chest. You are mine, Aya.

A sparkling, golden, warmth tingled in his chest. Her cool skin warmed. Her mouth softened. Her lips moved beneath his.

She was alive.

Thank you.

He nuzzled her, tasting her sweet warmth.

She jerked, startled.

He eased back.

Aya blinked with new eyes. With her mask knocked away, she looked through the ocean directly at him, no longer separated by air and glass. Her hand moved to her bare face and she touched her lips with her gloved hand. She was surprised he had kissed her.

“I had to save your life,” he said.

Her brows drew together. Confusion. “Save…?”

The word vibrated uncertainly in her chest. Her first word spoken as a mermaid, using not her mouth or lips, but her diaphragm inside her chest.

“Now help me.” He manacled the metal claw and flexed with all his might. His arms shook. His grip slipped and caught. The claw shook. He roared. “Now!”

She put her hands on the claw and pushed.

The Life Tree behind her flashed white. She channeled its power and forced the claw open.

One side of the claw popped out of joint and hung in the water. The motor of the submersible changed tenor. It squealed.

Aya and the Life Tree slipped free.

He released the claw and turned back to the dark-souled pilot. Blake must face Soren’s vengeance so he could never attack again.

Aya cried out. She paddled helplessly on her stubby human feet. While he focused on Blake, she and the Life Tree were sucked into a dangerous, fast current.