Aya kissed him.

She’d looked Soren in the face. Her blue eyes reflected hidden secrets. And she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his.

This kiss was not to save her life. She kissed him because…because…

Why did she kiss him?

Her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist. She clung to him.

Was she frightened? This was a delayed reaction to the transformation and his stupidity for forgetting to peel back the suffocating human clothes.

There was no way she chose him.

He held her gently, soothing her. The transition, the first time, was rough. He would hold her until—

Her lips parted.

His world cracked open.

She tasted fiery. Dangerous. Addictive.

Liquid heat flowed into his cock. No matter how his mind fought, his body recognized her as his ideal female. He groaned.

Her tongue flicked against his. Cautious, curious. Its touch injected his veins with sizzling lava.

He chased her devilish tongue, filling her mouth with his powerful thrust.

She startled. Would she run?

No, she embraced him.

Him. She embraced him, Soren, the demon.

His feelings flowed into her like a fire tsunami.

Their mouths meshed and tongues warred. Her tongue stroked his fearlessly. She yielded to his overwhelming force only to surprise him with her own thrusts. His hunger — or was it her hunger? — flared, undeniable.

Pleasure flowed into his cock and pulsed with readiness. This was only the beginning.

With a sweet, desperate cry, she let go of her caution. Her arms tightened around his neck. Her soft breasts flattened against his hard pectorals and her shapely thighs squeezed his waist.

His cock flooded with heat. Did she know what she was doing to him?

She rubbed her feminine bud against his hard abdomen and murmured sweet sounds of aching, sweet demands for satisfaction.

A male would do anything for those sounds.

He cupped her ass and ground her against his cock.

She moved. “Mmm. Soren? What are you doing?”

He went cold. The question. The doubt. What was he doing?

Exactly what did this dishonorable warrior with a mud-black soul think he was doing to his Aya?

He shoved her back.

She jerked. Her eyelids flew wide. “What?”

“There. You are free.” He struggled to control his intense reaction to her nearness.

She brought her hands to her mouth. Her face was white.

Uh oh. “Aya?”

She lifted one finger.

“Are you going to be ill?”

She emphasized the one finger. Wait. But he could not wait. His skin jumped. He needed action. Rending, tearing. Destroying. Better that than facing the bride he had claimed, his bride, asked what he was doing. She rejected him.

“If you are well, I must finish taking revenge on the human, Blake.”

She covered her eyes and massaged her temples. “Just let me think.”

“I will return after—”

“It’s too late!” She dropped her hands and glared at him with dark malevolence. Her soul light burned with her beautiful, regal fire. “Blake’s gone. Give it up.”

“But—”

“Ugh.” She closed her eyes and rubbed two fingers against the center of her forehead again. “I do feel ill.”

Because of what he had done to her.

His belly twinged again. What was the limit of his dishonor? How deeply could he fall from his ideals?

I will so fight with honor! he had shouted at his childhood tormenters; other youths who feared his overly large size and whined to the trainers that they could not spar with him. I will always be honorable! Everywhere!

The youth version of Soren would look on his adult self with unspeakable shame.

That memory forced him to speak. He ground out the words. “I apologize.”

“Hm?”

“I will not touch you again.”

She stared at him for one long moment. Her soul light darkened to a dull sheen and then flared back twice as bright. She was infuriated. As well she should be.

“No,” she said slowly. “I apologize for kissing you so suddenly.”

Yes. That was right. He had forgotten. She was the one who had started it. Not him.

But why had she kissed him? She wished to join with a warrior like Kadir. Not Soren.

Suddenly, the trident and dagger scars crossing his body, from his last battle, stung and ached.

Aya dropped her hand. “Take me to the dive platform. I must go to the surface immediately.”

Of course she wanted to get away.

Although he did not blame her for wishing to escape him, it was impossible. Their city was in shambles. Atlantis needed her.

The attack against them had been sudden and vicious, but not unexpected.

Atlantis broke the covenant requiring mermen keep their existence secret from humans and to only select brides from hidden, sacred islands. Once a year, a sacred island bride accepted a merman’s mating jewel – which humans called a Sea Opal – and drank elixir to transform into a mermaid. She descended to his underwater castle, bore him a young fry, and returned to the surface alone.

But the sacred islands had emptied. Instead of multiple islands’ brides descending to each mer city every year, some had stopped receiving brides altogether. For years. Decades.

Kadir was the only warrior visionary enough to declare the truth: The old sacred covenant was killing their race. They must reveal their existence and select modern brides. Brides who wished to join with them for longer than a year. Brides who would stay on and rule as queens.

For that blasphemy, Kadir had been imprisoned in the All-Council’s impenetrable prison in the deepest trench.

But while imprisoned, the mer’s existence had been revealed. Support swelled in the cities, and Soren led an army that broke Kadir free. They founded the new city by planting Kadir’s Life Tree seed in the shadow of ancient Atlantis, and Kadir chose the first modern bride, Queen Elyssa, to join with him as his queen. Their hardy city had survived raiders and angry other cities that wanted their defected warriors back, and new Atlantis was almost recognized by the All-Council as a true mer city. Then, the human Blake attacked in the submersible.

Instead of helping fend off the unexpected human attack, their mer enemies used the distraction to wage their own war on Atlantis. Soren had fought a too-familiar foe – his former First Lieutenant, Elan, of his old city, Dragaon Azul – and, defeated him. But in the moment of his triumph, Soren had seen Aya being dragged away by the submersible. He had been forced to leave Elan alive to rescue Aya.

Elan’s eyes had bugged. His hand had gone to his suddenly released throat. His diaphragm had expanded and contracted in shock. “Mercy? You?”

“Collect your warriors. Leave now. Never show yourself here again.” Soren had swum after the submersible. His whole being had focused on the last location he had seen Aya.

“Soren!” Elan had shouted after him. “I will return and kill you!”

For Aya, he had let Elan go. Now, she wanted to leave him.

He did not know what he would find in Atlantis when he returned. He had defeated Elan in trident-to-dagger combat, but what losses had they suffered? Did the remaining stump of the Life Tree thrive? Had Kadir or other senior warriors survived?

Kadir would not trick or blackmail a warrior into joining Atlantis’s ranks, but Soren would.

“You are a mer now,” he told Aya. “Your destiny is to protect Atlantis.”

Her blue eyes flashed with defiance. “No, my ‘destiny’ is to protect our lucrative trade agreement. Trade isn’t possible if one of the trade partners is destroyed.”

“You gave your life to protect the Life Tree.”

She hardened. “I failed.”

“Even a powerful warrior can be surprised.”

“You’re better off with a real warrior. This was protection of an investment. Nothing more.”

“The Life Tree nectar runs through your veins. In your blood.” He forced her gaze to his by will. “You are one of us. Feel the connection.”

“I don’t.” She frowned and flexed her human foot as though seeking to make her fins already. “Admit it, Soren. I’m the last person you would have chosen to transform. Aren’t I?”

Accept this pain. Endure it. She was right not to want him. She was fiercely beautiful and so desirable it made him ache.

“Yes,” he said.

Her brows drew together. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Thank you for your honesty. Why did you?”

“I had no choice. You would have died.”

“I’ll try not to burden you.” She straightened. “So, logically speaking, it’s best if we part. The sooner the better.”

The pain sliced in. “You will not burden me. Another male in Atlantis will join with you.”

She whitened. “What? No.”

“I will take you to the other warriors now.”

She squirmed out of his grasp. “This is why I should go to the surface. Let go!”

“Do not fight, Aya.”

“Seriously, Soren. I’m going to stab you.”

“Do you hate me so much for transforming you?”

A true warrior would stand by his actions, right or wrong. But Soren had always been weak. He wanted Aya to approve him desperately, and that disgusted him.

She blinked. Her brows folded together and then she shook her head. “I must be losing my mind. You know what? Yes. Right now, I can’t stand you. Let go.”

He growled and tightened his grip. “Calm.”

“Let go!”

“No.”

She elbowed him in the jaw.

It didn’t hurt. It surprised him. She fought with real strength. He loosened his grip.

She shoved him back and glared at him. “Anything is better than being stuck here with you!”

Her words stabbed him like a sharp trident.

Her chest moved. A swallowed sob. Like she was in pain. Her chin wrinkled and smoothed again. She started kicking, aiming straight up for the deadly open ocean.

No.

He grabbed her ankle. “Aya.”

She kicked at his hands. “Stop it!”

“You are in danger.”

“I don’t care!”

“Respect your surroundings!” He yanked her down and entrapped her in his arms.

She writhed, refusing to meet his gaze. “Leave me alone!”

“I will not.”

“Why do you even care?” She shone as brightly as the first day he’d seen her in Miami. “You’re just delivering me to some other guy. Forget it! He can find me on the surface.”

“How?” he demanded. “You cannot survive the open ocean.”

“I made it to Atlantis on my own. I can make it back now, especially since I can see.”

“You see nothing!”

Her heartbeat thudded against his breastplate. He heard it and felt it. Like the determined flaring of her soul light, she shone. Her fingers curled around his hard forearm.

He could never let her go.

“You came wrapped in foreign plastic and a bubble of air making strange noises and frightening off all but the hungriest predators. Now, you are one with the ocean. You look like prey, you sound like prey, you taste like prey.”

“I’ll be careful.”

He wasn’t reaching her.

“Say you find the surface. The middle of the Atlantic. Your people will not know you are there. Surface predators swim thick and deadly. You will become easy prey.”

Fear flashed in her eyes.

He hated to bind her this way. But so long as she understood and stayed with him now, he would hobble her with fear.

“Only I can protect you. Understand?”

“But…” She broke off and frowned. “Isn’t it the best? You’ll get back to Atlantis faster. I’ll solve my problems the way I always do. Alone.”

“Queen Elyssa will be sad if you were to die.”

“That’s why you care?” She renewed her struggle with double the effort. “Elyssa would understand and let. Me. Go!”

She would not stop. They locked in combat. He tried hard not to hurt her. But she writhed with all her might.

He grabbed her wrists, locking them together in one hand. The other arm he pressed around the curve of her back, just above her gills, forcing her soft abdomen to his. She bucked.

“You are a brave and uncompromising warrior,” he growled. “You dared the impossible to come this far. The fight is not over. There are still enemies to vanquish.”

She stopped struggling and glared at him. Defiance burned in her core.

At least she was listening.

“I’m a helpless weight,” she said. “I’ll drag you down. What can I do on the bottom of the ocean?”

“Fight our enemies. Awaken your powers.” And then, because his soul pushed him to speak, he added the one thing he needed most deeply. “Become my queen.”