Aya’s shock almost forced her eyeballs out of her head.

“You did so tell me you didn’t like me.” She rested an elbow on his chest and poked her elegant finger into his nose. “You say it all the time!”

Closeness with Aya undid him.

Her soft body rested against his trustingly. Her bright blue eyes shone down on him with tenderness. Her white blonde hair tickled his bicep.

He curled his grip around her enticing finger. Even now, he wanted to press her soft cleft against him and thrust in his hard cock. “I did not say it.”

“You did! You said I was the last woman you’d ever choose for a bride.”

“You are.”

“See? And you said you’d choose death before making me into yours.”

“I would.”

She stared at him. “That’s the same thing!”

He put her finger into his mouth and teased the tip with his teeth. “No.”

She shuddered. “But you don’t want me as your bride.”

“Your destiny is a worthy male.” Saying that, he clenched her harder and watched the colors flash across her cheeks. When a worthier male appeared, Soren should give her up.

He should.

She blinked and rested both elbows on his chest. “Are you saying you actually like me?”

“Your light is bright.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And cold.”

He tilted his head. “Why do you continue to point out this facet?”

“Because it is.” She chewed on her thumb. “Before the bride pageant, I was evaluated by another merman. He told me that my soul light was bright but cold, which was unattractive.”

Soren clenched his fist. “Who said that?”

She stared at his fist. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does.”

“I was relieved though.” She stroked his fist. “It explains why my relationships always failed. No matter how hard I try, I always repel the people I most want to attract.”

“But your light, it is not bad,” he insisted. “The coolness is refreshing. Invigorating. It pumps my blood.”

Her lips curved and warmth filled the current between them. “I almost believe you.”

“Believe.”

“Well, we’ll see what happens in Atlantis.”

When she would be surrounded by worthier warriors.

He stared out at the ocean. The rock was hard against his back. Somewhere above was the surface, where she belonged. He should have given in to her demands and taken her there himself. Surely that would have been less dangerous than this situation.

He tasted her sweet, honey flavor on his tongue. He heard her soft, desperate moaning in his chest. He felt her writhing in his arms, her liquid desire coating his abdomen like hot oil, her bud temptingly near. His cock throbbed.

He was right here. She was right here. Even now, he fought to stop himself from rolling atop her, pinning her to the rock, and thrusting into her tight feminine channel.

She would accept him. The willingness gentled the curve of her bicep, softened her knowing smile, sank into his skin like tendrils of a new root. She would take him in and accept his joining.

And in doing so, damn both of them.

The purpose of his passion was to awaken her to her brilliant light. Unleash her queen powers. But something else had happened. He was now even more her possession than when he met her at the bride pageant in Miami.

He wanted her for his bride. She refused. He would not force her to carry the young fry of a male she didn’t even like, as had happened with his mother.

Sometimes, it was not possible to bind a person’s heart.

Aya rested her chin on one hand. “What are you thinking about?”

He searched his mind for a plausible topic. “Patrols.”

“Patrols?”

“Faier should take over. He has seen much and his heart is twice the size of any other warrior. His second should be Ciran. You met him at the bride pageant.”

She tilted her head, trying to remember.

“He is young, but thorough.” Soren wedged a hand under his head to keep from stroking her curious brow. “Both warriors are calm and thoughtful. In an ordinary city, that would not matter, but in Atlantis, tolerance is critical.”

“Because Atlantis is composed of renegades who have trouble just ‘going along’ without question, and because the new city is still developing its rules and practices.”

“Yes.” How surprising that Aya understood perfectly. “It was arrogant to assume I would always be present to manage.”

“Perhaps.” Her smile returned. “You’re a terrifying warrior.”

“Terrifying?” He eyed her. “Then I do frighten you.”

“Huh?” Her chin slid off her palm. She floated up and faced him. “No. Protecting your city is not frightening. It’s admirable.”

His chest swelled. She was not afraid. Her light shone clear and fierce. He truly did not frighten her.

Danger.

He ripped his gaze away. His chest thumped hard as when the trench fish attacked.

The only reason she did not fear him was because she hadn’t seen his dishonor. She hadn’t witnessed the darkness that blackened his soul.

Once she knew, her bright confidence would fade into disillusionment. He would watch the horror cross her face and his heart would break.

She reached out to touch his cheek. “Soren?”

He gripped her hand, arresting her.

Her light wavered.

He was damaging her. More proof she could not trust him. This binding was only temporary. He would find her a good, strong male in Atlantis and then Soren would not rip that male’s throat out every time he made Aya smile.

Soren rose, pushed off the rock, and scanned the ocean floor and the riptides. “The trench current has changed direction. We must go.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck.

He approached the trench. It made a subtle hiss. On the surface, it would sound like a man sucking in a deep breath.

But they were under the ocean.

Cold fear coiled in his belly.

“What is that sound?” Aya asked. “The change of direction?”

“No.” He kicked hard to the edge of the trench. “It is a noise I have only heard in legend.”

He reached the trench lip. The spider crab on the ledge waved from its territory, giving him a sign that no enemies were in sight. He kicked down the cliffs carefully, using every sense. No trench fish would surprise him this time. It was all normal.

Except the hairs on his arms tingled.

Aya rubbed her fingers across his forearms. “You have goosebumps.”

“Watch for predators.”

She gazed out, into the shadowed trench. The hollows and caves were barren with the shifting tide. “Are you going to tell me what that noise is?”

“The ancient predator of our race.”

“Which is?”

“A merman warrior. The human word is megalodon.”

She stiffened. “You mean like the megalodon shark? Five times the size of the Great White? Thought to be extinct?”

“They are much, much larger. And they are not extinct. They live in the Blacknight Sea.”

“Like this trench?”

“Beneath. This trench may connect. It is an ocean so dark and so vast even the most ancient mer do not know what resides below.”

“An ocean beneath the ocean?”

“What we have seen arise is the stuff of nightmares. Pressure holds their bodies together. The creatures crumble and break apart on our floor.”

She half-strangled him. “Tell me the megalodons break apart too.”

“They live in the upper strata of the abyss. It is easier for them to be lured up to our ocean.”

Her heart skipped against his chest. “Let’s not do that.”

“You and I cannot. Megalodons consume adults immediately. They only follow young trainee warriors. Somehow, they know the trainees will lead them back to a city, while an adult would try to flee away. This was discovered during the Seven Cities War.”

“I learned about this war from Lucy and Torun.” She scanned the bare walls for the glow of the Life Tree fragment while she spoke. “I thought the Seven Cities War was a territorial dispute.”

“Yes. One city sought to resolve it by using a megalodon against its enemies. They nearly succeeded. Seven cities rose against their tyranny. With the assistance of the All-Council, they defeated the megalodon and razed the offending city from the ocean floor.”

She swallowed.

“That is rare, now. In ancient times, a large number of megalodons arose. Not one or two terrorizing unprotected villages, but forty, or a hundred. The records are imprecise.”

“Not enough survivors to record properly?”

“That is my guess also.”

He kicked along the cliffs. They were approaching where he thought she’d seen the Life Tree fragment.

“These large numbers attacked cities, overwhelmed cave guardians, and consumed great numbers of mermen. It decimated our race so greatly the elders banded together and formed the All-Council. The cities warred in unison against the megalodons and emerged victorious.”

Now, the All-Council ruled merman society. They enforced the sacred covenant. And they judged when an upstart village could be considered a true city.

“Today, the few villages established without All-Council protection originate with crazy hermits. They do not last long and fade back to the ocean floor.”

“Are you saying Atlantis is a city of crazy hermits?”

“We are worse.” His lip curled. “We are crazy hermits who will last.”

They reached the region of the Life Tree. Was it gone? No, he felt the warmth at the same time Aya pointed.

“It’s there. See? Still glowing.”

He kicked to it. The outline of the rock obscured it. He dipped over and…there it was.

Aya released him and squeezed into the small crevice. The stalk wedged between two jagged rocks. She stroked it. “It’s so beautiful. Pure white, like snow, and just as silent.”

His skin prickled with warning. “Carefully dislodge it. We must leave.”

“The underside is sealed over with sap. It’s like a giant disk of Sea Opal.” She eased it free and showed him the glowing stump. “This is why it’s still alive. See?”

Upper branches brushed the cliff. Dirt floated away in the reversed current.

It felt like the whole trench was inhaling.

He grabbed her around the waist. “Ready?”

She adjusted her grip on the tree. It stretched taller than her torso and stuck out at odd angles. “Almost.”

Someone was splashing.

He pulled her down. She went quiet.

Thrashing, panting, exhaustion. That was the sound. An injured fish? No. It sounded like—

A mer kicked and gasped.

Aya froze. Her hand gripped his bicep.

The shifter was young. Dirt streaked his skinny body and blood matted his hair. He was so tired he scooped the water with his hands. Thin yellow tattoos identified him as a resident of Dragon Mar, hundreds of songs distant. On the other side of the world, almost.

Why was he here? Had he taken part in the recent attack on Atlantis? What had happened since Soren left?

What was he doing here, swimming into the current? Face down, eyes down, he passed within feet of them without noticing.

Aya frowned and pursed her lips.

Soren held up his hand.

She remained silent.

They waited. And waited. And waited.

The young mer was far enough away they could move without arousing him. Soren needed answers before they moved. He could not afford rash action with Aya and the Life Tree relying on his tattered strength. They would wait.

A shadow fell across the cliffs.

An eerie, inhuman hiss filled the trench. The hiss of a thousand water snakes curling around his torso and sinking in their sharp, curved, poison-bearing fangs.

He gripped Aya’s arm. Not because he thought she would move. But to prove she was still there.

The noise slithered up his spine and lodged at the base of his skull.

A shadow crawled up the trench walls. It filled the whole trench. A mammoth creature moved forward. Foot by foot, inexorable as the wind. As the end. As death.

A megalodon.

Gray skin stretched taut around a circular, tooth-filled maw. Kadir’s entire castle could fit inside its barrel body; no need to chew or swallow. The hiss was its breath inhaling, never exhaling. It controlled the current of the entire trench.

Teeth passed their hidden crag, and taut skin, and then a vortex-like eye. A cavern marked its ear. More gray skin. It kept moving. The length shattered his mind. It kept coming.

Aya shifted. She wanted to bolt for the surface of the trench? He rested his hand atop hers. They would wait for it to pass just like they had waited for the youth.

Her eyes widened a fraction. She had forgotten the youth. She squeezed his arm. They had to rescue the youth!

No. He communicated with his glare.

She squeezed harder. Her silent gaze communicated right back. He was a youth.

But Soren had to safeguard her and the Life Tree.

Her gaze insisted. Soren.

He frowned with his full self. Chasing after the youth was irresponsible. Impossible. They faced the mythical enemy of his race. How could Soren dare fate? He would be lucky to escape with his own life. His honor would not allow him to escape with less than hers and the Life Tree’s. The youth had bad luck.

The megalodon’s tail tapered. Soon it would pass. They would creep to the surface and escape.

Aya’s eyes lidded to half. This plan, which she somehow understood without a single word passing in vibration between them, was not one she agreed with.

We are going to save that young man. NOW.

Although the words did not vibrate in her chest, he could almost hear them anyway. And when she reached the end of the sentence, the light in her soul burned bright as a match.

The Life Tree reflected her determination and glowed brightly, a sudden flash as loud as a firecracker.

Her expression blanked in shock. She hadn’t intended to do that.

The megalodon stopped.

Oh no.

The tail hung suspended in front of their hole. So close. Would it go on?

It reversed.