Soren kissed Aya like he was suffocating and she was oxygen.

His tongue united to her mouth. His wide palms spanned the back of her head and cupped her carefully to keep her off the hard rock. He kissed her senseless. Until the shaking stopped. Until all that was left was him.

When he finally pulled back, he peeled off a little piece of her soul.

Fear still reflected in his dark eyes.

She soothed him with a long stroke of his cheek.

He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her index finger. Her knuckle. Her palm. His eyes closed and he struggled to control himself.

He cared for her so much he couldn’t stand it.

The connection she felt for him was real. He didn’t dislike her. Nearly dying together moved it into sharp focus. He would have sacrificed himself to save her. He would do it now, in an instant. She made him vulnerable in ways he couldn’t control and that was something he couldn’t allow.

And neither could she.

She patted his broad shoulder. I’m sorry I made you reveal that.

He resisted, holding onto her with such tenderness it broke her heart.

A wormy creature popped up at the edge of the ledge. Other fish swam past. Now that the alpha predator had moved on, regular predators of the trench returned.

Soren forced himself up and pulled her to her feet.

Aya bounced to the edge of the ledge. Below, a broken pile of sticks was all that remained of the Life Tree.

Its glow was gone. That cut deep into her heart.

Soren rubbed his lower back and grimaced.

“Are you okay?” she asked. Was he about to die because the Life Tree had been destroyed?

“This pain is not mortal. The Life Tree portion in Atlantis must still live.”

Oh, thank goodness.

Wait. That meant saving this fragment of the Life Tree had been unnecessary.

They had faced down a megalodon and nearly died several times because of a mistake.

A waste.

For the second time, it was starkly obvious how she was not fit for mermaid life. Kadir’s rejection at the bride pageant months ago had been a blessing, and Soren’s at the diner the day after had been what she deserved. They couldn’t afford any more of her misjudgments.

The young merman cowered against a rock, eyes closed, shivering. Soren gathered the youth under one arm and extended his other to her.

He had no recriminations. Only somber acceptance.

Aya stepped into his embrace.

He bunched his powerful muscles and leaped. His fins extended like black pirate sails and he kicked, flying through the water. The last resting place of the Life Tree disappeared over the trench lip. She buried her face in his hard shoulder.

He gave her solid comfort as she fought the memories.

Soren’s rock had dislodged and his body had flown out. She reached for him with a cry. That’s when her grip must have loosened. The Life Tree fragment had tumbled past Soren, into the megalodon’s mouth, and popped like a firecracker. The suction had stopped. Soren had scrambled free. The Life Tree fragment had hung suspended in the jaws. Then, the teeth had closed, mashing it to pieces.

She hadn’t even realized what had happened at first. Only that—

The youth began to struggle. “Who are you? Where are you taking me?”

“Easy.” Soren set him down on a jagged rock. “Calm.”

The youth stumbled away and landed on his hands and knees. Rather than grateful, he looked discouraged, tired, and angry.

Aya called from Soren’s other side. “Are you okay?”

He looked up. His eyes widened in shock and then darkened in accusation. “Anathema.”

Aya flinched. The youth’s hatred burned like acid.

Because she wasn’t a bride from one of the secret, sacred islands. Because Soren didn’t lock her in his undersea castle until she gave him a son. Because she had opinions and choice and maybe, just maybe, super powers.

To traditionalist mermen, Aya was anathema.

Soren moved in front of her, protective. “Careful.”

“The Demon Fighter!” The youth shifted to human feet and crawled back. “Stay away. Both of you.”

Soren’s face closed.

“Hey.” Aya snapped. The kid might be shaken up, but calling Soren a demon was going too far. “Soren saved your life. You were nearly fish food for a megalodon.”

“Because of you! I was fine until you interfered.”

“If by ‘fine’ you mean ‘a few strokes from being eaten,’ then sorry for the misunderstanding.”

“No, you misunderstand! I will not be eaten. You will be!”

Understanding crossed Soren’s face. “You think to lure a megalodon to destroy Atlantis? Dragon Mar breaks the Seven Cities Treaty.”

“No they don’t. Atlantis is no city.” His thin chest was dotted with a few small lines of yellow, but he lifted it proudly. “I will earn my citizenship and become a great warrior.”

“So, you are not even a citizen of Dragon Mar.” He regarded the youth with disgust. “Does your father know you have traded your life for a meaningless honor?”

“My father will celebrate my bravery.” His black gaze shifted to Aya and his lip curled. “You are honorless and must be destroyed. Your anathema false bride could not even protect your Life Tree.”

Ouch.

Aya rubbed her chest. He was right, after all. She was no one’s bride, and also—

Soren swooped down faster than a blink. He grabbed the youth by the throat and smashed him into the rock. “Respect your enemy.”

The kid’s eyes flew wide in his pale face. He clawed at Soren’s strangling hand.

“Tell your ‘honorable city’ when they attack Atlantis, I will return the fight to Dragon Mar. My rage will multiply a hundred fold. I will show no mercy.”

“You will all be dead!”

Soren thumped him into the rock again.

The kid squirmed. “The merman warrior will eat you. As it should. You broke the sacred covenant. You chose modern brides!”

Soren blackened to deadly intent.

Clearly this wasn’t the kind of argument that could be won by reasonable conversation. And there was no point to saving this youth’s life in the trench only to choke the life out of him outside it.

Aya put her hand on Soren’s shoulder.

He glanced back at her, then, his growl changed tenor. He stood and threw the kid off the rock.

The kid tumbled, switched to fins, and scrambled to right himself.

Soren shouted after him. “Tell them!”

He rubbed his neck and glared. “Death first, Demon Fighter. False bride. Breaker of covenants!” He swam away.

Soren stared after him. His empty hand clenched and released, clenched and released. He clearly wanted to catch up and shake sense into the young male.

Great. Just great.

Not only did Aya’s action nearly kill them all and destroy the Life Tree, but the kid didn’t even want to be rescued. She rubbed her forehead.

Soren’s wide hand closed on her shoulder. “Do not grieve.”

Oh, if she grieved, it was only for her lost illusions. She used to think she was smart. Ha ha. “Just give me a minute.”

He drew her roughly against his shoulder. “I should have ended him.”

“He’s just a stupid kid.”

He growled disagreement. “He knew enough.”

She curled her arms around his massive back. Were his lats allowed to flex this hugely? Mr. Universe had never seen the tight, hot bodies of the Atlantis mermen.

And if these “traditional” mermen had their way, the Mr. Universe pageant never would, either.

She took a deep breath — expanding her diaphragm and pulling in cold water — and exhaled it again in a hard whoosh. She straightened. “I’m sorry breaking the ‘sacred island bride’ covenant causes your people so much angst.”

His lips twisted to the side and he stared after the disappearing kid. “Ironic. He is likely the product of just such an incident.”

“His mother was not a sacred bride?”

“Correct.” Soren secured her against him, kicked off the rock the opposite direction from the youth, and began the overland journey again back to Atlantis.

“If others have broken the covenant, why is Atlantis targeted as a rebel city?”

“We are the first to choose modern brides as a founding principle.”

So, all this time, random women had been swimming headlong into mermen.

“It is more common in cities close to the surface. When your fated one is in front of you, it is difficult for even a strong merman to turn away.”

Soren had turned away from Aya a number of times. She’d already guessed she wasn’t his fated one. No matter how she felt about—

No. Aya was not swimming down that road. This was a time for listening, for learning, for correcting her mistakes.

“So, that kid’s father probably broke the covenant.”

“Violators have always been dealt with harshly. That is another reason our choice angers the other mermen.” He set his jaw. “They have exiled brothers, fathers, warriors. Good mermen. How dare Atlantis not do the same? Oh, the dishonor.”

A harsh laugh snarled his chest.

She stroked the thickly inked, carefully wrought tattoos scrolling across his pectorals. For a strict, honorable male like Soren, betraying others must be the worst form of self-harm.

“Did you have to exile someone?”

“No. That is not how I lost my honor.”

“Then how—”

“It is done.”

His tone was not harsh. It was calm. Even. And closed with finality.

Right. Okay.

She drooped.

Soren said he liked strong women. He said her cold light was brisk and refreshing. He’d only transformed her to save her life, but now he stood by that decision and asked her to become his queen.

When he wasn’t planning to get rid of her on another guy.

But he wouldn’t share his dishonor. He wouldn’t share his orgasms. He didn’t want to “bind” her as the mother of his children.

He felt something for her. Some vulnerability he could not control. He was trying to keep her in a safe little box where their real feelings didn’t touch.

Fair enough.

She was keeping him at arm’s length too. So much as was possible, when wrapped around him completely.

“So that youth we saved will go back into the trench, find the megalodon, and lead it to Atlantis,” she said.

“Yes.” Soren’s long strokes ate the distance.

“What defense does Atlantis have against a megalodon?”

“What defense does any city have?” he growled, pulling the water to go faster. “To evacuate. Swim for your lives and pray you do not have pregnant females or vulnerable young fry.”

“That’s it?”

“That is all we have found.”

This sobering challenge seemed much worse than what she had worried about on the surface. Her next budget proposal? The board report on Sea Opal acquisition strategies? Had she really once spent two hours adjusting margins to make her report summary fit on the front and back side of a single page?

“The Atlantis Life Tree put forth a seed,” he said. “If Kadir grows a new tree before the old is destroyed, there is a chance he will survive.”

But where would King Kadir plant this new tree? If he founded a new city, wouldn’t his enemies just use the megalodon on the new city and destroy it, too?

Aya had to defeat the megalodon now. Somehow. Evacuation would be the backup.

Okay, then. Project Save Atlantis From Blake had failed. Project Save The Life Tree From The Trench had also failed. Now she had Project Defend Atlantis Against A Megalodon.

The budget was zero, time line was immediate, and the consequences for failure were dire.

And this one, she absolutely could not fail.

That gave Aya something to consider on the long, long journey back to the city she had already failed to rescue.