The Night the Sea Kept Me by M. Anderson

The ocean demands a sacrifice, but it gave me him instead.

VAELIS
I never believed the myths of the deadly Mourning Tide—not until the current dragged me under. One moment I was fighting the violent waves, bracing for the end, and the next, I was breathing in the arms of a creature born from the Abyss. Kael is terrifying, otherworldly, and the only reason my heart is still beating. But surviving the storm was just the beginning. Now I’m caught in the middle of a breathtaking, dangerous underwater war, and the only thing keeping me alive is the gentle shark-mer who has already claimed my heart.

KAEL
The deep makes no exceptions, and my kind is bound by its unforgiving laws. The reef above brings only ruin; the city of betta-mers is poison to us all. Yet, when I watched Vaelis sinking into my domain, a brilliant crimson blooming in the water, my instincts rebelled. I defied our oldest, most sacred rule to claim a Vael a monster like me does not deserve, tying our fates together. The sea demands payment for my defiance, but I will tear apart the ocean itself before I let them take him from me.

TOGETHER
As the politics and hidden underwater dangers rise to the surface, Vaelis and Kael must decide if their forbidden connection is worth risking it all.