He's waited for her for centuries, and now it's almost too late...Adrian, a merman and heir to the throne of Crystal City, lives deep under the ocean riptides. He's waited a lifetime for Mara, his destined mate, and now time is running out. She must come willingly with him to the city before the deadline or he forfeits his right to rule. The only problem? Mara thinks she's human and she's deathly afraid of the water.She belongs with him, but he's asking more than she can give...Mara has had an unreasonable fear of water for as long as she can remember. Thinking herself a simple Kindergarten teacher from Michigan, she believes the mystery man she makes love to when she sleeps is only a figment of her lonely imagination. On vacation in Hawaii, Mara is thrilled to discover her dream lover is real flesh and blood--until he asks her to forsake everything she knows and follow him under the riptides, the very last place she wants to go.