On a hunt gone wrong, Rowan is left with limited time to remove a supernatural bond before he falls in love with the one species he was raised to hate. "He lives on land, permanently. How are we supposed to make this work?" Kaerius asked, watching the boy sitting on the sand dunes. "You're not. We're not designed to fall in love with them. You're burdened by this," Laiken replied, sinking under the waves and swimming away, leaving Kaerius to stare at the human he had bonded with, and leaving him alone to make a life-changing decision.