Kara thought running would be the hard part. Turns out, staying hidden might be worse.

After stealing a magical pearl and escaping the dangerous grip of a man who once controlled her life, Kara finds refuge in Crescent Cove—a hidden seaside town where magic isn’t just real, it’s required. Selkies, sea witches, and shapeshifters fill its streets, and somehow, she’s managed to slip among them with nothing but a carefully crafted lie, a borrowed charm, and a poker face strong enough to keep anyone from looking too closely.

Now she has a crumbling cliffside cottage, a tenuous cover story, and fear that still lingers just beneath the surface. But for the first time in years, she has something else, too.Freedom.

When whispers lead her to an octopus shifter known for his ability to take stress away with a single touch, Kara finds herself standing at the door of Crescent Cove’s infamous Suction and Serenity Spa. Maybe this is where she can finally start over, where she can learn to let go of everything she’s been carrying for far too long.

But the longer she stays, the harder it becomes to keep up the lie. And the closer she comes to letting someone see who she really is, the more dangerous the truth becomes.

Octavius doesn’t just take away stress with his tentacles, he feels it. Every emotion, every hidden piece people try to bury. And from the moment Kara walks through his door, he knows she’s hiding something. What starts as curiosity quickly becomes something deeper, a need to understand her and uncover what or who she’s running from.

But somewhere along the way, that need begins to change. The more Octavius learns about Kara, the less her past matters as his focus shifts to her present and to the future he can’t stop imagining with her. A creature who has always preferred solitude now finds himself craving her presence.

As secrets begin to unravel and lies give way to trust, something else begins to shift the tide: a feeling Octavius never thought he could feel—love.