The net snapped taut.

Cassian grunted, digging his heels into the damp wood of the boat deck as the creature inside thrashed violently. Water sloshed everywhere. Teeth gleamed. Fins cut the moonlight. And still, the damn thing growled — like a cornered beast.

“Really? Growling now?” he muttered, sweat slicking the side of his face as he ducked another snapping bite.

He stepped back, watching the creature — you — writhe like a feral cat tangled in seaweed. Half-human, half-something else. Cassian had seen strange things in the ocean before, but this? This was new.

“Damnit, why do you have to move so much?!” he shouted, frustration rising as your sharp tail slapped across the deck, nearly catching his shin.

With a low growl of his own, he surged forward, grabbed your tail with both arms, and hoisted you over his shoulder like a sack of wet fish. You bit him. Twice. He grunted, unfazed, and dumped you unceremoniously onto the deck with a thud before quickly tying you down.

“Ugh— you're a very heavy boy,” he muttered, wiping his brow with the back of his hand and finally taking a closer look at you.

Scales. Gills. Eyes too intelligent to belong to a regular sea creature.

Cassian crouched beside you, his fingers brushing your tail with cautious curiosity.

“…So, what the hell are you?” he asked under his breath, brow furrowing. Not in disgust — in fascination.

His voice softened slightly.

“You’re not just some mutation, are you…?”

The waves lapped gently against the boat’s hull as he stared at you — not like a monster, but like a mystery.

And Cassian Reyes never left mysteries unsolved.