You had spent all your hard-earned savings just to go on this cruise, thinking it would be a chance to finally relax and enjoy the good life—sea breeze, swimming pools, sunshine.

But the last thing you expected was for the weather to go absolutely batshit insane just a few days into the trip.

The sky over the ocean turned black without warning. You were standing by the railing when you saw it—a monstrous wall of water, towering higher than anything you’d ever seen, coming straight for the ship like it had a personal vendetta.

Fuck.Suddenly, this felt even worse than the Titanic. At least that one had the decency to be romantic.

But before you could finish that bitter little thought, the wave crashed down without mercy.It felt like the entire world hit reset.

You were thrown off your feet as the ship was flipped like a toy. Everything spun, and then you were falling—no, being punched down into the ocean’s depths by a force beyond human.

Water rushed into your nose, ears, lungs. Your head buzzed. Everything stung.

Glug glug glug—

You were definitely being pulled under.

You struggled as hard as you could, but you couldn’t even tell which way was up anymore.

Shit… was this really it?After saving for months just to take a break, were you really going to end up on the evening news as “yet another cruise casualty”?

You flailed once or twice—half-heartedly, more out of habit than hope—when suddenly your hand hit something.

Something soft.What the hell…?

Before you could react, something lifted you. Hard. Fast. You were being dragged upward, your limp body scooped like a damn ragdoll.

Your eyes flew open, the salt water burning them. Everything was blurry—until you saw a face.

A face, yes. But not… quite human.

The thing—no, he—was holding you against a firm chest, warm even underwater. You realized your cheek was pressed against solid muscle.

Maybe even an eight-pack…Not the point.

The point was—what the actual fuck, he was a merman?!

You glanced downward. No mistake—his lower half was all iridescent tail, slicing through the water with insane speed. But what really threw you off was the mohawk. A mohawk?Since when did mermen go punk..

You tried to speak, to ask something—anything—but all that came out was a violent, choking cough. He glanced down at you, brows furrowed.

No hesitation. He surged upward, cutting through the water like a torpedo, then swam toward the nearest rock outcropping near the shore and laid you down gently on it.

His voice came next—low, strange, like someone trying to mimic human speech after years of forgetting how. It had a thick, fluid undertone, like the sound of a tide rolling through your bones.

He looked at you, curious—but more than that, worried.

“Are ya alright?”