Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

TOBIAS AHLBERG

I stepped onto my father's boat and felt everything in me whither. Today would be another long day of floating in the harbor with every other sad sack who refused—or had a parent who refused—to accept that the fish were not here and never would be. Two years ago, the laws changed to prevent fishing trawlers from going any further into the ocean surrounding our island than the harbor. The old-fashioned Svalnorland fishing industry was dead. Many had found ways to move on, like offering charter fishing trips to tourists or starting aquaculture farms. Others, like my family of stubborn asses, refused to give up on generations of trawling.

I was going to die on this boat. From boredom. My sister and I were the only two people left to run it, and while Helli could entertain herself with playing her guitar for hours on end, I was slowly losing my mind. Not that anyone cared. Though the rest of the crew had been able to quit over the last several months, I was not able to do any such thing. I had to float. I had to watch the sun rise and set. I had to haul in nets that never caught a damn thing.

Before and after the laws changed, there had been heavy debate from literally everyone on our North Atlantic island. I could see both the fear of losing a profession as well as a call to do better for the environment. Trawling wasn't the only way to catch fish—in fact, it was one of the most destructive. We could adapt. We could change.

Well, not all of us.

"Come on, Tobias," Helli called to me from the bow. "I know you know this one."

She deftly plucked a familiar tune from a song I did know well. After all, we'd written it together. About a man lost at sea, his boat becalmed, he sang of his grief at dying without ever having known love. Even though I felt more and more like I was singing about my own pitiful end, I took a breath and let the words out in all their mournful glory.

I checked the nets like an automaton as I sang. I could sing this song in my sleep, but that didn't mean I sang it mechanically. I put the emotion into it because, damn it all, I did love to sing. I'd never get to do it professionally because my family would never release me to do it—and I couldn't lose them—but I could sing for an audience of lunatics out here on the water.

When the song ended on a long, low note, I hauled up the last empty trap and paused to at least admire the smattering of clapping hands that echoed to me from the foggy morning mist. Helli switched over to a song with no words, giving my voice a rest as she always insisted on doing. And the day carried on.

Feeling bold, feeling dangerous, I drove us out to the edge where the buoys told everyone to stop and then slowly circled the island. It was pointless since it never worked, but I needed to do some thing today. The boat was on the edge, and so was I. If I didn't find a way to feel like my life had purpose, I'd go home and pop off at everyone. I didn't want to be the reason they got mad and I knew there was a cycle of suffering and exploding that I was caught in. I just couldn't seem to quit it. So I puttered along, waving to those who didn't bother moving anymore, pretending that everything was okay for another day .

Suddenly, the lines swung from behind us over to the port side. I stared for a moment, shocked to my core, and then I stopped the engine. The boat tilted alarmingly, and I had the horrifying thought that the net might've caught on something. It swung us around before it seemed to settle, but the arm holding the net was low, the lines taut like I hadn't seen them in months. If I didn't know better, I'd say we had a significant catch.

I walked out from the booth. "Helli? Are you seeing this?"

But she wasn't there. Oh god, she wasn't there.

"Helli!"

I ran for the bow.

"T-Tobias!"

I looked over the side and there she was, clinging to a bumper. "Fucking hell, girl! What happened?"

Time was of the essence, so I reached over and hauled her in. This water was so cold it could kill someone in under three minutes. How long had she been in the water? I got her on the deck and immediately started stripping her out of her coat, boots, and everything I could reach.

She tried batting my hands away when I grabbed at her sweater, but I didn't stop. That wool monstrosity would hold onto the icy water and drop her body temperature if I left it on her. "Stop fighting me, dammit! You have a bra on. Calm down!"

It turned out that she didn't have a bra on, but she had worn a t-shirt that told me I could suck her dick, of all things. "Fucking hell," I muttered when her kicking legs wouldn't let me get her jeans off. I gave up and scooped her into my arms, running for below decks where it would be warmer.

Setting her on the floor, I turned the small heater nearby up to full, and then had to jump over her to get to a blanket. Her teeth were chattering hard when I bundled her up, but at least she was leaning toward the heat. Maybe the shock of it all had kicked her into fight or flight? Whatever the reason, she seemed to be coming out of it now .

"You still need to get those wet clothes off," I told her as I rubbed at her arms. "Either you'll do it, or you'll let me. What's it to be?"

She was shivering all over, but she got her t-shirt off and then wiggled out of her jeans and underwear. I tossed them all into the little sink, opened my coat, and pulled her onto my lap. I rubbed the blanket against her arms and legs as she curled up, leaning hard on my chest. I was four years older than her and right then I remembered when they'd handed a tiny baby Helli to me. I'd have done anything for her back then and it was no different now. I added my warm breath to the things trying to keep her alive.

Eventually, Helli's shivering and chattering ebbed, but when she said, "Would it kill you to brush your teeth in the morning?" I knew she was going to be okay. I kissed her forehead and got up to see what extra clothes we might have around for her to change into.

"I lost my guitar."

"Aw, Helli, I'm sorry."

"An otter man saved me, though."

I paused in opening a cupboard. "A what?"

"One of the aliens? He looked like an otter." She peered over at me, her blue eyes bloodshot from the sea water. "He got me over to the boat and was pushing me up over the side. You came over just after he disappeared back under the surface."

Ordinarily, I'd have said she'd hit her head or something, but since our queen had declared Svalnorland a haven for the Norlon aliens and they did have people who looked like giant otters amongst them, it was entirely possible she was telling the truth. "He swam away?"

She nodded and pushed clinging tendrils of her blonde hair away from her face. "You didn't see him?"

I shrugged and went back to looking for clothes. "I was focused on you. Weird that he left you only half saved, though. "

"I still want to thank him. If you see an otter in an orange Speedo, that's him."

Good grief. An anthropomorphic otter wearing an orange Speedo? My imagination conjured that right up and had some questions about just how much to fill out the pouch. I'd visited their website a few times, curiosity winning out more often than I'd like to admit. So I knew the male Norlons were pretty hung. If it weren't for my family, maybe I might've given becoming a sex worker on an alien planet a try.

Once I'd found clothes that had clearly been left behind by various people over the years, I put some tea on and headed back up on deck. Helli was fine, so now I needed to see what had happened to the boat.

The instant I stepped into the booth, I saw Helli's rescuer on the deck. He was tall, maybe close to two meters, with dark brown fur on his back and tawny fur on his front. A thick, stiff brown tail jutted out behind him. He had a round head with cute little ears and big golden eyes above a short snout with a black nose and long white whiskers. And he might be furry, but that didn't hide full pecs, a six pack of abs, and…the orange Speedo.

He was a shower. That was abundantly clear.

"Is she alright?" he asked in English.

I don't know why I flinched. I knew they could talk, but this was my first time meeting one up close. "Uh, yes. She's well."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he sighed. "I shouldn't have left her," he said as he looked at me again. "But she'd been so upset about losing her instrument, and I'd seen it not far away, so…" He shrugged and shook his head like he had regrets.

"She won't mind at all that you left if you found her guitar."

He strode toward me, and my breath caught watching his thigh muscles flex. I barely noticed when he dipped down and picked something up because he was so close to me then that I could feel the heat of him. Was his fur soft? It looked soft. I wanted to touch him.

"You have a beautiful voice," he quietly said and covered my hand on his chest.

Oops, I had touched him. I'd buried my fingertips in his tawny chest fur. It was definitely soft even though it was damp.

"I hope the fish help."

I nodded before I realized I didn't understand what he meant. "What fish?"

But he was already striding to the starboard side of the boat. In a second, he dove into the sea and disappeared beneath the waves.

And I'd forgotten to thank him.

I cleared my throat and looked around even though there was no one there to see me blushing. Apparently, it didn't matter to my libido one bit if a male wasn't human. If he'd stuck around any longer, I might've touched other parts of him and begged him to do the same to me.

Wow! That had been intense. Part of me wanted to call out to him, make him come back, but there was still something wrong with the boat. If I couldn't figure out what we were snagged on, I'd have to radio in for rescue. I did not want to think about what my father would do if it came to that.

I turned to go get a better look and saw that the alien had set Helli's guitar down against the booth. That's why he'd come so close. I groaned at myself for overreacting to him and got back to work.

The net lines were still taut and pulling on the arm, so I went over and peered into the— "Holy fuck!" I rubbed at my eyes, not sure I could believe them. The net was full of fish! So full that I could see them piled on top of each other. What the fuck had happened to make?—

I gasped and looked where the Norlon had jumped into the water. He'd said he hoped the fish would help. These fish? Had he somehow gotten the fish into the net? Had he herded them into the net?

As I set about hauling everything in—no easy feat by myself—I was both amazed and mad. My father would be thrilled. He'd be fucking ecstatic. There would be a party. He'd probably dance. Everyone would assume we could do this again and again.

And they would be wrong.

Being out here with no catch day after day was supposed to get my father to see that the time had come to stop. That we needed to change. Instead, he would see this as a sign to persevere. The gods had smiled upon us!

And I was completely fucked.