Love at Sea

by Preston Walker

  “Brave enough to…” Ash tilted his head.

  “Eat the heart! It’s initiation time!”

  Oh, god. No way.

  Hank grunted and reached out for the dagger. “We’re wolves. This is stupid.”

  Skip’s eyes kept glittering, and Ash winced as the cod heart disappeared between the alpha’s lips.

  For a moment, he was prepared to be impressed. Then, Hank lurched over to the side of the boat and vomited.

  Skip laughed hysterically and then turned to Ash, amusement brimming in his eyes. “I won’t make you eat that one.”

  “Do I have to do this? Is it safe?”

  Skip shrugged. “No, you don’t have to but it would impress Linden if you did. And…” he leaned in real close, “…it would give you a leg up over Hank.”

  Ash swallowed hard. Skip seemed to take that as permission to go ahead and start splitting another fish in half. The heart offered to him was a disgusting, amorphous blob; despite himself, he couldn’t stop staring at it, inspecting its surface. Veins riddled the thick heart walls, and there were thick tubes protruding off of it.

  “Don’t think about it,” Skip muttered, still leaning in close. “Just do it.”

  Ash took a deep breath, which he immediately regretted. The rank, fishy scent nearly knocked him over. However, Hank over by the wall of the boat was already getting his feet back under him and he knew that meant there wasn’t much time left for him to try and appear impressive.

  Following the second-in-command’s advice, Ash didn’t think. He stuck the tip of the knife between his lips, his mouth stretched absurdly wide to take the organ in.

  The taste was sticky and horrid and indescribable, tasting of oil and fish and salt. It felt completely, indescribably wrong on his tongue, like licking a mass of petrified bubblegum.

  Ash felt his gorge rise, but there was also a powerful determination rising inside him as well. He chewed, and the texture seemed to explode inside his mouth, oily juices bursting into his mouth with every single bite. He had no idea what expression he was making. The world shrank down to a few horrid sensations. Chewing and chewing and chewing on a mass of thick, leathery, moldy steak, mulling over it like a cow chewing cud.

  It seemed to swell in his mouth, getting larger and larger. Pretty soon, the heart was going to become the world.

  Suddenly, he realized that he couldn’t breathe. Choking, he gasped and accidentally sucked a few morsels down his throat. From there, he had no choice but to keep swallowing until all of the heart was gone and down in his stomach.

  “Fuck,” he gasped. “That was the worst meatball I’ve ever eaten.”

  A rough hand clapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to see Matteo grinning down at him. “Damn good job!” Matteo crowed.

  Skip echoed the congratulations, and even Hank looked impressed, although grudgingly.

  Then, everything seemed to immediately go back to normal. There were no bragging rights to immediately be found, although Ash hoped they would show up later. They went to work dropping all hundred and fifty pots in two long lines. It took a very long time to do that, and darkness descended over the water. The Bering Sea seemed to change in temperament in the course of a few hours, the waves doubling and even tripling in size as they crashed against the side of the boat and sloshed up over the edges. The wind increased, tearing at Ash with almost painful strength.

  The Storming Lady herself seemed to be caught up in a terrible sort of storm, jumping all around and bobbing. It was like they were caught in some odd sort of earthquake, with the deck heaving beneath their feet.

  Ash lost all sense of his so-called sea legs and had to stagger around everywhere he went. Hank snorted at him but didn’t seem to have anything to say, as he was also having trouble getting around.

  As the hours dragged on, exhaustion also started to drag at Ash. His eyes felt heavy, and his legs shook with his tiredness.

  “What happens now?” he asked Skip, as the last pot dropped into the water. The orange buoy bobbed along the surface, illuminated by the deepening moonlight.

  Skip chuckled darkly. “Now, we sleep for an hour and then we go back to the start of the line and check on the pots.”

  Ash filed along behind the other wolves and crawled into a bunk. It was oddly uncomfortable, and he reached under his body to pull out a buckle that was attached to a strap. “What’s this?”

  Hank snorted at him in the dark. “Are you stupid? It’s to hook yourself to the bed so you don’t get flopped out by all the moving around.”

  “Oh,” Ash muttered to himself. After a moment of exploration, he found the other strap and secured it snugly around his stomach. Then, he crashed into a dark, dreamless sleep that was as deep as the sea itself.

  An hour seemed to pass in only a few seconds, and he was being awakened by the betas to help cook a quick, albeit disgusting meal. Everything was too salty, a little too overcooked or undercooked to be appetizing. With all of that put together, he hardly managed to eat anything of what was offered. Linden wasn’t present at the meal, although Ash felt like he was being watched when he went out onto the deck.

  “Do the honors,” Skip said, holding out the hook to Ash. Ash grinned and took it, judging the distance between him and the buoy like he had been taught, before letting it fly. He nailed it, as he had every single time.

  With the pot hooked, Degasi operated the hydraulic system so that the pot was lifted up, suspended in the air. Skip leaned out over the edge, with Matteo holding onto him to keep him from falling over, and grabbed onto the bottom of the pot to guide it to their ramp.

  It was empty.

  Skip shrugged, seeming a little unbothered by it. “That’s normal. They’re not all going to be bulging-full.”

  However, out of the first line of pots, only 20 of the 75 had anything in them. And those were negligible amounts. 5 crabs per pot, at the most. Most of those were females, or far too small.

  Still, Skip wasn’t bothered.

  All the pots were replaced in the water a bit away, and the second line was brought up, with the numbers looking about the same.

  “Skip,” Ash whispered, grabbing onto the beta as he walked past. The surface of the deck was slick and dark, with only small lights above the sleeping quarter cabins providing a way to see. The moon had gone behind clouds, lost to sight. “Is this bad?”

  Skip shrugged. “Not really. It’s the very start of the season.”

  Hank was moving past with a chain in hands, winding it up as he walked. He paused, overhearing the conversation. His hair was slicked to his face with seawater. “Right,” he grunted. “You wouldn’t know this because you’re new, but the first few days is all guesswork.”

  “Aren’t you new, too?” Ash fired back.

  Hank just shrugged and went on his way.

  Momentarily down from the hydraulic system, Degasi spoke up. “You see, Ash, our fishing season is the crabs’ mating season. They congregate here in these waters. It’s a little early yet for them, and we won’t reach our best numbers for probably another several days. But what we’re looking at is where the early arrivals are. You see? Where the females come, the males will be there.”

  “This is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be.”

  Degasi laughed good-naturedly. With the way his hair was plastered to his face, it was impossible to tell that he had been sporting a full head of impressive dreads before coming on the boat. “It’s easy to look at us and see simple fishermen who waste the day away with easy fishing on boats, but our efforts are calculated more often than not. It’s an equal mix of intuition and skill, you see.”

  “With a lot of stubbornness,” Hank growled, marching on past them again. “Qualities a stupid omega doesn’t have.”

  The alpha didn’t see the way all three betas glared at him, but Ash felt better for having their protection on his side.

  Day in and day out, it was always the same thing. Fetching pots, counting crabs, dropping pots,
and snatching an odd moment of sleep here and there. Sometimes the sea was as smooth and picturesque as glass, but at other times it was wild and crazed, with whipping wind and lashing rain to accompany the assault of water down below. The boat heaved and tilted, sending equipment and men rolling across the deck. Ash could just about handle that, when he was out there and could see what he was up against, as terrifying as it was.

  He had a harder time with sleeping when a storm was raging outside, his body rolling around in his bunk. When they were trying to eat, their plates and even their food would fly all over the place. Sometimes, cooking was even impossible because it was too dangerous to have that much exposed heat when loose pieces of debris were going all over the place and might catch on fire.

  Towards the end of the first week, Ash was torn between regretting everything he had ever done in his life, and ecstasy because that was when they had their first full pot.

  Well, nearly full. Okay, halfway full. It looked far more impressive than it was, and everyone who saw it cheered. Linden’s voice came over the speaker system, but it was impossible to tell what he was saying over the creaking system and the clanking groan of the crab pot as its bottom was opened and the crabs came spilling out. They were gigantic and writhing around in slow, calculated movements that made their spiny legs tangle with the others.

  “How much money is this?” Ash shouted over the crashing of the sea.

  “Just shut up and count!” Hank barked back.

  Smarting, but too overjoyed about the possibility of money at all, Ash went quiet and just helped to sort the crabs. There wasn’t much sorting necessary, as all but one were kept.

  The rest of the line was much the same, and everyone was in very good spirits towards the end of it. Finally, Skip looked up. “Okay. We’ve been sleeping on a rotation so now it’s Ash’s and Degasi’s turn. One hour. Make the most of it.”

  Sagging with tiredness, Ash murmured his agreement and slumped off in the direction of the bunks. Degasi was slow to follow, as he had to get down off the lift, but Ash didn’t bother to hang around and wait for him.

  Stumbling into the darkened interior of the sleeping quarters, he went stiff as he sensed a presence. A surprised squeak left his mouth in the second before he realized who it was.

  “Linden!”

  Linden said nothing, but his hands reached up and caught Ash around the face. He gasped softly, Linden’s grip burning his cheeks, and then the sound was caught as Linden kissed him roughly. Their lips crashed together forcefully, and Ash felt his body go slack. He was an omega. This was his mate, and he was meant for this.

  This kiss was ferocious and almost terrifying in its intensity, yet different from that kiss before at the start of all this. That one had been frantic and hurried, a thing of urgent animal need, and while this was all of those things, it was also a measured sort of thing with a great deal of intent behind it.

  This, whatever it was, was everything Ash had been expecting to happen a great deal further in the future, when they had come to know each other better. That it was happening now wasn’t the most opportune thing but he was powerless to stop it. He didn’t want to stop it.

  Whimpering softly, he slumped against Linden’s chest. The alpha grasped him and picked him up, and Ash wrapped his arms around his neck and lifted up his legs. Linden lowered his hands to grasp at his ass and lift him higher. Their dicks rubbed together through the restraint of clothes, and Ash pressed his forehead against Linden’s neck and let out another whimper.

  “Ah… Linden…”

  “Quiet,” the alpha growled, fingers squeezing at his ass roughly. Ash went quiet, trying to breathe to calm himself, but every breath tasted of the alpha’s lips, and his heady scent was all around, making him dizzy.

  It came back to him now, what Matteo said before about walking with the motion of the boat being like sex, and he forced himself to relax.

  We’re mates. This is meant to happen.

  Linden carried him deeper into the sleeping quarters, heading to his own private captain’s chamber that was just beyond the others. Despite being told to be quiet, Ash couldn’t help himself. He whispered, “I’m glad you came for me.”

  Linden turned his head and rubbed his lips roughly against the omega’s cheek, his stubble scratchy and strangely erotic. “Soon, it’s going to be you who comes for me.”

  Ash gave a little shudder. He could see the room around them perfectly well in the dark and it was utterly barren in a comfortable sort of way. The bed was surprisingly wide and bolted to the floor and walls so that it was sturdy. Nothing else hung on the walls, nothing to rattle or fall no matter how the boat jerked around.

  A thought occurred to him, suddenly. He whispered, “Who’s driving the ship?”

  “Skip,” Linden chuckled. He approached the bed until it was pressing against his thighs. Leaning forward, he deposited Ash on the bed and then just stood there for a moment, looking down at him. A shudder ran through his body and a growl rumbled in his throat. “I want you, dammit.”

  “Then take me, alpha,” Ash growled back. He reached up and tugged at the thin raincoat covering his body, trying to rip it away, but he wasn’t strong enough.

  Linden did that for him, grabbing the thin orange plastic material in his hands and shredding it in only a second. Then, he crawled up over Ash’s body and moved them both up so that they were lying prone on the bed. Ash whimpered and dragged his nails at the alpha’s back, pressing down against the thigh that slid between his legs. His dick hardened entirely and was throbbing with need. He had been making sure to take the pills that helped manage his symptoms when he went into heat, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to function, but that hardly mattered now. He needed to be taken, and he needed it now.

  First, there was something that needed to be done that should have happened days ago.

  Ash looked right into Linden’s proud, deep, dark eyes and tilted his head back to expose his soft throat.

  The alpha let out a soft, rumbling growl that was different than simple aggression. It was contemplative and commanding, fierce and proud. Linden placed one hand softly on the side of Ash’s face and then bit down hard on his neck while also shoving upwards with his thigh.

  Pleasure and pain mingled for Ash as Linden’s hard muscle pressed against his member and his teeth pierced his skin to mark him as someone owned. It was a mark that all omega shapeshifters proudly carried, and he felt something strange inside himself. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was and it didn’t matter, because then Linden started kissing his way down from his neck, to his collar. His teeth flashed in the darkness, ripping through his shirt. Ash shuddered as the bite grazed the skin of his chest, and he ran his hands all over Linden everywhere he could reach. The confines of clothing made him frustrated and he wriggled his ass around on the bed to get enough leverage to arch his back, pressing his dick on Linden’s thigh.

  “Soon,” the alpha growled, pressing him down. Ash gave another frustrated wriggle and now Linden seemed to understand his need. He moved his mouth away from the omega’s chest after giving it a furious series of kisses and then ripped the last tattered scraps of the shirt apart with his hands. With the chill of the sea air on his skin now, Ash desperately wanted Linden’s body on top of his and he dug his nails in to try and drag him nearer.

  However, Linden pulled back and said simply, “Lift up that ass of yours.”

  Breathless, Ash arched his back again and did what was asked of him.

  Linden tore apart his pants with one movement, the button clinking somewhere against the far wall. Yanking the zipper down, he had the omega’s jeans down and off his feet in the next instant, throwing them far to the side.

  Then, his eyebrows furrowed and he looked up at Ash in confusion. The omega blushed and giggled. “Long underwear,” he whispered. “It’s cold outside, if you didn’t notice.”

  “I guess not,” the alpha purred, his voice husky. “I have more on me than you do.” He str
oked one finger along the stark line of Ash’s collarbone and then traced his ribs with the same motion.

  Ash grabbed Linden’s hand and put his finger into his mouth and bit down sweetly on it.

  Linden shuddered, and Ash felt the bulge between his legs move against him. Then, suddenly, his underwear was removed in the same furious manner as his jeans, and he was left bare and exposed.

  “Dammit,” Linden said and shuddered. “It’s cute.”

  Ash pushed himself up on his elbows and stared incredulously at his alpha. “Cute?” he demanded. “Since when is a dick cute?”

  He thought he saw a bit of color rise to Linden’s cheeks, but the man didn’t say anything to him. Instead, he planted his broad hands on Ash’s hips and lowered his head to take his dick into his mouth.

  Ash was no stranger to self-pleasure, although he was very much a virgin. Outside of some shy kissing with others his age back in high school, he hadn’t ever done anything with anyone; however, like any young person, he had experimented a little. After all, who hadn’t watched porn of a guy sucking his own dick before and then wondered if they were flexible enough to do the same?

  Ash wasn’t. Not by a long shot, and the feel of his own breath on his member hadn’t been nearly as exciting as he thought it might be. Yet, now that it was Linden’s breath, he felt like he was going to come apart at any second, feeling him breathe on his most sensitive of places. And then when the alpha’s mouth wrapped around his dick...the surge of heat…the suction of it all tore the breath from his lungs and made his back arch.

  He felt his orgasm coming a mile away, shaking him like an earthquake, like a volcano about to blow. He grabbed at Linden’s short black hair and pulled on it, yelping.

  Then, the alpha pulled his mouth away and Ash felt the edge of that urgency, the eminent explosion, fade slightly. But not much. He was still aching, still about to burst.

  “Oh, god,” he moaned, pulling on the hair within his grasp. “Suck me. Please! Ohhh…”

  Linden gazed at him, and Ash loosened his grip in wonder at what those eyes held. They were so vibrant and full of life, as wide as the sea and the sky combined. Never before had the alpha seemed so real.