Luce sank down until the rowboat was nothing more than an inkblot on the blue-gray darkness above her, squeezed her eyes tight, and aimed. A violent spiral of her tail sent her rocketing upward, and she felt the bruising thud on her shoulder as it slammed into the hull, knocking the boat clear of the surface. She just had time to see him reaching out into nothing as he was thrown through the air, to hear him cry out in shock. She dipped through the blue and caught hold of him, and his arms reached back and grappled with her. All she had to do was keep her grip while she used her tail to drive them deep under the waves. No human could hope to overcome a mermaid out in the water.

Luce closed her eyes tight again. She didn’t want to watch his face as he died. She heard his sudden inhalation as the water lapped over their heads.

Then they were struggling with each other, his legs flailing as her tail lashed, his hands gripping her shoulders. Her arms were around his back, and she clung to the drenched fabric of his parka. It should have been so simple for her to overpower him, but somehow her body felt weaker than usual. Her tail refused to move the right way. Even with her eyelids squeezed shut, Luce could feel by the lightness of the water above that they weren’t far from the surface at all. She could feel his hair swirling against her cheeks, the rolling motion of his back as he twisted. She willed herself to drag him deeper . . .

The surface of the water shattered like a window, and the wild air billowed against Luce’s face. She could hear breath rake into his lungs. It was all wrong. He would only suffer more this way. Luce tensed herself to plunge under again, when the chill, pulsating wind was interrupted by something inexplicably warm and soft. A silky pressure took hold of her mouth.

Luce gasped in disbelief. He was kissing her, his full lips slow and smooth on hers. One of his arms squeezed her waist, while his other hand cupped her cheek. It felt like all the sensual wavering of the sea against her skin but so much warmer, the sweetness unbearably concentrated where they touched.

Her tail wasn’t spiraling to drive them under. Instead there was only a subtle rippling of her fins, just enough movement to support both their heads above the surface, and she could feel the recoil of the water as he started to kick. They were sliding across the ocean’s skin together, and the kiss wouldn’t break. It only turned hungrier, and even the bitter waters of the Bering Sea prickled with a soft, unsettling heat.