Page 18 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

“It’s a place to get food.”

I smiled, very much wanting to see that. “I’ll come with you.”

Rowan side-eyed me, his lips pulling down in a frown. “You should stay—”

“I’m coming with you,” I interrupted him, my decision final.

He sighed. “You’ll have to wear clothes.”

It was my turn to frown.

“I’m serious, Milo. No other humans can know what you are. You have to blend in.”

Unfortunately, I had to agree with him. Just because Rowan was safe, it didn’t mean other humans would be. But Ireallydidn’t want to wear clothes.

“I don’t like them.” I pouted. “What if they don’t come off and I get stuck?”

“You won’t get stuck.”

“I might.” My fingers found the wound on the tail of my coat, the one Rowan had mended for me. It would slowly heal itself, but it was a reminder of the danger of human things, like clothes.

His eyes tracked the movement, and his frown deepened. “Come with me.”

Rowan led me to a door, opening it to reveal clothes hanging from a metal bar. After sorting through them for a moment, he selected one and pulled it out. “This is a coat. You just put your arms in the sleeves, and the front does up with these buttons.” He gestured to them. “It’s very easy for you to take off when you want to.”

I eyed the “coat” suspiciously. “What if it gets stuck or tighter?”

“Then just tell me and I’ll help you.”

I thought about it, deciding I trusted him to help me escape the clothes if I needed to before nodding.

Rowan reached for my seal coat, and I took a quick step backward.

“You have to take that off to put this on,” he explained.

I shook my head.

“Milo, if we want you to blend in, you should leave it here.”

“No!” I answered quickly. Far more against that idea than having to wear clothes. I couldn’t go anywhere without my coat. “I can’t talk without my coat.”

Thick brows furrowed together. “What do you mean?”

“A selkie’s coat is their magic, and their voice. They can’t be without them.”

He frowned but nodded. “Alright, then we’ll just try to cover it up. Okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Rowan helped me get the coat on. It was his size, not mine, so it meant there was plenty of room for my coat inside it. The sleeves were also really long and covered my hands. It was soft on the inside and felt more like a blanket than the clothes he’d tried to make me wear yesterday. I didn’t hate it, especially considering the fact that it smelled just like him.

He also tried to get me to wear “pants,” but I quickly decided I didn’t like those at all. The coat was long enough that it almost reached my knees, so while he wasn’t happy about it, he reluctantly decided it would be okay to not wear pants.

I didn’t like the “boots” with the strings either. So he found me some that pulled on easily, without any strings or ways to make them tighter. Rowan told me they were called rain boots, because humans wore them when it had been raining so their feet didn’t get wet. Humans were so weird.

The final step was to cover my ears. Rowan pulled a soft fabric covering over my head, careful of the small bump that was still a little tender.

Then I was “dressed” and ready to go to the store.