Page 33 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

“Why?”

“Because… I just… need some time alone.”

“Why?”

“To think.”

“About what?”

“Just… to think.”

I pulled my arm free from his hold and got to my feet. Milo followed me as I made for the bedroom closet to grab a coat. He snatched up the one I’d made him wear to the store. “You aren’t coming with me, Milo.”

“Yes I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Try to stop me.” He huffed. “Where you go, I go.”

“Milo, just… please.”

He looked at me, silver eyes flicking between mine as his brow creased in the center. “But you look so sad. I can’t let you be alone when you’re sad.”

Emotion burned up the back of my throat. I didn’t know how to be looked at the way he looked at me. How to be seen so much. “Yeah. Sometimes I’m sad, Milo. It’s just… me.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay. So be sad here, with me. Just because you’re sad doesn’t mean you have to be alone.”

That burning feeling bubbled higher until the heat and pressure of it built behind my eyes.

“It’s better if I’m alone,” I told him, my throat and voice strained.

“Better for who?”

I inhaled once, exhaled twice.

He continued. “If it’s better for you to be alone when you’re sad, then tell me honestly, and I’ll let you go. But if you think it’s better for me, then sorry, Rowan, but you’re not going anywhere without me.”

I fought to take in my next breath, my chest tightening too much. How was he real? How was he looking at me with so muchdesire still, when I was so close to breaking over something as beautiful as what he’d offered me?

“Tell me,” he said.

I swallowed heavily. What Ishouldsay and what Iwantedto say were at war with each other. I was drowning, and I wanted to cling to him to save myself, and I knew that wasn’t right, but I wasdrowning.

“I don’t want to be alone,” I whispered.

He smiled softly as warm hands smoothed over my chest, my shoulders, up to my neck, and he pulled me down until my forehead pressed against his. “You aren’t. Not anymore.”

I made a sound I realized too late was a sob. “I don’t know how to be enough for you.”

He angled his head up until his nose brushed against mine. “I don’t know how you could be more than you already are. You’ve already given me more than I could ever want. You brought me to your home and let me stay. You mended my coat. You cared for me. You fed me. You kept me safe, and you provided for me. You teach me new things even though I know I annoy you sometimes.” He huffed softly. “You saved my life, Rowan, that night we met.”

Tears trailed down the tip of my nose, and he rubbed them away with his.

“You saved mine too,” I confessed, another broken sound attempting to make its way out of me.

He pulled back slightly to look into my eyes, trying to find my meaning.

“That night, in the storm, I…” My throat burned. “I wasn’t going to come back.”