Page 40 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

Hurry.

“Milo?”

“Shhh.”

Hurry.

Where? I stumbled away from Rowan and the other people.Where?

Hurry.

I walked faster, breaking into a run and following the pull.

There, in the distance, were two people leaving the markets. A human man, and a woman with long, wavy white hair. I couldonly see her from the back, but I knew right away she was a selkie.

Help her.

“Milo!” Rowan scolded in a whisper, but there was no time to explain to him.

I followed after her. “Wait,” I mentally projected. She didn’t respond. “I’m Milo. I’m supposed to help you.”

She wasn’t responding. Couldn’t she hear me? If she couldn’t, there was only one explanation. She didn’t have her coat.

The man turned when I was only a few steps away, instantly putting himself between me and the selkie woman.

“Who are you?” he asked, but I didn’t care about him or his questions.

“Do you need help?” I asked her out loud.

Silver eyes, just like mine in this form, peeked over the angry man’s shoulder. Two pairs of them. She was holding a baby, with hair just as white as any selkie.

“She’s fine,” the man said.

“Milo,” Rowan spoke up from behind me. “What’s going on here?”

“What’s going on, Rowan, is your… friend… is harassing my wife,” the man said.

“No I wasn’t. I was just asking if she needs help,” I corrected.

“She doesn’t,” he told me, his voice getting louder.

“Then she can tell me that herself.”

“No she can’t. Miki doesn’t speak.”

That was Miki. I understood now why the boots lady thought we were related. If she couldn’t speak, then I knew for certain that she didn’t have her coat. What had happened to it? Had this man taken it from her? My lip pulled up in a snarl.

Rowan’s hand smoothed over my back. “If she doesn’t need help, Panak, then what’s the harm in letting us speak to her?”

Panak’s brow furrowed. He turned to Miki. “Fine. Do you need help? Do you want these strange men to talk to you?” He spoke in a tight, stern voice.

Miki’s big silver eyes looked at Rowan with a hint of fear in them, then at me and the fear melted into something like desperation. Then she looked back at Panak. I couldn’t see his face anymore, but when Miki looked back at me, she shook her head.

“There you have it. She’s fine. Now leave us alone.”

“She isn—”

“Milo.” Rowan pulled at my arm, getting me to face him. “Can we talk about this for a moment?”