Page 46 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

“You’re in so much trouble, scion,” said the familiar and irritating voice of one of the stationed guardsmen.

“Shut up, Andrew,” I huffed as I walked past him. Andrew was a stupid name for a selkie, and I’d always thought so.

The passage opened up into a large open space, all lit by the huge glowing anemone in the center, pulsing gently with the goddess’s magic. Its many tentacles drifted through the open air as if carried by a current only it could feel. It provided all the light and oxygen we needed to live here.

The surrounding areas were communal, with family nests on the outskirts. Given the lateness of the hour, most were sleeping, but they’d have to wake up soon for what I had to say. The first thing I had to do, though, was seek out my grandmothe—

“MILO!” the woman herself screeched as a fish was thrown at my head.

“Aanaa,” I smiled.

“Don’tAanaame, you pesky brat.” Et’el bent to scoop up the fish, only so she could resume hitting me with it. “What are you thinking, not coming home for so long? I had no idea whathappened to you. You better have been incapacitated to make your grandmother worry so much.”

“Ow, I’m fine, really. Goddess would have told you if I was in trouble.” It was the wrong thing to say, apparently, because she started hitting me harder, until the fish slipped out of her hands and she pulled her coat from her shoulders to hit me with that instead. Thankfully, it was much softer.

Raq smiled as he approached from behind her.

“Help me?” I called to him.

“Absolutely not. It’s me she’s been hitting since you’ve been gone; it’s your turn now.”

Fair enough, I supposed.

The whacking grew briefly more intense before Et’el tired out and fell onto me instead.

“You worried me,” she said, sounding less angry and more hurt.

“I know. I’m so sorry for that. But I was following the goddess, and she led me to something. Well, two somethings. One is incredible and the other I need your help with.”

“Better be a mate with the amount of trouble you’ve caused.”

I smiled widely.

Her silver eyes widened. “Truly?”

I nodded. “His name is Rowan, and he’s a human.”

Et’el’s nose scrunched. Both Raq’s and her voice raised simultaneously. “A human?”

Others were starting to wake up and cautiously approach now. I didn’t mind. I’d tell every single one of them proudly that Rowan was my mate. They’d need to know anyway, considering I lived with him now.

My grandmother knew I never wanted to take over as leader after her. She knew I’d prayed about it, and she’d told me that if the goddess allowed it, then she would as well. Maybe she nevertruly believed the day would come when the goddess released me, but it had now, and she had to honor that.

“Yes, a human. I’ve already started my nest, and the goddess will bless our bond, we just have something we need to do first.”

“What could you possibly have to do with a human?” Raq huffed.

“Well, this is where we need the colony’s help. There’s a selkie named Miki. Her coat was stolen by poachers.Thoseare the humans we’ve been warned about. The bad ones. The dangerous ones. We need to stop them.”

My grandmother’s face pulled into a frown. “Milo, we aren’t supposed to interact with humans.”

“I know that. But the goddess led me to Rowan, and then to Miki. She’s bonded with her human mate with the goddess’s blessing. They have a child, Aanaa. And Miki is sick. She can’t survive without her coat. Others will be in danger too unless the threat is stopped.”

Et’el looked to Raq, who had a troubled expression on his face as well. “Well, wake everyone up.”

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Rowan