Page 50 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

My own smile faded, a sudden chill colder than the icy waters surrounding us seeping into my bones.

“What’s Aarlinuk?” Rowan asked, his brows pinching together in sudden panic.

“Orca people,” I answered, and he paled.

The boat rocked as several more selkies quickly escaped the water, jumping up to join us, then more, until the boat was at capacity, and still there were selkies in the water.

This couldn’t be right. The goddess had led us here. Shewantedus here. I didn’t feel the warnings from her that usually came from being around Aarlinuk and orca.

Could I have gotten it wrong?

Through the heavy fog, I could make out the dorsal fin of an orca as it breached the surface.

She won’t have led us here for nothing.I squeezed Rowan’s hand tighter in mine.Trust her. I pulled my hand free and Rowan turned to look at me, and I yanked him down into a firm but brief kiss before stepping away. His hand reached for me.

“Trust me,” I told him.

“Don’t,” he answered, brows pinched tight as I took another step backward.

“I love you.”

“Milo, please. Don’t even think about going in the water.”

“Everything’s going to be okay,” I told him. I told myself, and the selkies all turning to me with confused fear on their faces. I had led them here, and I would lead them out.

“No!” He pushed toward me, but I dived off the side of the boat into dark waters before he could stop me.

I’d dived from Rowan’s boat into the sea dozens of times now. Usually, I’d already be shifted, but this time I pulled my coat around me as the icy dark water enveloped my body. Before it could swallow me and transform me into my seal, my legs collided with something slippery and hard. My heart stopped. My chest tightened in panic as my eyes adjusted, and out of instinct I clung to whatever it was beneath me.

Large. Moving. Cold. My hands wrapped around what was undoubtedly a dorsal fin. Too small to belong to a whale.

“You little—” A booming voice reverberated in the surrounding water. Deep and sickeningly familiar.

My eyes adjusted. The black skin of the Aarlinuk nearly camouflaged with the darkness around us, but the strip of white down his chin and the glowing patches around his eyes revealed him.

A selkie woman yelped as the Aarlinuk released her arm so he could turn his attention fully on me.

Shit.

He spun in the water and my legs and arms wrapped around him tighter.

“Let go of me!” he snarled, bucking in an attempt to dislodge me.

Shit shit shit. I’d jumped in with absolutely no plan, just a gut feeling that this is what I needed to do.

Wicked laughter echoed from somewhere around us. More. There were multiple Aarlinuk. They found this amusing.

“Quit laughing, you fools. I am your chief!” His arm swung around, his claws missing me as the side of his hand smacked into my hip. “Let go!”

Of course I’d just accidentally dive bombed theleaderof the selkies’ greatest predators. “I’m sorry, chief Aarlinuk man, sir,” I projected at him as my claws dug into his skin to prevent my hands from slipping. I had no doubt the moment I let go, he was going to attack me properly. “I can’t let go. Today is a really, really bad day for me to get caught and eaten. I know we’re in your territory, and I’m sorry about that. We’ll leave as soon as we can, but we’re on a mission, and we need to take down some poachers.”

Another thump of his hand against my side as he spun and bucked rapidly.

“What’s poachers?” a soft voice asked amongst the laughter.

“They’re human hunters,” I projected back. “Bad ones. They’ve been kidnapping our people and stealing our coats. They hunt other things too. We’re all in danger. Please.”

“Dad, they’re going to the Shriekers.”