Page 54 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

I didn’t give up. I pulled and fought. Each selkie I managed to push away from me had two more replace them, until my legs couldn’t withstand the force and weight and they buckled as I was pushed to the floor of the boat. Dozens of white-haired strangers held me down and still I fought them, harder than I’d ever fought for anything ever before.

Milo was all that mattered. I needed to get to him. I was so pathetically useless here. What good came from being his mate if he still had to face danger on his own? Every second I was away from him was one that some unknown threat might take him away from me permanently, and I was powerless to do anything about it.

“Please, I’ll do anything. Please!” I begged, but Et’el’s mind was made up. I cried. Sobbed. Wailed. The sound of my grief poured from my lips, and I didn’t care to stop it. I didn’t care about anything but Milo.

What was happening beneath my boat? My mind blanked with fear as I considered it. He’d been gone for too long. What was he supposed to do against a group of predators? “Milo!” I roared.

“Rowan?” he answered, and bodies started rapidly shifting off me. “What in all the seas is going on here?”

Where was he? Ineededto get to him. I scrambled to my feet as quickly as possible, my height over all the selkies letting me spot him at the edge of the boat, right where he’d disappeared from me.

I sobbed again as I lunged for him, and this time, no one dared to stop me.

Then his cold, wet body was in my arms, and I held him as if I could crush our forms together into one, so he’d never be able to go where I couldn’t follow him again.

“What happened?” he asked as his arms circled me to hold me back.

“I thought I’d lost you,” I whispered.

“I told you to trust me,” he responded, voice muffled by my chest.

“Never leave me again.”

“But—”

“Never.”

His arms tightened around me. “Alright, I won’t.”

For long minutes, all I could do was hold him. My body was so large, and that had always bothered me, but right now I was so grateful for it, because I was large enough to be a shield for him against whatever would try to hurt him. I wished I were even bigger, so I could cover him up completely and stop any bad thing from ever reaching him again.

“This is really nice, but I need to tell everyone the plan. Can we continue this later?” he asked, sounding content. Soundingsafe.

I didn’t want to let him go at all, and I certainly wasn’t letting him drift out of arm’s reach, but I eased up on the bear hug enough to look down at him.

His nose and cheeks were pink from the cold, but his smile was as bright and warm as always as he beamed up at me.

For as long as I could remember, I’d been just like an unmoored boat at sea: lost, drifting aimlessly, thrashing around in an endless storm. I’d been ready to sink. And then came Milo. He was a beam of light, the beacon from a lighthouse, ready to guide me out of the storm and to a home I’d long given up hope of ever finding. One he filled with warmth.Hewas my home.

“If you’re quite done, Rowan, we’d very much like to hear what your mate has discovered,” said Et’el from behind us. I’d completely forgotten we were surrounded, but I didn’t care. I’d claim him in front of anyone. Everyone.

Milo’s smile widened. “She called me your mate.”

“You are my mate,” I told him.

He squealed, bouncing up onto his toes so he could claim my lips, and I met him eagerly.

“Milo,” Et’el huffed, though when we turned to look at her, she had a smile on her lips as she watched us. “There’ll be time for that later.”

“And more,” he chuckled, offering me a wink before turning back to the group, all watching us with far less affection and amusement than their queen. And given the circumstances, I guess that made sense.

“They’re going to help us,” Milo declared proudly.

“Who is?” another voice asked.

“The Aarlinuk. They’re going to help us take down the poachers.”

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