Page 80 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

“I’ll buy you another one. As many as you want.”

“No.” I cried harder. “It’s not the same.”

My nest was perfect. Just the way I wanted it. Or ithadbeen, before Rowan had taken the shampoo from its place andusedit.

His brow pinched together as he looked at me as if he were in pain. He was really sorry. I knew that, and I wasn’t mad at him, not really. But I still couldn’t stop crying.

It had been like this all the time lately, even before my belly started to grow with our pup. I was sick of crying about everything, but I couldn’t stop myself. All it took was running out of the snack I wanted, or needing to put clothes on to go outside, or even dropping a spoon on the floor, and I’d be an emotional wreck.

Rowan never got angry or frustrated with me. He was a good mate. My perfect mate. But he’d messed up the nest accidentally and now I didn’t know how to fix it again.

He placed another kiss on my cheek. “How about I go to the store and get some more supplies, and I’ll make you more cookies when I get back? Something new maybe?”

I sniffed. “Like what?”

He thought about it. “Danish butter cookies.”

I didn’t know what that was, but my tummy growled in response and I nodded. “Baby wants them.”

Rowan smiled. “Then baby will get them. Do you want anything else?”

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and nodded. “I want marshmallows.”

He nodded. “Of course, baby.”

“And seaweed.”

He paused before responding. “Of course, baby.”

“And ice cream.”

“You want to dip fish sticks in it again?”

I nodded.

“Okay. I’ll go get those for you.”

“I don’t want you to go.” My bottom lip pushed out in a pout.

“Do you want to come with me?”

My eyes heated as I started crying again. “I don’t want to put clothes on.”

“I know, sweetheart. So I’ll go, and I’ll be so quick, okay? And you can work on making our nest perfect again while I’m out, because you’re so good at that.”

I nodded. Rowan placed a gentle kiss on my lips then lifted me from the sofa to the nest.

He kissed me again, then lowered down my body to kiss the baby as well before he stood up and went to go get us some more food. He always kissed us both when we had to be separated. I hated being apart from him, but it was never for long. Whether it was at the colony, or here in his house, we were always together.

Rowan’s coat didn’t let him shift into a seal. He was still completely human and hadn’t gained any new abilities since our blessing from the goddess. All her magic was in the coat. While he had it on him, he could get to the colony. It kept his body warm and allowed him to hold his breath for long enough to get there, and it let him see better in the darkness.

After my heat, we’d gone there, and Rowan had been amazed at how beautiful it was. I’d shown him my nest, but it wasn’t as good as the one here. We’d made it better since then, and had taken lots of extra blankets and a bunch of Rowan’s clothing down so it smelled like him. We’d also put up some walls with Raq’s help, so Rowan would feel more comfortable having our privacy. Selkie nests usually had basic walls, made of furs and seaweed or plants and bits of fishing nets when we found them in the ocean. But ours was even better. Panak had helped us bring some wood to the colony on his boat, and some of theselkies had helped us get it inside and set it up. It was lovely now, but it did little to stop the sounds from escaping, and Rowan would get very embarrassed when anyone heard us.

That was part of the reason we still spent so much time here. That, and the fact that most of the food I wanted was human food, and it took too long to get it when we were at the colony. I really didn’t mind where we were, as long as we were together. And the goddess had given me a break from the constant pull to be at the colony. She knew I’d accepted my role as the next leader, and my grandmother was still going strong there without us, so we were free to be where I was most comfortable at any given moment.

I busied myself trying to fix our nest while Rowan was out, moving the clothes that smelled most like him to my side.

I glared at the bottle of shampoo, still wet from Rowan’s morning shower. There was less in there now than there had been. It was part of our nest because I liked the way it smelled. Rowan said it was cinnamon scented. I opened it and took a sniff. My stomach twisted, the familiar scent provoking an unfamiliar reaction to it as bile crept up my throat.