Page 34 of Saved By the Selkie

I nudge him; he’s shaking like a leaf, and his hands are covered only with thin leather gloves. I force him out of the way, then stick my face in the snow. Then I start digging with my flippers. I have claws, and I’m more insulated than either of the humans.

Johan kicks at me, and I curl my tail, coiling up, ready to attack. He nods at me. “Change back,” he orders, and I freeze.

I have no idea if I can shift right now. I could try taking off my pelt, but I have no idea what will happen if I try it. What about the pup? Will he shift too? Or will I be humanoid with a near-term selkie pup jammed in my insides?

“Come on!” Johan barks. “Take that bloody magical pelt off, I want to see you do it! Prove to me you’re a real selkie, not some half-baked dream this idiot cooked up!”

I whine, then shake my head. I look balefully at Aramis, hoping he’ll help me out.

“Maybe he can’t,” Aramis says, and I nod. “Maybe it’s like the stories say—they can only shift once in seven years.”

“What?” Johan whirls on Aramis. “Seven years?!”

Aramis glances up at him. “I mean. I don’t know—that’s just what some of the stories say. Not all of them say that, though. Some say they can shift sooner than that. Others say they can shift any time they want.”

I huff. That’s not exactly helpful, but it’s the best we’ve got.

Aramis looks at me again. “Is that it? You can’t shift?”

I nod. Johan snarls at me, then curses and kicks at the snow. “Blasted—! When will you be able to shift, you sealy bastard?”

I whine again. I don’t really know. Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell this prick.

Johan curses again, then kicks more snow. He points at the snowbank. “Tunnel in there! We need somewhere to sleep tonight, or we’ll freeze to death.”

He might. Not me, and not Aramis. I’ll make sure my mate is warm.

I lift my head as Aramis crouches down beside me again. He glances at me. “It’s okay,” he says. “He’s right. If we tunnel into the snow a bit, we can get out of the wind. Plus, it’ll be warmer.”

I whine, but he goes back to work, his brow furrowing in concentration. I watch him for a moment, then set about digging with my snout and my flippers again. If nothing else, I can help my mate.

It can’t be long until dawn when we finally tunnel deep enough into the snow for Johan’s liking, although the sky remains dark, blackened by the storm. The little cave isn’t very deep, but it lets us get in out of the wind, like Aramis said it would. It’s deep enough for all of us to crawl in and lie down, but that’s about it.

Aramis is soaked and shivering, which I hate. I want to curl up beside him and envelop him in my body heat, keep us both warm through the storm. But Johan pushes me to the back of the depression, then forces Aramis to sit beside him near the opening. I want to protest, because Aramis will be cold there. The back of the cave is more insulated, and of the three of us, I’m the only one with his own built-in insulation.

Johan fumbles around in the dark for a few minutes. “What are you doing?” Aramis asks over the eerie howl of the wind, and then the entire cave is awash with the light of a fire.

Johan’s expression is even seedier in the flickering light. He shakes out a match, then simpers at Aramis. “You bitched that we ain’t got no fuel to make a fire out here, to cook that meat. Well, you’re the fool—but I’ll tell you a secret. Seal’s full of blubber, which burns just as good as wood or kerosene or whale oil.”

He digs around in his jacket and dumps out a kerchief full of meat with a wet, bloody smack. Aramis looks like he might vomit.

“So,” Johan says smugly, “I’ve solved your problems—we have food and fuel aplenty out there, and if we can get a couple of hides, so much the better.”

I watch them for a moment, gaze bouncing between them as they stare at each other. Johan finally shrugs and sets about cooking the meat. He leans over to Aramis, whispering loudly, “You’re welcome.”

Aramis drags on a breath, turning away. Johan pulls back, a satisfied smirk on his lips. “This is why you were never fit to be captain,” he says. “If we kept following you, we’d all be dead. The crew’s better off.”

Aramis glances at him, then stares fixedly at the wall instead. The fire snaps and crackles, but silence fills our little shelter otherwise.

Exhaustion takes over. Now that we’re out of the weather and relatively safe, I feel my lids drooping. I have no idea how far we’ve moved, but it was much more than I should have moved today. I used way too much energy; I’ll need to rest a lot to make up for it, because I doubt Johan’s going to feed me what I need to nourish my pup, and he’s definitely not going to let me out of his sight to go hunting.

I hold back a whimper as I think about my poor pup.I’m trying, I really am, I promise him, but I know it doesn’t matter. There’s either did or didn’t, and if I can’t supply enough nutrients, my pup will starve.

I huff a sigh and lay my head down, closing my eyes. There’s no help for it; all I can do is rest and hope for a different outcome.

Aramis

twenty