Page 39 of Saved By the Selkie

The pup is shivering and shaking, but never does its gaze leave the hole where Lir disappeared under the ice. Johan’s still curled over it, watching.

I glance around, as though someone might be watching. I scoot around the fire to the pup.

“Here,” I say, holding out my jacket. It’s really too cold to be taking it off, but the pup is a baby. Anyone who wouldn’t offer a coat to a baby is cruel, even if that baby is a seal.

The pup turns those dark eyes on me. I feel like I’m being scrutinized. Instead of dwelling on it, I shake the coat. “It will keep you warm,” I inform the pup, well aware that I’m being ridiculous. I lay the jacket over the pup, rubbing my hands over its back vigorously.

It stops shivering. It closes its eyes and thumps its tail in apparent pleasure, before rolling onto its side, rubbing its head up against my thigh. It opens its eyes again and looks up at me, almost expectantly.

I swallow a lump in my throat. There is something familiar about the pup, even beyond knowing Lir is its mother.

The pup paws at me with a flipper, so I take it in my hand. I’m rewarded with a chirrup and more wriggling and tail slapping.

A gust of wind blows by and I shudder. I grab the pup, still wrapped in my jacket, and move back toward the fire. “Let’s sit here. It will be warmer.”

The pup twists around in my arms, until I’m practically cradling it like a human infant. It coos in delight and snuggles right up against me.

“And what do you think you’re doing with my selkie?” Johan asks as he approaches.

I want to protest, but the pup spins around and leaps out of my arms with an excited bark. Lir drops a couple of fish on the ice, then noses at the pup.

I’m not sure why I feel so cold, other than I don’t have my jacket. I pull it back on, then look up at Johan.

He quirks a brow at me, then sets about gutting the fish.

Lir makes himself a wallow in the snow and lies on his side, the pup cuddled up against him. When dinner’s done, Johan and I follow suit. There’s no shelter out there, so we just have to hope no storms blow up overnight.

We’re woken by a horrible commotion. Clouds have rolled over the moon and hidden the stars. The fire has burned away to nothing, so I have no idea what’s happening when the pup yelps and Lir starts barking. At first, I think it must be a wolf or a polar bear something.

There’s the crack of a gun, followed by human cursing, a selkie roar, and then a metallic thump or two. I get to my feet and promptly trip over Lir, crashing into someone standing beside him. I grab their arms and take them down to the ice with me.

“Goddammit, Aramis,” Porthos grumbles in my ear, and suddenly, there’s light. I stare down at Johan, blood seeping across the ice from his head.

I scramble back, swallowing tightly. Anna sighs and toes at the body. “You big oaf,” she mutters.

“I-I didn’t mean to, I swear, I—”

Porthos pulls me away from the body. “Ya didn’t kill him,” he says evenly, looking me dead in the eye. I suck in a sharp breath, then nod.

“If anything,” Anna says coolly, “I’d say a bear got him, hm?”

“Sounds about right t’ me,” Porthos agrees.

I flop down next to Lir. “How did you two—”

“Know where to find you?” Anna asks. “We didn’t. We followed you as best we could.”

“We guessed where the wind and the current was taking you,” Porthos adds. He shrugs. “It worked out.”

“But how did you—”

“Get here so quickly?” How is Anna anticipating all my questions? She finishes wiping down her blade and sheaths it. She points across the ice. “Sled.”

“Sled,” I echo.

“Mmhmm,” she agrees.

Porthos lands a beefy hand on my head. “Or didja forget Anna grew up here?”