7
To say I was surprised was an understatement. There was a giant aquatic creature in my bath. I would have been worried about my mental health if I wasn’t at least shocked. But I’d felt that there was something different about Tesh from the moment I’d picked up his coat. Or skin, I guess? I started wracking my brain for what I remembered of the myth.
“And I returned your skin, didn’t I?”
Big black eyes watched me move. I guess I was slower than usual; startling such a large creature didn’t seem like the best idea. I could tell he understood my words, though. It was still Tesh in my bath, after all.
From what I remembered, Selkies weren’t exactly treated the best by humans. They had a lot fewer fairytales than mermaids and most of them suggested lives of slavery were all that waited for a Selkie whose skin was in human’s hands.
“You don’t owe me anything, Tesh. Doing the right thing doesn’t mean you have to do anything for me.”
At this, the seal in my bath trashed and grunted. I didn’t have to understand ‘seal’ to know he didn’t agree with what I was saying. The way he snorted, whiskers shifting out, made me chuckle, and I squatted in front of him, bringing our eyes to the same level.
“Can I touch you?”
His teeth bared and Tesh’s whole body surged as he appeared to nod. If there was more room, I could imagine him clapping those large fins. I desperately wanted to watch him in the ocean. Tesh must move like the waves.
There was nothing about his movements that were negative, and I reached out, smoothing down the fur. It was just as silky as when I’d put it over his shoulders at the cafe. There was an almost irresistible urge to rub my face against it. I was grateful I didn’t embarrass myself, though. I kept the urge to simply running my hand down his side and meeting his large eyes.
“I swear, this is all I want from you, Tesh. Just knowing I could help is enough.”
I averted my eyes at the popping and cracking of bones and sinew. Watching it once was enough.
“I don’t agree with that.” His voice sounded off. The change was only half complete. The seal skin still covered parts of the human form. Perhaps his mouth was still full of teeth if the shift was only partly complete? “I want to do more than that.”
The words reminded me I’d never had time to dress after Tesh had knocked on my door. I was kneeling beside the bath in just a thin pair of sweats. And the way Tesh’s eyes were blown wide had less to do with his animal nature and more to do with something that was very human. I knew desire when I saw it and parts of my body were not having any sort of problems with it.
There was just something about the boy that I couldn’t quite shake. Something that had more to do with the human I’d seen in him rather than the creature.
It was overwhelming, and I couldn’t bring myself to move away when his warm palm touched my chest again. Right above my heart.
I had to lick my dry lips to get any sort of moisture back to them. Tesh swayed with the movement, hungry eyes zeroed in on my mouth. We hadn’t even kissed yet and my primal brain was already imagining him spread out on the bed. Would he taste like the sea?
“Okay.” My voice splintered when I spoke. “I want more than that, too.”
The pointed teeth bit into his lip, and he stood slowly from the bath. The seal skin retreated more from his body, the colour and texture becoming more human by the moment.
“Wait.” I reached out, gripping his wrist, feeling more manic by the moment. I didn’t even recognize myself anymore, and it was more than a little frightening. Tesh’s head cocked to the side as I searched for the words I needed. “You don’t have to change back completely. If you don’t want to?”
It sounded lame to my ears, but Tesh’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He shivered, and the change came to a stop. Parts of his skin remained as the silky pelt. I could see the seal still in his eyes. And his teeth, when he smiled, were still sharp. That part of him never seemed to change, even when he was as human as possible.
“All right.” Even his voice was deeper, like a seal’s bark. The sound ran up my spine and I had to bite back a moan. I might have been bigger than him, but just the sound of Tesh’s voice practically brought me to my knees. I couldn’t remember the last person I wanted as much as him.
I practically dragged Tesh from the bath. I needn’t have worried; he moved smoothly even in the partly shifted form, basically gliding out of the bath. He seemed more comfortable in his skin than he had in the few minutes I’d known him. Had it really been less than an afternoon? Why did it feel like forever already?
Even as my world felt like it was spinning, I wrapped Tesh in my towel. It was hard not to let my eyes wander too much, but I wanted to savour what I could. At some point, I was going to wake up from this strange dream and I wanted to enjoy it while I could.
“I won’t need much of that.” Tesh chuckled as I dried what I could reach. “My pelt protects me from water. Not like your hair.”
He wasn’t wrong; the water had beaded off before the towel had the chance to rub it off. The most of him that was wet was the short curls at the top of Tesh’s head. I focused entirely on that; the boy laughing as I studiously ignored the lower half of his naked body.
“Are you really going to be coy now?” Tesh shook his head, dislodging the towel from my hands before linking our fingers together and all but dragging me back into the bedroom.
With no preamble, I was tossed to the bed to the point I even bounced a little. The strength in his small, wry frame was unbelievable. Apparently, I had no issue that Tesh could easily throw me around; the thought of this being manhandling me sent a spike of arousal surging through my body and I couldn’t help but moan.
Tesh crawled onto the bed, straddling my hips. There was something about the human skin merging into seal fur that did things to my body I hadn’t expected. Tesh rocked into my arousal and I let the feeling dance through me, the gasp completely uncontrolled. My teasing selkie’s grin was all teeth, and I’d never been more turned on in my whole life. I gripped at his hips as he bent forward, breath ghosting against my lips.
“I think I will have that kiss now, dear Max.”
Then he was against me, and everything shattered into pleasure.