Chapter 7
Nina
I couldn't stop looking at the water.
I grew up with my father telling me horror stories about what it was like to drown. I’d gotten all the way to adulthood never even thinking about swimming. I even avoided most situations that would put me over the water, like whale watching or fishing. In only one day, I was a different person.
We were motoring north again and instead of hiding in the cabin and feeling sick, I was out in the sunshine and sitting next to Delmar.
He had one arm around me and was guiding the boat with the other hand. One of his tentacles was resting on my knee and another was massaging my back. I was growing to adore Delmar's friendly appendages.
“It's a beautiful view,” I murmured, watching a pod of dolphins jumping through the water. I’d missed so much. From now on, I was determined to enjoy the benefits of living near a beautiful and gorgeous ocean.
“It is,” he agreed. I looked up to see that he wasn’t watching the dolphins. His gaze was on me.
I felt my face grow hot. I grinned and nudged him with my shoulder. “Stop that.”
He grinned. “I can't help it. You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.”
I gave him a kiss on his dimpled cheek, then went back to watching the dolphins.
I felt strangely content and relaxed. Conquering my fear of the ocean made me feel the same way as when I'd completed a six-mile obstacle course a few years ago.
I'd trained for a year and felt exhausted but euphoric when I'd finished.
My seal side was quiet and happy, content to snuggle next to our mate while we traveled surrounded by the ocean she loved.
Mate. The word bubbled up from her without hesitation.
Was I falling hard for Delmar because I liked him or because of my newly acquired seal?
I didn't like the question, and my seal was only confused by it. To her it didn't matter. Delmar was our mate, and he was strong and would keep all predators away. That's all that mattered to her.
“When your seal needs the water, I can find us another beach,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, my thoughts still occupied by the concept of Delmar as my mate. If I were human, would I have a fated mate? Wouldn't it be better for Delmar to be with a fellow magical creature?
I was a selkie right now, but not for long. Would Delmar's affection for me disappear if I didn't have a seal inside me?
A sharp feeling of annoyance hit me. It was my seal. She hated my questions and doubts. To her everything was perfectly clear: Delmar was ours, and she had no plans of disappearing.
I wished life could be as simple as my seal saw it.
“I just thought of something,” Delmar said.
“What?” I asked, snuggling a little closer to him.
“Tomorrow is Monday, do you need to call in sick to your job or anything?”
“It’s sweet of you to think of that,” I said. “But I finished my contract last week. My next one doesn't start until next month.”
“Contracts?”
“I’m a corporate accountant,” I said. “Companies hire me to audit and check compliance.”
“That sounds, um, complicated,” he said.
“It can be, but so can anything if you're not familiar with it,” I said. “The hard part was setting up my own business and building a reputation. It’s gotten easier the last few years, and now I even turn clients away.”
He grimaced. “That sounds like you're successful. I’m, um, I’m not.”
I was a little confused for a moment, but my seal pushed me to comfort our mate. Oh, he felt insecure. That was easy to address.
“I make a comfortable living, but I do this because I like my job. Numbers make sense to be me, and I like the challenge of an audit. Making sure all the numbers match and everyone’s following the rules gives me a sense of achievement. I don’t care what you do as long as you’re happy.”
One of his tentacles wrapped around my waist to give me a hug.
“That’s good,” he murmured, leaning his head over to press his lips to my forehead.
“What about you? How do you keep yourself in coffee and sardines?” I asked.
He chuckled. “I hunt for shipwrecks and collect things to sell.”
I was suddenly fascinated. “Really? That's intriguing! I guess having a kraken form would make that a natural profession.”
“It does,” he agreed with a grin. “It involves two things I like: diving deep in my kraken form and looking for shiny things.”
“Are there that many shipwrecks out there?” I asked. “I don't know anything about the history of ships or sinkings.”
“Tons of ships,” he said. “I mostly look for the ones from the 1700s, they have the best treasure,” he explained
“Not earlier?” I asked. “Wouldn't older wrecks have more valuable things on them?”
“There weren't a lot of ships in this area of the Pacific before the 1700s. If I wanted to hunt down older wrecks, I'd need to move to the East Coast.”
That was curious. “Then why are you here?”
His appendage tightened around me in a hug. “Because of you.”
I laughed, thinking he was joking. “Very funny. I mean why aren't you living on the East Coast to find the better wrecks?”
He shook his head. “I wasn't being funny, I was being serious. I didn't know you were here, but the magic did. I always felt drawn to San Diego. When you feel that kind of instinct, you don't ignore it.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he said. “I started on the East Coast, but something pulled me to California about six years ago. It was so strong that my parents followed me west.”
This felt surreal.
“I moved to San Diego from Washington six years ago,” I murmured. “After I finished my accounting degree.”
He didn’t seem surprised at all. “That makes sense. The magic would want to draw us together. When you moved, I felt it and moved too.”
All this would've happened while I was still human. Maybe our relationship would survive losing my selkie. “What if I hadn’t moved?”
“Then I’d be drawn to Washington,” he said. “Somehow, we would’ve found each other.”
“So humans can have fated mates?” I asked. “We would be together even if I hadn’t touched that necklace?"
“I knew you were my mate almost right away,” he murmured, all his appendages tightening their grip slightly to hug me. “I thought you were gorgeous when I saw you jumping off Zak’s yacht, but then we touched, and I knew.”
“The shock,” I said. “It was like a shot of static electricity when we touched.”
“Yes,” he said. “That’s one of the indicators.”
“I needed to hear that,” I said. My anxiety eased. My seal did the selkie equivalent of an eye roll, then settled back down.
“Tell me about finding shipwrecks,” I said. “Do you guess or is there a map of where ships might've sunk?”
He enthusiastically jumped into a detailed explanation of shipping routes, old maritime maps, and using his kraken form to search. It was clear that he enjoyed what he did and put effort into being good at it. I could admire making your passion into your profession.
Between being snuggled against him and the comforting tone of his voice, I drifted off to sleep. I woke to the sun low in the sky. I was tucked against Delmar with several of his tentacles holding me in place, so I didn’t roll off the bench.
The engine was quiet, and we were drifting slightly. I could see the shore in the distance. It felt strange not to be nervous about being out on the open ocean after being terrified of water for so long.
Although it had been my father’s fears handed down to me, I’d never personally had a bad experience and now there was a seal inside me that craved water. I guess it wasn’t surprising that I was getting over my fears quickly.
“I’m starving,” Delmar said, helping me sit up. “You slept through lunch, but it’s almost dinner, and I need food before I start eating one of my limbs!”
A tentacle snapped out and slapped the back of his head. He swatted the tentacle away. “Stop that! You know I’m joking.”
I laughed at their antics, which made several of the limbs wiggle with pleasure. It hadn’t been long, but I was starting to be able to read the appendages’ body language.
“I’m hungry too,” I said.
“Great, we’ll eat, then get going again,” he said.
Picking me up, he set me on my feet and then guided me into the cabin. He made us sandwiches that looked delicious, but when we sat down to eat, I took one bite and had a hard time swallowing. I set the sandwich down, glaring at it.
“The way you're scowling at that sandwich makes me think it insulted you,” he teased. “Does it not taste good? I can make another one.”
“I'm only frowning at the food because I can't glare at my inner seal,” I explained. “She's demanding stinky fish. I like everything about this sandwich, but she won't let me eat it.”
“I'm sorry. She's going to give you cravings you're not used to,” Delmar explained. He got up, opened a can of tuna, and drained it in the sink. Sitting back down with the can in his hand, he lifted a slice of bread, dumped the contents onto my sandwich, then put the slice back down.
Now my seal wanted to eat. She wanted me to press my nose to Delmar to thank him for the perfect food. The impulse was so strong that I did it. Delmar didn't act like it was odd; he only made a happy humming sound.
“I don’t like this,” I said, even as I took a bite and happiness exploded from my seal. She loved tuna even more than sardines.
“I know it’s weird to go from no cravings to strong cravings,” he said. “But our animals are designed to eat certain foods, and if they don’t get them, they can panic. Your seal doesn't recognize the sandwich as food without the fish.”
“It’s a good thing I like sushi,” I grumbled. “That will be a food we can agree on.”
“Wait until you try it now,” Delmar said with a grin. “You’re going to appreciate all the subtle flavors you missed before.”
An image of my favorite sashimi floated through my head, and my selkie was supremely interested. “I think we're going to need to stop for sushi soon.”
Delmar nodded. “We'll be at the colony soon. They'll have good sushi.”
“How do you know that?” I asked. “I thought you said you’ve never been there before.”
“I haven't, but any town full of selkies has to have excellent seafood and sushi," he said with confidence.
I grinned. “Good point. At least I have that to look forward to, even if they can't help us.”
“I like the way you think,” Delmar said.
I smiled, trying to ignore my growing anxiety with talk of the colony. There were so many unknowns. I wasn't a fan of uncertainty to begin with, but this was beyond anything I'd experienced before.
Delmar must've sensed my inner turmoil because he set down his sandwich and put a hand on my shoulder.
“I'm here.”
I blinked and felt warmth spread through my chest. He wasn't trying to give me false hope or quoting stupid platitudes. His two words were simple but important. He made me feel like no matter what happened, he'd be there to catch me.