5. Rowan
Rowan
Black seal-like eyes softened, the pupils shrinking into ones that almost looked human, surrounded by rings of silver. Beautiful.
He was a selkie.
I’d known he wasn’t human, but a selkie? I’d heard of them, but I’d have thought if they existed it would be in Scotland or Ireland. Though if Greenland had a lot of something, it was seals.
My eyes drifted to the seal coat as he picked it up again, slinging it back over his shoulders. My mind was swirling with information and questions.
“How… does it work?” I asked.
“My coat?”
I nodded.
Soft-looking pink lips tugged up in a smile. “I’ll show you.”
He grabbed the flippers, stretching the coat along his back, and as he knelt on the floorboards and covered himself with it, I watched with fascination as it consumed him, fur melding with skin until a harp seal was looking back at me.
“Shit,” I breathed.
He was… a seal. Just like any other I’d seen before, his coat mostly white like his hair with some gray spots. How many selkies had I actually seen before?
I took a cautious step closer. Another. He watched me with those familiar eyes.
Slowly, I sank to my knees in front of him. His nostrils flared as he huffed air at me then made a rumbling sound, somewhere between a purr and a bark as he turned onto his side. One of his flippers slapped against his stomach.
Did he want me to pet him there?
I raised my hand, moving slow enough that he could let me know if he didn’t want me to before my fingers touched his plush fur.
So much softer than I’d expected. It also didn’t feel like anything other than a seal.
Not a costume with something close to human hiding inside.
I pulled away. He barked, slapping his belly again.
I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped me. But the smile disappeared as I heard his stomach grumble.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
He rolled back onto his belly immediately and barked excitedly again. So cute. I cleared my throat and stood up. I wasn’t sure what selkies could eat, but I was sure I’d have something for him for now.
I nodded, turning away and marching to the kitchen on a mission. A moment later, Milo joined me, back in a more humanlike form, his seal coat draped over his shoulder.
I tried not to look at him, suddenly conscious of the fact that I’d just rubbed this guy’s belly for fuck’s sake. None of this was normal.
Living alone meant I didn’t bother cooking anything more than basic meals for myself, and even then, I was running low on supplies.
Milo’s head pushed between my arm and the open door of the fridge. His hands snatching up the carton of milk and a bottle of sauce.
“Those aren’t food,” I told him as he retreated with them, dashing over to his stash of my stuff on the sofa.
He ignored me, picking up the sauce again and sniffing the glass bottle before chomping down on the lid. It popped open, and I watched with fascination and horror as his long tongue dipped directly inside to taste it. Well… it was a good thing it was mostly empty anyway.
With a sigh, I left him to it, pulling out what I needed to make something simple.
The smell of cooking cod and vegetables quickly lured him back to the kitchen.
“No.” I snatched his wrist as he reached for the pan. “It’s very hot. You’ll hurt yourself.”
“Why are you making it hot?”
I sighed. “Tastes better that way.”
“Okay.” He smiled, satisfied with that explanation, it seemed, as he looked around, presumably for what else he found interesting enough to steal.
When it was done, I brought the plates to my small dining table and set them down. “Come eat.”
Milo dashed over fast enough he almost tripped on the corner of the rug, and I reached for him on instinct, pulling his body into mine before he could topple over.
He looked up at me with surprise, then smiled. “Hehe, thanks.”
I quickly let him go, taking a large step backward and feeling my face heat. What the fuck was wrong with me?
Milo didn’t dwell on it, yanking a chair out from the table so he could perch himself on it in a crouched position. I’d set out cutlery beside the plate, but he already had his fingers scooping up the food before I could show him how to use them. I guess it didn’t matter.
“Oh my goddess!” he nearly shouted as he began shoveling cooked fish and vegetables into his mouth even faster. “Vish ish increbable” he mumbled with his mouth full.
“Don’t eat too fast, you’ll choke,” I warned him with a sigh, before grabbing the plate I’d set for myself and moving it closer to him. “There’s plenty.” Maybe he hadn’t eaten in a while. I could find something else for myself later.
“M’kay,” he mumbled after swallowing a mouthful.
When I was satisfied he was eating at an acceptable pace, I took a step back again.
“I’m going to shower. Don’t leave the house, okay?”
“Okay. What’s a shower?”
“Just… a place to get clean.”
“Okay.”
Figuring the food would buy me a little time before he got into god knew what else, I excused myself briskly as I went to the bathroom, only feeling like I could take a decent breath once I had the door closed between us.
Get yourself together, Rowan, I told myself.
Yes, there was a very beautiful, very naked man in my house.
But that clearly didn’t have any of the same implications for him as it did for humans.
I’d seen how he reacted to trying to put on clothing.
He didn’t like it, and I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.
I’d just have to find other ways to handle my own discomfort.
It’s only for now. Later tonight, when the town had gone to sleep, I could take him back to wherever it was he’d come from.
Then I’d be alone again.
With a sigh, I peeled off my clothing, already feeling better at having the dirty fabric off me. I tossed them in the basket and started the water, waiting until it was scalding before stepping under the spray and letting it wash away more of the grime from my skin.
Steam billowed around me, and I inhaled it deeply, as if getting enough of it could cleanse my mind. My chest. My soul.
My plans had been interrupted in that storm. It didn’t really change anything, though. Sure, now I knew things like selkies existed, but my life was still the same.
There would be another storm.
Water cascaded down my face and chest as I blindly reached for my cinnamon-scented shampoo on the rack where it always was, only for my hand to fumble in the air and come up empty.
I turned my head out of the spray to look, and sure enough, the spot was vacant.
I heard the cap of it click open and quickly spun around to find Milo standing behind me, the shampoo in his hands as he inhaled it deeply. A pink tongue darted out to taste it, and he pulled a face of disgust.
“Milo!” I shouted, quickly covering my junk behind my hands as my whole body heated more than the water still streaming over me. “What are you doing in here?”
“I wanted to see what a shower was,” he explained, tucking the shampoo under his arm. “It’s like a waterfall!”
He extended a hand into the flowing water, and I retreated until the cool tiles pressed at my back to get away from him. “You can’t just come in here like this.”
Silver-gray eyes were filled with fascination as he reached up to the shower head, grabbing hold of it and trying to pull it down, presumably to steal it.
Water sprayed all over my face as I grabbed his wrists. “Stop that. You’re not supposed to take it off the wall.”
“Why? Oh!”
His attention quickly diverted from the showerhead to my now exposed dick.
I gripped his wrists tighter as he tried to pull his hands away from me because I did not want him reaching for that. “Don’t look at it!”
“But why?” he asked, still looking.
My body heated with shame as my dick decided it liked being looked at by him and twitched as it started to fill.
For fuck’s sake.