Milo
The markets were fun. There were so many people here. Most of the tables had some sort of food—seafood, birds, and other things I decided to ignore. There were also some breads and cakes, but they didn’t look as good as the ones Rowan made for me.
There was a selection of boots on this female human’s table. Some of them with strings and fur, and others like the rain boots I was wearing. “I like these boots,” I told him honestly, wriggling my toes around in them. They were Rowan’s boots, which made them the best.
“They’re a bit big for you.”
“I’d be happy to help you pick out another pair,” said the woman, smiling widely at me. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you related to Miki?”
I shook my head. “No, who’s that?”
“Oh, she’s a woman who lives here. I saw her earlier today actually. You look similar. You both have white hair and gray eyes. And you’re both really pretty.” She fluttered her eyelashes at me.
Rowan’s hand clasped around my arm as he pulled me a little closer to him. “If you’re happy with those boots, then let’s go.”
The woman frowned as Rowan ushered me away from the table. “Well, I’ll see you around, then. Hopefully,” she called after us.
Rowan kept us moving until we were out of sight from her, and I turned to smile deviously at him.
“What?” he grumbled.
“Are you jealous, mate?”
“I’m not jealous.”
“That’s just what a jealous mate would say.”
He rolled his eyes at me, his cheeks a little pinker now.
“You’re so cute.”
“Cute?” he scoffed in disbelief. “I’m not cute!”
“Yes you are.”
“No.”
“Yes.” He scowled harder, and I smiled even more. “Don’t worry about it.” I slung my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. “I only have eyes for you, my perfect mate.”
Rowan huffed, but I could tell he was trying not to smile.
“I’m serious. You can mate me right here in front of everyone if you want me to prove it.”
His blush darkened. “There will be no mating in front of other people, Milo.”
“Best way to get your point across and publicly claim me.” I shrugged one shoulder.
A large hand found mine, weaving our fingers together. “This will be enough.”
“Boring,” I teased, and he rolled his eyes. “Well, let’s hurry up here so we can go home and mate, then.”
“Trouble,” he grumbled, pulling me by our connected hands back into the flow of people.
I no longer had an interest in any of the markets. I wanted to go home to my nest so I could show my mate how much I belonged to him.
That was until I saw a table with jewelry on it. I yanked my hand out of Rowan’s so that I could hurry over there.
Not that way. The familiar and unexpected tug of guidance caught me off guard, causing me to trip in my oversized boots. Gravel stung my palms as I collided with the ground. Hurry.
I sat up as Rowan shoved through the people between us to get to me. “Milo, are you okay?”
I grabbed him, using him to pull myself up as I looked around us, unsure exactly what I was supposed to be looking for, but knowing there must be something.
Hurry.
“Milo?”
“Shhh.”
Hurry.
Where? I stumbled away from Rowan and the other people. Where?
Hurry.
I walked faster, breaking into a run and following the pull.
There, in the distance, were two people leaving the markets. A human man, and a woman with long, wavy white hair. I could only see her from the back, but I knew right away she was a selkie.
Help her.
“Milo!” Rowan scolded in a whisper, but there was no time to explain to him.
I followed after her. “Wait,” I mentally projected. She didn’t respond. “I’m Milo. I’m supposed to help you.”
She wasn’t responding. Couldn’t she hear me? If she couldn’t, there was only one explanation. She didn’t have her coat.
The man turned when I was only a few steps away, instantly putting himself between me and the selkie woman.
“Who are you?” he asked, but I didn’t care about him or his questions.
“Do you need help?” I asked her out loud.
Silver eyes, just like mine in this form, peeked over the angry man’s shoulder. Two pairs of them. She was holding a baby, with hair just as white as any selkie.
“She’s fine,” the man said.
“Milo,” Rowan spoke up from behind me. “What’s going on here?”
“What’s going on, Rowan, is your… friend… is harassing my wife,” the man said.
“No I wasn’t. I was just asking if she needs help,” I corrected.
“She doesn’t,” he told me, his voice getting louder.
“Then she can tell me that herself.”
“No she can’t. Miki doesn’t speak.”
That was Miki. I understood now why the boots lady thought we were related. If she couldn’t speak, then I knew for certain that she didn’t have her coat. What had happened to it? Had this man taken it from her? My lip pulled up in a snarl.
Rowan’s hand smoothed over my back. “If she doesn’t need help, Panak, then what’s the harm in letting us speak to her?”
Panak’s brow furrowed. He turned to Miki. “Fine. Do you need help? Do you want these strange men to talk to you?” He spoke in a tight, stern voice.
Miki’s big silver eyes looked at Rowan with a hint of fear in them, then at me and the fear melted into something like desperation. Then she looked back at Panak. I couldn’t see his face anymore, but when Miki looked back at me, she shook her head.
“There you have it. She’s fine. Now leave us alone.”
“She isn—”
“Milo.” Rowan pulled at my arm, getting me to face him. “Can we talk about this for a moment?”
I turned back toward the couple to see Panak already ushering Miki and her child away. “There’s no time. I have to help her.”
“There’s time,” he said, one finger urging me to look at him again as he traced it over my jaw. “I know where they live, Milo. If we need to find her again, we can, easily. Okay?”
I huffed in frustration, turning back to see silver eyes looking back at me as Miki was all but dragged away, the child in her arms starting to cry without making a sound.