27. Milo
Milo
We were much faster with the Aarlinuk. It had taken a significant amount of convincing and a few of the selkies demanding to mind speak with Kova directly before we were moving again.
I didn’t blame them for not believing me right away.
Kova was unlike anything we’d ever known before.
Even Aanaa had never heard of anyone being able to communicate directly with the goddess, not to mention them not even being selkie.
Whatever reason she had chosen him for, though, was one we’d have to uncover later.
Their chief was impatient, and he made it very clear he’d either be eating selkie or Shrieker by day’s end, and that it was up to us which that would be.
The orca sang through the waters, their call echoing, summoning any others who heard it. The pod currently contained no less than fifty, with more joining the closer we got to our destination.
The fog was thicker here, and I didn’t know whether to call that a blessing or a curse.
It would hide us from view as we approached, but it also hid them from us.
The pull of the goddess was enough for me to trust we weren’t about to crash into anything, though, and the pod of orca swam in front of us, giving Rowan a little more confidence as well.
The selkie who didn’t fit on the boat held on tight to the dorsal fins of orca, so we could travel as fast as possible.
No one had wanted to go anywhere near them when Kova suggested it, except for my reckless grandmother, who was diving into the water and clinging onto a whale before the idea had even fully sunk in with the rest of them.
Raq joined her, promising me he’d keep her safe.
I wanted to ride one too, only because it actually looked really fun, but Rowan wouldn’t let me stray further than a step away from him.
Given that I might never get another chance to try it, I was only a little pouty about it.
Here.
“Stop!” I shouted quickly the moment instinct demanded we stay in place. Rowan immediately stopped the boat, and the orca around us began to circle.
“Where?” my mate asked.
I looked around us, and all the selkies and Rowan did the same, but with how heavy the fog was, it was difficult to make out anything at all.
“I don’t know, I just… felt it. We’re here.”
Water splashed over the side of the boat, then black hands were gripping onto the ledge. Kova’s long, inky black hair was heavy against the side of his face rather than billowing around him like usual as he peeked over the edge.
Rowan’s fingers entwined with mine as he yanked me closer to his side, shooting the Aarlinuk a glare. My chest puffed up with pride at having such a lovely, protective mate.
“It’s here somewhere,” I told him.
“Yes, I can tell. The shrieking is very loud here. We must hurry. It’s so loud it hurts.”
I couldn’t hear any shrieking from here. I took a step closer and Rowan yanked me back. I turned to look at him so he could see when I rolled my eyes. “Come with me, then.”
Blue eyes flicked between me and Kova before he nodded slightly.
Rowan refused to let my hand go as I leaned over the edge, just enough to stick my head under the water, but I still couldn’t hear anything.
I pulled myself back to my feet. “I’m just going to seal it up for a minute,” I told Rowan, attempting to untangle our joined fingers.
“Absolutely not.”
“But—”
“No. You are not getting back into that water.”
I huffed and stomped my foot, but he just gave me a look that said his decision was final. “Ugh, fine. I’ll try something else. You can hold on to my legs instead, if you must.”
Any annoyance I actually felt at Rowan not letting me do what I wanted was swallowed by the much greater feeling of warmth from his protection, so I couldn’t find it in me to be genuinely peeved with him.
Rowan frowned, but nodded once.
Then I pulled my hand free from his, and my coat from my shoulder, wrapping it over my head and arms until my top half was seal and my bottom half stayed shifted.
“Well, that’s not an image I ever expected to see,” Rowan huffed in amusement.
Warm hands wrapped securely around my waist as I plunged my seal head back into the water.
The sensation was immediately disorienting, my whiskers tingling on my face as vibrations rippled through the water in steady pulses that made it near impossible to locate anything at all.
The power of them made my head spin, and though I couldn’t hear what the orcas and Aarlinuk seemed to, I understood now the difficulty they’d had in finding the poachers themselves.
I pulled back, shedding my coat once more and shaking my head. What an awful invention.
“Can you see anything ahead of us?” I asked Kova.
“Just ice,” he responded. “There’s a big iceberg not too far ahead. Should we go around it?”
I frowned as I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I can feel it. The pull. We’re here. Could they be deep beneath the surface?”
“I’ll send some orcas to check,” he told me, letting go of the boat and dipping back beneath the surface.
I paced as we waited for confirmation. It was so quiet here, but something in the air felt off. Other. I just couldn’t place why.
Where were they?
It took less time than I expected before Kova was pulling himself up onto the side of the boat again. “Duck!” he projected frantically.
“Duck?” Were orca afraid of birds or something?
“Duck now!” he shouted, his voice sounding distorted out of the water.
Before I could process it, Rowan’s body was slamming into mine and taking us both down to the floor of the boat along with three selkies standing close by.
Not even a second later, a long, pointed stick soared through the air where our heads had just been, its metallic pointed tip embedding into the back wall of Rowan’s boat.
Holy shit.
“What in all the seas was that?” I exclaimed.
“Stay down!” Rowan demanded as he shuffled off us to yank at the stick. “It’s a fucking harpoon.”
Where had it come from? I turned to the area heavily obscured by the fog. There should have been nothing but ice in front of us.
My eyes met Kova’s. We spoke at the same time. “They’re in the iceberg.”