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  Stunned, I froze for a moment absorbing what my brain refused to accept. This was not a regular seal. This was another selkie and I belatedly realized that’s what I’d smelled earlier on the beach.

  His fangs plunged into my tail again bringing my thoughts back to the present. I yelled and reached forward to punch him in the face. The force of my counter-attack must have surprised him because he let go and swam back a few feet. We circled each other like lions ready to fight for their territory; each one waiting for the other to make the first move. In the background, I saw Brendan and the other selkies rushing around us in a game of cat and mouse. But my seal and I only had eyes for each other. His biggest weapon was his teeth, yet I had arms and hands and the will to fight as long as I needed.

  When I heard Brendan’s tortured scream again, I made my move. Dodging in with a quickness unmatched by any seal, I reached forward and wrapped my arm around the selkie’s neck. Trying to avoid his attacking fangs, I swung around behind him, effectively putting him in a choke hold. Seals were typically smaller than me, but this one had a larger than usual neck, full of muscles and skin, making it difficult for me to get a good enough grip.

  He thrashed and turned, trying to knock me away. But I didn’t let go. Another piercing shriek echoed through the currents, and even though I didn’t know if it was Brendan’s, it gave me the burst of energy I needed.

  I squeezed tighter and fought through my throbbing muscles and injured tail. The selkie at my mercy began to fade. I wouldn’t be able to kill him like this, but I’d at least hoped to knock him out long enough to grab Brendan and get out of the water. Yet before I could finish the job, the three selkies that had attacked the love of my life swam cautiously toward us.

  My eyes flitted around frantically searching for Brendan. When I spotted him lying on the sandy bottom several feet away, my arm tightened around the seal as his friends slowly encircled me. I may have been able to subdue one selkie, thanks to my experience with Brendan, but I knew I was no match for three more. Perhaps they’d accept my surrender.

  Pushing the nearly unconscious seal from my grasp and toward one of his buddies, I put my arms up in submission and slowly started to back away. They looked at me with concern and fear in their eyes, but they didn’t seem to be inclined to attack. I realized too late that Brendan had really been their only target. Two of them grabbed their friend’s flippers in their mouths and swam him to the surface.

  The last selkie watched me with intent and something else. Maybe fascination or even curiosity. I couldn’t tell. All I cared about was getting to Brendan. I’d moved back far enough now that I hovered directly over the top of my boyfriend’s lifeless body. Looking down at him took all of my remaining strength. He couldn’t die. I needed him too much.

  When I lifted my head again, the remaining seal had disappeared. Spinning around in several circles, I searched for our attackers with all of my senses, but they seemed to be gone. I quickly sank to the sea floor next to Brendan. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t in good shape either. He needed to shift as soon as possible to help heal his injuries. It was hard to see exactly what had happened to him in the darkened waters, although I noticed the blood seeping from his skin. I had to get him to shore.

  Wrapping my arms underneath his flippers and holding him in a backward hug, I picked him up and started kicking toward the surface. He was heavy and unable to help much, but eventually we made it to the top. I sucked in a large breath of air into my stinging lungs, relishing in the shards of pain that let me know I needed this air. In contrast, Brendan’s breaths were shallow and quick but at least he still breathed.

  Using every last bit of strength I had, I pulled us toward the shoreline. Once we reached the breaking waves, I needed to focus on my change. It was hard and painful since my energy had disappeared and my emotions were frantic. My change took way to long and I tasted blood in my mouth from biting my lip several times as my legs reformed around the scarring puncture wounds. It would take at least a day for those injuries to heal.

  Looking over at Brendan, I took a more concise inventory of his wounds. The shoulder tear wrapped around to the front of his chest. The fur was barely attached at several locations on his body, exposing pink, bloodied skin underneath. He had multiple bite and tear wounds all over his body and a large gash down his face from the bottom of his left eye to his throat. They’d literally tried to kill him.

  I cried while I dragged him through the remaining ocean and onto the beach. It took a while, but eventually I pulled him in between two sand dunes where we’d be protected both from anyone on the beach and the selkies that had attacked us in the ocean.

  “Brendan,” I whispered while shaking him slightly. “Brendan, you need to change.” I knew that was asking a lot of him considering the condition he was in, and his muffled return grunt let me know that he felt the same way. “I know it’s going to be hard, but you have to heal.” His response was just a sigh this time. Frustrated tears formed in my eyes again. I couldn’t rip the skin from him and force his change; it just didn’t work that way. “Brendan!”

  I could almost feel the ripple of magic trickle around him. He suddenly let out a wail so heartbreaking that I cursed the world for not allowing me to do more for him. His body began to shake violently and the screaming turned into whimpering. Every time he twitched, I could hear another snap or crack as his body shifted from seal to human. This wasn’t normal for him, and I was consumed with the worry that something might not transition correctly. The shifting continued for ten more minutes; screaming, breathing, crunching. I knew how painful my transitions always were, but this was like nothing I could ever imagine.

  Finally, the seal skin collapsed around his human body and he shuddered with the last of his strength. “Eviana…” he barely whispered.

  I pulled the skin away from him and gasped in horror as I took in the scene in front of me. Every wound, every bite, every tear became amplified in his human form. Usually, shifting helped heal the worst of an injury. But Brendan’s body was so weak that his energy had been put toward the change with nothing left to spare for the healing. I couldn’t move him right now without risking more pain, so I decided that we’d stay here and rest until he regained some of his strength.

  I left him lying on the beach for just a few moments so I could leave our protected dune and look for any potential enemies. The calm sea was only interrupted by the breaking waves and I saw no one around for miles. Although I knew better than to think we were completely safe, I thought we could at least rest for a while without any intrusions.

  Making my way back to Brendan, I realized how exhausted and hurt I was. Both of my legs had been badly bitten and blood seeped from the tiny puncture wounds. There was nothing I could do about that right now other than leave them alone. In a few hours, I was sure the pain would worsen as they healed from the inside out, but I would survive. It was Brendan that I needed to worry about.

  Reaching down, I lifted the tattered piece of seal skin that was the secret to his existence. Tears threatened my eyes again as I looked at the rips and tears. He was lucky to be alive, and the fact that he’d been able to transition let me know he was stronger and more powerful than I had ever imagined. I placed the skin on the dune to my left to allow both the blood and the water to dry.

  Brendan lay on his side, still in the same position I’d put him in, so I slowly slid down beside him. Exhaustion quickly overtook my body and as I snuggled up against his back my eyes began to close. Just a quick nap and then I’ll get us home, I thought. My arm instinctively wrapped across my selkie’s body, protecting him from whatever else was out there. They weren’t going to get him again. It was the last thought I remember before blackness swarmed into my mind and closed it off to the world.

  I awoke with a start like something had pulled me from my unconscious state with a purpose. It was still dark but the hint of dawn could be seen on the distant horizon. The stars had disappeared near the water’s edge, replac
ed instead by a dim sheen of purplish blue haze. We probably had an hour before sunrise.

  I cursed myself for allowing us to sleep so long. Remembering why we were still here, I rolled over to study Brendan. His breathing sounded strong although his wounds were still prevalent. It looked like the bleeding had stopped, but the slightest movement might open up the worst of his injuries again.

  “Evs?” he questioned through his sleepy stupor.

  I ran my hand through his hair and leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m here, Brendan.”

  “Are we still on the beach?”

  He started to sit up, but stopped suddenly when the pain seemed to get the best of him. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and fought to continue. I wanted to help him, but knew he would want to do this alone. He needed to prove something to himself right now. I’d be there to help him later. Blinking his eyes several times, Brendan’s attention was drawn to the far eastern horizon. “It’s almost dawn.”

  “Yes, and we need to get home. Do you think that you can make it to the car?”

  He nodded curtly and began to push himself to standing. I grabbed his left arm to help steady him and for the first time in the disappearing darkness, I saw the extent of the damage to his back and right shoulder. Sand grains had embedded themselves into the wounds and I knew it would take us hours to clean them out. But for now, we had to get home and off this beach.

  “Let me grab our clothes,” I said, knowing that we couldn’t walk back to the car and drive to our hotel completely naked. Jumping over the closest dune, I ran to the spot where we’d dumped our clothes the night before. I pulled the sundress over my head and decided we were lucky that Brendan had grabbed a loose tee shirt and shorts on his way out the door. Hopefully, they wouldn’t irritate his injuries to much.

  When I got back to our dune hiding place, Brendan was standing but walking around in circles searching for something. “Where is it?” he asked without looking at me.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “My skin!” he yelled. “I can’t find it!”

  My stomach dropped in dread before I could get a hold of my emotions. I stepped closer to him, fearful he would lash out again. “I put it over here on this dune,” I replied calmly, pointing to the area behind us.

  He stumbled over to the dune, falling twice before reaching it. I’d never seen him like this before and it scared me just as much as it worried me.

  “It’s not here! It’s not here!” He practically screamed and the panic in his voice shook me to the core.

  I ran over to the spot where I’d gently laid out the skin just a few hours ago and saw nothing. “No, no, no,” I mumbled.

  Scrambling up the dune’s face, I fought against the falling sand to climb to the top. I couldn’t believe what I saw, but what I smelled was unmistakable. Interspersed with Brendan’s fur and blood scent was the aroma of another selkie; one of the seals that had attacked us. The human footprints were unmistakable and the trail they created, heading away from the skin, could mean only one thing.

  “No,” I whispered this time. Why did I let us stay here? I whipped my head back down the dune toward Brendan who sat on the edge panting and looking up at me with frantic eyes.

  “They took it, didn’t they?”

  I slid down the sand and stopped in front of my boyfriend. “I’m so sorry, Brendan! You couldn’t move and I was exhausted. I thought I hid us well enough, but I fell asleep. I fell asleep and now it’s gone.”

  My shoulders shook with sobs and as much as I wanted to wrap my arms around Brendan, I knew that it would only cause him more pain. He looked down at me with absolutely no expression on his face. It was probably the worst thing that he could have done and I instantly knew that things had changed between us.

  “We need to go,” he said sharply. Yes, maybe we could track them down. I pushed to my feet and reached out toward him. Surprisingly, Brendan grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I have to get home.”

  “We’re not going after them?” I asked.

  He let out a muffled laugh, sending chills through my body. “We will never find them.”

  He didn’t say anything else as he slipped on his clothes with much resistance from his injured body and started to walk back to the car. I knew selkies could live for a while without their skin, but not without consequences. There were a thousand questions racing through my head and we’d have to talk about them soon. However, I understood well enough that now was not the time. I’d give him a chance to heal and then we could go after the selkies that attacked us.

  A full day passed before Brendan could stay awake for more than an hour at a time. At least when he slept, I was able to tend to his wounds. Some of the smaller scrapes and bruises healed, but he was unable to move much of his right side, and his face was still swollen around the gash that bisected his cheek.

  I’d called his new boss and told him that Brendan had the stomach flu and would most likely be out for a few days, hoping that would buy us some time. But what I really wanted to do was go after those that had attacked us and retrieve the skin. I was making a small dinner when I heard Brendan stir on the bed. Bringing him a glass of water, I sat down on the edge and looked at his pale face.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked.

  “I’ve been better,” he said with a strangled smile.

  “Are you well enough to talk?” We hadn’t been able to develop a plan or discuss the attack yet and I was anxious.

  He squeezed my leg and sighed. “Let’s eat first.”

  So we did. I made up a plate of grilled chicken breast and his favorite mix of spinach and tomatoes and helped him with each bite. The food seemed to instantly give him strength and a small part of that tight knot in my stomach began to unwind. Perhaps he could get through this without his skin after all.

  “So how much of the mermaid-selkie relationship do you know?” he started suddenly, surprising me with the topic.

  “Um, well, I remember some of the stories they told us when we were young about those who could call the selkies and other water creatures under their spells. But it’s more like the human fairy tales about mermaids drowning love-sick sailors. It’s just a story and it obviously isn’t possible,” I replied while waving my hand back and forth between us to indicate our special relationship. “I don’t control you.”

  He swallowed a forced laugh and shook his head. “No, you don’t. But you’re not a leader.” I glared at him for that remark. “You’re not a leader yet,” he edited.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Selkies don’t live together or hunt together. We’re an independent bunch, only seeking human companionship for the purposes of fostering a child. The selkies that attacked us were commanded to do so.”

  I nearly choked on my food. “By mermaids? That’s not possible.”

  “There was a reason they didn’t hurt you more, Evs. Either they were told to leave you alone or they’re incapable of attacking a mermaid.”

  “But they did attack me,” I reminded him.

  “Not like they attacked me,” he replied solemnly. He was right, but I still couldn’t wrap my brain around what he was implying.

  I set our plates down on the floor while trying to formulate my next question. “So you’re telling me that there’s a pack of selkies out hunting…what? Other selkies? And that they’re doing this under the command of a mermaid clan leader? That just seems a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?” I could barely contain the sarcasm tainting my comment.

  “I think there are a lot of things that your mother kept from you,” he said with a hint of pity. “I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen, but before I left my father, he had one warning for me.”

  “And that was…” I said, asking the question he wanted me to voice.

  “Stay away from mermaids.”

  I stared at him in disbelief for what must have been a full minute before bursting into laughter. “Well, you really blew that one didn’t y
ou?” I squeezed out between giggles. “I guess we’re not all that scary now are we?”

  Brendan reached out for me again and I snuggled into his arms with my back against his chest. “You aren’t.” He kissed the top of my head and sighed. “But we need to find out who’s controlling the selkies on the east coast. And if we figure that out, then maybe we can get my skin back.”

  “And just how are we supposed to figure that out?” I asked skeptically.

  “You’ll need to talk to your mother.”

  I jumped away from his arms so fast the room spun around me. “What? No way!”

  “Fine. Kain might be able to help too. But you need to talk to one of them.”

  I stared at him with my mouth hanging open in disbelief while he continued to speak of crazy things.

  “We have to find out who is powerful enough to control the selkies,” he continued. I don’t know anyone around here and considering the warm welcome I received last night, I doubt that another selkie would be able to get close to us without trying to kill me.”

  I shook my head and began pacing the room. “You know that’s impossible, Brendan. I left him. On our wedding day. I doubt Kain or any of my friends will ever talk to me again.” I ran a hand through my hair and tucked a stray strand behind my ear. “Besides, my mother probably shunned me.”

  “Don’t be silly. She wouldn’t shun you. Didn’t you say that practice hasn’t been used in several centuries?” he asked jokingly.

  “Yes, but it’s my mother and I’m sure she’ll never forgive me for the embarrassment I brought to my family.”

  “Evs…” Brendan tried to reassure me.

  “There has to be another way, okay? Just let me think about it. Maybe there’s someone else I can contact.”

  I thought about Daniel or even Carissa. But if my mother really did shun me, I could get them in a world of trouble just for speaking with me. Besides, I wouldn’t even know how to get in contact with them anymore. My cell phone was gone and the only numbers back home that I knew by heart were my parents and Kain’s. “I’ll figure something out.”