“I told you we could have some fun before we head over to the shop,” I said with a pathetic chuckle that morphed into a hiccup. “This isn’t very fun.”
Breena shook her head and cupped her hands over mine through the blanket, “I didn’t need to have fun. I needed to make sure you’re taken care of too.”
“What do you mean?” I asked with a sniffle. The sea, the breeze, the sun, and the cliff we sat upon all melted away until all that remained were Breena’s intense eyes locked onto mine.
“You’ve been taking care of me since we’ve gotten here, but I should have been taking care of you too. I didn’t realize you needed it, but I see it now, and I think you finally do too,” Breena whispered. “Will you let me take care of you? Let me hold some of the weight that burdens you?”
“We’re so close to getting your pelt back. It’s Wednesday. We’ve been waiting for this. We can’t get distracted now,” I said, tempted to pull my hands out from under the blanket but not having the heart to do so. I didn’t realize how much I would miss her touch once it was gone. It was as if she’d been ripped from me when I hadn’t realized I ever had her.
“Then promise me something.” Her eyes brimmed with tears as they bore into mine.
“What?” I asked, everything in me softening again. I forgot about her pelt, my family, the net, everything, and simply existed in her gaze.
“Promise you’ll share yourself with me, your truths, your burdens, and your dreams. Share them with me tomorrow if it’s all too much today.”
I nodded my head, stiffening my muscles so I didn't collapse into her and give in to it all right this instant. Now that her offer—or demand, more like—had been put into the universe, I realized how badly I needed someone to tell me they had my back, that they cared about taking care of me just as much as I cared about taking care of them.
It was impossible to deny just how badly I needed her. It didn’t matter that she was a selkie. It didn’t matter that I got wrapped up in her mess, or that I had just met the woman. Despite it all, she knew me better than any creature on this planet, and I would sooner die than deny my feelings for this woman any longer. Tomorrow, Breena wouldn’t be mine. No, she’d be free, but I sure as depths would be hers.
Earlier this morning, Breena and I had risen with the sun, but neither one of us had gotten much rest. The springs of the settee had dug into my back, and my legs had grown numb from trying to curl their length against myself, so my feet didn’t hit the floor. I’d demanded that Breena take the bed. Since she’d cried out everything but her soul from her body, she had no fight left, and she’d accepted it without issue. She may have been able to stretch out, unlike me, but that didn’t mean sleep had found her either.
When we found ourselves back at the apartment, I was tempted to curl up in that bed and let sleep take me, but there was far too much to be done. Breena and I both raided the chest of drawers for clothes as black as night. We found dark ribbons to tie our hair with and shoved it all into a bag for later. We wouldn’t be here again until after we had Breena’s pelt. Then, and only then, would I be curled up in her arms, drifting off intoa peaceful dreamland free of controlling fishermen and breath-stealing pain.
“Have everything you need?” Breena asked from across the room. She tidied the top drawer that we’d left in disarray after our search for acceptable articles of clothing.
As I opened my mouth, a sound emanating from the other room halted any speech that would have followed.
“What was that?” Her big brown eyes fluttered with worry, and she dropped the top in her hand to crouch next to the bed.
“Hello?” a feminine voice called out. My jaw slackened, and Breena and I stared at each other in complete shock. “Who’s there?”
“Someone’s here,” Breena hissed, her pointed teeth peeking out behind curved lips. My heart pounded in my hallowed chest, and my eyes darted from her to the cracked window on the left side of the bed.
Great waves.
We were on the third story; surely, we’d survive a jump from this height, right?
As I shifted my weight to make my way toward the window, the creaky old floor betrayed me. The wooden planks groaned loudly enough to pull another distressed call from the woman at the door. This time, she admitted to having a weapon in her possession. Whether it was a lie fueled by fear or not, I didn’t want to stay long enough to find out.
“The window,” I whispered, pointing toward it with my chin. Breena nodded her head in understanding, but she didn’t look confident in my suggestion by any means. She rose from her position next to the bed then pushed the glass of the window open as wide as it would allow.
Steps pounded down the hall and stopped when the woman in the other room said, “Roderick! There you are! The lock wasbroken and look at this mess. Someone was in our apartment. They still may be here…”
Breena didn’t care about being quiet then. She pulled off the quilt on the bed, ran to me, and scooped me right off the ground like a swaddled baby.
My stomach rose into my throat as my arms were wrapped tight, useless, as she carried me like I was nothing but a child’s stuffed toy. She squeezed the both of us through the window, stepping out onto the stone ledge as a man barged into the bedchamber, a dagger in hand.
A yelp ripped from my lips as Breena leapt from the stone ledge. I squinted my eyes closed, screaming a string of curses as we free-fell. My eyes flew back open when Breena’s feet hit a gravely surface, and pain shot through me as my cheek hit her chest upon impact.
She set me down, and I scrambled from the quilt as if it was full of the angry hornets I encountered as a child. Swinging my head, I noticed we weren't on the street level. Breena and I stood on the roof of the building next door as the man, Roderick, shouted at us from the open window.
“We have to get out of here,” I said, kicking the blanket aside. Breena and I climbed down the iron stairs on the side of the building until we found ourselves in an alley hidden from the sun. I threw my back against the stone wall, catching my breath.
Laughter erupted out of Breena’s heaving chest and poured into the silence of the morning.
“What’s so funny?” I asked with panting breaths, thankful we didn’t have stairs in the sea. Those things were torture.
“How many times are we going to wind up in an alley, running from humans?”
