Isla.
She was here. She found Carrick's operation, fought whatever battle tore this equipment apart, and somehow reinforced the seal that keeps the old evil contained.
Relief and terror war inside my chest. She survived. But where is she now?
I swim through the debris field, searching for any sign of her. The submersibles are retreating toward the surface, running for safety. Cowards. They brought their war to my waters and fled when they lost.
But Isla isn't among the wreckage. Isn't anywhere in the immediate area that I can find.
My lungs begin to burn. I've been down too long, pushed too deep. Bear body or not, I need air. Need to surface and breathe and plan my next move.
I turn upward, swimming hard, racing against the need for oxygen. The ascent seems to take forever, pressure easing gradually as I rise. Finally, blessedly, I break the surface.
I tread water, scanning the ocean for any sign of her. The eastern cliffs rise in the distance, jagged and dark against the lightening sky. Smoke still drifts from the northern caves where the brotherhood holds the line. Dawn breaks over water that looks deceptively calm after the violence of the night.
And there, floating between the waves maybe thirty meters away, I see her.
Human form, pale skin stark against dark water. The pendant gleams at her throat, catching the first rays of dawn. She's alive. She's whole. Relief crashes through me so hard my vision blurs.
But she shouldn't be here. The ocean this far from shore runs cold even in summer, and we're well past that season. Without the pendant's protection, she'd already be hypothermic. Even with it, she's been exposed too long.
I swim toward her, closing the distance in powerful strokes. Each meter closer allows me to see more details. Scratches on her shoulders that look like they came from rough contact with rocks or equipment. Hair plastered to her skull, salt water beaded on her skin. But her eyes are alert when they find mine, grey and determined despite obvious exhaustion.
"Grayson." My name on her lips sounds like prayer and apology combined. Her voice carries exhaustion but also steel-hard determination.
I reach her, supporting her weight in the water. She's freezing, skin like ice under my touch. How long has she been out here? How long since she surfaced from whatever happened in the depths? Grey mist swirls around me as I shift to human form. Silver light flares in the dawn. Human lungs drag in air, sweet and cold and necessary.
"What the hell were you thinking?" The words come out harsher than I intend, fueled by hours of terror and battle-fury that haven't fully dissipated. "Going down there alone. Into depths that could have killed you. Without telling anyone where you were going."
"There wasn't time." She's shivering, arms wrapped around herself. "Carrick was drilling into the seal. By the time anyone mobilized, he would have broken through."
"So you went yourself. One selkie against industrial equipment and whatever magical protections he had in place."
"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds reckless." Her teeth chatter, but there's a hint of defiance in her voice. "But someone had to fix what he broke, and spoiler alert—it wasn't going to be you or the brotherhood. My blood, my mess to clean up."
She's right. I know she's right. But that doesn't ease the knot of fear in my chest or the rage at how close I came to losing her.
"The brotherhood could have?—"
"The brotherhood was busy fighting on shore. Exactly like Carrick planned." She meets my eyes. "The attacks on the sacred locations were a distraction. He wanted you scattered, defending multiple sites, while he went for the real prize underwater where none of you could follow."
"I can follow." The protest sounds weak even to my own ears.
"Not deep enough." She's matter-of-fact about it. "You're guardian of these waters, but you're not built for the abyss. I am. My selkie form can go places your bear never could."
Isla is right. She can go deeper. Can touch the seal directly, work magic with it that my bear never could. Can access places that have been beyond guardian protection since the seals were first created. She's more than my mate now—she's essential to protecting these waters in ways I never anticipated. My family has guarded for centuries, but we've only been defending half the territory. The deep places, the abyss where the seal sits exposed, have been vulnerable all along. We just never knew it because nothing threatened them directly until now.
Until Carrick came with his industrial equipment and magical enhancements. Until he found a way to reach depths that should have been impossible. Until he proved that the old protections aren't enough anymore.
Together, Isla and I could protect these waters completely. Surface and depths. Land approaches and ocean trenches. The full territory my family has only partially defended for all these generations.
But that same reality creates a new threat. Carrick saw her in the depths. Saw what she could do. Recognized what she is. The way he fled—not in defeat, but retreat. Strategic withdrawal. He found something more valuable than waking ancient evils.
"The brotherhood?" Her teeth chatter as she speaks.
"Holding the northern caves when I left. Declan and Rafe have the surface approaches." I start swimming, keeping hersupported against my side. "They can handle Carrick's soldiers. But the real fight isn't there anymore."
"It's here." She understands immediately. "In the depths. At the ward."
