CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Valdez
Every fiber of my being hoped I was wrong. A Selkie on the back porch was not what I needed. I just wanted to leave. I never should have come back. Those vampires I'd left could follow me anywhere.
And I prayed to every deity I knew that it wasn’t Willow barking on the porch.
Through the screen, I could see the nearly black muzzle of the harbor seal. Black muzzle.
“Shit.”
That wasn’t Willow.
“What do you mean shit, Dez?” she shrieked as she looked through the screen door with me. “That’s a seal. There is a seal on my porch. What is a seal doing on my porch? Why does it have an antenna?”
It wasn’t an antenna. It was a satellite transmitter glued to the seal’s head. I groaned as I saw the fluorescent orange tag attached to its back flipper. I took a second look at the nearly black muzzle and saw the white scared V on its face as the seal cocked its head at me.
“That,” I said with a heavy sigh, “is my brother-in-law.”
“Your what?”
“My brother-in-law. He’s a shapeshifter. And an idiot, apparently.”
I pushed out the back door, pulling my father’s knife from my hip. Rhen didn’t turn away. He snapped at me as the blade flashed.
“Do you want help or not, Selkie?” My voice was stern. Koda would find a way to blame this on me if I didn’t help. “I’m not going to skin you.”
He laid his head on the porch and stilled as I knelt beside him to assess the situation.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ellie followed me on to the porch, and the door slammed behind her. “Shouldn’t we call someone?”
“Who? My sister?”
Rhen gave a whining bark at me. Even he knew that was a bad idea.
“I’m not calling Koda until he doesn't look like an alien. Somehow, this will be my fault.”
“He’s not your brother-in-law. You are crazy. I don't care what Brian says.”
Rhen barked and hissed at her, snapping his teeth as she got close to him. Nice to see he could be as feisty as his sister.
“Ellie, meet Rhen. Rhen, this is Ellie.”
My words were nonchalant as I tried to figure out how the transmitter was attached to him. Rhen didn’t make a sound as I manipulated his new antenna. It appeared glued onto him.
She put a hand on my shoulder, keeping her distance between herself and the Selkie. I couldn't blame her. His curved teeth were intimidating to those who didn't know him.
“Why did it hiss at me, but you’re touching it and it's not making a sound?”
“I told you. His name is Rhen, and he’s a shapeshifter.” I sighed as I let go of the transmitter. A month ago, I would have sat back and laughed at his misfortune and said it served him right. “Damn it. Looks like the only way to get this off is to cut it off. Hold still. I don’t need Koda thinking I cut you on purpose.”
Rhen whined at me, rolling his eyes the best he could. The dark metal of my father's knife silenced him He recognized it immediately just as I had.
I held my breath as I slid the blade between the transmitter and the Selkie’s fur. It was a small miracle I’d only left him with a bald patch.
“One problem down,” I mumbled as the seal shook its head. There weren't many options to remove his flipper tag, but all of them Koda would be pissed off at me for.
“Orange looks good on you, Ravenwhite. You sure you don't want to keep it?”
He sneezed at me. At least he could understand me, even if I couldn't translate his hisses and barks.
“You sure this is a good idea?”
He was an Other. Three days ago, I probably would have still tried to kill him, but now we shared blood. I couldn't. He was family. That hit me deeper than the fact he was something I'd hated most of my life. I couldn't even take a small bit of pleasure in what I was about to do.
“What are you doing? You can’t take that tag off,” Ellie shrieked at me as I inspected the tag.
I ignored her. There was no easy way to do it. I pulled my handkerchief from my pocket. If I walked away, she'd do something stupid like try to call the police to get in contact with wildlife control.
Before Rhen had a chance to look over his shoulder, I sliced the Selkie’s flipper by the tag and pulled it off, applying pressure with the flimsy cloth to try to keep the bleeding at a minimum. Rhen hissed and snapped at me, but didn't pull his flipper away.
“Dez, what the hell did you do?”
“Grab some towels and the first aid kit. I've gotta get the bleeding stopped before he can shift.”
“What? You’re crazy. I’m calling animal control.”
Rhen bared his teeth at her.
“Elara, you can’t. Just do as I ask,” I snapped at her, the Selkie’s blood already soaking through the thin fabric, making my hands slick.
“No,” she snapped back at me, pulling off her sweatshirt. “Do it your damn self.”
I opened my mouth to yell at her, but she knelt beside me. She gently removed my hands and replaced the blood-soaked cloth with her sweatshirt. I watched for a moment as Rhen snapped at her. She smacked him on the nose.
“No.” She pointed a finger at him like she did my husky when he bounced around her feet too much. Rhen flinched back and just stared at her, soundless. I don’t think Koda would have done that.
“Thank you.”
I kissed the top of her head as I pulled myself up from the wooden deck.
When I came back with the supplies and a blanket for Ellie, she was shivering but stroking the Selkie’s coat. She’d managed to lull him to sleep in the brief amount of time I’d been gone. I just shook my head as I draped a blanket over her shoulders. Things were about to get really awkward.
I gently removed her hands and the sweatshirt from the Selkie’s tail to inspect the damage. Nothing looked irreparable, and the bleeding had slowed to a near stop. The blade had at least been sharp. Rhen was about to hate me. I dumped some of the antiseptic on his flipper. It was a rude awakening from a nice nap. He wildly whipped his head and snapped at me. I smacked the seal’s muzzle away to avoid his teeth.
Ellie smacked me upside the head.
“You did this to him.”
“You’re as bad as my sister. Step back.”
“No.”
A growl bubbled from my throat. My good arm around her waist, I tossed her over my shoulder.
“Put me down, you jerk!”
I placed her inside the house and shut the screen door before tossing the extra moving blanket over the Selkie. I didn't really care to watch Rhen shift, but I didn't think he would appreciate Ellie staring.
Ellie pushed the door open to stomp back on to the porch, but I caught her and wrapped my arms around her as the shape under the blanket began to change. Her body tensed against me, hands digging in to my arm in fear as she watched what had been a seal form lengthen and take the shape of a human. There wasn't much I could do but stand there and hold her. I caught myself muttering for her to hush.
“Thank you, Dez,” a tired voice said from beneath the blanket. Ellie shrieked, nearly jumping out of my arms.
Rhen made it out from under the blanket with an exhausted sigh, making sure to keep his waist covered. Ellie went slack against me at the site of Rhen’s messy black hair, the tan skin, swirling tattoos, and the glaring half moon scar across his chest. Willow had told me years ago he was bit by an orca on a dive. I thought she’d been kidding. When he moved to brush his hair out of his face, I saw he was missing a patch. That was going to be fun for him to explain to Koda.
“You really are his brother-in-law?” Ellie stammered. Rhen held up his hand with his gold wedding band. How he still had that after shifting, I didn't want to know. “So, if you’re a person, a human, what was I petting?”
“Person, yes. Human, not exactly. Selkie. And if you meet Koda, please don’t tell her you were petting me. She can get crazy; best just to keep that all between us,” Rhen said sheepishly as he wrinkled his nose as he rubbed the irritating spot on the back of his neck.
“You got yourself in to one hell of a mess there. You good, seal?” I asked as he let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Nope. Got chipped, too. Need you to get it out.”
“And you trust me?”
“I trust you’re worried what Koda will do to you if you fuck this up. I don't trust you, neither should Ellie.”