Page 6 of The Rake OR The Orca Who Met His Match in a Selkie Desiring Revenge

He’d wanted a snack, and it was nearly impossible for him to get sick if it was catching, but now, his mind had shifted from breakfast. This was no longer a meal, it was a mercy killing.

The seal whipped her head around, eyes focusing for a brief moment before she shot forward in the water. She shouldnothave noticed him this far away. Aegir was getting sloppy in his haste.

As could probably be expected for someone with the instincts of a predator and logic of a human, Aegir tended to have significantly better luck hunting than hisorca brethren.

Slicing through the water, she moved differently than he expected, as if she were actively trying to confuse him. She didn’t dodge from side to side, or head for land, like normal. Instead, she plunged straight ahead, away from the shoreline, faster than any seal he'd chased in the past.

The inescapable pull of his instincts raced in his veins, the knowledge that he was doing her a kindness fleeing from his brain in the face of the hunt. Despite her erratic nature, with any other orca, she might have been successful in her escape. She pushed him to the edge of his natural ability and Aegir had needed to tap additional lunula to enhance his speed. Aegir zipped forward in the water, closing the distance.

The seal glanced behind her, recoiling at his proximity. As Aegir neared, she did a loop in the water, a fast maneuver which had them face to face in seconds. She rammed into his eye socket, slamming the crown of her skull into it and raking her claws along his side as she fled past him. There was somethingverywrong with this seal. He'd heard of other, larger breeds turning to aggression when cornered, but every instinct he had said that this wasunusual behavior. His body spun around and he chased after her, blood pounding in his ears.

Aegir surged through the water, vibrating with adrenaline by the time he caught up to her. He chomped down on her rear flipper, rejoicing in catching such astute prey. A gush of her blood filled his mouth and a scream rang out through the water.

Afartoo human scream.

Which, now that Aegir could taste it, matched the taste of the blood filling his mouth.

Aegir spat her out. The taste of her blood pulled to him in ways that made him feel sick. Aegir shouldnotbe aroused at the taste of human blood. He'd come to relish the taste of high elf as a delicacy, but to enjoy the blood of a human, likethat?Abhorrent.

Before his eyes, her very skin seemed to slough off, and she grew in size, a human woman replacing the seal in seconds, a pelt hanging limply off her shoulders.

A selkie.

He’d only learned of them recently, and his research had left many questions in his mind.

She blinked lazily at him, her eyes rolling back into her head as she went limp in the water.

Aegir shifted partially to have arms. He wrapped them around her limp body and rocketedto the surface, doubting the woman could breathe underwater. He clutched her pelt against her body, remembering she needed it to shift. Every second that passed where she didn’t wake worried him more. Her skin didn’t feel any warmer than his, and her human body left a much larger trail of blood than her flipper would have.

Had she breathed in water? Was she drowning in his arms even as he raced to get her to safety? Aegir was here to save people, or at least disrupt what he could in the Empire. Instead, he'd terrorized one of the people he should have been protecting.

Aegir hoisted her uponto the deck, shifting his tail into legs before climbing up after her. He rushed to his stash of first aid supplies, frustrated with how meager they were. Aegir could heal most of his own injuries, so long as he had lunula in his system.

Before doing anything else, Aegir opened her mouth and smeared some lunula paste on her tongue. She wasn’t actually human,so it likely wouldn’t be bioavailable to her like it was to him, but Aegir couldn’t see how a bit of the Lady’s magic could possibly hurt. She swallowed instinctively, so he scooped more and smeared it again.

When her eyes fluttered open the cheeky woman chomped down on his finger. Fuck, her teethhurt.Despite her humanoid appearance, she had a slew of sharply pointed teeth at the front that speared into the flesh of his two fingers. Roaring, Aegir ripped them from her mouth, shaking his hand and flinging blood in a spray.

She snarled at him, absolutely feral despite her vulnerability. Aegir hadn’t paid much mind to her nakedness before, but her ferocious reaction drew his attention to just how exposed she was.

He snapped his gaze back to her face, he wasn’t going to calm her down by leering at her, but her attention had entirely shifted. She was transfixed by her pelt it seemed, eyes locked to where it sat draped on her thigh, a few drops of his blood marring its surface.

The fierceness he'd seen only seconds before melted as her face and shoulders fell. Looking at her, he realized that even without her pelt, there were certain aspects of her that marked her as a selkie, rather than a human shifter like himself. She had adorable floppy ears and long whiskers that sprouted from hereyebrows. Freckles and spots that echoed the rings of her pelt decorated her face and body.

She stared at her pelt for an eerily long time, breath coming in gasps that progressed to sobs. Aegir kneeled next to her, frozen in his confusion. What could he do? He hadn’t the faintest idea what might be wrong, other than that perhaps she was in shock and scared.

“You’re safe,” Aegir assured in the language of the Empire, keeping his voice quiet and even. “I mistook you for a sick seal. I’m sorry for biting you, but once you’re fixed up you can be on your way. I assume you’re fleeing those Pathian bastards, so I can help you if you need anything.”

Her sobs slowed as she looked at him, lip curled in disgust. “Safe? Do you think I am an idiot?”

“No! I trulyamsorry I bit you, and you gave me your fair share of trouble too,” Aegir said, holding up his injured hand. “But I suppose turnabout is fair play.”

“Safe? I’m sure. And I am meant to think this was just an accident?” Her voice dripped with venom as her eyes flicked to her pelt.

“Oh! Lady, I am so, so sorry! We’ll get that cleaned up, too.” Aegir held his hands up in front of his face. “Look, I am terribly sorry about all of this, and I think I might havemade some sort of horrible cultural error. I’m assuming you’ve been through a lot, and I just want to help.”

The woman just blinked at him, scowling.

“I don’t know what I’ve done to offend you, but I swear it was unintentional.”