As promised in my last post, here is an excerpt from my next release! I have been working on this story for about five years now. It’s gone through many rewrites and changes, and it’s finally getting to a point where I am happy with it. This is one scene that I had to entirely rewrite just because the first wasn’t believable. So, earlier, I sat down and rewrote it. What you are reading is ENTIRELY UNEDITED. It will, of course, be edited like crazy before the final release. But I wanted to share a snippet of this story with you because I am so excited about it. ❤

First, some setting: Sadie and Arabella are visiting Ireland together. Arabella is so excited by seeing the ocean again that she runs straight into the water despite a little bit of a rough tide. While trying to convince her girlfriend to join her, a giant wave slams over her, dragging her under until she loses her bearing and can’t find her way out. A strange woman saves her, and that’s where the scene I’m sharing picks up.

I don’t have an official release date yet, but I’m shooting for somewhere around mid to late Spring. (I also don’t have a title for this yet. I’ve tried to come up with titles for this and nothing feels right yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I have one!)

~*~

Sadie could barely believe her eyes. Was there really a seal woman carrying Arabella out of the ocean? She should have been afraid, but she couldn’t be. All she could see was Ari on shore, and that was all that mattered. Sadie raced towards her girlfriend, uncaring who was holding her. The seal-woman laid Ari down in the wet sand and, seeing someone racing towards her, turned around and dove back into the waves. By the time Sadie reached Arabella, the seal woman was gone.

“Arabella!” Sadie said as she slipped her arms under her girlfriend’s and tried to drag her up the shore away from the raging waves that threatened to drown her. Arabella’s small frame was heavier than Sadie expected it to be and she had a bit of trouble dragging her up the beach.

“Let me help you,” a strange voice said.

Sadie almost dropped Arabella she was so shocked by the strange voice. When she looked behind her she saw a woman with long dark hair picking up Ari’s legs. Her eyes were sunken, but as blue as the ocean. Still the woman had a kind, if not sad, smile. It took Sadie a few seconds to realize she was staring instead of walking. She felt her cheeks burn as she nodded and started walking up the beach once again, her girlfriend now much easier to carry.

When they’d almost reached the cliff faces she and the strange woman laid Arabella down gently on the sand. Sadie let out a breath of relief when she saw Ari’s chest was steadily rising and falling. Sadie couldn’t help but stare at her girlfriend, watching her breathing. If something had happened to her Sadie didn’t know what she would do. Ari had saved her…in more ways than one.

Once Sadie was sure Arabella would be ok she turned her attention to the strange woman. “Tell me you saw that…thing. The one that pulled her out of the ocean? I’m not crazy right, you saw her, too?”

The woman turned her gaze toward the water, her eyes falling a little. “I did. She is the reason I was here.” Her voice was heavy, as if a great weight lay on her shoulders.

Sadie blinked rapidly. “You know her?” She couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice.

The woman nodded. “She is my girlfriend.” She looked directly into Sadie’s eyes when she told her the truth. “She is the love of my life, but I am forever separated from her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am Celia, a selkie like her. But a few years ago, a fisherman named Murtagh found my skin that I’d hid behind a rock while I danced on the shore with Leannan, my lover. I can’t return to the ocean without it.”

“Why not just steal it back?” Sadie asked, her gaze returning to Arabella. She couldn’t imagine being separated like that from Ari. It would kill her.

“He hid it from me. I’ve searched everywhere, but can’t find it at all. Leannan has even come up and tried to help me look, but in the end we find nothing.”

Between them Arabella began coughing, spitting up a little water as she finally came to. Both girls turned to look at her.

“S-Sadie?” Arabella said, her green eyes searching until it found her girlfriend’s face.

“Ari!” Sadie flung her arms around her girlfriend, gathering her close and nearly crying. Arabella wrapped her own arms tightly around Sadie as if her life depended on it.

“Oh gods, what happened?” Arabella asked when the couple pulled away from each other.

Sadie looked from Arabella to Celia. “Well, let me tell you a story…”