Page 31 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

His chest rose and fell a little faster, and he opened his mouth to respond, but then that stupid cleaning thing started making even more noise. I turned to scowl at it.

Rowan’s hands smoothed up my arms before he gently pulled them off him so he could go turn the noise off.

“Here.” He smiled as he returned, tossing a pile of the blankets on top of me.

They were so warm! And so soft!

I quickly bundled them up in my arms, letting the cozy warmth of them seep into me. “This is amazing!”

Yes, this was excellent. It would make for a very, very comfortable nest.

“That thing made them all cozy like this?”

“The dryer. Yes.”

Thedryer. I took back my negative thoughts on the thing right away. It was allowed to be noisy if this was what it was doing. I inhaled the blankets, and the air coming off them was warm and inviting. Rowan’s scent was still there, but it was very faint, and masked by something else that was pleasant, I supposed, but not nearly as pleasant as him.

“Can we make other things warm too?” I asked as I spread the blankets out again, remaking the nest the way I liked it.

“Clothes mostly. Blankets. Sheets. Towels.”

A brilliant idea sparked in my mind as I grabbed the selkie coat hanging over my shoulder.

“No,” Rowan said quickly.

“Why? I want it to be warm and fluffy!”

“Because. The dryer isn’t for living things. And that…seemsto be a living thing. Isn’t it?”

I thought about it. I wasn’t really sure. It was connected to me and I was living, so kind of? “Well, can we just try?”

“No, Milo. That’s not a good idea.”

“Pleeeeease?”

“No. You don’t want to accidentally damage it, do you?”

I groaned. “Well, I need to drysomething.”

“Well, every time you let me wash the blankets, you can use it then.”

I pouted. I didn’t want to keep washing our smells from the blankets, but Ididwant to use the dryer. It was an impossible situation. “Let me wash your clothes.”

Rowan huffed. “Fine. You’d have more clothes to wash if you wore some too, you know.”

My upper lip pulled up in disgust.

He chuckled. “Come on, then. I’ll show you how to use it.”

There were two “machines.” One of them wet things as it cleaned them, and the other dried them. So it turned out the dryer wasn’t even the thing responsible for getting Rowan’s smell out of my blankets, and I loved it even more.

Rowan showed me how to make them work, and I was amazed at the human magic in them. I made Rowan promise he would let me use them from now on when he wanted to clean things, and he agreed.

But then I had to deal with the far more important matter of getting Rowan’s scent back on the blankets. I pulled him over to them, forcing him to lie down so I could lie on top of him. I buried my nose in his neck, seeking one place I’d found his scent was particularly strong.

“You can’t leave here until the blankets smell like you again,” I told him.

He huffed. “Why do you want them to smell like me?”