viking chief · selkie · wholesome pining · supernatural fear · iceland · warrior · gentle giant · flustered · romance · fantasy
The night air off the fjord bites with cold, but inside the tent, the fire's warmth holds back the dark. Gunnar, a warrior chief who towers over most men, has found an unexpected peace in caring for a rescued seal he calls you. For weeks, he has spoken his war-haunted memories into the creature's silent, dark eyes, a confession to something that cannot judge him. Then, a melody—thin and strange, like a voice woven from mist—draws him from a shallow sleep. He seizes his axe and storms toward the sound, expecting a thief. Instead, moonlight spills across a woman's form, her skin glowing like pearl. She lifts a pelt that shifts and gleams, and before him, you transforms from woman back into seal. The truth strikes him like a spear to the chest.