The tide is low and the swell is small. This makes the little male seal happy. It means he doesn’t have to ride the green bulge of a wave up onto the shit-stained cliffs of the haul-out; instead he can laze on the beds of lower rocks, which are fuzzy with lichen and limpets and weed. He closes his eyes and steadies his breathing to match the lap of the waves and rolls himself from side to side, letting the texture of the bed massage into his fur and rub at his skin. It’s absolute bliss, but it’s short-lived.

There is a splash, a spray of droplets, a grumpy growl and a presence to his left. He doesn’t have to open his eyes to know it’s an alpha. He keeps them closed, halts his rocking and tries to keep his breathing steady, so the alpha will think he’s asleep and leave him alone. It’s a trick he and his friend used to play on the other pups, when they didn’t want to romp with them. It’s the breathing that’s key; they can hear if you’re awake.

The alpha harrumphs and the little male seal’s skin twitches uneasily.

He’s taken a gamble, he realises, and a risky one at that. He should have moved aside and submitted the moment the alpha appeared. He tries to hear past the alpha’s irritated huffing, past his angry presence to the ocean lapping so that he can anchor his breath and slow his heartbeat.

But the alpha seems to know he is awake, or maybe he doesn’t care that he’s asleep. The alpha’s breathing quickens, and he charges. The little male seal feels it and hears it at the same time, and he opens his eyes to see a familiar maw dripping with squid-ink. The alpha’s teeth are bared, and his whiskers and mane ripple in anger as he lumbers closer. The little male seal tries to scramble out of the way, but the alpha is too quick. He lowers his head at the last moment and throws all his weight behind his shoulder, which rams into the little male seal and tosses him into the swirling kelp that fringes the rocks.

The little male seal lets himself sink, spiralling slowly down through the silken tassels and, even though the density of the water dampens his voice, he can hear the alpha honking and roaring into the air above that this is his rock and a certain cocky beta-half-pup should consider himself warned or else.

He considers himself warned.