Hisss

by Skye MacKinnon

  Lennox doesn't bother putting on more than sweatpants. "I'll deal with Mr Moon. If K2 is out on the streets, he ought to know too."

  "Tell him that she mustn't be harmed," I warn him.

  He nods. "Of course."

  In that moment, I love him to bits. He doesn't question me wanting to protect a woman who's a danger to this town. He just accepts it.

  I know myself that this may be the end of the line for K2. If she gets into trouble, I might be too late to save her. And if she's on the way back to the Pack or some other sirens, it will be hard to get her out of there. I wish we'd had more time to work on freeing her from their control, but with everything else going on, including the stupid wolf problem, there just hasn't been the opportunity. Guilt rises up in my throat like acid. I should have prioritised my sister over a random pack of wolves. Yes, Mr Moon promised me information on my other sisters, but that could have been a ruse. K2 was right here, with me, yet I ignored her.

  Gods, I'm an awful big sister to have.

  With Ryker and Lennox away, I turn to Gryphon. "Is there any way you can find her? You've connected to her, but I don't know about siren stuff so I have no idea, but..."

  He wraps me in his arms. "Don't worry, we'll find her."

  "We don't need to," Ryker calls from outside. "I know where she is."

  We follow the cat, a tiny little thing with white legs and a permanent scowl, through the outskirts of town where our wagon is based. She's said it's not far, but she's refused to tell us anything else. I don't like her. This might be the first time ever I've been tempted to torture one of my own. Her silence frustrates me to no end.

  Ryker is holding my hand, squeezing gently from time to time. My tension lessens for a moment whenever he does it, before crashing back into me a second later.

  Lennox has stayed back to deal with Mr Moon, but Gryphon is next to me. Even though he's not holding my hand like Ryker, he's close, his shoulder bumping into mine every few steps. I appreciate how he's trying not to overpower me with his touch while still being there, showing that he's here for me. That's how I interpret it, anyway. Maybe he just likes bumping into me.

  The cat meows when we reach a narrow alleyway sneaking its way through two rows of tall buildings. It's not the nicest part of town but there are worse. Another cat, this one a male, jumps from a metal bin and meows in greeting. They rub noses. Their love is evident even for those who can't speak their language. So cute. But not what I should be focusing on just now.

  "Where is she?" I ask impatiently.

  The male cat turns to me. His whiskers are pure white, while the rest of him is mottled in all sorts of colours. Like an artist emptied his leftover paints all over the cat's fur. Gorgeous in a chaotic kind of way.

  He doesn't meow, but I can read his intentions nonetheless. He wants me to be quiet and follow him. I translate for Gryphon, the only one in our group not able to communicate with the cats.

  He nods, not finding it strange at all to take orders from a feline. I guess he's used to it by now. For someone who's not a shifter, he blends in remarkably well. Maybe it's a siren skill. They do need to blend in to pull the strings from the background. It's why nobody knows about them. They could be anyone.

  We sneak down the alley, where an old archway leads towards the river. Grass grows on top of the red bricks that threaten to collapse in the next big storm. The two cats stop before we can duck underneath the archway, and the male extends his paw to point at the scene before us.

  I suck in a breath. K2 sits on the banks of the river, her trouser legs rolled up to her thighs, her feet dangling in the water. Bethany is next to her, amicably chatting with my sister. Who shouldn't be supposed to be able to talk. Nor look as relaxed as this. Lily is standing halfway across the river, laughing as tiny waves crash against her naked legs. The only one missing is Benjamin.

  "What. The. Fuck," Gryphon mutters before I can do it.

  This is the complete opposite of what I expected. Hell, I could never have anticipated this at all. From afar, the three girls seem like the best of friends who're enjoying a day by the river, cooling off from the non-existent heat. I wouldn't be surprised if they brought a picnic.

  The male cat meows and Ryker translates. "They've been here for about an hour. The cats thought it was a little strange but they didn't want to disturb us." He rolls his eyes. "You don't want to know what they call what we did."

  "I do, actually," Gryphon retorts.

  Now that we know K2 and the others are safe, the tension has lifted. I can breathe again. And laugh.

  The laughter springs from my mouth before I can stop myself. I laugh and laugh, holding my belly, tears springing to my eyes. The guys look at me, a little confused at first, then they join my hysterical laughter. I sense the cats' confusion, which makes me laugh even harder. This must be the strangest situation I've ever found myself in.

  K2 turns around and waves at us. Fricking waves.

  As if this was the most normal thing ever. As if she hadn't begged me to kill her just two days ago. I think my mind is blown. I need a drink, or some catnip, or both.

  I walk towards them, taking my time, still a little scared to startle my sister. I mean, she almost killed me, I'm allowed to be a little hesitant around her. Bethany finally realises that we're here and turns, giving me a cheeky grin.

  "Sorry, we thought about waking you, but you seemed like you needed sleep."

  "You were very loud last night," Lily states while wading through the water towards us. "I can't wait to be in a house again where I'm far away from your bedroom."

  Had I been noisy? I don't remember. It's all a bit of a blur. Lots of touching, kissing and orgasms.

  "Sorry," Ryker says, surprising me. "It's still new to me, doing this as a human. So much more intense."

  "Alright, back to the elephant in the room," I snap before they can continue talking about my sex life. "What the hell are you doing?"

  "Caitlin wanted to see the area," Bethany replies with an innocent smile. "Since the weather is nice, we decided to go to the river. Benjamin was feeling well enough to go to the pharmacy by himself. He might join us later on."

  "Elephant. In. The. Room." I have a hard time not shouting at them. Why isn't anyone telling me what's going on?

  "It was supposed to be a surprise." Lily steps out of the river and sits down on the grass, rubbing her legs. Her skin is bright red; the water must be freezing. "We solved it last night while you were out befriending the local wolves. Bethany wanted to tell you, but I thought it would be much more fun to make it a surprise."

  "I'm going to skewer you and stuff you into fortune cookies if you don't tell me right now," I growl. "Then you can be a surprise for all the people I'm going to feed you to."

  She laughs. Urgh. Can't she at least pretend to be scared?

  "You're adorable when you're angry. Why don't you sit with us and we can explain it all?"

  "Yes, sit." K2 hasn't said anything until now. Her voice is far more relaxed than I remember.

  It seems I'm not getting anywhere at all. I flop to the ground, cross my legs, and glare at the girls. Lily giggles as I shoot daggers at her. Just metaphorical ones, sadly. I won't kill her until I've got my answers.

  "Tell. Me."

  I grind out the words, barely managing to keep a hold on my temper.

  Gryphon sits down next to me and puts a hand on my thigh. If that is supposed to calm me down, it's not working. Ryker stays standing, the two cats at his feet, watching us with bemused expressions. I guess life is a lot simpler for them.

  Bethany sighs theatrically. "Alright then. Last night, I gave Caitlin the usual sedative, but I mixed it with something else. You know how I've been trying to replicate the drug they gave you? Well, after you brought home some of it from the lab, I compared it to my own poor attempts. Not having my own laboratory hasn't made it easy, but I think it's a testament to my skills that I've managed to synthesise a version of it."

  "A version?"
Gryphon asks. "Why would you want more of the stuff?"

  "I didn't create the same," Bethany corrects herself. "I made the opposite."

  "An antidote?"

  "No, an antidote would stop or reverse the effects of the drug. I've created something that does exactly the opposite. While the original drug separates your connection with your feline side, my version increases it. Why, you ask? It's because I'm a genius."

  I roll my eyes. "A little less self-importance, please."

  "You're boring. My theory was that Caitlin was able to be controlled so easily by the sirens is because they increased her human side. Sirens have a much harder time controlling shifters, right, Gryphon?"

  He nods. "It's possible but only for the strongest of us. I can only influence Kat to an extent. I can lead her into a direction, but if I tried to make her do something that she was really opposed to, I'd fail. I wouldn't be able to make a shifter harm themselves or others, but I could do it to a human."

  "That's exactly what I was relying on," Bethany says jubilantly. "By giving her my new drug, I made her less human. I don't think I'll ever be able to reverse the separation they caused, but it seemed to be enough for their control to slip. When Caitlin woke up, she was able to talk to me. It was slow, at first, but she managed to fight off the sirens' control and stay herself."

  "It's easy now," K2 confirms. "I still feel their presence, far in the back of my mind, but they're weak. Even if this is a one-off, I'm going to enjoy it."

  She turns back to the water and moves her feet around. I wonder if she's ever done this before. Sat by a river, carefree and without any obligations. Free.

  "What's with the name?" I ask gently.

  "You asked me whether I had one. After I talked to you, I was still mostly conscious. I wasn't as gone as I had been before. I was able to think. So I decided I wanted a name. By the time Bethany woke me, I knew which one I wanted.”

  "It's a pretty name." I don't tell her about the other Caitlin I knew once, the girl who worked in Mr Kindler's sweet shop. Who was responsible for shifter children being killed. Who was killed by Gryphon. Better to let her start with a blank slate.

  I turn to Lily and Bethany and give them both a glare. "Do you have any idea how worried we were when you weren't at home? We thought something had happened to you. That you'd been kidnapped or goodness knows what."

  "Stop sounding like my mother," Lily scoffs. "It was just a surprise."

  "You thought I took them," Caitlin says quietly without looking at me. "And I understand that. But I need you to know that I'm no longer K2. I have my life back. I don't know if it's going to last, but I don't want to live in K2's shadow. She's done horrible things, but I haven't."

  "We've got company," Ryker suddenly says.

  I sniff the air. Oh my. Double trouble is about to arrive.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The twins aren't happy. They stare at Caitlin as if she's about to grow a second head just so she can devour them both at the same time. It's clear they don't trust her.

  "She should be locked up!" Four shouts at me. "Not running around, free to kill whoever she wants."

  I hold up my hands, trying to calm her. "It's safe. Look at her. Look into her eyes. She's no longer controlled by the Pack. This is the real Caitlin now."

  "Caitlin?" Four spits. "She's given herself a name. That doesn't stop her from being a monster. She's playing you, and you don't even notice because you're trying to see the good in people. Wake up, Kat. She's not who she pretends to be. The sirens are still controlling her."

  "I know you're scared," Caitlin says gently, surprising all of us. "But you don't need to be. I'm sorry for what K2 did to you. I'm sorry I look like her. But I'm not sorry for being me. For being alive."

  This is becoming increasingly confusing.

  Ivy steps forward. "Do you remember hurting me?"

  Caitlin's eyes widen as she takes in her sister. "Fragments. Whenever they made me do bad things, I tried to hide. So many bad memories... I couldn't do anything to stop it. My body moved without me having control. You must believe me, I never aimed to hurt you. Especially not after I found out who you were. They told me, after. They laughed about it. How I'd almost killed my own sibling."

  "Did they call her a sibling?" Gryphon asks.

  She frowns, confused. "No. A clone. They called all of you clones."

  He smiles at her. "But you decided to see them as siblings." He turns to the twins. "The proof is in the little details. She wouldn't decide to claim you as her sisters if she was out to hurt you. That wouldn't make any sense. She'd try and distance herself from you so that she wouldn't have to feel guilty. And if it's any help, I can no longer feel the siren influence on her. Last time, I could barely reach her mind because they fought me for it, but this time, it's completely different."

  "Try and make her do something," Four snaps. "Prove that she's no longer under your or any other siren's control."

  Gryphon's smile disappears. "That would be against the rules I live by."

  "Do it, please," Caitlin asks softly. "If it helps them understand. Just...don't make me kill anyone."

  He sighs. "Alright. And I won't."

  Gryphon starts to hum, the same gentle melody I've heard him use before. It's not one of his battle songs nor the raging melody of love that he's used on me. It's simple but elegant. I let the music wash over me, immediately feeling lighter. Caitlin gets up and stands on her tiptoes. I frown at Gryphon questioningly, but he just smiles and continues his song.

  Caitlin starts to dance. Wow. She moves like air, almost seeming to float on the grass. She turns and jumps and pirouettes and does all sorts of moves that I don’t have names for. But the best thing is her smile. I’ve rarely seen anyone this happy. A deep, base happiness that transcends everything else.

  I steal a glance at the twins. Both of them are gaping at our sister, their mouths slightly parted, their eyes wide. They’ve never looked more alike.

  Gryphon’s melody changes slightly and suddenly, Four’s arm twitches, before both her arms stretch up, her hands meeting in the middle in an elegant arch. She starts to dance as well, moving away from her sister, joining Caitlin.

  Alright, I have no idea what’s going on here. What is Gryphon up to?

  Ivy is still in the same position, but now a smile is curling her lips as she’s watching her sisters.

  “If they can dance like that, does that mean you have the same moves?” Ryker whispers.

  “Don’t even continue that thought,” I hiss. “I’m not going to dance.”

  He wiggles his eyebrows in the way I like. Naughty boy. He knows I’m having trouble resisting him when he does that. “Just in theory. Could you dance?”

  “Not even in theory. This conversation is over.”

  I turn away from him despite the pretty wiggling eyebrows. His charm only goes so far. I’m not going to dance for him. I wouldn’t even know how, unless my fighting moves can count as dancing. I guess I can do the dance of death, but I need my knives for that plus a victim who I can kill at the end of it. Dancing is no fun without a little blood.

  Gryphon’s melody is becoming slower and so are my sisters’ movements. By the time the final note springs from his lips, they’re standing opposite each other, breathing hard. Four has her eyes closed, but now she slowly opens them, blinking into the daylight. They look at each other. I wish I could read their thoughts.

  An unspoken conversation seems to pass between them, then Four inclines her head.

  “Hey, sister.”

  Caitlin smiles. “Hey.”

  I think my heart is about to explode with a strange, overwhelming feeling. I adore these girls. No, wrong word. But I’m not going to use the other one. Not yet. I don’t want to commit myself. Yes, they’re my sisters, but just because we share the same genetics doesn’t mean we need to lo…adore each other. For now, I’m aiming for none of us killing one of the others. That seems like a good start.

  “Explain what
just happened,” Ryker demands, turning to Gryphon. “I thought you weren’t supposed to control them?”

  The siren grins. “I didn’t. I just gave them a little push.”

  “Wait, so you didn’t make them dance?”

  “I gave them a suggestion. They could have easily fought it, but they both accepted it as an order they wanted to follow. Probably because I wasn’t asking them to do anything bad. I took them by surprise.”

  “Did they already know how to dance?” I ask him. “Or did you show them how to?”

  “My sister used to take dance lessons. I had to come along sometimes when the babysitter was ill.” His expression turns grave. “I didn’t realise back then, but now I know what the bruises on her face meant. My father never liked the babysitter, but my mum did, so she stayed. Well, she was ill a lot.”

  Gryphon’s father sounds like a real arsehole. I’m going to enjoy taking him down, eventually. He’s quite far down my list but one day, I’m going to work my way through the list and deal with all the people who’ve hurt my family and fellow shifters.

  Ivy walks up to us, smiling happily. “Thank you. I’ve never seen Four so relaxed. I think she needed this.”

  Gryphon returns her smile. “She needed almost no encouragement at all. It was like she craved the excuse to just let go. You though, you fought me. Why?”

  She shrugs. “I grew up in very different circumstances from Four.”

  That doesn’t explain anything, but I don’t pressure her to continue. We all have our secrets. Our pasts.

  The male cat comes over and rubs against Gryphon’s legs, meowing loudly.

  Ryker laughs. “He wants you to teach him how to dance. I think you’ve just got yourself a new job.”

  Gryphon stares at the cat. Then hums a cheerful melody. And the cat begins to dance.

  Chapter Twenty

  Lennox and Mr Moon are waiting for us in the wagon’s living area. I’d hoped the wolf would have left by now, but at the same time, I need the information he’s promised. My sisters have stayed by the river, with some cats watching them to make sure they don’t get into trouble. Ryker complained that we’re now using his cats not just as spies, but as babysitters too, but I know that deep inside, he loves getting his feline family involved. Ever since he learned to shift, he’s not spent as much time with them as he used to. He must feel guilty about that. I’ll need to have a chat with him on what to do with the cats when we move.