by Charlie Hart
“What the hell?” Rem whispers, stepping closer to witness the miracle. We follow her lead, unable to stop ourselves.
The woman lifts her body from the water, resting her arms on the edge of the boat. Her narrow waist leads to a green shimmering tail, that flips above the water. And when she moves we see her belly is swollen with child.
She kisses the men, one at a time, and then they help her from the water, her tail is now gone. The boat continues to move to the shore, and the woman with the pink hair appears to be dressing.
“What’s happening?” Rem asks, walking closer to shore. Part of me wants to pull her back, to stop her, but then the men drop anchor and jump from the boat, shoes in hand, jeans cuffed, and one of them lifts the woman from the boat, setting her on the rocky shore.
The man who had the woman in his hands is— “Holy fuck,” I mutter.
“What?” Rem asks, reaching for my hand.
“That’s West,” I tell her. “I haven’t seen him in years”
“West?”
“My stepbrother,” I tell them. “We grew up together. This is his hometown as well as mine.”
Rem lifts an eyebrow. “Is he a shifter?”
“No. My dad married his mom after she had him.”
“Well, what’s he doing with a mermaid?”
I step forward, raising a hand to signal him. I have no fucking idea, but I’m going to find out.
Chapter 20
Remedy
My shirt is soaked from the rainstorm, my hair is a mess, and my heart’s weary from all that has transpired today. To sum it up, I’m exhausted.
But River tugs on my hand, pulling me toward the group of strangers. Well, the strangers and his stepbrother
We walk closer and the brothers nod in greeting—not even hugging it out or shaking hands. It’s like they know what brought them together isn’t about the two of them.
It’s about something else.
The men step aside and then it is just the shifting mermaid and me.
We’re face-to-face and she refuses to look anywhere except my eyes. It’s unnerving, her focus. I look her over, taking in her pink hair and sparkling eyes and cheeks that shimmer—a face so opposite of my own it almost makes my jagged heart whole. Like she is the missing piece.
“Sister?” she asks, stepping closer, her hand reaching for my face.
I back away, eyes raised. Guard up.
“Uh, say what?”
She tilts her head, her body nimble. Like that of a water creature, her pink hair covered in tiny pearls and shells, her lips a pale blue—matching her eyes. She wears loose, cuffed, jeans and a sweater falling off her tanned shoulders and over her pregnant belly. She looks effortlessly beautiful.
I swallow. I’m effortlessly something too. But instead of looking one thousand kinds of perfect, I usually look like a hot mess.
The bear’s gentle words echo in my heart: You are enough.
How I long to believe it.
“Sister,” the Siren repeats, taking my hand, not even asking first. But then she runs her hand over my ring, the one I found in the bottom of the box at Sadie’s apartment. The one with the paw imprint, a band that was heavy and ancient and fit me perfectly. As she touches the ring, it begins to glow, the band itself becomes blindingly bright.
“What the hell?” I ask, pulling my hand from her hold.
She looks over her shoulder, the men behind her nodding, urging her forward. I feel my men behind me, but I’m not at ease in the presence of these strangers. I want to pull away, retreat. I want to go to the cottage and draw a hot bath and close my eyes. But this Siren seems to have a hold on me. I can’t turn from her.
“Look.” She takes my hand again, more firmly this time, with urgency. She clasps her fingers around my wrist and turns her hand up, so my eyes focus on her bright ring. Both of them glow. Hers is different, though. Instead of a paw print, hers is encrusted with a delicate seashell. But it’s a glowing ring, nonetheless.
“What is this?” I ask, my eyes narrowed.
“It’s from our mother. We’re sisters, separated at birth.”
I shake my head, suddenly achingly cold. I want to go home.
Callum understands my needs and wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Can we go to the house and finish this conversation? It’s late, and we’re kind of vulnerable right now.”
“The house?” East balks. “I don’t know that’s a good idea.”
“We can’t stay out here all night,” River says. “And it looks like we have a lot to catch up on.” He meets his brother’s gaze and they share a knowing look.
“Um, am I the only one a little hesitant to let a group of strangers into our home?” I ask, indignant.
“We’re not strangers,” the Siren says. “I’m Harlow. Your sister.”
“How can you be so sure. We look nothing alike. And you’re a mer-something. I’m just a person.”
Beside me, my men laugh. I shoot them a look and it shuts them up. “Okay, maybe not just a person, but I’m not a sea creature.”
“What are you?” Harlow asks me.
“A newly-minted wolf shifter,” I say, shocked at my ability to tell her this truth. Harlow gives me a half-smile. “How new?”
“Very. Like, a week ago.”
“Hey, ladies,” a guy standing next to Harlow says. “I know we want to find out everything, but it’s getting dark. We either need to get back to the sailboat or––”
“No way,” River says. “You guys are coming with us.”
An hour later, we’re back to the house and East and Callum have put a frozen lasagna in the oven. I’m dicing tomatoes for the salad and trying not to stare at Harlow, who looks like an absolute goddess.
“I don’t trust her,” I say to Cal and East.
“And why’s that?” Cal asks, slicing a loaf of French bread.
“Look at her.”
We turn to look at the woman claiming to be my relative. She’s sitting by the fire, hands over her belly, a serene expression on her face. She has two men with her—Crew and Kai—and River and West are outside getting more firewood.
“She looks … nice.”
I snort. “Nice? She claims we’re sisters with zero proof.”
“You both have multiple partners.”
“So?” I purse my lips—though the truth is I did find that more than a little strange. We both have multiple lovers and she claims her baby is part all of her men. Just. Like. Me.
“It’s a little odd, Rem,” Cal says. “And you have the same birthday. That’s quite a coincidence.”
On the walk back, she asked me my date of birth, saying when she turned twenty-one she received some sort of power. She seemed confused when I told her my twenty-first came and went with me homeless, and that I didn’t get my supposed powers until last week.
“She could be lying.” I suggest it, even though, deep in my heart, I know she isn’t. The bear told me I needed to find my sisters.
And now one of them is here.
“Why would she lie?” East asks softly. He pushes the hair from my neck and kisses my bare skin. “What would she gain from that?”
A shiver runs up my back. And it’s not just from East’s soft kisses. I felt something when she looked into my eyes, as she held my hand, when our rings glowed. And while they aren’t the same, the rings are both ancient. Something from a different time.
She is my sister.
“Don’t you want a family?” Cal asks.
I frown. “I already have a family. You guys.”
“But what if there was more?” Cal asks. “Wouldn’t that be even better?” Just then River and West return with wood, and River comes to the kitchen, greeting me with a kiss.
“They shouldn’t be here,” I say coolly. “They are going to get hurt. Malik is going to come here and try to kill us for what I did today. And she’s pregnant. She should leave.”
“You’re pregnant too,” East says.
“Still
, I don’t want any more blood on my hands.”
Harlow and her men walk over to us as I say the last part and I clench my jaw, tight, already knowing I’ve said too much.
“More blood?” Harlow asks, not missing a beat. “Why do you have blood on your hands to start with?”
Chapter 21
Remedy
I pour dressing on the salad I’ve assembled, dodging the question. “I wasn’t… I don’t… It’s not like––”
Harlow cuts me off. “You can tell me. We’re family, Remedy. And some sort of twins, at that.”
I shrug. “Look at us. We’re not twins.” I’m backing away from her, hard as I can. It’s scary, finally finding the thing you’ve always wanted. Family.
“But we have the same birthday. And the same rings. And my father told me I had sisters—sisters who don’t know their mother.” That gets me to shut up, but still, I don’t answer. “And you don’t know yours—don’t fight this, it’s fate.”
“Fate that we found one another?”
“Exactly. The storm led me here, to you. And more than that, West and River are related. It was meant to be. So, what I’m trying to say is, you’re safe to tell me the secret.”
“What secret?” I ask, flabbergasted with her assumptions.
“About the blood on your hands.”
I roll my eyes as the timer to the oven goes off. I spin, pulling open the door and reaching for the pan. But I miscalculate my grip on the potholder, and my fingers press against the burning tray of lasagna.
“Mother-effer,” I groan, my hand seared and the lasagna falls to the ground. As I moan about the burn, a force from within me pushes outward from my fingertips. The oven door slams shut, and everyone jumps back, scared of getting hurt. The oven itself seems to short circuit and smoke begins to billow from it.
“Holy shit,” Crew says, pushing open the back door so the smoke can dissipate. Cal flips on the exhaust hood, but whatever I did to the oven seems to have affected the fan.
The pan of lasagna was somehow saved, and I use the potholder to lift it off the floor, setting it on the island.
“Okay, so what was that all about?” Harlow asks.
I smirk, “Well, according to you, that’s the power that I seemed to have inherited from our father.”
She shakes her head though. “That doesn’t make sense. Our father is Poseidon, God of the sea. Not whatever that was.”
“I’m not even going to comment on the whole God thing because it’s too insane. But I have no clue about what keeps happening. Apparently because of me? I’m either making an earthquake or a starting a fire or ….”
“Or what?” she says.
I shake my head. “If I say it, I’ll lose all of this.”
“Not true,” East tells me. “We’re here, for good or bad, in sickness or in health.”
I raise my eyebrows, somehow smiling in the midst of this fucked-up situation. “Are those wedding vows? Because I know we’re moving fast—but that’s a whole different level.”
“Fine,” River says. “Delay the inevitable. But the point is, we’re here.”
“And so am I,” Harlow says.
“You literally have no proof we are family. And you’re claiming to be a demi-god or something. This is all out of a Percy Jackson novel.”
“Or, it could just be the story your life,” she tells me.
“Well, if I’m the daughter of a Greek god, it wouldn’t be Poseidon,” I laugh. “Is there a Greek god famous for screwing stuff up… or being a hothead?”
“Why do you say that?” Harlow asks.
“Because I’m angry all the time. A textbook example of a girl with abandonment issues. For as long as I can remember I’ve fought back. Is that the same as you, because, no judgment, but from the looks of it, we aren’t the same.”
She looks down at herself, puzzled. “I’m not angry. I’ve always felt alone, but that’s not the same. I’ve always, ever since I was little, been drawn to the ocean. Could hold my breath and swim for hours. Can you?”
I shake my head. “I can hardly doggy paddle.”
She looks deflated as if I ruined her only chance at happiness.
“Sorry to ruin the family reunion you had planned.”
Feeling tenderness for her I didn’t expect, I press a hand to her shoulder. When we touch, a current runs between us. She twists her lips. “But the ring, and the birthday. And my dad told me I had sisters.”
I swallow, remembering the bear's words. “I have sisters too,” I tell her. “Three of them. At least, I do if I’m going to trust a bear in the woods.”
“Bear?” Harlow asks, her nose scrunched up.
I explain to her the bear attacks and how I misunderstood the bear’s intent. I tell her, knowing I have an additional audience of six men, that the bear told me I was enough. That although I am finally home, I have three sisters I need to find.
“Was the bear gentle? Like, comforting?” Harlow asks.
I nod, remembering the bear’s tears, the way her paw pressed against my heart.
“I think it was Gaia,” Harlow says in a hushed voice. “Mother Earth. She found me in the ocean, tried to save me and protect me. She tried to warn me.”
“And did you listen?”
She shakes her head. “Not as fast as I should have. And it cost me Eric. The other love of my life.” She briefly tells us how her father was after her, luring her to him, in the form of a seal.
“What is she warning me of?” I ask, my pulse quickening. As crazy as all of this is, it feels true. “I don’t have a seal hunting me down.”
“No,” Callum says gravely. “But you do have Malik.”
The room goes silent as we absorb this possibility.
“How well does anyone actually know Malik?” West asks. “Because I remember him from when I was a kid. He hates women, or at least, the idea of men sharing them.”
“It’s like he has a vendetta against the old ways,” Cal says.
“Then he came into power,” River says. “Twenty years ago, and took that away. Refused to let it be a part of our culture.”
Harlow’s partner, Kai speaks up. “What if you don’t have the same dad? What if you have the same mother?”
“It would make more sense than me being the daughter of a Greek god,” I snort.
Harlow shakes her head. “No. I still think you are. But not Poseidon’s daughter.”
I narrow my eyes. Confused. “Then whose?”
Before she can answer, the sound of a hundred howling wolves cause our eyes to go wide.
Malik is here. And he’s ready to fight.
Chapter 22
Callum
The howling is fierce and relentless, a battle cry. The wolves are here and ready to fight.
“Why does Malik hate us so damn much?” Rem asks. “I get that he’s pissed about you guys not following his rules––but this feels like something else. Something more.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “But we have to get you and Harlow safe,” I think aloud. It’s the only thing that matters.
East runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck, we never should have come back here.”
“No way. I’m staying,” Rem says defiantly. “This is my fight.”
“No, it’s mine,” I say, feeling guilty for my part in this. “I’m the one who was so intent on taking you to the pack meeting.”
Rem raises her hands as if pushing away my idea. “No. You all need to leave. You need to get somewhere safe. I don’t want you near me.”
“Why not, Rem?” I ask, stepping toward her. “Let us keep you safe.”
But she presses out her hands and the force pushes me away. It’s a cold blow, and it feels like a gut punch. “I can’t control myself,” she says looking at her hands. “And I’m too dangerous. I’ll end up ruining everything.”
“Hey,” River says, setting a hand on her arm. “If it’s the fire or the earthquake— it’s okay. No one has been hurt. And maybe Harlow c
an help you learn how to use your power.”
“It’s not just the fire or the earthquakes.” Rem shakes her head, as she does tendrils of smoke rise from the ends of her hair. She’s stronger than we know and she seems to be changing before our very eyes. “I’m the one…” Her eyes fill with tears, and though her eyes are dark, something is rising inside her. Something strong. Something that won’t back down. “I killed the man in the apartment. Remember at the pack meeting? Malik was talking about it? I’m the killer on the loose.” She sets her mouth in a firm line, her eyes dark as if daring us to doubt her.
The howling outside grows louder, and I don’t know what the pack intends to do when they get to the house, but I can’t handle the idea of Remedy thinking this is her fight to bear alone.
“Remedy,” Harlow says, stepping closer. “Stop blaming yourself for something you didn’t mean to do.”
“You don’t understand,” Rem says, shaking now. “I wanted him to die.”
Her words send a chill throughout the room. I look at East and River. Does this revelation change how we think of Rem?
“What do you mean?” I ask tentatively.
She lifts her hands in the air. “It means he was a creep and I hated him. And my hands became weapons. I pushed Ray, hard, and he flew across the room. I killed him with my force.”
“Who’s Ray?” Harlow asks.
“My friend’s boyfriend. He was an asshole, and going to hurt her again and I was so pissed. I wanted him gone. And now he will never hurt her again. But it’s because…” Her voice breaks off as she tries to restrain a sob.