Claw

by Skye MacKinnon

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Being snug and warm under a thick blanket while the rain prattles onto the roof above you must be one of the most comforting feelings out there. And having two warm, male bodies on either side of you is even better.

  Lennox is still downstairs, using the pub's phone to call Mr Moon. Hopefully, his former boss and alpha werewolf will be able to send some people here to investigate the killing. We really don't have the time, as bad as I feel about it. A kick against my solar plexus reinforces that. I wince before I can stop myself.

  These abominations inside me always seem to get more active in the evening, especially once I lie down.

  "Are they kicking again?" Gryphon asks and snuggles closer to me.

  "Yeah. I wish they'd just sleep."

  "I could try and use my powers on them. I've never tried doing that on babies that are still in the womb, but who knows. It definitely works on babies outside. My mother always calmed my sister that way. She couldn't stand it when either of us cried."

  Darkness rolls over his gaze and I reach out to him, cupping his face and pulling him close until I can kiss him. He doesn't need another invitation. He ravishes me, kissing me hard and passionate.

  "Hey, don't forget about me," Ryker complains and sits up. "I thought we were going to wait for Lennox."

  We ignore him. Gryphon slides a hand under my top and cups my breast. My boobs are incredibly sensitive right now and I think they've increased in size. Yet another thing to hate about this whole situation. When I sneak over rooftops and jump from house to house, I can't have bouncy boobs get in the way. I guess I won't be doing any sneaking until after I'm relieved of my parasites. With how much I must weigh, I'd probably crash through any roof I'd try to stand on.

  I hate being pregnant so much.

  Ryker sighs and pulls back the blanket, exposing my body.

  "I see you've started without me," he says and cups my other breast, gently massaging the nipple.

  I moan against Gryphon's mouth and almost bite his tongue. He seems to take that as the signal to become a little rougher and nips my bottom lip. I flash my teeth push him back onto the mattress. I can't move as fast as I like, but I'm still on top of him quicker than he can react. I bend his head to one side and sink my teeth into the nape of his neck. Blood fills my mouth.

  Oh. My. Goodness.

  So sweet.

  "Kat, what are you doing?" Ryker asks, sounding very confused. "Are you going feral again?"

  I lick my lips, enjoying the tangy taste of Gryphon's blood. "Just having a second dessert."

  Gryphon stares up at me, his eyes wide, but he doesn't try to get away from me. He just seems confounded at what I'm doing. I've nipped him before, and he's returned the favour, but I've never bitten him to lick his blood. That's new. And kind of scary.

  I reach for my cat, but she's mostly part of me again. We're no longer as separate as we were when the guys found me. There's no danger of me going feral and losing myself.

  "You taste good," I mutter and lick his wound again. My teeth have left deep indentations on his skin; this might scar. A permanent mark on him. It totally turns me on. I've marked him as mine.

  "Hormones?" Ryker suggests weakly. "I've heard they can mess with a woman's mind."

  I hiss at him. "I don't have hormones."

  "You most certainly do. I've heard of human females craving weird things like pickles with ice cream or fish fingers with custard when they're pregnant. Maybe you're in the same position, except that you're hungry for siren blood rather than ice cream?"

  I take a moment to think. "No, I also crave ice cream. It's just that he is here and ice cream isn't. Will you stop interrupting us?"

  "Kat, could you be having vampires?" Gryphon asks, his eyes still wide with confusion. "That might be the cause."

  "Vampires don't exist."

  "Actually, they do, but not as they are in the folk tales. They're distant relations of succubi, but instead of feeding off sexual energy, they need life energy to survive. Blood is the most common way to get that, but they can also find it in other sources. It's just that drinking blood is so unusual that it's become attached to vampires in stories."

  I exchange a look with Ryker. "Did you know that?"

  "Know what?" Lennox asks and enters the room. He stops to stare at my bloody chin and the bite marks on Gryphon's chest, but quickly covers his surprise.

  "That vampires exist," I tell him.

  "No, I didn't. And I don't believe it. Not after travelling the country for months. I've met a lot of weird and freaky beings, but not a single vampire."

  "They're real," Gryphon insists. "I've met some at one of my father's parties. They look perfectly human from the outside. I don't know if they have a particular smell to you shifters, but the only way I can identify them is because my powers don't work on them. Not even a tiny bit. They have an intrinsic mental shield that's impossible to break. Other kinds of supernaturals are harder to influence and it often fails, but it's not completely impossible like with vampires."

  "Why are we talking about vampires?" Lennox asks and takes off his shirt. For a moment, I'm distracted by the sight. I lick my lips. I want to mark him too, and then Ryker. Feed off them, drink their blood, become one with them.

  One of the babies kicks me again.

  I startle. I called it a baby. Not a parasite. Okay then, something's definitely wrong with me. The blood-drinking was a little weird, but this just takes the biscuit.

  "Kat drank my blood so now we think she might be carrying vampires," Gryphon summarises with a wry smile.

  "Ah. I see. Gryphon, can you somehow use your mind magic thingy to find out?"

  Which brings us back to the original question. I frown. Do I want Gryphon to manipulate my offspring?

  There you go, that's a more neutral word. Not as negative as parasites but also not as emotional as babies or kittens.

  "Don't make them do anything weird," I warn him. "Just check if they're vampires and maybe give them a little encouragement to stop kicking me."

  One of them punches me hard for emphasis. I gasp. They're getting stronger by the hour. I'm not sure what Delaney did to them, but they're growing much faster than even shifters should. I'm starting to doubt that I'll get to three months at the rate they're developing. I'd be a walking planet by then.

  "I'll have to sit up for that."

  It takes me a moment to realise that I'm sitting on Gryphon's chest. I give his wound one final lick - yum - before climbing off him. It may have been more of a roll. Is this how sea lions feel?

  Gryphon places both hands on my bump and closes his eyes. Silence falls as we all watch him. I wish I had his powers. I want to be able to feel my offspring's mind too. Just to make sure they're not mutants, animals or otherwise corrupted. It would give me a lot of peace of mind to know that I'm not carrying monsters.

  "I can reach all of their minds," Gryphon mutters, deep in concentration.

  Phew. No vampires. That's a relief already. I would have had no idea what to do with them. Would they have drunk my blood rather than my milk? I don't even want to know.

  "You were right, Ryker, two of them are unquestionably cat shifters. They've got the same mental signature as you two."

  Kittens? I'm really going to have kittens?

  A strange warmth spreads within me. Tiny, mewling, adorable kittens. Pouncing around, not quite steady on their feet, tumbling and rolling, and those cute little mini meows...

  "I've got hormones," I tell the guys. "I feel them, right now. Get them out of me."

  Ryker snorts. "I think that's not quite possible. Why, are you having strange cravings?"

  "Besides siren blood," Lennox quips with a lopsided smile.

  I don't explain; I wouldn't know what to say. I don't want to admit that I'm all gooey about kittens.

  "Two kittens," Gryphon repeats. "And two sirens. But they're not just sirens. I think they may have shifter blood too. There's something un-siren ab
out them."

  "Un-siren?" I echo, all the warmth disappearing as reality comes crashing in. "In a good or bad way?"

  Gryphon opens his eyes and sits back, removing his hands from the bump. I pull the shirt down again to hide that unsightly swelling. "One of them reminds me of Lennox, but where would werewolf genes come from? And the other one is neither cat nor wolf, something I've not come across before. But remember, this is all just speculation. I've never tried this with unborn babies before."

  "If that Delaney arsehole is the father, there can't be any wolf DNA," Lennox says with a growl. "And I doubt your body managed to hold onto my seed for months before fertilising it."

  "Seed." Ryker makes a vomiting noise. "What an ugly word."

  "He calls himself Sophie's father even though he isn't," Gryphon muses. "And we're only going on what Sophie said. She may have misunderstood. Or he meant he's the father as in the creator rather than the sperm donor. Maybe they're clones. Or he added shifter DNA from a gene bank."

  "There's no shifter gene bank," Lennox says, rolling his eyes. Maybe there's one for you posh sirens, but most of us aren't rich or even desired enough to have such a thing. Remember the shifter children back home, when we tried to find the ones who'd eaten the poisoned sweets? Most parents were embarrassed to have half-shifter bastards."

  He may have taken a random werewolf's sperm and put it inside me. I shudder. It may be better than having been raped by Delaney, but it's still not exactly what I could feel comfortable with. I still don't know why he even did this. We destroyed the Pack's labs and facilities, but I'm sure they weren't the only ones who know how to clone someone. He wouldn't need me for that. No, I think I'm beginning to understand. He didn't want clones, pure replicas of something that already exists. He tried changing Sophie, gave her a metal eye, attempted to turn her cruel by giving her the power to hurt others. It didn't work. Now, he's trying to make his own creations, using me as his template. He's had years to study Sophie. From what she's said, he's experimented on her ever since she was born.

  That's one half of the genetic material completely understood and researched. The other half is the unknown. I doubt he'd introduce something random. This must be samples that have also been studied. Maybe there are other clones out there, wolf clones, and he's made a kitten-pup in a lab.

  Again, I shudder. There are too many variables, but I think I'm right. No, I'm convinced of it. That's what he did. It fits. Making something he can call his creation. If I hadn't escaped, he would have been able to study the babies from the moment they were born.

  I wonder if the two kittens are my clones or if he used another cat shifter's genes.

  And the fourth, a different shifter. Most shifters are werewolves; others are rare. It's why I'd never met another cat shifter before Ryker. I don't even know what others are out there. Please don't let it be a cow shifter. I've got a thing about hooves, I've noticed that during the last few days while on horseback. They creep me out. Not having toes is just weird.

  "Are there cow shifters?" I ask the guys.

  Gryphon clears his throat. "What?"

  "Cow shifters. You know, cows that shift to human form."

  "I've never heard of them," he says hesitantly. "Why?"

  I clutch my bump. "Because one of them might be inside me."

  Suddenly, tears are streaming down my face. I try to stop them, but they've turned into a salty waterfall.

  The guys crowd around me, hugging me from all sides, while I break into sobs.

  "I've got hormones," I sniffle, "and I hate them."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  We never end up having sex. Instead, we speculate most of the night about what kind of shifters may be growing inside of me. By the time the first sun rays break through the waning storm clouds, I'm no longer feeling as creeped out. Parasites have become offspring and almost babies. Whether that's due to hormones or the fact that I finally know that there are no emotionless grunts growing within me, no idea. Not that I care.

  "I want waffles," I tell the guys as soon as the craving pops into my head.

  "Not sure they have those here," Gryphon yawns. "But I can try and get the barmaid to make some. And then we should leave before the weather turns bad again. I want us to put some distance between us and this weird place where they kill shifters."

  I couldn't agree more. I stretch and get out of bed, taking off my clothes to change. Fuck. It's grown yet again. How does this even work? I'm eating a lot, but not this much.

  Lennox wolf whistles. "You're beautiful."

  "Do you ever feel like you're about to topple forward?" Ryker asks with genuine curiosity. "You look like it."

  I shoot him a glare. "I'm massive but I can still stand on two feet without falling over, thank you very much. Can I get some clothes from one of you? I doubt I'll fit into my own, not with this." I point at my bump with disgust. Just because I'm slowly getting used to the idea of having a litter doesn't mean I like the changes my body is undergoing.

  Lennox nods and hands me a shirt and trousers. I need a belt for those but they're a lot more comfortable than what I wore yesterday. If I continue to grow at this rate, I'll need to resort to dresses soon.

  "Kat!"

  Sophie's cry makes me whirl around. It's not come from the room next door, but from downstairs, the pub. What the hell is she doing there?

  I run as fast as I can with my bump and giant boobs, storming down the stairs. My knives are still in the bedroom, but if necessary I can partially shift to use my claws.

  Anger races through me when I take in the scene in the main room of the pub. Four burly men surrounding Sophie, with one of them pressing a bread knife against her throat. His hand is shaking slightly; I doubt he’s ever killed anyone before. That will make things easier. He won’t cut her just yet.

  The barmaid from last night stands a little apart from them, but she's gloating and looking very pleased with herself. Guess Gryphon’s spell has worn down.

  "Get out of here," one of the men tells me not unkindly. "We don't hurt pregnant women."

  I raise an eyebrow. "But you hurt children?"

  He scoffs and spits on the floor. The barmaid winces audibly but doesn't say anything. "This isn't a child. She's a changeling. Martha told us. Now go before I change my mind."

  While he's been talking, the guys have taken their positions. The humans don't know it yet, but Ryker is waiting outside the front door, ready to storm in and take them from behind by surprise, while Lennox and Gryphon are at the top of the stairs, hidden in the shadows. I bet Gryphon has some poison darts and blades ready to throw.

  Sophie has figured it out too. A small smile plays around her lips, despite the knife at her throat.

  "What's a changeling?" I ask innocently.

  "A fairy child exchanged for the real babe," one of the other men says, one with a long beard that looks like it houses several generations of lice. "We usually catch them before they grow up, but we're not afraid to deal with them once they're this age. This isn't a real child."

  Sophie flinches at the words. I'm going to have to talk to her later and explain how these humans are deluded and completely wrong.

  "Is that why you killed the old man?" I ask. "We found a body nearby."

  The first man nods grimly. "Aye, that's Toby. Would never have expected him to be anything like that, but Fib watched him turn into a wolf last full moon. It brings shame on all of us. We should have known."

  The disgust on their faces makes me tremble with anger. So much ignorance, so much hate.

  "He wasn't a changeling," I snarl, my voice dripping with poison. I wish I had my weapons to hurt them just like they hurt their fellow villager. "Not born of fairies. He was a shifter, a werewolf. And if you didn't notice that before, I assume that none of your livestock ever went missing, which means that he refrained from giving in to his wolf nature. You should have been proud of him, praised him. Not killed him."

  None of the men look guilty in the sli
ghtest. That seals their fate.

  I exchange a look with Sophie. She's ready. So am I. My muscles are strung to jump. I just hope the bump won't get in the way.

  "Now!" I shout and everything happens at once.

  Sophie kicks the man holding her into the balls while twisting out of the blade's way. The smell of blood permeates the air, but it's only a small scratch on her throat; it'll heal within minutes.

  I land on beard-guy, toppling him over. I adjust myself so that I sit on his pelvis, pinning him to the ground. At the same time, the door crashes open and Ryker storms into the room. Gryphon and Lennox have already joined the fray. They deal with the other men, while I grin at my victim and let claws sprout from my fingers. His eyes widen in fear and hate.

  "You're one of them," he hisses.

  "Didn't Martha tell you? We all are."

  And then I cut his throat. My claws slice through his skin like butter. They're made for killing. I may not be a changeling sent to Earth by fairies, but I'm a shifter and I'm proud of it.

  He gurgles and grasps his throat. He seems surprised at the turn of events. Guess he didn't expect to die today. Just before he dies, he kicks his legs, not very strongly but it's enough to bring me off balance. I fall forward, on top of him, squeezing my bump uncomfortably.

  Pain shoots through my belly. Fuck. Then his blood touches my lips and I forget about the pain. I greedily lap up the blood pouring from his opened throat.

  "Kat," Ryker groans. "Not again."

  Another sharp pain in my insides rips me from the soothing feeling the blood has given me.

  "Ouch."

  "What's wrong?" Gryphon asks, by my side in an instant. "Is it the babies?"

  He helps me up, leading me away from the dead human and onto a chair. I suddenly feel very pregnant and very vulnerable.

  "It's okay, no worse than their kicks," I pant. "Just give me a moment."

  Ryker comes over with a wet cloth and wipes my face. I guess he doesn't like seeing me covered in blood, even though it's not my own and it's delicious.