I sigh. I’d hoped never to have to think about that again. “It wasn’t real torture. Just stabs with that electric rod from time to time.”
Gryphon chuckles. “I’d say that’s torture.”
“Not proper. I can do much worse.”
“I don’t doubt that. What happened on the day you escaped?”
I let myself drift into the memory. Ryker is still holding my hand and I use him as my anchor who tethers me in the present. It’s not as bad knowing that I’m not alone this time.
“They took me to a lab. I was strapped in a chair. I couldn’t move because of the effects of that rod. The siren came in. He said I’d been there before but that I couldn’t remember. Then he showed me photographs. First of Doctor Fitzroy, then of two young men, then the Original. The woman whose clone I am. And then a picture of Mystery Man.” I swallow hard. “Professor Lakefield. That’s when he told me the truth. I was devastated. But then a switch flicked inside of me and I felt strong.”
“A switch?” Gryphon asks. “Can you explain that?”
I laugh. “I wish I could. It’s like I broke through a wall that had always been there, and behind it was pure power. I’d fed off the power that had seeped through the wall before, but now I had access to it all. I was able to break my bonds and kill the siren.”
“Do you think it’s your cat’s energy?” Lennox asks. “I feel like that sometimes. When I’m human, I’m separated from my wolf, but I still have access to a fraction of his power. When I shift, this reverses and I’m all wolf and can only use some of my human skills.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s more than that. It’s like it’s not just my cat, but more. The power of her multiplied, but not just the power, also her instincts and urges.”
“Which is why you feel more feral,” he says slowly. “And why you crave meat. I doubt it’s just human flesh. If we put you in front of a cow, you might want to eat it too.”
Saliva pools in my mouth at the thought of beef fresh from the cow. Bloody, juicy, still warm. Hot liquid running down my throat.
“You’re right,” I say once I’ve managed to push that image out of my mind. “I’ve got the same cravings for cows now. Got one close by?”
Luckily, they ignore that question.
Gryphon runs his hand through my hair. I don’t like people touching my hair. Normally. Not today, though. A purr rumbles through my chest.
He chuckles. “I love it when you do that.”
I elbow him in the chest and he shuts up.
“Our cat’s got her claws out again,” Lennox says with a soft laugh. “But back to the issue at hand. We need to find out what happened in that lab.”
“I just told you.”
“No, I mean in the past. They took you there as a child and did goodness what with you. We found reports of them having a drug they gave to shifters, so maybe it’s related to that. Or it might have been experiments we don’t know anything about yet. Whatever it was, I bet it’s related to your current problems. Being in the same lab again, and being threatened, triggered something.”
“Maybe the twins know something,” Gryphon suggests. “I think we should do a sister meeting. You, the twins, Little Kat. If you compare notes, you might be able to fill in the gaps.”
I sigh. “I need to talk to them anyway. We need to find the rest of us. They mentioned K2 and K7, plus two of us are dead.” I don’t want to say K3 and K6. I won’t use those terms. They deserve a name and until I find out if they had one, I’m not going to call them by their designation. “There are others out there. What if they have the same problems I have, but without people like you to support them?”
I finally open my eyes and sit up, looking at the three guys. “I hate to admit this, but I’d never be able to get through this without you.”
Ryker squeezes my hand. “Thank you for saying that. I know how hard it is for you to acknowledge that you can’t do everything on your own.”
A trickle of anger flows through me, but he’s right. I’m used to dealing with every problem myself. I have a team, yes, but they only support me with things I could do myself if I had the time. I just can’t be bothered. And yes, Bethany is better with poisons than me and I couldn’t do the seducing Lily does, but… alright, I need my team. Not that I’d tell them that. I don’t want them to demand a pay rise.
“There’s one more thing we need to talk about,” Ryker says hesitantly. “Yesterday, you ran away. Why?”
An invisible fist clenches around my heart. The other stuff, the hunger, the bloodlust, that I can explain away, blame it on whatever experiments the Pack did on me. But I’m not sure if me pushing the guys away is part of that or whether that’s just the way I am.
“I’m not good with…” I sigh, trying to find the words. “…with letting people close. It’s hard enough with one, but there’s three of you and you all have expectations that I’m not sure I can fulfil.”
“We don’t need you to sleep with us,” Gryphon says, but I interrupt him.
“That’s not the problem. Sex is easy. I’d have no problem fucking you. One, two, all at once. Well, never done the latter but I’m sure it would be fun. The problem is everything that comes with it. You’re not random guys I chose to spend a night with, one night only. You’re here for something more, something deeper. And I’m worried I’ll mess it up.”
I can’t meet their eyes. It must be the aftereffect of Gryphon’s music that makes me talk this open with them. I can’t believe I said all that. So embarrassing.
“We’re all in this together.” Lennox puts his hands on my shoulders to underline his words. “I don’t know about the others, but I’ve never been in a relationship. Like you, I’ve chosen random people to scratch my urges-“
“Scratch your balls, you mean,” Ryker interrupts with a laugh.
“Fuck off. I’m new to this too. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, and I certainly never expected to share you. But that’s fine. I want you and if that means I can’t be your only one, then that’s fine. We can go as fast or as slow as you want. If you need time, that’s fine. You just need to talk to us. If you don’t want to sleep in a bed with all of us, we’ll find an alternative.”
“What he said,” Gryphon muttered. “We don’t want you to be uncomfortable around us.”
My eyes are itching again. Fuck those feelings. I don’t want to be emotional, but I’m still feeling the aftereffects of the siren’s song. I should be angry at him for doing that to me, but I’m not. It feels strangely good to have told them what’s going on. I thought it would be embarrassing to admit the changes I’m going through. In fact, I’m now embarrassed that I didn’t tell them in the first place.
“Kat.” Lennox entwines his fingers with mine, gently rubbing my knuckles. “You already know that my wolf wants you to be his mate. I’m bound to you and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
I sneeze. “Sorry. I think I’m allergic to sappiness.”
Chapter Six
The twins arrive just when dinner is ready. I’m sure they planned it that way. Bethany has cooked, which means it’s pretty good. She knows her way around herbs – perk of being a poisons expert. I still wish my steak was a little rawer, but I’m not going to show that. As much as I like my humans, sharing with the guys has been enough for today. I’m not going to involve Lily, Beth and Benjamin in my problems. They can be part of our search for my sisters and our fight against the Pack – what’s left of it, anyway – but that’s it. My personal issues are mine to deal with.
“Now I know why you keep them around,” Ivy says while chewing loudly. Their table manners suck just as much as my own. Gryphon looks a little piqued at how we’re not using cutlery in the correct way, but he’s the only posh one in the group. Lennox grew up in the Pack, Benjamin on the streets, no idea about Bethany, Lily’s family didn’t much care about manners and Ryker hasn’t been human for very long. In short, there’s a lot of gnawing, loud munching, and screeching knives.
“We’ve not eaten at a table for a while,” Four admits. “This is kind of nice.”
I have so many questions about how they grew up and what they’ve been through, but now isn’t the time. I’m still rebuilding my walls. I’d probably start crying if I heard their sob story now.
When we’re done, Bethany dishes up dessert. Warm chocolate pudding with cream. All four felines in the room moan in contentment when the cream is passed around.
Beth laughs. “I was hoping you’d all have Kat’s usual reaction to cream. Totally makes it worth buying this quantity.”
“Did you get catnip too?” I ask, hopeful. “That would be quite a spectacle.”
“No catnip,” Lily says with a stern frown. “Not after last time. I’m not letting you turn into an addict.”
I shrug. “I can control it.”
“No. You can’t. Or do you want me to tell them about the string incident?”
I glare at her. “Don’t you dare, or I’ll fire you.”
“As if. You love me far too much.”
I sigh. “Yeah. I do. Now pass me some more of that cream or I’ll get cranky.”
She grins and a warmth spreads in my belly that has nothing to do with chocolate pudding. This is how it used to be. Joking around, not a care in the world. I’m glad we can still have these moments, even though they’ve become rare. Once we’ve solved all our problems, I’m going to lock us all into our new house and force everyone to play board games and do other mundane stuff. Maybe with a bit of dissection fun in the morgue. Oh yes, the new house needs a morgue, and a lab, and a better cooling chamber than our old headquarters. That one always broke and made our corpses mouldy.
Soon. A few more weeks of hard work and then I can find us a new home.
When we’re done, I let Lily do the dishes while Benjamin disappears back to bed. He still looks pretty ill so it’s probably good for him to stay away from the other humans. They catch diseases so easily. And yes, I’m counting Lily as human in this case. She’s half-succubus, but her immune system is ridiculously bad.
I turn to the twins. “Let’s make plans. You said there’s another Pack lab that hasn’t been destroyed?”
Four nods. “Yes, that’s the one guarded by K2.”
“What?”
They exchange a look. “We never got to tell you last time. I think we got distracted with what M.E.O.W. stands for. Which you still haven’t told us, by the way.”
“K2 is completely controlled by them,” Ivy explains. “She’s exactly how they hoped we’d all turn out. Pliable, listens to every command and very, very strong. Also completely psychotic. Sometimes I wonder if they took away all her humanity somehow.”
“There must be a way to get her out and fix her,” I start, but they both shake their heads.
“We tried,” Four says with a sigh. “Several times. We managed to sneak into her room once to talk to her. She attacked right away, didn’t listen at all. She also didn’t seem to be surprised to hear that she’s a clone. They must have told her, not like with you and us. And the third time we confronted her, she captured Ivy. I barely managed to break her out.”
Ivy grimaces. “It wasn’t a ruse either. She hurt me, bad. Took me forever to recover from that. But while she was torturing me, I looked into her eyes and they were empty. She isn’t like us. She doesn’t have a soul.”
I highly doubt that, but I don’t say anything. I’ll have to see it for myself. I don’t want to give up on one of my sisters. She may be completely brainwashed, but there might be a way back. Gryphon’s siren power could help, who knows.
If not… I don’t think I could kill her.
“Does she have a name?” I ask the twins. “Besides K2?”
Four shrugs. “I doubt it. She’s not independent enough to think that she might want one. You’ll know when you see her. She’s brainwashed or maybe she’s always been that way. She believes the Pack are worth protecting and that we are the enemies. She won’t hesitate to kill us if she gets the chance.”
“And she guards the lab? Permanently?” Gryphon asks.
“She’s been there every time we tried to get in,” Ivy replies. “So unless it’s one massive coincidence, we’re pretty sure it’s her task to protect the lab. It’s the place we know the least about. If we’ve been in there before, then it’s been part of the erased memories. That’s why we need to get inside and find out what they’re hiding. We feel like there’s an important piece of the puzzle hidden in that lab.”
I notice once again how the twins keep talking about themselves as ‘we’. I wonder what it would be like to have a sister. Someone who’s completely identical. No, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. One Kat is enough for this world. Two of us would probably end up as archenemies.
Then I remember that there are at least ten of me. Not quite the same, as I’ve realised now that I’ve met both Little Kat and the twins, but still, we’re more similar than normal sisters would be. We’ve been raised in different ways, but our genes are the same, unless the Pack have messed with that.
Let’s hope we won’t turn into enemies.
Assassins work best in the dark of night. So do cats. We’ve decided not to wait and delay any further. Ryker has rallied some of his cats while the rest of us are getting ready. I’m back in my leather assassin outfit. How I missed wearing this. The leather hugs me like a second skin, while still being thick enough to hide weapons and ward off weak attacks. My boots steady me both physically and mentally. I could kiss my team for saving some of my clothes when our house went up in flames. It seems the fires were set on the ground floor, so it took a while for the flames to reach the attic where I used to live.
Gryphon and Lennox are clad in black as well, blending into the night. The moon is hidden beneath thick clouds, giving us even better cover. The M.E.O.W. team is staying at home. Usually, I’d take Benjamin with me since he’s the best at breaking and entering, but he’s too sick. He’d end up being a liability in his current state.
The twins have raided Lily’s closet (which is surprisingly well-stocked, even after the fire), not because they needed new clothes, but because they were bored. Ivy now wears a skirt that is way too short for someone her age, and Four is spouting a frilly top that’s supposed to be filled with cleavage she doesn’t yet have. They look ridiculous, but I leave them be. As long as Ivy can run and fight in that skirt, I’m okay with it. It’s not like I’m their mum.
“You can fight, right?” I ask them out of the blue.
Four looks at me as if I’m crazy. “How do you think we survived this long?”
“Four was raised by the Pack,” Ivy explains. “Not here, at a facility in the countryside. And before you ask, it no longer exists. We made sure of that. I wasn’t taught any fighting skills by my carers but Four taught me via our connection.”
“Connection?” I ask.
“Long story.” Four turns away as if we’re talking about the most boring topic ever. “We can hear each other’s thoughts.”
“More like feel each other’s minds,” Ivy corrects. “I always know what she’s feeling. It’s like my own emotions. It took us years to separate them. I kept crying without knowing why until I realised it was Four who was sad. I think we always knew that the other existed, even as toddlers, but we didn’t see each other until we were what, nine?”
“Ten.” Four isn’t looking at us. “And then they tried to separate us again, two years ago. Big mistake.”
Wow. My mind is reeling. I kind of want to hug them, which is so out of character for me that I stop to think before I say anything else. Let’s not get sentimental. They might not respect me if I start acting all emotional.
A cat rubs against my legs. Storm, black as the night, but her azure eyes give her away. I reach down to rub her head. She purrs before walking over to Ryker. I envy the way he can talk to them even though he’s human just now. I can only read their intentions, and they can understand me, but if I want to have a proper con
versation with a cat, I need to shift. I guess living among them all his life has given Ryker this advantage.
“They’re ready,” he announces and everyone turns to him. “I’ve got cats surrounding the building as we speak. By the time we get there, they’ll be able to give us a full report.”
I straighten my back and crack my knuckles. “Good, then let’s head out. We’ve got answers to find and a lab to destroy.”
Chapter Seven
Four and Ivy seem just as at home on the roofs as me. They’re lighter and slightly smaller, but my new strength makes me faster than everyone else. I try not to draw on it too much. I don’t want to start craving blood again. Right now, I feel normal, but who knows how long that will last. Although I don’t really care if I kill everyone inside the lab. That’s a place I’m allowed to break into a frenzy. I both hope and dread that we’ll find answers there. While we’re running across town, I prepare mentally for what may await us. I can deal with guards and Pack members. K2 is the unknown variable this time. I don’t want to believe the twins about her, but I need to be ready just in case she really is brainwashed, conditioned to fight her own sisters. If she attacks us, attacks my guys or the twins, then I’ll have to act. I won’t be the first to draw the sword, but I will defend us with all the strength I possess. The plan is to take her alive though, and then raid the lab.
I very rarely venture into this part of town. There’s not much here besides simple dwellings. Not poor enough to house the seedy individuals I sometimes do business with, and not rich enough to rob. Not important enough to assassinate. There’s no reason I have to go here, which is why it’s a perfect hiding place for a Pack lab. No one would ever suspect something like that here, among the boring semi-detached brick houses and dirty streets. As far as I know, there’s not even a shop in this area. Dull.
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