"But what is it that you actually did?" I'm almost shouting now. I'm so close to answers, but it feels like I have to dig for every single one. Why can't it just be easy for one fucking time in my life?
"That would be telling." He chuckles but sneers at me at the same time. "Shall we play a game?"
"I remember him saying that," Four whispers.
The siren turns to her. "You remember, my little angel? What do you recall of our meetings?"
Little angel? I want to punch him in the face. Four curls her hands into fists, clearly having the same urge.
"I don't," she snaps. "But I want you to tell me what you did to me. To us. You owe that to us."
He laughs. "I owe you? No, I don't think so. You've been nothing but trouble. Escaping from our care, killing my people, and now you've gone on a rampage in my last remaining lab. That doesn't endear you to me, you understand? If you want me to talk, then I need certain assurances."
Does he actually think we'd let him live? Well, if he wants, he can believe that. It's not going to happen though. I'm going to kill him as soon as I have my answers.
"I promise to let you go once you've told us everything," I lie. I'm a good liar, but he doesn't buy it.
"Nice try. I want one of you as my guarantee that you'll let me live. One of you, collared. I'll release her once I'm out of the city and you can come and find her."
"No way," I snarl. "You'll never put a collar on one of us ever again. But maybe I should put one on you? What would happen?"
His expression doesn't change, but his heartbeat increases. Interesting. He's scared of that.
I grin. "Lennox, would you mind finding us a collar?"
"At your service." He laughs softly and leaves the room. I keep forgetting that Lennox has a grudge to settle with the Pack as well. He may not have been cloned and experimented on, but he was their prisoner for most of his childhood. They abused him, turned him into a killer. Who knows what kind of person he might have become if he'd grown up away from the Pack.
"You can't put a collar on me," the siren protests. "It's not going to work."
I step closer until I'm eye to eye with him. "Are you sure about that? Really, really sure?"
He blinks, telling me all I need to know.
"Talk. This is your last chance. Start with your name."
"Shaun," he says with a sigh. "Shaun Jayden."
That doesn't sound like a name for a murderous psychopathic scientist, but I guess we can't choose our names. Our parents do that. Or the evil scientists who created us, in my case.
"What is your role here, Shaun?" I ask.
"I'm in charge of Project Indigo."
I groan. "From now on, I want you to answer with lots of detail. I'm not going to pull every fricking answer from your miserable mouth."
He smirks. "You've turned out so well. In some ways. In others, you've been an utter failure."
I ignore him. "What's Project Indigo?"
"The future. Not just for shifters, but for all of us. Sirens, succubi, otherworldly creatures. We'll be the ones ruling the world. Right now, we work in the shadows, but with the powers that Indigo can bestow upon us, that will change."
"What powers?" I ask, dreading the answer.
"Yours. A little improved, of course. K9 and K10 were almost perfect. You were the prototype, so we can't really expect you to fulfil the brief."
"And what's that brief?" Ivy interrupts.
"Strength. Agility. Healing ability. Endurance. Intelligence. Obedience."
I laugh at the last word. "Now I know why I failed."
He glares at me. "You shouldn't sound so proud of that. You may have been allowed to live a little longer if you'd been more subservient."
"Allowed?" I repeat. "I don't need anybody's permission to live. That's just...crazy. You're crazy." I take a deep breath before I lose my composure. "What does the drug do?"
"What drug?"
I pull one of the vials from my pocket. Thank goodness for my strange shifter magic that allows me to keep on my clothes including everything that's in my pockets.
"This drug. We know you've been giving it to us. Why?"
"Take it and find out." He meets my eyes defiantly. "Or are you scared?"
"Why would I subject myself to that when I can just force you to talk?" I counter. "You gave us this drug to make us into your perfect weapons. That's what this is about, right? Transforming us into soldiers you can use to stay in power?"
"You're thinking way too small," he snickers. "We're not just planning to produce more of you. We're planning to turn everyone into you. That's the next step of the project. Labs in other cities are working on it already. Just because you destroyed ours doesn't mean this ends here. My death won't change anything. We're everywhere and we're going to win."
I really want to punch him, but that would set a bad example to my sisters. Their tension is visible; they're holding back attacking him.
"Trust me, you don't want everyone to be like me, like us. We make very bad slaves."
He chuckles. "I believe you've met K2? If everyone was like her, we'd have both excellent workers and fantastic soldiers. She doesn't need a collar; she does whatever we want. Conditioned to respond to sirens only. Which is why she's currently attacking your friends."
Chapter Eleven
I run out of the room, trusting the twins to look after Shaun Jayden. And when I say 'look after', I mean hurt and torture. That man is evil through and through.
Lennox passes me on the stairs, holding a collar. "Put that on him and make him pay," I shout as I run past him, taking two steps at a time.
Gryphon and the others are no longer in the corridor where we left them. That means they're on their way home. Oh no. I sprint through the empty entrance hall and out into the night. Clouds have pulled over the stars like a blanket, making it seem gloomier than before. I follow my friends' scent. They didn't take the route via the roofs this time; they're walking along the roads. I'm amazed Ryker is well enough to walk already, but maybe Gryphon is carrying him. Ryker was dead, after all. Completely dead. My heart aches at the thought. I can't lose him. He's way too precious to me. I realise that now. I should have before. When we're back home, safe and away from all the trouble, I'm going to tell him.
Screams in the distance make me run even faster. I'm tempted to shift, but I might be of more use as a human. Besides, I no longer trust my body to behave as I'm used to. I might end up stuck in one shape or half-shifted. So I stay human, but draw from my new strength as much as I can to propel me forward with more energy.
I cross a corner and carnage lies before me. Ryker is on the floor, lifeless, again. Gryphon is fighting K2, his sword blazing through the air, while three cats are clawing at my sister's legs. Storm is on Ryker's chest, her fur standing in all directions, her back arched. She's ready to defend her family. Good kitty. But now I'm here.
"K2!" I shout as loud as I can. "Come and fight me."
Not that I really want to do that, but Gryphon looks exhausted and he needs a break. Maybe he can regain control of her once he doesn’t have to fight for his life.
K2 looks at me blankly and for a moment, I'm not sure if she's going to take the bait. But then she growls and starts running at me, her hands turned into claws once more. She doesn't need a weapon with those blades on her hands. I don't want to hurt her, but she has no such inhibitions. I draw my knives and take on a defensive stance. Hurry up, Gryphon, stop her. With a feral growl, she leaps into the air, her claws pointed at me. I roll to one side, just about evading her attack. She hisses as she lands and crouches low, like a cat about to jump.
"Stop it, we can help you. You don't have to fight me."
She doesn't react to my words at all. Not that I thought she would, but it was worth a try. She attacks again and I deflect her claws with my knives without going in the offensive. Again and again, I evade her by dropping to the ground or rolling aside. She's getting frustrated, but I'm not going to attack her. This
is just playing for time. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Gryphon moving towards us. I hope that means he's about to try and get her under control again. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold her off. With each time I deflect her attack, she gets angrier. Spittle flies from her mouth as I dance around her, keeping a safe distance from her claws. She could skewer me with those. I wonder if they hurt her. They're longer than even my panther claws and that means something. Shaun Jayden was right, she's a formidable weapon. Fighting one of her is bad enough, and I really don't want to imagine there being an army of her. Nobody would be safe. Yet more reason to stop the Pack and the sirens.
Gryphon starts to sing and immediately, I feel a little lighter. Like a burden has been taken off me. The melody soothes and embraces me, gently touching my heart. I want to lean into it, close my eyes and let it seep into my soul, but K2 is still trying to fight me. She's getting slower though and her eyes are no longer as focused. Gryphon's song is having an effect on her, but it's not enough to stop her. Fuck. I bet that's the scientist's doing. He must have some kind of hold on her, one that's stronger than Gryphon's. No idea how he manages to do that from this distance, but it's enough to make K2 keep attacking me. The song makes me slower too, not just her, and this time, I don't evade her fast enough. Her claws slash open my arm and blood spurts from the wound. I cry out in pain and stumble backwards, clutching my arm. The gashes are deep; I think I can see bone. I'm going to kill Shaun for that. He made my sister wound me. That's unforgivable.
Gryphon's song is getting louder, taking away some of the pain. K2 puts her hands on her ears, probably trying to stop the music from influencing her, but luckily, Gryphon is strong. She stops moving, frozen in place, her claws still pointing at me. He keeps singing and I can almost understand the words that are binding her in place, wrapping around her like ropes. I'd feel pity if I wasn't in so much pain.
He ends the music with a beautiful low note that makes my entire chest open, then rushes to my side. "How bad is it?"
"It's deep but nothing I can't handle. Do you have some of those cloth pieces left?"
He hands me a strip of the shirt and helps me wrap it around the wound. I wince whenever he touches it. Blood immediately seeps through the fabric, but that's nothing that can be helped. I need to get back to the twins and let Ivy lick my arm. I cringe at the thought. That skill really is a little disgusting. Not that I don't like licking people, but... anyway.
"You should sit down, you're all pale." Gryphon gently puts his hands on my shoulders and physically forces me to sit. He probably knows that I wouldn't have done it otherwise.
"I need to get back," I protest. "We found the guy in charge. I need answers. He was starting to give us information but then said he'd taken control of K2. What happened?"
"I'd stopped keeping a proper hold on her," he says with a regretful sigh. "I thought she was secure, especially after we'd left the building. She was walking alongside us, not giving us any trouble, so I let my guard slip. Suddenly, her claws grew and she started attacking. She didn't say a word, just slashed at me. I dropped Ryker to defend myself, but it's good that you showed up when you did. She was getting the upper hand. Fighting without wanting to injure really isn't fun."
"Tell me about it. When this is over, we need to do a proper assassination together. Some good old killing without holding back."
"Deal."
Gryphon sits down by my side. Beads of sweat line his forehead. He got injured earlier, I mustn't forget that. We all need some rest and time to recover. But not yet. If only my arm weren't hurting this much. It's making it hard to concentrate. I need to make a plan for what to do next, but the pain is clouding my mind. I much preferred the catnip-blood induced mind fog earlier.
"I can go back," Gryphon suggests. "We can tie up K2 or even knock her out. I don't think you should go back there. You're far too pale. I'll get the twins to come to you and help you."
I shake my head. "No, I need to do this. I need to talk to the scientist and get my answers. It's just a scratch, it's not going to kill me."
"That's not a scratch." He scoffs. "Has anyone ever told you not to carry the whole world on your shoulders?"
"Nope. Because I'm not doing that. I'm a cat, I'm selfish. I don't care about the world. All I want is to be happy and warm and fed."
I'm cold, I realise that now. The coldness is starting in my arm and is slowly permeating through the rest of my body. I carefully unwrap the cloth from my wound. Fuck.
Gryphon gasps. "That looks like poison."
It does indeed. Dark blue lines circle the wound like a spider's web. The edges of the gashes are turning dark and strangely dry. It doesn't look like any of the poisons I'm familiar with."
"Can you make her talk?" I ask. "Tell us what this is?"
"I'll try." He gets up and walks over to K2, who's still standing there, frozen.
He hums a simple melody and it washes over me like a warm wind. Nothing as elaborate or deep as his usual song, but K2 starts to move into a more natural position and looks up at him.
The humming turns into a song, the words not meant for me.
"I don't know," she suddenly says, her voice so monotonous it's almost robotic.
Gryphon continues the song; it becomes fuller, more detailed. It gives me the urge to tell him something, a secret, but I don't know what. It's hard to resist his song even though he's trying to make K2 talk and not me.
"It's in me. I don't know the name. I don't know if there's an antidote."
She may be answering Gryphon's questions, but I'm not happy about the answers at all. No antidote. Fuck that. Of course there's one. The Pack researchers wouldn't want to be around a shifter with poisonous claws unless they had a way to reverse any damage she might do to them.
"Ask her if she's ever injured someone at the lab," I tell the siren.
He nods and his song changes slightly.
"Yes, many times."
Go, girl! I just wish she'd talk in a normal voice and not sound like a machine.
"And did you see them again after that?"
It takes a moment for Gryphon to translate my question into his music. I wish she'd just answer me directly, but that doesn't seem to be possible. We're going to have to find a better way to communicate with her once we're home. It can't stay like that.
"Yes."
I sigh in relief. That means there's a cure. Now, all we need to do is find it.
A groan makes me turn around. Ryker is moving, trying to sit up. Before I can even consider getting up myself, the cats are swarming around him, purring, rubbing against his side. He's surrounded by cats and has never looked sexier.
I try to get to my feet and check on him, but dizziness overwhelms me and I sink back to the ground, barely managing to stay in a sitting position. I feel like lying down. My arm feels like it's been stuck in a freezer. Goosebumps are spreading over my skin. I really don't like this poison. It's not very elegant. I was given a lot of different poisons at the Pack - they were of the opinion that you only knew the true effects of a poison until you'd experienced them yourself - but this time, there's no one standing next to me with the antidote. It's no fun being on this side of the poisoning process.
"Kat, don't try and get up," Gryphon says sharply, hurrying towards me.
"Too late," I mutter tiredly. "Tried and failed."
He runs his hands through his hair. "I don't know what to do. You can't go back, but if I go, K2 might get out of control again. If I take her with me, the siren in the lab could find it even easier to wrestle her from me. Ryker isn't well enough. We can't send the cats either because nobody will understand them-"
"Wrong. My sisters will."
He looks at me with a concerned frown. "Are you sure?"
No, I'm not. I've not seen them interact with any of the cats. They don't seem to have the natural affinity I feel for my fellow felines, but they're like me, right? They should understand the cats.
I rummage through my pockets u
ntil I find a tiny pen and a crumpled piece of paper. I always carry those with me. You never know when you might have to write a ransom note.
I try to scribble a message, but my hand is shaking way too much. The cold has taken over my entire body now and I'm shivering from top to bottom. Even my teeth are starting to chatter.
"Let me," Gryphon says gently and pulls the pen from my hand. He writes a few words on the paper, then folds it. "Which cat should be the messenger?"
"Storm, come here!" I call.
The black cat looks at me for a moment, clearly preferring to stay with Ryker, but he gives her a gentle nudge and she trots over.
"I need you to run back to the lab and give this to Lennox. As fast as you can, please."
She rubs her head against my hand in acknowledgement. Gryphon hands her the piece of paper and she carefully takes it in her mouth. I hope it won't be covered in cat saliva by the time Lennox gets it.
She runs off, disappearing into the night. She's swallowed up by the darkness, and I really hope that's not a metaphor for something.
I feel like I'm being swallowed by coldness. Sitting upright is becoming a struggle, but I don't want to appear weak in front of the guys. Gryphon seems to sense my predicament and sits by my side, putting an arm around my shoulders and pulling me against him. I let go, using him as my pillar of support.
Ryker has managed to sit up, pale but alive. I wish I could go over, or have him come here so that I can be sandwiched between the two men, but I'm far too weak, and so is he. Only a few yards separate us, but it feels like miles.
"I'm so cold," I whisper, before a wave of darkness comes out of nowhere and overwhelms me. I float away on a river of ice, drifting towards an end I didn't see coming.
Chapter Twelve
In an ideal world, I would have awoken in a warm bed surrounded by my family.
Sadly, this isn't an ideal world.
The ground is hard and cold beneath me and stones are poking into my back. I almost wish I was unconscious again. But wait, how am I back in the land of the living?
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