Purrr Read online

  I chuckle. "Are you saying I'm sane?"

  "Apologies, of course not." He grins. "How could I ever insinuate such a thing."

  We walk on in silence. It's strange not running over rooftops but actually walking along the streets like normal people. The town is quite busy, but both of us are experts in avoiding bumping into people. The only times I do that is to pick their pockets, but I haven't done that in a while. I used to love the thrill of robbing people without them realising, but then I learned how to kill and decided I liked that a lot more.

  Gryphon leads me into one of the wealthier parts of town. Nice of his people to give his aunt a house in this area. Maybe they tried to pay her off, make her feel in their debt.

  Before we can even get to the house, a flash of red hair comes running from the side and suddenly, I'm being hugged. I look down at Little Kat who's got her arms around my waist, her head pressed against my belly. Okay then. I don't think I've ever been hugged by a child.

  Gryphon laughs and I smoothen my surprised expression. He doesn't need to know how both weird and good this feels.

  "It's good to see you, Katriona," the little girl squeals.

  "Kat," I correct her.

  She shakes her head, still hugging me tightly. "I'm Kat, so you can't be Kat too."

  Gryphon bends over with laughter while I glare at him.

  "I was there first," I tell her sternly. "If anyone needs to change their name, it's you."

  "You're older, you almost look like a Katriona."

  I stare at her. "Did you just call me old?"

  She steps back and shrugs with a wide smile. "You're definitely older than me, which makes you old because I'm young."

  The logic of insolent children. Gryphon is choking, laughing hard, but I ignore him. Otherwise I'd have to kill him.

  "Are you feeling better?" the girl asks, looking up and down my body as if she's trying to see an injury that prevented me from visiting her before.

  "Yes, everything's back to normal." Almost. The urge to jump Gryphon isn't quite normal. Even the thought makes heat pool in my core, but no, that's entirely inappropriate, not just because Little Kat is watching me closely.

  "Good. Then you can help me."

  "Help you with what?"

  "Becoming like you."

  Gryphon had just stopped laughing, but now he explodes into chuckles once again. We both ignore him.

  "Why do you want to be like me?" I ask, genuinely astonished. There's nothing about me that should appeal to a little girl. I'm an assassin, I kill people. I don't have a social life, I'm not pretty, I don't own a lot of nice things. I'm not particularly friendly, I enjoy being rude and I'm... well, I wouldn't want to be like me most of the time.

  "You're strong," she says simply. "You can kill them all. I'm not strong enough yet."

  Oh my. She really is my clone. A little baby assassin.

  "Who do you want to kill?" I question her, keeping my tone neutral.

  "Everyone. All the people who hurt me. Who hurt you. Who're hurting others."

  "The Pack?"

  "Yes, and the others who came to see me."

  That makes me kneel down in front of her so that I can look in her eyes. "What others?"

  "I don't know, but they weren't human. They smelled different, nothing I've ever come across. They watched me during the tests."

  Gryphon stops laughing and comes closer. "Did they smell like me?"

  She shakes her head. "No, not like you. Some of the people in the Pack smell like you, but not the visitors. They were different."

  I meet Gryphon's eyes, exchanging a look. A different species, neither shifter nor siren. Little Kat has met Lily, so it can't have been succubi either or she would have made the connection. What else was there? Until I met Lily, I'd only ever been around humans and shifters.

  "Did they look human?" I ask and Little Kat nods.

  "But they smelled different, sweet. Like they'd taste good if you started to eat them."

  Okay, call me shocked. Is she actually talking about eating people? Please don't let her be a cannibal.

  Gryphon clears his throat. "Have you ever eaten someone?"

  She looks up at him. "Of course not, but sometimes they gave me blood to drink. It can taste really yucky but there is also blood that is good."

  Bile rises up in my throat. They made her drink blood. That's just wrong. Yes, sometimes when I'm shifted and kill someone, I may have accidentally swallowed some blood, but I'd never drink it like a vampire. So wrong.

  "Well, we're not going to give you blood," I tell her with a forced smile. "Has Gryphon's aunt been feeding you well?"

  She nods enthusiastically. "She's made pancakes for me every evening. With lots of chocolate sauce."

  Now that sounds more like me. I wonder if there are any left, or if the woman will make some tonight. I could stay for a bit... pancakes are life.

  I stand up straight and Little Kat immediately takes my hand. First hugging, now handholding. Next she'll want to sleep in my bed and demand bedtime stories. I need to make it very clear to her that I'm not her mother. I might be something of her sister, kind of, but I'm not made out to be her carer. I hope she can stay with Gryphon's aunt for a while longer. Permanently, maybe. Give her a chance of a normal life.

  "Come in or the ice cream will melt!" a woman shouts through the open window.

  Ice cream? The cat in me meows loudly.

  Gryphon shoots me a look.

  Oh. I actually meowed. Seems I'm not quite back to normal after all.

  * * *

  Aunt Rose is a voluptuous, glowing woman with twinkling eyes and hair so full of volume that it seems to have a life of its own. It seems to move without her moving, without there being any wind.

  She's sat us down around her kitchen table and put a bowl of ice cream and strawberries in front of us. There's even some whipped cream on the top. I like her already.

  "Tuck in," she says with a wide smile. "Don't let it melt."

  Little Kat immediately starts shovelling ice cream into her mouth, seemingly unconcerned by how cold it is. I'm a little slower, forcing myself to savour every bite.

  "Amazing," Gryphon sighs. "Remind me to visit more often."

  Rose chuckles. "If I can lure you here with ice cream, so be it."

  "And strawberries," he hastens to add. "Those are kind of essential."

  "Obviously. Usually you'd get a chocolate flake too but Kat has eaten them all."

  I'm about to protest that I've done no such thing before remembering that I'm not the only Kat in the room. This really is getting confusing, but I'm not going to be the one to change her name. Little Kat could always come up with something unique, something that's hers. Maybe that's the angle I should take. Tell her that to be like me, she needs to be her own person, with her own name. Yes, that's going to be the plan from now on.

  "It's nice to finally meet you," Rose says once all our bowls have been licked clean. In Little Kat's case, that is. I'm jealous that she's still a child and allowed to do that. At home, if I were alone, I'd definitely lick it clean myself, but I'm pretending to be a grown-up just now.

  "Nice to meet you too."

  That's about as far as my manners and knowledge of small talk go. Let's hope she won't start talking about the weather.

  "Is Y around?" Gryphon asks. "I've not seen her in a while."

  His aunt snorts. "Neither have I. She's with that boy again. Young love."

  His eyes widen. "My sister has a boyfriend?"

  "Oh, I thought you knew. Well, she's going to kill me for telling you, but yes, it's been going on for a couple of weeks now. She's hardly ever here, spending all her time at his place. I remember how I was when I first met Jimmy. Just the same, always together every minute of the day, as if being apart was a waste of time. You should ask her to introduce him to you. I've not met him yet but he sounds lovely."

  "She says he's goooorgeous," Little Kat adds. "She always draws out the O when she talks about him. Gooooorgeous."

  Seeing her act like this, happy and innocent, makes me happier than I thought it would. It means there's hope for her. She may have had a crappy start to life, but that might not mean that she can't ever be happy. Maybe, with time, she'll be able to forget her past and start anew. And I'm going to help her with that. It's too late for me to forget what the Pack has done to me, but she still has a chance.

  "Now I definitely want to meet him." Gryphon doesn't look happy. Is he a protective older brother? Or is he a controlling one? A jealous one?

  "Are you going to stay for dinner?" Rose asks.

  Before I can ask if there will be pancakes, Gryphon shakes his head. "We've got some things to do, but thanks for the offer."

  "Can I come?" Little Kat looks at me expectantly.

  "I'm afraid not, but before we go, I need to have a chat with you. Maybe somewhere private?"

  Rose shoots me a curious glance but then nods and leads us to a small sitting room. Probably not the only living room in this house. It's too big and fancy for that. This might be a sort of waiting chamber, or a place to have a drink before the main meal. Who knows, it's not like I know posh stuff like that.

  "When can I come home with you?" Little Kat asks as soon as we've sat down on a plump yellow sofa. Not a colour I would have chosen.

  I find it interesting how she calls it home already. She was at the Meow headquarters for what, one day? Two days? And now she calls it her home. Children are weird.

  "For now, it's best you stay here. The Pack will retaliate and they might come to attack Meow. If that happens, I want you as far away from danger as possible. They don't know you're here, which means you're safe."

  "I'd be safe with you," she complains. "You'd keep me safe."

  I'm struck by the faith she has in me. Is it just because I'm her clone, her older sister?

  "I'd try my hardest to keep you safe," I reassure her, "but we're outnumbered if the Pack decides to go on the offensive. You understand that, right?"

  She meets my eyes and after a moment's hesitation, she nods.

  I smile at her. "It sounds like it's pretty good living here with Rose. Pancakes and ice cream, I'm almost tempted to move here myself."

  Little Kat laughs and licks her lips. "Auntie Rose is a great cook. She's reading stories to me too, every evening."

  "That's nice of her. What kind of stories?"

  "Stuff about princes and dragons and evil witches. I keep telling her that nothing in those books is true but she says that's the point."

  I can't help but chuckle. Little Kat is not used to fairy tales. Of course, neither am I, nor would I have been at her age. There were no bedtime stories at the Pack. I sometimes stole a book from one of my victims so that I could train my reading skills, but most of those were adult books, nothing about princes.

  "Enjoy it," I tell her. "You've had a hard time, let's just enjoy all the good things happening to you now."

  She nods, her expression serious as if I've given her an order that she intends to follow. "But I can come and live with you soon?"

  "Once the danger is over, we can talk about that again."

  Disappointment spreads across her face. She's not learned yet how to hide her feelings.

  "Just because I need to find a nice room for you," I quickly add and her mouth curves into a small smile. "And get everything you need. I've never had a child stay with me before."

  I almost expected her to protest at me calling her a child, but she stays quiet.

  "Now, before I go, I need to ask you a few questions. It's very important that you try and answer them, okay?"

  She nods, all business again.

  "When you were with Grandma Doctor, did you ever see other children?"

  She frowns and her eyes turn glassy, like she's looking inside her mind, searching for memories.

  "Maybe," she whispers after a long while. "I heard them talking about others, but I'm not sure if I ever met one. It's hard to remember, I was wearing the collar."

  She rubs her throat and my own hand immediately goes to clutch my neck. We're both damaged. Hopefully, she'll be able to get over it. She's still young.

  "Were there any people with our hair colour? That's hard to miss." I give her a little smile. Her hair is as fiery as mine, although it seems smoother.

  She frowns, looking into the distance. "Once... a woman, maybe as old as you. She was on a chair next to me. She didn't speak to me, just looked at me for a long time. Then they made us both sleep and when I woke up, she was gone."

  I clench my fists. That might have been the clone after me, the one who'd be sixteen right now. For Little Kat, she might have looked old. The alternative, her being a clone we don't know about, is one I choose to ignore.

  "I'm sorry," she sniffs. "It's hard to remember. It's like there's fog everywhere and I'm afraid I'll get lost if I walk in too far."

  I take her hand and give it a squeeze in what I hope is a reassuring gesture. I've seen other people do it. "That's fine. We'll figure it out, don't worry. If you remember anything else, let me know. Aunt Rose knows how to contact me. And maybe write it down too so you don't forget."

  Her eyes widen. "I don't know how to."

  "How to do what?"

  Her lips quiver and she looks away. "Write."

  Oh my. They never taught her. Fuckers.

  "Do you know how to read though?"

  She nods eagerly. "A little."

  "Good, that's good. I'll talk to Rose, maybe she can help you with learning how to write. Would you like that?"

  Her nodding becomes ecstatic.

  I give her a wide smile, trying to hide my sadness. "Once this is all over, we might even be able to send you to school. You could meet other children your age, make friends, learn how to read and write and all sorts of other things."

  "Really?"

  "Really. But first we need to deal with the Pack. It's not safe for any of us while they're still in charge."

  She bites her lower lip, then meets my eyes. "There's one thing I remembered."

  "Yes?"

  "They took me to a house. A blue house with a red roof. I don't want to remember what they did there but maybe you can find the house. It was big."

  I flinch at the pain in her eyes. No child should ever have to feel this amount of pain.

  Chapter Six

  We're quiet on our way back home. Gryphon hasn't asked what Little Kat told me, and while I will fill him in eventually, I first need to get over the fact of how much they mistreated her. I knew that, of course, from seeing the state she was in when we first found her. But seeing the pain in her eyes, the desperate attempt not to remember some of the things she went through... it hurts.

  I always thought I had it bad, but it turns out I basically had the perfect childhood compared to her.

  I need to distract myself from those gloomy thoughts. I need my brain functional and rational.

  "Your aunt is nice," I say randomly.

  "She is. Wait until you taste her pancakes."

  "Is she all about food?"

  He shrugs. "She doesn't talk much about her life before her husband died. So yes, it's all about food with her. She loves to chat about what's going on in town, what gossip she knows, what book she's just read, but she never mentions the past. It's like she forces herself to live in the present. Maybe she's afraid she might go crazy again if she dwells on her past for too long."

  "That makes sense." I stop and he looks at me questioningly. "We need to talk. If we go against the Pack, that also means we're going against your family. You might have escaped their notice during our attack on their lab, but if we do a full assault on their headquarters, I doubt they won't realise your involvement."

  He nods. "I know."

  "You said your father would kill you if you defied him."

  Gryphon shrugs. "Yes. He can try. But if there's no Pack, that also means he has no influence over this town any longer. He'd have to physically come here, or send someone to do it for him. I know the way he thinks, I'll be able to evade him. And if it comes to it, I will kill him myself."

  There's steel in his voice, metal that has been forged long ago. He's ready to do it, if he has to.

  "I'll help you. You've fought on my side and I will be on yours."

  He steps closer, bridging the distance between us. My skin tickles at his closeness.

  "I appreciate that." His voice has changed, turning hoarse and deep.

  It totally turns me on. If we weren't surrounded by people, I'd jump him. I'm so tempted to slip my hands underneath his shirt, to take him where we are, to fuck him like it's the end of the world.

  "Kat."

  His voice is honey and catnip, luring me towards him. My lips are on his before I can stop myself, and then we're kissing, hard and wild, our tongues dancing, our breaths mingling. Burning desire spreads through me. If I don't take him now, something is going to happen. I'm close to exploding, full of energy that needs to be used.

  I barely feel the sting of pain as my fingernails turn to claws. I rake them over his back and he groans, pulling me against his chest, his mouth ravaging mine.

  "Get a room!" someone shouts and just like that, I'm ripped from my sexual frenzy. I step back, the heat in my body disappearing quickly, giving way to a twinge of embarrassment. Damn Kat-in-heat. I don't fuck men I know. At least I didn't use to. I had a clear code of satisfying my needs without ever getting attached. Now I just snogged a guy in the middle of a busy street, not caring that he's a friend, someone who's hopefully going to stick around. I can't have that jeopardised by my own misguided hormones.

  Gryphon clears his throat. "How about we go to my place? It's not far."

  He's got a place? Yes, I want to scream, take me home so we can continue this, but rational Kat takes over.

  "We should go back and make plans."

  I expect him to nod and accept that, but no, he wraps his arms around my waist once more and pulls me close.