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.