Wolf Sirens Night Fall: What Rises Must Fall (Wolf Sirens #3) (35 page)

“You know why,”
Reid’s baritone voice boomed over the meeting.

In the
momentary silence she said, “I want to help,” she insisted looking
towards Tisane. “I can assure you I am not on their side. They have
taken things from me too,” she alleged pointedly. They had taken
too much.

Sky appraised
her; he lifted a brow. “Alright you’ve got us listening. How are
you going to get the girls out?”

She wiped a
tear. “If you’re not inside, you’re outside. If I help you take out
Sam then I get Lonnie back, I agree with your philosophies. I want
what you ultimately want. I’ll develop her trust and let you in,”
she told them stoically. She looked determined enough.

“Sam has
talents, she hypnotizes anyone who doesn’t agree with her and
she’ll use it on them,” Sky warned her.

“I’ll just have
to agree with her then,” Aylish said firmly. And not even Reid
disagreed with her.

Aylish stayed
with them. They talked of what to do and ironed out the kinks in
the plan. Strategy had been lacking in the last two attacks.

“Every battle
is won before it’s ever fought. We have to be as cunning as they
are,” Aylish advised, delicately sipping her tea.

Reid chuckled
snidely. Things were suddenly looking up. Aylish, with her small
eyes fixing on each of them, gave Reid an extra glance and she
pinched her thin lips. He huffed, only enough so that Sky noticed
and cautioned him with a subtle look.

Sky was more
serious as he leant forward. “Will she trust you?” His tan brow
knitted.

“I’ll earn her
trust; she doesn’t know my past like the old ones. That’s the good
thing about Paws and Narine being gone. I know you are anxious to
free Lila and Cresida, but to get them out and keep everyone intact
we must be patient. They won’t kill them, we know it’s not in Sam’s
interest to dispose of them, she knows there will be more and that
she’d have to find and trap them again, right?”

She was correct
on all accounts. Sky suppressed a small grin and he and Reid shared
another glance.

“Aylish, what
was it exactly that happened to you? How do you know about the
creature we asked the mountain pack about?” Sky enquired, his face
portraying deep interest. He wanted to understand what was
missing.

“I’ll tell
you.” Her eyes seemed to glisten in the fading light around the
rectangular table. “I was young when I was turned. The mountain
pack weren’t the mountain wolves yet. They stayed with the rest of
us under a wolf named Claira. Paws wanted me for a mate. Back then
we were a small bunch. Men from the town hunted us because we took
their cattle; we weren’t protected by law like we are now. There
were no subsidies for lost livestock and a lot of the land was
still farmed. They came after us with guns, so mostly we lived as
humans. We were integrated into the town. I was expected to live
with my mother and father until I was supposed to leave them to be
with the pack. I even worked at the local general store. Haris was
a friend of my brother, who worked in the deli as a butcher. I was
nineteen and turned for a year or so. I was ashamed of what I had
become and I kept to myself. I was polite to the customers but any
friends I had outside the store had drifted away, moved to the
city. Haris and I had been on few dates but I didn’t let anyone
close, I was waiting for him to lose interest, and I was supposed
to leave soon anyway.

“Excitement
wasn’t necessary for me, because when the moon was full I was
unable to quiet the monster stirring inside me, beneath my skin.
The others and I would all meet and wreak havoc, ravenously killing
livestock. Soon the farmers were wise to when the attacks occurred
and a gathering of locals decided to stake out the farmlands. They
even grouped some sheep as bait and waited for us to come.

“I was skirting
the forest ridge when I heard a gunshot that echoed like a thunder
crack up the mountain. There were three patrols – utes with men on
the back, that came in on the flock of rattled sheep. More cracks
sounded and I knew some of my friends must be hit and then my
bullet came. It felt like a bite on the leg and I buckled under the
sting. Then I ran as fast and hard as I could until I collapsed
high in the mountains. I awoke at daybreak as the frost covered the
ground and discovered that while I had healed, the bullet had been
lodged inside my leg. Though I hadn’t felt it, I realized I had
another bullet in my shoulder that felt as though it had fused to
the bone. The leg bullet I could remove, but not the shoulder one.
I wondered how many others had been killed...I hoped I wasn’t the
only one left.

“In the
morning, the men went to cover up the corpses and terror stricken
by what they found - burnt the bodies. I still remember the smell
of the smoke. While his father was out – Haris, unhappy he wasn’t
invited to the shoot, snuck out with a rifle and went up into the
hills to find the one that had run away above Flind’s farm.

“Haris followed
me up into the hills in the morning, tracking me by the blood and
broken twigs. I heard him approach. I phased and tried to take him
from behind, but he was too quick. The bulky gun on his back wasn’t
easily reached so he drew a hunting knife from his belt and cut me
with it. As I came at him again, he plunged the blade into my ribs.
I fell back, my body shuddered as I phased into my human skin,
readying to die.

“But he didn’t
finish the job, because when he saw the beast was me, he dropped
his arm and knelt to hold my face. I heard him weep. I thought to
wait a moment and then bite him as he stroked my curly hair. I knew
he felt something for me; it was why he had persisted. His father
had insisted he stay behind on the hunt to spare his son the terror
and pain of seeing what the beasts really were. The secret of
Shade. He cupped my face and lay a soft kiss over my lips, as
though I was something he loved dearly and rather than finish me,
he cradled me and wept.

“He kissed me
once more and I placed a hand over his. I gently and sweetly kissed
him back until he was wrapped in my arms and I in his. As I lay in
his lap, he embraced me tightly as though he may never let me go.
He breathed unsteadily and stroked my face running a thumb that
lingered over my bottom lip. I knew when he did this that he loved
me, but more disturbingly that something inside me had spread, so
that I felt the same, as though he had infected me, rather than me
infecting him.

“He hid me and
cut the bullets from my back and leg. I was in love with him, he
protected me.

“His father and
the others believed I had died in the mountains, or escaped their
bullets. Then the remaining wolves had their revenge. They swept
through the farmers as Celeste, Dieter, Greta and Agnes went on a
rampage. That night they turned Martha, Phyllis, Caprice, Robert,
Patrick, Troy and Christian. Ben Flinds sold his farm to Celeste
and took up a house in town, living in terror ever since, afraid
we’d come for him. Most of them are dead now.

“When they saw
I was in love with Haris, they advised against it. They asked me to
change him, but I wouldn’t. Finally I ended it, but then changes
seemed to occur within him. He asked if he’d been turned without
his consent, though he had no bites. He went to college and
returned as a ranger. We started up again in secret or the pack
would kill him.

“Celeste died
on the highway, Dieter wanted to take over, then Martha drowned. He
told us it was suicide, that they’d had enough of immortality. Paws
always wanted control. Maybe the others knew, maybe they were
scared of him. He wanted me for a mate, but I refused. He was
furious when he discovered I was pregnant, but the others protected
me. I lived with Haris and within a year we’d had another child
together. They were pink and healthy, beautiful human children, but
Paws wanted me back. No one left the pack. He killed Haris and when
I still wouldn’t comply with him, he murdered my babies. Somehow he
convinced the pack to help him, he said they were against the law.
Maxie put up a fight, she turned - but she was still too young. She
and her brother lay slain on the floor of our house. I was nearly
fatally injured. When the police came, they saw the bodies of my
babies - I was the only one left and they made assumptions. I was
jailed and declared insane and was sent to a high security
asylum.

“There I stayed
for twelve months until one night the pack broke me out. I went
with them back to the pack house, but I could never be with them,
not ever as I had been. Finally, he let me go. He created Dahlia
for me, as a present, and I took her and went to the city. I
studied and got a job working with youth at the Centre for the
Community, the C.C. as a counsellor. That’s it really. Lonnie came
along later - I couldn’t bear to see him die, so I changed him.”
She recalled what a mess he had been in. “Then Sam showed up and
dragged us back here. I never would have come willingly. Dahlia
wanted to, she had never known the country or the forest and she
yearned for the pack life she had never experienced. I’m glad she
was taken after she got to know it a little.” She cleared her
throat and blinked away the memories. “Now all I have left is
Lonnie and he’s in there with your Alpha. Haris’ death meant these
hunters were needed and I won’t let them die,” she said with a
defiant look of intensity. Aylish had looked into the bowels of
hell, not much frightened her anymore.

Tisane had been
listening with the others, in the lounge room. “My mother was the
ranger after your Haris.”

“Was she a
Hunter?” Aylish’s face brightened.

“Yes.” Tisane
knew that for sure.

“Are you her
child?” Aylish smiled kindly.

Tisane
nodded.

“Do you
know...” She rephrased, “Who was your father?” Aylish suddenly
stood up.

“I don’t know,”
Tisane replied honestly.

Aylish glanced
at Sky. “Is she the satyr you described?” she asked, looking over
Tisane with her sparkling blue eyes.

He swallowed.
“Yes.”

“She hid you
well,” Aylish announced to Tisane. “Then your father was one of the
wolves,” she confessed.

Reid sat up
straighter and asked, “Which one?”

“He also
fathered Narine to a human - her half-sister. I know who it was,”
said Sky. They looked at him. “Bert, he warned me. He got us out of
the ambush.”

“Is he alive?”
asked Tisane. All were quiet for a moment.

“No, he was
killed in the attack,” Aylish answered. She looked away.

Tisane seemed
to contemplate, frowning. “Are you saying my father, Narine’s
father, was a wolf?”

“Yes. That’s
exactly what I mean.” Aylish let them each take it in. “You are
what we called a satyr. The product of a wolf and hunter union.
There is a legend that says satyrs are sent by Persephone to undo
the curse. It has been your job since the day you were born to
protect the huntress.” The irony was perhaps it was Narine’s
destiny to become a wolf.

“I didn’t. I
never protected my mother, she protected me,” Tisane insisted.

“That may be
very true, because she knew if the wolves found you, they would
kill you.”

“Why protect me
if I was supposed to protect her?”

“You are only
really capable of protecting the huntress when you come of age. My
children were too small. Persephone sent you to protect Lila.”

Tisanes face
crumpled. Her whole childhood and all the secrets whirled like an
unravelling lie before her.

“My father was
a wolf, my mother was a hunter and I am a satyr.” She looked
distant as the world wavered. Sky thought she would pass out as she
became still and turned pale.

“We attack from
the inside,” Aylish announced.

“We need a
plan,” Sky urged, his brilliant blue-green eyes alive with
hope.

Tisane handed
Aylish the bracelet laden with silver charms from Lila’s room.

Tisane looked
down at it with importance. “It’s Lila’s,” she told Aylish.

Reid stood in
the doorframe. “Cres gave it to her, on her eighteenth.” His arms
were folded. “She used it to tell Cres she had been and gone. Then
Cres would wait for her to show.”

“So what am I
supposed to do with it?” Aylish looked to Tisane and Sky,
curiously.

Reid spoke up.
“Lila would leave a charm on the window sill every time she came
into town, to tell Cres she was nearby. She knew to look for them.
It was a type of system.”

Tisane
continued, “It’s the only way they’ll know hope is coming. The only
way they will believe you are on our side,” she said sadly.

“What if Sam
recognizes it?” Aylish asked with a look of concern.

“Cresida gave
it to Lila after Sam was banished. No one knows about the charms
but Lila, Cres, Reid and me,” Tisane assured them.

“Should I wear
it?” Her eyes darted, questioning each of them.

“I think if I
alter it and you wear it as a keepsake, around your neck. Say it
was from Dahlia, if anybody asks,” Tisane encouraged.

“What if Sam
doesn’t believe me?” she asked bleakly.

“You’ll just
have to be convincing,” Tisane said solidly and she smiled feeling
hope for the first time since losing Lila.

Epilogue: Hell
on Earth

Things had
gotten as ugly as they could. We were in a cage surrounded by
circling sharks. It was small, cramped, and putrid. It was low so
that we couldn’t stand. Soon our muscles would become weak. I’m
sure if it had been possible, Cresida would have taken her own
life, though she seemed to be desperately trying to, as she wilted
and withered before me like a tree starved of water and light.

Cres looked how
I felt. No, not even as bad, she looked worse. I hoped the wolf
blood would stop her from self-destructing or imploding before help
arrived. She had refused to eat and she barely moved. We were
trapped. Cres was positioned under my legs, lying across the cement
with her head down against the bars and her arm dangling out.