The Secrets of the Panther

BLAKE

I stare through the windscreen of the car, trying not to crash.

My mind was everywhere, but my feelings about what Izzy had said flooded my brain like a tidal wave hitting rocks.

I swerved over to the side of the road and skidded to a stop.

I couldn’t help but grip the steering wheel; the hurt and pain flooded my veins more.

I never would be a father to Allie, not in Izzy’s eyes.

Axel had been quiet since the entire scene unfolded, but I could feel his pain run deep, like mine. He made Allie his own when most wolves might have rejected another man’s child, considering everything. We never saw her as his child; Michael never held a bar to her. We knew she was ours from the moment we saw her.

“Mate hurt us,” Axels says suddenly. I couldn’t help but stare at him. He was staring back with pain running deep in his eyes.

I sigh. “I know, buddy,” I say to him.

Axel stays quiet, but my focus comes back to the windscreen. We weren’t far from The Red Moon pack, only around the corner.

I had to leave; I knew I would have said something that I would regret if I had stayed.

I start the engine of the car and pull back onto the road, heading straight into the pack grounds.

A few members were nearer the borderline, but some waved as soon as they saw my car.

All I could do was nod at them. I drove slowly up to the pack house and came to a stop.

I sigh. I might as well get back to helping the pack.

I opened the door and climbed out.

As soon as I closed the door, I was hit with a foul smell. I heard screaming behind me, and I quickly turned around to see three young wolves running toward me.

They weren’t on their own; five rogues were chasing them. I quickly use my speed, run toward the five rogues, and jump into Axel. I push myself back and let Axel take over in his true form. He tears each of them apart; Axel snarls and attacks whenever one comes closer to the children.

After a few minutes, I turn back into my human form and face the children.

“Thank you, alpha,” one says, and they all bow their heads to me.

I stared at them. “Where did they come from?” I asked.

One boy steps forward and points toward where I saw them running from. “Alpha, they were up there. We have a fort in the forest and would go there when rogues and vampires were here before. No one knew about it,” he says. But the girl who stood by him comes closer to him. “We didn’t know they were there till it was too late,” she says. She looked over at the third child, and he was staring down at the floor.

I stared at him for a moment, but I walked up to him and bent down to his level. “You okay?” I ask him as I place my hand on his arm. The boy looks up at me, tears brimming his eyes. The fear was written all over his face. “I saw them back from the back way,” he says. “I heard them say this is the only way in.”

I stare at him for a moment but sigh, “you all were courageous,” I say to them with a small smile. “You all would make amazing warriors someday.”

They all looked up at me and gave the biggest smiles. I looked behind them and noticed Alpha Dawson and Drake standing there. They must have heard the screaming.

The children turned around and bowed to Alpha Dawson and Drake. I watched them run off as they both came up to me. “Why are you back so early?” asks Drake.

I didn’t look at him or even say anything.

After a few moments, Alpha Dawson sighs. “I don’t know what happened, but I’m thankful you are back,” he says. “We have had a few more attacks like that one over the last few hours.”

I turned to look at him and frowned. “Why didn’t you contact me?” I asked him.

Alpha Dawson stares at me, but Drake speaks, “We tried, but your phone was off. Not only that, we found out that you forgot to take it with you. The battery is dead; I placed it in charge in the office,” he says. He looks at me, “you have had quite a few missed calls off, Izzy,” he says. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I say nothing.

Both men look at me, but before either says anything else to me. “I’m going to the office. Is Tilly still here?” I asked.

Drake shook his head. “No, Blake, she left after you did. She said something about going back to the elder pack to make sure she placed the order for protection in for the pack. Her recommendation for no other elders to come here to be issued,” he says.

I nodded, but said nothing else and walked away.

Axel was sitting in my head as I walked through the pack house and headed to the office. As I entered, there was no one in there. I walked over to my phone and noticed the notifications on the screen.

Drake was right. Izzy had been trying to call me.

The first one I received from her was the night I left to come here, and there were at least a few from the office phone. My guilt swept in when I noticed a few from today, and the last one was when I was there. She tried to contact me, but Axel let a low growl slip through. “Dump human,” he says. “Next time, make sure the charger is in the bag. Mate needed us, and we weren’t there for her.”

I stare back at him in disbelief.

Did he forget what she said to us?

Axel stares at me but sighs. “And no, I haven’t forgotten what she said, and she hurt Axel’s feelings,” he says with a slight whine. “But you hurt hers, and so did everyone else.”

I didn’t say to him. My head was swimming with everything that had happened only an hour or two ago.

I walk over to the desk and sit in the chair. I leaned back, but there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I shouted.

The door creeps open, and in walks Anya, with Anita following behind her.

Once they were in, Anita closed the door behind her. They both look at me and walk over to the chairs in front of the desk.

Once they were both seated, I looked between both of them. But my eyes landed on Anya’s slight bump. “Blake,” Anya says. I move my eyes to hers, and she has a small smile.

“Yeah,” I say to her. I glanced back at Anita, who was biting her bottom lip. “What’s wrong?” I ask her.

Anita and Anya look at each other before they both look back at me. Anita sighs. “I just heard from a pack member that I had a call from a woman yesterday and this morning,” she says. I stared at her, trying to figure out what she was on about.

Anita stares at me, “it was from Izzy,” she says.

I stare at her. I felt the guilt sweep in once again. I asked her about contacting Alpha Dawson or Anita, but she never said a word that she did.

“You didn’t give her a chance, dumbass,” says Axel, staring at me. “Neither did her panther cousin, either.”

I said nothing.

“Blake, the girl was coming to tell me, but the rogue attack started. And after we sorted the fences around the pack, it slipped her mind until she saw me, but you had left,” she says.

I looked at her; my mind was full of mush now.

“Blake,” says Anya. “what happened at the pack?”

I say nothing.

“Okay, what happened with Izzy?” she asks.

“Why do you think it’s to do with Izzy?” I ask her.

Anita and Anya gave me a knowing look, and I couldn’t help but sigh. I told them everything that happened, and once I finished talking, both of them were staring at me with blank expressions on their face.

Anita clears her throat, “so Allie has no memory of the war?” she asks.

I shook my head, “No, she hasn’t,” I said to her. I glance at Anya, and she stares at me. Her face was holding a lot of emotion. She looked down at her lap, but I soon realized she was crying as I watched a tear slide down her cheek.

“I wish I could have my memories wiped,” she says quietly. “I don’t sleep well, not since Drake has been back by my side, but they still come back with a vengeance.”

I stare at her as she lifts her head to me. “Izzy obviously didn’t mean what she said to you, Blake,” she says. “It was the heat of the moment, and judging by what you told us, everyone had an opinion about the whole thing.”

I stared at her, but nothing came out of my mouth.

“Blake, put yourself in Izzy’s situation,” she says. “Allie wakes up and remembers everything about the worst day of her life. She not only witnessed the horror that day, but she was forced to watch two loved ones get brutally murdered in front of her. That’s enough for anyone older to handle but a child.”

“Anya is right,” Anita says. I glance at her, but she carries on. “You and Izzy need time to calm down, and when you are ready to face each other, talk about it.”

I look at them but sigh.

“I’m more hurt at what Izzy thinks that I’m not Allie’s father than her having Lena taking Allie’s memories,” I say to them.

They both nod. But Anya opens her mouth, “Well, do something about it then,” she says.

I stare at her.

Anya sighs. “Blake, adopt Allie as your own. Izzy knows Allie is all yours; that child loves you. I have only seen her a handful of times, but I saw the pure love of a child toward her father,” she says and smiles. “I used to look like that to my father,” she says. “All my memories of him are everything to me. I was a daddy’s girl, and when I moved here, he was heartbroken.”

I feel for her, but she’s right. I need to do something.

Suddenly, an idea pops into my head, and I quickly grab my phone.

Both women stared at me, but I didn’t care.

I looked through and searched for the name I was looking for. I was about to hit the dial butwhen screams were heard from outside.

“ROGUES.”