The Secrets of the Panther

IZZY

“What do you mean?” I ask her, shock still in my voice.

Anya looks at me but sighs. “I told you I read the books the Elder had. I read that your ancestor never marked her mate,” she says. “Did your mother ever mark your father?”

I look back at her, silence taking over the room.

Anya walks towards me and stands in front of me, but her eyes search mine to find something.

My father never let my mother mark him; he wanted to protect her. Clara never said about marking or mating with her mate. The wheels in my head turn, and things become clearer somehow. Puna comes and feels everything I can.

“Izzy,” she says, “Clara never marked her mate; if we mark our mate, what happens?”

That’s a good question. What the hell...

“You are taking long to answer the question,” says Anya, who now is smiling at me.

I frown. “My mother never marked my father, but he marked her. He told her he was protecting her. As for my ancestor, I’m assuming she never had a chance either to mark him,” I say to her.

Anya’s smile widens. “Well, you have a few hours or days to do it with Blake,” she says and turns away.

I’m still confused about all this. “Why would marking and mating with Blake do?” I ask as she stops and turns to look at me.

She cocks her head to one side; her smile still there. “The book I was reading before they took them away from me mentioned that if the shifter has a mate. They should be as one and mark each other, because of feeling each other’s emotions. The shifter with the power can use their mate’s emotions, which will make the power more powerful,” she says and looks at me. “The witch you are going up against might be powerful, but I never told them about this. I even ripped the page out.”

I stare at her. “Why would you be telling me all this?” I ask her. “You don’t know me.”

Anya looks at the ground. “Izzy, I want to be free,” she says, but looks up at me with determination in her face. “Do you know what it is like to feel betrayed by the people you thought would never hurt you?”

I close my eyes, but I know the feeling all too well.

I open my eyes and stare back. Anya looks at me with a knowing look. “You do?” She says, but sighs. “I wanted revenge on the people who took me away from my mate, people who made a fool out of him, and what that elder did to my son was unforgivable and cruel.”

I can feel her pain but anger sweeping in through her. I nod.

“I want you to make them all suffer,” she says as she steps closer to me. “I want the Elder tortured and killed, Amir and that which needs to be stopped and killed. They hurt everyone, even me, when they pretended to not know about Drake but Izzy,” she says as she stops in front of me once again. She places her hand in mine. “You know what I’m saying is the truth, as you feel emotions. I don’t want to hurt you, and you can trust me. I only want to be free from the monsters who held me against my will.”

I can feel it all; she can’t manipulate emotions. No one can. You can show them all in your face, but when emotions led to my power. Everyone’s feelings are there to prove that they are human, well, at least in some shifters and humans.

I squeeze her hand and look towards the door.

“I need to go, and I need to find Blake,” I say.

Anya smirks. “You want to mark and mate him?” She asks, but I smile back at her, “Actually, I said some hurtful things to him earlier; what better way to mark and mate each other when you want to make up with them,” I say.

Anya laughs. She lets go of my hand and moves back. I walk over to the door, but I stop and look over my shoulder at her. She stares at me. “Anya,” I say with a smile. “After this war, you are free, and so Drake will be, too. I will make sure Blake knows what you did here and also,” I say to her and sniff the air and grin back. “Keep safe and see the pack doctor soon.”

Anya looks at me, confusion written all over her face.

I smile. “I have a sense that you are redeemed, and your son is watching over you.”

Anya smiles, but a tear runs down her cheek. “Thank you, Izzy,” she says. “We will sort everything about my mate and me after we deal all this horrible bullshit with.”

I nod.

I open the door and walk out, closing the door behind me.

I stare at the door, knowing I’m not alone.

Someone is behind me, and I know the scent.

I sigh. “You listened in on what was said,” I ask as I turn around to face Dale.

Dale looks at me with a smile. “I heard most of it,” he says, but looks down the corridor but looks back at me. “I won’t tell him about it.”

But his face changes slightly. “I heard what she went through; no woman should go through all that,” he says in a quiet voice.

I look at him but nod. I stepped around him and was about to walk away, but he grabbed hold of my arm. I stopped and looked up at him.

“What do you want, Dale?” I ask him.

Dale looks at me, searching my eyes, but sighs, “I think we should have a family meal or something so we can all have a new step forward to get to know all one another. I know Dad would love to have some quality time with you and Allie. I would love to get to know my niece too,” he says with a smile.

I give him a small smile. “We can sort it out after the war, but Dale,” I say. I turned my body to face him, so my back was to the corridor.

“I want to get to know all of you, but,” I say. “You all have to be patient with me; I’m not used to all this,” I say, moving my arms around the place.

Dale frowns. “What do you mean?” He asks.

I look at him and sigh. “Have you ever been on you for so long?” I ask him. His eyes look at me, but he shows nothing, even though I know he is trying to wonder where I am going with this.

“I was on my own most of my life from the age of eleven. I had to run and kill for the whole of my life, and after the whole Michael thing, I never wanted to be touched or even be intimate with anyone,” I say and look at him; the sadness swoops in him as he stares back at me.

“I had no one. It forced Kat and Todd to look after Allie as the hunters tried to hunt me down at every turn. They had to separate from me. Everyone did because of everyone hunting me. Kat came here to be with Alice and her mate; Todd was with Allie, and as for me,” I say and stop for a moment before I continued. “I was on my own. I miss the freedom of running and being on my own, but,” I say. “I want to be part of something, but I’m not used to being part of anything, but I will try. You all need to be patient, and I’m not Allie, who can fit anywhere,” I say with a slight laugh, which makes him smile.

I smile at him. “I want to, which is a good sign, but you need to be patient with me. Also, I want to get to know you as a friend and as my brother,” I say.

Dale looks at me with the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face.

I laugh. “You know,” I say as I turn around. “I know we will be good at this, as you seem to have Dad’s sense of humor.”

Dale laughs loud at that. “Oh, I do, but I am better than him,” he says. I look over my shoulder at him and smile, “I bet.”

I was about to go when I caught a faint scent nearby, and I stopped.

I close my eyes. I know he is not here anymore. I want to apologize to him. He must have heard what Dale and I were talking about.

I open my eyes and look over to Dale, whose eyes are still on me. I smile, “I will see you later,” I tell him and walk away.

I head back into Blake’s room.

I need to find a bedroom for both kids soon.

As I walk down the stairs and head to Blake’s room, I open the door, and Archer is still asleep. His snores fill my ears as I open the door, but a ping comes from my phone. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I need to take that thing with me, or it could have woken him up.

I walk over to the phone I had left on the dresser earlier, and the other phone was with it. I checked it, but nothing from Drake.

I picked up my phone and clicked on the message from Alice.

“Allie will be up in an hour; she is eating her body weight in chocolate muffins. She wants to sleep with you, and Mum will bring her up as she wants to talk to you,” she says.

I hit a reply off, telling her okay. I shut down my phone and walked over to the couch.

I sit and lean back; I look over to Archer, who hadn’t moved from the same place I left him before I went to talk to Anya.

My eyes feel heavy; tiredness is kicking in.

Not that long, and I am sent into darkness; sleep is all I want right now.