The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 109

IZZY

The anger inside me was hard to bear, but it was aimed at one person.

The witch has my daughter in her grasp with a blade to her throat, and that same witch just killed my father moments earlier. I don’t know whether I should be angry or scream in pain.

I could make out crying and screaming, but the smell overtakes me. My body felt like it had an out-body experience. It was like watching the scene unfold, and I couldn’t stop or do anything.

The smell of rotten eggs from the rogues filled my nose when Blake and I left the pack house, but the smell of dead flesh made the stench more rancid.

Blake and Drake blocked me while I gathered myself; I needed to breathe, but every vampire and wolf on the vampire and witch’s side were scattered around, forming a circle around them to protect their bosses. Still, something made me stare further out behind them. Some were retreating but not from the fight; they were withdrawing from their bosses.

Puna scanned the grounds.

“They are leaving,” she says. “They can sense our power.”

The pain of losing my father was there, but my mind was on Allie and even Archer. I needed to protect them. I needed to finish this.

I can’t grieve now, and I needed to end this.

“Izzy,” calls Puna, bringing me back out of my state.

I stare back at her; her green eyes scan my face. Her eyes were full of sadness, but the power we were building up was there for us to use.

“We need to finish these assholes,” she says.

“What about Allie?” I asked.

“Mate will protect her; we can use his alpha aura to ensure we get every one of those arseholes who wanted us dead and who hurt the ones we love,” she says. Her eyes close, but when she opens them, the power magnifies, and I know she will retreat in my head when I’m ready to make my move and shift into my human form.

I stare at the back of my mate’s head. I know he can feel me. He slowly moves to the side, and Drake moves the other way with his mate following him.

In front of me was the witch; she stared back at me with a smirk. Puna walks through the gap, strolling.

I scan over the witch, but the blue eyes have me transfixed. Her eyes hold a lot of grief, just like everyone else around us. Allie’s eyes were full of tears. She was scared as I watched the silver blade pressing against her throat.

The witch will die for harming the ones I love, but I will make sure she burns alive by me for putting her hands on my daughter.

“You ready?” asks Puna. I nod, pushing myself forward, shifting back into my human form.

I stare at the witch as her eyes stare back. She scans over me with a strange look.

“You look like her,” she says suddenly. “You look exactly like Clara, from the eyes to the perfect waist.”

I stare at her.

I heard this many times by people that I looked like my ancestor, but hearing it from someone who killed her is slightly odd.

She stares.

I want to talk, but I know I’m trying to get my emotions in check.

“What cat got your tongue?” she says with a smirk.

A few low growls come through the air.

“LET MY DAUGHTER GO,” I say through clenched teeth.

The witch stares at me cocks her head, but the smirk is still on her face. “No can do,” she says, “I want that hybrid too.”

I glanced over to my side and noticed that Archer was standing close to me. I can feel his anger; he must have it aimed towards what she is doing to his friend. I can feel his hand on mine.

Something inside me is igniting, and I can feel my power surging through me.

I glance around and notice Lena with Dale; she is in front of him. I can see the anger and pain of losing our father betraying him, but his focus was on the witch.

“I think we have you outnumbered,” says the sexiest voice from my side.

I can hear movement from my side as I never take my eyes off Allie and the witch, and a hand goes into my other hand, making me look up at him. Blake smiles and leans into me. “Together,” he says. He pulls back, moving his hand away from mine, and looks down at me. “I will save Allie, save the rest of us,” he says.

I nod.

I look down at Archer. “Go to Drake,” I said to him; he looked up at me with confusion.

“When you feel the power run, I mean run and hide,” I say. I said it loud enough for everyone close by to hear me.

I know Blake was mind linking everyone with the message, as many wolves to my side had blank expressions on them.

Archer moves slightly away with his hand in mine, but I can feel lips on my hand as he drops it and moves away.

The whole time, the witch and vampire stared at me.

I walked forward a few more steps closer. I was now closer to them, but now I was close enough to see every inch of the woman’s face. I never looked at her, but her facial features were of an older woman. Harnessing the power that isn’t yours makes you age different, but something comes to mind.

“Let go of my daughter,” I say again, but not too loud.

The witch smirks. “Hell no, you will kill us,” she says. I cock my head to the side but stare at her.

“Blake, I know you can hear me. Please understand when I say this. Protect Allie, protect her,” I say in a whisper. I glance to the side where he was standing.

Blake nods. “I love you,” I whisper, his eyes widening.

I look back at the witch. “How about we do a trade?” I say to her, sounding confident.

Puna, who has been close by the whole time, knows what I’m planning on doing. “We got this, Izzy,” she says.

The witch stares at me. “You would trade places with the young one,” she says, sounding shocked. She was not a mother for sure, or if she was, she was a crap one at that. Every mother would trade places with their child if they were in danger. I would do that, but I would kill her before she even thought about leaving the grounds.

“I want to trade myself in, and you let Allie go,” I say.

The change in the air shifts as wolves try to figure out what I was doing.

“How about I have the both of you?” she says, but before I can answer her, something moves fast and grabs my throat.

I stare at the intense red eyes as the witch’s mate, holding me in a death grip. He hisses out. “Anyone move, I will kill her, and my mate will kill the little brat.”

I stare at him.

Puna was pacing back and fore. I need to be close enough to the witch. The vampire moves closer into my personal space; he breathes in and out. He leans towards me. “Clara has the same scent as you,” he says. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

I stare at him; he has a smirk on his face.

He moves both him and me closer to the witch.

“Mummy,” says Allie in a small voice. I can’t look at her as the vampire’s arm is in the way.

“It’s ok angel,” I say, but the grip on my throat makes me sound like a strangled cat.

The vampire moves and makes me stare out at the wolves. The worried look on most faces. But I can sense Blake. He wants to rip the vampire’s throat out.

My power has been building up for more time, but the emotions running from Blake are running through me.

“We need to do this now,” Puna says. “Allie will be safe.”

I stare at Blake. His eyes watch me, but I nod slightly.

Blake charges right towards us as Puna comes closer through me as we connect as one. I use all our strength and power to swing around and grab the vampire, launching him over my shoulder and straight towards Blake.

Puna and I become one as Blake wrestles some vampires, but I stare at the witch, looking back at me with wide eyes. I move quickly, but she pushes Allie into me.

I catch my daughter. “Allie, run,” I say to her as I look at her.

I want to hug and tell her we will be safe, but I need to kill the witch.

“Run to Alice, NOW,” I say as I look to see where the witch had gone.

“I love you, mummy,” she says weakly.

“I love you, angel,” I say as I move around her and run.

Puna uses our speed to run straight towards the witch. We catch up as we grab hold of the witch and turn her around to face me. Her eyes are wide, but I know she is trying to use her magic, but it will not work.

“YOU ARE DEAD,” I say to her. She smirks. “I think you may replace you are,” she says as she plunges the blade she had to Allie’s throat into my stomach.

I gasp, but my adrenaline is high, and we use it to our advantage.

Puna takes over my human form through the pain. “YOU ARE DEAD,” she says, staring at her.

The witch’s eyes plunge out. I guess she can sense Puna more now, and our eyes must have given it away.

We hold on to the witch with both arms as I stare right into her face. “ROT IN HELL,” we say as we unleash the power and every ounce that we have been holding back since this war started.

Flames spark up on both of us as the witch screams. I stare at her as I watch her wither from all the pain. She has all the rage of everyone aimed at her, but I’m using everything that has happened to me, every death, everything that came my way. I can see the vampire and Blake fighting to the side of us. We need more power.

“MATE,” we say, loud enough for Blake to hear.

Blake must have heard us as his alpha aura slips through our bond, making us feel stronger as the flames take hold of both the witch and me.

I couldn’t feel the flames, but the witch’s screams were high-pitched. They hold her and me in place.

“How?” she screams. I lean closer to her, “Mated and marked,” I said, and with that, the flames cloud every inch of us. We can’t see anything.

Puna and I close our eyes. We need the enormous surge of energy we can replace, and we know how to do it. We need to use everything we got, and I need to protect everyone. We pray to come back to the ones we love, but we need to protect them.