The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 118

IZZY

I move slightly but feel like I’m lying on something soft.

I turn and slowly open my eyes.

When I open my eyes, I come face to face with a giant big black head.

I jumped and somehow fell off whatever I was on with a thud. I landed on something hard. I groaned out as whatever I was lying next to move. I glanced back up and saw two giant green eyes staring back at me.

A tongue comes out and licks my face.

I shudder but glance up while wiping my face.

There was a panther in my bed, but it looked familiar.

“You okay down there?” she asks with a smirk.

I groan as I move and use the bed to get up.

As you may have guessed, I stood before the panther, which I realized was Puna. Puna watched me, but I couldn’t help looking around to see where we were. “What the hell happened?” I say to her.

Puna looks at me but looks around after ensuring I’m alright. “I don’t know,” she says. I sit on the bed beside her, but I feel weird.

“Do you think we died?” I ask her.

Puna stares ahead. “I don’t know,” she says, “But this is not home.”

An image of Blake and Allie fills my thoughts. I closed my eyes and watched as my mate covered his whole body to protect Allie and keep her away from the flames.

“You’re both awake,” says a voice. I opened my eyes and noticed a door that wasn’t there before had appeared, and standing in the doorway was a woman who looked like me.

I said nothing as I stared at her.

I know her, but…

“Clara,” I say to her, suddenly remembering her.

Clara smiles and nods. “I’ve been waiting for you both to wake up,” she says as she walks into the white room. She stops right in front of the bed.

“Where are we?” I ask her as I look around once more.

The room was completely white; there was a white bed with white sheets and pillows. Everything in here was white.

Clara smiles at me, “You are in the in-between. You are not dead, but you are not alive either,” she says.

I frown. “What does that mean?” I ask her.

Clara sighs. “The in-between is a vial between the living and the dead worlds. You used all your power to defeat Nell and Amir, but you both were alive when you did it, as the flame didn’t consume you; you used everything you had to take them down,” she says with a smile.

I stared at her, trying to figure out what was going on.

Clara walks over to me and stands right in front of me. “Izzy, we have got little time,” she says. She holds her hand out, and I stare at it. “What do you mean, I have got little time?” I ask her.

Clara’s hand stays in front of me, but she again says. “Your body has trouble healing as both Puna and you are here in the vile, but I wanted to see you one last time before you go.”

I stare at her hand before placing my hand in hers. I get up off the bed, and Clara walks side by side with me out the door.

I glanced over my shoulder and noticed that Puna was following us, too.

“I’m not leaving you, Izzy,” she says.

I couldn’t help but smile. We walk out of the room, but the scenery changes in front of us. It shifts into a garden. I look around in awe as the beauty of the place takes shape. We were in a garden with some daisies around it.

My hand drops to my side as Clara walks over to the bolder side of us. She sits and looks back at me. “I have to say, Izzy, I never thought marking and mating your mate would help, but Hecate thought it might help. We all had no clue if it worked, but it did,” she says. I stared at her for a moment, and Puna was beside me. As I felt her silk fur rub against my leg. “Why do we look like each other?” I ask as I stare at the woman in front of me. She has every feature I have.

Clara looks at me. “We never discussed that, did we?” she says as she pats the bolder to her side for me to sit.

I walk over to her and sit down next to her.

I stare out, and the back part of the garden connects as one; there are no paths, just trees and daisies.

Puna sits near my feet and lays down. “We look like each other as you represent your family,” she says as she looks at me.

“I never understood why, but your mother, you, and Allie look like me. I started a chain reaction as I lost everything. I’m your ancestor but also a big part of your life. You may even replace that your other family members look like other ancestors, too,” she says. “There’s a book about our history; few people know about it.”

I wonder. “Where is the book?” I ask her.

Clara smirks. “That Elder took every book he could replace about us but never bothered looking in the one place that made sense,” she said. I look back at her, confused, but she laughs.

“The book is passed down from generation to generation. Your mother had the book, but because of her death, your aunt placed all of her possessions in storage,” she says. “Kat placed everything in storage when you went on the run.”

Clara looks at me for a moment. “I want to thank you, Izzy and Puna,” she says with a smile. “You got rid of the threat that has haunted us for centuries, but also, they would have never stopped if you didn’t do what you did,” she said.

I turned my head and glanced back, but something was bothering me.

“Allie has powers; how can that be?” I ask her without hesitation.

Clara places her hand on mine, and I look back at her.

Clara smiles. “You defeated the ones that needed to be defeated, but there will always be someone after power,” she says. “Allie’s power differs from yours, which would be the worst. Many people would kill to have her. But I know she will be safe with you and your powers to protect her, and your mate will accept her as his own.”

The mention of Blake and Allie has my stomach doing knots, and I need to get back to them. “What happens now?” I ask her.

Clara smiles. “You just need to rest and wait for your body to heal,” she says. Clara stands up and steps away from me, but she turns around.

“Izzy, I will leave now, but I will monitor you,” she said.

With that, she disappears into thin air. I look around the garden.

“What shall we do now?” asks Puna.

I glance down at her. “I don’t know,” I say.

Puna stares around but looks back at me with a smirk. “How about we climb a tree?” she asks. I can’t help but smile. I nod, and we both leave the bolder. I found the perfect tree, which wasn’t far from the bolder, and it was the right height for me to climb in my human form.

Puna goes first, and I follow her up, with Puna on the branch above me. I lean against the tree and place my legs on either side of the branch.

I closed my eyes but could feel Puna stare down at me.

“What?” I ask her.

Puna sighs. “You know when we go back, you are Luna of the pack,” she says.

I open my eyes and stare at her. I never thought about that; I would be the Luna of Blake’s pack.

Panic rifles through me at the sudden thought. “Izzy, there is nothing to worry about,” she says. “I will be there to help, and not only that, so will mate.”

Blake’s image pops into my head, and I miss him.

I miss my family.

I miss Allie.

I miss everyone. But something comes flooding into my mind, something that I completely forgot.

The witch killed Graham, my father. I never got to spend time with him.

A tear escapes my eyes. “He is in a better place, Izzy,” says Puna softly.

We don’t speak as we stare out, not looking at anything.

I don’t know how long we were like that, but we both fell asleep with images of Blake and Allie running through my dreams to remind me I needed to get back to them.