The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 142

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Two hours had gone, and there was still no sign of the pack members. I was getting frustrated.

I looked at my phone but couldn’t help but groan. It was dead. I was about to charge it, but I forgot my charger. I hope no one was trying to get hold of me. An image of Izzy and Allie comes into my head, and Axel whimpers.

Axel was getting anxious, and he paced my head. If there were flooring there, he would have worn it out already.

“Can you stop doing that?” I ask him, and he stops and looks at me. He stares at me and sighs. “I want mate,” he says. “Allie and mate should be here with us.”

I stared at him. Where the hell was this coming from?

“You okay over there?” asks Alpha Dawson, who stood behind me. I turn around to face him and sigh. “Yeah,” I say. “Axel wants Izzy and Allie.”

Alpha Dawson stares but smiles, “ah, young and to be in love,” he says. “We won’t be long, and you can get back to them.”

I nod, but something tells me we might not be going back soon.

I glanced over at Drake, who was staring at the hall door, and I looked to see what he was staring at.

In the doorway were pack members, and they were looking at us. But most were looking at the hall. We touched nothing as it wasn’t on the agenda, but something tells me none of the pack members have been in here since Elder Johnson and the vampires came here.

The pack members came into the hall, and all the ones that were already in here were moving over to where Alpha Dawson and I were standing. When the members poured in, the fear filling the room was intense and affected Anya and even Anita as they moved further toward the wall.

I walked over to the middle of the floor and stood. Alpha Dawson came to the one side and Drake to the other.

After a few more minutes, the hall was packed. Anyone made no sound, and you could hear a pin drop. I step forward. “Welcome!” I say to them. “I want this to be a free place for everyone to talk.”

The man who spoke to us outside took a few steps forward, with a few other members on either side of him.

I stared at him. He says nothing; only he takes in every one of us.

“We want answers,” he says. And he turns his face to Drake. “What the hell happened?” he asks sternly. “How the hell did you let us become like this?”

I look at Drake. His face was blank, but he sighed. “I was under a spell by the witch,” he says. No one in the room speaks or even moves.

I didn’t utter a word. I knew he needed to tell them what had happened to him. He needed to tell them everything.

Axel was close by and was on alert.

“Elder Johnson made me do things I’m not proud of,” he says. “The first thing he did was make me believe that my mate was dead. I was heartbroken and in pain. I had all the feelings of heartache, but I never knew the true meaning of anything till a few days ago.”

“You see,” he says as he glances toward Anya, who nods at him. “My mate was kept away; they tortured her and kept her from me. I was spelled to believe that every shifter had to be with their own kind and not other shifters. I was made to believe we were doing this for the greater good and for a better future.”

Drake steps forward, and some members step back. The fear for him was intense. “I never meant to leave my pack. I never thought that the elder would do what he did to any of you,” he says. “I was told to get more followers in the campaign and for what was something. But I never realized the old fool was after power, not until it was too late. Elder, but also by my so-called brother, who was turned into a vampire, made me a monster, not only.”

A few growls erupted around the room.

I felt tense; the mention of Michael made my insides burn with hatred for what he did to Izzy and for everything he did.

“Your brother feeds on those who never believed he could rule,” shouted someone.

“He was evil and the devil!” shouted another.

“I know,” Drake says. “I was made to believe everything because of the spell they had me under, and I know I can’t apologize enough to all of you.”

Drake looks at me but stops.

I turn around. “You see, I’m mated to a panther shifter,” I say. There were murmurs amongst everyone. “I found my mate a few months back. I accepted her, but the elder was hellbent on me mating and marking his niece.”

The man in front stares at me. “What has that to do with what happened here?” he asks. I was about to carry on, but Axel spoke.

I look around, “they don’t know about mate,” said Axel as he scans over every face. Every pack member looks at me, confused.

I sigh. “Well, the whole thing started with my mate’s mother being mated to my father’s beta. Everything was fine until Elder Johnson found out. A witch spelled my mate’s parents and even made a potion for the elder’s daughter to become the beta’s mate,” I say to them.

“How could a witch do that?” someone shouts.

“The witch in question was a dark witch,” says Alpha Dawson.

I look over at him and nod.

I look back at the pack members. “My mate is one panther left who has power and even defeats the witches and the vampire by using them,” I say. “There has been history about all this back before our time, and everything that has happened till someone from my mate’s line killed them. Her mother was killed beforehand because of a spell that the witch cased on her when her mate rejected her.”

There were a few gasps.

“What of your mate?” asks the man. “Is she still powerful?”

I looked at him, but before I could say anything. Axel stares at me. “Don’t mention her placing her power in the amulet. It might frighten them or, even worse, they might try to do something. We still don’t know what they are thinking yet.”

I knew he was right. I needed to figure out what they wanted and what we needed to do.

“She has,” I say to him. The man nods; he turns around and looks at everyone. When he faces me, “We need to move to your pack. We will be safer there.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

Drake was quiet beside me, but I could feel him become tenser.

“It’s his wolf,” says Axel.

I look back at the pack members. “I would take you, but I think you need to work out with Drake first,” I say to them. “He is my family, and I do trust him.”

“How can you trust him?” someone shouted. “He was the one who led everyone to your mate; he was in on the whole thing.”

I couldn’t help the low growl that slipped through. “Enough, Drake was spelled like his mate, your Luna,” I say. “You don’t know what it was like for them. Being tortured made them believe that their love was dead because some old fool thought more about power and the destruction of a pack. Everyone here has had their troubles, including Alpha Dawson and me.”

“Alpha Dawson lost his pack, and they even took his mate, my aunt, due to all this,” I say to them. Everyone stays quiet. “I think we should make Red Moon pack the pack it was once before, even if you follow Alpha Dawson. You will be under his care, and not only that, the care of Elder Tilly.”

Loud growls were erupting at the mention of Tilly, but I growled louder, letting some aura slip through.

They all submitted, but some were furious. “How do you expect us to follow another elder after what the other one did?” shouts a female voice.

“Elder Tilly is one of the good ones,” I say, letting my aura slip back through me. “She was the one who helped in the war, and I will assure you now there will never be another elder stepping foot into this pack or mine ever again. Tilly is the exception, as she wants to create a new life where the Alpha leads their own packs. No elder will interfere in pack business ever again.”

There was silence around the room. Some were taking in what I said, but others were replaceing it hard to believe.

“I will make a request,” blurts Drake. I turned to glance at him, cocking my eyebrow at him. He sighs, “I won’t be your alpha, and I will step down,” he says. “I will stay within the pack to gain every single member’s trust. I will use no form of authority against any of you. I will even become an omega.”

There were a few gasps, “why?” asked the man.

I couldn’t believe how proud I was of Drake once he said that but what he said next had me torn up inside. “I killed my father for the way he treated everyone here. I thought I was doing right, but I never believed that I was worthy of the position. After everything that has happened, I will do anything in my power to make you trust and believe in me as you all did once before. But I will make sure that no one, and I mean no one, will hurt any of you again.”

I stare at him, but I look back at the pack members. Many were muttering to others, but the man in front looked at Drake. “I think if you step down, and I think I will speak for everyone here, we appreciate that, but we will only have Alpha Dawson here to be our Alpha,” he says.

I nod at him.

“I think that is a wise decision,” says Alpha Dawson. “I will make sure every one of you will be taken care of, and I will try to meet all your demands. We will restore this pack to what it once was, maybe better.”

Everyone nods.

“Drake, I will never place you as an omega, but how would everyone feel if I placed Drake as my beta,” Alpha Dawson says.

There were a few mutters, but the man spoke up.

He turns to me. “We will agree,” he says. I nod at him, but his face softens. “We would like to meet your mate too.”

At the mention of my mate, Axel stares through my eyes, stands with a smile on his face, and wags his tail.

I nodded and smiled. “She will come here soon,” I say to him, and he nods.

“We will keep all communication like this, a meeting once a week for everyone to voice their concerns and what they want to happen to the pack,” says Alpha Dawson.

All the members nod in agreement.

I can’t believe we made some headway in this.

I look to the pack, “I will stay for another day to help, and if there are any concerns you want me to address, then come and talk to me,” I say. “I have to be back at my pack in a day, as I have something to do.”

The thought of seeing Allie for her birthday was something to look forward to, and seeing Izzy was making my insides ache once more.

All pack members stayed in the packed hall, but Alpha Dawson clarified that there was going to be a big clean-up of the pack and to make sure it was all safe.

I couldn’t agree more with him; if we get the pack prepared and all settled into a new life, the Red Moon pack will be one pack to dominate with mine by their side.