The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 2

IZZY

I have a brother who seems to be the same age as me. He didn’t waste any time.

“You must be Kat’s niece Izzy; my name is Dale. I am the Beta of the Shadow Pack, and this here is Paul, he is the Gamma. We wanted to come and introduce ourselves to you,” says Dale.

I look at him, not amused by him and his Alpha, who must be either busy or can’t be bothered to replace out who I am.

“Yeah I am, can you move your car please so we can go,” I say with gritted teeth.

Kat looks like she wants to punch me but controls herself. “IZZY,” she says.

“I am sorry, we didn’t know this was your car,” he says looking at the Honda, clearly lying as Kat has been living in town for a few months. “Jake, will you move the car to a car parking space please.”

Jake, who must have been the driver, nodded and went back to the car, climbed in, and drove the car straight into a space that was on the opposite side of Kat’s car.

“Is that better?” he says with a smile.

“Yeah, I suppose,” I say with a hint of annoyance. “Kat, can we go, please? I’m tired. I have been awake for twenty-four hours” I say while giving a fake yawn. Kat smiles knowing that this is not what I need to be dealing with.

“Yeah, sure, Izzy. Is there anything else that you need, Beta and Gamma?” She says while placing my bag on the back seat and taking my suitcase to the boot of her car.

They both looked at me, Gamma Paul looks like he is mind-linking someone.

“He’s minding linking the Alpha,” says Puna who has been settled at the back of my mind, watching with an amused look, she has been looking through my eyes but to the point of making them not change.

After a few seconds, Dale turns to me, and Kat smiles. “No, nothing else. Oh, actually, one thing, We will be by the cafe later this evening for the cakes we ordered for the ceremony.”

“No problem, they will be ready when you come to collect them. I hope the new alpha has a good welcome home party,” she says

“Oh, he will,” he says with a cocky smile. I shudder thinking about all the crude things he could mean, but he takes me by surprise by asking. “You both should come”

Kat looks back at them. “I don’t think so, I mean, Izzy needs to rest after the long journey she’s been on,” she says, "I think I know why she is acting like this, my blood boils as I know who will be there.

“Well, the invitation is there,” says Dale.

Paul looks at me with caution. “You should come to the pack house...” but before he could finish the sentence…

“I don’t think so, you both must know that my father is part of your pack. I will not or more like never will come to your pack house, so how about you both go and do whatever it is you both need to do before I throw up all over the nice shoes you have on,” I say while heading to the car to open the car door but I turn to face the gamma. “By the way, say Hi, to my dad for me as I bet he won’t show his face anytime soon especially as it has been ten years since he last saw me. So, I hope you have a nice party but never come near me again.”

I climb into the car and slam the door. “Stupid wolves,” I mutter under my breath.

I am now sitting in the car waiting for Kat to get in, I look at the three of them who I have left speechless, due to my outburst.

I hate the man. I don’t want to see the man who abandoned me.

“I am sorry about Izzy,” says Kat, walking to the car and opening the car door “I hope she changes her mind,” says Dale who seems to have recovered from my outburst and smiles at me “We don’t want any trouble,” he says.

All three turn and head in the direction we came from.

Kat and I stare back at them as they walk off. “Stupid wolves,” I mutter again under my breath.

“Izzy you have to behave and also be careful what you say,” Kat says and starts the engine. We turn and head out of the car park and onto a straight road. We drive in silence.

“Kat, Why did you want me out here?” I ask as the silence in the car was deafening and too much to take.

She sighs. “I wanted to see you, you are my niece,” I look back at her, I believe her, but there is more to this “And what else?” I say.

She doesn’t say anything for a few moments. “Your father came into the cafe when I moved here a few weeks ago. One of his pack members told him I was there. He wanted to know how you were and if you were coming back to live here.” she says, she looks at me a few times “He wants to get to know you, Izzy”

I laugh slightly. “Yeah, whatever, he hasn't bothered for 10 years, why now?” I ask.

She shrugs “I don’t know, I know you hate him for what he did to your mum and everything else that came with it. I know he abandoned you. There is no excuse for what he did. I hate him too for what he did to you and your mum, but he seemed torn and hurt when I told him that you will never want to see him again”

I don’t say anything. I know she will let me decide whatever I want to do, but the man abandoned me, like hell, I don’t want to see him.

“Izzy, you don’t know the full story about why he left,” she says.

I look back at her with no expression on my face. The problem with that statement is, I know why he left and what made him. She either doesn’t know that I know or she believes whatever lies he has told her.

“Who is this new Alpha anyway? Why are they throwing a welcome home party for him?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

She looks at me briefly before turning her head to look where she is going. “His name is Blake, he is the Alpha’s son. He has been away for the last few months, training neighboring packs,” she says. “He came into the cafe every day before he left, you might see him around soon enough”

I don’t want to see anyone, especially any Alpha, let alone any other wolves. They make me angry.

I leave the conversation there and stare out at the window. This small town has a huge forest around it, but all the houses are close together. After another few minutes, we pull up onto a drive that leads to a small terraced house. It looks like your normal terrace house. All the houses are based in the back of the forest, best for people to shift and make a run into the forest.

“We need a run later, I need a run,” says Puna, we haven’t shifted in ages as we have been traveling around lately.

Once Kat pulls up to her drive, the house looks nice. Same as the one I had before with my mother. I shudder at the memory. I have to block all that out.

We both climb out of the car, I head towards the boot to get my suitcase while Kat gets my bag from the backseat. I stop suddenly and realize that someone is watching me.

“Puna, can you sense someone behind us?” I ask her without looking behind me. Whoever it is, has my cat getting restless.

“I don’t know, but I already don’t like it here,” she says “Everyone seems to be on edge. I don’t know if it’s because of us or this Alpha coming back, but something is off”

I agree with her, something is off, but it is hard to put my finger on it.

I look up to see Kat staring behind me, her face is unreadable “We need to get you unpacked; I have to be at the cafe to close up” she says as she grabs my arm to pull me towards the front door.

“Okay, Kat,” I say and follow her. She leads me inside.

While I am inside, I look around. There is a small sitting area and an open-plan room with a kitchen at the back. When you walk in, the stairs are in front of us. She shuts the door behind us but not before I notice she looks around once more outside before shutting it and locking the door.

“Everything ok, Kat?” I ask; something is up, and I can sense it.

“Everything is fine; let me get you to your room. You can shower and rest. I need to go to the cafe to make sure Alice has finished the cakes for the ceremony,” she says.

She takes me upstairs and shows me her room and the bathroom. She brings me to my room which has an en-suite bathroom. “I had this put in last week as I knew you would be visiting whenever, but now you are staying, it will be handy,” she says. The room looks just the right size, I always had small rooms when I was traveling or just sleeping on the ground, rough, or in a tree but this room is nice.

“I bought everything you may need; if you need anything else, we can pick some stuff up tomorrow when we head into the cafe. Do you want to do a few shifts in the cafe?” She asks as she heads towards the bedroom door.

I nod as I know she will pay me for doing some work there “Yeah, sure” Just as I was about to complete my sentence, my stomach growls loudly.

She looks at me with a slight laugh “I will make you some sandwiches; I will bring them up. You may want to sleep after food and shower anyway, as it has been a long day”

I let a yawn escape my lips as soon as she mentioned sleep, and she smiled. “I will bring your food up when you are in the shower”

I smile and hug her. “Ok, thank you. When are you going to the cafe?” I ask.

“I will leave as soon as the food is made. I won’t be long.” She says and turns around but suddenly stops “I’m going to lock you in, just as a precaution; I don’t want anyone coming in while you are sleeping”

I look back at her; she has to be kidding right?

Who would want to come in here?

“Okay,” I say, feeling the unease come back to me with some force.

Puna is yawning but is also feeling on the edge “You ok, Izzy?” She asks; I know she can sense the uncertainty in my voice.

“Yeah, something is up with Kat. Did you hear what she just said,” I said, but another yawn escaped my lips.

She nods while saying “She probably just wants to protect us, even though we are strong enough to fight. She wants to make sure no one comes in. Izzy, you are running on fumes. You need to rest. We will go for a run when you wake up, but I have to admit, I am feeling quite sleepy too.”

I can feel her heaviness sink into me, I yawn again. I look back at Kat who has been staring at me “I will see you later Izzy” she says and leaves.

I unpack some of my clothes but the energy I have left after the trip has gotten me all sleepy. I grab a pair of PJs and head toward the shower. I think I had the shortest shower in history as I can feel the tiredness coming over me. I get out, dry, and quickly head into my room. There are already some sandwiches on the side table. Kat must have come in when I was in the shower. I put on my PJs, move the suitcase to the floor and lie on the bed.

Within seconds of my head hitting the pillow, I am sent into the darkness of sleep.