The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 20

IZZY

Looking at everyone has made me feel anxious all of a sudden but it’s the eyes of my mate that I replace. He looks at me, he doesn’t move but stares, curiously watching me to see what I will do next.

Alice looks at me and smiles.

“There you are, we all have been waiting for you,” she said. “Come and sit, I think we should all get to know one another don’t you, Izzy.”

Alice gets up and picks up a chair to place next to hers, which will make me sit next to Dale.

I look between all of them.

Dale and Kacey stare with hope in their eyes. I know they want a relationship with me and I do too, but I need to figure out this whole situation with Graham, besides I haven’t met their mother yet.

Blake has been watching me the whole time I have been standing there. Alice grabs my arm and pulls me to the chair she just moved. I sit down in between them both.

The tension is so intense in the room; it is getting hard to breathe.

We are all in silence but it is the guy next to Alice that speaks first. “Hi Izzy, I’m Paul, Alice has told me so much about you,” he said, placing his arm behind Alice.

“That’s her mate,” Puna said, coming close to see as she can sense our mate too.

I look at him and smile. “It’s nice to meet you Paul, you must be Alice’s mate,” I said.

Alice stiffens next to me which makes me turn to her.

“I know I said I don’t want a mate but you could have told me that you found yours," I said with a smile. "I would have been happy for you. What I want, to what you want might be different but I would still be happy for you."

Alice looks at me in relief but a growl slips through someone, causing a few people to tense. I know who it is but at the moment I will deal with him later, I want to be happy for my cousin.

I look towards Blake.

“I need time, but we should talk,” I said, which catches him and everyone off guard. “I don’t want a mate but I would like to get to know you all, including you.”

Blake’s face goes into a hard line but doesn’t say anything.

“That will be okay with all of us,” says a voice. “I hope that invitation applies to me too.”

I turn to the woman, who I only now notice. She looks like Blake, but a female version.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself, I’m Luna Lauren, Blake’s mother,” she said with a smile. “I used to know your mother.”

I look back at her. The mention of my mother triggers some sadness, “You knew my mother,” I say weakly.

She nods and smiles.

“Yes, we were best friends from the moment we met each other. We were pregnant around about the same time as each other” she said, looking at Blake but looking back at me again. “I have so many stories and possibly some photos of us back at the pack house if you would like to see them,” she said, her eyes showing so much hope but also pain.

I nod at her.

“I would like that, I haven’t got many photos left of her as we had to move around a lot,” I said.

The Luna smiled.

“I will dig them out and pass them on to you, maybe Blake could hand them over when I replace them,” she said, looking between us.

No one is going to let this go are they, he might be my mate but I need to figure stuff out.

“Maybe,” I said, looking at Blake. I could see some hope there in his eyes, which caused him to smile.

Kat comes through the door, balancing two plates on both arms. Alice moves out of her chair to help her. Everyone’s food is put in front of them, and we all begin to eat.

Kat grabs the stool from behind the counter and eats her food just in front of the counter.

After a few minutes, while everyone is still eating Kat speaks. “So, any more words about what happened to Blake at the party? Alice mentioned a potion.”

I looked up, what potion?

Puna comes close at the mention of our mate but is also curious to know what’s going on.

“Well, it looks like Kelly spiked my beer with a potion,” Blake said, looking at me with curious eyes. “When I woke up from it, I had no clue as to what I did.”

I sniggered.

“Yeah right,” I said. Dale and Alice stiffen by the side of me.

Blake's face hardens, while everyone else tenses at the tension between us.

“Izzy, I didn’t know what I was doing,” he said. “I wouldn’t do anything like that to you. I want us to be mates. I want to make this work between us.”

I stared at him, trying to figure out if he was telling me the truth.

“The pack doctor says that he was given some type of potion, something that could make someone switch with someone else,” Luna Lauren said to me softly. “Izzy, I believe someone found out about Blake and you, they want to make sure that both of you don’t end up together.”

“She’s telling the truth,” Puna said in my head. “I can feel her intentions and she wants to replace out the truth about this, but think it is more about something else.”

I looked at her and she smiled. I can feel exactly the same things as Puna can but looking at her, she reminds me of someone. Someone I met or she looks like someone I know but I cannot put my finger on it.

I sighed as everyone stared at me.

This is getting on my nerves.

“Well, I am only saying this, so don’t take this the wrong way,” I said with a growl, looking towards Blake, but I turn to Luna. “Who wouldn’t want Blake and me to be mates?”

As she was about to open her mouth, the door opened and the scent that came in was all too familiar to me but it wasn't who I was expecting.

I couldn't help but growl as anger took over me.