The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 37

BLAKE

We all head into the car and get in.

I look through the window, watching the forest go by.

I had to tell Kat when Izzy was getting ready what my mother told me last night through the mind link. She was not happy, like all of us. She was even surprised that Graham would help us.

We are all pissed.

I told her the plan and also Todd.

They said we should tell Izzy before getting to the pack house. She will not be happy with the plan.

I mind-linked Kacey and Dale last night. They both were annoyed and angry. Kacey is more than Dale, as Elder Johnson is meddling in her life. She told me he told Graham that she is lesbian, and he had his suspicions, but he wanted her to tell him herself.

It was not hard to notice Kacey when we were all in school. She was and still is a hot girl, but her eyes were always on the hottest girls in our school. She never once looked at a guy.

We are all in on this plan but Izzy at the moment. I don’t want to involve her, but Kat said if she replaces out from anyone else, she may never want to be with me.

“Penny, for the thoughts,” says Izzy suddenly. I am pulled back to earth with a thud. I turn to look at her. She was looking at me with a weary look.

I sigh. “Izzy, I have to tell you something,” I say. I can feel Kat and Todd staring at me through the mirror.

Kat nods at me.

“Today, we won’t be seeing my parents. Well, my father, at least,” I said.

She looks at me, confused. “Why? I need to speak to both of your parents together,” she says with a stern look. “Blake, what aren’t you telling me?”

“Her panther can sense that everyone is hiding something from them,” says Axel, who is sensing Puna.

“Izzy, my father has been possessed by someone. My mother and Graham seem to believe it is Elder Johnson,” I say.

She looks at me blankly. “Why would he do that?” She asks, but her eyes go green. Puna is through. “Mate, spill,” she growls, her power coming through, which causes Kat to grab her head and wince in pain.

“Puna, please,” she says weakly.

I can feel Puna go back inside Izzy, but not all the way.

“Izzy, Puna, Elder Johnson wants both Kacey and I to be chosen mates. My mother figured something was wrong last night with my father as he was not himself,” I said, shuddering at the mention of it.

My mother told me about their routine and also that he pinned her against a wall when she wanted him. “My mother knows it’s not my father. She came up with a plan. Graham and Linda were supposed to go to the Red Moon pack. But my mother had Graham escort Linda off the pack land until she told him to return her. They are not going to the pack. They are going to a cabin where a guard is going to hold Linda and him there for treason towards the alpha.”

Izzy looks at me blankly. “But my da… I mean, Graham hasn’t done anything wrong, so why is...” she says but stops. She looks at me. Suddenly, she put it all together. “He is pretending.”

I nod at her and smile. “He is. He wants to protect his children. All three of them. His words. My mother said.”

“What’s the plan?” She asks.

“Well, she wants both Kacey and I to go into the office to declare that we are going to be chosen mates,” I say. “My mother will be there with us. She wants you to be outside with Dale when she mind-links him. He will bring you in.”

A growl slips through her lips. “I don’t like this plan,” she says, but she looks ahead.

I look at where she is looking. We are at the pack house.

Dale and Kacey standing outside with their mates, who look pissed. I told them to tell them, but something seemed off.

Once the car has pulled up and parked. We all step out.

Kacey looked at her mate. “Please, we need to do this,” she says, pleading.

“Lena is a witch. She can get rid of the old fart. Why do you have to do all this?” Her mate says angrily.

Kacey sighs and looks at me.

“We need some information,” I say to her. “We need him to think he is winning and to think it’s true.”

She growls at me.

She walks over to Izzy. “You ok with this?”

I look over my shoulder and see a pissed-off, Izzy. “Nope,” was all she said.

My mother comes to the top of the steps of the pack house, waving her arm for us to go in.

Both Kacey and I head in the pack house direction, leaving our mates pissed off.

We will do nothing. We just might have to hold hands, but that’s it.

I just hope this works.

We need to be in front of this situation.

Axel is anxious. He can sense mate is not happy. “Mate, not happy,” he says with a whine. “Mate wants to kill.”

I sigh. “I know, butty, but we need to do this.”

All three of us walk into the pack house and head into the office.