The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 40

IZZY

Everyone stares at the guests; I knew they would be shocked but hopefully happy.

“Anita,” says Luna Lauren in a whisper; she’s white as a ghost. “Is that really you?”

Anita smiles and nods. “Yes, sister, it’s me.”

Alpha Derek stands and moves closer to the lookalike next to Anita. “Dawson,” he says in a hushed voice.

Alpha Dawson smiles. “Hello, brother,” he says.

“How is this possible? We thought—” Alpha Derek says, but Alpha Dawson shakes his head. “I heard the stories, brother; we came because of a good friend of ours,” he says, looking at me and smiling. “You can thank this young lady here. She saved not only Anita but also myself too.”

Alpha Derek and Luna Lauren look at me with stunned faces, but the person next to me hasn’t even moved as I look over at him. Blake looks shocked. I squeeze his hand.

He looks at me. “You knew my aunt and uncle,” he says. “How?”

“That is a long story that we will share with you,” says Anita as she walks over to her sister and hugs her. Luna Lauren cries as soon as Anita touches her. Alpha Dawson grabs his brother in a bear hug.

“You didn’t tell me,” says Blake with his eyes on me.

I look back at him. “I was going to, but this whole mess happened,” I said with a hint of a smile. “I wanted to tell Luna Lauren and Alpha Derek about it first.”

“But you could have told me last night,” he says with a grunt, pulling his hand out of mine.

I look at him. “I wanted to, but I was getting my memories back. I had memories of Alpha Dawson and Anita when I woke up this morning. I knew them from the time I was on the run.”

He looks at his aunt, who is kneeling in front of him. “Don’t blame Izzy. We told her not to tell you if she ever met you. We were planning on coming back here, but there have been too many rogues around,” she says as she leans down and grabs Blake’s hands. She pulls him up and hugs him tightly.

“I missed you, Blake,” she says to him.

“I missed you too,” he says in a shaky voice.

Everyone hugs, and more chairs come into the office. Allie comes over to me. “Mummy, can I sit between you and handsome?” she says in her sweet voice.

I can hear gasps coming from Luna Lauren and Alpha Derek. “Mummy,” they say, glancing at one another and then back at me.

Kat looks at them and tells them about Allie.

I can sense Blake staring at me as he sits beside me. I don’t look at him but lean in and sniff Allie’s scent. It calms Puna and me down instantly, but I lean into her ear. “Yes, you can, darling,” I say.

I look up and catch Blake smirking.

Allie climbs up and sits in between Blake and me.

Everyone sits down.

“Who’s going to start?” asks Alpha Derek, looking at everyone.

I smile as Anita and Alpha Dawson look at me and nod for me to tell them.

“I guess I will,” I said. “I was on the run most of my life because of hunters and wolves, but never knew why. One night I came across a wolf that ten rogues surrounded. He was beaten badly, so I helped him. We both killed the rogues together. After the fight, I stayed with him, and he told me his name was Dawson. I didn’t even know he was an alpha mind. He told me he was looking for his mate that was taken from him by a crazy brother of his.”

I look over at Alpha Derek, who stares at me. “It wasn’t me before you ask. I will explain but carry on my dear,” he says with a hint of a smile.

I sigh. “Well, I wanted to help him. I took him back to the camp that I was staying with until rogues came; I made sure everyone was out of the camp safe, but I got caught by a rogue. Puna stayed back and hide inside me. We had to control our power, and we knew I would be used or, even worse, killed if people found out.”

“The rogue threw me and a few others who were trying to get to safety into a van and drove away to a cave. When we were inside, I thought it would be a good idea to kill some guards, but I was knocked out and placed in a cage with Charley and Lena,” I said and turned towards Lena; she nods.

Lena smiles. “Everyone in this cave was being selected by a witch who wanted to kill and destroy packs. She was working with someone, but we didn’t know who. The woman that Izzy showed the picture of last night—she’s the witch, and she is the one who is scheming with that elder,” she says. Some growls escape from some of the people in the room.

Allie snuggles into my side, her head getting heavy, and I know instantly she is tired.

“I remember waking up in the cage, but there was a cage opposite us that held a wolf,” I said, looking towards Anita.

Luna Lauren gasped. “You were taken, but who took you? No one knew where you went. We were told that you ran away and had another mate,” she says, which Alpha Dawson growls. “She only has one mate, and that is me.”

I look at them. “Well, we were all trying to figure out how to escape,” I say, “Until there was uproar; some rogues were fighting with another. One was thrown into the controls that opened all the cage doors. When we were stuck in the cage, I promised Lena, Charley, and Anita that we would leave together and help replace everyone’s families.”

“I remember going out onto the corridor when all the rogues were attacking all the other prisoners. Puna and I were so angry that I couldn’t control our power. We killed every single one of those rogues,” I say. “We never found out who was holding everyone. The witch was gone without a trace, too.”

Everyone looks at me.

I look back at the two alphas and Luna; they all got the same features. Anita and Luna Lauren have the same hair and eyes, while Alpha Derek and Alpha Dawson look at two sides of a mirror.

Anita looks at me and smiles. “You are trying to figure out how we are all related,” she says.

I nod.

“Well, Alpha Derek and Alpha Dawson are twin brothers, and so are Luna Lauren and I,” she says.

“Our father had both Derek and me first, and then there was Thomas,” says Alpha Dawson with a growl at Thomas’ name.

I looked at them, confused. “Who’s Thomas?”

Alpha Derek was about to speak, but Blake cuts him off with a snarl. “Thomas was the alpha to the Red Moon Pack. He is Alpha Drake’s father,” he says.

I look at the alphas, who were both nodding.

There were three of them.

For another few moments, everyone carries on talking but I needed to get out of there. My head was hurting too much.

I moved Allie from my arm and let her lean back, but her head leaned further over to Blake, who was watching me.

"I need to leave," I say, without looking at anyone in particular. I move from my seat and headed toward the door before the tears I had been holding back flowed freely down my cheeks.

Puna says nothing, as she rests in my head. I don't think I can deal with it anymore as I walk over to the stairs as the tears came.

There was no use in holding back now as I let out a whimper.