The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 45

IZZY

Tilly and I don’t stay long in the office. We both agreed that Linda needed to be dealt with as soon as possible, but she seems to think my father will be on our side.

Blake was waiting outside the office and stood up when he saw us coming out.

I couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Izzy,” he says as I walk up to him, “Allie is doing really well and has made some new friends,” he says with a smile but looks behind me. I can sense eyes on me.

I turn around and look back at Tilly, Alpha Derek, and Alpha Dawson, who are staring back at me with smiles on their faces. “I think we should head down to the cells and make sure Linda is further away from Graham. We will speak with him first,” Tilly says to the two alphas. I turn to Blake. “Can you ask Kacey and Dale to come with us?” I ask. “I think they will need closure and also need to hear everything.”

Blake nods, but his face goes blank when he mind links them after a few seconds. He looks at me and smiles. “They will meet us there,” he says. The guards have placed Linda in the furthest cell away from Graham. She won’t hear a single word as the cell she is in is where we kill rogues,” says Alpha Derek. “Both Luna’s will stay here and monitor everyone else. Kat and Alice are with them while I sent Todd and Paul to train, which will keep them busy. We don’t want too many people down there.”

We nod, but I look back at Blake and sigh. “I guess this is the time I get to tell Graham, then,” I say to him. He nods and holds out his hand for me to take. “Izzy, he needs to know everything,” he says.

I take his hand and sparks fly through us as our hands touch, the mate bond working, and I feel at ease with Blake, especially knowing he is with me.

We all head to the cells, which looks like a bunker; as soon as Alpha Derek opens the door, the smell of dried blood, vomit, urine, and even death hits us hard.

All three high personal walks in front while Blake let me go before him, and he follows. I look to where Alpha Derek has stopped. There, leaning on the cell gate with his arms through the gaps in the gate, was my father.

My father turns and looks at me, which turns into a shocked expression. “Izzy,” he says in a whisper. The door opens again from behind us as Dale and Kacey come into view. Tilly and the two alphas move aside, letting all three of my father’s children look at him. He looks completely lost. He looks between all three of us individually but leaves me till last to look at. I can feel Blake behind me. His scent calms me.

I breathe in and out, closing my eyes, but when I open them, Puna comes close, which startles my father. “Izzy,” he says, but Puna takes over. I’m with her, connected as one, but she speaks. “Not Izzy, Puna, her panther,” she says.

“I want to...” he says, but Puna growls, “I only come forward to see you, but you don’t listen to Izzy. I will kill you,” she says, moving back a bit but staying close. I close my eyes but open them a few seconds later. My father looks at me with hurt in his eyes. “Why would your panther think I would hurt you?” he asks.

I could feel Blake’s hand on my back, tingles shooting through.

I stare back at my father; I never thought I would have to do this. I never wanted to, but now with everything coming to light; my head is everywhere, especially when it comes to him.

“Izzy, talk to him,” says Puna softly in my head.

I look at the floor and sigh but look back at him. “I need to tell you a few things I have recently learned and found out. You need to hear them,” I say to him.

He stares at me but nods. “Your mum was like that, straight to the point,” he says, sighing. “What do you need to tell me?” He asks.

I tell him everything from the night he rejected my mum, every single memory of that night about Linda and Elder Johnson being there with a witch. I don’t miss every detail, but he looks angry once I finish telling him. “You lie,” he says. “I was never under any spell.”

I can’t help but growl, “I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”

He looks back at me. “Izzy, why would Linda go through all that trouble and make me reject someone who was my mate,” he says.

Puna was itching to come out, and I let her. She comes straight up in force with me, growling loud. “YOU BELIEVE A WOMAN WHO WANTS POWER OVER YOUR OWN DAUGHTER,” she says. She slips some power and grabs Graham by the throat through the cell gate as she growls. I step forward, and our voice is as one. His eyes go wide.

“Surprise, but that bitch caused my mother’s death. She made sure you drank whatever you needed to and made sure you rejected her,” I say with a snarl. I could feel everyone’s eyes on us, but I didn’t care. “I never lied to you, but one thing I will say, Panther shifters only have one mate, so having two has never been heard of,” I say and let my hand go off his neck.

I look back at him, and he holds his neck while gasping. “Have you ever wondered why you never wanted to come and get me? You taught me how to ride a bike when I was six, even though you were supposed to be patrolling…“

I closed my eyes as I continued. “I had to watch my mother die. I had to be an adult at eleven. I had to go on the run because every goddamn shifter and human was hunting me because they wanted me dead.”

He looks at me with hurt eyes, but I continue. “I never had a reason to lie to you. Do you know what it was like to watch you drive away when I was running after your car as you left after the rejection? I was in the middle of the road crying for an hour before Kat came. Mum was in pain. Not only did I lose my mother, but I lost you too,” I say to him as a lone tear escaped.

I wipe my tears away; I can feel Kacey coming to the side of me. “Dad, Izzy is speaking the truth. Mum caused all this because of power,” she says in a whisper. She places her hand in mine, which surprises me, but Dale comes to the other side of me, and I look up at him. He smiles down at me, but he growls when he turns to our father. “You always told us to come to you if we ever had something to say. So, here are all three of your children standing together now...” he says. “Mum and Elder Johnson caused all this, not Izzy. She wants mum dead, and in all honesty, we all do.”

He looks between all three of us, staring back with a blank expression.

“Graham, all three of your children are standing in front of you, telling you what Linda has been up and done. How about we hear it from the horse’s mouth?” says Alpha Derek, who opens the cell gate door.

Graham looks at all three of us. Kacey and Dale walk up and hug him as he steps out, but I move back. He leans into them both but looks up at me with a small smile.

We have to talk more, and he knows that, but at the moment, I need him to know about what Linda did. He needs to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

I look towards Blake, who gives me a smile, but it goes as we look down the corridor where we can hear. “Let me out. I’m an elder’s daughter. I shouldn’t be in here,” she says, snarling.

I growl.

I look at Graham, Dale, and Kacey, who stare at me. “I think you three need to stay back, just somewhere you can hear what’s being said. By the look on everyone’s face here, we all want a piece of her, but I want to talk to her first,” I said in a whisper to them.

They nod.

I turn to Blake. “You stay here too. I want her to tell me everything, and you being there won’t help. She will open up to me more if she thinks I’m on my own,” I say to him. Blake looks back at me, but Tilly walks over and places her hand on his shoulder. “Nothing will happen to her besides her panther will kill her before she does anything, but we need to hear her say everything to her,” she says to him quietly.

He nods and looks back at me, saying nothing.

I can feel Puna coming closer to the surface; she wants to be out for this. I walk to the end cell. I need to confront the woman who has caused all of this.