The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 56

BLAKE

I woke with a start. I sat up on the couch and rub my eyes to focus. I looked around, and my eyes landed on the bed where two bodies were sleeping soundly.

I lean back on the couch to fall back asleep, but a mind link comes through from my father. “Blake, can you come to the office for a moment?” He asks in a gruff voice.

“Yeah, sure, the girls are sleeping. I will be right there,” I say, closing down the mind link.

I look towards the bed once more, the lingering lavender scent still in the air. I don’t want to disturb Izzy and Allie.

I walked out of the room, headed straight to the office, and walked straight in to replace my father sitting at his desk. He looked like he had been there for the last five hours. He rubs his eyes and looks back at me with a weary look. “Did I wake you?” He asks.

“No, I had a weird dream,” I said, looking at him. “What’s going on? I thought you would have been in bed by now.”

My father smiles at me. “I would have been, but Kat came here with some startling news about something when you were with Allie and Izzy,” he says and leans back in his chair. “Kat had a visit from the witch helping Elder Johnson and Drake. She wanted Kat’s help replaceing her son, as Michael had him somewhere, and he wouldn’t tell her where he is.”

I couldn’t help the snarl that comes out of my mouth. My father sighs as he looks at me. “She also wanted Izzy to help her break a bond that her mate has with Michael. Apparently, they’re connected by a sire bond, and if either dies, they take the other one with them.”

I stare back. “Why would she need Izzy to help her?” I ask through gritted teeth. “She is a witch. Surely she could do it herself.”

My father looks at me, and his face goes blank. “The magic the witch has been using is dark magic which makes her and others want things done, they have to sacrifice things they love the most, and it looks like all the years she has been using it has taken its toll on her, she is dying and needs help.”

I look at him. “Izzy isn’t going anywhere near her,” I say. “I want to protect her. I know she is powerful, but she doesn’t need to do anything on her own.”

My father gives me a small smile. “I am so happy for you, son, that you want to protect Izzy and the child,” he says. “The child seems to have taken an interest in you. You are good with her.”

I look at him, and an image of Allie comes into my head, making me smile slightly.

My father smirks. “I am happy to see you take the role of being a father well,” he says.

I look at him. “What have you done about the witch and also everything else?” I ask him, as I want to change the conversation.

My father smiles. ’Good twist in changing the subject, Blake,” he says with a chuckle but suddenly turns to look at me more seriously. “I have put the pack on lockdown starting tonight, with only a few members knowing what is happening. I also issued more patrols around the pack, making sure there are more warriors at each point of entry of the pack lands.”

I nodded. “At least we can keep safe for a little while, but I have a funny feeling,” I tell him, staring back at him. “I think the war between Michael and everyone in the pack will be here soon, and we need to be prepared for whatever happens.”

Axel stirs in my head, feeling slightly anxious. “Need to go to the room now,” he says, standing to attention.

I stare back at him. “What do you mean?” I ask, but he growls at me.

I quickly stand up, which makes my father look at me, startled. I walked towards the door. “Blake, what’s going on?” He asks as he gets up from behind his desk, following me to the door, but I am rooted to the spot just outside the door; there, standing in the middle of the hallway, was a crying Allie.

Allie stares up at me. “I woke up from a nightmare,” she says with tears running down her cheeks as she runs straight to me. I bend down and pick her up, wrapping her arms around my neck and placing her face towards my neck. “I woke up alone, no you and no mummy,” she says.

I look towards my father, who is staring back at me; both running straight to my bedroom with no word. I ran with Allie in my arms, and as we entered the room, there was no sign of Izzy anywhere.

“Where the hell is she?” asked my father.

Allie cries once more, holding onto me. I was sure she was in bed when I left, but I could not have noticed.

Suddenly, a mind link comes through to me. “BLAKE,” shouts Paul. “Is Izzy with you?”

How the hell would he know she’s missing?

“She not here. Allie came running to me, saying she woke up alone. Paul, she is not in bed. How do you know she was missing?” I ask him.

“Alice,” he says; he sounds like he was running. “Alice went to Kat’s house to get the rest of Izzy and Allie’s clothes, she didn’t come back after an hour, so I went to replace her, Blake,” he says in a panic. “Alice was tied to a chair and beaten badly. There were two unfamiliar scents here, but Izzy’s scent was there too.”

I stared at my father, who must have been mind-linking people, as his facial expression was blank.

“Where is Alice now?” I ask Paul.

Paul sighs. “I mind linked to the pack doctor who has rushed her to the pack hospital,” he says. “I’m heading there now. Kat is on her way with Todd, too.”

“I will meet you there. I will bring Allie with me as I don’t want to leave her on her own,” I say through the mind link before I shut it down.

I looked towards my father, who now has a severe look on his face when he looks at me. “Four of our warriors are dead, drained of blood on the west side of the territory,” he says with a snarl. “There are tracks made by an SUV coming in and out of the place, fresh tracks.”

I try to calm down. I don’t want to upset Allie even though my anger fueled every vein inside.

I opened a mind link to him and explained everything Paul had told me. I didn’t want to say anything in front of Allie.

“We need to replace out what happened,” he says. “If they have Izzy, the war may start sooner, and she might...” I growled, which made Allie jump in my arms.

I stare at the little angel. “I’m sorry, angel, we going to visit Kat’ I said to her softly and looked at my father. “We need to come up with something fast, or I will lose it completely.”

I move towards him. “I’m heading to the hospital. Have mum come there. She will have to look after Allie,” I said to him once again through the mind link.

“Ok, but why would your mum be looking after Allie for?” He asked as we ran out of my bedroom and towards the pack house door. “I have a funny feeling.”

I know what I have to do. Michael was a crazy bastard when we were kids. Even when he was human, he was a killer, and what he did to Izzy was the worst. I know other people he has hurt, but I need to develop a plan and fast.

My mate’s life is going to be in the balance.