The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 86

IZZY

I can’t help but feel slightly off towards the council members. It’s not all of them. The one was talking to Kat and Todd that got my back up.

Puna is close as soon as she feels my emotions; she stares at the man as we head over to Kacey, Alice, Charley, and Allie.

As I get closer, Puna is nearby. “I don’t like that man that mate is talking to,” she says in a low growl.

“I know; I don’t know why though,” I say.

As I reach the girls and Allie, “Mummy” calls Allie, “Where were you and daddy too?”

I look down at the little sweetheart of mine. “We were getting ready,” I say to her as I bend down to pick her up. I look over to see Alice smirking at me, “yeah, right,” she says in mind link, “I can smell his scent on you, Izzy, you were fucking.”

I glare back at my cousin but catch Charley and Kacey giving me the same smirk.

“Mummy,” Allie pulls me back, and I look back at her; she points to someone who is standing close to me.

I turn to see a woman; she looks like she has just seen a ghost or something. “Mummy, that is the lady who made sure I didn’t go with that man,” she says.

I look back at Allie. “What do you mean?” I asked her I knew someone tried to get her, but I never found out who it was.

Allie looks over to Blake but clings to me tighter, “Mummy, that’s him,” she says into my ear as she holds me tighter.

I want to kill him. But suddenly, I notice Blake lunge at the man. I look at Charley, who has come to the side of me; I look at her.

But before I can talk to her, my nose catches a scent, and I know that scent all too well. It was coming from behind me. I turned to Allie. “Allie, can you go to Charley? I need to check something out,” I say to her.

Allie looks at me and sniffs, but she looks at me. “Okay, mummy,” she says and leans into Charley, who takes her from me.

I wait for a moment, then turn away.

I sniff the air; Drake’s scent is here. How is he here?

I walk away, and as soon as I am out of sight, I shift into Puna. Puna keeps me close, but we run as fast as possible to replace him.

There is another scent with him, but I don’t know what it is.

We get closer to the border of the territory. I shift back into my human form and look around, but I land on a tree where he leans against the tree. I can feel his eyes on my face, but he doesn’t move.

“Drake,” I say in a growl.

“I thought you would never come,” he says as he pushes off the tree, “I need to talk to you and.....” he says, but he gets cut off by a low growl which didn’t come from me. I look over my shoulder and notice a big black wolf, Axel.

He looks like he wants to kill him.

I turn to look at Drake with a smirk, but I soon realize that we aren’t alone; a woman is standing next to him.

I can hear bones cracking; Blake is standing by the side of me.

“Anya,” he says in a whisper.

I look at my mate. His eyes are glued to the woman in front of us. I look back at her; Drake has his arm wrapped around her. “Blake, Anya is alive,” he says.

Blake looks at him but glares. “How is this possible? I thought you were killed, or he killed you,” he says, his eyes never leaving Drake.

Drake growls, “I would never kill her; I love her. She’s my mate,” he says.

I look towards the woman; she seems weak and pale. I can’t help but sniff in her scent.

Puna comes closer. “She was tortured,” she says in my head as we stare at the woman.

The woman looks at me, she gives me a small smile, “You are the panther that is to end all of this,” she says. “I’m Anya. I am Drake’s mate.”

I nod.

Blake takes a step forward, but I can’t help but growl at him. He stops and looks over at me, but I let Puna push through. “MATE,” she says.

Blake doesn’t move, but Puna and I come closer together, turning to Drake. “WHY ARE YOU HERE?” We say to him, “YOU HURT US.”

Drake looks at us with wide eyes. “How can you both talk at the same time?” He asks, but he quickly recovers and shakes his head. He turns to Anya and sighs, “I recently found out that my mate was not killed by Michael, which he led me to believe, but Elder Johnson had her chained up in a safe house, the lead vampire, Amir, brought her to me as a token of my loyalty to him,” he says.

We growl, “That still doesn’t tell us why you are here?”

Drake clears his throat and turns to look at us. “Izzy, I want you to keep Anya safe, I mean both of you,” he says and holds Anya’s hand in his.

“Anya was the one person who made me feel love. I never had that only when my mother was alive, but when she died, I completely lost myself. My pack suffered because of the man I turned into, but when Anya came into my life. I had a purpose of living, I had a purpose of changing, but Michael and the Elder didn’t like the change who I was becoming,” he says. He turns to Blake. “We were once brothers; Anya told me you were going to save her before she was taken away. I want her to be safe here with you, Blake.”

I push Puna back as I turn to look at Blake; he was fighting with himself about Drake’s statement.

I sigh and look at Drake. “Why should we look after her?” I ask him, “You never helped my family or me; hell, you were the one who kept sending hunters after me.”

Drake looks at me with no emotion, but he opens his mouth. “I know my part in what happened to you Izzy, but I had no choice; I honestly thought my mate was dead. I assume Helga gave me a potion to make me feel like I lost my mate, as I would have felt her being alive.”

I know he’s telling the truth about that one as part of the image when I went to watch Helga’s memories; it showed me the Elder placing a potion in Drake’s drink he was having; Helga watched as he cried over the mate he thought he lost. It was hard to watch.

“I think Blake, take Anya back to the pack house,” I say to him.

Blake looked at me. I smiled, but it was small. “You take her back, but I want to talk to Drake about something,” I say to him. Blake shakes his head. “No, Izzy, we do this together,” he says, but I growl at him as he tries to come closer to me. “I know what I agreed with, and it stands, but you need to get Anya checked out by the pack doctor, and then we will place her in the bunker with Anita,” I say to him.

Blake looks at me with sad eyes. “Blake, Drake, and Izzy need to talk,” says Anya. “I need to rest as we were on the road for the last two days.”

Blake looks at her and nods; Anya turns to Drake and kisses him on his lips, “I will see you soon,” she says. But Drake says nothing.

Anya moves closer to Blake, but his eyes have never left mine. He looks hurt.

“Blake,” I say in a whisper. I look at him. “I will tell you everything when I get back.”

Anya reaches him and smiles, “Look, our mates need to talk. I want to talk to you too,” she says. “I missed our conversations.”

He nods, and they both turn to walk away from us.

I can’t help but watch them leave, but Blake looks over his shoulder at me.

All I could do was smile at him.