The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 9

IZZY

I couldn’t believe that son of a bitch. He was watching me walk into the house. He just stood and watched.

The only reason I found out was I had to move. I had to get up for the bathroom. After I did my business, I opened the window. I could smell Kat’s fading scent, but it was the scent that was with hers that made me want to kill.

My anger spilled over inside me. I had to follow the scent and hear what was being said. I didn’t want to see him, but part of me wanted to tell him how I felt or probably kill him.

After we left the café, Alice walked with us for a little part of the way, but she turned to the opposite corner and went home. I went with Kat back to her house. She was quiet. I think she was trying to calm her panther down too.

We walk in silence.

“You okay, Izzy,” says Puna. “I know seeing your father was tough, but the anger rolling off you had me ready to kill him right then.”

“I’m sorry, Puna, I didn’t mean it, but it was the first time in ten years of me seeing him. It was like all the bad memories of him not being there for me, and with what happened to mum, everything just came out of me at once, in one hit”

“I know Izzy. You need to tell Kat about the rest of it, though. She doesn’t know what happened a few months back,” she says as I remember everything.

“We will, but I need sleep; my body is going to collapse if I don’t sleep,” I say. She chuckles. “I know I feel sleepy too.”

“You’re always sleepy,” I say with a chuckle.

As the house gets closer, we walk in, and both Kat and I sit on the couch once we take our shoes off. We didn’t move for a little while.

“Izzy, can I ask you something?” She says, suddenly looking at me.

“Kat, what do you want to know? I am tired,” I say with a slight whine.

“When I rang you to come back here, you were being chased again. Weren’t you?” She says.

I look at my hands and nod. “Yeah, I remember leaving Todd and only got so far before they found me. Puna masked my scent. We had to hide in a tree for a few hours till we knew it was safe. I think someone is telling them where I am, or someone must be following me,” I sigh.

“Why did you bring it up?” I asked.

She looks at me. “I guess you wouldn’t talk to me if I mentioned your father and how you felt about it. Also, Todd asked me if you arrived safely. He told me some parts of it, too,” she says. “He also wanted me to tell you Allie is missing you.”

I smile. I miss her too. I had to leave her behind. I needed to make sure it was safe, but when the hunters came, I knew she had to stay put with Todd and the others.

I don’t say anything else. I replace it hard to deal with all my emotions, especially as I am tired.

She sighs. “We could talk about your alpha mate. Blake. He is a sweet guy and also really good-looking,” she says with a smirk

“Nope, not happening. I ain’t taking him as a mate,” I say, but I can feel Puna move in my head at the sound of her mate’s name. I know she wants him, but she knows most of the reasons why I don’t want a mate but not all of them.

We both sat once again in silence. But something was bugging me.

I overheard a question from a hunter while we were hiding in the tree. They stopped underneath us. Something only a werewolf from this pack would know.

“Did you know that Graham chose his mate over mum?” I asked her, and I needed to know.

She looks at me, stunned. “What do you mean? How? How did you know about that?” She says with a shaky voice.

So it’s true. I look at her. My emotions are high with rage once again. She knew. Puna is up and ready, her power radiating through me.

“How did you replace out?” She says, looking shaken up. That’s weird.

“Yeah, I found two hunters that followed me. I overheard them talking about it while on the phone to someone,” I said. She shifts in her seat. “Also, I found a letter mum wrote to me. It explained how Graham picked his mate over her. She wanted me to go replace him and make peace with him”

“Where did you replace the letter? I thought...” she says, but I cut her off. “I saw you give it to Todd before he left with me. When he fell asleep one night, I opened it and read the contents of it,” I said. “You should have given me the letter. Why did you keep it from me?”

Kat stared at me. “I was going to give it to you, but we were moving around a lot, and you were dealing with so much at the time. I didn’t want you to think about anything. You had enough to deal with,” she said.

She looked defeated. She was trying to protect me. Todd, Alice, Allie, and Kat are the only family I have left.

Suddenly I can feel the grief pouring off Kat, “I miss her every day. You remind me so much of her,” she says in a weak voice. The grief she has for my mother washing over me is hard. I miss her too. Two people are hurting here, Kat lost her sister, and I lost my mother. They were very close before she died.

She looks at me. “You shouldn’t be going through all this; you have been through so much more than anyone with the hunters chasing you. What Michael did to you?” She says as I feel a chill go through me at the mention of that name.

“I don’t want to think about him,” I say suddenly. Puna doesn’t even know about him. I have to clear my mind. I block Puna from my thoughts. I know she is sleeping, but she can’t hear about that.

Kat looks at me curiously. “Puna doesn’t know, does she?” I shake my head. “Nope, I will tell her when I am ready. I blocked her every time the thoughts came into my head.” I said.

“How much does she know?” She asks.

I sigh and look at my hands. “She doesn’t know much since she woke up from slumber. I know she came through for me twice before while supposed to be slumbering, but as you know, we don’t receive our panthers till our teenage years. They come at a younger age but to shift into for the first time, and then they go dormant till we are sixteen.” I say she is nodding in agreement. “I remember Grace only showing up when I shifted when I was nine, leaving me for a few years and coming back about when I was sixteen,” she says.

She looks at me. “She returned after what he did to you, didn’t she?” I look at her, my eyes brimming with tears. “Can we stop talking about this now? Please?” I say, begging for this conversation to stop.

She pulls me into a hug. “I know it still hurts; he was a monster. It is only between Todd, me, and you. Alice doesn’t even know,” she says.

I lean into her and let my tears flow freely, some landing on her.

“You better get some sleep,” she says after a long time, kissing my forehead like she used to do when I was a child.

I look at her. “Please don’t wake me up tomorrow, I need to wake up naturally.”

She laughs a little. “I will only wake you up after 3 pm unless you are really dead to the world,” she says

I smile. “Goodnight, Kat.”

“Goodnight, Izzy,” she says while still sitting on the couch, looking up at me as I get off the couch and walk straight to my room. I climb into bed after going to the bathroom. My sleep isn’t far behind me as I am soon in a deep slumber when my head hits my pillow.