The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 97

IZZY

Todd and Kat stare back at me with open mouths.

“Hear me out,” I say, but Todd shakes his head as he sits on the bed. “No, Izzy,” he says as he looks at me. “We can’t look after him. He belongs to someone else, and we don’t know what he needs, and he is...” he says, but a growl cuts off him.

I turn to look at Kat with wide eyes. She never growls, especially at Todd.

“No,” she says to him, but she turns to me. “Izzy, tell me why do you think we should watch him?” she asks.

I look back at her, but I sigh. “Archer, his name is Archer,” I say. “He doesn’t have any family left, and what I found out just now from him, they never treated him like a person; he never was a child. Kat,” I say. “They tortured him, starved him and...”

But I had to stop as a lump appears in my throat. Thinking about how the slimy idiots treated a child, whether he was a hybrid, that’s no way you should ever treat a child.

“My answer is still NO,” says Todd as he glares at me.

“You helped me with Allie; you even had her for a while. I was on the run,” I say as I look at him. Todd tensed.

Todd has never been like this with me; why would he?

“Do I have to remind you I can’t have any children anymore?” blurts Kat, which makes me look at her with wide eyes.

“That’s...” he says, but Kat growls at him. “I saved your ass. I lost our child because of it.”

I stay quiet.

Kat looks at me for a moment but looks at Todd with heated eyes, but she turns to face the window.

“What Todd! You don’t want to talk about it,” she says. “I want to, you might not, but I need to.”

I turn to look at Todd, but he is staring at the floor with his eyes shut.

“You see Izzy, before that frightful night when we had to collect you, I had to save my mate; as hunters targeted him, they caught him. Alice was with a friend, but I found out I was pregnant with another cub,” she says.

I turned to look at the back of her head. Her reflection showed too much emotion, but I could tell she was somewhere else while telling me her story.

“I rescued him. I killed some hunters, which I thought I had all of them except I didn’t. One of them was hiding and waiting for me. Todd broke free and was fighting with another, but as I was coming towards him, something shiny called the corner of my eye,” she says and turns to face me. She has tears in her eyes.

“He was about to throw a knife at Todd, and I jumped in front of it. It hit me straight in the stomach,” she says as a tear escapes, running down her cheek.

I can feel Puna close by, listening to what Kat was saying. The sadness swept in through everyone in the room. I am heartbroken for them, and no one should go through that.

It hits us hard.

“I moved quickly and killed him, but I didn’t realize that Kat was down,” says Todd, still looking at the floor.

“I woke up in a hospital and found out that I lost the baby, but the blade damaged my womb. I couldn’t carry anymore,” she says as she cries more.

I walk quickly over to her, wrapping my arms around her. Her heartbreak hits me like a tidal wave. I can feel her pain. I close my eyes as Kat cries in my arms.

Something hits me. “You took me in while you went through all that,” I said quietly and looked over my shoulder at Todd.

Todd looks at me, and he says nothing but nods.

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

“You don’t have to look after Archer, I will,” I say, but Kat moves away slowly. She wipes her wet cheeks with the back of her hand and shakes her head. She looks up at me.

“Izzy, I would have taken you in whatever the circumstances were. I would even look after Allie once again if it meant to protect her from all of those arseholes,” she says, and she places her hand on my cheek. She wipes a tear that escapes from my eye. “Archer will be safe with us. Todd and I need to discuss this, but Archer will be safe here in the pack whether he is with us or you, or even someone else,” she says.

I nod.

“I wasn’t thinking; I wanted to protect him and to watch the way Allie is with him, and I only thought of you guys as you helped me out so much before. I thought I would have trouble replaceing a home for him because of what he is, and I honestly don’t think Blake will be too happy taking another child on,” I said.

I moved away from Kat and looked over at Todd. “Please forgive me,” I said to him.

I don’t see Todd coming as he uses his werewolf speed to get to me and wraps me in a hug. “You don’t have to apologize, sweetheart,” he says and pulls back from the hug with a smile. He looks at Kat and then back at me. “Let Kat and I talk; we will let you know what we think by tomorrow,” he says.

I smile.

“Thank you,” I say, looking down at the floor.

“Why are you thanking us?” Asked Kat in a confused voice.

I don’t look up. “I know I have never said it out loud or as much as I should have, but thank you for everything you have done for me. I mean, taking me in when I needed my family, watching Allie, helping me through all the torment and torture,” I say and look up at them. “I mean everything. You have been the best. I am happy to call you my family and you have been my parents when...” I say, but both of them pull me into them as I can’t stop the tears from coming.

I had parents. They might not have been my biological ones, but they stepped in when I needed them the most. Kat and Todd have been my parents for the last ten years. I know I have a father still, but he was never around.

Kat pulls back and places her hand on my cheek once again, while Todd stares down at me with a smile. “Izzy, you have always been our daughter,” she says and places a kiss on my cheek.

“Your mum would be so proud of you,” she says.

I smile.

Puna purrs in my head.

“We will leave you to the children,” says Kat, but she looks at me. “Where is Blake?”

My smile goes slightly. “I said some words that hurt his feelings. He hasn’t come back,” I say.

“Give him time; see him in the morning,” she says and turns to look at Todd. “Come on mate,” she says, but there is still pain in her eyes. I could tell.

Kat walks to the bedroom door and steps into the corridor. Todd watches her leave, but he turns to me, “I will do anything for Kat,” he says and sighs, “I think we will take Archer in. He seems like a good kid.”

I smile, but I place my hand on his arm. “Please look after Kat,” I said, looking towards the door where she went through.

“She still in pain from all that,” I say and look back at him.

Todd nods. “We both are. I blame myself for what happened, but she blames herself too,” he says.

Todd leans down, places a kiss on my cheek, and walks to the door. But once he reaches the door, he stops. He turns around and smirks. “Good luck with Frozen; that one song is going to be stuck in your head for ages.”

“I think I can manage one song,” I said.

Todd laughs loud but says nothing else as he walks away.

I turn and open the door to the joining room; both kids are flat out sleeping on the bed.

I glance at the television and smile. I turn it off and walk over to the closet.

I grab a pillow and blanket, placing them on the couch. I guess I will sleep here tonight as there will be no room on the bed with the two children there.

I look over at the bed. Allie and Archer were holding hands and facing each other. The light snores coming off them fill the room as I sit on the couch. I couldn’t help but stare at the bedroom door.

I wish Blake would come back here; I want him with us. I want to ask him what he truly thinks and what should happen to Archer.

I sigh and lean back on the couch, my head resting on the back. I looked up at the ceiling. I know what I want, and that is for my family, Blake and Allie, to be together.

I want the whole thing.

“Are you going to let him mark us?” asks Puna quietly.

I look back at her but smile.

“I will Puna, but I need to replace him tomorrow and makeup with him,” I say.

Puna smirks. “Makeups are the best,” she says.

I stare back, but she laughs. “Use your imagination, Izzy,” she says, but she sends me an image in my head of what kind of makeup she wants to happen.

I couldn’t help but blush hard.

“Puna, you horny cat,” I say, but laugh.

“Mate will be fine; he needs to calm down, and we will see him tomorrow, but I think we should train tomorrow. I don’t want to used to use power during this war,” she says.

I know what she is on about; too much power takes it out of us, and I know I will end up like sleeping beauty for days.

“Izzy, sleep,” she says as she yawns.

After a few minutes of trying not to think, I go to sleep.

Sleep comes, and I completely surrender to the darkness for the first time.