The Secrets of the Panther

IZZY

I stare at Blake; he would agree that my powers are stored in the amulet. He was all set for Allie to do the same.

We stay in the office. Blake went to the desk and reviewed emails he had missed while we were at the storage unit.

I stared out of the window as it was getting darker. The moon was shining, and it lit up the whole pack ground.

“You okay?” asks Puna. She has been withdrawn since the meeting. I could feel her stir a few times, but she had been distant from me since we returned from the storage unit.

I look out of the window. “I’m okay,” I say to her. “How are you? You’ve been quiet since we left.”

Puna comes closer. I can see her eyes are full, but her face is blank. She stares at me for a moment. “We should store our power in the amulet; the sooner, the better. The same goes for Allie,” she says.

I frown at her. “Is that all you have been thinking about since we left?”

Puna looks at me, but the corners of her mouth tilt into a smirk. “I wondered when we were going to mate with mate again,” she says as she lays down. Her eyes never leave mine. “We need some fun.”

I stared at her, trying not to give away that I felt the same way as she did. Blake was amazing over the last few days, but I only want to jump his bones for hours on end.

“Tilly just got elected as the head elder for the elder pack,” he says. “Well, finally,” says Blake, pulling me from my thoughts. I turn to look at him, and he stares at me with a smile.

I can’t help but smile.

Tilly is one of the good ones, and I know she will stand with us when we become Alpha and Luna.

Blake laughs, and I can’t help but raise my eyebrows at him. “What’s so funny?” I ask him.

Blake calms himself down after a few moments. “Well, it seems the men who were in the office after the war with her have now got new jobs as cleaners,” he says as he looks at me. I stare back, slightly confused, but he carries on. “Tilly told them that if they have a problem with shifters mating with different shifters, they will get new jobs. It says here that most of the elder pack are in for a change, and even a new ruling will be put in place, but the men caused a stir. Tilly told them they have new jobs as cleaners, which they thought was a joke until Tilly used her aura on them.”

I smirk but say nothing. I glanced at the clock and realized the time was coming up to the ritual.

Blake arranged with Dale and Lena to bring Allie here. Lena was going to perform the ritual in the office. It would only be the five of us.

The other family members know, but as I stated to Blake, we shouldn’t make a big deal of doing it, especially around Allie.

The ritual was simple; Allie could be asleep during the entire process.

Lena has to place the amulets onto our foreheads and say the spell. Once the spell was read out, our power should automatically go into the amulets easily. I was getting a little nervous; it all seemed too good to be true.

I look through the window, but enormous arms wrap around my waist, pulling me into a hard chest. I couldn’t help but lean into him as his scent overtook my senses. Blake places a kiss on my head. I can see his reflection through the window. His eyes were burning with love, but more. He leans into me. “You need to calm down,” he says, moving his head into my neck’s crook, but his eyes stay on me as he pulls back slightly.

I watch his face through the window; his eyes never leave mine.

Suddenly, a knock echoes through the office, pulling us from each other’s gaze. “Come in,” calls Blake as he takes a few steps back and removes his arms from my waist.

I turn around as the door opens, and in walks Dale, carrying Allie in his arms. Lena follows right behind him and closes the door behind her.

Lena smiles at us, “You sure you want to do this?” she asks me.

I nod, saying nothing.

I look at Dale, who places his finger to his lips. “Little peanut has been playing non-stop and has even eaten her full weight in muffins and cake,” he says with a smirk. “She’s in a sugar coma.”

I smirk at him.

“Kat will have Allie with her tonight,” says Lena as she glances between us. “She wants Blake and you to have some alone time.”

When she said that, I could sense the mood shift through the mate bond. I must get my head out of the gutter and start thinking about his ritual.

Lena points to the couch. “We can use the couch,” she says. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the Find_Nøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I looked over at Blake, who took the amulets from the safe and handed them to her.

Dale sits on the couch with Allie on his lap, and he moves her so she faces Lena with her head leaning back on him. I couldn’t help but smirk; the remanence of chocolate was all over her mouth, but it was freaking cake, the sticky kind.

Lena places the amulet meant for Allie’s power on her forehead.

Lena looks at me. “I will do Allie first and then you,” she says.

I nodded, but I never took my eyes off Allie.

Lena closes her eyes, chants the words out, and she repeats the words over.

The amulet lights up, and the yellow stones on the panther are glowing. After a few moments, the light disappears.

Lena moves towards the amulet and picks it up. She stares at it, but she looks around at us. “The power is stored,” she says. “It worked.”

Lena places Allie’s pendant in a wooden box. But the box caught my eye. I looked at it as if I had never seen it before and furrowed my eyebrows. “Where did you get that?” I ask her.

“It was in the box that Anya and Drake brought back from the safe house,” says Lena as she places the pendant inside a small compartment. “I looked through one book, and it stated that the amulets could be kept in here safe, with no one sensing the power around.”

I looked at her, confused, but Lena smiled at me. “It means no one can sense the power when placed in the box. It protects the power but also the panther too.”

I stare at the box when Lena puts the lid down. I noticed a graving on it, and I leaned closer to have a better look. There was a graved picture of two panthers on the lid. They had no eyes, just painted all black.

“The no eyes mean they are normal,” says Lena. “If that’s what you were wondering.”

I look back at her, and she smiles. “Ready?” she asks. I nod and sit on the couch. Dale stayed where he was, but I could feel Blake beside me. I didn’t look at him as I closed my eyes.

I lean back, and Lena places the pendant on my forehead.

I could hear Lena chanting her words before removing Allie’s power. Suddenly, I felt like I was being lifted in the air; the power surged through me as it came to the surface, but it felt like it was traveling through my veins. I looked at Puna, who was nodding.

“I want this too,” she says to me in a whisper.

I smile back at her as the power slowly feels like it evaporates into thin air. The amulet is moved off my forehead, and I open my eyes to see everyone looking back at me.

“You okay?” asks Blake as he kneels beside me.

I looked over at him, and my emotions were heightened more. I could feel more, the love I have for my family and my mate.

I nod at him. “I’m okay; it just feels weird,” I say as I get off the couch, only to lose my balance and nearly fall back down.

Blake catches me in his arms as Dale, still holding Allie, is up and looking at me. “I think you need to take it easy,” Dale says.

I close my eyes as I take a deep breath. It felt like the wind was knocked out of me. I had so many emotions running through me.

I open my eyes, and Lena stands in front of me.

“I placed a protection spell on the wooden box,” she says. “I have also placed them in the safe with the two books you brought back from the storage unit earlier.”

I stare back at her. “Thank you,” I say.

She smiles. “I know how much of a burden the power was for you; you had to run and hide,” she says as she places her hand in mine, “But now, you can be free and normal. Dealing with all your emotions will take some getting used to.”

I nod as her hand leaves mine. Lena moves toward Dale. “We will take Allie back to Kat,” she looks between Blake and me.

I sit back down on the couch as they walk towards the door. Blake looks at me for a moment but walks behind them. Once they leave the office, Blake closes the door behind them, turns around, and looks at me.

I can’t help but stare at him. He looks at me, but I can’t help but feel something through the mate bond. My mark tingles.

“Mate wants us,” Puna says as she looks at Blake. “He wants us now.”

I look at Blake, and his eyes flicker between Axel and him.

His scent fills the room, and all I can think about is having him pin me up against the wall and fuck me hard.