The Secrets of the Panther

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Walking out of the room was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do. I didn’t want to leave Izzy, let alone Allie. It broke my heart knowing that she had nightmares about the war.

I could feel Axel stare at me as I walked through the pack house. “I want my mate,” he says. “I want to stay with Allie.” He whines as we get outside to the car. Dale had brought the car to the front and was already waiting for me by the driver’s door.

“Let Izzy be with Allie,” I say to him as I get closer to Dale. “Allie had a nightmare and slept little.”

Dale nods. “Lena mentioned earlier about that; I will monitor the pack, and Izzy can do it tomorrow,” he says.

I smile, but I can’t help but look toward my room window.

“They will be fine,” he says.

I nodded and climbed into the car. I closed the door and drove away.

I headed straight to the Red Moon pack, only an hour away from our pack.

The journey to the pack was quiet, but my mind was on what had happened in the room. Izzy wants to take Allie’s memories away, everything regarding the war. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I have to admit, it would be easier, but I believe you should deal with your emotions and trauma. It will affect Allie in the long run.

“Mate never had to,” says Axel. “She would hold back all her emotions for her power. She not thinking straight, and not only that, we don’t understand Allie’s power.”

I sigh, “I know,” I say. “Allie’s power is stored away for the time being for her to have a normal life, but taking one’s memories isn’t the answer to dealing with anything. Allie will have to deal with everything when the memories come back. She will have to fight through all the emotions.”

Axel stares at me. “I think we should tell mate that,” he says. “I will contact her later,” I say as I turn into the Red Moon pack. Axel stares through my eyes.

The pack looked like a rundown mill town, and no one was around. There were burnt down buildings, not to mention the stench of burnt flesh and loads of ash flying everywhere.

Axel snarls, “vampire ash.”

Axel moves back slightly but stays close.

“Elder Johnson did a number on this pack,” I say as I look at the empty, abandoned homes and buildings. It was like a ghost town.

I drove up to the pack house, where Alpha Dawson and Drake waited. I stopped the car and climbed out. I looked around. I could feel eyes on me, but I couldn’t make out where they were coming from.

Alpha Dawson walks down the steps and up to me. “They are scared,” he says as he looks to where I was looking. “All the pack members who stayed are too afraid or hold too much hate toward Drake.”

I looked at Drake, who had a blank expression on his face. “I think if we gather everyone up, we can ask everyone what they want,” I say to Alpha Dawson.

He nods.

“They will want my head,” said Drake as he approached us.

I looked at him. “I think we need to figure out what happened to them and ask them what they want to happen within the pack. We don’t have a clue what everyone went through here. We need to make sure they know what happened to you,” I say to him.

Drake was facing me with his back to the steps. I look behind him and on top of the steps.

“Where’s Anya and Anita?” I asked.

“Anita is with Anya; she has been suffering from terrible morning sickness since we got here,” says Alpha Dawson. “In all honesty, the smell around here is not the best; it would drive anyone sick.”

“Trying living here you want to,” says a man’s voice from behind me.

We all turn to look at him. He looked scruffy, but when he stood in front of us. His clothes were all worn and had holes in a few places. His face was full of soot, or it could have been ash. It was hard to tell what it was.

The man looks at me, “hat the hell are you doing here?” he asks, glaring at me.

“I’m Alpha Blake, and I came to….” I say, but he growls. “Hell no, we don’t need any help from you or these two. Where were you when all this was going on?” he asks, waving his around the pack grounds. “We were left in a madman’s hands, and he never cared about us. He tore through this pack like a tornado. If anyone were against him, he would send them away. He would let the vampires feed on them, killing them and their families. The picture was clear after he did it to five families we knew were on our own, and no one would help us. Rogues would come and torture us, and they would rape and torture the young girls. Make us all slaves to whatever that god damn vampire and witches wanted.”

I could feel his pain, but I glanced around, and members of the pack were coming out from everywhere, all around from different parts of the forest.

The man glares at us, but he looks behind him at the people. “We don’t need an alpha, and we don’t need another elder telling us what to do. We are now classed as rogues. They left us when they were going to war with your pack,” he says as he looks at me. “We hid away in the forest till they left, and when they did, we closed the gates until these two walked in the other day.”

I let him speak; there were many concerns about this pack, and I needed to know what had happened. I might be here longer than planned; I might have to miss Allie’s birthday.

“We don’t want them here,” he says, pulling me from my thoughts.

I looked at him. “Alpha Drake is your Alpha,” I said, but you could hear a few growls erupt at the mention of Drake. The man in front of us growls. “He’s no alpha; he abandoned us for his precious brother,” he says.

I looked at Drake, and his eyes were focused on the man. I look back at the man. “Okay, what do you want?” I asked.

The man looks at me with wide eyes, “what do you mean?” he asks. I take a step closer, and he takes a step back. I stop. “They are all scared,” says Axel, who has been watching.

I clear my throat, “I mean, I want to know what all you want,” I say to him, and I glance around at the crowds joining in. I looked to the steps and noticed Anita and Anya watching on.

“I will make a proposition for you all,” I shout. “You all go and gather around, work out what you want. I mean truly want, do you want to be part of a pack or not. I want to make this easy and painless for you all, and we can come to some agreement about what you want. We could all meet in the packhouse in about two hours, and we all can discuss what happens next.”

The man pounders on the words I said and looked over his shoulder. A few members of the pack were nodding in agreement.

The man turns back to me, “okay, we will meet in two hours at the packhouse,” he says. He looks at Drake, “you were meant to be our alpha, you saved us from your father, but you placed us in the hands of a mad man who was even worse than your father.”