The Secrets of the Panther

IZZY

I walk towards the cell while everyone stays back a fair distance, but not too far, so they can all hear what is being said.

The cell Linda was in was the corner one, which was small, most fitting for her.

As I step in front of the cell, Puna comes close by, but I stop her. “Puna, don’t reveal yourself just yet,” I said. “I want to know the truth first, and then we will kill her.”

Puna nods back. “I won’t, but I really want to kill her,” she says with a growl.

I look at the woman who has designer clothes on and heels. She has her back to me, but she can sense me. She turns around with a smile on her face, but it fades when she sees me. “Why the hell are you here?” She says. She looks behind me and moves closer to the cell. “Where is everyone?”

“Everyone is busy; they don’t know I’m here. I think we need to talk,” I say. “I want answers, and I want to know why.”

Linda looks at me, her eyes running over every inch of me from top to bottom. “You look like that bitch,” she says and turns away to sit on the bench.

“Since it’s just you and me, I might get everything out in the open. No one will believe a word coming from a stupid, pathetic little cat shifter anyway,” she says.

I can feel Puna coming closer, but I control her. I don’t move. “Tell me what,” I ask her.

She looks at me and smirks. “Well, I met your mother once; she was as pathetic as you are. She thought she could have any man she wanted, but I wanted Graham. He was mine, not hers. I made sure of that,” she says.

She looks at me. “My father is the elder in charge of this pack and mainly runs it from the outside. Upon learning that the beta of this pack was mated to a cat shifter, he realized he needed to intervene, and we came up with a plan. We knew someone who could make a potion to interfere with the mate bond,” she says.

“How is that possible?” I ask as I move closer to the cell gate door.

Linda smiles. “The person he knows messes with dark magic, and she can grant everyone whatever they want, their hidden desires, but there is a catch. You have to do something for her in return,” she says, looking at me. “My father didn’t care about the whole thing and what he had to do in return. All he wanted was for the beta to lose interest in his pathetic little cat mate. So they both made a plan,” she says as she crosses her legs over each other. “I remember meeting Graham at a gala before he met your mother, and I knew I wanted him. I even rejected my actual mate for him,” she says with a smile.

“What does…” I say, but she shakes her head. “Patience, I will tell you everything, but you need to know how we got to your dad, which was simple, really. I offered him a glass of wine, which he happily accepted with another ingredient. The potion which he drank made him completely under my control. The potion worked wonders, and I even convinced him we were mates,” she said with a smile on her face.

“My father and I never thought about the pull of the stupid mate bond with your mother. It was strong, and I knew he was still seeing her. We told him he had two mates, only till we could change it permanently, but it took time,” she says in a huff.

“But when the day came that the woman got rid of your mother, I was all for it,” she says with a smirk. “I loved making her suffer every time I made love to him. I made sure she suffered long and all the time.”

The anger inside me is building up; I witnessed my mother’s pain. I had to watch her for hours when they did that, her screaming in pain all the time.

Puna could feel my anger, but she stays close. “Izzy, calm down,” she says in a whisper.

Linda looks at me and laughs. “Right, you had to watch her, I guess,” she says. “I bet it made a good show for you.”

I growl lowly, “What did the woman do to my mother?” I say through gritted teeth.

I lean against the cell door as one of Puna’s claws comes through my finger; we place it in the lock and move inside. I want to get in there.

Linda smiles and laughs. “Oh yeah, she found a dark magic spell that could kill her, but it could only work if Graham rejected her,” she says and looks at me. “I remember it so well; I made his favorite food and drink. I slipped the potion in both so it would have worked immediately. Once he consumed it all, it worked. He never knew about that day, only what my father told him before he came. It was like the worst hangover ever,” she says. She stands and walks over to the wall to lean on it. “I told him he needed to reject Lucy that evening, and he was going to forget everything when he left that house.”

Puna’s claw went into the lock; a small click and the gate opens quietly. Linda didn’t know about the gate being opened.

“Before Graham went to the house to reject your mum, my father and I went to three pack members for help removing a traitor that was amongst the pack, which they were happy to help. She was pleading and begging for her life when we got there,” she says. “I give her a few punches and kicks for good measure. The woman said the incantation as my father poured the potion down your pathetic mother’s throat,” she says.

“When we left, I stayed behind to make sure it worked, and guess what it did,” she says and laughs. “I loved hearing that bitch scream in pain, but the best part was when you ran out and ran after the car your father drove in, never looking back at you.”

She’s laughing hard. “It was so pathetic,” she says in between breaths.

My anger is on boiling point; Puna was on all fours, growling and ready to kill her.

Linda slowly calms down and looks at me. “You were so pathetic. You and my pathetic son would have been perfect mates for each other,” she says.

I look at her, trying to control a really pissed-off panther and my emotions. “Why would you say that about your own son?” I say through gritted teeth.

She looks at me. She knows she has gotten to me as a smirk spreads across her face. “Dale was pathetic because he found out about you and even wanted you to be part of our family, but I soon put a stop to that when he had a beating of my father. As for my stupid daughter, she will mate with Blake. My father will make sure of it,” she says.

She slowly walks towards me, but I grip the cage door tight as I can, trying not to lose control. “Poor pathetic Izzy, no one will love a pathetic broken panther, especially one who was raped and tortured by someone...” she says, but she is soon cut off by me opening the gate and pushing her against the wall. My hand wrapped around her neck. Puna has taken over. “HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?” growls out Puna.

Linda smirks. “Ah, there is the panther; you think Michael liked you,” she says. Puna and I are together as one. Our eyes shine bright green, which catches her off guard, but she quickly recovers. “Michael knew who you were. The hunters that were after you where sent by my father. He sent him to find you and kill you,” she says, but we squeeze her neck tighter.

She gasps for breath. Puna lets a little power out. We want to kill her but suddenly. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“IZZY,” someone calls. “Let her go.”

I look over my shoulder to see Dale, Kacey, Alpha Derek, Alpha Dawson, Tilly, and Blake. But it is the man by the side of me with his face full of rage, staring at the woman in my grip, my father.

“Let her go,” he grits. “I think some people want to talk to her, too.”

Blake touches my shoulder. “Izzy, please let her go.”

Puna goes back, and we slowly let her go as Linda slides down against the wall clutching her neck. We walk backward and into Blake’s arms, which rest on my waist.

I try to control my breathing.

“She attacked me,” she screeches in between breaths. “You should...”

A loud growl cuts her off, and Graham quickly grabs her while Dale hands him silver chains that they place on her wrists.

Linda screams out and pushed back onto the bench.

“I think we are going to have a family meeting, and you my darling, are going not going to like what we all got to say,” says Graham, through gritted teeth.