by Laura Wylde
“Can you imagine how humans would treat shifters if they really knew of their existence?” Kayla answered. “Think about the dreadful way humans treat each other. Especially those they don’t quite understand. If you really think about it, and you take a look back at history which I have done a lot through my career, then you’ll see how most violence and hatred comes from ignorance and fear. If people discovered this race who could easily defeat them and rule if they want to, they would freak out and act crazy. I’m sure you can see that. Humans have treated animal shifters terribly in the past, pushing them underground, and into hiding.”
“So, they just live here, hidden away, and they don’t care about that? They don’t want more?”
“Panthera is a wonderful place to live, filled with warmth and happiness. No one here wants any more than what they have. If you remained here and looked at it through open eyes, you would see. It’s wonderful. There’s all the food you could want, all the water, all the friendships… plus, plenty of room for the panthers to roam…”
“It’s so weird to hear you talk about them as if they’re normal. I can’t stand it.”
Kayla laughed lightly. “I suppose it is normal to me now. Panthera is my life.”
“So, you just want to stay here? In the middle of the jungle in Brazil? You don’t want to come home?”
“There isn’t anything in New York for me. I never really had a life there. Here, I have it all.”
“But, your work?” Reese demanded. It was clear from her tone that she prized her work, it was incredibly important to her. “You surely can’t want to give all of that up? You’re so good at what you do…”
“But what I do now is more important.” I could practically see Kayla cradling her belly. “You’ll see.”
“I don’t want to see. I don’t. This is messed up and I don’t want any part of it. I just want you to come home with me. I came out here because I care about you, because I want to save you. I don’t really want to leave without you.”
“Reese, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world but here, and I think if you were to give it a chance you would feel the same. It feels to me like you were brought to Panthera for a reason…”
“No, this isn’t some fate crap. This is for you. I came here for you, Kayla. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
I glanced at Garret and he raised an eyebrow at me. Right now, it didn’t sound like this conversation was going according to plan. I didn’t want to consider any kind of plan B but if we weren’t careful then we’d have to. I wasn’t sure what our plan B was - we hadn’t been in this situation before - but we were sure as hell in it now!
“Do you think she’s always this rude?” Garret hissed to me. “Is it the situation or her personality?”
“I don’t know, it seems like she really cares about Kayla,” I replied just as quietly. “Perhaps she’s just a leader type and she’s trying to help her friend. She doesn’t realize this is actually a safe place.”
How could we show her that? How could we make Reese see that it was okay here? I wasn’t sure if she’d stay in Panthera, especially since it really sounded like she loved her city and the life that she had there, but we needed to make sure that the moment she did leave, she was on our side and not about to expose us.
The way Kayla described it was mild. The way humans used to treat panther shifters was disgusting. We’d gone into hiding to protect us as well as the humans being harmed as they tried to hurt us. Unlike the way we were portrayed, we always cared about both. That was why we drew so much happiness from our city, because we didn’t need to worry about an attack… well, an attack from the humans, anyway.
“We need to get together,” Garret nodded, an unusually serious expression on his face. “To decide what we’re going to do. If this woman has as much hatred for us as she seems to, then she’s going to be trouble.”
“She just doesn’t understand us yet,” I insisted. “It’s like Kayla said, any hatred comes from ignorance. We just need to make sure that Reese stays here for long enough to change her mind before she goes.”
There was another reason I wanted her to stay, but I didn’t want to get too sucked into that idea or I’d end up being disappointed when she left. I would just have to hope I got this feeling again when we finally made our way into the city after all of this was over. When I found a woman who would finally become my mate.
“Don’t worry, Garret,” I continued, trying to convince him as much as myself. “This is just a bump in the road. You don’t need to worry about this. It isn’t going to be as problematic as you think.”
But he didn’t seem convinced. I glanced over to Dean who was purposely looking away, not wanting to get involved in the middle of this mess. I couldn’t blame him, I suppose, but it would be nice to hear him say something.
“…you just need to see it,” I heard Kayla insist louder, catching my attention once more. “Just see their way of life, that’s all I’m asking. Make your judgments once that’s happened.”
Reese didn’t answer. I wished I could see the expression on her face to know how she was feeling. I also wished there was something I could say to make her remain here for a while, but I wasn’t sure my presence would help. Reese was a petite, slight woman, and I was a large panther shifter who towered over her in human form.
Garret stepped back and leaned against the wall beside Dean, giving up on listening in, but I remained exactly where I was, my thirst for knowledge more powerful than anything else.
“I’m scared for you,” Reese finally announced. “I’m frightened about this whole situation.”
“I know you are, but you don’t need to be. You know me, Reese, you don’t need to be scared for me. I’m fine. I’m happy. You must be able to see that I’m happy. Happier than I have ever been.”
“You do look different, but what if it’s Stockholm Syndrome?”
“What even is that?” Kayla demanded, now sounding a little annoyed herself.
“You know, when you’re kidnapped by someone and you end up getting brain washed to being in love with them.”
“You know that wouldn’t happen to me, Reese. I’m strong minded. A bit like you. You wouldn’t allow yourself to be brain washed, would you? No, exactly, and I’m the same way. I know that I love it here.”
The women began to murmur quietly to one another then. If I really wanted to hear what they were saying, I could have tuned into it, but I took the moment to look at the other guys instead.
“Do we need to find Javier?” Garret asked while getting ready to move. “Is it getting bad?”
I shook my head no. “Nothing has changed. Kayla is still attempting to talk Reese around, Reese isn’t taking it. She wants Kayla to go back to the city, which of course isn’t going to happen… Kayla wants her to stay.”
“We kinda need to make her stay, don’t we? Even if we have to lock her up.”
“Just because you spend half your life locked away and it makes no difference to you, it doesn’t mean Reese will like it. Remember, we need her to leave here with positive vibes about us. We don’t want her mad and ready to spill our secrets to the world. I don’t think we’ll ever get a settlement as good as this one.”
“So, we make her stay full time?” Garret offered. “We need women, don’t we?”
“We don’t want women who don’t want to be here,” I snapped, perhaps a little angrier than I intended, but the idea of keeping Reese here against her will really pissed me off. “Plus, she’ll run at the first chance.”
“Hmm, yeah I suppose so. I’m just trying to work out what we can do.”
The door to the room swung open loudly, banging against the wall hard. It even made me jump because it was so unexpected. I twisted rapidly to see Reese’s angry, beautiful face glaring at me.
“Okay, so I know what you are now,” she growled. “Kayla has finally ‘explained’ it to me.” The air quotes spoke volumes. She definitely wasn’t in the right mind set to leave
here. “I might not get it, but whatever, that is completely irrelevant.” Her arms folded across her chest defiantly. She wasn’t about to back down even as three panthers towered over her, casting shadows over her face. “So, what now?”
I glanced at Dean and Garret, to see if that was a question they understood. I guess it was up to me to reply.
“Erm… what do you mean, what now?”
“Don’t play dumb with me.” She rolled her eyes. “Obviously you aren’t going to want me to just walk out of here now that I know your secret. I don’t know what you think of me, but I’m not stupid. I understand.”
“Woah, woah, woah, didn’t Kayla explain to you that we’re peaceful?”
“She explained to me that you want to protect, but also that you need to keep your presence a secret. So, what I want to know is what you intend to do to me. Are you going to kill me? Or trap me?”
“Reese, I thought I told you it wasn’t like that…” Kayla tried while resting a hand on her friend’s shoulder, but Reese flung her off. She’d been pushed to the edge of her limit and she couldn’t stand this anymore. This wasn’t good, if she left right now then we would all have to move. We wouldn’t be able to relax not knowing what she was going to do. I would like to assume that she’d just try and forget about all of this, but I wasn’t convinced.
“It doesn’t matter what you tell me it’s like anymore, Kayla, I just want this man to tell me.” She pointed to me. “You’re the leader, aren’t you? The alpha, or whatever. You look like the leader and you’ve done a lot of talking…”
“Jakar,” I reminded her of my name, but it a much kinder tone than when she barked her name at me in the heat of anger. “My name is Jakar, and yes I am the alpha.”
“Right, Jakar.” For some reason, her cheeks stained red at the mention of my name. Curiosity flooded me but I just about managed to keep my questions inside. “So, it’s time for you to tell me what you’re intending to do with me.” Both eyebrows raised as she waited for me to answer her. Her feet tapped impatiently on the floor. “Are you going to let me go or not?”
Reese
I stared Jakar down while I waited for him to answer, trying to focus only on his piercing green eyes rather than his sculpted cheek bones, the deep darkness of his lush hair, and that body…that body could distract me from anything, but right now my life was on the line and I needed to keep my eyes focused.
Ignore the butterflies, I warned myself. Ignore the fizzing space dust. Just get out of here.
“You know our secret,” he finally answered me slowly. “But we aren’t going to make you stay.”
“Hey!” one of the other guys called out from behind him. “I thought you weren’t going to…”
Jakar only had to hold up one commanding finger to silence him. The power he had over the other men was something else. Sure, he was the pack leader or alpha or whatever, but it was kinda strange to see. I came from a loud city where everyone always fought one another for attention, where the main thing people needed was the limelight. It was strange to see a grown ass man take a step back because someone else told him to.
“I am not going to make you stay,” he repeated. “Obviously, I would prefer you to keep our secret. I think you might know how important it is for other humans not to find us, for our safety and theirs…”
“What if I don’t?” I jutted out my chin defiantly. “What if I come back with a whole bunch of people?”
This wasn’t exactly what I had planned, I didn’t know what I was going to do, I just wanted to test these panthers, to see how far I could. With Kayla and her pregnant belly behind me, I assumed that I was mostly safe.
“That would be unfortunate.” He seemed to choose each word carefully. “That would cause many issues on both sides, which we would prefer to avoid. But if that’s what you choose to do, then I cannot stop that.”
“Right.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “So, I can just leave here? You won’t stop me?”
I didn’t believe him. It didn’t matter what Kayla told me or what he said, I knew that I couldn’t trust them to allow me to walk. It would put their whole life at risk, this whole city could be torn down, so why was he lying?
“We won’t stop you. But we would prefer it if you stayed. Just for a while. We would prefer you to stay and just see us here. See our way of life before you go. Be certain that your friend is as happy as you want her to be. I know that might seem scary right now, so I get it if you turn me down, but that would be the best solution for all of us.”
“That’s what I suggested,” Kayla jumped in. “Just spend some time with us before making up your mind.”
Ah, I got it. I wasn’t being held here, but they would ‘prefer me to stay’. That was a polite way of letting me know that if I did walk out of here, they would hunt me down in a jungle that they knew far better than I did and kill me.
“Just stay for a visit,” Kayla continued. “Remain here and we can decide what to do about the expedition.”
“The botched expedition?” I rolled my eyes. “There isn’t anything that we can do about that now, is there?”
Jakar took one step closer to me. Just a small one, but it was enough to have me sucking in a panicked breath. Everything that I was trying to push down, all of my unexplained, unnecessary feelings for him, intensified and exploded. I could hardly hold myself together, my fists bundled up by my sides, I didn’t know what to do.
“I will cover the costs of your lost investment. I know that must be an issue to you.”
“So, now you’re going to pay me to keep your secret? You can cut the bullshit, you know?”
Jakar had amusement dancing behind his eyes, but I wasn’t sure how long that would last. If I continued to push his buttons, surely, he would snap at some point and lose it. No one had that much patience.
“Or the panther shit!” one of the other guys hooted with what felt like inappropriate laughter. “Oh, sorry,” he teased when he caught my expression. “I’m Garret. Some call me the joker. You’ll get used to me.”
He stuck out his hand for me to shake which I did, all the while staring not as discretely as I would have liked, at the scar running down his face. He looked utterly terrifying, but he seemed to have the personality of a real softy. I liked a joker, someone who could make light of awful situations, this was the sort of person I would like to befriend.
“Right,” I drawled. “I’ll get used to you… if I decide to stick around, right?”
“Oh, you will.” He nudged me playfully in the side, nearly knocking me down with his sheer strength. “You have to. Panthera is somewhere that needs to be seen to be believed. And you have a curious mind. I can see it. That’s why you invest in archeological projects. Because you want to know what’s going on with the world.”
Damn it, those words sunk too far in. I was curious, I did want to know about the world and the mysteries it held. Garret’s statement unleashed the part of my brain that I’d been trying to ignore. The bit of me that just wanted to sit back and observe these animal shifters that I didn’t even know existed. I stared at all three men in turn, already knowing that I was far too intrigued by all of this to just turn my back now. Plus, it would help me to avoid that long journey back trough the jungle which I would probably have to do alone this time. Without Antonio navigating and helping me, I didn’t know I’d survive anyway. If I did what the panthers wanted and swore to keep their secret, perhaps they would assist me in getting the hell out of here, and back home.
Home, which would seem cold and empty now that I knew what real mysteries the world had.
Why do I have no self control? I demanded of myself. What is the matter with me?
The ‘yes’ almost flew out of my mouth, I nearly agreed to the insane plan when others joined us. One of them being the young boy from before who I scared into shifting with my screams. Now, in the man who I presumed was his father’s arms, he just looked like a tiny child who feared the terrifying woman in front of him.
“Say hello, Sean,” the older guy said to his child. “See, there isn’t anything to be afraid of.”
The boy cocked his head curiously at me, his eyes running over my body as he did. He didn’t look too afraid of me anymore, more unsure, like he didn’t quite know what I was. To be fair, that was exactly how I felt about them too. It seemed strange to have him looking at me that way because in my mind, I was the normal one…
Then again, if this was all that they boy had known, then in his mind he was normal. So be it.
“Hi,” I said softly, trying to pave over the awkwardness between us…mostly because damn it, Garret was right. My curiosity was piqued here. I did want to know what the hell this was all about. “My name is Reese.”
“My…my name is Sean,” he stammered back at me. “And my daddy is called Trevor.”
I glanced at his father and smiled apologetically. He did appear to forgive me with his expression, but I wasn’t convinced he really did feel that way. I wasn’t yet a mother myself, but I imagined that it would bring out a momma bear inside of me and I would despise anyone who frightened my child…whether they wanted to or not.
“Hi, Sean. Hello, Trevor. It’s nice to meet you all. I am sorry that I scared you. This is all a bit…”
All of a sudden, the boy silenced me by sticking out his hand for me to shake it. I reached out and did what he wanted with a more genuine, warm smile on my face. His hand was warm, his skin soft, his face sweet as he touched me. This little Sean made me feel much less afraid of the panther shifters. Perhaps they were okay…
“You know, I have some things with me in my bag. I might have a gift in there for you.”
“A gift?” His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “You have a present for me?”
“I sure do. But I left my bag up by the ruins outside. I think I dropped everything at some point.” It was all such a blur, I could hardly recall any of it. Panic, terror, fear for Kayla… all of it was worthless. “I will go get it.”
