Promised to the Panthers

“Smile,” Joy, my stepmother, hissed from my left.I forced a smile onto my lips, even though smiling was the last thing I felt like doing. The straps of the shoes Joy forced me to wear were digging into my skin; I was sure that by the time I got home, my feet would be covered in blisters.I hated dressing up, but I had no choice since my father was a public figure—the Mayor of Ottawa, to be exact.When my mother was alive, we would’ve stayed at home and watched movies because she wasn’t very fond of parties, either. But it all changed when she died and my father married Joy. She had him wrapped around her finger, and I hated that.I hated her.My eyes darted around as we walked further into the grand room. People were everywhere; dancing or standing in groups—probably gossiping—or sitting at the tables enjoying the buffet.I’d rather be at the library, sorting through all the new books that were delivered earlier the day.My hand shook as I grabbed a glass of wine from the tray of a p

Police cars were parked in front of the building and the cops lingered about. They all turned to stare when I parked the truck and climbed out. I ignored them as I made my way around the building to the backyard.More men were scattered around, searching the big garden. I bit back the urge to tell them that they wouldn’t find anything behind those bushes.My eyes instantly located Mayor Reeves and the Chief of police standing at the far side of the garden; the place where Vanya had been attacked.The Chief nodded towards me when he spotted me approaching them, making Reeves turn around. He instantly scowled at me.“What is this talk about having Ezra arrested?” I growled.“We have a dead body,” Chief said. “It looks like the woman had been ripped apart by an animal.”My fists clenched at my side as I tried to control my anger. How fucking dare he? “Ezra saved your daughter,” I sneered. “Thanks to him she’s alive and the body of a missing woman had been found.”“We can’t rule out your

The hair at the nape of my neck prickled with awareness. I could feel eyes burning into my back, but whenever I turned around, there was no one there.A few shop owners nodded in greeting. Even though I knew some of them were dying to ask me questions, thankfully they didn’t.I stopped at the stop sign and glanced over my shoulder. Everything seemed completely normal.Where is this feeling coming from? “What are you doing here, Vannie?” Betsy asked as I entered the library. “You’re supposed to be at home.”I smiled at her as I rounded the counter and dropped my bag onto the chair at my desk. “I’m fine. Totally cleared for duty.”Her beady eyes narrowed on me. I held my breath and kept my face as emotionless as I could. I wasn’t a very good liar.In truth, I felt like shit. After Obsidian had stormed out of my apartment, I had taken a shower and then crawled into bed. But falling asleep had been impossible. Thoughts of him had kept me awake for most of the night.“Since you claim to

“This is a bad idea.”I rolled my eyes at him as I continued to make my way down the hall towards Vanya’s bedroom. Obsidian followed closely behind me. I sometimes wished that I had his ability to move so silently, but then again, there were a lot of things Obsidian could do that I wished I could too.Amusement filled me when I pushed the bedroom door open. Vanya’s apartment was spotless, all except her bedroom. What was that saying humans used? It looked like it had been hit by a tornado.Obsidian suddenly groaned, making my eyes dart over to him. I followed his gaze to a scrap of what the human women called underwear, hanging over the back of the chair by the desk.My lips twitched when he walked over and picked it up. I thought he only wanted a closer look, but to my surprise, Obsidian held it against his nose and sucked in a deep breath.The sound he made shot straight to my shaft. “What does she smell like?” I asked huskily.His eyes locked with mine. “Sweet.”“You want her,” I s

I didn’t know how much longer I could survive living in the house with Joy’s constant nagging. As if that wasn’t enough, my father had forbidden me from going to work. Not that I actually listened. It was easy to sneak out of the house once he left or locked himself inside his study for meetings.It was almost as if I was seventeen again.But it didn’t last long because Joy ratted me out. I really, so badly, wanted to slap the fake lashes from her face. The fact that I couldn’t do anything on my own was also driving me insane. I missed my independence.I’ve tolerated enough. There had been no further attacks on me, therefore, there really was no reason for me to continue staying under my father’s roof.If my father was really so worried about me, then why hadn’t he listened to Devrim? Why had he waved his words away like they were nothing?There had to be an ulterior motive for him keeping me locked inside his house. My guess was that it had something to do with the Christmas Ball com