Free Panther Magic by Doris O'Connor Page B

for
those that need it, shall we?” He tugged her head up, and when she nodded and offered
him a tentative smile he kissed her nose and then forced himself to release
her.
    “ So, what’s the plan of action, Cole?” he asked.
    By the time Cole and he had
hashed out a plan, the sun was beginning to rise, and Kate looked dead on her
feet. In truth, exhaustion pulled at him, too. It had been one hell of a day
and night, and would only get worse.
    It was with a certain amount of
relief that he shut the front door after Cole, and scooping Kate up in his arms
he took her back to bed. She clung to him, and he tucked them both under the
covers with a murmured, “Go to sleep, my sweet. It will all work out all
right.”
    “ Promise?” she asked, her eyes already closing, and
he sighed.
    “ It just has to.”
     

Chapter
Seven
     
    Zeb paced the confines of his
elaborate prison cell like his animal counterparts at the zoo. Back and forth,
his panther as agitated as the man, and he was half convinced that he would
make a groove in the expensive carpet that graced this room.
    This room at the council’s
official residence might have all the luxuries one would associate with a five
star hotel right down to the stunning view across private gardens, the four
poster bed, and the marble en-suite bathroom, but this was nothing more than a
holding cell.
    Bars across the window prevented
escape down that route, and the heavy door was not only a fire door, but also
soundproof. Nothing could come in or out other than through that entry, and
while this room wasn’t bugged, he knew there was CCTV in every corridor of the
mansion.
    Not that he had anywhere to go.
To try to escape would be akin to suicide, and besides he had given his word.
There was also nowhere for him to run, because he would no more endanger Kate
and his brother than he could stop breathing.
    His panther snarled as unbidden
images of the last time he’d seen his mate invaded his brain. Held in Arran’s
arms she’d looked utterly terrified of him, and Zeb stopped his incessant
pacing and punched the wall instead. Plaster fell to the floor in a cloud of
white, and a dull pain shot up his arm from his abused knuckles, but it was
nothing to the ache in his soul.
    Fuck it all to hell and back.
Every cell in his body urged him to go and find her, to reassure himself that
she was okay, but he couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t want him anyway, not after
what he had done in front of her, and she would be better off with just Arran.
He was by far the gentler of the two of them, and the least Zeb could do was
make sure to keep his brother out of it.
    The sound of the handle turning
in the door swung his head round, and he scowled at the cloaked figure carrying
a tray laden with food. The stench of hyena hit his nostrils, completely
obliterating the smell of the food, and his stomach roiled in disgust.
    “ I told the last one, I don’t want any food, so you
can take that right back again.” The small figure ignored him, and the door
shut with a soft click, effectively barring the hyena’s exit, and Zeb swore under his breath, as the dim as fuck shifter put the tray down on
the sideboard.
    “ Are you fucking deaf as well as stupid, hyena? I
said, I … fuck, no .”
    His words trailed off and his
panther roared when the hyena shrugged off her cloak with a disgusted
sound at the back of her throat, and Kate gave the filthy rags she’d hidden
under a kick with her trainer clad foot.
    “ Bleugh , that stinks, and
you need to eat. I’m not leaving until you have and I’ve talked some sense into
you.”
    “ The fuck you will.”  
    Kate flinched at his harsh reply,
and his panther whined when she took an involuntary step away from him, when he
advanced toward her.
    Shit, he was scaring her, but his
panther was in charge and he wanted, needed, to get close to his mate to
reassure himself that she was okay.   Her
eyes widened and she backed up against the door she’d just