“We have a location,” Felix said, turning off the screen of his phone. “We actually have two. A house in Moonlight City and another in bum fuck nowhere under the name Klare Bray.”
“Klare Bray?” Jackson muttered, running a hand over his face. “Who is Klare Bray?”
“Their dead daughter,” Willow said, confusion written on her face.
“We need more of a plan than just showing up, a distraction maybe?” Luxe ran her hands through her hair.
“That could work, but we’re not sure how many people are working with the Brays and why they're doing this.”
“Isn’t it obvious? Flora’s a panther, why else would someone kidnap a panther? Cage fighting.” Felix said, shrugging his shoulders.
“No, that can’t be right. Cassandra is a panther herself; would she give up her own kind?” Ryder questioned.
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Leo commented.
“If this involves cage fighting, we have less time than we originally thought,” Felix sighed.
“Felix’s right; collectors have gotten smarter. We have to move faster,” Will said.
“Because of the lack of time, we gotta rush in. Ryder, River, Felix, and Will, you go to the home in Moonlight City and check if Flora’s there. Eddie, Dylan, Leo, Willow, and I will go to their second location and check there. Amongst yourselves, pick who will distract and who will seek in. Let’s move,” Jackson said, already moving out the door.
“What about me?!” Luxe shouted in a rush, which stopped Jackson in his tracks.
“Can you and Lola hold the house down, in case Flora escapes and comes back here?”
“Of course,” Luxe said, moving toward Lola. “Keep your phones on and brightness on low.”
31
FLORA
The air was filled with acrid dust and hints of nail polish remover. In her panther form, Flora pushed her human consciousness forward. Her eyes searched the light pink room she was in. A white twin bed frame with a horse painted on the headboard was situated across the room, next to a large bookshelf. She went to take a step closer, but a loud clunk and a tightening around her neck made her halt. Jerking her head back, she saw shiny silver chains reaching out from a matte black box stuck out of the wall. The chains appeared to be attached to a collar around her neck, a collar with inverse spikes poking into her neck.
Growling, the only thing she could really do was sit like a damn dog waiting for its owner. Every time she tried to move, the creaks in the wood floor blared to life, forcing her ears downward, as she tried to shy away from the noise, when a voice finally spoke.
“Hello, Flora.” Cassandra appeared with an insulting kitty-sized water bowl in her hands. Her smile did nothing to comfort Flora, not like it used to. “There is much you don’t understand.”
Flora’s panther was pushing for control, but this time, couldn’t give it to her. Human Flora had to be in control this time. She tried to shift to human form, but the jarring pain in the back of her neck made it impossible. Another growl slipped past her lips.
“Your growls don’t scare me darling,” she said, her slick voice tensing Flora further. Cassandra took a gentle seat on the bed, smoothing out the blankets and taking the pillow and sniffing it. “The presence of a girl is gone. Nothing here smells alive anymore. It's all empty, dead.”
Flora wished she could tell Cassandra to get on with her point. “You know, I had a daughter, Klare, she too was a beautiful black panther. She got it from her grandmother. My side, of course.” Cassandra let out a small laugh, one filled with hopelessness and despair. “She died in a car crash.” The woman sat the pillow back in its place; she then paced back and forth just close enough in front of Flora, so she wasn’t in reach of an attack.
Flora knew their daughter had died, but nothing much beyond that. Hearing a Shifter was killed in a car crash was surprising. Normally, the Shifter would heal themselves by shifting back and forth from their animal state. The pain they’d be in would be hell on Earth but constant shifting would kick in the healing process. The problem probably lay in the fact Klare was young, she was only 17. Shifters under 20 couldn’t shift as well as an adult could. Flora felt for Cassandra and Romeo, she really did, but the fear that terrorized her body now overpowered any sorrow.
“I couldn’t go on without her, we tried to have another, but it never worked out. I couldn’t get pregnant. You should know it’s hard for mixed breed couples to become pregnant,” she advised, finally looking down at Flora. “Well, I am not sure you’ll actually need that information now. Most replacements don’t live for very long. They get selfish and angry, and try to leave the comforting, loving home we’ve built just for them.”
She sounded pissed as if the thought of her victims wanting to run was with utmost disrespect. “Here, darling.” Cassandra placed the bowl down in front of her. “Drink up.”
There was no way in hell Flora was willingly going to drink that water without the ability to heal. There was no telling what they could’ve put in it. She took her paw and swiped it back at Cassandra, spilling it over her ruby red shoes.
“You ungrateful little brat!” Cassandra exclaimed, proceeding to pick up the bowl and throw it at Flora. She could only sit there and take the hit because of her inability to move much.
Smoothing down her dress, she calmed down and smiled. “It seems you need more time alone.” She strode out of the room, slamming the white wooden door shut.
Flora was alone, but she couldn’t determine if that was a good or bad thing. All she could think about was how to get the collar off her damn neck.
* * *
