Page 27 of Ivory's Familiars

"No. Ivory, I promise you – none of us are your stalker. And we sure aren’t hunters. We would never do anything to harm you. In fact, our whole purpose in life is to keep you safe – to keep you happy and healthy and cared for," Seth rushed to assure her.

She seemed to be listening now at least, although the frown remained firmly in place, "What are you talking about? I know you are bodyguards, but that seems a little excessive."

"Well ..." Seth elongated the word, looking at him and Vaughn for guidance. Vaughn simply shrugged, as for himself he motioned for Seth to keep going. Ivory was responding, that was all that mattered for now, “How much do you know about witches and familiars?" he asked.

Ivory looked wary again but answered; "Only what my mother told me; that familiars are like guides and companions to their witches."

"She's right, we are that but also so much more," Ronan confirmed, before asking; "Where is she now?"

"She died twelve years ago," she looked towards Vaughn, "I didn't lie about not having any family. I've been on my own since I was eighteen."

Vaughn's green eyes had lost their defensive spark and he was now leaning forward out of interest rather than anger, "I'm sorry, Ivory. I don't think you're a liar. This is all just a shock."

She laughed at that, the sound blessedly familiar, "You're telling me. I can hardly believe this. And you don't want to hurt me?" she asked again.

They looked at each other in confusion. Other than the fact that they had told her numerous times they would never hurt her, Ivory had just described familiars to them. Surely she understood it was practically impossible for familiars to harm a witch – let alone a witch in their own coven; "Ivory, familiars don't harm witches. We serve them," he made sure his voice was no nonsense, leaving no room for her uncertainty.

She lowered her head, fingers twisting nervously in her robe, "But I'm not just a witch, am I?"

No, she most definitely was not just a witch. It was an oddity and one he was yearning to learn more about, but it didn't change the fact that she was still a witch from the Panthera Coven.

"Yeah, we kinda noticed," Seth chuckled, "You’re a ghost jaguar – a white panther. It may not be normal to most, but we're hardly in a position to judge given we shapeshift into black jaguars – or panthers if you prefer to call us that."

She looked up quickly, eyeing them all individually, "You're all panthers?"

They all nodded, Vaughn adding a; "Yep".

“Is that why my cat likes you so much? Because we’re all the same species?” she queried.

“Your cat likes us?” The question came from Vaughn.

She nodded, “She wants to roll around in your scent. It’s weird.”

Ronan wanted to shout in joy. Ivory felt the mate-pull – well, her cat did anyway. She didn’t seem to understand what it was though and Ronan knew they had to tread carefully. They were making progress, Ivory no longer looked like she wanted to bolt, but there were still so many unanswered questions on both sides.

“My panther likes your scent too,” Ronan assured her. And then it struck him; no wonder she smelled like all three of them. Her panther belonged to their panthers, which meant she also belonged to them. But why hadn’t his feline friend been clawing at him, trying to get to its mate this entire time? Sure, the instant attraction had been there. But it was nothing like the urge to claim her now. He looked at Seth and Vaughn, and saw that they were also breathing in, nostrils flaring, shifting uncomfortably. They were definitely noticing the increased intensity of Ivory’s scent.

“That glamour of yours must have been super powerful,” Seth pointed out, arriving at the same conclusion Ronan was about to, “My panther didn’t recognise yours, let alone any of us recognising your magical bloodline.”

Ivory nodded, twirling a strand of hair around her finger and drawing all their riveted gazes, “It was. It altered my appearance but also completely dampened my magic, as well as my cat. That was the whole point of it – to hide.”

“But not from your stalker? You’ve had the glamour in place longer than that,” Vaughn stated.

She chewed on her lip, hesitating, and Ronan bit back his frustration. She still didn’t trust them.

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be difficult,” her voice was small as she looked at him, clearly picking up on his thoughts.

He sighed, now he was the one acting like a dick; “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m sorry too. It’s been a day full of surprises for everyone. I assume your stalker and the fact that you’ve been using a glamour to hide are two different issues?”

She snorted, “Seems that way.”

“We can’t do much about the stalker at the moment, so why don’t you tell us what you’ve been hiding from? Is it hunters?” That was the most logical explanation, “And why do you keep asking us if we’re going to hurt you?”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Vaughn stood and walked over to the lounge Ivory was seated on. He made sure to keep his movements slow and non-threatening, not wanting to scare her or get her panther’s back up again. Now that she wasn’t poised to knock him on the head with a lamp or run away from them screaming, he was able to control his cat’s dominant nature more. He knew he had been acting like a jerk before, but he couldn’t help it. His panther believed Ivory was theirs and was prowling restlessly in his mind now that he could scent Ivory’s own jaguar. His beast was demanding she acknowledge him – all of them. He needed to be close to her. He seated himself next to her but not within touching distance, receiving a small smile. He released a pent-up breath – so far so good.

“What he said,” he angled his head in Ronan’s direction, referring to his lover’s earlier questions. She looked deeply into his eyes for a moment, and although hers were an entirely different colour now, he could still see his Ivory in them. He stilled,his Ivory?Sure, his panther was very vocal about the whole ‘mate’ thing, but Vaughn was also still a man. When had he started thinking of her as his? The feeling had probably been creeping up on him for days now and culminated last night when they had made love with her. And that is exactly what it had been too – not sex – but lovemaking. It was a wholly unexpected but not unwanted or unpleasant realisation, he acknowledged. They hadn’t been able to bask in the morning-after endorphins or analyse what the evening of pleasure had meant to them all, but he was fairly certain his men were on the same page. He only hoped what Ivory was about to reveal didn’t change his blossoming feelings. There was still a part of him that was suspicious.

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