Hakan Severin by Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright

textured with an unbearable sadness that made Hiss’s gut twist in response.
    Christ. He’d never heard such grief.
    “You’re Pantera,” he said, his voice softening.
    There was a long pause before he heard her give a soft sob. “Oh, I’m so much more than that, Hiss.”
    Hiss stiffened, his instincts on full alert. “You know me?”
    “Only in my heart.”
    An icy chill of premonition inched down Hiss’s spine. “Who the hell are you?”
    “Your mother.”

 
     
     
SÉVERIN
    By
    Laura Wright
     
     

CHAPTER 1
     
     
    The cool night air pulsed in and out of Taylor’s lungs. Her muscles threatened to seize. Rain pelted her skin like tiny bullets. The ground beneath her feet was thick with mud and brush.
    And yet she ran.
    She ran faster than she’d ever run before—faster than she believed herself capable of. Maybe it was the drive to keep breathing another day—to keep at bay that one person who wanted to extinguish her breath. Or maybe it was to finally know the feeling of being safe again.
    The bayou terrain was exactly what she’d expected: thick foliage, stands of cypress, wildlife around every corner—their eyes a glowing pulse with every blink. But it was far more difficult to maneuver. She’d dressed appropriately, in boots, jeans, tank and an all-weather light jacket. But the rain was growing heavier by the second, the sky darker, and her compass had stopped working five minutes ago. All she could do was keep going, hope she was crossing the border—pray that Edgar and his ‘friends’ hadn’t followed when she’d snuck out the back of the quaint La Pierre bed and breakfast she’d been staying at.
    The bed and breakfast her ex had tracked her to.
    “Shit!” she cried as her foot sank into a large bog of brown sludge that smelled faintly of rotting eggs.
    Please let me be close , she begged, easing her foot out gingerly so she didn’t lose her boot or twist her ankle.
    Then, heart beating so fast it was painful, she took off again. Running, pushing herself, faster and faster, deeper and deeper into the lush, green wildness until she came to the shoreline of the bayou. She stopped, put her hands on her thighs to catch her breath and glanced back. Just a couple of seconds, just a couple blinks. She couldn’t afford any more than that. But there was nothing. No lights. No sounds but the rain and brackish water to her right.
    Keep going. Just keep going.
    They had a town. She’d read about it. They had leaders, one who was purported to be kind and fair. God, it was a long shot. But that’s the chance you had to take when you were pretty much out of chances.
    She was about to continue on when the breath was suddenly ripped from her body and she felt herself falling to the ground. Her butt hit wet earth with a loud thud, and she reached out for something to grab on to. But there was nothing. What …? Gritting her teeth against the pain, she glanced up, and the breath left her body in a rush.
    Holy shit! An animal!
    A puma?
    No, a Pantera!
    Is this really what they look like? No drawing could do them justice. It was huge! And no more than three feet away, hackles raised, paws the size of dinner plates. She stared, both panicked and awestruck. Even with the rain falling, she could see its thick, golden fur.
    “I’m sorry,” she began stupidly, as if she’d just bumped into a pedestrian on the streets of New Orleans. “I’m…I…”
    Nothing else stumbled from her tongue because deadly silver eyes were pinned on her—a cat ready to spring.
    Ready to attack.
    She had to say something. Speak up. Not lie here ready to be dinner. God… But what? What did she tell it? That her ex-boyfriend was stalking her? That he was determined to either have her again or make sure no one else did? That she was terrified and desperate? That she had no one. That she thought—maybe foolishly, but here she was—this magical place called the Wildlands could protect her?
    The cat started toward her, a