He looked at her suspiciously. "I still don't understand why they took you. Why go to the future for a mate when there are plenty of packs here?"
She clenched her fists at that. "It's some stupid pact my pack made with theirs. Since we seem to have an abundance of females, my pack agreed to sacrifice a number of females every generation from certain families so that the Katagaria panthers would leave the rest of the pack alone. Every time one of the winter born females in the chosen families starts to season, the same pack comes to our home and brings us to their time period to mate with them. They don't want Katagaria females since they won't stay and raise their young. They keep us instead and use us as slaves. My one surviving sister helped me to escape after they brought me here before they could induct me into their pack. She sent me to Atlanta to find Acheron. She said he could return me to my time period."
"How does she know Acheron?"
Pandora ached at the thought that she would benefit from her sister's misery. "Before she was mated to one of their males and had her own children, she was trying to escape their pack. One night, she overheard some of the Katagaria talking about a Dark-Hunter named Acheron, and after they went to sleep, she searched for him online. By the time she found out enough information to locate him, she was pregnant and couldn't leave her children behind, so she gave her information to me once they brought me over."
"Hell of a sister you have there."
"Yes," Pandora agreed. "She's the best sister in the world and I would give anything if I could help her too."
The panther stepped back with a sigh, then started for the door.
She took his arm to keep him from leaving as another thought occurred to her. "Could you help me get home?"
He shook his head. "My powers aren't quite that strong. If I wanted to take anyone other than myself across time, I would have to wait for the full moon. The only one in my pack who could do it without waiting is Dante and if you get near him—"
"I'll attack him for sex."
He nodded.
Damn.
At least all wasn't lost though. "But you do know Acheron, right? Will he help me?"
"I don't know. He's strange sometimes and no one ever knows how he's going to react or what he's going to do or say. But you can always ask. The best thing is for you to stay here in your room where Mike and Leo hopefully can't find you—like I said, they're young and aren't as experienced at tracking prey. I'll spread your scent around to keep them off you. Once I've got them occupied, I'll bring Ash to you. Okay?"
It was more than okay. It was great. She'd never thought to find a Katagari male who could be so kind.
"Thank you." As he moved away, Pandora stopped him again. "Really, thank you."
He offered her a kind, fatherly smile and patted her hand. "Animals protect their own. I'm doing this to help my brothers as much as I'm doing it to help you. If they were to hurt you, they'd never forgive themselves, and I'd have to listen to them lament for eternity."
Releasing her, he moved to the door and left the room.
Pandora took a deep breath, and for the first time since she'd been stolen from her people, she began to relax a little.
Now all she had to do was stay put until he returned.
But that wasn't as easy as it would normally be. The female in her that was just entering womanhood was all too aware of the fact that there were three unmated panthers at the hotel.
That alien and new part of her wanted with a vengeance the mating ritual that would induct her into adulthood.
It craved it.
For an Arcadian, the ritual was simple. Had she stayed at home, she would have chosen an elder panther from her pack to gently introduce her to the animal side of herself. Once he unlocked her full powers by copulating with her, he would have taught her how to shift from human to panther and how to protect herself and use her newborn powers.
The Katagaria were completely different. She'd heard the horror stories directly from her sister Sefia. They took their nearas—virgin females who were cresting—and allowed every unmated male of the pack to have sex with her to see if she was the mate to one of them.
They would use her without mercy until all their males were fully sated.
Her sister Sefia had been one of the lucky ones. On the night they had deflowered her, Sefia had been mated to a Katagari panther who had then decided to keep her more as a pet than a mate.
Katagaria females left their mates once they were out of heat, and only returned whenever they were in season. If a male tried to mate with a Katagari female when she wasn't in heat, she would attack and possibly kill him.