Dilemma
Chapter 6
By Leanna
Panthro and Lea stood on the beach, just taking in the evening air. "I think I know what Katra wants," The big panther sighed.
Leanna raised her head from his chest," Oh, and what would that be?"
"Well as you know in my clan, it's the males who inherit land and what not from their fathers, if there is only a female then her mate or her first born son inherits her fathers land etc"
"Yes I know you explained it to me before, if anything happens to you, then all you have goes to Kale, and I can only be executive of your estate until he is of age, "Leanna said.
"But you know I have other things set aside for you, Lila and Lethea, I wouldn't leave you without anything, should anything happen to me" Panthro said.
"Don't be silly, nothing will ever happened to you" Leanna smiled.
"well I'm not getting any younger Lea, and I think this thing with Katra has opened my eyes, I think she wants me to give her son my land I have inherited from my father, but to do that I have to denounce Kale as my rightful heir"
Leanna thought a moment, "Well can't you give him part of it?"
"That's not it works Lea," Panthro sighed heavily
"Well then too bad, Kale is your first born son, and if she thinks you're going to give her child something that doesn't rightfully belong to him then that's her problem, offer a trust fund again, if she still refuses then she's stupid and gets nothing," Leanna stated.
Panthro just shook his head, "Pan, I know you want to do right by the boy" The lioness said softly, "but it seems to me his mother is the one who is being greedy, have you even met him yet?"
Panthro nodded, "I seen him once, when we had the test done, he looks like me, he reminds me a bit of Lila"
"I think it's time he got to meet the rest of us, he has a brother and sisters he should get to know" Leanna replied
"And how are we going to explain that to kale and Lila?" Panthro questioned.
"We tell them the truth, we've never lied to our children and I'm not about to now"
Panthro looked down at his mate and smiled, "and this is why i married you, you have a good head on your shoulders"
"And here I thought it was because of my long legs, "the lioness teased.
Panthro let out a hearty laugh, "Well since Sele is here, why don't we grabbed a sleeping bag and make a camp fire on the beach and spend the night?"
"Really? We haven't done that in a very long time, I miss out little camping trips to the unicorn forest"
"Yeah, we can set up a camp fire just down from the house, close enough if we are needed" Panthro nodded.
"Well blue man what are you waiting for?" The lioness questioned, Panthro grinned and scooped her up in his arms and headed back to the beach house.
Half way back the panther's smiled faded; he sensed something was seriously wrong; he stopped a moment," Panthro?" Leanna questioned, "What is it?"
Before he could answers a chill went down his spine, the same chill that came with years of being a warrior, something bad was about to happen, he set lea down on her feet in the sand and hit a dead run for the house that was more then fifty yards away, "Panthro?" Leanna called as she ran after him, she knew something was wrong. Before the couple got within twenty yards of the house, there was a loud bang followed instantly by a huge fire ball coming from the basement of the house, the force of the explosion knocked the couple off their feet and into the soft sand.
"Dear Jaga!" Panthro said stunned as he quickly got to his feet, he ran straight for the house, Sele and his children where inside and he feared the worse. Leanna was right behind him, "Stay here" Panthro order as he reached the bottom of the steps that lead up to the balcony. "Pan!" Leanna cried.
Panthro stopped and put his hands on her shoulders, "Stay here! "he said more firmly "I will get them" he said and ran into the house. Leanna had to stand back from the intense heat and smoke that was billowing out of the building.
Leanna stood helpless, she knew he was right, she needed to stay outside, but what could she do, she had no comms to call for help, it was in the house, then she remembered the emergency radio in the transport car. She ran for the car. One side of the transport car had been badly damaged by the blast, the windows had been broken out and the pain along the side melted off, she ran around the other side and hoped the radio was undamaged.
She yelped as her hand touched the red hot door handle, she quickly drew her hand back, she looked at the palm of her hand, it was red and already starting to blister, despite the pain her grabbed the handle again and opened the door. She climbed in on the seat and reached inside the console and retrieved the emergency comms and ran back to the back of the house and placed the call to the emergency responders.
Inside the panther was met instantly by thick smoke and intense heat, he crouched down low and moved towards the back of the house where the cub's rooms were located, the smoke stung his eyes and was burning his lungs as he moved forwards, but he knew no matter what ,he couldn't stop moving. He wondered why the fire system hadn't kicked in, normally sprinklers would be going off, but they stayed inactive, even the emergency lights stayed dark, he was going along only by touch and his natural night vision. He reached Lila's and Lethea's room first and felt the door before he could safely open it, it was still cool to the touch which meant no fire inside, to which he was relieved, he quickly opened the door and went inside to get his two daughters, both girls were huddled on Lila's bed crying.
He instructed Lila to wrap a blanket around her and her sister, then grabbed them both tightly in his arms and ran as fast as he could towards the back door of the house where Leanna stood waiting. Panthro set the two girls down on the sand, they were quickly in the arms of their panicked mother, she hugged them, kissed them and checked them over. Panthro stood for a moment, taking in great gulps of air, he was having trouble catching his breath, and he started coughing. Leanna glanced over worried, he just put up his hand and took a few deep breathes before he want back inside to get Kale and Sele.
As Panthro looked around he wondered where Sele was, he knew she always stayed close to the cubs, especially Lethea but she wasn't in the girls room. He went up to the second level where Kale's room was, here the smoke was a lot thicker, he crawled along on his hands and knees until her reached Kale's bedroom door, once again he checked it first before opening it. He went inside and found Kale lying on the floor, he quickly put his ear to the boys chest, he was still alive but unconscious. He picked him up in his arms and made for the door. He bound down the steps three at a time until he reached the first floor, then ran for the back door. By the time he made it outside he could hear sirens from the fire emergency team coming up the long driveway, he laid Kale gently down on the sand, and the last thing he heard was Leanna's scream as he collapsed into the soft sand in a heap.