Passion of the Panther

By F.L. Bicknell

Sometimes love transcends the ages.
When a black panther visits Beth, the animal stirs memories buried deep in her psyche. Throughout her life, she has searched for one man who will make her happy, but only through the panther’s guidance can she find him.
Nirriz is determined to reunite with the only woman he’s ever loved. Through the magic of time and space, and having searched for over two millennia for Beth, he finally locates her. However, he must wait until death claims her. Will she remember and accept him or will she succumb to the cycle of life, forcing him to wait for her one more time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Riverdale Avenue Books
• Release date: Jul 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781626010444

F.L. Bicknell

F.L. Bicknell's work has appeared in a wide range of genres and publications such as Would That It Were, Touch, GC, and Ohio Writer Magazine as well as publications in Canada and Turkey. Under her now-retired pseudonym, Molly Diamond, she was a regular contributor to Gent and Ruthie's Club and has had fiction published in Hustler's Busty Beauties, Penthouse Variations, and Twenty 1 Lashes. Ms. Bicknell is the author of several e-book and print titles, also writing as Azura Ice, Amber Redd, Cutter Phoenix, and Kiyara Benoiti. She has served as co-editor and managing editor for three different publishing houses. She is represented by TriadaUS Literary Agency.

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Riverdale Avenue Books LLC

5676 Riverdale Avenue, Suite 101

Riverdale, New York 10471

www.riverdaleavebooks.com

Passion of the Panther

Copyright © 2013 F.L. Bicknell

Digital ISBN: 978-1-62601-044-4

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover illustration and Design by Insatiable Fantasy Designs, Incl

Formatting by www.formatting4U.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First publication, July 2013

Author’s Note

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve heard everyone from the old timers to my current neighbors talk about the black panthers living in these Appalachian foothills. However, there are many who are skeptical of cougars in southeastern and eastern Ohio, but several hunting cams (one just up on the hill from our home) have proven that these animals are here. The theory about their presence is that one escaped a circus and interbred with the indigenous panthers (any species of the large cats of North America and South America) or they’re pet mountain lions secretly released. For more information visit http://ohiomountainlionwatch.wetpaint.com/.

Both my parents have seen the creatures. My father saw a black panther one day as he entered the barn to feed the horses. My mother witnessed the large cat traversing the field when she was in the backyard hanging out clothes. Even my husband saw one as it crossed the road in front of his truck on his way to work.

As for myself, I have yet to catch a glimpse of the beautiful animal. Instead, I’ve written about the panthers and set my story on the ridge where I grew up. I’m proud of my Appalachian heritage and all the stories that go with our culture. I’ve seen many odd and sometimes frightening things in this wooded region.

This tale is dedicated to the Appalachian people who see things in these hills no one else will believe.

I believe.

F.L. Bicknell – February 2013

PART ONE

Oh, to be young, yearning for your lover, for the moment you touch the heavens. But the past, present and future have other plans.

Shivering under a multitude of covers, Beth pulled them over her head and huddled in the tiny tent of her own body heat. She lay listening to the whine of the electric space heater, and for about the thousandth time, wondered what she was going to do after graduation. Ever since she’d turned 18, all she could think about was Randy and the fact she would be leaving home soon.

Moving away to live in a big town or even a city while she attended college paralyzed her with fear. An only child, she’d been sheltered by her parents who never allowed her to travel anywhere with friends. Aunt Sylvia, who lived outside Cincinnati, had offered her room and board should she decide to attend the art institute there. In return, Beth would keep her aunt company, split the grocery bill, and watch the house when Sylvia was out of town on business. Poking her nose out of the blankets, she shifted her position. Yeah, leaving here scared her, in fact, it terrified her, but her dreams of a career as an artist overrode her fear.

But her boyfriend Randy wanted to go to Pittsburgh to work for his uncle’s construction company. Should he take his uncle’s job offer, he would be six hours away from her. Worry settled into her stomach, creating a hard, uncomfortable knot.

The farm dog began howling, as he often did when the coyotes called in the surrounding hollows. Beth lay listening to Petey’s pitiful song grateful to find something, anything, to take her mind off her anxieties. Reluctantly, she stuck her head out into the crisp air. Puffs of white bloomed as she exhaled. Snores from down the hall told her that her father was too deeply asleep to rouse and stoke the woodstove.

Petey’s long mournful vocalizations progressed