But today was the most terrifying day of her life. Ony was darker than she was and reminded her of Kheem so much. When she arrived on the island, King Ronald and the other heads of the Clans were waiting for her with bright smiles on their lips and excitement in their eyes. She had worked hard to maintain her figure and to get into even better shape after Ony was born. They stayed in hotels that had gyms and she would always watch what she ate.
She couldn’t risk having them discover the truth. So she made the sacrifices she needed to. Everything had to be in order when they arrived. Everything had to look like nothing had changed and that nothing had altered over the course of her absence. In fact, if at all possible, there needed to be an appearance that there was nothing different and nothing had changed.
“It is wonderful to see you again,” King Ronald said, stretching out his arms as Josie approached him, holding Ony in her arms as firmly as she could.
There was no way she was going to trust any of these mongrels with her child. She hugged Ronald, but made sure to keep it civil and not let his hands wander all over her body while she was holding her child.
“You are as radiant as the day you left us. It was a sad day when you left our circle.” Ronald looked from her face to the face of Ony who was barely keeping it together.
The poor child had been through such a long journey that Josie felt like a monster still keeping him up. He was tired and wanted to sleep, nothing more.
“You’re too kind,” she said with a forced, sweet smile to King Ronald, not wanting to offend him or put him on edge. The last thing she needed was him getting suspicious toward her. As she pulled away, she offered smiles and nods to all the other heads of the Clans. She didn’t want to make anyone unhappy right now.
“We’re glad you’re back,” King Ronald said finally with much delight in his voice.
It was good to have been missed, but there was something sinister and disturbing about this whole meeting. It was in this moment that she realized that she hadn’t come back here for the clans or the safety that they offered, but rather she was here because she wanted to show Kheem the son that they had made together. It was obvious to her that Ony would wake up one day and be a Panther, usually around when he hit puberty, but before then, he needed to know Kheem.
From the way things had been going, Josie had kept a rather low profile. She’d been able to keep moving and to avoid the troubles of Hunters or other Clans that roamed the world. For her, all she had to keep doing was moving and making sure that she kept her nose clean. Even when men looked at her with her baby, their eyes full of dark fire and wicked thoughts, she was able to keep calm.
She was able to ride out the storm and keep pushing. She had no doubt that one day she could find a home to call her own, a place where she could live with Ony in peace and quiet. Even if the map was filled up, there were still plenty of places out there that hardly made a dot on the map. She could get a job and tend her own.
“I hope you remember your loyalty to the Clans and to Tarobi,” King Ronald said with a fairly dark smile that bothered her. “This child is welcome among us, but you will need to ensure this child was not your own before the Council. They will need to know that your loyalty to the oaths and the vows you swore have not changed in your absence.”
Shit, Josie thought as she held Ony in her arms. They knew. She didn’t know how, but she knew they were aware of the origins of Ony. She looked at Kibwe who had been smiling like he’d heard a very good joke the entire time he’d been near her. Of course he knew. They must have had people tracking her or maybe Kheem had let it slip accidentally. How could he do that, though? It wasn’t like Kheem to be reckless or careless. He wouldn’t have let the information slip. So how did they all know?
“No problem,” Josie said with a nod and a smile that felt like it was glued on her face and the glue was starting to come undone. They could see right through her. The pretty girl that everyone liked had done something bad and that meant that she was going to be in a very precarious situation and now she had a child to worry about as well.
“Very good,” King Ronald said with as much false ambivalence as he could muster. “I told them that there was nothing to worry about. You are a good and loyal friend to the Clans and you simply went to adopt your poor sister’s child. Nothing more. I am glad to put their minds at ease once and for all.”
“I must have been the talk of the town,” Josie exhaled, pretending like she was relieved and that there was nothing wrong with her. Of course, it was all a lie. Inside, she was screaming and wondering where Kheem was. Raffu looked as suspicious as the rest of the Clan Leaders, which meant he wasn’t buying it either. She was outnumbered.
“Unfortunately, people talk,” King Ronald said gravely. The message was clear to her now. People had been talking and they were on the verge of the truth. “There is business at the Hotel I must attend to and I simply wanted to greet the return of our dear friend and wonderful associate on her return back to our sanctuary. Welcome, my friend.”
Josie hardly heard a thing he had said to her. In fact, all she could think about was whether sleeping with King Ronald might buy her some time to figure out what she could do to delay the judgment they would inevitably cast on her. The truth would come out and she needed to be ready for that to happen.
As King Ronald kissed her on the cheek and turned away, she watched as the Council left as well, but Kibwe remained for a moment longer, looking at her with his jackal eyes. He looked like he was about to eat her and savor every last moment of the ravenous meal. She shuddered at the thought of his eyes on her and that clearly made him even happier.
“Spin your lies,” Kibwe said to her with a malicious tone that made her hairs stand up on the back of her neck. “You can tell all the lies you want, but we know the truth. We are not fools.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Josie said with as much sincerity that she could muster for him. He looked at her and chuckled at her weak response. Why was she so scared of him? Why did she feel such fear toward all of them?
“It’s only a matter of time, Wolf,” Kibwe growled. “You and your little kitten will end up on the chopping block and we’ll be there to swing the axe.”
“Talk to me like that again,” a wave of courage and rage hit her like a tsunami and Josie found her voice once more. She found the strength and the defiant power that she had always wielded here on these shores. “Say one more thing like that and I will have your head, Kibwe. Don’t forget who has more friends on this island.”
“You won’t, when they realize you’ve given birth to that little whelp without permission,” Kibwe snarled at Ony who was looking at him with the most innocent eyes Josie had ever seen. “An illegal surrogacy is punishable by death. We’ll find the father and we’ll have him killed as well. Your child will be raised by the Clans and taught to hate you with all of his heart.”
Josie didn’t remember striking him, but when her hand slapped Kibwe across the cheek, she was startled just as much as he was. The slap had been loud and she had put muscle behind it. She wanted him to feel pain and she wanted him to know she was not going to tolerate that kind of language toward her child. She almost felt ashamed for having struck another Shifter, but Kibwe deserved it. The beads of crimson blood along the pink lines where she had hit him were enough to make her feel like justice had been served.
Kibwe’s hand rose to his wound and he smeared the blood across his cheek, pulling his fingers away and grinning at the results of his inspection. “My, what big teeth you have,” Kibwe chuckled. “You’ve signed your death wish, whore.”
Josie stepped toward Kibwe and grinned as he shuffled backwards from her with a look of fear in his eyes. He was big, but he was not so tough. She could take him. All she would have to worry about was Ony eating sand while she ripped his head off once and for all. That wasn’t something she was too worried about right now.
“I think you’re needed elsewhere, Kibwe,” she r
eminded him.
Kibwe let out a soft chuckle as he turned and walked a little faster than he should have in order to play the convincing role of the un-intimidated muscle. She knew Kibwe was the patsy of the Jaguar Clan. It was Tendai that she was going to have to actually worry about. All in good time.
* * *
“How did they find out?” Josie was laying on the bed, half dressed as Kheem loomed over her.
It was hard for her to think properly with him in the same room as her. He was so masculine and so powerful. She wanted to take advantage of the man that she hadn’t touched in eight months. It was impossible for her to get over how incredible he looked. She wanted to ravage him and consume him when she saw him. There was that primal energy and connection that they shared which she couldn’t ignore. But she had to. She couldn’t let him ravage her until she had some answers.
He looked at her with his soft, but focused eyes. “How do they all know that I had an illegal surrogacy?” she asked.
“They suspected when you left,” Kheem said with a dour expression. “When you sent back word that your sister died and you were going to take over the adoption of her child, there was even more suspicion. They all remembered how you’d arrived when you first came here and how terrible your relationship was with your Clan and with your family back in Wyoming. They doubted it from the moment you stepped off the island.”
“Where does King Ronald stand?” Josie wondered.
Right now, he was their best advocate. She could probably keep Kheem a secret for as long as they needed to. She could say that it was a passing fling while she was in Wyoming and didn’t know how to tell them. King Ronald might forgive her if the father was far away and never coming to claim Ony.
“He’s pissed,” Kheem said, shaking his head. “He favored you above all the others and now he feels betrayed. The moment you tell him that this was an illegitimate surrogacy, he’s going to be furious with you.”
“That’s fine,” Josie said, thinking of her plan of attack. “I'll do everything I can to charm him until that moment comes. When he finally gets angry, hopefully it won’t last long. Honestly, how do I look?” Josie asked him.
“How do you look?” Kheem laughed.
“Yes, tell me honestly,” Josie said to him, pushing him off her.
She didn’t have time for games. He couldn’t afford to play games either. They needed to get ready. They needed to be prepared to act when the time came. She stared at Kheem and waited for his answer.
“You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” He said with the amount of truth and passion that he always carried with him when he saw her. It bothered her because she felt that there was probably a very good chance Kheem was distracted by love blindness. He couldn’t be trusted. He was compromised by obsession.
“I need to be able to seduce him,” she exhaled and looked at Ony who was fast asleep in his little crib. “He’s always had a thing for me and if I can still appease him, then maybe that will be my only option. The moment he finds out about Ony, he might take Ony and hand him over to the Hunters.”
“He would never,” Kheem shook his head. “Even if there is a truce between us, he is still a Shifter. King Ronald would never give up a member of the Clans to the Hunters, even if it meant he would die. He’s stubborn and he’s old fashioned. At worst, he'll demand to know who the father is and will possibly try to punish you in whatever way the Council deems fit.”
“But who has sway over the Council?” Jose stood up and paced about the room in her bra, looking out the window at the soft roar of the surf as it assaulted the beaches. She thought that she probably had a good idea already who it was that was working the Council as a puppet right now.
“The Jaguars are intimidating people left and right,” Kheem informed her of the obvious. “No one respects them, but Kibwe and Sipho aren’t to be mocked and Tendai is cunning. No one wants to cross them, but no one wants to bow down to them, either. The majority of the power still rests in the hands of King Ronald. If we can get him to forgive and pardon you, then you might have a chance.”
Before Josie could say a word, the door to the room was flung open and two dark figures stood in the doorway outside her bungalow. The first, she recognized instantly. His hair was pulled back in cornrows and his yellow shirt was hanging open, revealing his chiseled and defined physique that was marred and marked by scars from battles that had sent him out of Africa and on the run with the rest of the Lion Clan. He was a man with a stern face and a scar over his left eye. He had the look of a man that had seen too much and who had participated in worse. Wahir was the largest man that Josie had ever seen and even though Kheem was still a large man, Wahir made him look like a dwarf.
The man behind him, Jamar, was smaller, but by no means any less intimidating. He had a scar running along his scalp of his buzzed head. His face was crossed with scars as well, from a battle that it looked like he had barely survived. He was wearing a pink polo and gray pants, walking into the room casually and looking around as if he were inspecting the place with a real estate agent. Jamar was not nearly as intimidating as Wahir, but she knew why he was here. She knew that he was here as the voice of King Ronald and that meant that this was going to be a very uncomfortable thing to discuss.
“I should have known it was you,” Wahir said, looking at Kheem. “Panthers are always shifty and subtle things. Keeping to the shadows and out of sight while you plot your little schemes.”
“It’s not what you think,” Josie tried to assure him.
“It’s exactly what I think it is,” Wahir snapped at her angrily. “Don’t play me for a fool, Josie Night-Hawk. I knew the moment you left this island what was going on. I just needed to wait until you came back to get the confirmation. Kheem was all too eager to run away and rendezvous with you. Should have been smarter.”
“Should have been smarter, indeed,” Jamar said, shaking his head scornfully at the pair of caught Shifters. “The King would like an audience with the two of you. Please bring the child with you.”
“Promise me that there will be no harm brought to Ony,” Josie said to Wahir who was without a doubt, the most honorable man on the island.
Wahir had killed many people and he had fought in many battles, but it had forged in him a righteous fury for the truth and the justice of the world. If there was anyone on this island who would die trying to save a child that wasn’t their own, it was Wahir. If only the Hunters knew that about Shifters.
Wahir looked at her in silence for a moment, sizing her up and trying his hardest not to show a drop of emotion. He was one of the few in the Lion Clan who hadn’t tried to get her to sleep with him. He was a good man and she knew that her abstaining from sleeping her way to prominence was something he respected in her as well. Most women Shifters whore themselves out for safety, recognition, or power. Josie hadn’t been like that. Hopefully, that was enough to buy the favor of Wahir.
“Bring the child,” he said in a less demanding voice.
They met in a smaller conference room, just large enough for them to feel like they were being formally judged, but not large enough to draw suspicion. Jonathan was in the room with King Ronald and they had Jamar watch the hallway to ensure that there were no spies coming to eavesdrop on the meeting. King Ronald was sitting down, wearing the managerial suit that he wore for work at the Royal Palace. He looked positively impressive sitting in his dark gray suit and his fingers steepled before him. His eyes looked at Josie like she had committed some grievous crime against him. He had always fantasized about her and Josie knew that this probably did look like something terrible in his eyes.
He was probably deeply cut and offended by the fact that she had agreed to be the surrogate for another and not him. His eyes never once flicked to Kheem. Josie found that unnerving.
Was he willing to kill Kheem?
“I am disappointed in this façade,” King Ronald said with a grave voice that sounded like thunder and gravel. “I am very disap
pointed in the fact that you are willing to go to such great lengths to deceive me after all that I have done for you. After everything that I have willingly given you to protect and to ensure you are safe. Is this how you reward me, Josie? I have given you everything you need. I have given you sanctuary from those who would harm you and this is my repayment?”
“King Ronald, please,” Josie tried to plead with him.
“I will not hear it,” King Ronald raised his hand. His hand hung in the air like a giant meteor just hovering over the surface of the earth, waiting to impact and kill everyone. She watched as it slowly lowered to the top of the table and folded with his left hand. “You know, I had often discussed I was interested in taking you as my own surrogate—an honor that I believed to be worthy of your actions.
You were a pure woman who deserved such a laurel for your beliefs and your conduct. You have served the island well, but now I see I was deceived. You have been cavorting with this lesser man from a smaller Clan and you have spat in my face. You have lied to me and you have broken my heart, Josie.
Now, I cannot take you as a surrogate. A surrogate is an honorable position. A woman is chosen to be worthy of carrying on the bloodline of a Clan. You cannot take this honor for yourself without the consent of the Clans and the King of the Council.
But that is not the least offense that we have before us. You have broken the sacred treaty that we have made with the Hunters of Warco. Should word get back to them, they will storm this island with an army of fundamentalists who would refuse to hear logic or reason in your words. They will kill you and they will do so without mercy or regret. You have threatened everything and everyone on this island with your actions.”
“No one has to know,” Josie assured him. “King Ronald, I beg of you to forgive me for my actions, but my child is everything to me. Onyeko is pure and sweet. He has done nothing to offend you and does not deserve your wrath. But, the Hunters do not need to know.”
The Panther's Surrogate: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance Page 4