If he abandoned her and outcast her to the Hunters, she would take her chances with them. No matter what, Josie decided she was tired of waiting for the axe of fate to fall. It was time for her to take action and to stop tiptoeing around on eggshells for everyone else’s sake.
“Had the two of you come to me,” King Ronald said with a heavy heart, “and had you told me of your love, then perhaps I would've been willing to grant you the surrogacy. I could have sanctioned it and I could have made it legal so that we could have avoided this situation.”
“Hindsight is unproductive,” Jonathan said unhelpfully. Josie glared at him and hoped that one day he would suffer similar circumstances that she was in right now. She hoped that he would have to fight for everything that he loved and have no other allies at his back. “We must deal with the present,” he added for spite.
“Yes,” King Ronald agreed. “We must deal with the facts now.”
Josie looked at him and knew this remorse and regret that King Ronald was suffering right now was not real. He would never have given them the agreement to have a surrogacy and to give Kheem the heir that he deserved. He wouldn’t ever give them that. He was infatuated with Josie and he wanted her to himself. He wasn’t going to give her anything else.
So the fact that he was lamenting his actions and how things had come to this point was a waste of time. She would give Jonathan that much. However, even if he had sanctioned the birth, that wouldn’t have prevented the Hyena Clan from acting this way. They still would have tried to take the child and they still would have tried to kidnap anyone from whom they could make a profit,
“I am disappointed in the both of you,” King Ronald said, looking right through them for a moment. “I do not believe either of you did not hope to meet with the other, but I see now that there is no escaping the matter. I will not attempt to separate the two of you because you will simply sneak around as you did before all of this without our knowing. It is a waste of breath to try and separate two lovers. So I will give you the freedom to go back to seeing one another, however, things have changed.
“War is brewing on the horizon and the Clans are unsettled. If there is a war and they turn on the Lion Clan, I will have no power in helping you. I cannot send my Clan to fight the combined strength of the Jaguar Clan and the Hyena Clan or anyone else they should turn to their cause against you. You will be isolated and alone in your battle. There will be nothing I can do to save you. Do you understand me?”
“We understand,” Kheem said strongly. “You think that we’re helpless, but I watched Josie hurl a man out a window and over a balcony. We are not frightened children, unwilling to fight those that come for us. If a war does come, we will stand by you, King Ronald, just as you have stood by us.”
King Ronald looked at Kheem and Josie could see that there was very little in his eyes that might have expressed gratitude for the statement. In fact, she was certain that anything Kheem might say to the man would be construed as an insult. King Ronald would never like Kheem for having Josie’s heart. Josie loved Kheem more than anything and that was what Ronald envied.
She knew he was wasting his breath, but it was still wonderful to hear. She liked to hear how much he loved her and to know that the feelings she had for him weren’t going without recognition. She loved him more than anything and that had to count for something. She loved him forever and she would never stop loving Kheem.
“No matter what you intend to do,” King Ronald said with a mixture of disappointment and anger in his voice, “you must help me keep the peace. If you harm or shed the blood of another, there is nothing I can do for you. The other Clans will see my involvement as biased and they will demand that you be exiled for your actions. I have no doubt in the matter.”
“We will keep the peace,” Josie told him with the assurance that she truly believed in. “We have to keep the peace above everything else,” she nodded.
If they failed at keeping the peace, then the Hunters would come and if the Hunters came then death would follow after them. There was nothing the Hunters would love more than to rid the island of the Shifters once and for all.
No matter what the treaty said, the Hunters trained and lived for the death of Shifters. They saw the Shifters as a blight against the world that needed to be eradicated. After everything Josie had seen with the Hyenas, she wasn’t sure if they were wrong or right anymore. The thought of it chilled her to the core.
“Very good,” King Ronald said, nodding his head as he looked at his lieutenants for agreement.
Wahir and Jamar nodded, but Jonathan was frozen, his gaze fixed on Josie. She had the idea that Jonathan was the kind of pervert who was thinking about what he would do to Josie in a cheerleader costume, chained up in his basement, begging for him to let her go.
He had the look of a demented freak and it made her dislike him all the more. Everyone had heard rumors about Jonathan and the women he’d taken, but Josie tried to take as little stock in rumors as possible. But, she was only human in that aspect.
“Where is the child now?” King Ronald asked her.
“She’s with my friend Karen,” Jose answered.
“Wahir, I want eyes on the child,” King Ronald said sternly.
“Already on it,” Wahir answered. He tilted his head at the surprise that must have bloomed across Josie and Kheem’s faces. “You really think that we would leave a child and a human woman defenseless against the Hyena Clan?” He shook his head. “I’m surprised the two of you aren’t dead already.”
“As am I,” King Ronald exhaled. “Go, and keep the peace.”
As they left the room, Josie couldn’t help but feel grateful for the fact that they both still had their heads. There was something about this that made her feel so alive and made her guilty. It was said that there was something very strong deep down inside of Shifters that roared to life when blood was spilled. It was the first time Josie had actually been a participant in a war and she understood why her kind was so eager to get involved in such things.
It was intoxicating, like ecstasy. She wanted to rip her clothes of and ravage Kheem and then go hunting for a victim to destroy. She could feel her heart beat quickening and knew she needed to keep it under control. She had to stay strong.
Walking down the hallway, for the first time in their relationship’s history, Josie reached out and took Kheem’s hand in her own. It was an electric moment, not because it was the first time they had held hands before—they had held hands often after making wild, fierce love together—but because it was the first time out in the open that they were allowed to or free to.
Maybe it was childish of her, but she couldn’t think of anything sexier than having their love proclaimed to everyone around her. Kheem looked at her, his eyes focusing on hers and they stared at each other for a moment, their pace slowing down and eventually stopping as his warm hand held hers, his gaze keeping her in sway, melting away everything that had happened.
He was so sexy with his dark skin and his black eyes, staring into her soul with the kind of force and magnetism that she would associate with a cosmic event. He was a black hole pulling her deeper and deeper into him, stretching out time and space so that all she could think about was Kheem and that was all she needed with him, one prolonged moment for the rest of her life.
The way his lip curled at the edge and his smile filled her with warmth and luminous energy. She could feel everything roiling inside of her. She wanted to kiss him and never open her eyes as she felt his lips on hers. It was something that she couldn’t contain, but it wasn’t long until she realized that the real world had come for them and that she couldn’t waste her time thinking about how badly she wanted to kiss him. No, her eyes drifted to something far more insidious and terrible for her to stomach.
Kheem turned his eyes and followed her gaze, watching as they both stared at the scene that neither of them were supposed to witness. In the auditorium, there were many people standing around, clustered togethe
r that should never have been allowed to stand near each other. The sight of them together was enough to send a chill down Josie’s spin as she stared at them, trying to comprehend what it was that she was witnessing.
The Jaguar Clan and the Hyena Clan were mobilized and standing with one another, talking in hushed voices about the most obvious plot that they had yet. There was no doubt in her mind that they were whispering about Kheem and Josie, but more importantly, they were talking about Ony. It was a strange alliance, but she supposed that it wasn’t beyond comprehension. They both wanted different things, different results from their alliance and that was enough for them to come together for a common enemy.
Josie knew that the Jaguar Clan wanted Kheem dead and Tendai wanted her dead. It was easy to see. It was easy to understand. Now, thanks to Faraji surviving his fall to death, the Hyena Clan was also interested in the two lovers ending up with their lives forfeit.
It was enough to make her wonder who would actually end up with Ony if they united against Kheem and Josie. The thing that was most obvious was that Kheem and Josie would be taking down plenty of them. They would be taking a whole lot of them along the way. That was something Josie was certain about and they needed to know it.
“That doesn’t look good,” Kheem said to her, making a huge understatement. “Maybe we should go have a word with them.”
“No,” Josie reached out and grabbed his hand, not willing to let him go. That was suicide. When he turned and looked at her with a glimmer of humor in his eye and a smile on his lips that was more mischievous than a fox in a hen house, Josie felt like a fool. She felt like she’d been an idiot. All she could do is shake her head at him. “But, we need to think about what our next move will be.”
“How about our next move be to take them out,” Kheem said with a snarl in his voice.
His eye was darker than the rest of his face, the telltale sign that he’d earned a black eye in his ambush with Faraji. There was one thing Josie knew about Kheem and that was the simple fact that the Hyenas had gotten lucky. Now that Kheem was on alert, he wasn’t going to be taken out so easily next time. And that was one thing Josie was certain of; there would definitely be a next time. They would be ready for them.
“Yeah? Just walk in there and pick a fight with them?” Josie raised an eyebrow.
She couldn’t help but think of how cool that would be. It would be like an old western or something. They would throw open the doors, swagger on in, and then fight to the death against unbeatable odds. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.
“Why not?” Kheem said with a shrug.
“For all the reasons that would make it suicidal,” Josie said.
“Well, then maybe we should find something more productive to do with our time,” Kheem said, watching as the Jaguar Clan and the Hyena Clan turned and made eye contact with them.
There was evil in their eyes, that much Josie could see as clear as the sun. They were all thinking dark things and their plot was something Jose could not abide. They needed to be stopped and it was becoming very clear that it was up to Josie and Kheem to stop them. This was going to get dangerous before the end.
“Yeah,” Josie agreed with him, watching Christoph and Alizea closing the door and giving them a rather sinister look as they did so.
Josie knew that this was going to be a violent fight and that there was going to be a lot of bloodshed before the end if these two Clans were stupid enough to join forces together. Either way, they had to survive.
“Karen has Ony until seven,” Josie told him, turning back to Kheem who didn’t even look slightly intimidated by the two Clans. “Maybe we should make the most of our time.”
“Yeah? What were you thinking?” Kheem asked her with a sly grin on his perfect lips.
“Well,” She looped her arm in his and they headed away from the room. They didn’t need to waste any time glaring with their enemies. “I think we’re safe for the meantime. After all, there’s no way they’re going to be able to make a move right now, not when Wahir and the others are watching over Ony. So, maybe we should take care of something else in the meantime.”
Chapter Six
Sure, there were a lot of things that they probably could have been doing or spending their time preparing for. After all, there was a war brewing and it was very likely that a lot of people were going to die in the process. But right now, until someone made a move, there was very little that they could be doing. In fact, their options were entirely limited and their hands were tied by the fact that they couldn’t launch a preemptive strike against their enemies. It was crushing, but they found a way to savor this last precious moment of piece before everything went to hell.
Kheem slammed her against the wall, kissing her neck and her chest as she leaned back her head and smiled at how much she had missed this. God, she had been thinking about his kisses and his lips for what felt like ages now. It had only been months, but it had been so long that she thought that the single moment where his hands touched her sides that she might orgasm. God, she wanted him inside of her and she wanted it now.
“Fuck me hard,” she whispered as her breathing began to pick up. “I want you inside of me."
She rubbed his pants, feeling the outline of his massive cock and begging for him to take her rough. God, she wanted everything that he had inside of her. She was ready for all of it and she was already feeling wet. Her fingers traced the outline of his cock. It was as hot as a furnace and it was as hard as concrete. It was so thick and strong that she couldn’t help but try to imagine what it was like to have it inside of her. As she rubbed it, she smiled at how much harder it got, growing and solidifying with each passing second and each rub.
He moaned and groaned with each rub that she gave him. She smiled as she heard the sounds escaping through his clenched teeth. His eyes were closed as he leaned back a little and let her continue to rub him and strengthen his erection. It was her pleasure.
“You’re so perfect,” he hissed through his clenched teeth. “You’re every man’s dream.”
She liked to hear that. She wanted to be his dream. She wanted to be his everything. There was one thing that every person in the world wanted and that was to be truly loved by someone. It didn’t matter if you were the loneliest hermit in the world or the most loved person in the world, you still wanted someone who thought that you were their everything and that needed you just like they needed air or water.
She felt that with Kheem. In eight months, she had no doubt he had been true to her, just as she had been true to him. There was no doubt in her mind and that was what she loved about their relationship. There was trust here. There was something worthy of their respect and their trust.
She took a deep breath as he continued to kiss her and when she felt his hands on the edge of her shirt, she smiled. He pulled it up over her head and she flipped her hair, trying to get it under control as he threw the shirt to the ground. It was good to be free of it. She wanted to be free of much more as well. She wanted everything from him and she was willing to give it all to him. No, that wasn’t it. He had her all. All he needed to do was come and claim it. With a smile on her lips, she pulled his face up and to her lips, kissing him and feeling like the entire world was erupting in light and warmth.
Hooking her thumbs into the waistline of her shorts, she pulled down her shorts and her panties, begging for him to actually take what he wanted from her. She wanted him to have everything that he ever desired and she was going to give it to him. She was going to let him do anything he wanted to her. If this was the last time they got to sleep together, then she was going to make sure that he was more than satisfied.
As for Josie, she was already satisfied. This was what she wanted. If his cock slipped into her pussy, then she was going to be the happiest woman in the world. The shady air of her bungalow wafted over her naked pussy and a shiver ran down her spine. She wanted him inside of her.
Slowly dropping to her knees, she brought his pants and
his underwear down with her. She watched as his cock fall free, sticking out and the tip of his cock brushing her face. God she wanted that meat inside of her. She wanted to lick it and wrap her lips around it. She wanted to make him burst with pleasure. She wanted to tease him and make him squirm just like the way he made her squirm and writhe with lust. Her fingers slowly brushed over her stomach and reached the lips of her pussy, sinking in and rubbing her clit as she wrapped her fingers around the length of his cock.
Running her tongue around the head of his cock, she listened as he moaned and started breathing heavier and heavier. She wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and started stroking the length of his cock. She worked his cock with her mouth, making sure that he was as hard as a metal rafter and smiling as his hips began to pump and began to work, thrusting his cock into her mouth and fucking her face. It wasn’t long before he leaned back his head and Kheem let out a moan that signaled the release of his load.
She took it and swallowed, smiling at him and not wanting to offend him or worry him. His knees were shaky and as he collapsed onto the bed, she crawled on top of him, wondering how long it would be until he was recovered from this round.
It turned out that it didn’t take long. She kissed him and felt his tongue dancing with hers inside of her lips. She smiled and wrestled with his tongue, trapping him and biting his lower lip as she sucked on it and chewed it lightly. He chuckled and clamped his hands onto her sides. She could already feel his cock getting stiff and begging for more of her. She was happy to oblige.
She straddled him and mounted him, feeling his cock slip inside of her and she was humbled by how huge his cock was. It pushed inside of her as she took all of it, gasping as she was reminded of just how enormous he was. His cock was so large that it pushed against her, sinking deeper and deeper inside of her. She moaned and could feel her heart pounding at the feeling him consuming her, filling her in all the way.
The Panther's Surrogate: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance Page 7