by Kim Fox
“Bye, Khan!” a squeaky voice called out from the backseat.
He still couldn’t believe this was all happening. It really was a dream come true.
The little green car drove down the dirt path to the main road and Khan stood there until it disappeared. He felt a little hole in his heart as they left but he was still happy. They’ll be back soon.
He was about to turn to head inside when a silver SUV turned onto his property from the main road. A feeling of dread washed over Khan as the vehicle approached. It didn’t look like one of the Vega Ranch’s employees, and with the tiny American flag propped up on the side of the hood, he wasn’t looking forward to finding out who it was.
Khan stood there holding his breath in his weighted chest as the car squealed to a stop and the door opened.
No…
General Samson stepped out of the vehicle in full uniform and locked his eyes on Khan.
“Just the shifter I wanted to see.”
nine
Khan stood in the driveway watching with dread as his old boss, General Samson, stepped out of the shiny silver SUV. Khan felt his heartbeat turn sluggish and for some reason, he got a sour taste in his mouth.
“Just the shifter I wanted to see,” General Samson said, locking eyes with Khan.
“General Samson,” Khan said, straightening his back and saluting. Khan took a labored breath, feeling like there was a weight on his chest. Please, not me. Not now.
This was the worst timing ever. His mate, Bailey, had just agreed to marry him and move in with his son. He had a chance to have a real family. He couldn’t go back to war now. He wouldn’t. But if the general showed up in person it had to be for that reason.
“Commander Khan,” the general said, saluting him back.
“It’s just Khan now General,” he said, trying to sound firm. “I’ve been relieved of duty. You signed the papers yourself. About six weeks ago.”
“Do you think I’m a damn fool, boy?” General Samson asked, leaning in close.
“No, sir,” Khan replied. General Samson was a powerful man and it was best not to antagonize him. He was the one that ran the military’s ‘Special Program.’ The one that forced innocent civilian shifters like Khan and his brothers to go to the most dangerous places on the planet and do horrible things.
“I know what I signed,” he continued. “But it doesn’t matter. I need you back in the field.”
Khan hissed a breath. This was exactly what he was afraid of. “I’m sorry sir,” he said with a shakiness in his legs. “I have a wife and child now. I have to regretfully decline.”
“A wife and child?” he said with a laugh. “All that in the past six weeks?”
“Yes, sir,” Khan replied.
“You’ve been busy.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh that’s too bad,” he said. Khan took a relieved breath. Thank God. He’s letting me off.
“Thank you for understanding, sir.”
“No,” he said with a deep booming laugh. “You misunderstand me. It’s too bad that you’ll have to tell them you’re going back overseas. This is a command, not a request. You’re going.”
Khan’s Kodiak bear grumbled inside him, pacing around and begging to get out. He didn’t like this man who was trying to take him away from his mate. His Kodiak didn’t care if he was a powerful general in the United States military. He was ready to rip out the man’s jugular regardless.
“I served my time, General,” Khan said, desperate for the man to change his mind.
“And you got a pin for it,” General Samson said. “We need a strong bear who knows the hills of Afghanistan to go back in. There are some insurgents who need to be dealt with and we need a powerful bear to do it. We need you, Khan, and we’re not taking no for an answer.”
“There must be someone else,” Khan pleaded. “I just got home. I’m getting married.”
General Samson stepped forward and grinned. “You are going overseas to serve your country once again,” he hissed. “If you refuse you’ll be treated as a deserter and face the firing squad.” He leaned in with a smile. “And I might just toss your new wife and little boy in there with you for fun.”
Khan’s bear roared from inside him, struggling desperately to get free and attack this man who had threatened his mate and bear cub. It took everything that Khan had to reel him in and keep him under control.
The general stepped back. “That’s the fire that we need over there,” he said with a smile. “I’m glad to see that your family hasn’t made you soft.”
He opened the door of the SUV as Khan’s body shook from the enraged bear tried to escape. His fingertips burned as bear claws threatened to rip out of them. He couldn’t hold him in for much longer. Khan’s Kodiak had never been beyond his control like this.
“I’ll be back in two days to go over the reports,” the general said as he hurried to his vehicle. “I hope your bear will be in a better mood then.”
Khan strained to hold back the furious bear, flexing every muscle in his body to keep him from bursting out. He was shaking with the effort.
The general seemed to have recognized the danger and was rushing to get off the ranch. He started the SUV and rolled down the window. “Be ready to deploy in two weeks,” he said, before peeling away, engulfing Khan in a large cloud of dust.
When the dust cleared away an angry Kodiak bear was standing in place of the man with the broken heart.
ten
“What’s wrong?” Bailey asked as she closed the door to Liam’s bedroom. He had such a busy day that her son had fallen asleep the second his little head hit the pillow.
Khan turned his head as if he couldn’t bare to look at her. He had been like this all day.
The three of them had taken horses to the lake for a nice lunch and spent the day swimming and running around on the grass. It should have been perfect but Bailey could tell that there was something on Khan’s mind. Something eating away at him.
It was time to find out what it was. She had been obsessing about it all day.
“It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind,” she said, leaning against the hallway wall. “We can take it slow. Put the wedding and moving in on hold until you’re ready.”
Khan’s eyes darted to hers. There was a sadness in them and she braced herself for his words. They didn’t look like they were going to be positive.
“I want to marry you,” he whispered with anguish in his voice. “I’d marry you this second if we had a minister in the other room. I want to raise Liam and have you as my wife. That’s all I ever wanted. You’re all I ever wanted.”
The tension in Bailey’s shoulders released and she took a relieved breath. There was still something bothering him but they could figure it out. She was committed to getting through everything with Khan. She was committed to keeping them all together as a family.
“Then what’s bothering you?”
He dropped his head forward and rubbed his eyes. “Khan?”
He stared at her blankly with glossy eyes when he finally raised his head. “The general of the special shifter unit of the military came to visit me today.”
Bailey’s hands flew up to cover her open mouth. “No,” she whispered.
“He wants me to go back overseas,” Khan said as the color drained from his face.
Bailey started to feel dizzy. “For how long?”
Khan shrugged. “He said a year but that doesn’t mean a thing. He told us a year last time and it ended up being four.”
Bailey’s heart felt like it had momentarily stopped. All she could do was stare at him in disbelief. She had finally reconnected with her son’s father and her future looked promising for the first time in a long time and now life had to come and punch her in the face.
“Four years,” she whispered as she sunk to the ground. Her legs were weak and trembling and they wouldn’t hold her up anymore.
Khan crouched down beside her and cradled his arms around her. “
I’m sorry,” he whispered, kissing her head.
“Can you say no?”
“I tried,” he said, choking on his words. “He threatened to kill me if I didn’t go.”
“Oh, God,” she said, feeling her lungs constrict. She pulled him in close, squeezing his body.
“These aren’t exactly the type of people who you can turn down,” he said. “They’re horrible men.”
Bailey felt a pain in her chest as she processed his words. Her heart felt like it was literally breaking.
Ideas raced through her head but she couldn’t come up with anything that she could do to fix the situation. If Khan said that this was final, then she believed him. He had been so happy the past few days that she couldn’t believe he would go back overseas if he didn’t absolutely have to.
She took a deep breath and kissed his neck. “I’ll wait for you,” she whispered. “As long as it takes. I’ll wait.”
“Really?” he asked holding her at arm’s length to gaze into her eyes. He was so handsome with his dark features and watery eyes. She studied his face, taking in every detail. She would need to remember it all during those many, long and lonely nights that were coming up in her future.
“Of course,” she whispered. “You’re the only man for me. You’re the only one that I want as well.”
He kissed her soft and slow and the area between her legs began to heat up despite the horrified feelings swirling through her body. His strong masculine body had such a profound effect on her that he could get her thinking about sex even at a time like this.
“When do you have to leave?” she asked, afraid to hear the answer.
He swallowed hard. “Two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” she said with a gasp. That was so soon. Too soon.
He slid his arms under her and picked her up easily. “Let’s not waste a second of it,” he whispered.
Khan held her close as he walked into the other room. Bailey breathed in his familiar scent and moaned as his strong arms lifted her up as if she were weightless.
He walked away from the bed and placed her sitting on the dresser while he flicked on the soft light of the lamp behind her. “I want to see you,” he whispered in a raspy voice. “I want to watch your beautiful body as I slide in it.”
He was about to pick her up again to bring her to the bed but she grabbed his collar and held him there. Her light summer dress hiked up her thighs as she spread her legs for him. “Fuck me here,” she said gazing into his hungry eyes. She was already so wet. She couldn’t wait any longer, even the ten seconds it would take to move to the bed.
Khan yanked off his shirt and immediately slid his hands up the outside of Bailey’s soft thighs making her moan. She spread her legs further as he stepped between them. His cock was visible against his shorts, pressing out against the fabric in all of its impressive hardness. She reached down and traced the line of his shaft with her fingers as he hooked his fingers into her panties and pulled them down her legs. She was so wet that they stuck to her pussy.
He stepped back as he slid them off her feet. “Mmmmmm,” he moaned as he bunched them up in his hand and placed them to his nose, breathing in her scent. His bear grumbled within and the sound made her pussy pulse.
Her clit was aching as Khan stuffed the panties into his pocket and took off his shorts. His beautiful cock was so long and hard. He kept the hair around it trimmed and the hard V carved into his pelvis under his shredded abs made her clit throb even harder.
“Hurry,” she moaned as he came back to her. He hiked up her dress and slid inside her with one hard thrust. She was so wet that she took him in easily. “Fuck that feels good,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms under his and pulled him in tight.
Khan held onto the wooden shelf of the dresser behind her and used it to fuck her even harder. She moaned and whimpered with each thrust of his powerful hips as he filled her completely with every drive, every push.
Her hands slid down his rippling back muscles to his hard ass. She held onto his cheeks and felt the true power of her shifter’s thrusts.
She tried to push away the intense feelings swirling around inside of her and tried to just focus on the moment but it was hard. She was going to miss him so much. She was going to miss his smile, his sexy voice, his hard cock. It would be torture living without him now that she was sure that they were destined to be together.
Khan grabbed her breast over her dress and squeezed as he fucked her harder and harder. “I can’t hold on for much longer,” he grunted. “Your pussy is too tight. It’s too soft.”
Bailey parted her lips as her eyes closed. “I want to taste you,” she said in a moan.
Khan just grunted in response, never breaking stride.
“I want you to come in my mouth,” she whispered. “I want to feel your warmth on my tongue. I want to drink you in.”
It had been so long since she had tasted the seed of a man and she desperately wanted to taste Khan now. “Please,” she moaned.
He stepped away with his head lowered and breathing heavily. He stroked his cock with a firm grip and Bailey jumped down onto her knees. She knew that she didn’t have a lot of time.
She moved her knees on the scratchy carpet so that she was facing him. His cock was so close as he stroked it. The sight was so hot and erotic, having his huge dick in her face ready to burst, that she had to touch herself. She rubbed little circles over her swollen clit only taking a break to slide a finger into her dripping wet hole.
“Show me those tits,” he grunted from above her as he stared at the cleavage popping out of her dress. She pulled off the straps and yanked her dress down, not even bothering to unzip the back of it. Her breasts popped out, large and free, and Khan’s lips parted as he stepped forward.
He slid his hard cock between her breasts and Bailey moaned, grabbing her tits and pressing them together against the hard dick sliding up and down between them. Her breaths were coming in short and fast, rocking her body back and forth as he fucked her tits with his big cock.
His body tightened and his face twisted with anguish, signaling that he was about to come.
“In my mouth,” she groaned. “I need to taste you.”
He pulled his thick cock out from between her tits and stood back up. Bailey tilted her head back and opened her mouth up wide as he placed the tip of his cock on her bottom lip and jerked himself off.
She slid three fingers into her warm, throbbing pussy as she pressed her palm against her aching clit.
Khan’s abs flexed and his shoulders shook as warm, hot streams of his salty cum shot like a jet onto her tongue. She moaned, careful to keep her mouth wide open to get every last drop, as she fingered her pussy.
The feel of his hot seed sliding down her throat was enough to set her off. Her tits bounced around as her body shook and filled with warmth, her orgasm overtaking her. She closed her mouth and dropped her head, drinking down her man’s seed as her legs trembled on the rough carpet. She was breathing heavy and her heart was pounding like a jackhammer as strong arms slid under her and picked her up.
She melted into Khan’s arm as he walked to the bed and placed her on the soft, comfy sheets. He spooned her, keeping his body as close as possible to hers, as the last waves of her orgasm flowed through her.
“I love you,” he whispered as the pounding in her ears subsided.
She held his arm tight. “I love you too.”
I’ll wait for him, she promised herself.
I’ll wait for him forever.
eleven
Khan and Bailey sat watching Liam as he tossed rocks into the slow moving river. “Like this?” Liam asked throwing a rock into the water with a plop.
Khan had just shown him how to skip rocks on the water and he was determined to master it even though he was much too young to get the flick of the wrist right that was necessary to send a rock bouncing across the river.
“Ready?” Bailey asked Khan in a whisper.
Khan felt hi
s breath catch in his throat but he nodded anyway. He wasn’t going to let his nerves get in the way of this moment. “Yeah.”
Bailey squeezed his hand and kissed him on the cheek. Khan instantly felt better.
“Liam,” Bailey called. “Come here for a minute.”
The four-year-old grabbed one more rock and threw it into the water with a splash. He turned and darted over to them, dropping down onto Khan’s lap.
Khan rubbed his boy’s back as Bailey leaned in. “Remember when you asked Mommy about your daddy?”
Liam nodded his little head. “You said I didn’t have a daddy.”
Bailey let out a tight smile. “Mommy was wrong,” she said softly. “You do have a daddy.”
“I do?” he asked, straightening up on Khan’s leg. “Who? Superman?”
Bailey and Khan laughed. You could always count on a four-year-old to lighten up the mood.
Khan’s mate held her breath. “Khan is your daddy.”
Liam slowly turned his head and looked at him with his little eyebrows squished together. “But you’re not Superman.”
“I’m not,” Khan said, rubbing his back. “I’m better than Superman. I’m your daddy.”
Liam looked back at him with confused narrow eyes. “Are you sure?”
Bailey tried to hold in her giggle. “We’re sure, Liam. That’s your daddy. And we’re going to get married very soon.”
Liam smiled as he turned back to Khan. He wrapped his skinny arms around him, breathing on Khan’s neck. “I love my daddy.”
Khan just held him tight, unable to find any words with the intense euphoria flowing through him. His son had not just accepted him but was thrilled at the news. Khan’s skin was tingling all over with happiness.
“Are we going to live together forever?” Liam asked, staring into Khan’s eyes as he waited for an answer.
The euphoria passed and was replaced with a painful anguish. Khan ground his teeth together as he searched for the right words to explain why Liam’s father who had just come into his life was leaving him again, for years.