The Panther's Surrogate: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance by Angela Foxxe

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