The Panther's Surrogate: A Paranormal Pregnancy Romance (14 page)

They had done it.

They had survived all of this madness. They were here on the other side of the battle and it looked like this was the chance that neither of them thought that they would have. There was nothing that Josie wanted more than this and yet, there was the fear of what’s next to come after all of this. Josie stared at the world around her, smoking, burning, and surrounded by the dead. This was a dark world for the beginning of their new life. It was something strange to feel, but this was the beginning.

“Are you okay?” Kheem shouted from the garden.

“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “Are you?”

“I’ve been better,” Kheem shrugged, limping toward her.

She refused to let him walk all the way and started to walk toward him, stepping over the torso of Kibwe and trying her hardest not to look down at. As she stepped over it, she looked at Kheem only and refused to look at anyone else. All she could think of was the fact that there were dead bodies all around her. All she cared about was Kheem, she had to remind herself that she was safe with him. They were here together and that was all that mattered. She had to keep positive. When she reached him, everything washed away. All she needed was Kheem.

All she needed was him.

“Let’s go get our baby,” Kheem said as he wrapped his arms around her.

*

The auditorium was abuzz with the whispers and the conversations of dozens of fearful and terrified people looking for an answer to the questions that were floating around the room. They weren’t questions that were bizarre or misguided. They were the kind of questions that had been rolling around Josie’s mind since they decided that it was important to stand against the Hyenas, the Jaguars, the Hunters, and even King Ronald. They were the questions that every sane Shifter had been asking themselves over and over again. They were the only questions that mattered in the end. They were the questions of survival.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Kheem spoke into the microphone at the podium.

It was good to hear his voice and as she looked at him, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He was bruised, beaten, and he was going to need to recover for a very long time. His face was swollen, his joints pained, and his muscles were sore. But he was standing up there, not as a member of the Clan Leaders, but as the future King of the Council.

It hadn’t taken much to get people to understand why it was important to have a leader back. A head figure was going to be the only way the Hunters would be willing to negotiate. They weren’t interested in committees and they weren’t interested in lengthy debates. That was the point of the Council. So, if they needed someone to talk to the Hunters on the behalf of the Shifters, everyone felt that it was important that the best figure among them became the leader they needed.

Kheem was that figure. Kheem was the leader all of them wanted and he was the leader that they needed. As they looked at him, standing there on the podium, it had only taken a few well-selected conversations to get everyone on board with him being named the new leader of the Council. The Lions held no grudges against them for the deaths of Jonathan, Wahir, and King Ronald.

Most of them believed the Hunters killed everyone involved in the final battle. With King Ronald dead, most of the Shifters believed it was time that the Lions give up their presence as leadership. They all unanimously agreed it was time for them to give up leadership. It was a simple, peaceful agreement.

War had come to Tarobi and it was time for all of them to find leadership that was ready for peace. Josie was ready for peace too.  In fact, all of them were ready for peace. The whole island unanimously decided as well that they vie for peace with the Hunters. The island was crawling with military forces from Jamaica and they were all looking for who was responsible. In the end, after days of searching, the military came to the conclusion that those who were involved in the event were all but dealt with. Everyone claimed that the assailants were dead. It was a clean sweep. The slate was entirely fresh for them.

The meeting was called. Kheem had agreed that it was necessary and he told everyone that they needed to gather in the auditorium. After the fallout of the final battle, the Hunters needed to regroup and needed to assess the situation for themselves. They returned to Warco, whipped and beaten, they were licking their wounds. It was hard for them to reach out, but when Kheem got the message, it was time to meet them. It was time for them to get together and have the meeting that everyone was terrified of having with one another. But, Kheem wasn’t the kind of person to shy away from all of this.

Truthfully, they had survived a war with the Shifters and the Hunters a few days ago, but most of the Shifters felt like they were on the brink of another war. They felt like that for a very strong and very genuine reason, a reason that Josie was also feeling. Three Hunters survived the battle in the heart of the town and returned to Warco, injured, but still alive. Their fire was much stronger than Auben’s had been. When they returned to Warco, it wasn’t long until they sent word to the Council that their numbers were still greater than the Shifters.

With the Jamaican military on the island, it would be easy to wipe out the Shifters. From everything that Kheem and Josie had discussed, they figured the Hunters probably outnumbered the remaining Shifters two to one. With shotguns and grenades, that meant that they had a distinct advantage. Unless anyone else knew how to make cars turn into bombs, it was going to be a very short and very brutal battle.

That was the point where Josie and Kheem had put Ony down for the night and had a very serious talk about giving up on all of this. It had been one of the talks that they would remember as a couple forever. It was one of the talks that would live on in infamy in their minds where they weighed the options of giving up and moving on, as compared to sticking into the fight and getting their hands dirty.

It was a hard conversation to have and it required brutal honesty. As far as Josie was concerned, it was the hardest conversation that she had ever had. But it was a good conversation to have, because after the smoke cleared and the ideals were separated from the reality of things, they came to an understanding as to where they stood as a family.

And so the meeting was called.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Kheem said again, clearing his throat and trying to get the conversations to die down. Everyone looked up at him and their eyes were full of the same fear and worry that Josie and Kheem had been plagued with the night of their tough conversation.

After the events at the Torch, we know of three survivors of the Hunters who returned to Warco’s Hunting Lodge. While the Hunters are not at the strength that they once were, they still have a large number of recruits that are willing to work with them and they have the resources they need to wipe out our numbers.

If there is to be a war, I am sorry to say that it would be quick, violent, and costly. That is why I have invited the three survivors, who are now the active leadership of the Hunters, to come and have a meeting with us, so that we could form our own treaty. It is time for us to take our own destiny in our hands and start fresh. This is the hope of our future. So don’t be scared right now. Don’t be worried you’re going to die or that you’re going to be imprisoned by the Hunters. We’re here to be friends, not enemies.”

It was in that conversation they’d had with one another that Josie realized something along with Kheem. It was then that she realized that this was their home. This was the home that they had been building for themselves for a very long time. It was the truth that they had both been looking at for a very long time but didn’t have the wisdom to see it until it ran straight into them.

She looked at this fact that all of them were friends and family members that they had been building a life with together for years now. They had been making sure each and every one of the Clans was safe. It’s time for them all to realize there was nothing that was going to stop them from helping each other. Kheem was the man for the job to lead them and Josie was ready to stand together with them.

When the auditorium started to go silent, understanding that they weren’t in the danger that they thought they were, Josie knew they were standing with them. They were united and they were ready for each other to be as one against the coming dangers that might try to take over them. Whether they were looking for war or if they were willing to sue for peace, then they were going to do it together. Everything was going to be okay in the end and Josie was certain of that now more than ever. It was time to be a family again.

The figures entering into the auditorium were all as intimidating and ominous as they were the first time they entered the auditorium. For years, Josie had lived in this community, working in the resort to help people enjoy a fantastic meal and a wonderful drink before they went back to their rooms. Never once had she actually seen the Hunters after she came to Tarobi, but now, it felt like she was seeing them far too much. She hoped that this would be the last of it.

The three figures came down the aisle, drawing the looks of every Shifter in the auditorium. They watched them with worried, but brave expressions on their faces and she could tell that they were more than willing to keep that brave face on for the time being. She watched them, curious they didn’t show any emotion either. She knew that they were just as terrified.

How couldn’t they be terrified? They had watched their friends and brothers-in-arms ripped apart and blown to pieces by the Shifters. They knew how dangerous Shifters were. How many Hunters ever actually got to face off against a Shifter? This had to be a historic moment for them. It had to be the scariest, most notorious moment of the Warco Hunting Lodge. There would be days when they would gather around with their fellow Hunters and share the story of how they had survived the fight.

The woman in the group, Riana, took the center of the stage and shook Kheem’s hand. She had a bandage over her eye where she had taken a chunk of shrapnel in the explosion of the Torch. She was looking good, considering the injury. When she turned and faced the Shifters, she looked like she was about to shout at all of them, yell and belittle them for their actions. But instead, she cleared her throat, as if she were nervous.

“I am Riana of the Hunters,” she said in a strong voice that just barely broke as she was saying her name. “Over the past few days, we have had the unfortunate task of going to war with the noble Shifters of Tarobi. Your island has long been at peace with our Hunters and we believed that our Treaty was stable and strong. However, it appears circumstances had changed without our understanding and the events that unfolded just a few days ago have shown us that it is time for us to take a more progressive approach with those who were not hostile or active in the events that unfolded at the heart of the Tarobi incident.

“I have been informed that the Royal Palace is going to be sold to the Four Seasons and that many of you will be transferring over with the new employment offered to you. Since you will all be transitioning, we see it as the perfect time for us to come up with a new system for dealing with one another. Rather than having a hostile relationship, we at Warco would simply like to extend our hands for peace with the Shifters of Tarobi. Rather than policing you and having our shadow loom over you, we would rather approach you as equals and see that we can work in mutual respect and appreciation with one another.

“We at the Hunting Lodge of Warco, propose that you have freedom over the surrogacy program that has currently been at the heart of the violent misunderstandings between your peoples and ours. No longer will you need the approval or the consent of the Hunters to have children. The matter will be given strictly to the Council and to the Shifters of Tarobi for your own discretion.

However, external additions to the island will still be monitored by the Hunters of Warco, only for reasons that we believe are in all of our interests that hostile or adverse individuals not disrupt the ecosystem that our two peoples would like to build from this day forward.

“In conclusion, peace is what we’re interested in. We no longer wish to be adversaries to you, but to help protect the innocent, including the innocent Shifters of the world. Thank you for your time and we hope that all of you will willingly vote to pursue peace between our peoples.”

Josie rose with the standing ovation, but it was hard to clap with Ony in her arms. She smiled and looked at Kheem who was standing next to Riana, shaking her hand graciously and shaking the hands of the other two survivors. Josie could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

“Yes,” Kheem said into the microphone with a bold smile across his lips. “On behalf of all the Shifters present, we agree to the terms of this treaty. Let there be peace from this day forward!”

“We did it, Ony,” Josie said to her beautiful baby boy. She could feel the tears running down her cheeks as she looked into his sweet face.

“We’re a family now, Ony.”

She swore, holding her son there that she would never spend another day away from him. Never again would she leave him in the arms of another. He was her son and she intended to keep him close to her for the rest of her life. Looking up at Kheem across the stage, she planned on having him right there with her all along the way.

THE END

Message To You From Angela Foxxe:

Hiii

I hope you enjoyed the main book. I would really love if you could offer a rating!

As promised and as part of this special package there is a bonus book entitled 
“The Panther's Urgent Mate
” included that has never previously been released anywhere before. I threw this short story in to reward those loyal fans like yourself you can start reading this now on the next page!