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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 reminded 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