by Abigail Owen
She stood there for a moment, stance wide, ready in case anyone else came at her, music still pumping, eyes still closed, panting with her efforts…hardly able to believe it was over. The horrible future she’d been seeing for months was not going to materialize. Her constant hiding from Kyle Carstairs was finally at an end.
A hand on her shoulder made her jump. She hadn’t seen it coming. Zac pulled the earphones out of her ears. “It’s over now, kuluk. They’re all down.”
Sarai’s eyes snapped open to look around the room. They were, indeed, safe. With a half-sob, half-laugh she threw herself at Zac.
He stumbled back a few steps, and she realized how weak he was. They’d starved him, beaten him, and still he’d fought. She rewound the fight, which was now fully in her vision, and saw with shock that, despite his chains, he’d fought hard, taking out man and beast alike, one after the other. How he’d managed to do that in this state was unbelievable.
She released him as fast she she’d flown at him. “Sorry!”
But he wrapped his arms around her to pull her right back into him. “Don’t ever apologize for wanting to be in my arms.”
She huffed a little laugh as he used her own words from their first night together against her. She rubbed her face against the warmth of his bare chest, overwhelmed and grateful he still stood there, alive if not well.
“You’re okay?” The implications of what that meant and what she’d just done started to set in.
“Nothing a little extra food won’t fix.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” she heard one of his men, Oliver maybe, say.
“He’s talking about you.”
“What?”
“You should have seen yourself. It was a terrifying, beautiful thing to watch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so amazing.”
“Oh.” Sarai didn’t quite know what to say. She buried her face in his neck, a little embarrassed.
“Who killed Kyle?” Andie’s voice broke into their little moment.
Sarai lifted her head to look over her shoulder at Kyle’s prone body, still lying half in, half out of the room. “I did.”
She waited to feel something. Guilt at having taken a life. Relief that he was dead. Elation that he was finally gone. All she felt was…nothing. That didn’t seem right. Maybe she was in shock or something.
She released Zac, who accepted a pair of sweats from Jaxon, and moved to Andie’s side to give her friend a hug. “Thank God you got here in time.”
Andie raised her eyebrows and glanced at Zac over Sarai’s shoulder. “You didn’t need much help. You guys had taken out a good majority of them by the time we got here. In fact, we captured a few trying to escape on our way in.”
Sarai’s mouth formed a small “o” of surprise. She glanced at Zac, who pulled her back against him, seeming reluctant to let go of her.
She looked up at him. “Scott?”
His jaw hardened to granite. “I took care of him.”
She didn’t ask for more details. The betrayal cut deep. As Alpha, Zac had meted out immediate punishment. Enough said. Then she remembered Corrie. Before she could search for the other Seer, she heard her voice. “I’m here.”
Corrie stepped out from behind Zac. “Remind me never to piss you off,” the younger woman said.
Sarai grinned and received a brief answering smile.
“Time to mop up, I think,” Andie said. Jaxon nodded.
“Time to get everyone out of here first. They need medical attention and food,” Sarai said.
The bears took a moment to get out of any bindings they hadn’t been able to break or unlock earlier. Andie and Jaxon led them out of the cave system to a clearing where several helicopters waited.
Once inside one of the aircraft, they couldn’t really talk over the noise, so Sarai tucked herself in close to Zac, careful to avoid the multitude of cuts and bruises all over his body. She laid her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and, for the first time, welcomed sleep, hopeful for the future and unafraid what visions slumber might bring.
CHAPTER 39
“How much longer?” Zac was tempted to growl but managed to keep his tone polite.
JoLynn, the Healer who lived with the Keller Dare, ignored him as she worked. A sweet little thing, she didn’t deserve his impatience while she fixed the various wounds inflicted by the fights and his time in the cells.
They’d returned to the Keller Compound about six hours earlier. JoLynn had been working steadily since then to heal them all. She looked pale with her efforts. Zac had wanted to wait in his apartment, but the Healer insisted all injured persons stay where she could monitor them.
Now, he sat, his legs dangling off a hospital bed, surrounded by the chrome-covered medical rooms and the strong odor of antiseptic. He watched in fascination as a soft glow of light emanated from her hands, which she held over each wound in turn. He felt only a warmth just this side of a burning sensation, but most fascinating was that before his eyes the injuries knit themselves back together. Like watching a stop-motion film in fast-forward.
He had insisted she treat everyone else first, so his long wait was partly his own fault. All he wanted now was to get Sarai back to their shared suite of rooms and hold her. For hours.
He looked down at her now. She’d pulled a chair up beside him where she could hold his hand. They hadn’t had a second of privacy yet, but she also hadn’t left his side in that time.
The thought of how she’d placed herself in such extreme danger to reach him still made his gut clench in terror. He wanted to be mad at her about that, but he was too thankful for her safety and her role in his own survival.
He couldn’t imagine the kind of courage it took. To have seen the visions that led to his demise yet still come. She’d asked him to claim her but hadn’t said anything about love. A woman who didn’t love a man wouldn’t have risked her life like that. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. However, he needed to hear it from her lips.
For his part, he’d never loved anyone or anything as much as he loved this woman. That had become abundantly clear when he’d seen her step into the room to face Kyle Carstairs…her worst nightmare…all for him.
****
Sarai suspected Zac would almost rather skip the healer and allow his wounds close on their own. She could tell he felt responsible for what had happened to his Timik—the friends he’d lost and those hurt. So much so that he’d forgo help himself.
Part of her loved him even more for such a heart. The practical side insisted he not punish himself for something beyond his control. She’d stayed by his side to make sure he took his turn with the healer. From his looks and touches, she knew he wanted to get her alone. For her part, she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more.
She smiled softly to herself. Their time would come.
The curtain pulled around his bed rustled, drawing their attention. Shane stuck his head in. The cougar shifter, uninjured in the fighting, had stayed behind with Andie and Jaxon to clear out the captured and deal with them.
Sarai wondered briefly what they’d done with those of their enemy who’d survived the fight. Though really, she didn’t give a damn.
“Shane!” She stood and held back the curtain for him to step further into the space before she gave him a big hug.
Zac held out a hand to shake. “Sarai told me the part you had to play in finding us and getting us out.”
Shane grasped his hand with a nod.
“Sit still please,” JoLynn murmured. She rolled her eyes at Sarai. Men.
“Are Andie and Jaxon back with you?” Sarai asked.
Shane nodded. “And some others. I’ve been sent to ask you to join everyone in the dining hall when you’re done here.”
Sarai glanced at Zac who gritted his teeth in frustration. He wasn’t going to like this further delay.
“Why?” he all but barked.
Shane held up his hands. “I’m just the messenger, but
it sounds like Andie and Jaxon have assembled some of the Shadowcat Nation bigwigs to discuss this.”
Sarai moved back to Zac’s side. “They’ll need our accounts of what happened. Besides, you’re a bigwig now, with that treaty in place.” She squeezed his hand.
Zac’s lips tightened. “Tell them we’ll be there when I’m done.”
“How long?” Shane asked JoLynn.
“About twenty more minutes,” she murmured.
“Okay. I’ll tell them.”
But he didn’t leave right away. Sarai noticed how Shane’s eyes seemed glued to what the Healer was doing to help Zac. A vision snuck up on her. A quick one. She blinked her way back to the present to find Zac’s eyes on her. He raised an eyebrow in questions. He always knew when her gift struck.
She nodded to confirm his suspicion before she followed Shane out into the waiting area outside the curtained off room.
“Shane,” she called his name to stop him.
He turned with eyebrows raised.
“JoLynn can’t heal your ear. She only heals current injuries or illnesses, not already-healed flesh.”
His shoulders slumped and she put her hand on his arm. “But I know someone who can.”
She waited for a moment while he absorbed that information. After a second he said, “Who?”
“Her name is Tieryn McGraw. She’s also a Healer in the McGraw Dare in Florida, but different from JoLynn. She can regenerate.”
Shane took that in no change in expression. “Thanks for the info.”
He moved to walk away, but Sarai tightened her grip on his arm. “You don’t think you’ll ever have an opportunity to meet her, but you will. In a few months.”
Shane’s eyes widened before he blanked his expression again. He gave her a quick nod, then left the room.
“What was all that about?” Zac asked when she went back to him.
She smiled but shook her head. “My usual meddling.”
CHAPTER 40
Sarai sat in quiet observation while everyone else in the room debated the consequences of the last few days. Every Alpha of the Shadowcat Nation was in direct attendance, something Sarai wasn’t sure had ever happened before. Even when it was formed. They guarded their identities with such fierce determination, but these were changing times. That cougar shifters had been involved in attacks against a new and powerful ally wasn’t going to be taken lightly.
With such a large crowd gathered, Jaxon had converted the cafeteria-style dining room into a conference hall. They’d set up long rectangular tables in a giant square with space in the middle—knights of the round table style, only not round.
She and Zac sat toward the back end of the room, away from the windows, right next to Andie and Jaxon. He squeezed her hand to get her attention. He hadn’t stopped touching her in some small way since the moment the fight was over. As soon as he’d been healed, they’d been led straight to this meeting.
They still had yet to be alone together. Frustration radiated off him almost cracking like static electricity. She could tell he wanted to say something. He’d opened his mouth a couple of times…called her name…only to be interrupted each time. She gave him a patient smile and returned her focus to the discussions.
Finally, Sarai could no longer sit idly by. She rose to her feet. Andie glanced up.
“Gentlemen,” Andie called, for very few women were present. All eyes turned toward the lone female Alpha.
Once she had their attention, Andie looked toward Sarai, who gave her friend a nod of thanks. “While Kyle Carstairs’s death solves some problems, it’s not the end of this conflict. He wasn’t the head of the snake—he was the rattle.”
A beat of thick silence filled the air. “How do you know this?” Eduardo Rodriquez, the Alpha of a dare of pumas in Argentina, asked.
Sarai snorted her derision, a completely inelegant sound, but it got her point across effectively. “I’m a Seer, in case you forgot.” She gave him a hard, steady look for good measure. “I’m telling you someone else is pulling the strings.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see this in a vision?”
Instead of answering, because she didn’t want to be dragged down a rat hole trying to explain things, she just looked at them, a stubborn tilt to her chin.
“You must tell us what you’ve seen.”
She raised a single eyebrow. “I don’t believe I ever signed a contract to that effect.”
Rick Delaney, who headed up the Arizona cougars, spoke up. “You are under the protection of the Shadowcat Nation. Our existence makes your life possible. You are obligated to help us.”
Sarai narrowed her eyes at Delaney. “I would suggest you pull back on the alcohol or you’ll be in your grave in five years. Is that the kind of help you were looking for?”
He closed his mouth with a snap.
Sarai spread her hands in appeal. “What you fail to realize is that I am trying to help you.”
“And she’s no longer part of the Shadowcat Nation,” Zac said as he stood up beside her.
Only years of keeping a poker face when faced with visions kept Sarai from whipping her head around to stare at him.
“What does that mean?” Rodriquez growled.
“As my future wife, Sarai is now a part of the Montclair Timik, and, as such, falls under my protection and mine alone.”
Shock and pure, radiant happiness burst through her. She tamped it down as the fear that he’d only made this move out of duty threatened to choke her. He’d made no declarations of love, had discussed none of this with her. Not that he’d had a chance. She tried not to let hope float her into the clouds before she knew the true story.
However, she did not repudiate his claim.
“You can’t do that. She is a Seer for the Shadowcat Nation.”
“No!” Sarai discounted that claim. “I am a cougar shifter, which makes me a part of the Nation. My loyalty to my people means I use my abilities for their betterment when possible. My being a Seer does not make me yours or anybody’s.”
The fire of purpose burned inside her. The time for change had come. “Not only that…as a Seer, I know every Kuharte among the Shadowcat Nation. We will gather and discuss current laws concerning us. Things will change, or you will lose ALL of us.”
“Are you threatening us?” Delaney spluttered.
“What do you want?” Jaxon asked calmly. She sent him a grateful smile.
“As I said, I’ll have to discuss this with the others. But no more dictating where we live, whom we marry, or how we live our lives any differently than what is already done for the ordinary members of the Nation. If our demands are not met, all the Kuharte have a home with the Montclair Timik.”
She winced inwardly as she said this. She should probably have asked Zac first, but if he could make blanket statements about their future, then so could she.
“You owe us.” Delaney again.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “No. You owe us. How many of our predictions, or healings, and so on have been critical to our people?”
Silence again descended on the room. Sarai looked around, seeing a mixture of hostility and understanding.
“We don’t want to leave our homes, our people. That said, no longer will we continue to submit to the dictates of this Council. As I said, the other Kuharte and I will discuss it and put a proposal before you.”
At least she hoped they would. She’d assumed a lot speaking on the behalf of her fellow Kuharte, but she didn’t think they’d disagree.
With that, she spun and left the room. Zac silently followed.
CHAPTER 41
They didn’t say anything until they got to their shared suite of rooms, which, by unspoken agreement, they’d headed straight for.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Sarai turned to face Zac and waited.
He looked at her closely, but she didn’t give any outward clue as to her feelings from her expression or deme
anor.
“I guess you’re wondering why I said what I did?”
“Yes.” Her heart pounded with hope, a feeling she wouldn’t let him see. Not yet. She needed to know his reasons first.
Zac moved closer and trailed the back of his hand down the side of her face, his gaze warm upon her. “When I was stuck in that cave, I only had one thought. That the moment I had you back in my arms I would make sure you knew exactly what you mean to me.”
Zac’s usually stoic demeanor slipped and he looked a little nervous. He ran his hands through his short, dark hair.
Sarai waited, but the hope inside her soared to heights she’d never allowed before. She felt dizzy with the thrill.
He pinned her with a look, eyes ablaze. “I love you, Sarai Bouchard. With all of my heart and soul. I don’t know how you did it so fast, but you snuck under my skin and into my heart in a way no person ever has—not even those closest to me. I can’t picture even a single day without you beside me.”
Tears pooled in Sarai’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. His words, a lot for her usually reticent shifter, took her breath away.
Tenderly, Zac reached out and wiped the tears away with the pads of his thumbs. She caught the worry that flashed in his deep brown eyes.
“Please say something,” he murmured.
Sarai smiled, letting her heart show in her eyes and heard Zac’s breath hitch.
“I love you with everything I have in me. I was terrified you’d offered out of some misplaced sense of honor. I’ve been seeing…something wonderful…for a while now. It didn’t make sense given any of my other visions, and I wasn’t sure what it meant for us. But now…” She smiled again. “Now I know that future is one born of love.”
With a deep groan, Zac leaned down and covered her lips with his in a kiss Sarai felt through her entire being. “Mine,” Zac whispered against her lips.
“Each other’s,” she whispered back.
Zac pulled back and tipped his head. “Wait…. What is the something wonderful?”
Sarai’s heart thudded. What if he didn’t even want kids? There was so much they didn’t know about each other yet.