Instead, he sat in stony silence and looked straight ahead. With an irritated twitch, he loosened his tie and undid the button at his neck.
The train’s seats were close enough that the length of Zac’s thigh was pressed against her. Sarai could feel the heat of his body through his slacks and her jeans. The day was a muggy one. August in New York was usually pleasant, but they’d had some record-setting highs. The temperatures had been in the nineties most days this week. As a shifter Sarai’s sense of smell was strong. Consequently, she was almost overwhelmed by the stench of the humans who’d walked many blocks to make it to their transportation.
Zac was probably even more uncomfortable given that he was a polar bear shifter. The temperature was nothing like his environment, where it didn’t get out of the sixties during the hottest time of the year. Cougars did equally well in the cold and the heat. However, their natural ranges were wider—from mountains, to swamps, to deserts—therefore they handled heat better.
Granted, she was pretty sweaty after her rushed walk to the train, but his inadvertent contact was making her heat up in places that had nothing to do with the weather.
In an effort to distract herself, Sarai opened her mouth to say something. He stopped her with a sideways glance. “You really don’t want to talk to me right now. When George and Scott couldn’t find you, they thought you might be stuck under the wreckage.”
Guilt swamped her. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
She slowly lowered her eyes and sat back, shoulders slumped.
“That’s why they didn’t track you right away. George is the one who taught me everything about tracking. The man’s a legend, but he was too busy trying to get to the bottom of a pile of what used to be a Lincoln Town Car to get to you.”
Sarai flinched. He was laying it on her, and she totally deserved it. Still, everything she’d done had been with good intentions. Would he see it that way after she explained?
“It wasn’t until I got there and caught your scent away from the scene that we figured out you’d left. George has your jacket by the way.”
“Um. Thanks.”
“You owe him and Scott an apology.”
Sarai frowned. “How much do you trust them?”
His head jerked to look at her. “Not funny.”
“I mean it.” She was thinking about the vision she’d had of Scott. Standing in the background as Zac, his body beaten and broken, knelt before Kyle.
He narrowed his eyes, but he answered. “I’d trust both of them with my life.”
That was good enough for her. She didn’t get the impression Zac gave his loyalty easily. So, as endorsements went, she didn’t need anything more.
“Then I’ll explain to them as well, but we should keep it just among us.”
“Why?”
But she shook her head. “I’ll explain later, along with everything else.”
A low growl rumbled from him. “Woman, you’d test the patience of a saint.”
“And you’re a saint?”
“Where you’re concerned? Definitely not.”
Sarai blinked. She wasn’t quite sure what he’d meant by that, and decided not responding was the best option. She was saved by a voice announcing that they’d reached the Harlem 125 St. Station. She shot to her feet. “Guess that’s us.”
But Zac wasn’t listening, nor was he moving. Instead, he sat very still, his head cocked to the side. Then his face took on a hard set, as if cast from granite. He looked at her with those dark eyes that had gone deadly serious.
“We’re not getting off here.”
He pulled out his phone and talked to George in hushed tones.
Sarai sank back into her seat. As soon as he hung up she said, “What is it?”
“You can’t see it?”
Sarai’s already fluttering heart picked up speed. “No. But if you think I should, then we’re in trouble. It means something’s about to happen to me. What’s coming?”
He gave her a narrow look. “I expect an explanation of that last comment as part of your apology when we get back.”
Then he sighed. “Wolf shifters are waiting for us.” Even if he hadn’t said it with such grim certainty, a shiver would have rolled down her spine. Not good. Not good. No way was it coincidence that they’d found her here.
There was only one thing to do. She looked Zac directly in the eyes. “Take me out of the picture.”
“What?”
“If we take me out of the equation, my visions can help you figure out what to do.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?”
“Let me off the train alone. They’ll close in fast enough. Once they have me, you’ll know their numbers. If George and Scott are already there, that’s three on our side.”
“No way.”
“Think about this logically. You don’t know how many they have or what they’re planning. They can’t be sure where we plan to get off the train. This gives us the advantage.”
“No.”
Zac was so adamant that Sarai stopped trying. She snapped her mouth closed. “All right. Then what’s
your
plan?”
“Fight our way out.”
She cringed. She’d put them in this situation. She’d put their lives in jeopardy. Oh, the irony, since she’d only been trying to save them. “Four against however many, but we can’t shift. Not here. Not in public like this. Pretty equal odds if there’s only three of them.”
“There’s three or four I can smell.”
“Okay. So even odds.”
“Nope. You’re staying out of it.”
Sarai sat straight up and glared at him. “Like hell I am.”
“I’ve already lost you once today. It’s not going to happen again.”
Her breath whooshed out of her. He couldn’t have meant that as it sounded, as though she was important to him. She tipped her chin up stubbornly. “I can fight.”
His jaw tightened. “You’re not ready,” he insisted. “If you have to defend yourself, then do it. But, otherwise, let us deal with it.”
Sarai glared at him a moment longer.
“I mean it, Sarai. After everything that’s happened today, you owe me.”
She blew out a deep breath. “All right. Defensive only,” she agreed. Although if she happened to step right into the middle of things she’d have no choice but to defend herself. Right?
“I can see your wheels spinning,” he said. “Don’t.”
“Next stop Yankee Station, 153
rd
St.,” the mechanical voice announced.
Zac and Sarai stood and made their way down the stairs. Zac went first, forced to turn sideways—otherwise his broad shoulders didn’t fit the narrow stairwell. They stepped onto the platform and Zac slowly turned his head to the right.
“Walk.”
He placed his hand in the small of her back. She felt comforted knowing he was there with her. She walked as fast as she could without looking as if she were running. She didn’t want to trigger the wolves’ predatory response to prey fleeing.
Suddenly, the frantic sound of a car horn honking snapped her attention to the lot just outside the station. George.
“Run for it,” Zac urged in a harsh, low voice.
She didn’t hesitate or question. She just took off at a sprint. Like many cougar shifters, she was fast. Her long legs and slender form combined with her natural sprinting ability from her cougar shift. Granted she was trying to outrun male wolves.
She felt as though she could feel them breathing down her neck. She expected to feel claws rake down her back at any moment, though she knew they wouldn’t shift. Almost without knowing how she got there, Sarai leapt into the car. Scott had thrown the door open for her. She turned, expecting to find Zac on her heels, only to see him a ways back, still between pillars on the platform, fighting off two men.
“Help him!” she yelled.
“We’ve got orders. Your safety is first priority,” George said, though he didn’t look any happier about it than she did.
Sarai felt panic well up inside her. They weren’t going to take him, not while she had anything to say about it.
“I’m going to help him, and you’re coming since you have to protect me.”
She was just moving to crawl back out of the car when Zac leveled one guy with a powerful right hook then knocked the other off his feet with a roundhouse kick straight to the chest.
“Zac!” she yelled.
He ran. George peeled out as soon as Zac was in the car, before he even had the door shut all the way.
“Oh my God! Are you okay?” Sarai was on her knees in front of him in the back of the limo. Unthinking of her actions, uncaring even, she ran her hands over his face and arms checking for injury.
Gently he took her hands in his to hold her still, his gaze bemused. “I’m fine. Not a scratch.”
With a gentle tug, he pulled her up onto the seat beside him, tucked right into his body. He let go of her hands, but Sarai didn’t move further away, as she would have before this. Right up until the moment she’d decided to confide in him.
“Good thing you took them out when you did, boss. She was about to run back out there for you.” George flicked a glance at them in the rearview mirror before moving his gaze back to the road. Though he said nothing, she caught the small twitch of his mustache, an indication he was more amused than annoyed by that fact.
Zac gave her an exasperated look. “You promised to stay out of the fight,” he admonished, the softness of his voice belying the frustration in his eyes.
“I was going in order to force my bodyguards to engage.” She glared at him. “We’re going to have a talk about the priorities you’ve given George and Scott.”
He raised a single eyebrow. “Is that before or after you explain this entire day?”
When they reached the hotel, George drew up to the front, but Zac wouldn’t let her out immediately. First he got out, carefully checking the surrounding area. Then he ran upstairs while George and Scott waited with her in the car.
She didn’t like that he took such crazy risks. He should at least have taken Scott with him. But Zac seemed to put every life before his own when it came to the people under his care.
Not one to waste time, Sarai took advantage of their wait in the car. “Guys, I want to apologize for the way I took off. I honestly never thought you’d think I was dead.”
“It’s okay.” Scott quickly forgave.
But George stayed silent. She met his gaze in the mirror. “Why’d you do it?” he asked.
Sarai bit her lip. “A very good reason. At least I think so. I’ll tell all of you when we get up to the apartment.”
After a long, tense moment, he nodded. “Just don’t do it again, kuluk.”
Sarai smiled, a rush of relief washing through her. George’s good opinion had become important to her during their time together. “I won’t.”
A knock on her window signaled Zac’s return. They all got out and let the valet park the limo sedan.
“Hey.” She leaned over to whisper to Zac as they entered the building. “What does kuluk mean?”
He whispered back, “It’s a term of endearment like love, or sweetheart, or little one. Why?”
She shook her head. “Just wondering.” But her heart silently warmed toward George all the more.
In the elevator, Zac did his usual move of crowding her against the wall. This time Sarai didn’t mind as much, or move her hand when his brushed hers slightly. Instead, she allowed herself to feel the rush of pleasure at his touch. A pleasure that was misplaced given everything they’d been through today.
As soon as they were inside the suite and the guys had checked every nook and cranny of the floor, Zac pointed at a chair.
“Time to explain.”
Sarai sat and took a deep breath. Now the moment had come, she felt a little shy. For the last twenty years, when she’d shared her visions, it had typically been over the phone with people who didn’t know her and whom she didn’t really know either. Never had those visions involved herself…or her lover.
But it was time. She could feel it, now the decision was made.
“For the last few months, since just before Andie’s wedding, I’ve been having a vision about you.” She looked at Zac.
His shoulders lost a smidge of their tension. He’d remained standing, but now he dragged another chair over to sit directly in front of her. “Bad?”
“Pretty bad,” she whispered.
“Tell me.”
“We’re in a cave. I think I’m there too, though it’s hard to tell. You’re…beaten up. It’s ugly, Zac. You’re on your knees, barely keeping yourself upright. Blood everywhere. I can’t tell from where, because you’re covered in it.”
She paused, looking down to gather her thoughts…and her emotions. Finally putting voice to the pictures in her head made them seem that much more real. She felt tears well in her eyes but curled her hands into fists, digging her finger nails into her palms to force back the tears. Crying had never helped her. Not once.
Back in control she looked up and continued. “Kyle Carstairs is in front of you. I can’t hear what he’s saying. It seems like he’s about to make an example of you.”
Zac reached for her hands. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
She nodded. “The wolves rip you to shreds as I watch. You—” She swallowed down her fear and desperation. “You don’t make it.”
She took a little half-breath, intending to add on the part about Scott being there but thought better of it and instead closed her mouth again.
“Anything else?” Zac asked.
She shook her head. She’d tell him later, when they were alone.
“That’s why you tried to go rogue?” he prompted.
“Yes. My visions are never set in stone. Different choices and decisions can change an outcome. I was…trying to protect you.”
He gave her a grim look. “By taking yourself out of the equation?” He was quoting her earlier idea regarding the wolves.
“If I go rogue, you live.” She gave a little shrug, pleading with her eyes for him to understand.
Zac leaned forward and took her chin between his fingers. “Let’s get one thing straight immediately. You don’t sacrifice yourself for me. You stay in the equation. No matter what. We’ll figure it out together.”
Sarai twisted her lips. “But you’d sacrifice yourself for me.”
“Says who?” He winked.
Sarai’s heart tripped a little. He’d actually winked. At her. She put aside her astonishment, and addressed the words.