Sarai's Fortune Read Free

been too surprised when Andie had visited his table earlier to ask him to stop by her room when he was done. Now that Jaxon and Andie were back from their honeymoon, they were getting right to business.
    He was fairly sure he knew the reason behind Andie’s request…Sarai. Just before the wedding, he’d agreed to become her protector.
    When Andie had first come to him, confided Sarai’s dilemma, and her proposed solution, Zac had wrestled with two emotions.
    He’d felt a fury toward Kyle Carstairs that had surprised him in the way it was disproportionate to his nonexistent relationship with Sarai. Something about the reclusive, delicate Seer had gotten under his skin. The thought of her living in such fear for that long had his protective instincts roaring to the surface.
    With a wry twist to his lips, Zac conceded to himself that his reaction could have something to do with the intense attraction he felt. Even just a hint of her warm vanilla scent in the air, and his body would tense in anticipation.
    It had not gone unnoticed—by him at least—that Sarai avoided him. He got the impression she didn’t like him. Any time he looked over to find those piercing blue-gray eyes directed his way, her gaze would skitter away, but not in a shy, flirtatious way.
    She almost seemed to look at him like a Rubik’s cube she couldn’t solve, rather than a man. More than once he’d caught her frowning at him. If she saw him in a room, she was quick to leave, and while she was there, she kept to the opposite side of the room. Based on those actions alone, he worried Andie’s plan didn’t bode well, though he agreed it was the only viable solution.
    Zac had kept all this to himself. Things would play out however they did. Protecting a Seer was paramount. Shifters who possessed additional powers were rare. Only a handful of those were Seers. They were a supernatural version of an early warning system for their people. Essential these days.
    He didn’t examine too closely why protecting Sarai—not the Seer, the woman—seemed even more important. He’d focus on his mission and, at the very least, he hoped Sarai would accept the plan. He didn’t think friendship was in the cards. Maybe a partnership was doable.
    Sarai’s survival depended on it.
    He reached Andie and Jaxon’s door—one of several in the long stretch of hallway—and knocked. He liked that Jaxon didn’t show his status as Alpha with some ostentatious display or some penthouse suite just for his use. He lived and worked among his people.
    As he waited, Zac worked a crick in his neck. The bed in his room was definitely not built for someone his size. Polar bear shifters tended to be huge in stature, especially the men. His father had once said their human bodies needed to bear the burden of the shift into such a large animal.
    Male cougar shifters weren’t exactly small. Jaxon was a good chunk over six feet. Still, they had nothing on polar shifters, and Zac was tall even for his kind. Cougar shifters were leaner, just as muscled, but built more like distance runners. Polar bears were more like professional fighters.
    The door swung open to reveal a petite woman with dark hair tumbling over her shoulders who stood there, a smile gracing her lips.
    “Hello, kuluk,” he murmured.
    He only used the Inuktitut term of endearment for Andie. She was the only one who’d earned the word in his opinion. Not only was she his closest friend, like a little sister to him from the moment they’d met as children, but she’d also saved his life—dragging him, unconscious, across the frozen lands of Northern Canada.
    “How’s married life treating you?”
    He almost smiled when a rare blush swept up Andie’s cheeks. Very little could fluster the cougar shifter. Usually she had a snappy retort for everything.
    Jaxon’s amused chuckle sounded from within the room behind her.
    Andie glared over her shoulder. “You, zip it,” she told him. To Zac, she said, “It’s