Centaur's Mate: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Saggitarius

By Mary Winter and Zodiac Shifters

With her ailing aunt in need of care and companionship, Saraid Garwich moves to her family's forest estate. She'd never liked visiting as a child. She hated camping or anything to do with bugs, getting dirty, and not having the comforts of modern living. Something about the forest had always seemed dangerous. When one night during a fever dream, her aunt tells her that her destiny lies within the heart of the woods, Saraid promises her aunt she'll go. When she does, she sees something she never thought possible: a man turning into a centaur. More surprisingly, the man is Keilan, her aunt's groundskeeper. She thinks both of them are crazy and makes plans to return to her life in New York. Except she can't get the centaur, or the man, out of her mind. And with each passing day, it's becoming harder and harder to leave.

Keilan Ceffyl needs to find his mate. His family has lived in the secret woods, one of the last vestiges of magic, for generations. When Saraid comes to tend to her ailing aunt, her destiny becomes intertwined with his. She needs to become the Guardian and accept her destiny as his mate. Without her, both of their lines will end and the consequences for the worlds of magic and of man, will be devastating. But how can he convince a pampered city girl that living and loving through the forest will save them both?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charmed Chicken Media
• Release date: Dec 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386037026

Book preview

Centaur’s Mate

A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Saggitarius

Centaurs of New York Book 1

Mary Winter

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Permission is granted to make ONE backup copy for archival purposes.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

This book was previously released from a publisher. It has been reformatted and edited, but is mostly unchanged from the original version.

Centaur’s Mate

Copyright © Mary Winter, 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Cover Art ® 2018

Cover art by Ravenborn

Book formatting by Unscramblet Author Solutions (http://www.unscramblet.com)

Electronic Publication Date: December 2018

Print Publication Date: December 2018

This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

Chapter One

If Saraid looked at the woods in just the right light, with the sunlight dappling through the trees, then it didn’t look like such a horrible place. It also helped if she forgot the time she’d gone into the woods as a child and the young son of the gatekeeper had helped her find her way back to the house. The memory of branches reaching for her with their thin twigs snagging in her long red hair and tearing at her clothes. She shivered in spite of the warmth provided by the furnace and wrapped her arms around her. Today, a crisp December day, the bare branches reached for the sky as if pleading for warmth. The forest was quiet and dormant. Given that the woman who owned the property, and had for decades, was dying, the quiet made sense. Doctors had warned Aunt Aislyn that she might not see spring to which she’d replied that she’d seen plenty of them and what would happen would happen.

Saraid pressed her fingers to the glass and tried not to think about a world without her aunt. For as much as she disliked the forest, she loved her aunt and always had. The summers spent here within this house while her parents traveled back to Wales to check on the family’s holdings, had passed in a blur of needlepoint and magnificent stories about magic where centaurs ran through the forest and other creatures waited just beyond the veil. Her aunt always had a fantastic imagination, and right now, Saraid longed to sit down at her knee and hear just one more story. But her aunt wasn’t strong enough for that now. While there was an aide to take care of personal matters for four hours a day, and a nurse that stopped in once a day to administer medications and check vitals, the work of preparing meals and seeing to her aunt’s comfort fell on her.

She didn’t mind. The work was a small price to pay for the years of joy her aunt had brought. She’d learned to deal with some of the more unpleasant aspects of her aunt’s care and had even learned to laugh at some of life’s little accidents. Certainly, her job as a systems analyst for a Wall Street firm hadn’t prepared her for this. Then again, the job hadn’t prepared her for what would happen when she’d gotten laid off and unable to find another job at the same salary. Even though she didn’t need the money, her family had enough to live on for generations, she liked bringing in her own income and supporting herself. It made her feel like life was in balance.

When her aunt passed all of that would change. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply to keep the threatening tears at bay. No one needed to see her cry. Only in the darkness of her room, wrapped in the comforter and sleeping on the same canopied bed she had as a child, did she think about letting her tears escape. She couldn’t see a future when there wasn’t this estate, and yes, even the foreboding forest, to return to. Yet her life in New York called to her. She’d find another systems analyst job. If not there, then elsewhere. Banks always needed computer people, and though they outsourced a lot of their jobs, some of the more sensitive work could be done in-house. The sensitive work was her forte.

She turned away from the window with a sigh, startled when she saw Keilan, the groundskeeper, standing in the archway that led to the sitting room. I didn’t realize you were there. I’m sorry. I hope you weren’t waiting long, she said, willing her pounding heart to slow. She blamed it on being startled, though she knew the sight of him, with his broad muscular shoulders and his long, white-blond hair, always made awareness flash through her.

Is Lady Aislyn sleeping? He asked, his deep voice rumbling from his chest.

She is, yes. I plan on seeing if she’d like dinner soon, though. Saraid closed the space between them. Is there something I can help you with?

For a moment something flashed in his eyes, so quick she thought she might have mistaken it. I wanted to talk to her about some ideas I had for the spring garden. I know she might not be here, but I’ve found that it helps relax her to talk about flowers.

Saraid smiled at his thoughtfulness. From the young boy who had led her out of the woods when she was small, to the man who cared for her aunt’s home and grounds as if it were his own, Keilan had always looked out for others. Thank you. I’ll mention you want to speak with her when I get her up for dinner. She suddenly felt formal standing there, as if she were the lady of the manor. She wasn’t. Not yet. And hopefully wouldn’t be for many more months, though she knew the futility of those hopes.

Would you like to join us? She asked at last. I know I made plenty. She knew he had a home on the grounds and often accepted leftovers. This was the first time since her arrival that she’d asked him to eat with them. Pasta and salad with garlic bread. At one time the meal had been one of her aunt’s favorites. Now, she’d probably push the pasta around the plate and nibble on a bit of bread. It’d be good to have someone else with whom she could enjoy the food.

I’d like that. Thank you. If you’ll excuse me, there are a few things I’d like to get done before then. He turned on his heel and left.

She admired his ass as he strode away and tried to ignore the urges of her body. It’d been a long time since she’d had a lover. She’d been too busy with her career and there was something about the men in New York. She couldn’t put