Free Centaur Redemption (Touched Series) by Nancy Straight

not a rumor:  we were real, and we were coming back to take our position among the herds.  Our message had been delivered.  The newscast on the television at the airport proved that. 
    Why hadn’t it occurred to me that as much influence as Zandra had, of course, the Centaur Council would have control over the media here, as well.  She made us outlaws inside Centaur society – but I was naive not to expect her to make us outlaws with the humans, too.  The news broadcaster was warning the people of South Africa not to approach us, to consider us armed and dangerous, and to alert authorities if they saw us. 
    Had Cameron been sent here to provoke us in public?  If this had been her plan and we had taken the bait, where would we be now?  A South African prison?
    Why did everything have to be life or death?  This wasn’t something any of us had asked for.  Well, maybe I had.  I could have easily changed course anywhere along the way, but something inside wouldn’t let me.  It was almost as if my soul craved this fight.  Something inside me needed it.  Maybe there was more of Rupert’s blood in me than I’d wanted to admit.  Rupert, my grandfather generations back was hated and feared as a fierce Centaur Warrior.  Chiron, my other grandfather generations back, was so beloved by the gods that he was placed in the heavens.  So where did that leave me?  Maybe I was cursed; maybe all Centaurs would love to hate me.
    The Centaur Council would meet tomorrow.  There was little time to come up with a plan – no time to do any kind of surveillance.  Despite my attempts, I hadn’t been able to convince my family to try to save themselves if things started to go horribly wrong.  By this time tomorrow, everything would either be better or over.  I preferred the word “over” instead of my whole family, close and extended, “dead.”
    My stomach ached.  A knot had formed in my stomach weeks ago, but it felt like a vice was now wrapped around it, squeezing the knot tighter.  Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside our room, and my heart lurched.  At first my feet wouldn’t move:  I stood frozen near the window with the shades drawn.
    The shower was running in the bathroom.  I ran to the door that led to the hallway to look out the peep hole.  A man inserted his key card into the door across the hall from our room.  I reached out to him mentally.  I’d become more efficient at identifying Centaurs.  Describing it was hard; maybe Centaurs' brainwaves were on a different frequency or something.  Regardless, the man who had disappeared into his room across from ours was human.  He was harmless – just a tourist or a business traveler.
    I needed to get a handle on myself.  If I stayed this jumpy, I’d be no good to anyone except those who wanted to kill us.  Closing my eyes, I pleaded with my body to relax.
    My body refused to cooperate.  I felt the blood pumping through my heart.  I heard random thoughts from people in all directions seeping into my head.  A woman who was trying to find her husband, a child who was begging her parents to take her to the lagoon for a swim, a woman who was worried she’d miss her flight – they all jumbled together and were deafening.  I brought my shaky hands to my ears to try to make the voices go away – but that did nothing but allow my mind to focus on the voices more clearly.  I was too tired or maybe just too scared of someone sneaking up on us to block them out. 
    This is what fear felt like: real fear.  Not just fear for myself, but the fear of losing everyone I’d grown to love.  Family had had almost a non-meaning for me most of my life – I never would have guessed growing up that I had one, nor that I would feel such a strong bond to them now that I had found them.
    I stood by myself in the dark room, took a deep breath and held it, willing my heart to slow down.  It didn’t work.  I took a seat on the enormous couch, drew my feet up under