Centaur Legacy Read online

  The icy air intensified the cold I was already feeling. Drake stood up, cocked his head slightly to the side, but didn’t return the stranger’s greeting.

  When the man was only ten yards away he asked, “So, which herd are you from?”

  Shivers took hold of my body. I couldn’t have spoken if I had to. Drake cautiously held out his hand to the stranger, “The Nash. And you?”

  “Barber. We don’t get many tourists ou’ this way.”

  Tourists? Was he serious? I couldn’t get my teeth to stop chattering long enough to say anything to him.

  Drake grinned, “So, we’ve found it. This is the pasture of Thessaly?”

  “Aye. That bog was meant to keep humans out of the pasture. Most don’t like the feel of the place, so they turn around before the top o’ the hill, but there are several bogs scattered near the crest of the hill as a precaution. Watch your step.”

  “Our hotel told us any bogs would be marked and fenced off. You’re saying there are more?”

  “These bogs were constructed with Centaur magic. They reposition themselves in front of humans and hold them tight until a Centaur comes to release them and send them on their way.”

  His words echoed in my head. I was a Centauride. Why had the bog positioned itself in front of me? Then doubt began to creep into my mind. Everyone just assumed I was a Centauride, but I couldn’t do all of the things the others could do. Was I really William’s daughter? Drake asked the question my lips wouldn’t form.

  “Barber, Camille is a Centauride. Why would it have held her?”

  “I don’t know, Nash. Maybe it didn’t recognize her bloodline.” Barber’s eyes narrowed, as if he wanted to accuse me of something, but changed his mind. Instead of talking to me, he continued to address Drake, “She’s part of your herd?”

  Without hesitation, Drake answered, “Yes.”

  “Hmmm, I don’t know. It used to catch the Tak herd, too, but they’re long gone.” The man glanced at me but turned his attention back to Drake. “Be on the lookout. There are more. If this one got her, pay attention to where she’s walking. Could have just been bad luck. A few humans live in the pasture. They keep to themselves. Don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself while you’re sightseeing.”

  Drake nodded, “We won’t.”

  The Centaur from the Barber herd gave a quick wave of his hand and walked away without another word.

  When we got to the car, the shivers had turned to near convulsions. Drake found some clothes for me to change into in a backpack we had stuffed in the trunk for an emergency. As soon as he started the car, he had the heat blaring, handed me his jacket and asked, “Are you okay?”

  I nodded my head through chattering teeth. Drake looked worried, “I know a way to get you warmed up.” Drake leaned over to the passenger seat, wove his fingers into my hair and gave me the most passionate kiss I’d ever received. I’d heard the expression, “made my toes curl,” but this was my first experience with the phenomena.

  His hand slid down to my shoulder then glided down my side, our mouths locked tight as I felt sparks of desire raining all over my body. Within minutes I no longer cared that I wasn’t wearing shoes or socks, that I smelled of decaying vegetation, or that I was soaked to the bone – none of it mattered. My heart was racing. Drake eased his lips away from mine, “I hope you’re feeling warmer, because I feel like I’m on fire.”

  My hands grabbed the back of his head, pulling him back to me, “Don’t stop.”

  Drake smiled shyly in response and gave me one more quick kiss. “Let’s get you back to the hotel. This has been enough excitement for one day.”

  Chapter 5

  (William Strayer – Camille’s Father, Charleston, SC)

  Camille and Drake had made it. They’d been in Ireland for three days, and as far as I could tell, their departure had gone unnoticed. I’d done everything I could for the two of them. They had passports, Euros, credit cards and each other. Just a few more loose ends to tie up and I was sure they’d be safe, for now. Gretchen tapped lightly on the door to my study. She almost never knocked. I waited for her to say something; her eyes were brimming with tears. I asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Beau’s packing.” She was doing everything she could to hold back her tears. We’d always been such a close family, never once being away from each other beyond business trips. This would be the first time Beau would be away from home by himself. Even while in college, Beau commuted from home. She was taking it just as hard as I had expected her to.

  I took a deep breath, “It’s just a few days.”

  She shook her head, “He’s leaving for good.”

  “For good? No, he just needs some time away. Cami’s safe. He was pretty shaken up over Zandra’s stunt. Now that we all know she’s safe, he probably just needs to decompress, to relax. It’s tough to do that here.”

  “No, Will, I feel it. He’s leaving us.”

  “Do you want me to have a talk with him?”

  She nodded as her eyes grew glossier and she pressed her lips together. She was letting her emotions get the better of her. I stood up and walked to the door of my study; as I walked past her, Gretchen reached out and grabbed my hand. I tried to reassure her, “It’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

  Beau’s birthday had been last weekend. We wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate, but he said he didn’t feel well. Even his brothers couldn’t coax him out of the house. Gretchen had an uncanny way of seeing the future of the stock market, but she’d never been able to get a clear view of our sons’ futures. I wondered if that was what had brought on the tears – the unknown.

  I walked upstairs, and Beau was just zipping his suitcase. “Hi, Dad. All set. Sun and sand for a full week. I talked to Bart; he’s going to cover my clients for me while I’m gone. If he gets too busy, Ben said he could pitch in, too.”

  That was just like Beau. He was the oldest, always the responsible one, setting the example for his brothers. “That’s good news, son. Your mother’s a little concerned. What prompted your vacation?”

  Beau didn’t look at me when he answered, “I don’t know. . .it just seemed like a good time to go.”

  “Why don’t you take Brent with you? I’m sure he’d like to meet some of Cami’s friends, too.”

  “Brent can’t stand humans. He’s the last one I’d take with me.”

  “What about Bart?”

  “Dad, I’ve already got my ticket. My flight goes in a couple hours. I’ll be fine. I just need a break.”

  “It’s just a ticket, Beau. If you’d given me a little more notice, you could have taken our plane. Or we all could have gone.” Beau forced a smile at me. Gretchen was right; there was something he wasn’t telling us.

  “I tell you what; I don’t want you on a commercial flight. Let me make some phone calls, and I’ll arrange for a jet. You’ll get there faster, and you don’t have to worry about who’ll be sitting next to you.”

  Beau shook his head, smirking at me. I imagine he thought I was just being over-protective. “Dad, I’ll be fine. It’ll be fun to be a human for a week.”

  I cringed. I tried not to let on how much I didn’t want him to go. Part of being a Centaur is to know when to go out into the world. He didn’t need to tell me; I could feel it in the air. He was done with our rules, our laws; Beau was ready for his own life.

  I could never say it out loud, but in some small way – I envied him. The Centaur responsibilities could be stifling, and one misstep could have ill effects for generations. But Beau was my first born; he still had a year of eligibility.

  He was stubborn. I had negotiated with another father for a wife for him; the whole deal was set, but Beau refused. He had some stupid notion that a Centauride had to choose him without pressure from her family, or he wouldn’t accept. He told me I was not to “find” him a wife. If he were to carry on the bloodline, he would leave it to fate and not to my wallet.

  “Understand, son. There is one thing you
can help me with, as long as you’re going.”

  “Sure, Dad. What?”

  “Zandra’s still in the area. She doesn’t know that Camille has left, and I don’t want her to dig so much that she finds where they’ve gone. I chartered a jet for Camille and Drake under a false name, and I gave the pilots cash.”

  “I’m not following, Dad.”

  “I’d like for Zandra to believe that Drake and Camille have returned to San Diego. The only way I can do that is if I charter a jet with a passenger manifest of two people flying to San Diego.”

  Beau nodded, “Sure, Dad. But I don’t need to take anyone with me. You set it up, and I can hand them a little extra cash to change the passenger list from one to two. I’d rather take this trip solo.”

  “I understand. Give me an hour or so; I’ll have the plane meet you at the Mount Pleasant airport.” As I got a few feet away from his room, I had an overwhelming urge to turn back. If this was our good-bye, there were so many things I wanted him to know. I stood in the hallway arguing whether to go back. I decided not to. No matter what he chose, he would always be my son. If he chose to abandon the Centaurs and live a human existence, I wouldn’t cut ties. The traditional rules only applied to Zeus’s Centaurs – they did not apply to me or my herd.

  All those times I’d cursed my existence, hiding my identity, blending in with the rest of society . . . I’d brought my sons up as if they were Zeus’s Centaurs, but we were of the Lost Herd. We were not subject to Zeus’s laws, and in the very near future – others would know us.

  When Camille emerged, rumors began to surface; we couldn’t stay hidden much longer. The fact that Camille had been conceived was proof of our existence. The plan to have a Chiron heir carry the Tak bloodline had been brilliant. At the time, I didn’t understand why it was so critical to find Camille’s mother, Angela. Now, the genius of our leader’s plan was crystal clear.

  When I’d been ordered to seduce Angela, I’d been told that if I were successful, I would be responsible for future generations living in peace with all other Centaurs. I wondered to what extreme Centaurs would go to eradicate the Lost Herd a second time, when doing so would mean the murder of the last Chiron Centauride. Their society would collapse around them if any harm came to Camille, yet if they allowed her to live, they would face the wrath of Zeus.

  The Tak family would no longer be the Lost Herd. We would take our place, once again, leading the herds. Our Centaurs had always been the strongest. Rupert had been a vicious leader and only the strongest of his line were allowed to live. Centaurs from other herds who questioned his methods mysteriously disappeared or died.

  The stories told of Zeus’s anger with a Centauride from our herd, but hearing the stories of Rupert growing up – I wondered if he himself had been a threat to the gods.

  Things would change, and the rules that bound our society would evolve. Camille was the key to everything: she would be the reason all Centaurs would be reunited. Somewhere hidden away was a fierce warrior, her twin. No matter what Gretchen tried, Angela refused to give her any information on Camille’s twin brother. I need to find him before Zandra does.

  Chapter 6

  (Camille – Dublin, Ireland)

  We took the elevator to our room. The red light was flashing on the phone, signaling a message waited for us. It was Will’s voice: “Sorry, Grandma’s not going to make it. She took a trip to San Diego. Hope you’re having a good vacation.”

  I didn’t understand the message at first; Drake must have read my confusion. “He called to tell us Zandra doesn’t know where we are. She’s looking for you in San Diego. We’re safe here.”

  “Why didn’t he just say that?”

  Drake shrugged his shoulders, “I’m sure he didn’t want anyone to be curious if the wrong person heard it.”

  Drake walked past me into the bathroom; I heard the shower turn on. I dug through the shopping bags brimming with clothes we had bought the first day we arrived and decided to put the clothes in the dresser drawers, so the housekeeping staff wouldn’t think we were nomads. Tucked deep in the bottom of one of Drake’s bags was a beautiful peach-colored, silk nightgown. I held it up and ran my hand behind the fabric; it was nearly see-through. I blushed at the idea of wearing this instead of my pajama pants and t-shirt.

  I smiled to myself, thinking maybe I wouldn’t have such a hard time getting him to abandon his traditions after all. The shower turned off, and I argued with myself whether to hide it in the bag and pretend I hadn’t seen it, put it in the drawers with the rest of the clothes, or find a way to emerge from the bathroom wearing it.

  Drake had bought me a white satin nightgown when we were both at Zandra’s. It was beautiful, but not like this. This one would cover less of me, and what was covered would require very little imagination.

  I felt even more connected to Drake than I had the night of our escape. I loved him while I was still captive at Zandra’s, but after the last three days, I couldn’t live without him. I balled up the peach nightgown in my palm, deciding it would not go back into the shopping bag or the dresser.

  Drake stepped out of the bathroom, towel-drying his hair, without even looking in my direction, “Water pressure’s great. Your turn.”

  I washed all the dirt and grime off of me, pulled my hair back in a loose braid and slid the nightgown over my head. When I looked in the bathroom mirror, my cheeks flushed a bright red. Brent would be furious with me if he saw all the Centaur rules we were breaking.

  He had nearly come unglued when he found out I had been on dates and had a couple boyfriends growing up. Of my five brothers, Brent was the closest to me in age and was the most vocal with his disapproval of my upbringing.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to walk out wearing the nightgown after all. The fabric was so sheer I felt completely exposed. Drake and I hadn’t broached the subject of sex beyond our conversation on the plane. It wasn’t much of conversation; it was him telling me we needed to be wearing rings before things went too far. I started to slip the nightgown off in favor of my sleep pants and t-shirt, but I stopped when I had it halfway over my head.

  I thought of finding the pasture today, thought back to Drake’s promise to me on the plane, how he’d saved me from being sucked under by the peat bog, and wondered if maybe he was just waiting for me to make the first move. If I knew anything, I knew he’d never take the initiative.

  When I emerged from the bathroom, I walked out wearing the “barely there” peach-colored nightgown. Drake had the television on and glanced over at me. His eyes returned to whatever he’d been watching on the television, then the image of me registered on his face, and his head snapped back in my direction. He lay on the bed motionless, frozen. The look in his eyes was unmistakable – desire.

  Drake’s chest was bare; he lay on the bed wearing only a pair of nylon running shorts. His eyes drifted from my face to my toes, then back up, and settled slightly lower than my face. I’d always hated it when men stared at me; it made me uncomfortable, wondering what flaw they were zeroed in on. Drake’s gaze didn’t make me feel that way. There was turmoil raging in him, as longing was battling his conventional thinking, and the turbulence of these two shone through his eyes.

  Centaur traditions had been all he’d known until I came into the picture. Dating was a supervised ritual; marriages were arranged and treated like mergers. Allowing a relationship to develop with all the insecurities and desires was something I had taken for granted, but it was a whole new world for Drake.

  I knew how he felt about me; he’d risked everything he’d ever held dear to be with me. Drake ran halfway around the world for our future, yet he kept a barrier between us. When we got to the hotel, I was surprised that he hadn’t insisted on separate rooms, or at a minimum – separate beds.

  After finding the pasture today, I wanted to push my luck. I wanted to be intimate with Drake, but more than that – I wanted him to want it, too. I took a step closer to the bed, nervous because just days ago w
hat I wanted had remained out of reach. Seeing him now, I wondered if I’d misjudged his Centaur resolve.

  Drake could have used his Centaur speed and been at my side in a fraction of a second, but he didn’t. He stood up slowly, stalking me as if a predator. Drake stopped only inches away from me, his eyes focused on mine. His hand rose slowly, as his palm lay gently against my face. I could feel his heart beating; it was keeping pace with the speed of my own. My shoulders were bare save for the flimsy straps holding the fabric in place. His fingers glided over my shoulders and down my arms as goose bumps materialized all over my body.

  Drake’s voice was strained, “You are exquisite.”

  I let out a heavy breath I’d been holding, “You’re pretty sexy yourself.”

  “I wasn’t expecting you to wear. . . that.” He said the word with reverence, as if my choice had been a divine selection.

  “You bought it for someone else?”

  “No. . . I bought it for you. I imagined you in it, but my imagination didn’t do it justice.” He paused, and added as a confession, “I hoped you’d consider the eloping idea we’d talked about. You know, our first night together and . . .”

  Heat spread all over me. I felt shy, looking at the floor instead of at his ice blue eyes, “But I’m wearing it now.” I lifted my gaze to see his reaction.

  Drake shook his head. “I didn’t imagine I would be able to leave it on you very long.” Our bodies were inches away from each other. I wanted to close the distance, but it wasn’t me who had constructed the barrier. Drake had to want this, too.

  I gently reached forward as my hand traced the chiseled lines on his chest, “It doesn’t have to stay on.”

  “Cami, you are the most dangerous creature I’ve ever met.” It sounded like a no, but he didn’t move away, and his eyes never left mine.

  “I’m not dangerous, Drake. But I’ve seen enough to know that sometimes you need to live in the moment. Sometimes it’s okay to give in to what you want most.” I took his hand that had been caressing my shoulder and brought it to my lips. I stood on my tiptoes, leaned my body fully into his and whispered in his ear, “I know what I want most. I chose you, remember?”