Bonded (The Raegan Mason Trilogy)

by Cheryl Courtney

  “Raegan, how far have things gone between you and Kyler?” Concern filled her voice.

  I turned to face her shocked. “Not that far, if that’s what you’re asking. But there is a deep connection between us and I do love him. I do not want to be away from him long. I feel better when I’m with him. Right now, I feel cranky and all I want to do is see him.” I blushed knowing Kyler could hear me.

  “You love me?” Kyler thought teasingly.

  “Afraid so.” I thought in return.

  “I’ll see you soon.” Kyler thought.

  “Hurry. I miss you.” I thought back.

  “Raegan, I don’t want you to get hurt. You barely know him. How can you say you love him?”

  “Aunt Sarah, you even said it last night that you could see the way we are together. I’ve never felt so close to someone. We haven’t felt this way about anybody else before. It may be too soon in a normal relationship to feel this kind of love, but it’s there, and we can’t change that. I won’t change that.” I stood firm and looked her directly in the eye. I really meant what I said and I wasn’t going to let her change my mind.

  She looked at me, measuring my words and my intensity. “I’ll need to speak with his mother soon. There are some things I’d like to find out.”

  “I’m sure there are things both of you need to discuss. And when you’re done, maybe both of you will be kind enough to fill me in and stop hiding things from me.” I turned from her and stomped off.

  I returned to my bedroom and changed clothes. I thought to Kyler, “I need to get out of here. Let’s go surfing.”

  “You surf?” Kyler’s shocked reply filled my thoughts. He was trying to picture me on a surf board.

  “No, but I figured you could teach me.” I envisioned us in the water alone, away from everyone and everything, just sitting on his board facing one another. “Timing, practice, I just need to be near you again. I’m feeling extra crabby right now.” It felt like ants rushing through my body. I think I could have punched a wall and not felt the pain.

  “We’ll be there in a while. Tell your Aunt Sarah that my mother is coming to visit. We’ll let them get to know each other and discuss what they need to discuss. We’ll go surfing!” His thoughts of us on his surfboard out of sight from the shore included more than sitting and facing one another.

  Marina and Kyler showed up a little after noon. Aunt Sarah made tea and set the serving tray on the coffee table. Kyler and I made our introductions and then our exit. They had arrived in Kyler’s Jeep and he stopped to grab his surfboard out of the back. He held his board under his right arm and grabbed my hand with the other. I couldn’t get used to the intense feelings I got when he touched me. Each time was a new surge of electricity. “Breathe.” Kyler spoke the word and my body obeyed. Breathing did ease the intensity, but remembering to do that seemed to be a problem for me. He chuckled and my body tensed against the vibrations. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?” I managed to whisper. “Only as much as you are trying to rush us into a situation you’re not ready for.” He pictured us on the surfboard, alone without anyone to stop us from going further than we needed to at this time. I couldn’t help but remember the dream of my parents and my father telling me to trust him.

  “Is that your father?” Kyler asked about what he saw in my thoughts.

  “Yes, I dreamt of them last night and something weird happened again.” I replayed the part of me waking up soaked in my mind. Kyler was thinking, but his thoughts were guarded. I could feel an uncomfortable emotion coming from him, but I couldn’t decipher it.

  “Teach me how to block my thoughts. It’s a helpless feeling when you know everything I’m thinking and I can’t defend myself.”

  He sighed and looked at me. We had reached the edge of the shore and the water was inches away from our feet. He let go of my hand and put the board in the sand next to him. He turned to face me and grabbed both hands again. “Try to imagine your mind and thoughts enclosed in a bubble. Keep all of your thoughts inside the bubble. This bubble is like your shield. You can choose to let some of your thoughts out of the bubble and others inside the bubble. Want to try?” He looked down into my eyes and my thoughts were racing. A bubble. I had to form a bubble around my thoughts. I tried forming the bubble around my thought to kiss him right now. He kept staring into my eyes and holding my hands. His hands were heating up in mine and I forced the bubble to get bigger hiding the way his hands on mine made me feel.

  “Very good for your first try.” He smiled his crooked smile at me and bent down to kiss me tenderly. The bubble popped in my mind. He laughed. Any thoughts of creating a bubble were lost after that. “I caught the thought before you put up your shield.” The water had reached our feet and it felt like pure energy rushed up my legs from the water. I felt stronger and more confident. “Yes, try again.” Kyler read my mind and I placed a bubble over the thoughts I had of him. He intruded into my thoughts, “Try to keep your thoughts in the bubble, but tell me something you want me to see.”

  I tried to think of the surfboard out on the water with us just sitting. I thought of us talking and laughing together, but tried to keep the private desires behind the bubble. Kyler showed me what he could see of us on the board laughing and a private thought of him touching my shoulder and sliding his hand down my back. “Stop!” I thought to him as I let go of his hands. My bubble popped and my thoughts were unguarded again.

  He smiled mischievously. “Your control is getting better, but you’re going to have to learn to block distracting thoughts. Let’s try getting into the water more.” Kyler grabbed his surfboard and waded out into the waves. He stopped when he was about knee deep and waited for me to join him. I began to take my shorts and shirt off before joining him. Kyler’s face turned fierce. He was glaring at me. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I stopped at the edge of the water. An image of my bruised side flashed across his thoughts as he turned away and looked out to the water. “Oh! That bad, huh?” I tried to lighten his mood, but it didn’t seem to help. I grabbed my shirt and put it on again to hide the bruises I no longer felt. I walked out into the water and stood close to him. “Still up for practicing? It doesn’t hurt anymore, I promise.”

  Kyler exhaled loudly and looked back into my eyes. His eyes were pained and his jaw was tense. “The idea of anyone hurting you hurts me. I should have killed him so he wouldn’t have a chance to do this again.” He looked away again toward the sea. He meant what he said. I could feel the anger rolling off of him like a heat wave. The ocean waves were getting bigger too and pushing me back. I reached for his free hand and smiled up at him. “I’m glad you didn’t kill him, but I’m glad you did what you did. I appreciate that you were there.” I could feel him easing up on the tension, but it was still there. I reached for his surfboard and threw it down on the water. I grabbed the board and lay down on it to start paddling out toward the waves. “Are you going to teach me how to surf or stand there all day?” I called back to him.

  The water was refreshing. I pushed the nose of the board down under the waves as they crashed toward me. I wasn’t paddling very fast and I could see my efforts in his thoughts. He started walking toward me and dove into a wave. He surfaced next to me and helped push me out into the sea. When he could no longer touch, he swam next to me until we reached a distance from the shore to wait on the waves. I sat up on the board. Kyler was floating effortlessly in the water. It didn’t even seem like he was treading water. He was looking for the waves, or at least that’s what I thought he was looking for. His thoughts were closed to me. His eyes were focused as if he were having a stare down with someone. I followed his gaze but only saw the blue water. I patted the board and told him to sit with me. He looked at me and smiled a half smile. “You really are testing the limits here, aren’t you?” Kyler asked as he floated in the water.

  “What are you talking about?” I honestly didn’t know what he meant.

  “We’re alone out here, in the ocean, both wearing our s
tones…” he trailed off and looked away again. His guard was wavering on his thoughts. He wanted me to join him in the water, to feel his arms around me, of us entwined in a passionate embrace. My body was heating up and the electricity between us was increasing. “The water also enhances our bond.” He was feeling ashamed of his thoughts.

  “Soon, right? That’s what we’ve been told. We can work on this together. Get on the board. Maybe that will lessen the pull for us to unite. You’re completely in the water and I only have my feet in the water.” He didn’t look convinced, but agreed to try. I shifted my weight to one side as he pulled himself up on the opposite end of the board. He straddled the board and faced me. His desire wasn’t any less, but I could feel he was in control. “Let’s try something different. What else besides reading minds and driving each other crazy am I supposed to be able to do?” I smiled at him and he actually laughed.

  “So much for step by step I guess. Bored of blocking your thoughts already? I would think you’d want to block those first before moving on. It’s very distracting when I have you and your open mind testing my control.” He smiled his crooked smile, but his eyes were determined. I forced the bubble to block how much I wanted to touch him. I felt in control of myself, but I didn’t want to add to his discomfort. He was blocking his thoughts for me. The brief glimpses I got from his thoughts were enough to pull me over my control limits. “Thanks, you’re getting better at blocking your thoughts. I can only get glimpses now.” He said quietly. “Try keeping your thoughts blocked as long as you can so we can test your endurance.” He smiled and just stared at me from across the board.

  He crossed his arms across his chest and we rose and fell with the waves on his surfboard. His eyes were focused on mine as if he were trying to catch my thoughts. I willed the bubble to expand and get stronger. I wasn’t uncomfortable with his stare, but it roused other desires that I was sure he didn’t need to feel at the moment. “I still feel your emotions, just not your thoughts.” Kyler interjected into my thoughts. His smirk was back and his eyes seemed less intense. “Any way to block those?” I added. I knew there had to be a way to block my emotions, because I couldn’t feel his at the moment. He chuckled. “Not for you. I’m your primary bond now. You can’t hide your emotions from me just like I can’t hide them from my mother. That’ll change for me soon enough.” He looked away from me.

  Confusion filled my thoughts and emotions. I hated not knowing. He looked back at me with concern and spoke. “My bond with my mother will break when we unite. I’ll be bonded to you as you’re bonded to me. She’ll still be able to read the thoughts I want her to have and feel the emotions I allow her to feel, but I won’t be able to hide anything from you. A parental bond is different of course, but I don’t have any control over my emotions with her either. I do know how it feels. Imagine not being able to hide those desires from your mother.” He looked away again.

  “So can she feel them now? Way out here?” I asked wondering for my own sake as well as his. How far was this radar?

  “Yes, she was near Brazil when we were in the lighthouse the other night. That’s who called. Saved by the cell phone you could say.” He was still tense.

  “Oh.” Heat filled my body again. I tried to change the subject again. “Well, what other powers do I have?”

  He smirked. “I don’t know. We’ll have to figure those out. Have you ever had any strange things happen to you? Did you accidentally start something on fire, or find something you were looking for that wasn’t there before? Have you ever…floated in the air?” His eyes were cautious, measuring my emotions and thoughts for any forms of distress.

  “I dream of flying all the time, but I don’t think I’ve actually done that. Can you fly?” I was excited.

  “It’s not really flying. It’s called levitation. I can levitate, but it takes a lot of energy out of me. Some of us have stronger powers in certain areas than others. I’m a Stone, so a lot of my powers come from the earth. I can move things very easily. You could say strength is a strong power of mine.” He flexed his muscles and caused me to laugh at his gesture.

  “That’s’ impressive. So are you faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive?” I joked.

  “Yes, but I can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound.” He was serious. His eyes were guarded.

  “Wow! Really?” I was expecting him to start laughing at my naivety. He didn’t.

  “Does that bother you?” He waited cautiously.

  “No, not at all. I just thought you were messing with my head. What else can you do?” I asked truly interested wondering if I had any of these same powers. I definitely wasn’t strong.

  “Well…” he looked around before replying. “It’d be easier to show you than try to explain.” He watched me carefully and looked around again, before disappearing before my eyes. I gasped. The weight of the board didn’t change and I could still feel him as close as he was seconds ago. “Are you frightened?” He asked filled with anxiety.

  “No, you just surprised me.” He flashed back as quickly as he disappeared. Awe was the emotion I felt. “You were invisible! That’s awesome. How do you do that?” I was ready to try anything new.

  “Well, it’s not that simple. Like I said, some powers are easier than others depending on the family, or families, you’re descended from. I could try to teach you how to do some of my powers, but if you do not have any Stone blood, then it will just exhaust you. So we’ll need to be careful until we find out which family you come from.” He looked worried and even felt bothered.

  “What’s going on now? Is Marina with my Aunt Sarah?”

  “Yes, they’ve been discussing the situation for some time now. Your Aunt Sarah doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on. My mother is pretty irritated right now. Either your Aunt Sarah is not telling the truth or there’s something strange going on.”

  “Can’t your mother just read her mind?” I asked.

  “She can, but the part she can read isn’t clearing anything up. She replays the same thoughts about your grandparent’s death as if it’s a recording. She’s very defensive right now as you can imagine.”

  “What does that mean for us? If I go home and she’s in that mood, she will probably stop me from being with you. Knowing her, she’ll make us move somewhere to keep us apart.” The thought of not being near Kyler set my heart racing. Panic was filling my thoughts and words.

  “Relax.” His command filled my thoughts and rushed through my muscles. At that moment, a wave crashed over us on the board. I instantly felt so relaxed that I slid into the water. The cool water was refreshing. It felt like I was dreaming and floating weightlessly. I felt his arms around me and the heat increase between us. I had no other thoughts but him until I felt the pull of the current forcing us away from the shore. A new panic filled my thoughts and I struggled to surface for air.

  “Raegan, calm down. We’re going to be okay. Remember what I said about the sea? This will be natural for you.” His thoughts were trying to calm me but I couldn’t convince myself to try. My lungs were burning from holding my breath.

  “I can’t breathe! I need to get to the surface.” I struggled in his arms.

  “Breathe, Raegan. You won’t drown, I promise.” He kept encouraging me, but I kept struggling in his arms for the surface. The current was moving swiftly and I was not going to be able to reach the surface for air. Kyler’s lips found mine and forced me to release the seal holding in the last of my breath. I felt the cool water fill in the empty space in my mouth. I inhaled quickly expecting the water to choke me and fill my lungs. His lips stayed close to mine as my body inhaled and then exhaled the ocean water. “Better?” He thought as he kissed me gently on the nose.

  “We can breathe underwater?” The sensation didn’t feel any different from breathing air, in fact it was easier, natural. I could even see clearly underwater, not blurry like in a swimming pool.

  We floated along with the current for several minute
s before it finally weakened enough for us to return to the surface. We looked around to find that we were nowhere near the shore. The waves were tossing us up and down in the water. Kyler held my hand but released his hug to survey our situation. “Do you see that speck on the horizon? It looks like the island. We should swim in that direction.”

  I couldn’t see what he was talking about. “Wouldn’t that be the wrong direction? Shouldn’t the island be the other way?” I wasn’t very good with directions, but rip currents usually pulled you away from the shore and the spot he was pointing at was the other way.

  “It might be, but we are out in the open and that’s the closest thing to land I can see. We may be able to breathe in the ocean, but there are other things that live in the water that might see us as a tasty snack. Are you up for a little swim?” He smiled my favorite crooked smile and started pulling me toward the speck of land. We swam under water to avoid the swelling waves. We made quicker time than I thought. The island seemed so far away when we started swimming toward it. We surfaced every now and then to judge our distance. The waves were getting bigger and the wind was increasing. There were big billowy grey clouds above us and the smell of rain was near.

  The increased sense of danger kept our minds on reaching the shore instead of on the closeness of each other in the water. On one of our surfacing trips, I was overcome with a heavy sense of déjà vu. I was bobbing up and down with the waves staring at the island from my dream. I froze anticipating seeing my parents walking to the edge of the shore. Kyler instantly noticed the change in emotion and looked back at me then to the shore. He had seen glimpses of my dream earlier today when he asked if that was my father he saw. “It was just a dream, Rae.” He said aloud to break my trance. “We’re almost there, keep swimming.” He reached his hand out to me to pull me along. I knew it was a dream, but the odd feeling of familiarity was unnerving. I plunged under the water again to swim toward the deserted looking island.