Centaur Rivalry (Touched Series Book 3)

by Straight, Nancy

  When Centaurs became betrothed, the Centaur had a choice. If he really cared about the Centauride, he could give her a betrothal pledge that tied their souls together and guaranteed they’d be together for eternity. Beau was worried because the Centaur she was betrothed to before him had given her his betrothal pledge.

  Drake told me, generations ago, during herd quarrels it wasn’t uncommon for one Centauride to be given up to twenty betrothal pledges. In life, if pledged, the Centauride and Centaur established a telepathic connection so the betrothal pledge to multiple Centaurs allowed her to have an army of protection. If a Centauride had several Centaurs pledged to her, she could communicate with all of them. It was an added safety measure for the Centauride.

  I’d asked how that worked if the souls were tied because a Centaur could only ever pledge once. He told me in the pasture the only pledge that counted was the first one. Beau was right to be worried. I’d embraced that part of being with Drake; if something happened in this life, at least we’d be together after death. Beau didn’t have that assurance.

  We had to make the Centaur Council see that exterminating the Lost Herd was wrong. We had to do it for a lot of reasons, but feeling Beau’s pain – we had to do it for him. His only time with Lacey could be this life; eternity in the pasture would belong to the Centaur who died in the car crash.

  The waves and seagulls beckoning me, I turned away from Beau and Drake, not wanting to intrude. I walked down the beach and lost myself in my own thoughts, jumbled around my family and what we were really up against. It wasn’t until the surf was at my ankles that a peace washed over me. Motionless, I allowed the waves and the serenity of the turquoise water to calm me.

  “I thought you’d be spending your last day with Daniel.”

  Wheeling around to the voice who had invaded my privacy, auburn hair flowed back from her face as Jessica sat ten feet away on a towel. Had she been there before? What happened to her platinum blonde color I’d seen just yesterday? As I continued to take her in, she was an absolute beauty. The colored hair and dark make-up had hidden the real Jessica.

  “I was headed toward the house; I just took a detour. What are you doing here?”

  “Same thing you are. Hiding from the chaos.” She patted the towel she sat on as an invitation.

  I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want company. Where could I go to be by myself that would be far enough away?

  “What’s the deal with you and Daniel?”

  Here we go again. My whole life everyone had assumed Daniel and I were more than friends. I thought I’d put all that to rest. I was married to Drake. If that didn’t send a strong enough signal, nothing would.

  “He’s my best friend.”

  “You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”

  “Daniel knows how I feel about him.”

  “Does he?”

  “Look, I’m leaving soon. If you’ve got something to say, say it.”

  “Just an observation.”

  “What?”

  “So you take off to find your family and you stop calling him. He goes looking for you and you’ve vanished. You keep reemerging, and each time you don’t have any time for him. You run off and get married without so much as an invitation, and then your new BFF calls and says you need us all to come running. When he does, you’re so wrapped up in your own drama, you hardly even notice he’s here.”

  “That’s not true. Besides, he’s been so occupied with you he hasn’t missed me a bit.”

  Jessica shook her head. “Go on and keep thinking that.”

  Begrudgingly, I took a seat next to her on the towel. “What, so he’s mad at me now?”

  “Not mad. He feels left out. He misses you.”

  “I’ll talk to him before I go.”

  “Yeah, you do that.” Jessica buried her toes in the sand, wrapped her arms around her knees, and stared out into the water.

  I didn’t want to be rude to her. On some level she was right. Daniel had been so much a part of my life for so long that not having him with me through everything left a big gaping hole. Drake and I had had one thing after another thrown at us. These few days when I could finally catch up with him, my thoughts had been all consumed by the Centaur Council and what it would mean for my family.

  “You’re right. I’ve been a crappy friend. I didn’t want to intrude on his time with you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Surprise rocked me. Weren’t they a couple? The two of them were everywhere together. On the beach they had been the pair who beat everyone else at volleyball. Daniel had this great idea to sneak into town before anyone woke up a few days ago and showed up at lunch time on a wave rider, towing three more behind him. It was only a few hours later when the two of them were airborne together in the surf. Every meal we’d eaten with the others, the two had been sitting together. Could I have jumped to the wrong conclusion? Even Katherine thought the two had a thing going on.

  Her stare told me I needed to answer, “I mean, you two seem to be good for each other.”

  She answered dismissively, “Daniel’s a great diversion.”

  The hair on the back of my neck stood up, “A diversion?”

  “Well, yeah. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had fun together, but there’ll never be anything serious between us.”

  “Why not?”

  She rolled her eyes at me as if I were the densest person on the planet.

  Chapter 25

  (Daniel, Beach Outside of Cancun, Mexico)

  A diversion? Screw her.

  Looking at the pail of ice in my hands, I silently placed it on the ground and walked back through the trees. I’d seen my two favorite ladies sitting on the beach and had been ready to give them both a surprise, but the surprise was on me.

  Dad was right all along. He told me not to get mixed up with Cami – she’d just break my heart. One time wasn’t enough, either. I’d let her break it over and over and kept coming back for more. When I saw her in the bar in South Dakota without Drake, I thought maybe, just maybe things would finally be put right. I’d finally get the girl.

  I’m such a chump. A few hours later and sure enough, there was Drake, and he’d proven her love for her again. No way for me to compete with a frickin’ horse. I’d kind of resolved at that point that it was really over. The way she looked at him – she’d never leave. Something about seeing them together at Katherine’s house finally did it for me. Cami could be happy. She’d finally get what she deserved. I swore I’d be happy for her no matter what happened. In Omaha, I thought I’d said my last goodbye to her, that I would finally move on with my life.

  But, Jessica? She was into me. I felt it. Why was I suddenly only a diversion? Ben made some stupid comment about her hair yesterday, and the next thing I knew she went into town to get hair color, and now she’s a brunette. I thought she’d done it so she wouldn’t stick out around all the others, but maybe she had a thing for Ben. Centaurs were jerks. Centaurides were even worse.

  The jungle stretched out for miles. I wanted as far away from the ocean, the house, and all these jerks as I could get. Behind the main house was a stump with a machete waiting for whatever animal would be butchered for the next meal. I stalked straight past a few people on the porch of the main house. I couldn’t say who it was because no way was I going to make eye contact with anyone. I was done with the whole lot of them.

  A diversion? That’s as bad as being a television show – something to keep her attention until someone better came along.

  My hand wrapped itself around the worn leather handle of the machete. Bracing my foot against the stump, I pulled hard and the knife broke free. The jungle lay directly in front of me. Sweat already formed on my chest and ran down my hairline. My bare feet felt the first pangs of pain as I stepped onto some plant that sliced it with papercut-like precision. The main house was still in sight, but I refused to go in for shoes.

  The machete slashed through the plants hanging in front
of me, and they fell to the ground at my side. My arm slashed again and more fell. I kept walking. My heart pumped so loud in my chest, I could hear the sound in my ears. Birds laughed at me overhead.

  A diversion? A toddler’s toy – shiny and fun in the beginning only to be tossed aside when a new toy presents itself.

  Pressing on into the shadow of the jungle, the machete continued ripping through the plants that tried to block my way. Pops’ warning echoed in my head, “Stay away from my world.” Hatred began seeping through my blood stream. I stepped on another plant with razors for leaves. Blocking out the pain, I refused to stop, refused to turn around, refused to be a diversion.

  I don’t know how long I continued slashing. When I finally stopped, my arms were stiff and shaking. I allowed the machete to drop to the ground, just missing my big toe. My body was soaked in a combination of sweat and humidity. Blood flowed freely from my feet and showed no signs of stopping. My body crumpled to the ground as I allowed my mind to wander.

  There was nothing but jungle in all directions. The path I’d made was barely big enough for me to fit through. My feet throbbed, my arms ached, and my mind was numb. A diversion. Something for entertainment purposes – that was me.

  The day I first met Cami came back in living color. I’d been a little scrawny when I first met her in the third grade. There was this boy who had repeated third grade, like twice, so he looked like a fifth grader. He was on the playground and took my kickball. I pretended like I didn’t care, but Cami saw what he’d done, walked straight up to him, doubled up her fist, and punched him in the nose. The kid grabbed his nose and let the kickball fall to the ground. Cami picked it up, walked over to me, and asked if I wanted to play.

  That’s what life was always like with Cami. For years, at least until I was twelve, I always got a new red kickball for my birthday from her. She didn’t take crap off of anyone, and she was always sticking up for others – even a scrawny kid she didn’t know. I should have kept her from ever going to South Carolina.

  Tears threatened to release as I squinted my eyes closed to hold them in place. No way was I going to let either of them get to me like this. No stinkin’ way.

  My mind wandered to Jessica. The first kiss I stole under the premise of needing Chap Stick. She was out of my league. What was I thinking? I let myself be deluded enough to believe she’d fallen for me, a half-breed.

  There was nothing comfortable about the ground or comforting about the sounds screeching from all directions. My energy was gone. My drive was gone. My desire to see another human, Centauride, Centaur or even Lapith was gone. I allowed my eyes to close, hoping when I opened them again, everyone would be gone. The world would spin on without me, and everyone would think I’d blended back into the world, and I wouldn’t have to hear another good-bye.

  *****

  (Several hours later)

  Throbbing in my feet awoke me. The heat had diminished, but it was still hot enough to roast a turkey. I leaned up against a tree, with dusk just setting in. The jungle I’d thought was alive before was now something more – awake and alive. Leaves rustled above me from the scurrying of little feet. The howl of creatures in the distance and the sound of insects calling to the predators around me ushered in my first pangs of fear. My mind went to the Anaconda movies I had laughed at. Cami and I had watched them all – those nights together in California seemed a lifetime ago.

  I pushed away the movie memories with Cami only to be replaced by YouTube videos of men being eaten alive by snakes and unsuspecting adventurers slashed to pieces by wild cats.

  My pulse began picking up even as I willed it to slow. The more blood pumping through my heart, the more my feet ached. I awkwardly pulled my foot up to my groin for a closer look. What had I done? Gashes slashed across the surface. I pulled off my shirt and ripped it in two pieces then bound up both feet in the material. I took a deep breath while I tried to carry my weight – the pain was too much, and I collapsed back to the jungle floor.

  My throat was dry. When was the last time I’d drunk water? Breakfast? No, last night before bed. The sky told me it had been nearly twenty-four hours. I hated the idea, but I couldn’t get back on my own and needed help, “Hello?! Can anybody hear me?”

  More rustling in the trees above. “Hello?! Anybody. Help!”

  I couldn’t walk, but I could see the general direction I had barreled through. Careful where I put my hands and knees, I began crawling back toward the house.

  Chapter 26

  (Brent, Jungle Outside of Cancun, Mexico)

  Mom, Jessica, Cami, Hallenjah, Hannah and Lacey had all tried to find Daniel remotely. None had ever purposely tracked a human or a Centaur before. Collectively they believed he was in the jungle, but none could pinpoint his location. Jessica started freaking out because she said his thoughts were usually so loud that he must be unconscious for them to be so silent. They had tried for almost an hour before we broke ourselves into two person search parties.

  This was it. I couldn’t put it off any longer. My heart swelled when Katherine partnered up with me to look for Daniel. Security cameras showed him going into the jungle hours ago in late morning. No one knew why, but I had a suspicion he couldn’t bear the thought of telling Cami goodbye.

  Jessica started freaking out around noon and took Cami into the trees to start looking for him. When they came back two hours later with nothing, everyone partnered up to go look for him.

  Katherine’s hair was pulled up on top of her head. She walked behind me through the dense trees, and I found myself turning around to make sure I hadn’t lost her. Her steps were so light, I couldn’t even hear her most of the time. Each time my eyes locked on hers, she gave me a half grin. What would I give for a full smile? Almost anything. That was something I noticed more than anything – Katherine almost never smiled. It was as if she had this armor shell around her, and she wouldn’t let anyone in.

  The story she had told me about her friend Gayle had rocked me to my core. I’d never lost anyone close to me in a Blood Debt, but seeing one paid when I was young soured me on the process. The day I’d seen the Blood Debt paid, I couldn’t look at the fallen Centauride, bleeding on the ground. My eyes were fixed on her friend. Her friend was a girl of the same age who wailed beside her.

  Katherine had that same look that night in the tunnel. The helplessness, the hurt, the anger – she was distraught at reliving what had happened. All the emotions of losing her friend were rolled into eyes brimming with tears. I had no choice but to comfort her, to hold her and to promise to help her with anything she needed. I’d been too small to help the grieving Centauride as a child. I could offer no comfort at the time, and could only look on, soaking in the girl’s pain through my eyes.

  I knew better than to touch a woman when I was betrothed, but I couldn’t help it. There was something about Katherine that moved me. It wasn’t her sweet demeanor; in truth, she’d been abrasive to us from the first moment we met her. Maybe it was her vulnerability in the tunnel. I couldn’t say.

  Her voice nearly startled me. “I’m sorry Bianca couldn’t persuade Cassie ta come down.”

  Was she serious? I didn’t even want Bianca to make the call. I shrugged my shoulders, “Probably for the best.”

  She paused before answering, as if she were trying to find the right words. “I’m glad she hasn’t changed her mind.” Her green eyes were sincere. She couldn’t feel that way, could she? The kiss in the hotel, didn’t she remember? All those times our hands had brushed each other, the pull I felt to her, didn’t she feel it, too?

  “Yeah.”

  Katherine stammered, “She told. . . she said. . . she was worried she might draw more attention to you and yer family if she came here.”

  “Cassie’s smart. She’s probably right.” Turning, I couldn’t keep up the facade. I couldn’t talk about Cassie that way. She was a great Centauride. She’d chosen me. Me. But I didn’t want her, not anymore – maybe not ever. Since I met Katherine,
my world had been upside down, my priorities renumbered, but did she feel the same?

  Drake was the only Centaur I’d ever known to back out of a betrothal – my circumstances were nothing like his. What would my family think? Dad told us from the time we were children we had to carry on the blood line: it was our responsibility. Would he ever forgive me if I backed out? What would my brothers think if I traded my family’s future for my own desires? Maybe they’d treat Katherine like she was a human and shun us. Worse yet, would Katherine think I only wanted her so she could protect my family?

  Lost in thought, I realized I couldn’t hear Katherine. Turning around, she was still two steps behind me, head down, watching the ground below her. When I turned back toward the front, my head slammed into a low hanging branch. Stumbling backwards from the jolt, I crashed into Katherine, sprawling us both on the ground.

  I scrambled off of her as my vision blurred. Her eyes were wide. I wiped sweat from my forehead; the pain was sharp as sweat continued to pour into my hand. The sweat streamed into my eyes, blinding me, as Katherine’s voice spoke softly, “Ease back, Brent. I’ve gotcha.” Her hand laced behind my head as she pressed a cloth onto my forehead.

  Her cloth wiped my face, and once she got the thick sweat off of me, my vision came back into focus. As she held the cloth away, the crimson surprised me. It wasn’t sweat; the cloth was full of blood. Her voice echoed through the jungle, “Hey, we need some help over here! Brent’s hurt!” Blood from the wound on my head poured down my face, scarcely slowing from the cloth pressed against it.

  Her voice was soft by my ear. “It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay. Just relax.”

  She sat on the ground beside me. Her hand pushed so hard on my forehead, I worried my skull would crush. I loosened her grip on the towel, “Easy. You’re not laying tile.”