Centaur Rivalry (Touched Series Book 3)

by Straight, Nancy

  “That’s funny. That’s what she said about the Lost Herd.”

  “Give me a few minutes.” Still connected to Drake, I could see the trees zooming past his head as he was already out of the motel and galloping through the forest.

  I turned back to the others waiting in the back room of the bar. “Okay, Drake’s coming. Katherine, you and Jessica take your truck back; it’ll look suspicious if it’s still on the street overnight. Daniel, no one thinks of you as a Centaur, so you take Gage’s rental truck and follow them back. Brent, when Drake comes, he’ll carry me, and you two can run back to the motel.”

  Brent looked at Katherine as if he wasn’t in favor of my plan. He put his back to her and took a step in my direction, “Drake won’t be able to run as fast carrying you. You and I should leave now and meet him outside of town.”

  I shook my head, “You haven’t seen Drake yet. Carrying me won’t slow him down.” I motioned to Jessica, Katherine and Daniel, “You three, go. Brent and I’ll wait by the back door for Drake.”

  Jessica started to protest, but before she could argue, I sent an image of Drake in his new form to her. She gave me an understanding nod, “Okay, we’ll be there within thirty minutes. We’ll meet at Katherine’s house instead of the motel. You may even beat us there. Katherine, Daniel – let’s go.”

  The door shut behind them. Jessica locked the front door from the outside. Brent stood beside me in the empty bar, the only illumination from beer signs hanging along the wall. The only sound was our breathing. I wasn’t purposely trying to read his thoughts, but couldn’t help seeing images of Jessica and Katherine, his worry for them obvious. I shook my head, “They’ll be fine. None of them have ties to us. If the enforcers see them, they won’t give them a second thought.”

  Brent shook his head. “Daniel has ties to you.”

  “Centaurs are too pompous to see the tie as anything more than a coincidence. Not one of them would give him any consideration. They’ll be okay.”

  I could feel Drake outside the back door. I didn’t need to hear his voice, his breath, or a knock on the door – I could feel his presence. His thoughts were laced with worry, not for himself, but the fear of running through the forest unprotected, carrying me. I opened the back door and there he stood, the size of a quarter-horse, well over seven feet tall – over nine hundred pounds of rage for any who tried to stop us.

  The last few weeks of seeing Drake like this, I’d grown accustomed to his new physique – Brent, on the other hand, got an eyeful. He took a step in front of me on sheer instinct, and his easy flowing words from the tunnel were replaced with stammers as Drake stood directly in front of him. “Drake. . . you’re. . . I mean, you have. . . are you able. . .”

  I cut him off for fear that he’d never get a single coherent thought out. “I told you that you hadn’t seen him in a while. You knew this happened: don’t look so surprised. You ready?”

  Brent’s jaw hung open. He was able to control himself enough to send the signal to his brain and nod his head, but made no attempt to speak.

  I looked into Drake’s ice blue eyes. They were narrowed from the cold and likely close to being frozen that way. I’d experienced his speed two nights ago, when we escaped the Centaur assault at Cameron’s house, but it was still hard to wrap my mind around the idea that he probably came close to breaking the sound barrier getting here.

  Drake motioned for me to come closer. Brent didn’t move out of my way, but he didn’t try to stop me from going to Drake either. Brent stood motionless, frozen in place. Drake brought his hands to either side of my face. Despite the sub-zero temperatures, his hands were warm – almost hot to the touch. Drake’s voice was soft, “I’m glad you’re okay.” His hands gently cradled my face, and he leaned down, brushing a whisper of a kiss across my lips.

  His hands slid down from my face and gathered me in his arms with about as much effort as reaching down and picking up a toddler. He turned his attention to Brent. “Do your best to keep up. I’ll try not to leave you behind, but we need to run as fast as possible through town. Watch your step out there. Centaur lookouts are strategically positioned throughout the forest. I found a riding trail where it looks like humans have been on their snowmobiles and ATVs. If you keep your feet light on the ground, the trails should camouflage our prints.”

  Brent finally spoke, “You’re a Centaur.”

  Drake gave Brent a forced smile. I thought Brent had been prepared to see Drake. He came to South Dakota after Beau had told him about the transformation. Brent’s eyes were fixed on Drake. In an eerie way, it bothered me that his eyes refused to blink.

  Drake turned around to face the stunned Brent, his forced smile still on his lips, “Let’s catch up back at the motel. I’ll get us to the trail, then you set the pace. Don’t worry about your speed; we’ll be able to keep up.”

  Brent nodded, and the next thing I saw was the blur of the deserted street, evergreens and naked maples whizzing past us. I buried my face into Drake’s bare chest and concentrated on the rhythm of his heart beat. There wasn’t a safer place anywhere, or a place I wanted to be more than cradled in his arms – even if we were dodging Centaurs sent to kill us.

  This close to Drake, his thoughts flowed easily to me. Every few seconds an image of Daniel flashed through his mind, followed by me and an image of Drake’s now transformed body. His transformation hadn’t tarnished his feelings for me, but it was obvious he was thinking about the possibility of Daniel and me ending up together. Drake loved me, but he no longer thought of us as the same species.

  I don’t know how many times over the last couple weeks I had told him this was temporary, that he wouldn’t remain in this form forever. His mind was so focused on the dangers of the forest that his thoughts were nearly unguarded. I saw the truth of his thoughts for the first time – Drake didn’t believe me that this was temporary. Because he chose to remain this way after he was given the option to change back to being a human – in his mind, his transformation was a life sentence. I couldn’t see his future, but when I thought of our long term plans, it was always with him in human form.

  Drake’s voice reverberated in my head, “Almost there, Love. About one more minute.”

  I raised my head up enough to feel a branch slap me on the shoulder. The force of the branch because of Drake’s speed could have sliced my face open, so I tucked back in close, to be sure I wouldn’t have an enormous gash on my face when we stopped. His arms gripped me tighter as he smashed me against his chest, “I said, ‘almost,’ I didn’t say that we were there yet.”

  He was right, a few seconds later I could hear the earth under his feet. Drake and Brent were slowing down. As I peeked up, the lights of Katherine’s house were ahead of us. Drake barely sounded winded, “Where to?”

  “Katherine’s house. It’s right behind the motel’s tree line. The others should arrive soon. They left a few minutes before you showed up.”

  Drake set me on my feet and took both my hands in his. The sight of him was still magnificent. The moonlight reflected off of his bare skin, his muscles somehow more defined in the darkness. I stood there mesmerized, forgetting the fear from seeing Roscoe, and the worry of the severed communications with Jessica and Bianca. I was safe with Drake, and for now that was enough.

  Brent stood awkwardly next to us. His face was beet red, but he didn’t seem to be out of breath. How could the two cover so much distance that quickly and act as if it had been no more than a stroll in the park?

  I looked up at the rustic house standing before us. It looked like it had been carved out of the hardwoods it was nestled in. The front of the house was exposed wood, but it wasn’t like the pre-fabricated mountain cabins that were so popular for second homes. The roof was covered in snow and the windows were steamed so badly they looked like frosted panes of glass. A path to the front door was well worn with Katherine’s footprints.

  Drake had been worrying since I first contacted him, but he hadn’t wasted time
asking questions before. As the three of us stood outside Katherine’s house, he asked, “Who is this Lapith you said you found?”

  “It’s Katherine.”

  Drake’s muscles flexed, his eyes widened as he looked at me, then at the house, then at the motel we had been staying in. “Katherine? The human who owns the motel?”

  “Yes.”

  Thoughts swirled in Drake’s mind, but he chose to keep most of them to himself. When he finally spoke, his tone was reserved, “A Lapith’s nature is to war with Centaurs. At least, in the stories my father told, they were humans with extraordinary powers – powers used to attack Centaurs at will.”

  Brent answered Drake’s indirect accusation, “She’s okay. I heard the same stories growing up. Katherine’s not like that. We found a pure-blooded Centauride at the bar tonight – Jessica. The two of them are tight.”

  Drake’s eyebrow arched as he looked between Brent and me, “They’re tight?”

  I agreed, “Like best friends. They’re with Daniel, on their way here now.”

  “How did you find Daniel?” Drake’s muscles still refused to relax as I watched steam rise off of his exposed flesh. My stomach started cinching up as I remembered my earlier conversation with Daniel in the tunnel. Daniel didn’t have any love for Drake, either.

  I tried to sound oblivious to his contempt for Daniel. “He walked into the bar right before we did. Isn’t it great?”

  Drake muttered under his breath, “Yeah, fantastic.”

  We made our way to Katherine’s house to wait for the others, careful to walk inside as many footprints and snowmobile tracks as we could find to try to hide all the extra footprints. She had left the door unlocked. Brent went in first, then Drake and I followed. Drake hit his head on the light hanging in the entryway, but steadied it with his hand before it could swing back and hit him a second time.

  Drake rumbled, “Great, low ceilings.”

  I patted his arm, “I don’t think we’re staying long.” I could feel Bianca was close. She had to be in the motel with Gage. “Bianca, can you two come over to Katherine’s house?”

  I could hear the joy in her response as I chastised myself for not cluing her in sooner, “You’re back? We’ve been looking for the truck to pull up out front.”

  “Minor change of plans. We’re at Katherine’s house.”

  Less than three minutes passed before the door to the entryway burst open. Bianca navigated her way around Drake and threw her arms around me. “You’re safe! OHMYGOODNESS, I froze when I saw Zandra tonight.”

  “Did she talk to you two?”

  “No, not a word. She pretended she didn’t even see us. We were parked right outside the access door to the tunnel like you told us. She came out of the woods with like seven Council enforcers.”

  I thought about what Katherine had told me about being close to her. Could we have been close enough that Bianca was cloaked, too? I asked cautiously, “So, she didn’t see you?”

  “She had to have seen us, we were right there in front of her! I didn’t want to risk it by communicating with you. After they disappeared back into the woods, I was worried it was a trap, so we left.”

  “Did they follow you?”

  “No, seriously, Cami. It was like they were pretending they couldn’t see us! You don’t think Zandra’s helping hide you, do you?”

  If Bianca and Gage were directly over the access, their position had to be at least forty feet from where we were standing below. I wondered if Katherine was even more powerful than she knew. Car doors slammed shut outside. Jessica, Katherine and Daniel had made it. I heard my own sigh of relief – we’d all made it.

  Bianca was waiting for my answer. “No. Zandra’s not here to help us.”

  None of us had moved past the entryway, so when Katherine opened the door, she must have been a little surprised to see us all wedged in there. The vulnerability in her voice from the tunnel was gone. She was frustrated, “For Pete’s sake, Drake, there’s no danger here. Change back.” Katherine, Jessica and Daniel squeezed into the already packed entryway as she slammed the door shut. Daniel’s eyes were enormous as he took in Drake’s body.

  You could have heard a pin drop in the cramped room. After the silence had gone about four seconds too long, I said, “He can’t change back, Katherine.”

  “Well, of course, he can! Drake, I think it’s great you’re worried about Cami, but this is my house – change back to your human form or you’re going outside. This may not be the Ritz, but I don’t allow livestock inside.”

  I wanted to pull her off to the side and tell her privately this was a sacrifice Drake had made for me, but it was more than just Katherine who needed to hear it. I cleared my throat and looked Drake in the eyes as I shared with our little posse of friends. “When I’d been kidnapped, Drake thought the only way to get me back to safety was to find Chiron’s arrow. Somehow he found my twin brother, and when he couldn’t convince him to give it up, Drake took the arrow then went after me. There must have been some magic still in the arrow because Chiron turned him into a Centaur to protect me.”

  Drake’s hands reached out and took mine in his tentatively. He squeezed my hand, letting me know it was okay to tell them the rest of the story. I looked around at all the eyes staring back at me, “Drake spoke with Zeus and was given the chance to return to his human form. Zeus knew that if he went back to being human, he wouldn’t be able to protect me, so Drake chose to stay a Centaur.”

  I let my words hang in the air. Daniel was the one standing closest to the door. Drake had his back to him when Daniel reached over and swatted him on the hindquarter – hard. “You did this for Cami?”

  Drake angled around and looked Daniel square in the eye. “I did.”

  Daniel didn’t sound impressed. “It never occurred to you that you could have stayed human and just asked for help?”

  Drake shook his head, “I know how you feel about Cami, but she’s my responsibility. I made the right choice. Zeus knew what was coming. Two nights ago we were ambushed by thirty Centaurs,” he clarified, “Centaurs with only two legs. It wouldn’t have mattered if you, Beau and Bart had stayed back to help, there were too many of them. Cami and I escaped with our lives because of this.” Drake gestured to his body.

  Katherine sighed loudly, “Just like I thought. Chiron did this, not Zeus.”

  Drake hadn’t met Katherine, but he turned around to face her, and in doing so shoved Gage and Bianca into the wall. “That’s right. I will fight to the death for Cami.” I couldn’t be sure, but his tone sounded like a challenge of some sort, as if Katherine were the enemy.

  Not at all impressed with Drake’s words, Katherine answered, “Okay, fine. But while she’s under my roof, she has my protection.” She looked at the startled Gage and Bianca, who had stepped a little further inside the house and away from Drake. Katherine refused to back down when she demanded, again, “Change back before ya trample any more of my guests!”

  Drake’s normally calm demeanor disappeared, “You’re not listening. I. Can’t. Change. Back.”

  “You’re not listening ta me, Centaur. Chiron changed you to protect his last Centauride heir, eh?”

  Drake and I both nodded that that was what had happened. Katherine continued, “It’s not so hard to figure out. Think abou’ it. He wouldn’t have done that if it meant she was miserable. Ya think he intended for you ta stay half a man? How would that carry on his bloodline?”

  “Chiron decided her life was more important than carrying on his blood line. Zeus said it was permanent.”

  “And you believed him?”

  A collective intake of breath sounded around the room. I hadn’t spent my whole life as a Centauride, but I knew none of them ever said anything negative about the gods. Nor did they question any message delivered from a god. Did she realize she was questioning the father of the gods? She couldn’t.

  “I have no reason to doubt his words.”

  Katherine bowed her head and threw
her hands in the air. “That’s what I thought! You’ve never even tried ta change back, have ya?”

  I froze. All those times, no less than a hundred, I’d told Drake it was temporary. Did he have the power to change back the entire time? How would he do it? Would he need to touch the arrow? It was gone – long gone. Could he summon Chiron to ask? Chiron hadn’t spoken with Drake or me; Zeus told him it was forever, but I hadn’t believed it, not really.

  No one spoke, but thoughts buzzed all over the room, many echoing the same questions I had. Other than the thoughts whizzing by in all directions, the room itself remained silent as Drake and Katherine stared at each other. No one moved.

  His nostrils flared, his eyebrows furrowed, and, if he would have had the ability to shoot her with lasers through his pupils, he would have. Drake’s voice was forceful, “You’re asking if I questioned Zeus?”

  “I’m pointing out that you aren’t looking at this change from Chiron’s perspective. He didn’t do it as a punishment. Zeus doesn’t know Chiron’s mind.”

  Everyone’s voices were still absent, but their thoughts came crashing in on me. It felt like a tidal wave of doubt. Could Zeus have been wrong? Could he have been purposely deceptive? Why would he be? Daniel stared at me, and it was his thoughts that stood out compared to the others. “Cami deserves to be happy. I can’t stand Drake, but that’s who she wants. I wonder. . .”

  Daniel winked at me, then turned toward Drake and cleared his throat. His tone was smug, borderline condescending, “Drake’s right. He’ll never be more than half a man. Cami, I think this is a sign from your great-grandaddy himself – I’m all yours.”

  Shocked faces around the room looked among Daniel, Drake and me. If Daniel meant it as a joke, no one was laughing.

  I shook my head in a warning, “Daniel, stop.”

  Drake’s hoof stomped and the light overhead swung slightly. Every person in the compact room tensed, silently begging Daniel not to antagonize Drake in the close quarters. Daniel didn’t stop. He turned his back on Drake, so he stood facing me, as if daring Drake to stop him. His voice turned silky smooth, “Drake already gave you to me. He knew he could never be the man you needed. He already stepped aside for me. Ask him.”