Centaur Rivalry (Touched Series Book 3)

by Straight, Nancy

  Was it possible to melt, either from the burning sun or the heat Drake generated next to me? My stomach knotted into a tight ball, and my palms began sweating. This was no longer insane flirting. In a few short hours Drake would be mine in every way possible. I leaned into his chest and shared a few choice thoughts in return.

  Gage and Bianca towed their luggage over to where we stood. Bianca looked us up and down and shook her head. We had nothing but the clothes on our backs and our identification. They had been in the area just weeks before, so Bianca took charge, “Gage and I will take care of the rooms; you two, go get some clothes. Meet us on the waterfront pier in two hours. We’ll take a ferry from there.”

  “A ferry?” I looked at all the high rise hotels surrounding us; any one of them would have been perfect.

  Bianca smiled, “A ferry, a bus, and then a cab. We’ve got the perfect place for you two for some privacy. We need to get it set up here because we didn’t want to make the calls from the states.”

  Drake and I did as we were told.

  Inside the city, stores were stacked on top of each other with owners standing on the street trying to usher us into their stores. The streets were clean, the weather was warm, and almost everyone spoke English. Two hours later we each had enough clothes for a week. We even invested in a suitcase so we could blend in with the wintering tourists.

  The beauty of the area didn’t escape either of us. We waited on a bench by the pier as Bianca had instructed. The water looked just like the image Drake had pushed to me at Katherine’s house. We sat in front of the tranquil ocean, Drake’s arm draped over my shoulder and my head nestled into the crook of his neck.

  He was quiet and kept his thoughts to himself. This was our wedding day. I couldn’t help feeling that I should be nervous – I wasn’t. I pictured us standing in the surf exchanging vows. “For better or worse” had an especially sharp meaning. We’d had the “worse” a hundred times over. I was ready for some “better” for a while – even if it was just for a few days.

  Drake’s voice startled me when he broke the silence, “We could stay here, you know.”

  “And not catch the ferry, bus and taxi? What fun would that be?” I eyed the beautiful hotels. Each had breathtaking views of the ocean as I silently wished Drake would lead me to one of the lobbies.

  Drake squeezed my hand gently, “No. I mean we could stay here. Not go to Africa.” I lifted my head off his shoulder and looked at him. His eyes remained focused on the surf.

  “We have to go. If we don’t, it’s a death sentence for my family.”

  His voice was steady but low, “I can’t protect you like this – I’m human. I can’t lose you.”

  “I’m right here.”

  Drake didn’t tear his eyes away from the surf, but his hand began caressing my arm. “When we talked about going before – it felt like we didn’t have anything to lose. My transformation had sealed the deal. Going up against the Council with you, fighting for the Lost Herd – it felt right.”

  I didn’t understand what Drake was getting at, “Nothing’s changed.”

  Drake slowly shook his head, “Everything has changed. We’ve got a real future now. We could hide here, make a life for ourselves: buy an estate and lock ourselves inside and never see another Centaur.”

  I didn’t even want to consider it, because it sounded too enticing. “No. That’s not who we are. Like it or not, I’m the last Chiron Centauride. You are more of a Centaur warrior than the world has known in thousands of years. There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of Centaurs from the Lost Herd who are counting on us.”

  A single tear slid down Drake’s cheek, and he made no move to wipe it away. The words slid out of him quietly, “I don’t know how to change back.”

  When he’d been transformed, he thought of himself as a different species – I never felt that way. I knew it was only temporary. I was sure eventually he’d be human again, so our circumstances never impacted what I believed we needed to do. “If we fail, we fail together – you already promised me eternity in the pasture. If we succeed, we can live wherever you want, except South Dakota!”

  Gage and Bianca found us sitting on the bench. They were all smiles. We spent the first forty-five minutes on a ferry; it let us off on a pier where a bus was waiting for us. We rode the bus over nicely paved traffic congested roads for the first thirty minutes and then another thirty minutes on rougher country roads. When the bus let us off in a smaller city, a line of taxi-cabs was waiting for passengers on the street.

  The four of us squeezed into the back of a mini-van and rode for another thirty minutes. I was beginning to wonder if we would end up in South America! The large canopy of trees hung over the poorly-maintained roads until the cab pulled up in front of a large gate. Bianca got out of the cab and pressed a security code into an awaiting keypad. Large iron gates swung open – inviting us into its private paradise.

  The cab driver set our suitcases on the curb, collected his fare, and was out the gate headed back to the city. I looked around at the sprawling estate in front of us. The sound of the surf was close, and little bits of turquoise ocean peeked through the trees.

  Bianca grabbed hold of her suitcase handle and said, “Follow me.” She didn’t walk toward the steps of the main house. Instead she walked on a path toward the ocean, her bag’s wheels struggling against the loose sand. As we walked along the path, the view of the ocean was gorgeous. The water was so clear, even from twenty yards away we could see fish swimming in the shallows. The sound of the waves rolling onto the sand was a gentle reminder that we were thousands of miles away from the Centaurs who hunted us.

  At the end of the path stood two small cottages, both nestled directly in front of the ocean.

  “Ta daaaaa,” she announced with a flourish.

  I didn’t know what to say. She handed us a key and pointed to the one closest to us. A man in a pressed white shirt and white pants stood in front of the cottage. I looked at Drake, not sure what to make of it. It was already ninety degrees, and the poor man must have been sweltering. When we were only a few feet away, he spoke, “Welcome. Lunch is ready.”

  Lunch was ready? I was hungry, but I would have preferred to starve and get some alone time with Drake first. Perched behind the back of the cottages was another man sitting by himself in the shade. Well, not by himself – a large iguana sunned a few feet away on a rock sticking out of the ground. An inviting glass of water set in front of him while an automatic weapon lay across his lap. I froze. Drake noticed him the same time I did and eased his body in front of mine.

  Bianca looked in the same direction and shook her head. “Would you two relax? He’s part of the security detail we arranged.”

  I was surprised at this little amenity, “Security detail?”

  “Uh, yeah. You think it took me two hours to rent beach front bungalows?”

  “What all did you arrange?”

  “Let’s see, the cooking and cleaning staff, security, a priest who will bring a marriage license with him, a couple disposable cells, a boat in case you want to go exploring, and all of the transportation here.”

  I could hardly believe my ears. “A priest who brings a marriage license with him?” It should have occurred to me that there were more details required than simply standing together and saying, “I do.”

  She gave me a smug look. “Luckily we had just gone through the process a few weeks ago, so we filed for your license when we got here. He’s picking it up on the way.”

  I took Bianca in a tight hug. I wanted to tell her that she was the best wedding planner ever . . . or that I’d never be out of her debt . . . or that she was the sister I’d always wanted, but the only words that came out were, “Thank you.”

  She squeezed me back, “None of this would be possible if it weren’t for you. I just want you to be as happy as I am.”

  She flashed a memory to me of me prying bars off the window of Zandra’s guest house, where she and Drake ha
d been held captive. Zandra had told Gage and me that Bianca and Drake were both dead. It was her twisted way of getting Gage and me to go through with an arranged marriage to each other. It almost worked, too. In the end we all escaped that day. Gage and Bianca didn’t waste any time saying their “I do’s.” Now it was our turn.

  After lunch Drake and I explored the little cottage. It wasn’t lavish by any stretch of the imagination. The floors in each room were stone tiles. Huge windows opened to catch the ocean breezes, and each room had a ceiling fan. There was a small kitchen with an efficiency stove and single sink. The countertops were Formica and the furniture well worn. Despite its humble appearance – the cottage was perfect. I looked around for a thermostat when Drake shook his head. “Your first time to this part of Mexico?”

  I nodded. Drake smiled, “We aren’t in the states, and modern conveniences aren’t common here. If you’re cold – close the windows, if you’re hot – open them. If you’re really hot, cool off in the ocean.”

  “Really?” The temperatures were well into the nineties, and I couldn’t imagine living here without air conditioning. Maybe it felt so hot because we’d just left the winter of South Dakota.

  “There are lots of homes here without electricity. We’re lucky to have ceiling fans.”

  No electricity? I’d grown up poor by US standards, but every place we’d ever lived had electricity, heat in the winter, and air conditioning in the summer. Will had set up a pretty hefty account for Drake and me in the Caymans, so money wasn’t an issue for us. We could afford to stay anywhere in the world – I liked that Drake was quick to point out we were lucky to have electricity and ceiling fans. The cottage was charming, and enjoying it with Drake was truly a gift.

  We changed into our swimming suits and grabbed beach towels from the linen closet. After the temperatures in South Dakota for the last few weeks, and before that the cold wet temperatures in Ireland, it felt incredible to lie in the sunshine. We soaked in the sun’s rays as the heat penetrated all the way to my bones. Just when I thought my core temperature was ready to spontaneously combust, the man in the nicely pressed white shirt appeared with two cold bottles of water.

  I drank mine down greedily before I realized Drake was watching me. He hadn’t said much, and I figured we were both enjoying the bliss of the day. When his expression didn’t change, I wondered where his thoughts were. Our telepathic connection only worked when we purposely shared our thoughts with the other, and he’d kept his hidden from me since the airport. It didn’t bother me to have the silence. It was a nice break, but I was curious, “What’re you thinking?”

  He turned away from me and looked out into the turquoise ocean before us. “Nothing that I need to share right now.”

  “Keeping secrets already? We haven’t even made it official yet.”

  I got a grin out of him. He shook his head, “I’m content.”

  “That’s what you’re thinking? Not trying to be high maintenance or anything, but content wasn’t a word I was hoping to hear you describe us with for at least another twenty years.”

  Drake scooped me up against his chest as we both looked out into the ocean. “Content means different things to different people.”

  “So you’re generally happy with how things have turned out?”

  Drake’s fingers lightly caressed my arms as he kissed my neck. “I’m not happy that we’ve had to go through so much to get here, but if this were our last day together on earth, I’d go without any regrets.”

  That was a strange thing to say. Did Drake know something he wasn’t telling me? I tore my eyes away from the incoming waves and craned my neck around to look at him, “No regrets?”

  His grin widened to a smile. “Assuming Bianca’s plans go off without a hitch and I get some much needed privacy with you after – no, no regrets.”

  My face warmed as my blush grew, “So why do you look so sad?”

  Drake didn’t answer right away. Instead his hand caressed my bare skin from my shoulder to my wrist and back – sending tingles all the way to my toes. His eyes stayed fixed on the surf. “Our days may be numbered.”

  I understood. He’d said as much when we were waiting for Bianca and Gage on the bench in the city. He didn’t think we would make it out of the Centaur Council alive. I knew better – we needed to go. We could change things. I didn’t need to see our future to know the Centaur Council wasn’t something we could avoid. If we didn’t take the fight to it, it would only be a matter of time before they found us.

  Drake’s voice remained quiet, but it was absent the emotions that were coursing through him. “If things don’t go well in Centauride next week, I’ll regret that I wasn’t able to convince you to stay in paradise with me. That’s what I’ll regret.”

  Nothing I could say would change the way he felt. Zandra only needed to be within a hundred miles of us for her to find me. Even if I agreed to go into hiding, eventually she’d stumble across us, and we would be in an even worse spot. On some level I agreed with him, but there had to be a reason so much had happened to us. Even if the worst possible scenario happened – it wouldn’t be in vain. I stood up and tugged Drake to his feet. “Enough of watching the waves. Come swim with me.”

  Chapter 19

  (Camille, Bungalow Outside of Cancun, Mexico)

  I stood in the bedroom staring at my reflection in the mirror. My hair was down, loose just over my shoulders. I wore a white bikini top and a sheer white wrap at my waist that hung to just above my ankles. Not exactly the wedding dress my mom may have wanted me in, but I couldn’t imagine a more romantic setting or a more appropriate outfit. I looked out the window into the surf. It was late afternoon, and the breeze off the ocean was cool.

  A soft tap sounded at the bedroom door, Bianca on the other side, “Can I come in?”

  “Yeah, are we all set?”

  “The priest just arrived.” Bianca looked at me and smiled. “Hmmm, something’s missing.”

  I laughed, “Yeah, a real dress, a veil and shoes, but I don’t think Drake will mind, and I don’t have to worry about wrinkles in this.”

  “No. If anything, we are about traditions. Something old:” Bianca held out her hand, in which a pair of diamond earrings sparkled, “these were Gage’s great-grandmother’s. He wants you to have them, so you always carry a little of Aphrodite’s magic with you. Something new: I think your swimsuit is new, right?”

  It was. I bought it as soon as we had gotten off the airplane this morning. “Definitely new.”

  “Something borrowed and something blue:” Bianca reached into her purse and pulled out a handmade necklace of beautiful turquoise and blue stones strung between seashells. “Gage gave me this on our wedding day – so I want it back. You’re covered for borrowed and blue. Here, let me try one more thing.”

  Bianca turned me away from the mirror and started braiding my hair. It only took her a few minutes. When she was done, she turned me around, and I could hardly believe my eyes. It looked like a style a goddess might wear. A thick braid wove around my head with a few loose strands of hair hanging down framing my face.

  “What do you think?” I was speechless. My inability to answer put Bianca in panic mode, “If you don’t like it, I can take it out. I didn’t spray it or anything.” She reached for the pins she’d put in to hold it in place, but I grabbed her hands before she could let it loose.

  “No. It’s perfect. Everything’s perfect.”

  Bianca checked her watch. “We’ve got some time to kill. What do you want to do?”

  Time to kill? If the priest was already here, what were we waiting for? I decided it didn’t matter. I wasn’t nervous, and spending a few minutes with Bianca was a treat. We’d spent almost no time together, just the two of us, and I doubted I’d be able to rip myself away from Drake any time soon.

  I shrugged my shoulders. It seemed silly to stay in here. It was bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding, but we’d already had more than our fai
r share of foul luck. Standing in the surf, waiting to say “I do” to Drake seemed like a better idea than standing around here at the bungalow. “Let’s go wait on the beach.”

  Sharply, Bianca answered, “No!” Surprise at her reaction must have colored my face. Did she have a momentary meltdown? She cleared her throat, “I mean, no, seeing Drake before the ceremony is bad luck.”

  I shook my head at her. “If the priest is already here, what are we waiting for?”

  “Gage went to get the rings.”

  The rings. A pang of disappointment shot through me. Why hadn’t Drake and I thought of that? It shouldn’t matter, but it felt wrong using rings Gage had picked out. I wanted the ring I’d wear for the rest of my life, regardless of how short or long that time might be, to be one Drake had selected. I didn’t want Bianca to feel my disappointment, so I asked, “Why are we doing this so late in the day?”

  She bit her lip. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was hiding something from me. “The priest’s schedule didn’t allow for an earlier time.”

  “Oh, that makes sense. Is he the same priest who married you and Gage?”

  She smiled, “Yes. We wandered into his chapel down by the ocean right after we arrived from the airport. You’ll like him.”

  “What names are on the marriage license, anyway?” Drake and I had flown in with the fake passports Will had gotten for us before we left for Ireland.

  “Your real names.”

  Just to clarify, “Benning and Nash, right?”

  Bianca nodded, “Yes. Why didn’t you ever change your name to Strayer or Chiron?”

  I smiled, “Yeah, with all the abundance of free time I’ve had lately, standing in line at a court house to file legal documents should have been higher on my priority list.”

  “I’m sure your father could have had his lawyer do it for you.”

  I didn’t like the way I’d left things with Will the last time we spoke. So much had happened in South Dakota that I couldn’t be sure if Will and Zandra were in cahoots with each other or not. Since I found Drake, I’d only talked to Will on the phone long enough to let him know we were safe. From what Brent told me, he and Gretchen went into hiding just days after we spoke on the phone.