Read Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1) Online
Authors: Nancy Straight
One year.
I thought a
year would be a piece of cake. When I escorted her to the wedding
,
I knew that the most beautiful woman at the wedding wasn’t wearing white, she was holding my
bicep
, walking in lock
step with me. We were milling around making small talk when she said, “I’m anxious to meet Camille
Strayer
. I hear she’s new to our kind. Tonight will be her first introduction to the Centaur
s
ociety.”
I wanted to appear interested, but I couldn’t have cared less.
“Who
’
s she?”
“Apparently Will
Strayer
had a Centaur
m
istress
.
Camille is his daughter. I hope
we get to meet her.
”
My interest was piqued. “A Centaur mistress? Really?”
“Everyone’s talking about it. She just arrived this week and
,
from what I heard, knew nothing about us.”
No sooner had Bianca’s words escaped
than
I saw Will escorting
Camille
from the house. She looked nervous, pre-occupied
,
as they stood on the porch and looked out into the crowd. My eyes locked on her
, her blood called to me,
scream
ed
to me.
She took her first step down the stairs and something in the distance caught her attention.
I saw her take her second step
and something wasn’t right, her footing looked wrong. I
knew she would tumble if no one did anything. Will wasn’t paying attention
.
I could see Brent and Beau
were
much closer than
I was
,
but neither was watching. I let Bianca’s hand go and sprinted to her
,
stretching both my hands out to catch her before she could miss the last step. She landed squarely in my arms
,
and I froze.
She would have gone face first onto the ground had I not caught her in mid-air. Her body was light
.
I
seized
her with my right hand on her face and my left on her stomach.
Time felt as if
it
had slowed down
.
I placed
her
carefully
on her feet. In that single second it seemed as though we were the only two in the universe. As she stood upright an
d
looked at me
,
I saw the most beautiful, milk-chocolate eyes staring at me. When she thanked me
,
it was hard to breath
.
I muttered something in reply
,
and she held her hand out to thank me. I was horrified
.
I knew our customs didn’t allow for the two of us to touch
,
and in that second I knew why. Bianca had chosen me
.
I was betrothed
, p
romised
,
and
I
felt an irrational desire for
Camille. I
couldn’t explain
it
.
I wanted to
grab her in my arms and never let her go.
Somehow my mind found the strength to override my heart’s urges.
When I returned to Bianca, I expected her to be furious with me. Not only had I touched another woman, I had touched her in front of two hundred others. Bianca surprised me with a sweet smile and a gentle caress on my cheek
.
“Thanks so much for catching her
. T
hat was such a
kind
thing to do.” I was floored
-
she wasn’t upset in the least. Bianca caught me watching Camille several times
through the ceremony
. Never once did she show the slightest concern that I was so
obviously
captivated with the newcomer.
After the ceremony, Bianca prodded me to
pay attention to a conversation between Will
iam
Strayer
and Kyle
Richardson.
The conversation
had been strained initially
,
then Camille said something hateful to Gage’s dad. Without thinking it through
,
I sprinted to her, gathered her in my arms, and ran as fast as my legs would take us.
I stopped a mile away, set Camille on her feet, but didn’t back away from her. As I stood looking in those milk-chocolate eyes
,
I felt my world starting to unravel. I
tried to tell myself that I would have done the same thing for any woman about to be attacked by a Centaur.
Seconds later, Brent arrived and reminded me of Bianca waiting at the reception. I knew I had screwed up
;
there would be repercussions. I had touched a woman Centaur,
twice, in front of my fiancé. Without another word
,
I ran back the way I
had come
, trying to think of a plausible excuse for my actions.
Any other
Centauride
in the world would have
threatened our engagement,
or at the very least
chastised me
,
but Bianca seemed both thrilled and approving of
my
stepping in to help Camille
.
Yesterday it had been
easier to hide my eye’s interest in Camille where there were so many others. But today
,
on the boat
,
with Bianca, Camille,
and
Brent
,
it would be impossible to
conceal
.
I needed to find a reason not
to
go, to keep away from Camille, to keep from losing Bianca.
I heard the doorbell ring and knew I was out of time. I’d just let Brent know something had come up. I e
ased my front door open, fully prepared to tell Brent I couldn’t go when I looked down into
those same captivating,
milk-chocolate eyes.
She wore a wide smile,
“Hi, Drake.
Brent’s on the phone
,
so I thought I’d let you know we’re here.
I’m so glad you’re going with us today.”
My heart leapt
trying to escape
from my chest
,
and all excuses I’d found to stay at my apartment evaporated in front of me.
She stood in a swimsuit covered by a see-through wrap that left nothing to the imagination. S
h
e seemed oblivious to the way she looked
,
standing an arm’s length away
. In that moment I didn’t care about my
blood line
,
my engagement to
Bianca, my parents
,
or anything I valued as a Centaur – I was filled with blind lust.
My arms ached to pull her to me. I froze
,
unwilling to say or do anything – I didn’t trust myself.
Camille waved her hand in front of my face with an enormous smile. “Hello? Are you
feeling
okay?”
I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead
.
I was sure my heart had forgotten how to beat. When I hadn’t responded quickly enough for her, she placed her palm on my cheek, and whispered, “Drake, do you need to lie down?”
Explosions went off in my head
,
and electric pulses raced through my body. I stepped away from her
,
nearly tripping over a pair of shoes patiently waiting by the door. I wasn’t at all in control of my motor functions but knew I couldn’t possibly trust myself to be near her.
“You know, I think you guys might need to go without me today.” I could feel my face flushing bright red.
“Are you sick? Do you need to go to the doctor?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. You have fun today.” I closed the door gently while she still stood there. I backed up against the wall and slid to the floor, trying to get a handle on myself. After just a few seconds
,
I realized I could breathe again, my pulse was slowing
,
and I squatted there with my back to the wall for
support while my body came under control again
.
What in the hell just
happened?
“Drake, we aren’t leaving you,” Brent’s voice called through the closed door. “I’m giving you to the count of three
,
and I’m coming in.”
I shook my head, knowing I could create a decent explanation for my absence to Brent. I opened the door and was fully in control. “Sorry, man, I can’t go today.”
“Camille said you looked sick
. Y
ou don’t look sick to me.” Brent furrowed his brows
,
his instincts telling him there was more going on than what his eyes saw.
I made an effort to sound normal,
“I’m fine
.
I just have a lot to do today.”
“Hello-o-o-o, Bianca’s coming. Tell me you don’t want to see
her
on a deck chair! Grab your shorts
;
let’s go.”
I should have punched him for his comment about my fiancé, but she wasn’t the one my eyes were interested in seeing
,
and I couldn’t bear for him to know that I didn’t trust myself around Camille.
“Yeah, I don’t know how her father would feel about us out to sea without an escort.”
“What are you, dense? Camille and I will be there. You have an escort.
Let’s go
.”
“I’ve got a ton of work to do around here today
. M
aybe next time.”
Brent knew something was up
. H
e turned his head to the side
,
considering possibilities
.
“Drake, is there something you aren’t telling me?”
“No, I’m just not a
Strayer
.
I can’t go for a sail whenever the mood strikes me.”
“Look, you know the rules as well as I do. I can’t take your fiancé out on the boat without you. Camille doesn’t have any friends
,
and Bianca was nice to her last night. Do this for me. None of us want Camille to go back to California
. I
f she and Bianca hit it off, she’ll be less likely to leave. I promise you can hang out in one of the state rooms and do whatever work you need to
. J
ust come
along
.”
I wasn’t accustomed to deceit, but when Brent said it was possible Camille m
ight
go back to the west coast
,
I felt my heart lurch again. Even if she w
ere
never to be mine, I knew I would go through withdrawals with her so far away.
That was all the coaxing I needed. “Give me two minutes.”
Within an hour we had picked up Bianca, made it to the
Y
acht
C
lub
,
and were out on blue water. Brent wasn’t kidding
;
Camille and Bianca were fast friends.
Although
Brent and I
had never been
extremely tight, he was fun to be around
,
and it was great to hang
out
with another guy since I’d lost my closest friend following the news of my engagement to his
covert
girlfriend
. The ladies were tanning on the deck while we talked about the upcoming Clemson / Game Co
cks
seasons.
“Hey
,
Drake,” Bianca called, “why don’t you two come and join us?”
We were on the upper deck
,
and
I
waved down my acknowledgement,
then said to Brent,
“I guess duty calls.”
“Maybe for you.” Brent said with a smirk.
“You’re going down there with me
.
”
“Who’s going to drive the boat, Dumb
A
ss.”
I looked in all directions. We were easily five miles from shore
with
not another boat of any kind within sight.
There was no way I was going down there by myself.
“Just anchor it
and
c
ome
o
n.
”
Brent cut the engines and turned up the music a
s
the waves rocked the boat gently in the breeze.