Centaur Rivalry (Touched Series Book 3) (26 page)

(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 fe
lt 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 a
s 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 m
y 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 dr
unk 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.

(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 i
t 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 t
a 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 go
nna be okay.  Just relax.”

She sat on the ground beside me.  Her ha
nd 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.”

“Not the time for jokes.”

My back rested up against a tree as my legs lay straight out in front of me.  Katherine sat on the ground beside me, her legs crossed under her.  One arm held the cloth to my head, as the other stretched across my body, braced against the ground on my other side.  Cloth?  What cloth did she have?

I took a closer look.  She had pulled her shirt off and sat next to me in her bikini top, forcing my blood to stay in my body.  Her porcelain skin contrasted with her
green eyes and red hair – this was it.  This was my moment.  If I didn’t take it now, it would never happen.

“
Katherine, don’t go.”

“I’m right here.  I’m not goin
’ anywhere.  Everyone’s already searching the jungle.  They’ll find us.”

My hand rose to her arm
balancing her weight, “No.  Don’t go.”

Katherine
’s eyes met mine and her understanding of my plea shone through.  “You don’t know what yer saying.”

My hand let go of her arm and rested on her abdomen, the warm flesh intoxicating my senses.  “I know exactly what I’m saying.  I don’t want this life without you.”

Dismissively she answered, “I’m a Lapith.”

“Second.  You’re a Lapith Second.”

Tentatively she asked, “What am I first?”

“Mine.”

She laughed, trying to make a joke of my feelings.  “Ya just hit your head.  I won’t hold you ta anything ya say now.”

I wrenched her hand free of my forehead, grabbed her face in both my hands and pulled her lips to mine.  She struggled against my lips at first, but I wouldn’t let go.  I couldn’t let go.  I kissed her as if my life. . . my existence, depended on it.  The warm rusty taste of blood streamed
onto our lips.

Katherine
yanked away, picked up the cloth that had dropped and pressed it back against my forehead.  She wrenched my t-shirt up with her other hand to sop up the blood on our faces.

A long silence hung between us.  Would she reject me?  Would she decide I wasn’t good enough?  How could I convince her? 
Katherine refused to make eye contact with me.

No words came.  She’d been quiet for so long that my
stomach cinched itself in a knot.  Katherine changed hands, applying pressure to my bandage.  She whispered, “Have ya heard the story of Lila and Rupert?”

Her voice was so quiet I barely understood the words.  “Rupert is my ancestor, the original sire of the Lost Herd.
  I’ve not heard of Lila.”

“Let me tell y
a the other half of the story.”  Katherine spoke for a long time, long enough that the wound on my head had stopped bleeding.  She knew more about our history than I did.  When she was done telling the story of Lila and Rupert, more silence hung between us.  The day in the tunnel, the spark I felt – it was a chemical reaction.  Katherine thought I would see it as trickery or a defense mechanism for Lapiths, which wasn’t how I felt at all.

“Interesting.  But what does that have to do with you staying with me?”

“Don’t cha see?  You’re not making the best decision.  You’re throwing away your future for nothing.”

Her eyes finally looked into mine
, and I was their prisoner.  My eyes refused to drop her gaze as my mouth formed the words, “You are my future.  The one I want.”

“Y
a only want it because of the spark.”

“No.  I only want it because I can’t sleep without you invading my dreams.  I can’t breath
e unless I’m close enough to smell your perfume.  I can’t function if you are out of my sight.”

“
Yer words mean nothing.  They are the sounds of a man trapped under a spell he can’t escape.”

I pulled her to me and spoke into her ear.  “A prisoner dreams of freedom.  Life without you is a
slow death sentence for me.  If you refuse me, I’ll die alone.  My betrothal is over whether you choose to stay with me or not.”  Her body went stiff in my arms as my words soaked in.

Unconvinced
, her voice broke, “You would break your betrothal even if I leave?”

“I can’t help it.  Love only happens once.  Trying to convince my heart to care for another after it
has experienced you would be as useful as teaching a blind dog to hunt.  He’d keep searching for something just out of his reach and would be clumsy enough to get himself killed.”

“If I take off, y
ou become a blind hunting dog?”

“If you leave, I’ll be an empty Centaur.”

Katherine brought her face just inches from mine.  “If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s an empty Centaur.”  Her lips closed the distance with mine, and I knew I’d never part from her again.  The spark I’d felt before ignited.  I leaned into her, easing her back to the ground and pressing my weight against her.  I heard her breath against my ear and her heart beating against my chest – I would never want another.

Hours passed as the night fully engulfed us.  We started back the way we had come.  Surprisingly, we didn’t pass any of the others looking for Daniel
, and none had stumbled upon us.  The jungle was alive with sounds.  She walked on my right, remaining vigilant and mindful of low hanging branches or thick brush in our way.  Twice she stopped to point out roots emerging from the ground for me to avoid.

My injury had to look worse than it felt.
  As fast as I healed, there was little pain at all now, and happiness filled my heart, my body conscious of her every touch.

A shrill voice sounded in front of us, “Daniel?!  Is that you?” 

Katherine called back, “No, Jess.  It’s Brent and me.  No sign of ‘im?”

Jessica was standing some ten feet in front of us, accompanied by a human with an assault rifle. 
She sounded defeated, “No.  It’s as if he vanished.  You don’t think he went back to the states, do you?”

I couldn’t figure Daniel out.  He was as carefree a spirit as I had ever known
, and I wouldn’t put it past him.  From what little time I’d spent with him, I couldn’t imagine he would leave without saying good-bye.  Maybe good-byes weren’t his thing.

Katherine
, clearly full of anger at the suggestion, answered, “If he did, I’ll make him wish he were never born.”  Her voice was laced with enough malice that I believed her.  “We need to get Brent to a doctor.  He’s going to need stitches.”

“Maybe we can get a two
-for-one rate.”  We froze looking in all directions.  That was Daniel’s voice, I was sure of it.

Jessica shouted,
“Daniel?  Daniel, is that you?”

“
It ain’t the stinkin’ Easter Bunny.”