Bonded (The Raegan Mason Trilogy) (20 page)

“Rae, don’t be afraid.  Please stay while my mother explains.  I know you have a lot of questions and I promise you’ll get the answers tonight.”  He didn’t touch me but I could feel the magnetism pulling me back toward him.  My fears were melting away in his presence.  I was safe with him.  Everything would be okay.  I turned and looked into his eyes and the world ceased to exist for a moment.  His feelings of immense love and desire for me overwhelmed my fear of the unknown I was entering into.  I was in his arms again and felt like I was floating.  His kiss on top of my head sent vibrations through my body.  Then abruptly he released me and stepped aside as he introduced me to his mother.

My body was still flushed from the interrupted embrace.  His mother was taller than I saw through Kyler’s thoughts.  She was about 5’9”, slender but strong.  Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a pony tail.  Her appearance matched that of a traveler.  She wore baggy green cargo Capri pants and a black collared sleeveless shirt.  She was beautiful too.  Her skin was naturally tan like Kyler and her blue eyes were startling as well, but they didn’t hold the warmth that his held.  Her eyes were cold and hard and boring through mine.

“Raegan, this is my mother Marina Stone.  Mother, this is Raegan Mason.”  Kyler quickly introduced us and started ushering me back to the living room.  Marina stood in the long hallway and prevented us from going further.  She held out our hand to shake mine.  I was afraid of what I would feel.  Could she feel my fear?  I reluctantly held out my hand and managed to say “Nice to meet you.”  Her hand was warm and her handshake was firm.  There were no shocks of electricity or overwhelming emotions that I felt with Kyler.  I was relieved instantly and managed a smile for her.

Marina released her hand from our handshake and moved toward the living room.  “Raegan, please come and have a seat.  It seems we have much to talk about this evening.  I’ve just returned from a trip to Brazil and I am a bit exhausted, so please forgive any rudeness on my part.  Kyler has shared with me only a little about you and I understand you have some questions?”  We reached the living room and Kyler and I sat on the couch as Marina sat in the arm chair.  She looked to me, then briefly to Kyler, and back to me.  I didn’t know where to begin.  I looked to Kyler for some kind of starting point.  I already felt like I was trapped in a bad dream and couldn’t wake up.  I took a deep breath and held out my bracelet. 

“Can we start with this?  My Aunt Sarah gave it to me this evening and told me it was my mother’s.  She went on to tell me that my mother got it from her mother and her mother got it from hers.  When I wear it, I can hear Kyler’s thoughts and when he wears his, I feel… his emotions?  This evening before we got here, Kyler touched my bracelet and his eyes, our eyes, um…” I looked to Kyler again but didn’t know what else to say.

“They ignited.” Marina answered. 

I looked back to her confused.  “Ignited? Like caught on fire?”

“In a sense, yes.  May I see your bracelet closer?” She held out her hand for me.  I gently laid the bracelet on her palm and waited.

Marina turned the bracelet careful not to touch the stone.  After a brief inspection, she handed it back to me.  My patience was running thin.  “Did your mother tell you anything about your family?”

“Uh, nothing that would explain any of this. Do you know my family?”  Two could play the twenty questions game.

“I know some Masons.  What’s important right now is that you know about your family and the unique situation that has presented itself between you and Kyler.”  Her voice was calm.  Her messages were cryptic.  I was frustrated.

“What are you talking about?” I finally erupted.  “Please talk straight to me.  I’ve been through so much these past months and now something strange happens and you want a history lesson on my family?”

“Fair enough, Raegan.  If you’ll entertain me with a few more questions, I’ll know where to begin.  How old are you?”

“17, I’ll be 18 next week.”

“Have you always lived here on the Island?”

“No, we moved here when I was 6.  We lived…” I couldn’t remember where we lived before here.  “Um, I’m having trouble remembering that right now.”  I felt lost.  Did I lose that memory as a result of the accident?

“When did the headaches start?”

“About 6 months ago, how did you know about the headaches?”  I asked her.

“A few more questions please and then I’ll answer yours.  When did they stop?”

“A few days ago when I heard, when I was on the beach resting at this rock I went to every night for the past six months.”

“What did you hear?” She looked at Kyler briefly and then back to me waiting for an answer.

“I heard music… music that I heard when I met Kyler a day later at the beach.”  My eyes locked on the carpet on the floor.  I couldn’t look at either one of them.  My face was heating up with embarrassment.

“Do you hear his music now?”

“Not since he took off his necklace the other night.” Again I kept my eyes down fearing that all our previous activities would be revealed.

“Kyler, what do you hear of her?” She directed the inquiring to him, and I was grateful to be out from under the microscope.

“When we first met, I only heard bits and pieces of her thoughts.  When we touched, I could hear more.  Now, I feel the connection pulse through my body.  It feels like electric shocks.  Tonight, I heard her music, her life force.  I felt our bond melting together.  I heard her heart.”  I looked at Kyler expressing all of the things I couldn’t say and his eyes began to glow again when he looked at me.  I could feel his emotions washing over me and hear his heart pounding with mine.  I couldn’t breathe.

“Kyler.  Raegan.” His mother spoke firmly and broke the trance.  “Kyler, go get your stone.  Raegan, please put on your bracelet.”  My face must have expressed my fear of putting that on in front of her.  Neither one of us were wearing our stones when that incident happened.  What would happen if I put the bracelet on now?  “It’s okay, you’ll see when he returns.”  Kyler had left at the command of his mother to get his stone.  I obeyed and put my bracelet on as she instructed.

As soon as I placed my bracelet on my wrist, I heard Kyler’s thoughts. 
“Everything is okay.  Please don’t panic.  I love you.”

I thought in reply,
“You love me?  I’m trying not to freak out. I don’t understand what’s going on. Please hurry back.”

“Yes, I love you.  I’m almost there.”

This was weird being able to communicate without talking.  Marina was watching me without any emotion on her face.  I couldn’t hear her thoughts or feelings.  Maybe she was good at putting up that wall like Kyler did on the beach, or maybe it didn’t work between us.  I wasn’t sure. 
“She can hear your thoughts.”
Kyler thought as he sat down.  My face heated up with embarrassment again.

Marina smiled slightly and looked back and forth between us again.  Kyler had returned the necklace and stone around his neck.  I had my bracelet on my right arm careful not to touch his skin but feeling the buzz of the connection strengthen between us, pulling me toward him.

“I figured this would be a good time to arm you both before going on.  This way you both are feeling, hearing and experiencing the powers of the enhancers you both inherited.  Raegan, your bracelet is a very old enhancer.  It enhances the dormant powers you already have.  Kyler’s enhancer is his necklace that was given to him by his father.  Kyler has had his longer than you and has learned to master many of his powers.  He doesn’t need it to use his powers, but it will be helpful as you learn how to use yours.”

“Now there isn’t any need for embarrassment or hiding your feelings.  As Kyler indicated, I can hear your thoughts.  I do not feel your emotions since we are not bonded as you and Kyler are.  Bonded means exactly what it sounds like.  You two are what people have coined ‘soul mates’.  Your souls, or life forces, have bonded.  Your bodies have not bonded in union, Kyler has admitted earlier, but I am afraid that if you cannot master your emotions, that time is not far away.  However, you must control these urges until a unification ceremony has been performed.  You have already ignited one another.  That means that your bodies and emotions will continue to crave and desire situations where a union will be made.” 

“She’s talking about sex?  We’re going to glow until we have sex?”
My heart was beating so hard and my face was burning.

“Yes and no. A union could involve intercourse, but for you two it will be different.  Please let me back up and give you some insight to this so you can better understand our situation.  Based on the bracelet you are currently wearing, your family must be one of four royal families from… an ancient civilization.”  Her eyes quickly flicked to Kyler and then back to me so quickly I wasn’t sure it happened. “There are some Elders and descendants from our civilization here in the United States.  Some are living near other ancient cities like Egypt.  There are some in Europe, but all can trace their heritage to one of the four families.  There are the Celosia, the Stones, the Ores, and the Vales.  Each family has had one pure blooded family for thousands of years.  Your mother and father, or at least your mother, must have been from one of  the four families or you would not be here.  It is impossible for our kind to procreate outside of our families.”  She glanced at Kyler when she said families but I couldn’t catch the exchange in his thoughts.  “Your father was a Mason by birth? Or was your mother a Mason and you took her name?”

“My father’s last name was Mason.  My Aunt Sarah raises me now and her name is Mason, too. But she doesn’t know about any of this.”  I confessed to Marina.

“What about your father’s parents?”

“I don’t know much about them.  They died when my father was young.  Aunt Sarah kind of raised him, too.”

“How did they die?”

“Um, I’m not sure.  I think I remember hearing that my grandfather had a heart attack and my grandmother had died before then, but I don’t know for sure.  Aunt Sarah and Dad didn’t really talk about them much.”

“Was your mother an only child?”

“Yes.  She didn’t speak of her family either.  She seemed to have always been on her own.”

“What was your mother’s maiden name?” She continued her line of questioning.

Blank.  “Um, I don’t remember.”  The holes in my memory were beginning to freak me out.

“Well, we must make a point to visit with your Aunt Sarah soon to find out what she knows of all of this.  It is not unusual for our kind to have multiple children but it is rare.  But we’ll get into that more once we figure out which family or families you are from.  Let me continue.  We are different from most people.  We learn quickly, we adapt to new environments quickly, and we mate for life.  Our bonding is deep rooted.  It is usually fatal to break a bond.  Your parents perished together.  Your mother’s parents most likely perished together.  However, the bonding is something that is rare amongst our kind.  Many of us go our whole lifetime without bonding.  As you may have heard or seen, Kyler did not date other girls.  He has never found someone that is his match, until you.  Have you had other bonds with other males?”

“I’ve had a few friends, but nothing serious or disgraceful, if that’s what you mean.”

“So you are pure?  You’re a virgin?”

Heat soared over my body.  “Yes.”  I answered and wished for this to be over so I could leave.

“Please do not be embarrassed.  I do not mean to make you feel uncomfortable.  Please understand that I am asking these questions as a mother concerned about the well being of my son.  He has bonded with you.  If you are no longer pure, the union cannot happen between you and it will result in a lifetime of agony for him.  I do not say these things to frighten you.  I am confident that your union will be successful and that we’re on our way to a new beginning for our kind.”

I was reaching my limit for insane conversations.  “You talk about us like we’re some kind of alien species and that we’re the only chance for survival.”  Silence deafened my ears and my thoughts.  Both Kyler and his mother stopped breathing.  Kyler stopped thinking.  I couldn’t hear his heart beating anymore.  “What just happened?”  The moment passed and the both stared at each other and then Kyler spoke.

“We are not from here, Raegan.  We have been here for a long time, but yes, we are like an alien species.  Most humans on Earth are not from Earth.  Earth was populated millions of years ago by our kind and others.  We can survive as humans, but our bodies crave the ocean more than the dry land and air.”

I’m a freaking alien?
  I began to hyperventilate.

Marina interrupted, “Raegan, please keep an open mind.  Your headaches began after the passing of your parents.  Your parental bond with them was broken.  I’m guessing a few months later they started?”  I nodded.  “You were dying.  We moved here shortly before the accident on the bridge.  I sensed others like us living here and we moved in search of the families.  I was not here when the accident happened, but Kyler was.  He was pulled to the accident like a magnet.  He found you, but not your parents.  He made sure you were found by the fishermen.  You were not injured because your choice to jump from the car prevented the injuries that would have occurred in the vehicle, and the water healed most of the other injuries.  I believe you had a few scratches remaining when they found you.  We do not know what happened to your parents.” 

“Kyler searched for them but couldn’t find any sign of them in the car or in the water.  Kyler enrolled in school in hopes of finding you and getting to know you, but your illness prevented that.  A few nights ago, Kyler was on the beach when he found you unconscious.  Your life force was withering from the loss of your parents and from lack of sea water.  We must be near the ocean water for rejuvenation and overall functioning of our organs.  Yours were shutting down.”  Her face was neutral as if she were reading a recipe, not describing my almost death.

I turned to Kyler, “So it was you that night on the beach?  I heard you in the water but I didn’t see you.”