Centaur Legacy

Centaur Legacy

Touched Series, Book 2

Nancy Straight

Published by Nancy Straight at
Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Nancy
Straight

This publication is protected under the
US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international,
federal, state and local laws and all rights are reserved,
including resale rights; you are not allowed to give or sell this
book to anyone.

Any trademarks, service marks, product
names, or named features, are assumed to be the property of their
respective owners and are used for reference only. There is no
implied endorsement if we use one of these terms. This is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events or locales is entirely
coincidental.

Printed in paperback in 2012. Available
electronically from all major bookstores.

ISBN-13:
978-1301158058

Centaur Legacy
would not have been possible without the support
of several incredible people. Linda Brant, my aunt, has
painstakingly edited and polished
Centaur
Legacy.

Rebecca Ufkes, Kris Kendall, Charles
Young, Melissa Balentine, Suzanne Finnegan, Amber Gest-Troyer,
Christie Rich, Shannon Dermott, Bart Soucy and Jennifer Nunez
volunteered to be Beta Readers – their feedback was
invaluable.

The beautiful cover was designed by
Amber McNemar at eTHINK Graphic Solutions.

I wish there were a way to single out
each of the independent authors out there who have helped and
inspired me along the way, but a thank-you to each one would be a
book in itself. A few that I cannot leave out are: Shelly Crane,
Rachel Higginson, Charlotte Abel, Amy Bartol, Christie Rich and
Shannon Dermott – each one has been an incredible inspiration to me
and I highly recommend all of their books!

Book bloggers are the
unsung heroes for indie authors. There have been many that I feel
indebted to, and you can find a list of great ones on my
blog:
http://authnancystraight.blogspot.com/

One book blogger who
deserves a special place on this page is Heather at
http://supagurlbooks.blogspot.com/
She has become a dear friend and is a true indie
advocate.

Finally, my husband, Toby, has been
supportive of my every adventure. Thanks for all the nights you
made dinner and did homework so that I could follow my
dream!

I love you all!

(Beau Strayer – Camille’s
oldest half-brother, Charleston, SC)

I needed to make the call: a promise
was a promise. I was hoping to get his voicemail, but no luck; he
picked up on the third ring. The voice who answered said, “Daniel’s
Orphanage. You make ‘em, we take ‘em.” I looked at the phone to
make sure I’d dialed the right number. “Uh, Daniel, it’s
Beau.”

“Shit, I didn’t recognize your number.
Sorry, man.”

Daniel was a good friend of Cami’s.
He’d been driving the whole family crazy trying to get in touch
with her the last couple months. As a way to get him to back off, I
told him that as soon as I heard anything about Cami, I’d call him.
I chuckled, “How many people hang up on you when you answer the
phone like that?”

He grunted. “Usually only friends stay
on the line. What’s going on?”

I took a deep breath and let it out
slowly, “She was here for a couple hours last night.”

Daniel shouted, “She
was
there?! Where’s she
now?”

“She flew out last night.”

“Where to? Back to San Diego?” His
voice was hopeful. The two were close. Cami had only stayed with us
for a week, but most of the funny stories she had shared involved
Daniel. When Daniel didn’t hear from Cami for a few days, he flew
here to Charleston to find her. Cami’s grandmother had kidnapped
her and taken her to her estate in Florida. Daniel went into a
psycho rage when he arrived and Dad told him she was
gone.

“No. Calm down a minute. I told you I’d
let you know as soon as I heard anything. She escaped from Zandra’s
house last night. She stopped by here when I wasn’t home. I didn’t
actually see her, but my mom and dad did. They chartered a jet for
her, and she was gone before I got home from work last
night.”

“Where is she?”

“I’m not sure. She’s got someone with
her, so she’s okay.”

Disbelief engulfed his voice, “How do
you know if she’s okay if you haven’t seen her, Beau?”

“My dad wouldn’t lie to me. Zandra
doesn’t have her anymore.”

“And you believe him?” Daniel
growled.

Daniel had taken a swing at my dad the
night he came looking for Cami. It was actually more than a swing;
he punched him square in the jaw. They had no love for each other;
worse yet, both were suspicious of the other. Before I dialed, I
knew that Daniel would need more of an explanation than I could
give him. “I know you don’t care for my dad. I can understand why
you think that, but he’s one of the good guys. He loves Cami and
wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”

I could hear the doubt in his voice,
“Don’t hand me that line of shit. She was kidnapped, and he didn’t
do anything about it.”

I caught myself shaking my head at the
phone. “Daniel, your dad talked to you, right?”

A heavy sigh echoed back at me. “I know
what I am, Beau. But thanks for reminding me that I’m just a lowly
human.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t
think that way. Neither does Cami. But you know why Dad was a jerk
to you?”

“It’s not up to him to decide who
Cami’s friends are.”

“No, you’re right. But I saw it when
you were here that night, and I hear it in your voice now. Cami is
a lot more to you than some pal.” I paused, hating to say it, but
he needed to know. “She’s found a full-blooded Centaur. She’s off
the market, man.”

His response was sharp. “She was locked
up for months! I’ve heard how this works. I’m sure she got free
last night and your dad shoved some guy on her. That’s bullshit.
Cami would never agree to it. She doesn’t take to people trying to
run her life.”

“You’ve got it all wrong, Daniel. The
Centaur she’s with helped her escape. He wasn’t chosen by Dad. Cami
picked him. They flew out last night.”

“Where?” The wariness in his voice
returned. I started to think this call wasn’t such a great idea
after all.

“I don’t know where they went. I
promised you if I heard anything, I’d call. She’s safe.”

Daniel’s voice quieted; I wasn’t sure
if he was talking to me or himself. “I was there you know. I went
to Florida. The old bat wouldn’t let me see her.”

If Dad couldn’t get Cami out of
Zandra’s grips, why would Daniel even try? He had to be clueless as
to who Zandra was. The direct descendant of Chiron and Daniel tried
to get tough with her? He’s lucky he’s still breathing. Rather than
tell him he was an idiot, I said, “No, I didn’t know. When? And
what would have possessed you to do that?”

“I had to do something, Beau. I
couldn’t just sit on my hands and pretend everything was fine. I
had to try.”

He couldn’t see me, but I nodded at him
anyway. Pangs of guilt enveloped me. Daniel had gone on a suicide
mission and survived. I hadn’t even tried to go after her. Not
against Zandra. “Does your dad know?”

Daniel chuckled, “Oh yeah,
he knows. He threatened to disown me if I set foot into
his
world
again.”

“Your dad’s protecting you by telling
you to stay away from Centaurs. There are things you don’t
understand.”

Daniel snickered, “That’s the funny
thing: the whole time I was growing up, Dad pretty much said his
family didn’t exist. Now I find out there’s this other whole bunch
of relatives who he talks to all the time, but I’m not good enough
even to warrant an introduction. Screw ‘em. I don’t want to meet
any of ‘em, anyway.”

While I was trying to figure out what
to say, he added, “It wasn’t ‘til a year ago that I even found out
about the Centaur thing, you know? Dad doesn’t want me anywhere
near the pure-bloods.” He was trying to play it off like it was
funny to him, but I could hear his bitterness when he said the
word, “pure-bloods.”

“Daniel, I know it’s hard. Centaurs
have been living this way forever. It isn’t you. It’s just tough to
shake thousands of years of tradition. Look, I’m going to be in the
same boat as your dad soon. I doubt I’ll see much of my family
after a year from now. I’m sure it’s hard on him.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever
heard. So, just because a female Centaur doesn’t choose you, you’re
suddenly a lower class, not worthy to mingle with the
pure-bloods?”

“You have to understand, it’s just our
way. Like it or not, it’s your way, too. Most half-bloods don’t
know anything about Centaurs. Your father could get in a bunch of
trouble for telling you about Centaurs. The more you know, the
greater your risk.”

“Risk from what? If I told anyone,
they’d put me in a straight jacket. Besides, Cami and I are just
friends. I’m not her boyfriend. I never have been, but I’ll be
damned if I’m going to sit on the sidelines and let something
happen to her again.”

My twenty-ninth birthday was last
weekend. I didn’t want to wait around another year. I didn’t want
to become one of those pathetic Centaurs – promising anything and
being united with a Centauride whose hand was forced by her family.
I couldn’t bear the thought of being married to somebody who only
did it out of obligation. A plan began to form in my mind. Would I
have the strength to put it into action?

I could leave. I could start a new life
now: maybe start my own financial consulting business, forget that
I was a Centaur, and escape from all the pressures that came with
it. I was ready to live my life, even if it wasn’t the life my
parents had always wanted for me. I took in a deep breath before I
could chicken out and asked, “Hey, I was thinking of taking a trip
out your way, but I don’t know anyone. Any chance you’d be willing
to hang out with me for a couple days? Maybe show me
around?”

Daniel’s voice was edgy, “Weren’t you
listening? I’ve got to make sure Cami’s okay.”

“She’s not here. I don’t know where
they are, but Dad hooked them up with passports, so I’m guessing
they’ve left the country. How about I come to San Diego, you show
me around, and by the time you’re sick of me, she’ll probably
resurface.”

“Can’t you just ask your dad where she
went?” he pleaded.

I couldn’t blame the guy, but what he
didn’t understand was that I’d already asked Dad a hundred
different ways before I made this phone call. If Dad knew where
they went, he wasn’t telling anyone. “I already have, Daniel. If I
stick around here, I’ll go nuts. The way Cami talked about San
Diego, I want to check it out. Maybe I won’t miss her so badly if
I’m there.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever
heard.” He paused for a minute before he asked, “You sure this
isn’t some sort of Centaur hit squad thing?”

I couldn’t hold my laugh in if I’d
wanted to, “You watch too much television, Daniel. We don’t have
those, and if we did, would a hit squad call to tell you he’s
coming to see you?”

“Yeah, I guess not.”

After Daniel and I hung up, I called
the airport and bought my ticket. This was the first step; a shiver
ripped through my body, as if warning me not to go. I had wrestled
with the decision to carry on my family’s bloodline for months as
it became more likely a Centauride would not choose me of her own
free will. My family was more to me than the DNA we shared. Every
happy memory in my life was tied to one of them.

The first time I got a hit in t-ball as
a kid, Brent, still in diapers, had escaped Mom’s watchful eye and
met me at home plate. The other team’s catcher didn’t want to hurt
him. Brent refused to move out of the way, so I got a homerun, and,
from then on, Brent was my good luck charm.