Centaur Legacy (6 page)

When Camille emerged, rumors began to
surface; we couldn’t stay hidden much longer. The fact that Camille
had been conceived was proof of our existence. The plan to have a
Chiron heir carry the Tak bloodline had been brilliant. At the
time, I didn’t understand why it was so critical to find Camille’s
mother, Angela. Now, the genius of our leader’s plan was crystal
clear.

When I’d been ordered to seduce Angela,
I’d been told that if I were successful, I would be responsible for
future generations living in peace with all other Centaurs. I
wondered to what extreme Centaurs would go to eradicate the Lost
Herd a second time, when doing so would mean the murder of the last
Chiron Centauride. Their society would collapse around them if any
harm came to Camille, yet if they allowed her to live, they would
face the wrath of Zeus.

The Tak family would no longer be the
Lost Herd. We would take our place, once again, leading the herds.
Our Centaurs had always been the strongest. Rupert had been a
vicious leader and only the strongest of his line were allowed to
live. Centaurs from other herds who questioned his methods
mysteriously disappeared or died.

The stories told of Zeus’s anger with a
Centauride from our herd, but hearing the stories of Rupert growing
up – I wondered if he himself had been a threat to the
gods.

Things would change, and the rules that
bound our society would evolve. Camille was the key to everything:
she would be the reason all Centaurs would be reunited. Somewhere
hidden away was a fierce warrior, her twin. No matter what Gretchen
tried, Angela refused to give her any information on Camille’s twin
brother. I need to find him before Zandra does.

(Camille – Dublin,
Ireland)

We took the elevator to our room. The
red light was flashing on the phone, signaling a message waited for
us. It was Will’s voice: “Sorry, Grandma’s not going to make it.
She took a trip to San Diego. Hope you’re having a good
vacation.”

I didn’t understand the message at
first; Drake must have read my confusion. “He called to tell us
Zandra doesn’t know where we are. She’s looking for you in San
Diego. We’re safe here.”

“Why didn’t he just say
that?”

Drake shrugged his shoulders, “I’m sure
he didn’t want anyone to be curious if the wrong person heard
it.”

Drake walked past me into the bathroom;
I heard the shower turn on. I dug through the shopping bags
brimming with clothes we had bought the first day we arrived and
decided to put the clothes in the dresser drawers, so the
housekeeping staff wouldn’t think we were nomads. Tucked deep in
the bottom of one of Drake’s bags was a beautiful peach-colored,
silk nightgown. I held it up and ran my hand behind the fabric; it
was nearly see-through. I blushed at the idea of wearing this
instead of my pajama pants and t-shirt.

I smiled to myself, thinking maybe I
wouldn’t have such a hard time getting him to abandon his
traditions after all. The shower turned off, and I argued with
myself whether to hide it in the bag and pretend I hadn’t seen it,
put it in the drawers with the rest of the clothes, or find a way
to emerge from the bathroom wearing it.

Drake had bought me a white satin
nightgown when we were both at Zandra’s. It was beautiful, but not
like this. This one would cover less of me, and what was covered
would require very little imagination.

I felt even more connected to Drake
than I had the night of our escape. I loved him while I was still
captive at Zandra’s, but after the last three days, I couldn’t live
without him. I balled up the peach nightgown in my palm, deciding
it would not go back into the shopping bag or the
dresser.

Drake stepped out of the bathroom,
towel-drying his hair, without even looking in my direction, “Water
pressure’s great. Your turn.”

I washed all the dirt and grime off of
me, pulled my hair back in a loose braid and slid the nightgown
over my head. When I looked in the bathroom mirror, my cheeks
flushed a bright red. Brent would be furious with me if he saw all
the Centaur rules we were breaking.

He had nearly come unglued when he
found out I had been on dates and had a couple boyfriends growing
up. Of my five brothers, Brent was the closest to me in age and was
the most vocal with his disapproval of my upbringing.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to walk out
wearing the nightgown after all. The fabric was so sheer I felt
completely exposed. Drake and I hadn’t broached the subject of sex
beyond our conversation on the plane. It wasn’t much of
conversation; it was him telling me we needed to be wearing rings
before things went too far. I started to slip the nightgown off in
favor of my sleep pants and t-shirt, but I stopped when I had it
halfway over my head.

I thought of finding the pasture today,
thought back to Drake’s promise to me on the plane, how he’d saved
me from being sucked under by the peat bog, and wondered if maybe
he was just waiting for me to make the first move. If I knew
anything, I knew he’d never take the initiative.

When I emerged from the bathroom, I
walked out wearing the “barely there” peach-colored nightgown.
Drake had the television on and glanced over at me. His eyes
returned to whatever he’d been watching on the television, then the
image of me registered on his face, and his head snapped back in my
direction. He lay on the bed motionless, frozen. The look in his
eyes was unmistakable – desire.

Drake’s chest was bare; he lay on the
bed wearing only a pair of nylon running shorts. His eyes drifted
from my face to my toes, then back up, and settled slightly lower
than my face. I’d always hated it when men stared at me; it made me
uncomfortable, wondering what flaw they were zeroed in on. Drake’s
gaze didn’t make me feel that way. There was turmoil raging in him,
as longing was battling his conventional thinking, and the
turbulence of these two shone through his eyes.

Centaur traditions had been all he’d
known until I came into the picture. Dating was a supervised
ritual; marriages were arranged and treated like mergers. Allowing
a relationship to develop with all the insecurities and desires was
something I had taken for granted, but it was a whole new world for
Drake.

I knew how he felt about me; he’d
risked everything he’d ever held dear to be with me. Drake ran
halfway around the world for our future, yet he kept a barrier
between us. When we got to the hotel, I was surprised that he
hadn’t insisted on separate rooms, or at a minimum – separate
beds.

After finding the pasture today, I
wanted to push my luck. I wanted to be intimate with Drake, but
more than that – I wanted him to want it, too. I took a step closer
to the bed, nervous because just days ago what I wanted had
remained out of reach. Seeing him now, I wondered if I’d misjudged
his Centaur resolve.

Drake could have used his Centaur speed
and been at my side in a fraction of a second, but he didn’t. He
stood up slowly, stalking me as if a predator. Drake stopped only
inches away from me, his eyes focused on mine. His hand rose
slowly, as his palm lay gently against my face. I could feel his
heart beating; it was keeping pace with the speed of my own. My
shoulders were bare save for the flimsy straps holding the fabric
in place. His fingers glided over my shoulders and down my arms as
goose bumps materialized all over my body.

Drake’s voice was strained, “You are
exquisite.”

I let out a heavy breath I’d been
holding, “You’re pretty sexy yourself.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to wear. . .
that.” He said the word with reverence, as if my choice had been a
divine selection.

“You bought it for someone
else?”

“No. . . I bought it for you. I
imagined you in it, but my imagination didn’t do it justice.” He
paused, and added as a confession, “I hoped you’d consider the
eloping idea we’d talked about. You know, our first night together
and . . .”

Heat spread all over me. I felt shy,
looking at the floor instead of at his ice blue eyes, “But I’m
wearing it now.” I lifted my gaze to see his reaction.

Drake shook his head. “I didn’t imagine
I would be able to leave it on you very long.” Our bodies were
inches away from each other. I wanted to close the distance, but it
wasn’t me who had constructed the barrier. Drake had to want this,
too.

I gently reached forward as my hand
traced the chiseled lines on his chest, “It doesn’t have to stay
on.”

“Cami, you are the most dangerous
creature I’ve ever met.” It sounded like a no, but he didn’t move
away, and his eyes never left mine.

“I’m not dangerous, Drake. But I’ve
seen enough to know that sometimes you need to live in the moment.
Sometimes it’s okay to give in to what you want most.” I took his
hand that had been caressing my shoulder and brought it to my lips.
I stood on my tiptoes, leaned my body fully into his and whispered
in his ear, “I know what I want most. I chose you,
remember?”

I had won. I felt my body flying
through the air and all of Drake’s weight pressed on me, as we both
landed on the bed. His need was as primal as my own. All the pain
from Zandra’s house was gone. It was just the two of us. There was
no distance between us, but I still wanted him closer. I wanted to
melt into him.

His lips pulled away from mine. Thrill
spread wide on his face, “So, tomorrow? We find a priest and make
it official tomorrow?”

“Hmmmm?” I was so lost in the moment I
couldn’t get words out; if I could have, I would have told him to
stop talking.

“Cami?” My eyes opened but my hands
continued memorizing every inch of his body. “We find a priest
tomorrow, you promise?”

“Drake, it’s okay. Living in the
moment, remember?”

I felt his body go tense. He slid to
the side of me and stared directly in my eyes. The hurt was clear
in his voice when he asked, “Are you ashamed of me or
something?”

I couldn’t help but smile at him, “Uh.
. .no. Why would I be ashamed of the sexiest man alive?”

“But what you just said. . . what you
want most. . . you weren’t talking about marriage, were
you?”

“Do we have to talk about this
now?”

“No. Not if you don’t want to.” Drake
did more than ease away from me. He slid off the side of the bed
and walked around to the other side.

It felt like he’d just doused me with
cold water. I couldn’t hide the rejection I felt. Part of me wanted
to leap over the bed and hold him without letting go, while the
other part wanted to run to the bathroom and hide. I reached for
the blanket on the bed and felt the need to cover myself up. Tears
threatened to stream from my eyes, but I willed them
away.

His voice was drained of all emotion.
“I’m going to order something to eat. Did you like that Shepherd’s
Pie we ate at the pub today?” He picked up a menu and dialed for
room service.

I nodded absently, wondering what the
heck had just happened.

When he set the phone down, his
attention went back to the television. I wondered how we’d gone
from living in the moment to ordering a late dinner. I stewed about
it for a couple minutes then asked, “That’s it? We’re not married,
so suddenly you don’t want anything to do with me?”

“You know how I feel, Cami.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, but we can’t just hop
into
that
unless
we’re married.”

“Why? You think Zeus will strike you
down?”

He shook his head at me. “No. I just
want the world to know you’re mine in every way. If we aren’t
married, you aren’t mine.”

“I’m yours, Drake. I promise, I’m
yours.”

A half smile came to his lips. “Giving
me your body’s a great offer, but it isn’t good enough, Cami. I
want our souls bound, too. I can wait; I told you I’d wait forever
if I had to. I meant it.”

I had a tough time making eye contact
with him; I wasn’t sure whether to feel embarrassed for being so
forward or devastated at his rejection. Drake gently lifted my
chin, forcing me to look at him. “Cami, I get it. This is new to
you. There’s no rush. You’ve chosen me, and I couldn’t be happier.
When you’re ready for marriage, we’ll find a priest. Like I said,
no pressure.”

“Your mind’s made up? There’s no room
for negotiation on this one? We’re on a trip, you know: what
happens in Ireland stays in Ireland,” but Drake wouldn’t
budge.

His half smile turned into a grin, “I
promise you, I’ve never had a better offer. You know how I feel. If
you aren’t willing to be my wife, I’m not willing to be your
lover.” With a sultry smile he added, “I believe I would be an
incredible lover.”

Drake scooted down to the end of the
bed, slid his hand down my leg and rested his hand on my ankle – an
image of the two of us rocketed through my mind. It was more than
an image: a shiny silver band was wrapped around my ring finger, I
could feel his arms around me, I could hear the sounds of our love,
I could smell his scent – it was one of the most erotic moments I’d
ever felt. Drake let me savor the image for a couple minutes before
he withdrew his hand from my ankle and the image in my mind
evaporated. “Just say the word, Cami, and I’m all
yours.”