Centaur Redemption (Touched Series) (28 page)

“You bear the scars of a warrior – my warrior.  I love you, Drake.”

Drake leaned up, his lips softly pressed to mine, “I love you, too.”

The two of us stayed wrapped in each other's arms.  I couldn’t loosen my hold on him for fear that he would fall back into an abyss or go galloping off to the pasture without me.  It was an irrational thought, but I didn’t care.  We had survived every curveball life had thrown at us.  We just needed to get off this mountain top.

Through the corner of my eye I saw Zandra sizing up the bars, pressing against them looking for a weak area.  Chiron’s hooves were heavy on the ground as he joined her.  Both spoke loudly enough for me to hear with my human ears, so I didn’t feel like I was intruding.

“Daughter, you still have much to make amends for.”

“Amends to whom?”

“You have named Camille as the Chairman, but that was a position you promised to Cameron.  He will not take your change of heart well.”

Zandra dismissed Chiron’s accusation, “I acted rashly.  Camille is better suited for the position.”

Chiron’s eyes traveled to mine, making no effort to quiet their conversation.  “I do not disagree, but Cameron can cause dissension among the herds.  You forget that your son Angelo was also promised the position.”

Zandra spat, “Angelo was never promised the position.”

“Ah, before you discovered Camille and Cameron, he was.  If he believes he has been cheated out of his birthright by Angela’s children, what do you expect him to do?”

“Angelo is harmless.”

Chiron’s voice boomed over the mountain, “Harmless?  Just because I am unable to see the future, do not take me for being blind.”

Zandra took a seat on a rock and looked up at Chiron; defeat shown clearly on her face.  “If we return to Centurion, I’ll collect Cameron and Angelo and tell them both that Camille is the new Chairman.  They will both accept my decision.”

“Will they?  Or will they think you have somehow been manipulated?  More has to be done than simply telling them you have changed your mind.”

“I am the matriarch of the Chiron herd.  Neither will question me.”

“Won’t they?  Because of the lies you have told both of them, they see Camille as their enemy.  You must make this right.”

“I’m on top of a mountain.  How do you propose I make anything right?”

“Call my family together.  Tell them the whole truth.  Tell Cameron it was under your direction that an assassination squad was dispatched to his home in South Dakota.  He holds Camille responsible for his property being destroyed.  He is convinced it is she who is out to destroy him.”

“I never told him Camille had destroyed his things.  He came to that conclusion on his own.”

“You did nothing to correct his conclusion.”

Zandra’s face soured, “Fine, I’ll tell him.”

Chiron chilled, “You will tell Angelo why Angela ran away – the real reason.”

My heart lurched, “
The real reason.
”  What did Chiron mean?

Zandra feigned surprise, “How on earth should I know what was going through my daughter’s head the night she took flight.”

“You told her Angelo was so thirsty for power he was willing to murder her betrothed.  If she were to bear children, he would dispose of them.”

Zandra defended herself, “The future does not lie!  I merely warned her of the inevitable.”

“So rather than kill her only sibling, she chose to run away.  Angela believed that if she never married or bore children she could keep your prediction from coming true.  She chose a life alone over the alternative.”  Chiron looked at me, “Your mother did not plan to be seduced by your father, but there are many of us who were pleased when it happened.”

Zandra sounded defeated when she confirmed, “Yes, Angela made a selfless act by running away in the night and leaving her betrothed behind.  In her wake she ensured I must remain in a position I never wanted to begin with.”

Chiron shook his head, “Do you not see?  Your prediction is still a possibility.  You must tell Angelo you know of his plans before he can take an action that can never be reversed.  If he views Cameron as a threat, he will not hesitate.”

Zandra looked mortified.  It was my turn, I needed to make sure I had understood what Chiron said.  “You said Zandra told Mom that Angelo intended to kill Kyle Richardson?”

Chiron nodded that I had understood correctly.  “Traditionally, the Chairman chooses a son, daughter, niece or nephew.  Zandra could have selected Angela, Angelo, or either of Zethus' sons.  Because she was still blinded with rage at Zethus, she never met, nor considered either of her nephews.  Angela was preferred over Angelo by all who met her. Angelo was angry – he viewed Angela and her betrothed Kyle as his competition for his own Chairmanship.”

“So Mom never wanted to be the Chairman?”

Chiron smiled as his complexion grew more radiant.  “Your mother believed she could save Kyle’s life by running away.  She fled to protect him.  By not bearing his children, she believed your grandmother’s prediction could not possibly come true.  Her flight should have resulted in Angelo receiving the Chairmanship he so desperately wanted.”

“But when Cameron and I came back into the picture – the prediction is a possibility again.”

Chiron walked toward me, his hooves heavy on the rocky earth.  “It is within Zandra’s power to stop this.  If she doesn’t, I fear for my herd’s future – all of my herds.”

“Athena told me about a curse on the Chiron Centauride’s twins.  Is it true?”

Chiron looked pained.  “I have watched the struggle among my children for generations.  The curse has been broken with you and Cameron, but Zandra’s actions have the chance of bringing it back.  If Cameron or you are sent to the pasture by Angelo or any other Chiron, life is breathed back into the curse.”

“Where did the curse come from?"

"Eris and I had a run in a very long time ago.  It is not important, but know that it is within your power to bury the curse for good."

"So Cameron isn’t evil?”

“No.”

“But he hates me?”

“Hate is an interesting emotion.  It resembles love in its intensity.  Truth has a way of morphing one emotion into the other.”

“That’s a yes?”

“That is entirely up to you.”

Zandra would not make eye contact with me.  She favored instead looking out onto the valley below through our prison bars.  She lied to Cameron about me.  She convinced Mom that if she married Kyle, Angelo would try to kill him.  She had told Cameron, Angelo, and me that we were all to be Chairman.  What would Angelo do if he found out she had promised it to all three of us?  Would we then become the threat he believed Mom to be all those years ago?

(Cameron Chiron – Cavern in Peru)

“Keep up, Cameron.”  Every step we took, Angelo was becoming more annoyed with me.  I hated that we had left Centurion.  Grandma took off with a gaggle of enforcers and Drake.  I wanted to go with her, but she refused.  She told me to wait for her there.  The next thing I knew Angelo was dragging me off to the airport. 

Doing my best to keep my own frustration out of my voice, I asked, “I still don’t understand what we’re doing here.  You said we needed to hide from Camille, but do we need to be underground?  Why’s she coming after us?”

“We are meeting a friend, someone who can offer us both protection from her.”

“But I never did anything to her.  What’s she got against me?”  Technically, I had threatened her before the Council meeting, but no one was after the Lost Herd anymore.  She couldn’t think that I would go against Grandma’s wishes?

Angelo didn’t answer me.  I got the feeling that more was going on than he was telling me.  The cave was wet and cool and seemed to go on forever.  The sides were worn smooth and the floor was uneven.  Trying to keep up with Angelo was next to impossible.  We had been in and out of this stupid tunnel for days.

I stepped on something squishy and aimed the light down, praying I hadn’t just found a snake.  Thankfully, it was a wadded up filthy piece of cloth.  There was some comfort knowing we weren’t the only ones ever to be down here. 

“Cameeerrrrooooon.  Where are you?” A voice echoed off the walls from the mouth of the cave.  It stopped me in mid-stride.  No, it couldn’t be.  I hadn’t seen him in a couple years.  How could he be here?

Angelo and I both froze.  More echoed shouts found their way to us, “Cameeeeroooon, I know you’re down here.”

Angelo’s hand grabbed me by my throat, cutting off my air.  “Who the hell is that?!” 

I tried to answer, but his grip was wrapped tightly around my vocal cords.  Nothing but a gurgling sound came out of me.

The voice grew louder, “Cameron.  Make some noise!!  Where are you?” 

My hands shoved hard against Angelo’s chest as I tried to wrench my neck out of his grasp.  All I could manage was, “AAAAAHHHAHAH.”  Not exactly a cry for help and not enough noise to be heard from a few feet away, let alone to be used as a vector for someone several tunnels up from us.

I could hear him drawing closer, as if he were running straight toward me.  His voice growing more angry by the foot.  “Dammit, Cameron!  I told you I was a phone call away.  What the hell happened?  I know you’re down here.  I didn’t give up my life to see you rot away in a godforsaken cave in the middle of nowhere.”

Angelo’s grip around my neck loosened marginally, his words slow and angry, “Who is it?”

I coughed and gagged, my voice was raw. “Ro. . .ger.  Guar. . .” More coughs spewed out of me, “dian.”

“Who?”

I took in a rush of air.  The feel of it flooding my lungs threw me into a coughing fit I couldn’t control.  I heard his boots running right for us.  Only a speck of light was visible from the tunnel we had come down, but in that little bit of light I could see the man who had raised me.

I doubled over, my hands on my knees trying to suck in whatever air my lungs would hold.  “Roger.  It’s Roger.  The human who raised me.”

Relief spread on Angelo’s face.  “How in the hell did a human follow us here?”

I shook my head.  I didn’t know.  The last time I had seen Roger was just before my twenty-first birthday.  Roger’s truck was packed for some fishing trip he was headed to in Wyoming or Montana.  I was in our little living room watching something on television when he walked in with a birthday cake.  He set it on the table and had a large envelope tucked under his arm. 

“I’m going on an extended trip this time.”  Roger opened the envelope, pulled out a bunch of papers and a wad of cash and set it on the table.  “I filed these down at the courthouse; this place is yours now.  You said you wanted to start a secondhand shop in town.  You can do that or you might consider converting the barn into one.  A lot easier to be a few feet from your store front, but that’s your call.”

His announcement was sudden.  The two of us had always talked over everything, so his decision that he was moving out was unexpected.  Questions whizzed through my head, but the only one I could put to words was, “Where are you going?”

“Fishing.  I’ve got some family out west I haven’t seen in a while.  Got a sister I haven’t seen in twenty years.  Think it’s time I look her up.”

A sister?  He’d never mentioned a sister.  He was from out west?  We had always lived here.  No one ever called or visited us, not once.  I looked around our little house, realizing this was more than a fishing trip.  Roger’s twelve gauge shotgun was missing from over the fire place.  A few pictures were missing from the living room wall.  I looked out the window and saw his truck was completely packed with boxes.  He wasn’t coming back.

I got to my feet, “Well, hold up.  I’ll go with you.  I’d like to meet her.”

Roger shook his head, “Naw, not this time.  You’re a man, Cameron.  It’s time you make a life for yourself.”

The burning question emerged before I realized I was even asking it.  “Are you coming back?”

Roger shook his head, “Only if you need me.”  He handed me a little slip of paper with a phone number scribbled on it.  “I’m always just a phone call away.”

Roger gave me an awkward hug, then just walked away.  He stopped in the doorway, turned toward me and warned, “Remember what I said about your family.  You don’t got none.  Don’t go turning over rocks that there’s snakes underneath of.  Hear me?”

I nodded and he walked out of my life.  I rifled through the papers he had handed me.  On top was the deed – our house and the twenty acres around it was now in my name.  I had mentioned starting a secondhand shop.  It wasn’t a huge dream or anything, just an idea.  As I turned over the wad of cash, it was more than enough to hit a few estate auctions and to pay a few months' rent on a store front. 

Roger taught me to hunt and to fish, he taught me how to do laundry and to split wood:  he’d taught me all the bare necessities of life.  He had given me the tools and was sending me out into the world to succeed or fail – but wasn’t interested enough to stick around and watch it.

I left the front porch light on for over a year, thinking he might show up.  I never did call the number he had given me.  I wasn’t sure if it was some kind of a test or if he had just decided his job was over and he was washing his hands of me.