Centaur Rivalry (Touched Series Book 3) (10 page)

Drake
’s voice reverberated in my head, “
Almost there, Love.  About one more minute
.”

I
raised my head up enough to feel a branch slap me on the shoulder.  The force of the branch because of Drake’s speed could have sliced my face open, so I tucked back in close, to be sure I wouldn’t have an enormous gash on my face when we stopped.  His arms gripped me tighter as he smashed me against his chest, “
I said, ‘almost,’ I didn’t say that we were there yet.
”

He was right, a few seconds later I could hear the earth under his feet
.  Drake and Brent were slowing down.  As I peeked up, the lights of Katherine’s house were ahead of us.  Drake barely sounded winded, “Where to?”

“
Katherine’s house.  It’s right behind the motel’s tree line.  The others should arrive soon.  They left a few minutes before you showed up.”

Drake set me on my feet and took both my hands in his.
  The sight of him was still magnificent.  The moonlight reflected off of his bare skin, his muscles somehow more defined in the darkness.  I stood there mesmerized, forgetting the fear from seeing Roscoe, and the worry of the severed communications with Jessica and Bianca.  I was safe with Drake, and for now that was enough.

Brent stood awkwardly next to us.  His
face was beet red, but he didn’t seem to be out of breath.  How could the two cover so much distance that quickly and act as if it had been no more than a stroll in the park?

I looked up at the rustic house standing before us.  It looked like it had been carved out of the hardwoods it was nestled in.  The front of the house was exposed wood, but it wasn’t like
the pre-fabricated mountain cabins that were so popular for second homes.  The roof was covered in snow and the windows were steamed so badly they looked like frosted panes of glass.  A path to the front door was well worn with Katherine’s footprints.

Drake had been worrying since I first contacted him
, but he hadn’t wasted time asking questions before.  As the three of us stood outside Katherine’s house, he asked, “Who is this Lapith you said you found?”

“It’s
Katherine.”

Drake’s muscles flexed
, his eyes widened as he looked at me, then at the house, then at the motel we had been staying in.  “Katherine?  The human who owns the motel?”

“Yes.”

Thoughts swirled in Drake’s mind, but he chose to keep most of them to himself.  When he finally spoke, his tone was reserved, “A Lapith’s nature is to war with Centaurs.  At least, in the stories my father told, they were humans with extraordinary powers – powers used to attack Centaurs at will.”

Brent answered
Drake’s indirect accusation, “She’s okay.  I heard the same stories growing up.  Katherine’s not like that.  We found a pure-blooded Centauride at the bar tonight – Jessica.  The two of them are tight.”

Drake’s eyebrow arched
as he looked between Brent and me, “They’re tight?”

I
agreed, “Like best friends.  They’re with Daniel, on their way here now.”

“How did you find
Daniel?”  Drake’s muscles still refused to relax as I watched steam rise off of his exposed flesh.  My stomach started cinching up as I remembered my earlier conversation with Daniel in the tunnel.  Daniel didn’t have any love for Drake, either.

I tried to sound oblivious to his contempt for Daniel. 
“He walked into the bar right before we did.  Isn’t it great?”

Drake muttered under his breath, “Yeah, fantastic.”

We made our way to Katherine’s house to wait for the others, careful to walk inside as many footprints and snowmobile tracks as we could find to try to hide all the extra footprints.  She had left the door unlocked.  Brent went in first, then Drake and I followed.  Drake hit his head on the light hanging in the entryway, but steadied it with his hand before it could swing back and hit him a second time.

Drake rumbled,
“Great, low ceilings.”

I patted his arm, “I don’t think we’re staying long.”  I could feel Bianca was close
.  She had to be in the motel with Gage.  “
Bianca, can you two come over to Katherine’s house?
”

I could hear the joy in her
response as I chastised myself for not cluing her in sooner, “
You’re back?  We’ve been looking for the truck to pull up out front.
”

“
Minor change of plans.  We’re at Katherine’s house.
”

Less than three minutes passed
before the door to the entryway burst open.  Bianca navigated her way around Drake and threw her arms around me.  “You’re safe! OHMYGOODNESS, I froze when I saw Zandra tonight.”

“Did she talk to you two?”

“No, not a word.  She pretended she didn’t even see us.  We were parked right outside the access door to the tunnel like you told us.  She came out of the woods with like seven Council enforcers.”

I thought about what
Katherine had told me about being close to her.  Could we have been close enough that Bianca was cloaked, too?  I asked cautiously, “So, she didn’t see you?”

“She had to have seen us, we were right there in front of her!  I didn’t want to risk it by communicating with you.  After they disappeared back into the woods
, I was worried it was a trap, so we left.”

“Did they follow you?”

“No, seriously, Cami.  It was like they were pretending they couldn’t see us!  You don’t think Zandra’s helping hide you, do you?”

If Bianca and Gage were directly over the
access, their position had to be at least forty feet from where we were standing below.  I wondered if Katherine was even more powerful than she knew.  Car doors slammed shut outside.  Jessica, Katherine and Daniel had made it.  I heard my own sigh of relief – we’d all made it.

Bianca was waiting for my answer.  “No. 
Zandra’s not here to help us.”

None of us had moved pas
t the entryway, so when Katherine opened the door, she must have been a little surprised to see us all wedged in there.  The vulnerability in her voice from the tunnel was gone.  She was frustrated, “For Pete’s sake, Drake, there’s no danger here.  Change back.”  Katherine, Jessica and Daniel squeezed into the already packed entryway as she slammed the door shut.  Daniel’s eyes were enormous as he took in Drake’s body.

You could have heard a pin drop in the cramped room.  After the silence had gone about four seconds too long, I said, “He can’t change back,
Katherine.”

“Well
, of course, he can!  Drake, I think it’s great you’re worried about Cami, but this is my house – change back to your human form or you’re going outside.  This may not be the Ritz, but I don’t allow livestock inside.”

I wanted to pull her off to the side and tell her privately this was a sacrifice Drake had made for me, but it was more than just
Katherine who needed to hear it.  I cleared my throat and looked Drake in the eyes as I shared with our little posse of friends.  “When I’d been kidnapped, Drake thought the only way to get me back to safety was to find Chiron’s arrow.  Somehow he found my twin brother, and when he couldn’t convince him to give it up, Drake took the arrow then went after me.  There must have been some magic still in the arrow because Chiron turned him into a Centaur to protect me.”

Drake’s hands reached out and took mine in his
tentatively.  He squeezed my hand, letting me know it was okay to tell them the rest of the story.  I looked around at all the eyes staring back at me, “Drake spoke with Zeus and was given the chance to return to his human form.  Zeus knew that if he went back to being human, he wouldn’t be able to protect me, so Drake chose to stay a Centaur.”

I let my words hang in the air
.  Daniel was the one standing closest to the door.  Drake had his back to him when Daniel reached over and swatted him on the hindquarter – hard.  “You did this for Cami?”

Drake angled around and looked Daniel square in the eye.  “I did.”

Daniel didn’t sound impressed.  “It never occurred to you that you could have stayed human and just asked for help?”

Drake shook his head, “I know how you feel about Cami, but she’s my responsibility.  I made the right choice.  Zeus knew what was coming.  Two nights ago we were ambushed by thirty Centaurs,” he clarified, “Centaurs with only two legs.  It wouldn’t have mattered if you, Beau and Bart had stayed back to help, the
re were too many of them.  Cami and I escaped with our lives because of this.”  Drake gestured to his body.

Katherine
sighed loudly, “Just like I thought.  Chiron did this, not Zeus.”

Drake
hadn’t met Katherine, but he turned around to face her, and in doing so shoved Gage and Bianca into the wall.  “That’s right.  I will fight to the death for Cami.”  I couldn’t be sure, but his tone sounded like a challenge of some sort, as if Katherine were the enemy.

Not at all impressed with Drake’s words,
Katherine answered, “Okay, fine.  But while she’s under my roof, she has
my
protection.”  She looked at the startled Gage and Bianca, who had stepped a little further inside the house and away from Drake.  Katherine refused to back down when she demanded, again, “Change back before ya trample any more of my guests!”

Drake’s normally calm demeanor disappeared,
“You’re not listening.  I. Can’t. Change. Back.”

“You’re not listening t
a me, Centaur.  Chiron changed you to protect his last Centauride heir, eh?”

Drake and I both nodded that that was what had happened. 
Katherine continued, “It’s not so hard to figure out.  Think abou’ it.  He wouldn’t have done that if it meant she was miserable.  Ya think he intended for you ta stay half a man?  How would that carry on his bloodline?”

“Chiron decided her life was more important tha
n carrying on his blood line.  Zeus said it was permanent.”

“And you believed him?”

A collective intake of breath sounded around the room.  I hadn’t spent my whole life as a Centauride, but I knew none of them ever said anything negative about the gods.  Nor did they question any message delivered from a god.  Did she realize she was questioning the father of the gods?  She couldn’t.

“I have no reason to doubt his words.”

Katherine bowed her head and threw her hands in the air.  “That’s what I thought!  You’ve never even tried ta change back, have ya?”

I froze.  All those times, no less than a hundred, I’d told Drake it was temporary.  Did he have the power to change back the entire time?  How would he do it?  Would he need to touch the arrow?  It was gone
– long gone.  Could he summon Chiron to ask?  Chiron hadn’t spoken with Drake or me;
Zeus
told him it was forever, but I hadn’t believed it, not really.

No one spoke, but thoughts
buzzed all over the room, many echoing the same questions I had.  Other than the thoughts whizzing by in all directions, the room itself remained silent as Drake and Katherine stared at each other.  No one moved.

His nostrils flared, his eyebrows furrowed
, and, if he would have had the ability to shoot her with lasers through his pupils, he would have.  Drake’s voice was forceful, “You’re asking if I questioned Zeus?”

“I’m pointing out that you aren’t looking at this change from Chiron’s perspective.  He didn’t do it as a punishment.  Zeus doesn’t know Chiron’s mind.”

Everyone’s voices were still absent, but their thoughts came crashing in on me.  It felt like a tidal wave of doubt.  Could Zeus have been wrong?  Could he have been purposely deceptive?  Why would he be?  Daniel stared at me, and it was his thoughts that stood out compared to the others.  “
Cami deserves to be happy.  I can’t stand Drake, but that’s who she wants.  I wonder. .
.”

Daniel winked at me, then turned toward Drake and cleared his throat.
  His tone was smug, borderline condescending, “Drake’s right.  He’ll never be more than half a man.  Cami, I think this is a sign from your great-grandaddy himself – I’m all yours.”

Shocked faces around the room looked
among Daniel, Drake and me.  If Daniel meant it as a joke, no one was laughing.

I shook my head in a warning, “Daniel, stop.”

Drake’s hoof stomped and the light overhead swung slightly.  Every person in the compact room tensed, silently begging Daniel not to antagonize Drake in the close quarters.  Daniel didn’t stop.  He turned his back on Drake, so he stood facing me, as if daring Drake to stop him.  His voice turned silky smooth, “Drake already gave you to me.  He knew he could never be the man you needed.  He already stepped aside for me.  Ask him.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.  Who was this guy
?  Certainly not the best friend I’d had since grade school.  It was hard enough to convince Drake to stay with me; I didn’t need Daniel antagonizing him into leaving.  My voice shook as the first bits of anger escaped me, “He only did that because he thought I couldn’t accept him.  I hadn’t found him yet when that happened.  He thought I needed a man.”