Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1) (24 page)

“Camille, your father is going to have to
answer your ancestry questions
.  I fear that if I share anything more I’ll only put my sons at risk.”

“But I don’t understand
.  W
hat
’
s the
L
ost
H
erd
,
and how would my brothers be at risk
?”

“The
L
ost
H
erd
are
the descendants of Rupert.  Rupert was found guilty of crimes in absentia – he owed many blo
od debts that were never paid.”
 

It didn’t escape me that she didn’t share why she thought I would be putting my brothers at risk, but rather than press her for information I knew she didn’t want to share
,
I asked,
“Brent seemed to think that I was part of that herd
.  W
hy would he think that?”

Gretchen chewed her lower lip
.  S
he was trying to answer me, without answering me.  “You are unique, Camille.  Full-blood
ed
Centaurs can only be born between two married Centaurs.  If your mother had been human, no one would give it a second thought
: 
you would be a half-breed. 

In our society h
alf-breeds are slightly more desirable than human
s
but are still not considered Centaur.
  Most Centaurs forced to marry humans eventually leave our society altogether
,
and their children are unaware of their ancestry.
  You are a full-blood
ed
Centaur, born of two Centaur parents
who
were not married
.  Until I met you, I would have thought it im
possible.”

“So, I’m what?”

“We don’
t know.  News of your arrival spread more rapidly than even I anticipated.  Men are very anxious to meet you, but their mothers will be cautious. 
I
’ve asked a friend to look into your future
.  S
he can’t see it
,
or when she does
,
the outcomes are fluid
.  It’s as though your future is not
mapped, as though the heavens forgot to write your destiny
.  It changes from day to day
,
almost as if your possibilities are endless.”

“That’s the way everyone’s futures are.  Bianca told me, free will
trumps fa
te.”

“Free will allows people to choose portions of their destiny, but yours won’t solidify enough for me to coun
sel
you on any decision.  The only thing I do know is your mother has something she must talk to you about.  She won’t allow me or anyone else to relay the information.  You have to practice communicating with her
because whatever she needs to tell you – you need to know
.”

“Do you think she knows why I’m not like everyone else?”

“I hope so
,
Camille.  Promise me you’ll not bring up questions to others about the
L
ost
H
erd.”  Her request wasn’t a request at all.  I liked Gretchen, and I trusted her.  I hated that she couldn’t just come right out an
d
answer me, but I believed her when she told me
I shouldn’t ask
others about the
L
ost
H
erd.

“So no Centaur has ever been born if their parents weren’t married?”

“No.”

“Not ever?”

Gretchen looked across the table at me.  She shook her head.  I had come to a quick conclusion, “Maybe Will isn’t my father?”

A vase full of flowers flew across the room and landed hard against the leg of the table.  Gretchen and I both leap
ed
up in our chairs, avoiding the shards of glass that sprayed in all directions.  Gretchen was pissed, “How dare you!”

At first I thought she was screaming at me
,
as if I’d somehow hurled the vase at her.  “You did this to her.  You
were
selfish
,
and now you’re acting like a child!” Gretchen was furious
. 
I couldn’t see my mother
,
but something told me she was in the kitchen.  Gretchen started shaking as she fired back, “Maybe you should have asked him while you were alive!  What did you expect her to think?  What did you expect everyone to think?”

I didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire between the two
,
and only hearing Gretchen’s half of the conversation was more confusing than helpful.  I reached down and started picking up flowers from the mangled mess on the floor.  Gretchen gathered the dustpan from the pantry and squatted down to help me.  She didn’t seem as angry as before
,
and this time she addressed me, “Camille, your mother wants you to talk to your father about his
blood line
.”

We continued
trying
the remainder of the morning and all afternoon for me to contact my mother. 
Other than nearly taking a glass vase full of flowers to the shin, I didn’t have any contact with her. 
I can say that the lasagna Gretchen made was absolutely wonderful
,
and in truth the scent was better than any I’d ever smelled in my past.  We tried looking at a picture of my mom
. 
I list
en
ed to a full play list of my mom’s favorite songs
.  H
er favorite Saturday pastime was
being
on the beach
,
so we spent time outside with some sand.  None of my senses did anything but stir happy memories of my mother – no
ne
made her materialize right in front of me. 
By the time Will and my brothers arrived, I was exhausted.  Gretchen had made a second pan of
lasagna
,
but I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up my end of any conversation. 
I wanted to talk to Will, but from Gretchen’s reaction
,
I knew I needed to talk to him privately. 

I found myself back in my room desperately wanting to talk to Daniel.  It was still too early
for him to be off work
.  I picked up my phone and saw I’d missed several calls from Bianca today. 
The guilt I’d been able to shelve all day reemerged when I saw my phone’s call log. 
I was still so ashamed of what happened yesterday that I couldn’t bring myself to call her back.
  Maybe I really would lose my newest friend to my action on the boat
.  I
f I couldn’t bring myself to talk to her, eventually she’d stop calling me.
 

I thought back to the time on the boat with Drake and what I’d told Daniel last night.  I
did
initiate the contact, but I never would have if he hadn’t shoved all the images of the two of us in
to
my head.  Then it hit me – Drake’s was the first mind I had read.  I hated the idea of revisiting what had happened
,
but when I put my hands on his face
,
I wasn’t just getting words or emotions, I got images – visions of us together.  It was only a few seconds
,
but when I saw what was on his mind
,
I couldn’t keep my hands to myself – as if I were being magnetically pulled to him.  I knew it wasn’t rational, it wasn’t even something I wanted
-
it was just a physical reaction.
  Based on what happened, touch might
b
e my strongest sense.
 

For thirty minutes I tried to push images of Drake from my head
,
and thankfully a soft knock on my door
finally
allowed me to do just that.

Chapter 19

It was Brent’s voice on the other side of the door, “You okay, Camille?”

“Come on in, I’m just getting some rest.”

“You’ve been doing a lot of resting
.  E
verything okay?”

“Yeah.  Gretchen and I were working on stuff today
,
and I
needed a break
.”

“Do you want to do anything tonight?”

“Like what?”

“That sounded like a yes.”

“That sounded like a ‘what did you have in mind?’”

“You’ve been stressed since Bruce’s wedding.  Let’s go blow off some steam.”

“Doing what?”

“
I’ll think of something.  Let’s get out of here.
”
  I was thrilled to see his idea of blowing off steam and mine were one
and
the same.  He pulled up outside Frankie’s Fun Park and made a straight line to the Go Karts.  This was exactly what I needed.

We took several trips around the track. 
A guy
in a blue Go Kart
with
shoulder-length
hair, wearing a skater t-shirt and a big grin
,
k
ept purposely rubbing the side of his
Kart
against mine
at every opportunity
.  I could tell he was flirting, but it was harmless and kind of cute.  Brent was on the other side of the track
,
but I felt his eyes watching us.  A few more turns and I saw the white flag indicating our time was almost up.  I took a couple
sharp
corners and felt my side wheels lift off the track.  When I pulled into the pits
,
the guy from the blue
Go Kart
caught up to me and said, “What are you,
Mario
Andre
tti
’s daughter?”

“Not unless Andr
etti
doubles as a financial manager.”

“Nice moves back there
.”  He held out his hand
,
“
I’m Jack.”
 

“Hi Jack,
I’m Camille.”  Brent emerged from his car and was at my side in seconds.  I could see Jack got the wrong idea and thought Brent and I were
a couple
.  I didn’t see any reason to contradict the conclusion he’d drawn
.  With everything else going on in my life
,
I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend – Centaur or
h
uman. 

I didn’t introduce Brent, but Jack
opted
for a quick getaway, “It was nice to meet you
.  M
aybe I’ll see you around.”  Jack turned around and was gone in a flash.

I pretended to be upset with Brent, “Well
,
that was a little rude
, don’t ya think?
”

“
G
uys like that are a dime a dozen.  You’re a
Centauride
– you’re out of his league.”

“I don’t know
-
he was cute.”  I fished in my pocket and pulled out a coin, “
Here’s a
nickel
– I’ll take six.
”

“You
drive me crazy
, you know it?”

“Oh stop it.  It’s not like I’ve never been on a date before
,
and besides, it was just flirting.”

“Camille, you can’t date.”

“No.  I can’t marry anyone.  There’s a
big difference.  I’m not in the market for a husband
.  I can date whoever the heck I want.”

“Not a human.”

“Hello, I’ve already dated humans.  I’ve never dated a Centaur, but it can’t be
that
different.”

“Humans?  So you weren’t kidding?  You’ve dated more than one person?”
  Brent was not at all impressed.

“Well
,
not at the same time, but, yeah.  Believe it or not, it’s pretty common.  If you wouldn’t have appeared out of thin air, I might have had a date with that guy.”

“Well, don’t let me cramp your style.  Why don’t I take you over to the college
.  Y
ou can date the whole football team.”

“Cool, do you think I could get better seats that way?”
 
I thought we were joking around,
until
I noticed Brent was fully pissed off. 
Most people would have stopped right there, but once I knew how angry he was
,
I couldn’t help but
keep pushing his button
.  “Did I hear on the radio that there’s a hockey team here?  I bet if I w
ere
dating the whole team
,
I could ride the bus to the away games.”