Chapter 3
Shy was happy to get out of the RV. The trip from Cleveland to the meeting place with the Centaurs had taken forever. Their small caravan – made up of two supply trucks and three RVs – carried the entire family, plus Rysk and Tyrant. Shy, his brother, and sisters, traveled in one RV with their parents. His uncles, one of his aunts, and all his cousins traveled in another RV, and his grandparents followed right behind. Rysk drove the truck that led the caravan, and Tyrant drove the truck that brought up the rear.
During their next stop, Shy stepped out of the RV, squinted at the sunlight, and stretched. Although the RV was spacious, anything started to feel cramped after two days. The sound of vehicles approaching made him turn and watch the dust kick up behind the two large vans that made their way to them. When the vehicles stopped, one male got out of each van and opened the back doors.
One male approached and said, “I’m Farienne. We’ve got a few hours left to our journey, so if you’ll split up between the two vans, we’ll get on the way.”
Adriel shook Farienne’s hand and said, “Thank you.”
Shy’s family split up between the cargo vans. There were benches built in to both sides of the interior of the vans, but no windows, and a solid wall stood between the back and front seats. Rysk climbed in with Shy and his family, and Tyrant rode in the other van with the rest of the family members.
The doors shut, and an overhead light cast a sickly yellow glow over everything.
Malia said, “Why aren’t there any windows?”
“The Centaurs don’t want us to know where their city is,” Ash said, slipping his arm around her shoulders.
“Why?”
“Because no one in our realm knows that Centaurs are real. They keep to themselves in the middle of nowhere so they can live in safety,” Axe answered.
“Wouldn’t they be safer having a group of other shifters looking out for them, like the ones in Cleveland do for us?” Aiyana asked.
There were five different shifter groups in Northern Ohio. Bears, ravens, tigers, dragons, and white lions. The groups had alliances and watched out for one another. Every group had alliances with the Wiccans, as well as with the vampires, but the shifter alliances were more valuable because shifters understood one another better than Wiccans or vampires could ever understand shifters.
Elizabeth shrugged. “I think they’re just too afraid to let their identities be known. A few hundred years ago, Centaurs were hunted and kept as slaves, used for their shifted forms as beasts of burden. When they broke free, they left for the Medes Realm where your Aunt Daeton lives now. After a century had passed, when the humans who had been instrumental in their capture had died, some Centaurs returned to our realm but decided to spend most of their lives in secrecy.”
“Well, that would suck,” Dena said.
Elizabeth chuckled. “Oh?”
“Yeah. How do they find girlfriends if they live in secret?”
“Centaurs are unique in the shifter world because they find their truemates through dreams. They call them ‘mate-dreams.’ Daeton dream-shared with her truemates. She said the dreams were fuzzy at first, and as she drew closer to Perseus and Ekho, the dreams became clearer,” Ash answered.
“And,” Elizabeth pointed out, “Centaurs are only born male. So, they can’t look within their own kind for their truemates. Without the dreams, they wouldn’t know where to look for their mates.”
Shy glanced at Teck as his parents and siblings discussed dreams. Teck’s eyes were closed, and he leaned back against the wall of the van with his arms crossed over his chest, but Shy could see his clenched jaw.
“Centaurs aren’t the only ones who mate-dream,” Shy said.
His family quieted, with his mother giving him a sad smile. “That’s true. Other shifters and supernatural creatures can have dreams about their mates. I think, though, that Centaurs are the only ones who only use mate-dreams and won’t mate with a female they haven’t dreamed about.”
“What if their mate dies before they meet her?” Malia asked.
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth said. “It would be sad if they had to live alone for the rest of their lives, though.”
“I’m glad I’m not having mate-dreams about a Centaur,” Aiyana said. “I like electricity too much.”
Everyone laughed.
Elizabeth tousled her hair and said, “I think if the one guy on the planet meant for you lived without electricity, you’d find a way to get along without it. Nothing is better than finding your truemate.”
“Or truemates,” Axe said.
Sighing, Shy rubbed his thumb between his eyes to settle a headache that the rumbling engine caused, and he leaned back. He was looking forward to seeing Daeton and her family again, and he knew it made his parents and grandparents happy for everyone to come for the get-togethers. Closing his eyes, he tried to relax for the remainder of the ride.
When the truck finally stopped, he heard muffled voices outside, and then the back door opened.
Aunt Daeton, belly round with child, said, “I thought you’d never get here!”
With tears in her eyes, she beckoned them out of the van, and they exited with smiles. The same as it had been ten years earlier, she stood alone, but off in the distance, Shy could see her two husbands and young son waiting.
Daeton hugged Shy tightly. “I can’t believe you two are as old as me now,” she said with a sniffle. “And so handsome. You must have she-bears chasing after you all the time.”
Shy smiled but didn’t respond, and neither did Teck, who hugged her quickly and stepped aside for their sisters to get a chance to say hello.
“When are you due?” Elizabeth asked as she kissed Daeton on the cheek.
“Four months. It’s Ekho’s baby, and leoneman births are eleven months instead of nine.”
“How do you know it’s Ekho’s?” Aiyana asked, eyeing her aunt’s rounded belly.
There was a brief pause, and then Daeton chuckled. “I had a vision, actually. I know I’m having a girl who takes after her cat papan. But I’ll leave it up to your parents to explain things to you, another time.”
“Thanks,” Axe said dryly.
The rest of the family piled out of the other van and greeted Daeton, who was happily weeping by the time she got to hug Rysk and Tyrant. They had been her protectors when she left for the Medes Realm twenty years earlier.
“Adi’s talked for days about seeing his other family. He’s so excited to get to spend time with his cousins.”
They walked up the hill to where Perseus, in his fully human form, stood holding the hand of his son, Adi, who also held Ekho’s hand.
The small Centaur trotted over to Shy. He grinned and squatted down. “Adi! Look how big you are!”
“You’re…Bo-da-way?” Adi said, speaking slowly.
He chuckled. “You can call me Shy.”
His young cousin was two years old now. His horse body was black like his father, Perseus, but he had Daeton’s coppery skin and onyx hair. He stood and Adi grabbed his hand. “My moman is going to have a baby.”
“I heard,” Shy said, smiling as Daeton turned to face him.
“We haven’t picked a name yet,” Daeton said.
Ekho said, “I’m sorry you won’t be able to meet her until the next visit.”
Daeton said, “King Arsen and Queen Sophie have prepared a feast for your visit. We’ll show you to the guest houses so you can clean up and rest for a while.”
The large group, escorted by the Centaur males who had driven them in the vans, walked down the hill toward the Centaur city. Grassy hills dotted with large trees surrounded the city, with a lake and forests providing meat and fish. The Centaur homes were trailers of various sizes, from the simple single-wide models to the more elaborate ones that looked like log cabins. The homes were all arranged in concentric circles around a central marketplace.
Daeton opened the door to one of two large trailers and said, “There are four bedrooms in each trailer, plus the couches pull out. We also have cots, bedrolls, and tents if any of my older cousins want to camp.”
Shy knew she was talking to him and Teck. He didn’t mind sleeping outside, and he doubted his brother would either. Shy followed his parents and sisters into the trailer and looked around. The small kitchen had a gas stove and a water pump at the sink. There wasn’t any indoor plumbing, but they used cisterns to catch rain and snow. This lifestyle was a little rougher then he was used to – at least the underground bear den had running water and electricity – but they were only going to be in the Centaur city for four days, and then another decade would pass before they could meet their newest cousin.
When it had been decided that the girls, Shy’s parents, Shy’s grandparents, and Rysk would each take one of the four rooms, with the others splitting up the rooms in the second trailer, Daeton and the adult females sat down in the family room of one trailer to chat. The males moved outside to talk while the kids played with Adi.
It was as if no time had passed, and the families picked up where they’d left off ten years earlier. Family was supposed to be like that. Accepting.
The afternoon passed quickly, and by the time his stomach was grumbling, the whole family was dressed in their finest clothes and on their way to a special dinner. Perseus was in his human form, but every other Centaur was in what they referred to as their half-form – the horse body and human torso. The dinner tables placed on the lawn in the center of the city were tall so the Centaur men didn’t have to bend over to eat. Tall stools had been provided for everyone else.
In the very center of the group of tables, four people stood waiting. Shy recognized the king and queen of the herd, but not the other male and female. Shy followed his family as they moved toward them, and the Centaurs and the mates all waited at the tables for the commencement of the meal.
Daeton introduced her parents first. “King Arsen and Queen Sophie, I’ve brought my parents from the states. My father, Adriel, and my mother, Filene. Mom, Dad, you remember King Arsen and Queen Sophie, the rulers of this herd. This is their adopted daughter, Kaya, and her escort, Commander Bry.”
The king was a regal man, who wore a crown made of twisted leather with a medallion in the center. The bronze medallion displayed the image of a dancing horse. His torso was bare, and Shy suspected it was to show off his many battle scars.
The queen’s long red hair was braided and tied with ribbons and flowers, and she smiled kindly. Kaya, who stood next to the king and queen, kept her head bowed. Her hair was a waterfall of the lightest shade of blonde he’d ever seen, bordering on ivory, and it was pulled back in a complicated braid with ribbons and flowers. The loose sections that had slipped free looked gloriously soft but partially hid her face from view.
Shy glanced at the male next to her. The Centaur had a blond horse body, and his feet stamped on the ground from time to time as if he were aggravated. Twin swords were strapped across his back, and the hilts with silks tied on the ends looked like wings behind him.
Kaya suddenly turned and moved away. The commander grabbed her roughly by the arm, and Shy’s protective instincts rose. He and Teck both took a step forward, but the young woman wrenched her arm free with a soft curse, gathered up the skirts of her dress, and ran.
The queen’s gaze followed Kaya, but she shook her head at the commander, who stamped his hooves impatiently.
Shy wanted to go to Kaya and comfort her. He’d never felt so strongly about a female before. He was overcome with the need to find her and make sure she was okay. Could she be his mate?
Absently, Shy shook the king’s and queen’s hands and bowed his head slightly, but his mind was not there with them; instead, he felt focused solely on Kaya. Where had she gone? What had made her cry? He’d never been very aggressive, but he wanted to rip off that Centaur guard’s hand for grabbing her the way he had.
When his family was finished walking down the receiving line, they were led to their table. Shy sat between his mother and brother, with his eyes glued to the trees that surrounded the city and in the direction that Kaya had gone. Unease welled inside him. He felt his bear prowling in his mind, growling for him to go to her, to gather her petite body in his arms and kiss away the shining teardrops from her cheeks.
Shy stood so fast that he knocked the wooden stool to the ground. He reached shaking hands down to right it and said, “I’m going to use the restroom.”
His mother looked at him curiously, and he had the distinct impression that she could see right through him. He couldn’t hold her gaze, so he pushed the stool beneath the table and walked quickly toward his family’s trailer. He walked straight through the home and out the back door toward the trees. He didn’t skirt the front of the trees because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself, so he moved deeper into the forest and then cut to the right.
When he was young, his father Axe had taken both him and Teck into the woods that made up the bear den’s territory and taught them to track. In bear form, they were naturally talented at tracking game. But in human form, it was an art form and required training and dedication. Teck was a better tracker, but Shy could hold his own. He’d caught a scent of a sweet-smelling flower when Kaya turned and ran away. He closed his eyes and centered himself, drawing on his superior powers to sift through the scents around him and find the trail that would lead him to her.
The smell of trees, earth, rotting leaves, and various small animals invaded his senses, and he filtered them out one by one, until all that was left was a floral scent, and underneath that, the sweet natural scent of a female. Kaya.
He let his skills guide him, following her scent as if it were a trail of breadcrumbs scattered in the mossy undergrowth of the woods. He walked for several minutes as fading sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees. He caught sight of the lake through the trees, but he didn’t see Kaya. Then he heard a quiet sniffle to the left and turned toward the sound, finding a small stand of trees with low hanging branches that reminded him of willows. His long legs closed the distance as he walked toward the trees, and he found her sitting on the grass with her dress pooled around her.
Her hair was disheveled. Flowers and ribbons lay scattered around her as if she’d yanked them out. He’d been moving silently because that was part of his training and a long-buried instinct, but he didn’t want to frighten her, so when he saw her, he purposely walked heavily, scuffing his moccasins through the grass to make noise.
Her white-blonde head raised slowly. Her cheeks were wet with tears, and her eyes were bright. He dropped to his knees in front of her as nerves skated through him. His desire to take care of her and comfort her overrode his nervousness, and he reached out and brushed the tears from her cheeks with his thumb.
She shivered and held his gaze. Her eyes were beautiful and unique. One blue eye the color of a summer sky and one green eye bright like spring grass. It reminded him of the flag on his tattoo, the two colors he’d always been partial to.
“I’m Shy.”
“You don’t seem like it,” she said, her voice raw from crying.
He smiled, relaxing. “No, my name is Shy. Well, actually, it’s Bodaway, which means shield. I picked the nickname Shy because of the meaning of my name, and I’m rambling. Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “Why are you so sad, Kaya?”
Being so close to her made his bear insane. His heart pounded, his muscles twitched, and his beast struggled to bridge the gap to her.
She brushed shaking fingers through her hair, and he caught a glimpse of something dark underneath a tied section of sash around her right wrist. Without saying a word, he untied the knot that secured the sash to her wrist and gasped.
Tattooed on her wrist was the symbol their people used to write Teck’s given name, Setimika. He reached for her other wrist in silence and untied the sash, finding the symbol for his own name.
He cradled both wrists in his large hands and ran his thumbs across the tattoos. When he touched her, his bear roared in his mind.
“Where did you get these, sweetheart?” he asked hoarsely.
She swiped her bottom lip with her tongue, and he had to stifle a groan.
“I had a dream.”
Shit.
“Tell me about it.”
“I was in a strange forest with two men. They took me to a red-barked tree that had a slice of the bark stripped away. Then they carved three symbols into the bare wood and put their fingers on the top and bottom symbols. I put my finger on the center symbol. I don’t know what the symbols mean, but I know that they’re important. The men from my dream,” she tilted her head and ran her gaze over him, “they’re mine. I’m sure of it.”
His hands tightened on her wrists. “These symbols, sweetheart, one of them is the symbol of my name.”
She drew in a sharp breath. A branch snapped behind Shy, and he knew who it was before he spoke.
“The other is Setimika. My name.”