Centaur Redemption (Touched Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

words, “Gage, we can be together.”  She reached across the table and took my hand in hers.  Tingles spread up my arms.
    A pressure had set heavy on my chest for weeks, constricting my breathing.  In that moment, I took in a lungful of air.  A warm glow traveled from my heart throughout my body – all would soon be right with the world.  I didn’t care what herd this Camille Strayer came from – if anyone asked me, she was my angel of mercy. 
    The joy I felt that day was short-lived.  No sooner had Bianca begun her plotting than my angel of mercy was stolen out from under me.  When Camille disappeared, she took any hope I still grasped onto that I would be with Bianca. 
    Drake was devastated.  We’d been best friends since childhood, but this wasn’t something we could talk about.  He was betrothed to the woman I loved and mourning the loss of a Centauride he hardly knew.  A full month went by, and the ache that burned to my soul had returned with a vengeance.  Drake and Bianca were going forward with their plans to marry.    
    In a strange twist of fate, Dad called me into his office and told me, “Against my better judgment, I have agreed to an arranged marriage between you and Camille Chiron.  Although I have given my blessing, you have the final say.  I would like for you to meet her and decide for yourself.”
    “Camille Chiron?”  I didn’t understand; the Chiron son always had twin sons.  Angelo couldn’t have had a daughter, could he? “Angelo had a daughter?”
    The pain that shone through Dad’s eyes was the same I had seen in my own mirror for the last month.  “No, son.  Camille is Angela’s daughter.”
    I had only intended to humor my father and satisfy my own curiosity.  It wasn’t until I arrived at Zandra Chiron’s estate and saw Camille for myself that I understood what had happened.  Camille did not let on to the Chairman that she and I had met for pizza in Charleston.  I excused myself, promising to return later that day.  As soon as I was outside the estate walls, I called Bianca.  She and Drake arrived that same evening.  Because my father had told the Chairman the choice would be mine, she was very accommodating when I showed back up at her doorstep with Bianca and Drake in tow. 
    We all thought we were clever.  The four of us were convinced we would find our happily-ever-after on our own terms.  Youth and ignorance often lose against age and treachery – Zandra was not one to be underestimated, and all four of us had underestimated her.  
    Turning away from the window, I saw Bianca staring at me.  She would never understand the utter emptiness I felt that day at Zandra’s estate.  Gut-wrenching loneliness consumed me in a matter of seconds.  I couldn’t take the chance with Bianca’s life a second time.  I would not survive.  “I’ve seen your blood smeared on her wall as a prop.  If she is given a second chance, who’s to say she won’t dispense with the theatrics and murder you for real?”
    Drake began to speak, but Camille cut him off.  “Gage, I know exactly what you’re talking about and I agree.  You and Bianca need to go home.”  Her somber expression told me she did understand.  The two of us had been tricked into believing they were both dead, murdered at Zandra’s hand.
    Bianca raised her chin as her posture went rigid, “We did not come all this way to leave you two alone.  We go where you two go.”
    Camille countered, “We aren’t alone.  Look around, I’ve got five brothers, two sisters-in-law, a Lapith, and a set of parents who would dance with the devil before they permitted one of us to be hurt.  I’d feel better if you took your hot sauce back to Charleston and gave a big heaping dose to anyone who talks crap about the Lost Herd.”
    Bianca beamed as she reached to the floor and patted her handbag, “These bottles aren’t for me.  One is for Zandra.  The other is for the first Centaur or Centauride