“Three?” I can see his mind working.
“West’s brother, Raider, and Mimi. She was his girlfriend.” I sniff, trying to hold it together. I’m not sure why I’m telling him this, only that it feels good to talk about it. Our group has bottled it up. It’s not a nice thing to remember. To bring up. West loses it if I talk about that night. If any of us brings it up. “Raider and Mimi were dragon shifters as well. When we first left the weyr, we used to find empty houses to sleep in. We had a few items of clothing. No money. No idea how to live amongst humans. We were a mess. We slept wherever we could. Found food wherever we could. Times were tough. We almost gave up and thought of going back.” My lip wobbles. “Thing was, the weyr was worse. It was better living on the street…with nothing. Raider and Mimi were very much in love.” I smile just thinking of them. I swallow a lump down, remembering what came next. “Our weyr was going to split them up. Mimi had been promised to another man.”
“What?”
“You can’t choose who you mate in our weyr. Our leader does that. He likes to break up couples. It’s always ‘for the good of the weyr’. If I hear him say that to me again in my lifetime, I swear…”
“What about you?”
I shake my head. “No one would mate with me because of my power to see the future. I’m considered an abomination amongst my own. Same as the guys. Being half demigod is a reason to be shunned.”
“Seems like our weyrs had a couple of things in common.”
“We ran away because we hated it there. We ran so that Raider and Mimi could be together. We hadn’t escaped for very long. It was a few weeks, and then the centaurs happened. The fight lasted all of three minutes. We entered the house. They surrounded us. Told us in detail what they planned to do to us.”
“Centaurs are vile, sick fucks!” Stephan says; his voice is a deep rasp laced with anger.
I nod. I can’t talk for a minute or two; the words are stuck in my throat.
“You don’t need to tell me any more if you don’t want to,” he says, his gaze filled with concern. “Or you can talk to me some more, if it will help, but no pressure either way.”
I nod once, black memories swirling through my mind. “They surrounded us. All hell broke loose. We had to fight for our lives. In the end, there were only five of us left.” A tear tracks down my cheek, and my voice has cracked. “West fought for me too. I will always be grateful. Without him, I would not have made it. Raider gave it his all but…” I shake my head. “Mimi was still alive…after…barely. In the end, her wounds were too grievous. She didn’t make it. The only good thing that came of it was putting an end to that particular herd. They thought they would have their fun and then kill us at their leisure.”
“How many centaurs were there?”
“Twelve.”
“Fuck!” Stephan whispered the curse. “That’s a big herd.”
“If it weren’t for my brother, I don’t think any of us would have made it. The centaurs soon realized they needed to fight hard, and fight they did. Maddox killed half of them. Once he goes into berserker mode, there’s almost no stopping him. Having said that, the centaurs were tough bastards to kill. They fought hard and dirty. Zale and Barrett took on two each. West doesn’t have any power. Zale can shoot lightning out of his hands. Barrett does this fire-spewing thing. West had to fight with his hands. He put himself in front of me and fought with all he had. I’m small for a shifter. Even in my dragon form. Thank god he’s strong and stubborn. I would have been dead if it weren’t for him.”
Stephan reaches out with his hand but pulls back just before he touches me. “I’m so sorry. It sounds like a nightmare.”
I nod. “It was! Raider and Mimi fought side by side. Raider was in half-shift when he was taken down. The house wasn’t very big. We couldn’t shift completely. We needed room to fight. He tried desperately to save her…but those centaurs were too strong. I think some of West’s strength comes from being a demigod. He says he didn’t inherit anything from his father, but I don’t think that’s true. I think the two of us lived because of how powerful he is. He was pretty beat up. Lost a ton of blood. Took a full day to recover.”
“They seriously underestimated you,” Stephan says.
“If only the herd had been slightly smaller. If only I was stronger. Maybe if we had been closer to Mimi and Raider when the attack happened.” The tears are falling in earnest now. I haven’t cried in a long time. It’s been bottled up inside. “By the time Maddox and Barrett got to them…it was…it was too late.” I’m shaking my head.
“You couldn’t have done anything. Don’t beat yourself up,” Stephan says. He pushes out a breath. “I know you can’t help it, but you have to try. It’ll drive you crazy otherwise.”
“You’re right. It’s just that I wish I had done a better job of seeing her future. Stay away from horses,” I snort, feeling pissed off with myself for the hundredth time.
“You couldn’t have known. Your prediction was ultimately correct.”
“It was a half-truth. It was useless. The only consolation is that they both died that day.” I sniff. “I know that sounds grim, but I’ve never known love like the two of them had. Raider would have done anything for Mimi. He died for her.” I wipe my tears. “I sometimes wonder if she could have recovered from her wounds, as bad as they were. I think that maybe she chose to die when she saw his broken body.” I cover my face with my hand when it crumples. “I’m so sorry for putting all of this on you,” I say through my hand before pulling it away. I look his way. “We grieved, but we never talked of that night again. West goes ballistic if anyone tries to bring it up. He lost a piece of himself then. His brother was his only family.” I wipe my tears away. “He’s hoping to meet a half-brother amongst all of you. I’m worried he’s going to get hurt when it doesn’t happen.”
“I understand his…hang-ups better now.”
“He used to be a really good guy. Easy-going and sweet. Fun to be around. It’s hard to believe it now, but it’s true. After Raider died, that all changed. He went to a dark place. If I’m honest, we weren’t as close anymore before the incident with the centaurs. I think we would have broken up sooner.” I feel instant guilt. It’s like I’m putting West down. I don’t want to talk badly of him. “After that night…” I shrug. “I tried to be there for him. I tried hard to…be there. To help him. In the end, our relationship fell apart anyway. He’s convinced himself that we still belong together, but that isn’t true. He’s still in such a bad place.”
“I can’t imagine. Jarrod and I are close. If I lost him like that…” Stephan’s chest rises as he pulls in a deep breath.
“That’s the thing, I’m hoping one of your group is related to him.”
“You don’t know what his power is or who his father is?” Stephan asks.
I shake my head. “No. I think he expects to know his half-brother when he sees him…if he even exists.”