Bonded (The Raegan Mason Trilogy)
Bonded
By Cheryl Courtney
Copyright © 2012 by Cheryl Courtney
All rights reserved.
Cover image: Designed by Emily Lam using photograph © alma_sacra - Fotolia.com
These stories are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used ficticiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from Cheryl Courtney. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Summary: After the tragic loss of her parents and an unexplained beach experience, seventeen year old Reagan Mason is ready to get back to what is left of her life. Starting over will be difficult, but she knows her parents would want her to move on. She never thought meeting Kyler Stone would be the beginning of the end of life as she knows it. There are many that want her dead, and want to make sure Raegan and Kyler never unite. Will the bond that has formed between them help them stay alive, or is it just a matter of time before they are destroyed?
To My Loving Husband, Stephen,
Thank you for believing in me and encouraging me through this whole process.
To my daughters, Caitlyn & Bri,
Keep dreaming your dreams and working hard!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1 – THE ROCK
CHAPTER 2 – THE SONG
CHAPTER 3 – A NEW DAY
CHAPTER 4 - KYLER
CHAPTER 5 - SURPRISE
CHAPTER 6 - TORTURE
CHAPTER 7 – THE DATE
CHAPTER 8 - AWKWARD
CHAPTER 9 – BONFIRE
CHAPTER 10 – THE LIGHTHOUSE
CHAPTER 11 – NIGHTMARE
CHAPTER 12 – THE POLICE
CHAPTER 13 - JAXON
CHAPTER 14 – A STONE OF MY OWN
CHAPTER 15 – DREAMING OF YOU
CHAPTER 16 - MARINA
CHAPTER 17 - PRACTICE
CHAPTER 18 – ISLAND OF PARADISE
CHAPTER 19 – IN THE BEGINNING
CHAPTER 20 - OUT OF HARM'S WAY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PROLOGUE
Something is drawing near. I can feel it. It’s a sense I can’t explain. It’s something I’ve never felt before, but it does feel familiar in an odd way. It’s close to the sensation I get when another one of us is nearby, but this is stronger, intense, and alluring. I haven’t been able to locate the source in the few weeks since we arrived on the island. This anxiousness is driving me crazy. In all these years, I’ve never felt this unsettled feeling.
I inhale the saltiness from the bay as I walk out on the dock into the cool night air. The cars crossing the causeway tonight sparkle red and white moving from the mainland to the island. The stars are bright and the Milky Way spreads across the inky blackness. Taking another deep breath trying to release this anxiousness, I sit down on the dock and remove my shoes. The water is frigid in November, but nothing like the waters near England in the winter. The tropical climate here won’t allow the freezing temperatures for very long, but it’s still cold. The cold water takes some of the edge off, but that damn feeling is still there.
I try scanning the waters to distract my thoughts. Is that a barge? The long, dark ship is moving away from the bay toward the bridge, but not through the ship channel. I see the bridge pillars the barge is heading toward. He won’t clear those without damaging the pillars. I’m standing now, waiting, watching. What can I do?
The barge strikes. Metal grinds against stone. A crunching noise travels over the distance. Tires screech above as cars begin to fall. Falling lights, falling stars, and I’m compelled into the water. Swimming as fast as I can but also being pulled in like iron to a magnet. The sensation is getting stronger. The anxiousness suffocates me as I draw closer to the catastrophe. This is it. This is the feeling. That something is here. A scream draws my attention as someone jumps from their falling car and an electric shock rushes through me. It’s her. The magnetism is so strong. Effortlessly, I’m at her side. She’s face down, floating in the water when I reach her.
She’s unconscious so I gently turn her over trying not to injure her further. Her long hair covers her face but she’s breathing. As I brush her hair away and see her face, I’m struck once again by the electric shock. She’s beautiful. I’ve found her. The anxiousness is gone and I feel –complete.
CHAPTER 1 – THE ROCK
It was late in the evening, as usual, when I took my walk. The headaches continued to get worse and the only thing that seemed to help was taking this long, rhythmic walk each night. Only then was I able to allow the medication to ease the pain enough to sleep. They never went away completely. It was always excruciating during the day and unbearable at night. Sleep was welcomed, but usually not a gift received until after the long walk.
Tonight was no different from the previous months. I walked down the sidewalk heading toward the beach. I could hear the waves crashing against the shore in the distance. No one was out tonight. Occasionally I would see headlights from the cars heading home after a late night, but not tonight. At the end of my street, I had to cross the main boulevard to the condominium strip. The beach access was between two towering condos. No other sounds could be heard but the ocean waves and the soft thud of my shoes on the boardwalk. Once I cleared the tall buildings, the sea breeze welcomed me. Even on the hot summer nights, the sea breeze always felt cool.
I took off my shoes to feel the satin sand beneath my feet, and walked to the water. The moon was high in the sky and full. The condominium lights were also bright, but in a few minutes, the moon would be my only light source. I stopped at the water’s edge, closed my eyes and inhaled the cool, salty air. I slowly inhaled and exhaled a few times to clear my head. I had to blink away the tears developing as the pain tried to overwhelm me. Not tonight, I thought. I could not bear to lose it out here. I turned south and headed down the beach to my rock.
The walk usually took me a half hour each way. Sometimes I counted my steps, other times my breath. Tonight, even mental counting hurt. So I just listened to the rhythmic crashing of the waves. My footsteps were getting shorter as I tried to lighten my step. It felt as if elephants were parading around on top of my head. I let a few more tears spill. Holding them in was making it worse. My blurred vision from the tears did not hinder my walk. I knew the way by memory. I guess after six months of this routine the body and mind commits to muscle memory. My body yearned for the cool, smooth surface of the Rock. I had found the Rock around six months ago when I took my first walk.
The doctors tried various medications to ease my pain. They could not find anything medically wrong with my head, no trauma or injuries. Migraines were not ruled out, but there were no triggers, just constant pain. The pain was not predictable, nor was it localized. Sometimes it was an all-over headache, and sometimes it would be restricted to the front or back of my head. Sometimes during the day, it was more manageable. I could function almost normally, but I couldn’t go back to school. The pain could suddenly take the wind out of me. It was easier to stay close to home. But at night…it was always crippling. I went to a psychiatrist for psychological evaluation. The phrase “all in my head” was bounced around. Of course it’s all in my head. But obviously they meant I was causing the headaches. So now I am on various medications, which are still ineffective.
The onset of doctors and “shrinks” started a couple of months after a terrible accident that took my parents’ lives. We were coming back from dinner on the mainland. The causeway was the only way back to the island at night. The ferry was operable only during the day. It was late and my father was driving. Mom and Dad were talking about Thanksgiving and the upcoming Christmas break. They were debating whether to go skiing in Colorado or to take a cruise to the Caribbean.
We were halfway across the long bridge when it happened. I was looking out my window in the back seat watching a ship barge approaching the causeway. I remembered thinking it was approaching at a different angle to be going under the bridge, but by the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. Tires were screeching and we were dropping nose down into the dark bay. Adrenaline surged through my veins and I grabbed the door handle and pushed it open. I was screaming at my parents to jump. My father reached for my hand, he and my mother screamed my name. The terror on his face still haunts me.
I crashed into the cold water and felt the air forced out of me. I don’t remember what happened after that. I woke up in a hospital bed three days later.
A local fisherman saw the whole terrifying accident and tried to save as many as he could. The ship barge had steered off course and struck the piling of the bridge which caused the road above to buckle. Several cars went off into the deep channel below. Eight people died, including my parents. Somewhere in the eighty-five foot drop, I jumped into the cold water. The impact of my fall knocked me unconscious. By some miracle, I was floating face up, unconscious in the water when the fisherman found me and two others. I had no injuries but a bruise on my leg and a mild case of hypothermia. The others had various injuries; broken legs, a broken neck, cuts and bruises, and a broken nose. My Aunt Sarah was there when I woke up. The headaches started a month later.
The pain of this memory was almost as agonizing as the headaches. My heart ached. I missed my parents. I felt so alone. I was almost to the Rock. I could see the black silhouette in the distance. The Rock was not very big, maybe three or four feet high and a few feet wide. The pink and black granite sparkled in the moonlight. When I first discovered it, I thought it was a strange piece to be on the beach. It stuck out on the flat surface of the sandy expanse. It looked like the Rock was a left over piece of the bigger jetties, but that was further down the beach near the ship channel. It didn’t matter anymore where it came from. This was my Rock.
The tall, silent effigy stood near the water’s edge. A smooth, bowl-shaped area near the base resembled the arms of a mother waiting to cradle her child. This was my destination. I sat down in the embrace of the Rock and watched the waves roll in. The cool stone against my back and neck seemed to draw the pain out of my head. I closed my eyes and lay there waiting for the pain to ease.
CHAPTER 2 – THE SONG
I don’t know how long I laid there but I must have fallen asleep. I opened my eyes startled by a sound. Not just a sound, but some sort of music or song was drifting away on the ocean waves. I struggled to comprehend what was happening. Was I dreaming? I don’t remember a dream, but that music was fascinating. I wanted to listen to it longer, but it was fading over the water. Where did it come from? Strange, I know I didn’t imagine a sound like that. The memory of the music was hard to keep. There were no words that I could recall, but I felt as if I had heard it before. It sounded like a harp but with a fuzzy wave sound as if it were being played under water.
I wasn’t still sitting in the hollow of the Rock. Instead, I was sprawled out on the sandy shore. The gentle waves were lapping up against my foot. Sand stuck to my arms and legs. I sat up and searched the beach for any sign of life. The palm trees swayed in the distance. The condos were over a mile way. There was not even a ship on the water. I turned to the ocean searching for the source but could not find anything but the buoy teetering in the waves.
I stood up, dusted the sand from my arms, and returned to my cradle position at the Rock and listened again. Nothing. Frustrated, I sighed and closed my eyes again. Still searching for the source of the music in my memory, my eyes snapped open as I realized that my headache was gone, not just less pain, but completely gone. It was as if a stone wall was lifted off my head. I sat up quickly, stunned and waiting for the pain to knock me back, but it didn’t. I put my hands on my head to make sure touching my head was pain free too. I did not experience the stabbing pain as I felt around my head and neck. Earlier, this would have been excruciating. My hair was wet above my forehead, not damp, but wet. The Rock was several yards away from the ocean, but I woke up on the ground. Most of my hair was dry, except for right around my face. I felt again and looked at my hand fearful that it was blood, but it shimmered in the moonlight like water. My clothes were wet too. Did I fall in the water? Did I sleep walk? Panic tried to surface as I quickly realized I could have drowned. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my heart that was beating like a drum.
Confused, I began my walk back home. Aunt Sarah would still be sleeping. She never mentioned my moonlit walks, and I really doubted she even knew I left each night. My steps were no longer labored by the pain. I even tried a skip or two down the shoreline. A smile crossed my lips. No pain. I wondered how long this would last. I wanted to run through the water and splash around; actually, I wanted to swim. I had not been in the water since the accident, but right now I felt no fear of its power. The panic I felt seconds ago was gone. I glanced around again looking for the source of the music I heard, but still no one moved in the moonlight. I stopped at the water’s edge looking down at the small waves that reached my toes. No familiar panic at the thought of returning to the water. I glanced around again for any movement, took off my clothes and slowly walked into the water.
The water was warmed by the late July sun. As I slowly inched my way deeper into the ocean, the waves crashed against my body. This was exhilarating. I felt energized. When I got waist deep, I sunk down beneath the water. The waves were not big this late at night, but I could feel the pull of the ocean current as it rolled in and out, beckoning me to be pulled in. I floated easily in the salt water and allowed the waves to move me where they wished. The warm sea breeze was gently blowing across the water and my body as I floated weightlessly. Still, there was no pain. I closed my eyes again and spread my arms out beside me. The water caressed my skin and the gentle breeze kissed my face. I was in heaven.
Unexpectedly, I began to hear the whispers of the music again. I did not open my eyes for fear that it would stop. My heart pulsated rapidly in my chest. The adrenaline rushed through my blood as the melody got louder and closer to me. It was in the water. How could that be? I appreciated a new fear as I floated exposed to whatever, or whoever, was out here. How far away were the shore and my clothes? The enchanting song was desirable to my ears. I was drawn to it but I didn’t want to move. The better part of me realized this was not a good idea. I slowly opened my eyes and brought my feet in so I could stand in the water. I could still hear the music but it was fading away. I gradually walked toward the shore while the music drifted. I had to walk back toward the south to find my clothes. The warm breeze dried my body by the time I found them again. I dressed quickly before looking around again. Nothing moved on the quiet beach. I turned to the ocean again, sat in the sand and stared. I whispered, “What are you?” The only answer I received was the waves crashing on the beach.
CHAPTER 3 – A NEW DAY
“Good morning, Raegan,” my aunt said as I came from my bedroom. “How are you feeling?” she asked like she did every morning for the past six months.
“Great!” I smiled at her.
Aunt Sarah dropped the egg she was holding as she turned open mouthed and stared at me. I rushed to her side to start cleaning up the spill but she grabbed me before I could crouch down.
“Are you really better?” her anxious brown eyes searched mine. “How do you feel? Are you dizzy or in pain?” she rattled off her relief.
“Nothing, I am com
pletely fine. No pain, no tenderness, and best of all, no medication today.” I hugged her tightly and took a step back to show her the new me.
She clapped her hands. “Oh, Raegan! I’ve been praying for this day to come. You said no medicine? When was the last time you took some?” She grabbed a dish rag out of the drawer and began to clean up the egg, still waiting for my reply.
“Let me do that for you.” I took the dish towel from her hands and wiped up the egg as I began to tell her about my walk. “I took my medicine at dinner time last night around seven, but like usual it didn’t help. I decided to take a walk on the beach.” I left out the part about my walks taking place for over six months. “I found this huge rock about a mile or two down the beach. It had a spot to sit in, sort of bowl shaped and hammock-like. It was very comfortable and smooth. I sat there and closed my eyes listening to – to the sound of the waves, and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I felt better. I had no pain. I was afraid that once I came home and went back to sleep, I would wake up with another headache. But they are gone!” I grinned enthusiastically at her.
She just stared at me astonished and shook her head back and forth. “I can’t believe it. All these months of medication and doctors and you just needed a nap on the beach! Humf!” she scoffed. “What do those high priced doctors know?” she mumbled to herself as she continued cooking breakfast.
The eggs and bacon smelled delicious. I was starving after my walk, and swim, late last night. I was still intrigued by the mysterious music in the water and whether it contributed to my miraculous healing. I didn’t want to stir Aunt Sarah up with unexplainable music and the mysteries of the ocean that I experienced. Plus I would have had to admit my slightly illegal act of skinny-dipping that went along with the experience. I wondered if I would be brave enough to try again. The temptation of the music was too alluring not to try, but the fear of being exposed to something, or someone, unknown was too intense. I thought to myself, next time I will take my swimsuit.