Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (40 page)

Brice was looking at Scott and I saw
him swallow hard. I put a hand on his back. “What do you want to do
with them?”

“Well, we can’t bury them. The ground
is frozen solid.”

I offered to burn them to keep them
from being food for the scavengers.

“May your energy find its way into good
hands,” whispered Jasper.

I gave his hand a squeeze. “I’m sorry,
Jasper. Brice.”

They both looked at me in
surprise.

“What about now, Shlova?”

“About this. All of it. I didn’t think
too much about it at first. All the bond breaking. It seemed
innocent enough.” I took a deep breath. “But it isn’t. Not at all.
Because of me, you have to kill friends. People who are willing to
kill you because of me. I mean, it was bad enough when we had to
kill dogs because of this. Now, we have to kill cats, too.” I
closed my eyes. “Will it get better, do you think? Will they
eventually leave us alone? Or will we be banished to remote parts
of the land for the rest of our lives?”

“I don’t know, Hayden.” Brice put a
hand on my shoulder. “I can’t say why this is happening. All I
know, is that for us to be able to break our bonds, for dogs to
break theirs, there must be a reason. And even though I don’t know
what that reason is exactly, I do know that I will fight for you,
die for you, if that is what is needed of me.” He glanced at Jasper
over my head.

I caught Jasper’s slight nod before he
put his hand on my other shoulder. I felt very small between the
two of them. Very safe. I wrapped an arm around each of their
waists.

Jasper gave my shoulder a squeeze.
“Whatever it is that you are supposed to do here, Shlova, we’ll
figure it out. And don’t ever be sorry. You didn’t ask for this.
And whatever ‘this’ is, I have a feeling it is much bigger than
just you, or us. Whatever it is that is coming, it will affect
every being that lives in this world.”

Dodge snorted and put his head over my
shoulder. I leaned my cheek against his.

Jasper and Brice started to
laugh.

I let out an exasperated sigh. “What
now?”

Jasper grinned at me. “He said that
whatever it is you are meant to do here, he has no doubts
whatsoever that you will succeed.”

I gave him a sideways glance. “That’s
not what he said.”

He gave my shoulder another squeeze.
“He said that if there is anyone stubborn enough to change the
entire order of how things are done in a world, it’s
you.”

I started to laugh. “How many times do
I have to tell you guys? I’m not stubborn. I just know what I
want.”

The fires were burning themselves out
and I shivered. “And what I want now is just one night of sleeping
in a cabin before living like a bush woman for god knows how long.”
I reluctantly let go of my two pillars of protection and we went
inside to have something to eat, all of us wondering what it was,
exactly, that the future held in store.

Follow Hayden’s story with the following books
in The Chosen One Trilogy:

Journey (available May 15, 2011)

and

Destiny (coming soon)

About Author

Mireille Chester is an Ottawa born
French Canadian now loving life on the prairies. Her love of
reading and writing blossomed at an early age and developed into a
passion which she pursued by authoring fantasy novels.

Mireille has a second passion in her
life; her love of animals. She hopes she makes a bit of a
difference in their lives by donating her grooming services to the
Prince Albert SPCA.

Mireille lives in Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan with the greatest of her loves, her family, which
includes her husband, Kyle, and their three children, Anthony,
Emery, and Ashtynn.

She can be reached by email at
[email protected] or through her website
http//:www.mireillechester.com.