Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (28 page)

“Hello,” he said softly. “I’m
Peter.”

“Hello.” She sat up slowly and
frowned. “I’m a cat.”

“So I’ve been told. I’m a dog,
in case you didn’t know,” he smiled. “A wolf, more
specifically.”

Cassandra blushed. “That’s kind
of what I thought. By the moons, I feel like an idiot. I can’t
believe I passed out.”

“No worries, I’m sure it was
because of my good looks.”

She giggled then stopped
abruptly. “You’re still hurt. Lay back.”

He did as she said and sucked in
a breath as everything healed itself. “Thank you,” he said
softly.

“I… well, I have to go.”

His eyes widened, the panic in
them evident.

“No, no. Not like that. I mean,
there are others who need healing. I have to finish helping.”

It was surreal to me that
if a being had broken its bond to Melana or Damian then its level
of self-control over the bonding phenomenon was amazing. Being a
panther guaranteed Cassandra to be bond free from birth. Peter was
obviously almost free of his bonds to Damian. He nodded. “Can I
help?”

“Well, I suppose if you want to
hold them down while I heal them…” The two of them made their way
toward another of the wounded, chatting as if they’d known each
other all their lives.

I squeezed Jasper’s hand.
Nothing was more romantic than a bonding couple who had just found
each other.

“Hayden! I need a hand over
here!”

I jogged over to where Hailey,
our sixth healer, was kneeling by a fox. By the looks of it, it had
two broken legs and some internal injuries.

Hailey looked at me and shook
her head before running a hand through her short blond hair. “I
don’t think I can. I’m exhausted.” She closed her caramel coloured
eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I ran a wave over
her which confirmed what she had just told me. “Go lay down. I’ll
wake you in a few hours if you want.” I watched her head to one of
the blankets where she shifted into a lioness and curled herself
into a ball.

“She’ll be fine, Cole. She just
needs to sleep.” Jasper gave his friend a pat on the back. Cole
nodded, shifted into a lion, and went to lay by his mate.

I did some math in my head. We
were down to four healers, none of us in top shape, and still had a
good twenty wounded to tend to who were in need of the waves. I
took a deep breath and knelt beside the fox. “Hey, there, my name’s
Hayden. I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”

*****

Jasper watched as Hayden stood,
stretched, and wiped the stray hairs out of her face with her arm.
She was covered in blood and dirt and yet he was sure she had never
looked more beautiful. She gave him a tired smile.

“Next?”

He took her hand and led her
toward a blond woman with a broken face and stab wounds.

“How are you doing?”

“Ok. You?”

He raised an eyebrow at her
which earned him a grin.

“You look just as tired as I
feel.” She gave his hand a squeeze.

“I’m fine, Shlova. I’m not the
one using up my energy.”

They knelt beside the blond
woman.

“Hi there. My name’s Hayden.
Jasper here is going to hold you still while I fix you up, ok?”

The woman, whose jaw was too
broken to talk, nodded slightly and closed her eyes. Jasper watched
as Hayden pulled a wave that he couldn’t see out of the air and
spread it over the woman. Her green eyes narrowed in concentration.
He noticed how it was taking less and less time for her to break
into a sweat as she started to heal.

The sun was starting to slip
behind the trees and the moons were making their appearance in the
darkening sky. Hayden rocked back on her heels and smiled at the
blond woman who thanked her before going to look for her mate.

Jasper reached out and pulled
her to his chest. “You should rest.” She shivered as a breeze blew
over them. He wrapped her in his arms.

“I can’t. Not yet.” She took a
deep breath. “How many are left?”

“It looks like there’s maybe
seven who would need wave healing in order to be part of the minor
injury group.” He held her face in his hands and kissed her softly.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you look right now?”

She laughed out loud. “You’re
cracked.”

He smiled. “I’m serious;
beautiful and amazing.”

She stood on her tip toes and
kissed him again. “I’m glad you think so.”

“I was thinking, do you know
what would be very nice right about now?” He grinned as she
frowned, trying to think of what it might be. She shook her
head.

“What?”

“A shower.”

She started to laugh. “I
agree.”

Danny walked by on his way to
his next patient and Hayden reached out to touch his arm. He looked
horrible.

“Danny, I don’t even need to run
a wave over you. Go lay down. We’re almost done.” She gave his arm
a squeeze.

He frowned and looked like he
was about to object then changed his mind. He gave a nod, found a
blanket a few feet away and seemed to collapse onto it as he
shifted into his fox.

“How are you doing, dear?”
Fillian paused between patients and came to stand with them.

“Tired, but alright. You?”

“About the same.” She pulled a
wave and ran it over Hayden. “You’re at about half.”

Hayden returned the favour and
frowned. “Just over a quarter. You should go lay down.”

Fillian shook her head. “I’ll do
two more.” She moved off to find her next patient. Brinnan followed
after her with a shake of his head.

“Where’s Cassandra?” Hayden
looked around.

“She’s over in the far corner.”
Jasper took her hand and they made their way over to her.

“Hayden!” Everyone turned to the
entrance of the courtyard.

“Rainen! I told you to stay in
bed!” Hayden frowned and he followed her back in the direction they
had just come.

Rainen raised an eyebrow at his
mate. “What? And let you have all the fun?” She smiled, muttered
something under her breath and put a hand on Hayden’s shoulder.
Hayden twitched and a small cry escaped her lips. She glared at the
Maj sorceress.

“Warn a person next time!
Geez!”

Rainen started to laugh and
Hayden joined in. He could tell immediately that her energy levels
had been given a boost.

“Cassandra! Fillian!” Hayden
called the other healers over. Once they had been helped, Rainen
moved on to the ones that had run too low to stay awake. The six of
them stood looking over the courtyard that still held twenty-eight
beings that were not fully healed. Jasper watched proudly as Hayden
gave Danny a pat on the back and they made their way back to work
with a new, more relaxed attitude.

Rainen smiled up at him. “If
they need me, I’ll be laying down over there.” She pointed to the
blankets Damian was laying out for her. He nodded and followed
after Hayden.

*****

I watched as the last of the
healed Majs made their way out of the courtyard. The only ones left
were Fillian and Brinnan, Rainen and Damien, Matthew and Emelly,
Danny, Marie, Cassandra and Peter, Twauny, Hailey and Cole, and
Jasper and I. I leaned back against Jasper and he wrapped his arms
around me, his chin resting on my head.

“Good job, Shlova.”

I smiled. “God, I think I could
drop to the ground and fall asleep on the spot.”

Everyone nodded and agreed
though no one could keep the smiles off of their faces. It had been
one hell of a day and part of the night, but we had done good. We
all looked back toward the entrance of the courtyard as voices
carried over to us.

“We thought you’d be too tired
to join the party, so we brought the party to you!” Ben laughed as
the group behind him cheered. Among them were Parker, Kendall,
Lantoc, Cholta, most of our original pack, and a few of the
newcomers from the second shift and Damian’s packs. They carried
cases filled with bottles of jeckden and sloan and food. The smell
of roast deer made its way to me and my stomach growled.

A few beings dropped armloads of
wood in the middle of the courtyard and Teean threw a red wave at
the pile to get the fire going. I looked back at Jasper and
smiled.

“Here are clothes for
everybody,” announced Tara. “If someone could heat up that water
over here, you can all get cleaned up before you eat.” Damian
obliged her.

Jasper took a cloth and dipped
it into the water. “Here, Shlova. You’d better let me do you or
you’ll miss some.” I closed my eyes and let him wipe my face, neck
and arms. I returned the favour. Once that was done we both dunked
our heads in the tub. Tara was busy rearranging the tarps to make a
makeshift dressing room.

“Here you are guys.”

Jasper rewet the cloth and we
made our way behind the tarps. He pulled his filthy tunic over his
head then stepped out of his pants. He looked down at himself,
shrugged, pulled on a clean pair of pants and strapped on his belt
and dagger. I took the cloth from him.

“Turn around.” I wiped at the
dried blood that was still there from his fight with Ternach.

“Don’t worry about it too much,
Shlova. We’ll need a good soaking to get completely clean after
today.”

I watched as the muscles in his
back stood out while he pulled a clean tunic over his head. He
turned and smiled at me. I had to remind myself to breathe.

“Are you guys almost done?”

Marie’s voice snapped me out of
the little daydream I was having.

“Just about.” I pulled my tunic
over my head and Jasper wiped me down before I put on the clean one
Tara had brought for me. I stepped out of my pants and pulled on
the other ones. Jasper took my hand and we made our way to the
fire. Mel already had plates ready for us.

“Thanks.” I took mine and sat on
the ground.

“Here you are, sweet sister.”
Luke handed me a mug of sloan then handed Jasper one and sat down
with us. I ate and watched as someone brought out instruments and
the music started. Rainen smiled at me from across the fire and
resumed her conversation with Damian. Matthew sat with his back
against a crate, Emelly already sleeping against his chest.
Cassandra was lying with her head in Peter’s lap. She looked back
at him and smiled. He leaned down, kissed her forehead, and took
her hand. I put my plate down, took a long drink from my mug and
rolled my shoulders to loosen the muscles in my back. Jasper’s arm
wrapped around me and pulled me against him.

“Are you cold? I’m sure Tara
thought to bring an extra tunic for you.”

“No. I’m fine.” I leaned back
against him and watched as a woman I didn’t know pulled Alex up and
dragged him to where people were dancing. He smiled and said
something which made her laugh. Tyler and Jenna were sitting on a
couple of the crates. Jenna’s foot tapped to the music. Tyler’s
arms gestured wildly as he told whichever story he happened to be
telling and the drink Jenna had been taking promptly made its way
up and out of her nose. She stood, sputtering and laughing, Tyler
slapping her on the back.

I caught bits and pieces of
conversations all around me. My eyelids grew heavy. Jasper kissed
my neck and tightened his arms around me.

“Sleep, Shlova. I’ve got
you.”

I reached a hand back and ran a
hand through his wet curls. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

I smiled and let sleep take me
away.

*****

Jasper watched as Hayden ran a
brush through her hair.

“How are you feeling?”

She smiled at him in the mirror.
“Good. A bit nervous, but good.”

“You have a good month before
you need to start being nervous, Shlova.”

She raised an eyebrow at him and
he laugh.

“No, I suppose if you’re you,
you should be worried all the time.” He ducked as she turned and
playfully threw her brush at him. “Come on, now. Let’s go. We don’t
want to be late.” He stood her up and kissed her softly.

“Do you think we’re making the
right decision?” She frowned up at him and he lost himself in her
green eyes. “Are you listening to me?”

“Hmm? Oh. Well, would it change
your mind if I told you I thought you were crazy and we were all
going to die?”

Her eyes widened and her mouth
dropped. “That’s what you think?”

He tried to hold in his
laughter.

“Jasper! That’s not even
remotely funny! I can’t do this if I don’t think you’re with me in
it.”

He hugged her close. “Hayden, if
I thought we were all marching to our deaths I would have brought
it up a long time ago. For as much as I hate the risk we’re taking,
I don’t see a way around it either.” He rolled his shoulders a
bit.

“Are you alright? You woke up
like something had startled you.”

He nodded, though the tightness
that had been in his chest when he had woken up was still there.
“It was probably just another dream. I don’t remember it.”

She frowned.

“I’m serious. I honestly don’t
remember.”

She stood on her tip toes and
kissed him softly. Her tongue touched his. His head started to
reel.

A knock at the door broke them
apart. He pulled her to his chest and rested his chin on her
head.

“Who is it?” she asked.

“Umm, it’s me, Auntie.”

Jasper gave her one last kiss.
“Come in, Tyler.” He sat on the bed and watched as Tyler and Jenna
walked into the room. He frowned at how frightened they looked.
“What’s wrong?”

Jenna swallowed hard and Tyler
put an arm around her. He looked from his aunt to his uncle. “They
have Trent.”

Jasper’s stomach lurched and he
swallowed the bile that threatened to explode from his stomach.
Hayden paled. She pulled the two of them into a hug.

“How? When?”

“Last night sometime.” Tyler
looked close to tears. “It must have happened while we were in the
courtyard having the bonfire. I was supposed to go see him and
report on any news.” He frowned and shook his head. “This is my
fault. If I’d been there it never would have happened.”