Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (5 page)

Everyone looked up as Harold and Gina came
jogging back into camp in bear form. The pair of them shifted and
nodded to Rainen.

“Alright, everyone!” called Matthew. “Supper
is served.”

I went to stand in line beside Jasper.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

I nodded. “If it weren’t for the fact that we
have to fight Braw, I’d have to say that everything couldn’t be
more perfect.”

“How so?”

“Well, we have both the Majs and the Namaels
on our side.”

“Yes, that is a plus.”

“You’re not hurting anymore.” I looked into
his eyes and smiled. I hugged him tightly and brushed my lips
against his. “In a few more months we’ll be home. We can spend all
winter snuggled in our cabin.”

“That will be nice.” He smiled

“Of course, by the time winter comes, I’ll be
as big as a cow and all I’ll be able to do is lay around.”

He chuckled. “You’ll still be beautiful.”

“I wonder how long you’ll carry for,” added
Luke who was standing behind us.

“Hmm. I don’t know. Dawn carried for six
months, or was supposed to anyway. Is that typical of all
shifters?”

My brother-in-law nodded. I turned to Tara.
“How long are Wedelves pregnant for?”

“Thirteen months.”

I wrinkled my nose at the thought.

“What about humans?” asked Jasper.

“Nine months.” I smiled. “Let’s hope it takes
after you.”

Jasper cut pieces of meat off of the deer and
placed them in our bowls. We went to our blankets and I passed him
some cheese from our packs. Dodge came walking toward us.

Hayden?

“Hmm? What is it, Bud?”

Before we crossed, when we told you about
the fight in Sageden you were so upset, I didn’t think I should
mention it…
Dodge swished his tail.
The thing is that, well
I suppose there isn’t going to be a good time to tell you.
He
looked to Luke as if asking for help. When Luke sat beside Jasper
and put a hand on my mate’s shoulder my horse blew out of his nose.
Honestly it slipped my mind what with everything that happened
since you crossed back. And you did just wake up again…

My stomach was doing flips and my heart was
jumping in my chest. “Spit it out, Dodge.” Jasper put a hand on my
knee.

When the humans came to Sageden, the first
place they looked for you was your cabin.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“It’s gone, isn’t it?”

I’m sorry, Hayden. I was with Luke and Mel.
We saw the smoke, but by the time we got there, it was too late. We
were trying to put it out when the blue bird flew to us from
Sageden to tell us it was under attack.

Tears flowed down my face and I found it hard
to breathe. “What about Tiny? Where was she?” The thought of my
little white Tairat perishing in the fire had my chest tight with
fear.

“She’s fine.” Luke leaned over and put a hand
on my shoulder. “The twins have been taking care of her since
Tantara and Roben left to meet you. She was at the cave.”

Jasper pulled me to his chest and rested his
chin on my head. “Shush. It’s alright, Shlova.” The words were
reassuring but his voice was tight and I could hear his heart
beating hard under my ear. I looked up and had to keep back more
tears that threatened to come at the sight of him. His eyes were
closed, his jaw clenched.

“I’m so tired of this,” I whispered.

He took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s
almost over.”

Dodge moved closer and nuzzled my face.
I’m sorry, Hayden.

I brushed the tears from my face and rubbed
his nose. “It’s not your fault, Bud.” I heard a chirp from up above
and I looked up as a blue bird flew down to sit on my knee. I pet
the little head. “Hey, you.”

She looked from me to Jasper.

“She says there are no packs of any kind for
a day’s travel in any direction.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Could you do me a
favor? I need to get a message to Melana.” I could feel everyone
looking at me. I focused on the bird so I wouldn’t change my mind.
“Could you let her know that we are heading to Howel to see if I
can help heal Damian? Tell her we’ll be marching straight from
there to Paradin. Enough is enough. I’ll let her know when we leave
Howel and we’ll meet her somewhere.”

She bobbed her head and flew away.

“Hayden?” Tara’s caramel colored eyes looked
straight into mine. “Are you sure?” I knew she’d been secretly
hoping we could delay the fighting until after the baby was
born.

I nodded and looked up to see Jasper’s
reaction. His eyes were closed. I watched as he swallowed and took
a deep breath. He opened his eyes, looked at me and nodded.

“Tomorrow, Hayden, Dodge, Matthew and I will
head to Howel with Rainen, Harold, and Gina.” He looked around at
everyone. No one argued with him when he had this look on his face.
Well, maybe just me, though at this point in time I agreed with
what I knew he had decided. He was thinking ahead and when it came
to battles and strategies he was one of the best.

“The rest of you head back to Sageden. We’ll
need everyone ready when we get there. Rally everyone. Send runners
to reach those who live farther away. Shanus, alert the Scannoves.
Phlann, I need you to get to the Winged Ones’ meadow. Find
Taleessa. She’s the black filly who got her wings just before we
left last year. Send her to the Northern Regions. She got her ruby
from Faren. The two of them need to get together and alert the
dragons.”

Everyone was nodding. Rainen’s eyes
widened.

“You’re in league with the dragons?”

“I’m bonded to a fire dragon and a water
dragon. That’s how I can see auras to tell the humans apart from
the shifters.”

“What of Ternach?”

I shivered at the mention of his name and
shook my head. “He’s with the humans on this one. I don’t think he
cares either way who wins. It’s me he wants. He’s promised me a
rematch of our powers if he ever gets his hands on me again.” I
didn’t mention what else he’d promised to do to me. I didn’t need
Jasper turning this into a personal vendetta to protect my
honor.

“Who won the first time?” Rainen didn’t
bother hiding the awe in her voice.

“No one. We were interrupted. Let’s just say
I’m not looking forward to it. Had Brice not arrived when he did, I
don’t think I would have survived the next hit.” Ternach’s magic
was extremely powerful.

“Now,” continued Jasper. “Do any of us know
anyone who has been to Paradin and could give us an idea as to the
layout of the keep? Any weaknesses it might have.”

Rainen shook her head. Everyone in our pack
grew quiet as we thought of Brice.

“Argh. God! Why am I so bad at stuff like
this!” I felt Jasper chuckle as I vented about my nonexistent sense
of direction. “It’s not funny!” I turned back to glare at him.
“I’ve been there. I should be able to tell you this stuff. All I
can tell you is when Ternach displaced Brice and I and we
reappeared close to the keep. We entered through a big gate. The
whole place is surrounded by a rock wall, like Pinsaber. Once you
get in there’s a courtyard. Then there are houses, part of the
city. You walk down a few streets and then you get to the jail.” I
frowned, remembering the walk down the stairs to the cells where
Brice had brought me. He’d been my best friend, my over protective
little brother until that day. Then he’d turned out to be an
undercover human spy whose mission had been to capture me and get
me to Braw.

“When you leave the jail, if you walk farther
into the keep, there’s another courtyard. This one has the stage in
it; the one where they tie the shifters so they can be separated
from their animals.” I shivered. I could still hear the screams of
the men and women Braw had used me to kill. Jasper’s arms tightened
around me. Everyone was quiet as I recalled the incident.

“Behind the stage, there’s a break in the
wall. That’s how Brice got me out of the city. William stayed at
the jail and lied about where we had gone. God, I hope he’s ok.” I
took a deep breath. “When we got out of the keep, we ran, but I
can’t tell you in which direction. Brice told me to step where he
stepped because there were traps set out in the woods. When it got
safe to run, I just followed. We got to some caves, rode an
underground river, then used a displacement stone to get to Jasper
which was not too far from the Wedelven river.”

“He helped you escape?” Rainen was
frowning.

I nodded.

“Did he go back afterwards?”

I shook my head. “No.” I cleared my throat to
clear the lump that had formed there. “We were almost to the river
when a human pack found us.” I closed my eyes and shook my head
again, unable to go on.

“Brice sacrificed himself so we could get
Hayden back over the river.” Jasper rubbed my arms. “Are you
alright?”

I nodded. “I think I’m going to go to
bed.”

“I’ll be there shortly. There are just a few
things I want to discuss with everyone that is going back
tomorrow.”

I kissed him softly, wishing he could just
come to bed and hold me. Though I made sure not to project the
feeling to him, he was excellent at reading me. He grabbed hold of
my hand, squeezed it and gave me a reassuring smile. I squeezed him
back and moved my blankets farther into the woods.

I lay down and bundled myself up, knowing I
wouldn’t be able to sleep until Jasper was lying next to me to warm
me up. I didn’t have to wait long.

“Sorry, Shlova.” He pulled me to his chest
and kissed my forehead. “How are you doing?”

“Better now that you’re holding me.” I tilted
my head up. “Kiss me.”

He smiled and brought his lips down to mine.
I sighed and closed my eyes. His tongue gently found mine. It
didn’t take long until all I could feel was the heat of his body
against mine. I was engulfed by the taste and the smell of him. He
pulled back slowly and kissed the tip of my nose.

“Did it work?” He looked searchingly into my
eyes.

I nodded. Jasper could always kiss me better.
Of course, now that we had started I was finding it hard to stop. I
poked my head up and looked around. We were nicely hidden by the
bushes I had placed the blankets behind. I ran my hand under his
shirt and played my thumb over his nipple. His mouth claimed mine
again, this time just as softly as the first. My head started to
reel.

“This is where wearing a dress might have its
advantages,” he whispered in my ear as he undid the laces on my
pants and helped me wiggle out of them. I tried not to laugh out
loud. I returned the favor and pulled him free of his pants. He was
hot and hard in my hand. He groaned low in his throat as I stroked
him. I rolled so that I was straddling him and lay flat on his
chest before lowering myself. I caught my breath as he entered me.
His hands held me in place and I could tell he was trying not to
make any noise.

“I could stay like this all night,” I
whispered in his ear. “I love how you fill me.” I pushed myself
lower and smiled at his small gasp. “How you stretch me and I can
feel your heat deep inside of me.” I moved my hips from side to
side and was rewarded with a moan.

Jasper shuddered then rolled so that he was
on top. He pulled back and thrust back into me before pushing his
hips down, pinning me to the ground. He brought his mouth down to
mine and ran his teeth over my bottom lip before nibbling his way
along my jaw, to my ear, and back again. It was my turn to shudder.
He rocked over me lazily, not really moving, simply content to be
in me.

I felt the heat building up deep inside of
me. I tried to arch my hips up to meet his but his weight held me
down. I shook under him. He pulled almost completely out before
pushing back in slowly. A tremor ran through me, starting deep in
my core and spreading outward. I felt myself clench around him as
the blood rushed to my head and every other extremity of my
body.

He caught his breath and crushed my mouth
with his, each of us swallowing the other’s groan of pleasure. He
rocked over me a bit longer, waiting until the aftershocks of our
coupling stopped running through me to pull out.

I pulled on my pants and let him pull me to
his chest. He kissed the back of my neck softly.

“A shlova yan,” he whispered softly.

I sighed and linked my fingers with his. “A
shlova yan jer.”

*****

“There!” I pointed down to a cluster of rocks
below us.

Dodge angled his wings and turned in that
direction. The wind blew my hair in my face and I brushed it out of
the way.

Are you sure? I didn’t see anything.

“I’m positive I saw something. There were at
least three of them.”

Were they human?

“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to
check.”

Dodge beat his wings and took us higher into
the air to avoid arrows if any were to be shot at us. He made a
lazy circle around the boulders.

They’re running.

I spotted the three beings running through
the trees. I sent a nudge towards them and shuddered at their lack
of aura.

“Humans!”

Why aren’t they shifting? They could at least
pretend to be Majs.

“I don’t know.” I glanced down and behind us
where a tiger, a leopard, two grizzlies and a wolf were running to
keep up to us. Jasper looked up and I pointed in the direction of
the three we were chasing. “Do you think these ones will just
surrender?”

Dodge blew out of his nose.
Probably not.
It’s almost as if they have orders to die if they get
caught.

We had been travelling a week towards Howel
and had come across four packs. Out of the hundred Majs I had
scanned three of these had turned out to be human spies with
shifting stones. All of them had decided to fight when they had
been discovered. None of them were alive.

“There’s a clearing up ahead. Let’s fly ahead
and cut them off. Jasper and the others shouldn’t take too long to
catch up to them if they don’t shift.”