Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' (12 page)

“To Brice.” I shot back the jeckden and
chased it with a swallow of sloan. The amber ale went down
smoothly.

We all stayed quiet with our thoughts
and memories for a few minutes.

“Alex, Leslie, do you want to stay
here? We have the spare bedroom upstairs if you want.” Tara was
forever the best hostess. They always had people staying with
them.

“I actually wouldn’t mind that, until I
can find us our own place, that is.” Alex looked at Leslie and she
gave a slight nod.

“Yes, thank you.” Her violet eyes
seemed to betray the smile on her lips.

I would have to get her alone and ask
her if everything was alright.

Jasper’s arm tightened around me. “Do
you want to go to bed, Shlova?”

I shook my head. “I want to go
home.”

Tara got up and came to give me a hug.
“We’ll come over tomorrow. We’ll go by the pond and let Zane and
Dawn know you’re home.”

“Thanks, Tara.”

It was getting dark when we started for
home.

If everything is well at the
meadow, do you mind if I head back to the herd?

I patted Dodge on the neck. “Of course
not. Wanting to show off your new wings, are you?”

He laughed.
Maybe.

Jasper looked back at us, his perfect
blue cat eyes laughing. He let out one loud contented purr before
bounding down the trail toward our cabin.

Dodge gave an excited snort and
galloped off after him.

*****

When I awoke, I was staring into our
fireplace. Jasper was lying behind me, his arms tight around me. He
gave a happy sigh in his sleep and I turned so I could hold him. I
kissed his chest and snuggled as close to him as I
could.

“Morning, Shlova.” His voice was thick
with sleep.

I glanced out the window and smiled.
“Actually, it looks more like afternoon.”

He cracked open one eye then closed it
again. “So it does.”

I leaned back so I could look at him.
He was thin from travelling and not eating properly, but some of
his color had come back with a good night’s sleep. “You slept
well?”

“Hmm hmm.” He glanced at the fire,
reached over me to the stack of wood, and threw a couple more logs
on.

“I was so tired last night, I don’t
even remember getting home.”

He chuckled. “That makes two of
us.”

I vaguely remembered giving Dodge a hug
before he left, Jasper starting a fire, and laying on our blankets
on the floor. “I don’t think I had the dream.”

Jasper kissed me softly. “You
didn’t.”

I sighed. It had been a long time since
I had felt so content.

Outside, muffled voices could be heard.
I caught the words ‘boys’ and ‘knock’.

The door swung open and we were being
ambushed by two cold little people. Or at least they should have
been little people. I was sure they were a few inches taller than
when we had left.

“Auntie!”

“Uncle!”

“Boys!” Jasper sat up and hugged them
both.

I gave Tyler a crushing hug then did
the same to Trent. Two identical faces grinned at me. “Is it
possible you’ve gotten bigger since we left?”

They laughed and hugged me again. Not
only were they taller, they were starting to thicken
physically.

“Sorry, guys. We told them to knock
first.” Mel came to sit on the ground beside us.

“They think that since they turned
eleven last month, they’re too grown up to listen.” Luke made his
way into the kitchen with an armful of bags before returning to the
living room.

It was amazing how much the boys were
looking more like their dad every day. The shaggy dark brown hair
and deep brown eyes were almost identical in the three of them. It
still took some getting used to that children here matured more
quickly than kids back home. At eleven, the boys were closer to the
fifteen year olds I was used to.

“Oh, no! Your birthday!”

The twins laughed. “It’s alright,
Auntie. We understand.” Trent gave me a kiss on the
cheek.

Jasper looked over to his brother. “How
did you know we were back?” Tyler settled himself beside
him.

“Dodge flew by before heading home last
night.”

“We brought you a bit of food and
stuff. I imagine your cupboards were pretty bare.” Mel got up and
started putting items where she knew I usually kept
them.

I got up to help her, glad that I had
been too tired to undress the night before. If anyone had ever told
me I would be married to a tiger and that my in-laws would be
wolves, I would have laughed and asked them what they were on. But
today, as I handed Mel a bag of plohats, a tuber that was a lot
like a potato, it was so normal and familiar that I started to hum
to myself.

Jasper glanced up at me and
smiled.

The frown he had been wearing the past
few months was gone and I knew he was just as happy to be home as
me.

Trent was looking out the window. “Dad!
There’s a herd across the creek!”

Jasper and Luke went to stand beside
him. “Feel up to a hunt, brother?” Jasper smiled at
Luke.

Luke grinned.

“Get the big buck.” I pointed to the
one I meant. “I imagine everyone will be over tonight. We’ll do it
up in the roasting pit.”

Jasper kissed me softly. “It’s nice to
be home, isn’t it?”

I hugged him close and sighed. “Yes, it
is.”

“Alright. The big buck it is. Boys,
we’ll need your help for this one.”

The twins whooped and
hollered.

“Here’s the plan…” Jasper and Luke
started explaining strategy to the boys and I walked back to the
kitchen to make sure I had everything I was going to need for
supper.

*****

The twins had gone to bed in our spare
room and the living room and kitchen were packed with our friends
and family. I looked around and smiled. Jasper was leaning against
the wall and I leaned back against him. His arm wrapped loosely
around my waist. Tara was standing with Leslie and Dawn.

Ben was sitting with Fillian and
Brinnan. Brinnan, my mother’s twin and my only blood relative alive
that I knew of, looked over at me and smiled.

Mel was talking with Alex, who was
still thoroughly amazed that Jasper had a wolf as an adopted
brother and that some of the Majs were also defecting and joining
our quirky group of misfits.

The front door opened and Zane ducked
to get into the house. He shook snow out of his black hair and his
black eyes automatically looked for Dawn. He smiled, walked up
behind her and bent to give her a kiss, his dark skin standing out
against her creamy complexion. It was still striking to see them
together. At six feet three inches he towered over her five feet
one inch. Where he was so dark, she was bright with her red hair
and green eyes. Of course, nothing was quite as shocking as the
fact that he was a panther and she a fox.

I turned back to the conversation
Jasper was having with Luke and Cholta, a Wedelve friend of
ours.

“Of course it’s no problem,” Jasper was
reassuring Cholta.

“I hate to ask what with you just
getting home.”

“It won’t take more than three or four
days. Besides, it has to get done. We’ll be having a few more
storms yet and your deer need a roof on their barn.”

“Hayden, you don’t mind if I steal
Jasper for a few days?”

I smiled reassuringly at him. “Of
course not.” The roof and one wall of his barn had collapsed during
the last storm and his deer were in need of a shelter.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you, Hayden.
Jasper was telling me you were hoping to imprint on a deer. I bred
Haist this year but she didn’t catch. I’m hoping she does next
year. If she does, you’re more than welcome to try with that
fawn.”

“Really?” I pushed off of Jasper and
surprised Cholta with a hug and a kiss.

He laughed. “I’ll take that as a
yes.”

Jasper went to the fireplace and put a
few more logs in the fire. Mel came out of the kitchen carrying
cups and jeckden, Alex and Ben followed behind her with sloan to
top up everyone’s mugs.

“Now that the twins are in bed, would
you mind giving us the whole story?”

We hadn’t wanted the boys to hear
everything that had happened. As far as they knew, their Uncle
Brice had died saving me from the humans.

Jasper did most of the talking. I
explained about the steam beds and filled them in on the events
with the humans.

When we were done, everyone had gone
white.

“If they can shift with those stones,
they could be infiltrating both armies!” Luke’s voice was just a
whisper.

I nodded. “It’s too bad the dragons
can’t help us. They can see auras. They could tell us who was
who.”

“What about you?” Jasper put a hand on
my knee.

“I only saw Faren’s.” Everyone looked
at me. “I guess I could try.”

I looked at Jasper and concentrated. I
nudged him gently with my magic and was rewarded with a very faint
light blue aura. I smiled.

“Try me,” offered Luke.

I pushed my nudge toward him. “Dark
blue.”

“What about me?” Tara
grinned.

I turned my attention to her. “Faren
had it wrong. She couldn’t remember. She said purple. It’s more
like lavender.”

“Ooh! Do me!” Leslie turned so that she
was fully facing me.

I nudged her and smiled. “Dark
green.”

“Neat.”

“At the risk of sounding like I don’t
trust anyone, with everything we just went through, how about you
check everybody.” Jasper looked over the group.

No one objected and I ran through all
of them.

I lift my cup of jeckden and smiled.
“To being home.”

Everyone followed suit and shot back
the drink. Jasper passed the bottle around again and the cups were
refilled.

“To Brice.” He cleared his throat and
put a hand on my shoulder. “To a brother lost in battle. May his
energy find its way into good hands.”

“To Brice.”

Zane took a long drink of sloan and
frowned. “Did it occur to anyone else that this just turned from a
war between the Namaels and the Majs to a war between all shifters
and the humans?”

“And we’re the only ones who know it,”
stated Ben.

Everyone was quiet.

“I guess running and hiding isn’t an
option anymore.” As much as I hated to admit it, the only thing to
do here was to get involved.

Jasper’s eyes narrowed. “How in the
world are we going to convince Melana and Damian to strike a truce
long enough to deal with the humans?”

I leaned against him. “Man, this
sucks.”

“Well, it’s not going to be a problem
we can solve in the late hours of the night,” reasoned
Brinnan.

“Uncle Brinnan is right. I need some
sleep. Help yourselves to whatever, you guys. I’ll see you all in
the morning.” I kissed Jasper softly and gave everyone else a
hug.

I got out of my clothes and pulled on
one of Jasper’s shirts to sleep in. Within minutes I was dead to
the world.

*****

The following day everybody had a quick
breakfast before heading off in their different directions. Tara
and Ben had to head back to Sageden to deal with a client who
wanted three new dresses done by the following month. Fillian and
Brinnan were heading home as well so that they could continue
caring for two sick beings in their care. I promised Fillian to
come back to work and help with healing as soon as I was rested
again. Jasper, Luke, Zane, and Alex were heading out with Cholta to
help him fix his barn. Trent and Tyler were running around, more
than a little excited to be going along.

Mel on the other hand, didn’t seem as
enthusiastic. She gave both of the boys hugs. “You pups be good and
do as you’re told.”

“We will, mom!” Trent gave her another
hug.

“Geez, mom. Don’t worry so much!” Tyler
tried to hide a suddenly nervous look on his face.

Mel stood and kissed Luke. “You bring
those two back to me.”

He laughed at her. “Mel, they’ll be
just fine. It’s not like I’m taking them to a battle. We’re going
to fix a roof.” He kissed her softly and ran a hand over her long
black hair. “Don’t miss me too much,” he grinned at her.

She laughed. “I’ll try.”

A little to their left, Zane and Dawn
were saying their goodbyes. Dawn was standing on her tip toes while
he bent over to give her a long tender kiss. He looked torn as he
glanced up to where Luke and the twins were sitting, waiting in
wolf form. Dawn giggled as he started to walk away then ran back
for a few more quick kisses.