Everyone took the position they had taken in my dream. Jasper looked back at me. “I love you,” he mouthed to me.
Before I could answer him, a noise came from directly in front of us and everyone shifted. Leslie and I pulled our swords.
The dogs had started coming out of the bushes, closing in the form of a circle. Behind them came Rainen. She stared directly at me. Jasper moved slightly so that he was between me and her.
I looked past the dogs, looking for the cats I knew were going to be there. The jaguar was right where it was supposed to be. Our eyes met and it blinked slowly.
Again, I wondered why they were here. Could it be that if wolves could turn good that cats could turn bad? It was a possibility I didn’t want to think about. If that was the case, we were all going to die here.
I looked to where Dodge was going to be coming from. I didn’t bother yelling when he crashed through the bushes. It was like everything was happening in slow motion.
Some of the dogs turned back toward the sound of the cats jumping out of the woods while some of them leaped toward us. Zane managed to tackle one before it could break through their line of defense. Luke was knocked over by two of them but was holding his own. Three of them seemed to have been ordered to deal with Jasper. Alex was circling with a coyote.
Jasper bared his teeth and swiped at them with massive paws as the three circled him.
Rainen continued to stare at me.
My first thought was to burn her like I had her son, but there were too many other beings around her. Her eyes flicked to the left and she seemed to smile as a wolf bit Jasper in the flank. He quickly turned, his claws raking along the dog’s entire body.
One of the wolves that had knocked Luke over left his friend to fight alone and leaped toward us. Mel threw herself at him, knocking him over as he landed by her. Dawn jumped on him, her jaws locking on his throat.
A fox snuck past Alex and his opponent and leapt at me. I slashed my swords up as he came down, his blood spraying me like warm rain as he fell and twitched in pain.
I glanced up and saw Dodge kick a wolf in the chest just as Prense, Phlann and Shanus came galloping into the clearing, Tara and Ben on their backs.
The dogs were realizing they were outnumbered and were starting to run.
Rainen seemed to get bored with the fighting and started to walk away, a howl rising from her. Jasper’s opponents started to run back toward the bushes and he chased after them. When they reached the tree line, he stopped and surveyed the mess in the clearing. His eyes met mine and I smiled.
“I love you more,” I mouthed to him.
Everyone was starting to shift back.
I looked at Trent and Tyler. “Are you boys alright?”
They nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“Go ahead, Aunt Hayden. They need you out there.” Trent sat on the ground and Tyler joined him. Neither one had ever been in a battle before and both were clearly shaken up.
The fox at my feet whined.
“If I fix you, are you going to behave?”
It nodded its head and I looked it over. I had managed to cut through its chest muscles which explained why he wasn’t running away.
“What are you doing?” a tall man with green eyes and dark blond hair asked.
I paused and looked up at him. “What does it look like I’m doing?” One stupid question deserved another, right?
“He’s the enemy.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I concentrated on healing the damage I had done. The fox whined and jerked under my hands then jumped to its feet, teeth bared at the blond man.
I put myself between them. “He might be yours, but he’s not mine.”
The man’s eyes widened in surprise. “But he just tried to kill you!”
All of my friends were making their way back toward us.
“I’m not on anybody’s side,” I explained. “I won’t be used to destroy the queen. I also won’t be used to harm any of the Majs. They are simply following orders, same as you. They just happened to be born dogs.”
“You would let a fox run with you?” The green eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.
“Well, actually, he would be the second fox to run with me.”
Dawn shifted to show him and shifted back again.
Luke and Mel did the same.
“So you run with dogs!” he snarled.
Zane and Alex shifted and walked to stand directly beside me before shifting back.
“And cats,” I stated. “And Fairends, Wedelves, Scannoves, and Winged Ones.”
I heard some laughter coming from the direction of the woods. “That’s quite the pack you run with my dear.”
All the cats I didn’t know bowed down. I almost laughed as Melana walked out of the woods. She was nothing like what I had pictured. She was a few inches taller than me, her skin so pale you would have thought she had never been out in the sun. Her hair was long, to the small of her back, and white. Her eyes were such a pale blue they almost looked transparent.
Since I wasn’t sure what protocol was when meeting the queen, I waited for Jasper to introduce us. My heart beat a little faster as I noticed he hadn’t made his way back yet. I looked around, trying to find his eyes among many.
Panic started to grip me. “Where’s Jasper?”
Zane looked around and I glanced at Luke, then Mel. They were all gazing around the clearing, trying to find him.
I saw some movement along the edge of the clearing where I had last seen him. There were two beings walking toward us, each of them supporting the other.
“Ben!”
“Leslie!”
Tara and Alex ran towards them and I followed suit. Ben had five gashes that ran from his left shoulder to his right hip. His shirt hung in tatters and I was sure this was the work of one of the bears in Rainen’s pack. Alex beat us there and had him lying on the ground by the time we reached him.
Leslie looked like hell, but didn’t seem hurt.
“I’m sorry, Hayden.” His breaths were short gasps of pain. “I tried to stop them.”
“Alex, Luke, Zane. Can you hold him down? He’s not going to like this.”
Luke and Alex each took a shoulder. When Zane had settled himself on his legs I placed my hands on Ben’s chest.
“Just a regular one will do,” I muttered to myself. I lay the wave over him.
Ben’s body jerked under my hands. When I was done Tara ran to hold him, tears streaming down her face.
“I saw them throw the net on him. One of them hit him over the head and they threw him on a horse. When I tried to follow after them, two of them jumped out from behind a tree. I didn’t even have a chance to turn my dagger on them.” He hugged Tara and kissed her. “Shush now. I’m alright.” Ben held her close, his eyes closed.
“This is my fault. One of them got me. They grabbed him when he came to free me. Oh, Hayden, I’m so sorry!” Leslie was crying.
“It’s not your fault, Leslie.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
She nodded.
“They are taking him to the second cave.” I jumped at the voice behind me. The man was small, only an inch taller than me at the most. He had auburn hair and dark brown eyes.
“You healed me. I don’t quite understand why. But this is the least I can do for you in return.”
“Where’s the second cave?” I asked him.
“It’s hard to explain. It’s very well hidden. I can show you if you like.”
I looked around for Luke. “Do you know where the second cave is?”
He shook his head. “I’ve heard of where it is. But only certain captains and their packs know the exact location. Nate’s not lying. He knows where it is.” He nodded toward the little man.
I nodded to both of them. A whine broke my train of thought. Laying a little ways away was a coyote. He had an arrow in his hip and a long gash along his ribs. The dark haired man standing over h
im was pushing on the arrow with his hand.
“What is wrong with you?” I snapped at him. I threw myself at him and managed to knock him down. A growl made its way up his throat as I knelt down beside the coyote.
Zane and Luke came to stand on either side of me.
“I wouldn’t do anything stupid,” warned Alex. He had made his way around and was standing behind the dark haired man.
Zane knelt beside me, still keeping an eye on the growler. “Can you fix him?” he asked.
I put my hands on him and concentrated. I glanced over at Zane. “I’ll have to use the other one.”
“Hayden, don’t you think...”
“He’s not going to die if I can help it!”
Zane sighed, knowing his argument was about to fall on deaf ears. “But if you plan on going after Jasper you’ll need your strength!”
“I won’t need much of my energy. Can you get the arrow out?”
Alex and Ben came to help hold the coyote down as Luke and Zane worked the arrow free.
After finding that Fillian couldn’t heal a being with my energy in it, we had done some experimenting and found that I could give my energy to someone and then finish the healing safely.
I found the dark green wave and spread it over the ribs. “I just need enough to get the ribs back into place. He should be able to do the rest by himself.” I pushed some of my energy into the coyote and he jerked under me. I pulled back and sat down as a wave of dizziness hit me. I could almost hear Jasper growling at me.
Zane put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you ok?”
I nodded, got back on my knees and spread a safe green over his entire body.
The coyote whined as everything finished healing. He stood up and shook himself before shifting back.
Melana’s guards tensed and Zane, Alex, and Luke stepped so they were around him.
I looked around. “Is there anyone else?”
Three cats made their way over with fairly minor injuries.
I blinked as tears welled in my eyes. For one tiger, a coyote and a wolf, it was already too late. I clenched my fists. “So useless! So pointless!”
Tara hugged me. “Shush, Hayden. You did what you could.”
“But it’s never enough, is it,” I whispered. I took a few deep breaths and got myself under control. “Let’s go get Jasper.”
Luke, Zane, Dawn, and Mel all seemed to be arguing. It looked like Dawn versus the rest of them.
“You are not coming!” Zane glared at Dawn.
“You’re not going without me!” She glared right back at him.
Zane looked at me. “Hayden! Tell her she has to stay! She can’t risk it!”
I opened my mouth, but hesitated before I agreed with him. “Risk what?”
Dawn’s eyes got big. “We never told you! With everything that happened when we got to your house, it didn’t seem important!”
Zane pulled her to him and kissed her before telling us the news. “We’re going to have cubs!”
“Pups,” she corrected him.
“Well, whatever they are going to be, we’re going to have some!”
I laughed. “Boy, that will be something to see!”
You could almost hear all the mouths fall open behind us.
I gave Dawn a hug and Zane a kiss on the cheek.
Alex interrupted the celebrations. “I think Mel, Dawn, Hayden and the kids should head home. We’ll go after Jasper.”
“I’m not going home, Alex. If Rainen is there, you’ll need magic.” My voice caught a bit and I swallowed hard. “And chances are good Jasper is going to need a healer.” I thought of something. “Why didn’t she use magic today?”
“My guess is that with all of the fighting so close to her, she didn’t want to take a chance changing back,” answered Zane.
“Oh.” It still seemed odd to me that shifters couldn’t perform magic in their animal forms.
Tyler and Trent looked at their mom. “We want to help, mom.”
She shook her head.
I looked closely at Melana. “At the risk of sounding rude and ungrateful, why are you here?”
“When Jasper didn’t bring you back we had a few scouts figure out your location without confronting you. Since inviting you to the castle didn’t seem to work, I thought I would come to you.”
My temper started to flare. “You call that an invitation? Your guards were trying to abduct me! A letter inviting me over for a cup of tea might have been a bit more civil!”
Everyone’s jaws dropped.
“Yes, well, I suppose my men may have been a bit direct. Either way, I wanted to meet you. As we got closer to you we started seeing signs of the pack so we started to follow them. It was pure chance that we showed up just as they attacked.”
“Well, thank you. It was greatly appreciated. And now that you’ve met me, I hope you don’t find it too insulting if I postpone any chatting until after I’m done saving my husband.”
I turned back to Mel.
“What’s a husband,” she asked.
“Where I come from, a husband is the man you swear to spend the rest of your life with. Luke would be yours. You would be his wife.”
She nodded. “Well, Hayden dear. I will go hold down the fort at home if you promise to bring me back my husband.” She gave me a hug.
“I promise. And thank you,” I whispered. By the way Zane and Dawn were kissing she had decided to stay behind.
Some of the queen’s cats were still staring at them.
I glanced at Melana and laughed. She was trying so hard not to look.
“Don’t worry, you never get used to seeing those two together!”
She shook her head. “I image not. It’s interesting. They are complete opposites in every way.”
I nodded. “I can’t wait to see the babies!” I looked at Nate. “So what’s our plan?”
He was standing beside the blond haired man with grey eyes that had been the coyote. Both of them looked to be in their mid-thirties. They stood directly in the middle of our little group, looking warily at the guards who were glaring at them.
“Hey, don’t worry about them. Or us for that matter. You can leave if you want.”
They looked at each other then sat on the ground, grabbing sticks and stones from around them.
“They will be taking him here.” Nate pointed to a rock in the diagram they had just made.
Luke came to kneel beside us. “Why there and not to Howel?”
“The plan was that if we couldn’t get her that we would try to take him.” He glanced at me. “We knew they were always together, we had no idea they were fated!” Nate looked back at Luke. “They are going to keep him there because they know she’ll come after him. But they are sure she’ll just head to the keep to look for him and aren’t planning on letting him get anywhere near her.”
“The keep is where the majority of the dogs will be,” the blond one spoke up.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Kacey.”
“How many will they have guarding him, Kacey?”
“Twenty, twenty-five. They will be concentrating on the keep. There’s no reason to put extra guards on him because you don’t know where the cave is.” The corners of his mouth twitched and he looked back to the ground. I smiled.
“There are three different entrances to that cave,” explained Nate. He pointed them out.
“So we go in all three and trap them in the middle,” stated Zane.
Alex nodded.
We all stood. “How far of a trip?” I asked.
“Seven days at a steady pace,” Kacey answered.
Dodge snorted. I’m coming.
I gave my horse a hug. “Thanks, buddy.”
“I’d like to send some of my men with you to help. Jasper has always been one of my best captains. I owe him that much at least.” Melana gestured to her pack.
“Thank you. But they only come if they follow my rules.” I looked at the blond Namael with th
e green eyes who seemed to be in charge. “No killing unless it’s necessary. No hurting for the fun of it. We are going to save Jasper, not decimate their numbers.”
His eyes got big when Melana nodded. “You will listen to Hayden.”
She turned back to me. “I would like to go with your friends, if that is alright with you.”
I almost laughed; the queen was asking my permission. I nodded. “You can have tea ready when I get back.” I grinned at her.
She laughed.
“Let’s get this show on the road.” I gave the twins one last hug and swung onto Dodge. Ben, Leslie and Tara hopped onto Prense, Phlann and Shanus. Everyone else shifted.
Queen Melana waved along with the rest of them as we trotted away. I glanced back one last time and noticed the jaguar in my dream sitting beside her as well as a lioness and a smaller tiger.
“Hey, Alex!” I called to the lion trotting ahead of Dodge.
He looked back, shifted and fell into step with us.
“The three cats that stayed with Melana, they were females!”
He laughed. “Well, you know, we have to reproduce somehow!”
“Why is this the first time I see them?”
“The men are the main army. The females are the Queen’s personal guard. They watch over the keep and escort her.”
I nodded. “It’s different with the Majs, right? I remember Jasper apologizing for hurting Mel.”
He nodded. “The Majs believe that if a fated pair fight together, they will try that much harder to win to protect their mate.”
“Makes sense to me.”
He shifted back but stayed beside Dodge.
Prense and Tara trotted up on our other side.
“So, my first question,” I started, “is how the hell did you guys get to us when you did?”
Both of them smiled. “Just good timing really,” explained Tara. “Prense, Phlann and Shanus had come to our house when the blue bird got there. We waited for Dodge because we knew he would be coming too. It was just really good luck.”
“Well I’m sure glad you’re here.” I patted Dodge’s neck. “How did you know we were leaving?” I asked him.
When the bird flew into the clearing and found me I noticed that it had a note attached to its leg. I went right to Tara’s to find out what was going on.
Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' Page 13