Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three)

by Chester, Mireille

  “Next.”

  After scanning six more packs, all of them ranging from twenty to a hundred strong, we discovered ten more human imposters. Of those ten, nine were dead. The tenth, a man in his forties, stood in front of us, asking for the chance to prove he was on our side.

  I turned to Mark. “Do you know him?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve never seen him. He must have just got here.”

  “Steven!” I waited for him to join me. “Do you recognize him?”

  “No. I don’t.”

  “What’s your name, sir?”

  “George, miss.”

  “Alright, George. Come here and give us your stone and we’ll give you the benefit of a doubt.”

  He nodded eagerly. “Yes, miss. Thank you, miss.” He walked toward me earnestly, his hand outstretched, ready to give me his stone. He was dropping it into my hand when I caught a glint in his eye. I jumped back in time to dodge the dagger that was aimed at my heart. I grabbed his wrist with one hand and drove my elbow into his face. I pulled my dagger and thrust it backwards into his gut. By then, Jasper was behind him with his own dagger. He slid it against George’s throat and let the body fall to the ground. He wiped his dagger on his pants, stuck it in his belt and pulled me to his chest.

  “Are you alright?”

  I nodded, too shocked to speak. I bent down and tugged my dagger out of the man’s body then cleaned it and put it away.

  Steven gave a whistle. “Wow. I’m more than impressed, Hayden. I mean, I watched you two practice on the way over here, but it is nothing compared to what you guys just did. It was like watching a fight scene in a movie! How did you not get each other by accident?”

  I started to laugh. Jasper chuckled.

  “Lots of practice.” I laughed again.

  “Alright, Shlova. Let’s get you to bed. You look like death warmed over.” I nodded and swung onto Dodge.

  “Collin?”

  “Yes, Hayden?”

  “The packs we just scanned. Can you brief them on what’s going on? We need to be told when a new pack comes in. We’ll have to scan it right away to avoid any imposters sneaking off if they catch wind of what’s happening.”

  “Will do.”

  “Thanks.”

  Everyone started to head in their own direction.

  “Um, Hayden?”

  I looked down and found Karryn looking up at me.

  “What are we supposed to do?”

  “Oh. Well, go home for now.”

  The three of them looked surprised. They nodded and left.

  Back at the house, Matthew excused himself to go check on Emelly. I offered to run a green wave over her, but a scowl from him and Jasper made me turn in the opposite direction to my own bed.

  “Jasper?”

  “Hmm?” He turned away from the window.

  “Will you stay while I sleep?”

  “Of course, Shlova. I wasn’t planning on leaving.” He lay on the bed beside me and pulled me to his chest. Our fingers laced together automatically. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

  *****

  “How long has she been out?” Matthew looked at Hayden worriedly.

  “About ten hours.” Jasper took a deep breath. “She’s doing too much; not giving herself time to recover before she does something else.” He stood and stretched.

  “Collin says another pack is on its way in.”

  “Alright.” He ran a hand through his hair. The last thing he wanted was to wake her up. She needed to sleep. Not to mention that he would rather she not be checking for humans as it were. Six times in the past four days she had almost been stabbed or bit. He glanced over at his friend.

  “How’s your shoulder?”

  Matthew shrugged. “I’ll live.” He had been cut jumping between Hayden and one of the committed humans.

  “She’ll want to fix you when she wakes up.”

  “I know. She told me when I wouldn’t let her do it after it happened. I’ll tell her the same thing as I did then.” He smiled and Jasper chuckled at the memory of Hayden stalking up to Matthew, her green eyes blazing. She had cursed at him, telling him he was stubborn, that it wouldn’t take any energy at all to fix it.

  He had shrugged and said, “What’s one more scar? I wasn’t always bonded to the Chosen One, you know.” He had leaned down, kissed her forehead and walked away. Hayden had instantly turned red. She hated being called that. Jasper had felt her anger escalate and he’d put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

  “You know, she was so angry that you called her that, I think she was going to throw one of her waves at you.” He grinned.

  Matthew laughed. “I knew you’d stop her.”

  “Yes, well, don’t provoke her too much.”

  Matthew’s green eyes narrowed. “I noticed she’s a bit crankier than usual.”

  “It’s everything that’s happened. She tries to shield me, but she’s hurting so badly that she can’t keep it from me.” He felt his chest tighten and he brushed the loose hair out of her face. She smiled at the touch. “We didn’t think we could. She went into heat, well, it would have been just before I was captured and taken to the cave; just before Hayden met you for the first time.”

  Matthew nodded to show he remembered.

  “It didn’t work. We just assumed we were too different. Maybe here we are, but when we crossed over…” He took a deep breath. “Maybe it’s because I’m just human there. Your cat half, it dies.” He shuddered. “It is the worst feeling in the world. You’re in constant pain.”

  He sat back down in the chair. “I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t devastated when Chaid said the baby was gone, but had I lost Hayden…” He leaned over and kissed her on the nose. “By the moons, Matthew, she died in that room. I felt it happen. It was a hundred times worse than when I can’t see her. I’ve asked other fated couples. It’s different for us. The farther away we are from each other, the more it hurts. Hayden feels it differently. She says she feels empty. For me, it’s pain. For those two minutes that she was dead, I might as well have been. It was pain unlike anything I’ve felt before.”

  Matthew leaned against the wall and let him talk.

  “Sometimes, I wish she wasn’t her.” He smiled sadly. “It’s purely for selfish reasons, of course. I mean, I would still want her to be Hayden.” He gazed at her lovingly and felt his love for her warm him. “It’s the Chosen One bit that could go away. I would love nothing more than to go home, rebuild our cabin, and simply spend the rest of our days living normal uneventful lives. No more beings abducting her. For her to never have to kill again. Do you know, every time she kills someone, and she’s never done so other than in self-defense, she feels as though she is the worst person in the world?”

  “I knew she was against killing. I didn’t know that part of it, though.”

  “Do you remember when we were younger? When we were just starting our training with Parker?”

  Matthew smiled. “Good old Parker.”

  “We used to say that if we ever found a way to escape our bonds that we would hide ourselves away and live like hermits.” He smiled back then turned serious. “Well, we did it, Matthew. We have no bonds to Melana. Yet living like hermits still isn’t an option is it?”

  His friend nodded. “True enough.” He looked at Hayden and smiled. “But in a totally different kind of way, we’re bonded to Hayden, yeah?”

  Jasper smiled back. “She hates that.”

  Matthew chuckled. “I know. I wonder what will happen after she beats Braw.”

  “I’m not sure. But if your bond to her breaks, you’d better visit. No matter how big this pack gets, it will always be family that’s her main priority.”

  “Well, since we’re supposed to be hermits together, I suppose I’ll have to move to Sageden.” He gave Jasper a pat on the shoulder. “I’ll tell Collin we’ll check the next few packs manually so Hayden can get some more sleep.” He headed for the door.

 
“Matthew?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Thanks.”

  “What are friends for if not to listen? Just for future reference, though, you’re not in this alone, Jasper. It’s like she stresses all the time. We’re not a pack, we’re a family. We’ll all do what we have to and make sure Hayden succeeds. That includes keeping her alive.” He put a hand up to his injured shoulder, smiled and left.

  Jasper folded his arms on the bed and lay his head down in them. He smiled to himself. She was dreaming of something relaxing. He let himself get lost in the feeling and fell asleep.

  *****

  I awoke feeling completely energized for the first time in almost a week. I opened my eyes and smiled. Jasper’s head was next to mine though he was sitting in a chair. I pulled on a couple of dark curls and watched them bounce back. He smiled in his sleep. I brushed the hair out of his face and kissed his nose. I was still waiting for him to break it again so I could straighten it. It was a bit of a joke between us. His nose had been slightly crooked when I had first met him due to a well placed fist during a fight. It seemed as though his face had a ‘hit me’ sign on it. I’d had to straighten and heal his nose at least five times since we had been together. Granted, one of those times I had been the one to break it, but in my defense, if you’re going to grab someone from behind in the middle of a fight without identifying yourself, you should expect some sort of retaliation. He liked to flash his perfect smile and say it was a good thing they aimed for his nose and not his mouth. I tended to agree. I was pretty sure I couldn’t replace teeth even with magic.

  Dark lashes lifted and I found myself looking into sky blue eyes. I had to remind myself to breathe. He smiled and I kissed him lightly. He tucked my hair behind my ear.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Great. How long have I been sleeping?”

  He looked out of the window where the first rays of the sun were just starting to light the land. “Oh, I’d say about eighteen hours.”

  “Wow. I didn’t realize I was running that low.” I moved back to make room for him in the bed and he climbed under the covers.

  “I told you that you were, but you never listen to me.”

  I grinned. “That’s because you’re overprotective and tend to overdramatize things to keep me safe.”

  He laughed. “Overprotective, am I? Well if I am it’s because I have to be.”

  “Hmm.” I nestled my head against his shoulder. “We should take a walk this afternoon. We could go to the river. We haven’t had three minutes alone since we crossed back.”

  “That would be nice. I’ll check with Collin to make sure he’s not expecting any packs to come back today. I’d hate to run into one when we’re alone.”

  “Alright.” My stomach growled and Jasper kissed me before getting up.

  “I’ll get you some breakfast.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.” I watched him leave the room and hoped Collin would give the ok for us to leave for a bit.

  *****

  The day was hot and storm clouds were starting to form overhead. I sat on a blanket by the river, pulling bread and cheese out of my bag, and watched as Jasper carried the fish he had just caught back toward me. He had taken off his shirt and I felt myself smile as I watched the muscles stand out in his arms and chest. I could still see the faint five inch scar along his ribs that he’d gotten protecting me when I’d first crossed over.

  He dropped the fish on a rock and came to sit behind me. He kissed the back of my neck and I felt him smile as a shiver ran through me. He moved my hair off of the back of my neck, his finger running lightly over it and onto my shoulders. He kissed me again then moved to the side and got the fish ready for cooking while I started a fire. I smiled.

  “This reminds me of the day we took the twins fishing.” I looked up at the sky.

  “By the looks of it, today will end the same way.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t care if it rains so much I drown in it.” I handed him a piece of cheese. “It will be worth the time alone with you.”

  He turned the fish over and smiled. “I agree. Who would have thought that organizing a war was going to be so hectic.”

  I laughed. “I’m pretty sure you might have had an idea.”

  He flashed me a grin.

  I leaned back against a tree and watched him cook.

  “Have you thought a bit more about what you want to do after we’re done with Braw?”

  I shook my head. “Not really. Now that we’re back, I haven’t even really thought about crossing over. You?”

  He smiled, his attention still on the fish. “You know how I feel about crossing.”

  “That’s what I don’t understand. If it hurts that much, why would we go back?”

  “It gets better the longer I’m there.”

  “But it never goes away. I can tell the difference, Jasper.”

  He shrugged. “I meant it when I said I’d go back.”

  “I know. I don’t know. Why were we thinking about it again?” Now that we were back in Quelondain it seemed wrong to leave again.

  He was quiet for a moment. “I think what brought it on was the fact that life is quiet over there.”

  “But life will be quiet here once this is all done.”

  “True enough. You know, though, I do miss working on the ranch with Shawn. What about riding? You can’t tell me you don’t miss training and showing your colts.”

  “I do. Can we really leave everyone here? I guess we could visit, but then every time you crossed back you would have to start over with the pain.”

  We were both quiet. I looked at him.

  “Would we still rebuild here?”

  He nodded.

  “I was thinking we could build our next cabin on the same side of the creek but on the other side of the clearing.” He glanced back at me.

  I pictured the clearing. “You mean, where we took the logs to make the first one?”

  He nodded. “We’ll have to clear the stumps out, mind you, so it will be a bit more work, but it should be nicely sheltered there.”

  “That would be a nice spot.”

  “Also, I was thinking we could make it a three bedroom this time.”

  I stopped chewing on the piece of bread I had in my mouth. My heart felt heavy. “I don’t want to talk about that yet.”

  “Shlova…”

  I shook my head and he turned back to the fish. He pulled it off of the fire.

  “Watch yourself,” he warned as he handed me a piece. “It’s hot.”

  “Really?” I grinned and took it from him. “I never would have thought, what with it just coming out of the fire and all.”

  He smiled.

  Once the food was done we cleaned everything up. Jasper lay on his back, his hands behind his head. His curls were damp with sweat and I leaned over to brush one out of his eyes. My need for him grew as he looked into my eyes.

  I straddled him and his eyes widened.

  “Do you remember when you asked if I thought you would always be enough to keep me happy?”

  “I do.”

  “Do you still worry about it?”

  He took a moment to think before answering. “No, why?”

  I looked into his eyes so I could see his reaction. “Do you think you’ll always need me? I mean, once all of this is over, will our bond break? Do you think we were matched just so I would have a good protector?” I asked.

  He nodded, his eyes staying their regular calm blue. “I’m fairly positive we were fated specifically for that reason. As for what will happen after we defeat Braw, I can’t tell. Who knows what will happen with bonds or whose will be affected. As to whether or not I’ll always need you, the answer to that is without a doubt. I don’t think I can even explain how much I do. I love you, Hayden. I have from the moment I saw you at the bottom of that hill.” He reached up and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Even if we weren’t fated I would still love you.”

  I smiled and ran my hands
up his chest, letting my fingernails run against his skin. He sucked in a breath.

  “Well, that’s good.” I leaned forward and nibbled on his earlobe then bent back down and nipped along his chest. “Because I can’t see myself ever not needing you either.”

  He jerked a little and closed his eyes as I ran my tongue over his nipples.

  “God, Jasper, I love you.”

  He groaned and ran his hands up my back where they tangled in my hair. He pulled me up so that he could kiss me. Without letting go or breaking the kiss, he managed to flip us over so that he was lying on top. He reached down and pulled my shirt out of my pants. His hands sent shivers along my skin and I moaned as he bent down and kissed along my stomach. He used his nose to move my shirt out of the way, his kisses tracing a path from one hip to the other.

  He lifted my shirt over my head and moved his focus to my breast. His tongue ran along their curve and I sucked in a breath as he ran his teeth over my nipples. His head came up and he looked at me.

  “Don’t you even think of stopping!” I gasped.

  He grinned. “Oh, I wasn’t.” He reached down and undid the laces on my pants with one hand. I moaned as he slipped his hand between my legs and his fingers found me wet and wanting. His lips worked their way down to my belly again as his fingers stroked inside of me.

  He pulled my pants off and settled himself on his stomach with my legs hooked over his shoulders. I moaned and grabbed two handfuls of thick curls as he slipped his tongue inside of me. I arched with pleasure. Each new flick and kiss got me closer to my release.

  Jasper took his time and soon had me panting. I could have sworn I felt him smile when I jerked, every nerve in my body exploding with feeling.

  I lay there, trying to catch my breath and laughed as Jasper rested his chin on my stomach. He grinned at me and I blushed. He looked up as the rain started to fall on us and laughed when I tried to get up. He held me down.

  “Jasper! It’s starting to pour!” I was already drenched.

  “Don’t move.” He got up and stepped out of his pants. Rain soaked his curls and ran down his perfect body. He sat between my legs and pulled me into a sitting position. “I’m not done showing you how much I need you.” He wrapped my legs around his waist and lifted me onto his lap. We both caught our breath as he set me down slowly. Jasper wrapped his arms around me and held me in place. He bent down to kiss me. I pressed myself against him, reaching up to run my fingers through his hair. He groaned as I moved my hips from side to side.