“You have no idea what you do to me,” he muttered against my neck.
I pushed myself down so that he was deeper in me still.
“Oh, I have an idea.” I smiled.
The rain was still pouring down. We were covered in goose bumps from the cold shower. It made the heat we were emitting that much more shocking to the senses.
Jasper placed his hands under me and lifted me before setting me back down. He continued this at a steady pace, making me gasp as he brought me up and moan as he let me down again. His breathing becoming shorter and faster. I tightened around him as the heat inside of me reached the point of combustion.
“Not yet,” he whispered in my ear. He held me still for a moment then lay me back down.
“Oh, god, Jasper, please.”
He held himself up on his arms and looked down at me, his eyes filled with the passion and love I knew were echoes of my own. He groaned as he lowered himself back down, his mouth finding mine. This time was a little more demanding, wanting. His lips were everywhere. His thrusts were anything but gentle.
Jasper moved up onto his knees and pulled my hips up to meet his, his strong hands holding me in place. Each thrust sent shock waves through me and my orgasm was world shattering. As I tensed and jerked against him, Jasper continued to thrust harder and faster. One great shiver shook his body and he groaned, leaning back down over me so he could kiss me again.
His kiss was tender, loving. “And that doesn’t even come close to showing you how much I need you, Shlova,” he whispered to me.
I smiled and wrapped my arms around him. “We’d better get dressed before someone comes around.”
He brushed my wet hair out of my face and looked at the sky. “I don’t think anyone is going to be walking around.” He smiled. “You look like a very happy drowned rat.”
I snorted. “You look like a very satisfied drowned sheep.” I pulled a curl straight and watched the water fly off of it as it bounced back.
He laughed and the movement made him jerk inside of me. The feeling caused the heat in my belly to flair and I moaned. I wrapped my legs behind him and pulled him deeper.
“Oh, Hayden.” He pulled back until he was almost out and pushed back in slowly. By the time he was fully sheathed in me he was completely hard again. He repeated the slow thrust. It was the worst and best form of torture.
I dropped my shield and let him feel my pleasure and need full force. He stopped short, his whole body quivering over mine. I pulled back a bit and let him recover. He took a deep breath then laid himself flat against me, a low growl rumbling deep in his throat.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he whispered in my ear.
I started to laugh. He grabbed both of my hands and stretched my arms over my head. He thrust into me as deeply as he could then pulled completely out before filling me again. He pushed into the deepest part of me and I groaned. I arched and wiggled under him, trying to take in as much of him as I could. I felt the pressure building inside of me.
“Jasper.” His name came out as more of a moan. Every nerve in my body exploded and I clenched around him. He gasped.
He gave two more deep thrusts and I felt him swell inside of me. He rolled onto his side and pulled me to his chest.
A flash of lightning lit the air and thunder exploded a fraction of a second after it. Jasper laughed as I jumped in surprise. He stood and pulled me up.
“We’d better go back. That was close.” I pulled my wet clothes back on. Jasper followed suit and grabbed our bag. He leaned down and kissed me softly.
“Don’t ever worry about me loving or needing you, Shlova.” He kissed me deeply before flashing me a crooked grin. “I can never get enough of you.”
I laughed and hugged him tightly. “A shlova yan.”
He smiled. “A shlova yan jer.”
I grabbed the soaked blanket and we headed back into the keep.
Chapter Five
“Are you sure?” Damian’s strange grey eyes looked from me to Rainen. I wasn’t sure if he was asking for confirmation to his first question which had been ‘it was Traina?’ or to his second which had been ‘are you sure I can’t have a shot of jeckden instead of tea?’. I nodded to both and handed him his cup of tea.
“But Traina? My Traina?” He swallowed hard. Rainen put a hand on his arm.
“I’m sorry, Damian.” Her voice wavered. Damian stood from the chair he was sitting on and pulled his sister-in-law into a hug. He was still thin but was finally well enough to stay awake for the day. We had decided that today was as good as any to tell him what had happened.
“No, I’m sorry, Rainen. No sister should have to kill the other, especially not to protect me.”
She wiped a tear from her face and smiled at him. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I was actually trying to save Hayden at that exact moment in time.”
“I’m glad you did. She is a lot more important in the scheme of things than I am.”
Jasper picked that moment to walk into the dining room. This was the first time he had been in the house since Damian had woken up two days ago. I knew that despite the fact that Damian had been helping us the past few years, he still held some hard feelings toward the man for being behind the order that had killed his entire family. He took a deep breath.
“Damian.”
“Jasper. Good to finally meet you face to face. Hayden has been telling me of your adventures since we last met. You’ve done a great job of keeping her alive.”
Jasper relaxed a bit. “Well, we couldn’t have done it without your help. Your hint at when and where to find Rainen was especially helpful.”
I smiled and he came to stand beside me.
“Hayden tells me you are thinking of leaving for Sageden tomorrow morning.”
Jasper nodded. “Rainen will rally the packs here and by the time she gets to Sageden, we should have ours ready to go. The blue bird came back yesterday with a message from Melana that her packs are ready as well. I’ve been thinking of sending her through the Northern Regions. The dragons can help her navigate.” He looked at me. “I’ll send Taleessa to be liaison between the two. I want them to come at Paradin from behind. Braw might be expecting an attack from this side of the Wedelven River, but he’ll never be expecting one from the north.”
Rainen was nodding her approval. Great military minds thought alike, it seemed.
“Hey! You weren’t supposed to start talking strategy until we got here.” William walked in followed by Matthew, Emelly, Steven, Harold and Gina. Jasper grinned.
“I was just getting started. I couldn’t very well finish without your expertise, anyhow.”
“Ok. So, you covered the north, right?”
Jasper nodded.
“We should send someone in from the west.”
I tried to think about where he was talking about. I frowned. “Those are the mountains.”
He nodded. “Paradin is nestled right against the mountain. Those things are treacherous. He’ll never think of anyone coming from there.”
Emelly’s eyes widened. “No one can come from there! They’ll kill themselves trying to get down!”
“Not if they were flying horses, they wouldn’t. How many horses like Dodge are coming along?”
“I’m hoping to have about four or five hundred of the Winged Ones. Of course, not all of them will have their wings. With wings, we’re looking at about two hundred.”
William was nodding. “We could put men on them. They could hide behind the first ridge and when the attack started, they could come out of hiding. There’s no wall on that side and I doubt there will be too many guards watching.”
“What about the Faelies?”
I looked at Gina, wondering what she was talking about.
“What’s a Faelie?”
“They’re one of the Free Folk, like the Wedelves. They live just east of here. They are another of the beings here that Braw thinks should be fixed. Actually, with the Faelies, he thinks t
hey have some sort of genetic defect and wants to breed them out somehow.”
“Why is that? What does he think is wrong with them?”
Gina smiled and looked at William. “They have wings.”
“How far away are they?” I knew that any little bit of help that we could get that wouldn’t be affected by Braw’s staff, the better our chances were of winning.
“You were at the river a few days ago?” Rainen asked me. I nodded.
“Right there. That’s their border. No one crosses that river. Anyone who crosses is dead, no questions asked. After some of theirs were taken by the humans they became extremely antisocial. They are masters at hiding. You didn’t know it, but you were being watched.”
I blushed as I thought about what they may have seen on that riverbank. Jasper grinned at me.
“I think it’s time to go back to the river, Shlova.”
I turned to the window to hide my embarrassment and nodded. “You could have told us,” I said to Rainen. “What if we had tried crossing the river?”
“I honestly thought that Jasper would know.”
Jasper shook his head. “I thought they were farther west.”
I got my blush under control and turned back around. “Alright. Let’s go talk to the Faelies.”
“Do you want us to come?” William asked.
“No. If it’s just me and Jasper we’ll look less threatening.” I turned to Rainen. “Is there anything I should know about Faelies before I head over there?”
She shook her head. “They have the odd healer or sorcerer, but they aren’t magical by nature.”
“Alright.”
Jasper took my hand and we headed out the door towards the gate that would lead us to the river.
“Oh, god! I have never been this embarrassed in my entire life!” I laughed when we got out of the keep.
He chuckled. “Shlova, it will be best not to think about it when we’re there.”
“I know, but still!”
We laughed together and made our way to the river. Once there, we stopped on the riverbank.
“Want to cross first?” teased Jasper.
I stuck my tongue out at him then scanned the dense trees and shrubs on the other side.
“Hello?” The only answer was the sound of the breeze moving through the leaves. I sent a soft nudge across the river and pulled it back quickly. Jasper felt my surprise and tried to see what had thrown me off guard.
“There’s four of them,” I whispered. “I can see the pink auras behind the trees.” I took a deep breath and addressed the hidden beings.
“Umm… hello? My name is Hayden. This is Jasper.” I looked over at him. He shrugged. “Rainen was telling us what Braw has tried to do to you. I thought you might like to know we’re assembling an army to go after him. He needs to be stopped. He plans to kill all of the shifters using me to project his staff’s power. We can’t just let him try to wipe out every being he doesn’t think is normal.” I frowned, not sure what else to tell them.
“We’re leaving tomorrow to meet up with our pack in Sageden. Rainen and the Majs will meet us there. Melana and the Namaels will attack from the north with the dragons. We’ll be sending the Winged Ones from the west and could use a few more beings with wings that will be able to fly down the mountain for the surprise attack.”
Everything stayed quiet on the other side of the river.
“Anyway, we thought you might like to know what was happening. Any help you might be willing to offer would be greatly appreciated.” I waited a few minutes to see if I would get some sort of response. When it became obvious that I wasn’t going to get one I turned back toward Howel and Jasper followed along.
“Maybe you should have talked,” I muttered. “You’re great at pep talks and getting everyone riled for a fight.”
He grinned. “I also have a bit more experience in the field. You did alright. I don’t think I could have done much better. I have never seen a Faelie before and have no idea what would get them going.” He put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “You did just fine.”
“So what is the deal with them? The spelling of their name…it makes it sound like they should be living by the Namaels, not the Majs.”
“They used to be our neighbors. King Julian, that was the ruler before Melana, was a bit of a tyrant. I wasn’t born then, mind you, but the stories I’ve heard are enough to make anyone shiver with dread. He is the main reason there is such animosity between the Majs and the Namaels. It has taken Melana over fifty years to mend the damage done between the Namaels and the Free Folk around our parts. The Faelies relocated here sometime during Julian’s reign.”
“Those poor beings. First the Namaels then the humans.”
We had gotten back to Howel by this time and were met at the gates by a very agitated Kip.
“Hey, you. We weren’t gone that long!”
Jasper got down on his knees and let our dog lick his face before grabbing a stick and throwing it. Kip gave an excited bark and chased after it.
“Do you have everything ready to go for tomorrow?” Jasper took the stick from Kip and threw it again as we walked toward Damian’s house.
“I do. You?”
He nodded and threw the stick. “If everything goes according to plan we should be home in three weeks or so.”
My throat tightened at the mention of home.
“Shlova, we can build another one.” He stopped walking and turned me towards him.
“I know. It’s just…that one has a lot of great memories attached to it.”
He smiled and kissed me softly. “We’ll just have to make new memories in the new cabin.”
“Hmmm.” I kissed him back. “I guess I could handle making new memories with you.”
We started walking again.
“I wonder what Tiny will think of Kip.” Our little tairat tended to be very particular about who she liked. Jasper laughed.
“She can’t possibly hate him more than she hates me!”
“Aw, now. She doesn’t hate you. It had been a good month since she’d bitten you before we left!” I could still remember how he had come up behind me and put his chin on my head. Tiny had decided he was too close and had run up my leg and bit him on the forearm.
“Besides, I know she likes you. Those are just love nips.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I’ve seen what she does to people she truly doesn’t like.” A picture of Ryland’s face after he had abducted me came to mind. Tiny had thrown herself at him and bit and clawed until he had managed to throw her off. There hadn’t been an inch of his face not covered in scratches and bites. Unfortunately, tairats were the size of a large rat and the damage hadn’t been life threatening.
“Yes, well, I hate to admit it, but I do miss the little thing.” Jasper flashed me a grin.
We reached Damian’s house and walked in.
“So?” asked Rainen. I shrugged.
“I could see their auras but they never showed themselves. I told them what was happening and why. They never responded.”
“I think we should be fine without them. William was telling us about a few more weaknesses around the keep. It seems Braw has been a little overconfident since finding the staff.”
Jasper nodded.
“Rainen?” Damian’s eyes looked from me to her.
“Yes?”
“Tonight, while I’m sleeping, I was wondering if you would mind multiplying my energy for me.”
“Not at all.”
“Thank you. I’d like to leave with Hayden and Jasper tomorrow.” He turned his attention to my mate. “That is of course, if you don’t mind.”
“I’m sure Hayden has tons of questions for you,” was the answer he was given.
I gave Jasper’s hand a squeeze, smiled at Damian and sighed to myself. This was going to be like introducing two dominant dogs to each other, only one was a dog and the other was a cat. Maybe that was the better analogy; t
he one that was true to life. It was like asking cats and dogs to get along. I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Jasper glanced at me warily. I shook my head.
“Nothing…everything.” I tried to stop laughing. This was too much. Cats and Dogs. What in the world were we thinking? Tomorrow we would start the second final leg of our journey to a battle that would determine the lives of almost all beings throughout the land of Quelondain. Did we actually think that we could win? Could I do what everybody thought I could? Fear and anxiety flared in me and I decided that laughing was better than crying. I waved Jasper’s concern away and made my way to the kitchen, out the back door and sat on the step with my head in my hands.
“God, Hayden. What the hell are you thinking? All it will take is one wrong move and you’ll have sent all of them to their deaths!”
“You could just keep hiding.”
I jumped at the sound of Rainen’s voice behind me.
“Maybe, but every time I hide, someone finds me.” I looked at her as she sat beside me. “What would you do if you were me?”
She took a breath, frowned, and shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I wasn’t born the Chosen One.” She smiled at my glare.
“If I fail…” I closed my eyes. “Jasper would be gone. Zane, Dawn, Kara. Luke, Mel, and the twins. Melana, Damian, you. Two entire races will be wiped out. And then, what? Without the Majs and the Namaels patrolling borders, how long will it take for Braw to decide the rest of this world needs cleansing?”
“Well, why don’t we look at all the options?”
“Now, you sound like my dad.”
She grinned. “Supposing you stay in hiding, what do you think would happen?”
“Braw would keep coming after me. I’d have to keep moving around. Of course, now that I’m safe from both you and Melana, I’d have quite a few more hiding spots at my disposal. Or I would just have to cross over permanently.”
Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) Page 11