Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three)

by Chester, Mireille

  “Ok, well, I guess it’s time, right?” The butterflies in my stomach were starting to flutter around.

  Jasper nodded, watched as I swung onto Dodge, shifted and let out a roar. Rainen followed suit and howled. Everyone who could shift did and we were on our way.

  Chapter Nine

  I prayed to God every morning we wouldn’t run into any human packs and every night I thanked the moons that we hadn’t. I wasn’t sure how much longer our luck would hold, but it had been a week since we’d left Sageden and so far so good.

  I looked up from getting our blankets ready for the night. The sound of a scuffle reached my ears. Everyone tensed, reached for weapons, or shifted.

  “Let go of me!” The cry came from the far end of the clearing we were camped in. A group of four shifters I didn’t recognize made their way through the crowd. The woman they were holding was struggling against them, cursing them and her head became visible for a moment.

  Alex’s growl rumbled through him. “Get your hands off of her!” He ploughed through the beings in his way and tackled one of the men holding Leslie.

  “Alex!” Leslie’s voice was full of relief. She stopped struggling.

  Rainen shifted and her barks filled the clearing. Jasper’s growl echoed her calls. Every being in the clearing stopped moving and only the wind could be heard. Leslie stood awkwardly looking at Alex who got up and brushed the grass off of his clothes. He took two long strides toward her, laced his fingers in her short silver streaked charcoal coloured hair, and crushed her lips with his. She wrapped her arms around him, her raven black skin dark against his white tunic.

  Rainen grunted. “Now there’s something you don’t see every day.” She didn’t look sure whether she should smile or frown as the Namael pulled the Fairend to his chest and hugged her tightly.

  I burst out laughing. “I really don’t think there’s such a thing as normal anymore.”

  “I have to agree with you.” She settled on a smile.

  Alex and Leslie made their way up to us and I gave her a hug. “Welcome back.”

  Leslie grinned, her violet eyes sparkling. “It’s a long story.” She snuggled into Alex as he wrapped an arm around her. “When I got home I stopped in Sageden before heading to our cabin. I ran into Shondai and she told me you’d already left. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to catch up. I’m supposed to tell you that Tiny and Kip are doing well.”

  I smiled.

  “Are you sure you should come?” He frowned. “I mean, if something happens to you or you get hit…I mean, with the baby…”

  Leslie shook her head. “I’m not pregnant.” She seemed sad then the moment passed and she smiled. “That’s part of the story.”

  Jasper gave her a hug. “It’s nice to know you’re alright. We were starting to worry.”

  I leaned back against Jasper and smiled across the fire at Leslie who was leaning back against Alex.

  “Alright. Let’s hear it, then.” Alex tightened his hold on her. “What in the world happened to you? I was worried sick.”

  She turned her head and kissed him softly. “I’m sorry. I knew you would be and I would have been back sooner, but as it turned out, my plan worked a bit too well.” She shook her head. “So, it wasn’t long after you left to go help Hayden when she crossed back over that I started to feel strange. I was edgy and twitchy and I felt, well, I felt hungry, but I knew I wasn’t. The feeling kept getting stronger and soon it was pulling at me and I knew I had to follow it, that I was being called to meet. I knew you’d worry if you came back and I was gone so I wrote you a note. Did you get it?”

  Alex nodded and kissed the back of her neck. “I did.”

  “I was moving west. I had no idea where I was going, but the longer I traveled in the right direction, the stronger the feeling got. I traveled for almost three weeks and I knew I was getting close, but the closer I got, the more I thought of you.” She reached a hand back and brought his head against hers. “The thought of another man…well…even if he was a Fairend…I just couldn’t.”

  I could see the tension leave Alex’s body as he exhaled.

  “I came across a cabin that was inhabited by an old Wedelven couple. I asked for their help.” She shrugged. “The only thing I could think of was for them to tie me up so I couldn’t keep moving toward the meeting.”

  I started to laugh. “Did they do it?”

  She grinned. “They did. They tied me to one of the walls in their spare bedrooms. My hands were tied behind me so I couldn’t try to escape. Halda would feed me my meals. She was great.”

  “The feeling lasted this long?” Alex’s eyes were wide with surprise.

  Leslie shook her head. The amusement in her violet eyes changed to sadness. “A pack of humans came by the cabin. They killed Halda and Grual. By the way they reacted to me, I don’t think they’d had the pleasure of meeting a Fairend before. They decided to bring me back to Paradin to see if Braw knew what I was and if I was evil.”

  Alex growled. “Did they hurt you? Did they…are you alright?”

  “Other than a few bruises, I’m fine, Love. I told them I was definitely an evil being and that to touch me would be certain death; that my skin was poisonous to the touch. You should have seen them trying to get me on the horse without touching me.”

  Jasper chuckled. “So how did you escape?”

  “We stopped to eat and on one of these occasions I was able to grab a sharp rock and work it against the rope around my hands to get free. We’d stopped for the night and so I waited until they were sleeping and made my great escape.” She smiled. “I got a little turned around, but managed to find my way back.”

  “Thank the moons.” Alex hugged her tightly. “And thankfully, we don’t need to worry about this for another seven years.”

  “Yes, well, next time, I’ll just get you to tie me up at home.” She grinned back at him.

  “Which I will gladly do. By the moons, I missed you.” He turned her slightly in his arms so he could kiss her thoroughly. She moaned and kissed him back. He pulled back, smiled then kissed her again. “I love you, Leslie. And don’t tell me I can’t tell you. I have never regretted anything more in my entire life than not telling you that I did. I know you knew, but that doesn’t matter. We’ve been together for eight years now and I think it’s safe to assume I won’t be fating.” He was placing kisses all over her face in between sentences. “I love you.”

  Leslie was laughing. She reached with both hands and held his face still. “I love you, too.” She snuggled into his chest and sighed.

  Jasper kissed the back of my neck and I reached back to run a hand through his hair.

  “How do you think your brother is doing?” The thought of Trent in the hands of the humans called the waves to me and I waved them away.

  Jasper took a deep breath. “You’ve seen Luke when he’s fighting. He’s not one to make mistakes. What you haven’t seen is how he is when he’s been attacked personally. He’s deadly. When we hunted down the men who killed our family… well, he’s told me it was almost like I lost the human half of myself even when I wasn’t shifted.”

  I nodded. I’d seen that side of Jasper more than once.

  “When we found the first man, Luke was in the lead when we walked into his camp. The man looked up and I saw the blood drain from his face. All he had to do was see the look on Luke’s face and he knew he was about to die. When he finds the pack that took Trent… well… they just pissed off the wrong wolf.” He growled low in his throat and I looked back. The look he’d just been talking about was making its way into his eyes. I reached up and ran my thumb over his cheek. Jasper closed his eyes at the touch.

  “We’ll get him back. We’ll get them back.”

  He took a deep breath, nodded, and opened his eyes. The wild look was gone.

  I changed the subject. “I was thinking, the Burries’ magic is great for telling the shifters apart from the humans, but how are we going to tell our humans apart from Br
aw’s.”

  “Could we maybe mark them somehow… a tattoo?” Matthew was leaning forward. He’d obviously been thinking of the same problem.

  “It’s an option. It would have to be on the face and big enough to see right away.” I glanced to Emelly whose eyes were wide. “You don’t seem to like that idea.”

  She shook her head. “I’ll do what needs to be done. I just hadn’t thought about the fact that I’m not really one of you and might get mistaken as one of Braw’s people.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean, not one of us?”

  “Well, I mean human. I know I am, it’s just that I was starting to think of myself as one of you.”

  Matthew put an arm around her. “You are one of us. I just have to find a way to make sure everyone else knows it.” He kissed her forehead and she relaxed against him.

  “What about something like a bandana or a headband?” Steven ripped a strip of cloth from his blanket and tied it around his head.

  I started to laugh. “You look like Rambo.”

  He grinned. “Then Braw should see the symbolism behind it and shit his pants when he sees us. Rambo never loses.”

  “I don’t know if he’s seen the Rambo movies or not. He’s pretty old. He might have crossed over before they came out.”

  “There’s also the fact that the Burries’ magic only lasts a few hours. What happens if they can’t restart the glowing process? I imagine they have a limit as to how much dust they can give away. Between our packs and Melana’s, that’s a lot of dust.” Rainen took a bite of her bread.

  “We need to find a way to mark everyone.” Damian agreed with her.

  “Do you know any spells that would work?” I watched as he made a fire ball and tossed it back and forth while he thought.

  “No. Nothing that would last, anyway.” He tossed me the small ball of fire. I smiled and lobbed it back.

  “What if we all painted our faces? We could look like Wedelves.” Emelly gestured to Tara and Ben.

  Damian put out his fire ball and gestured for me to make my own. I picked my lightest red wave, flicked my wrist around it, and tossed him the little fire ball.

  “That would work for when everyone is human, but when we shift anything we have on disappears.” Matthew shook his head.

  I caught the little ball of fire and thought about my friends dying for the simple reason we might not be able to identify who was a part of our packs or Braw’s. My fire ball flared. Jasper scrambled away from me and I dropped it on the ground, slapping at it with my hands to put it out.

  “Damn it.” I barely managed to choke out the curse past the lump that was blocking my throat. I swallowed hard and felt the tears wanting to break free.

  “Come, Shlova. Let’s take a walk.” Jasper took my hand and helped me up. We walked past everyone until we had reached an area empty of other beings. I managed to stay composed until Jasper pulled me to his chest.

  “Oh, god, Jasper. Too many things can go wrong.”

  “That’s the thing about war, Hayden. You can never say exactly what’s going to happen or who’s going to win. You just have to go in and hope you’ve thought of everything that might go wrong. We’re still three weeks away from Paradin. That gives us lots of time to change plans.”

  “I should never have crossed back. I should never have followed you here. All of this is because of me.” I tried to get my sobs under control.

  Jasper chuckled and I frowned at him. “Now you’re the one who’s cracked, Shlova. Do you honestly think that Braw wouldn’t have decided to take drastic measures eventually? With or without you, the man wants us gone.” His arms tightened around me. “Did you mean that? Do you really wish you hadn’t come?”

  I shook my head. “No. Of course not. I can’t imagine life without you, or everyone else. I just…”

  “I know. If you did want to go back, though, there’s a crossing about two days east of here.”

  “Would you come?”

  Jasper took a deep breath and I felt him look back in the direction of our pack. “No. Not until this was done. I’d join you later.”

  “Why do I get a feeling you want me to go?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Because you wouldn’t have mentioned it otherwise.”

  He kissed me softly. “I do. Just to make sure you’d stay safe.”

  “You know I can’t go any more than you can.”

  “I know. That’s another reason I brought it up. I really didn’t think you’d take me up on the offer. The mate part of me wants to stash you away to keep you safe.” He took a deep breath. “But the other part of me, the captain part, knows we can’t do this without you here.” He growled. “Damn it, Hayden, sometimes I’m the one who wishes you hadn’t followed me here.” He cupped my face in his hands and ran his thumbs over my cheeks to wipe my tears away. “But not really. Even with everything we’ve been though, the past five years have been the happiest ones of my life and I’ll never regret convincing you to stay.” His lips brushed against mine. “I love you, Hayden. We’ll get through this.”

  I nodded and buried my face in his chest. “I love you more.” I breathed in his smell. “It’s just that I keep thinking about what you said; about how when we get there, it will be me against Braw and I know you’re lying. I know you’ll be right there along with me. I remember what you said when I first crossed over, after Luke took me. Do you remember?”

  He nodded. “I gave you my life. I told you that I would fight for you, die for you if I must. I said that anyone who was going to try to harm you was going to have to go through me first.” He kissed me again. “I meant it then and I mean it now. You’re mine, Shlova, and no one is going to get to you if I can help it.” His sky blue eyes bore into mine and my heart jumped in my chest.

  “That’s what I’m worried about.”

  “Well, quit worrying about it.” He smiled. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

  “Please.” I stood on my tip toes and parted my lips as his tongue brushed over them. He groaned and pulled me to his chest. My head started to reel and all my worries were forgotten. All that mattered was the fact that he was holding me. He pulled back and kissed the end of my nose.

  “Did it work?”

  I smiled. “Doesn’t it always?” I hugged him tightly. “A shlova yan.”

  “A shlova yan jer.” He took my hand and we made our way back to our fire.

  “Well, Hayden, since you’ve almost mastered the art of fire handling, why don’t we work on your displacement issues.” Damian stood and I gave Jasper a kiss before going to stand in front of him. “Now, I want you to concentrate very hard. Think of nothing else but where you want to go.” He paused. “Jasper, why don’t you go stand by the fire over there? Her bond to you should make it easier for her to find where you are.”

  Jasper made his way to the fire next to ours. Everyone who was sitting by it turned to see what I was doing.

  “Alright. Now, think of Jasper, say the spell, and pull the nudge into yourself.”

  I nodded and took a deep breath. I thought of Jasper, of his kiss and how everything else disappeared when I was in his arms. “Monave tean.” I muttered the words, closed my eyes and pulled my nudge into myself. I opened my eyes and found myself looking at Damian’s chest. I felt my irritation rise. “I don’t understand why it doesn’t work.” I blew out of my nose.

  Damian smiled. “No need to get angry. Here. I’ll give you the nudge. Get the feel of it and then we’ll try with just yours again.” I nodded and he went through the steps I had just performed. I felt his nudge, pulled it into mine and wrapped it around me. I felt the telltale rush of magic flowing through me, felt the ground disappear from under my feet then felt another nudge slam into me. The ground reappeared under my feet and I fell, grabbing for my swords as I rolled back to my feet. I pushed my shields up, ready.

  “My love, is that any way to greet me after the kiss we shared?” A rock man with clear green eyes walked towa
rd me.

  I swore under my breath. “Are you always going to be a pain in my ass?”

  He looked confused, or I assumed it was confused; rock men don’t have a lot of facial expression. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “What I mean is, am I always going to have to worry about you doing this?”

  He shifted into a black dragon, his ears flat to his head, his tail twitching. Please don’t do that.

  I frowned. “Do what?”

  He shifted into a short man with dark brown eyes and hair. “Your shield is pushing against me.”

  “If you think I’m going to drop my shields you must have lost a few brain cells during that kiss, Ternach.”

  It was his turn to frown. “I lost something, but it wasn’t brain cells. Hayden, it is taking all of my energy to keep us hidden at the moment, could you please stop pushing against me with your shield.”

  The way he said it made me pull back on my nudge and I put my swords away.

  “Thank you.”

  I simply looked at him, unsure of what I should say. He shifted into a Wedelve with green skin and almost white hair. Since we seemed to be holding some sort of a truce at the moment, I decided to ask him a question.

  “What do you really look like?”

  “Oh, well, you know… everything and nothing.”

  I shook my head. “I mean, when you first appeared, what were you? I think all of this shifting is because you’re bored. What do you look like when you’re you?”

  He shifted again and I tried not to stare. Even though he’d been here since time began, he only looked to be in his mid-thirties. He stood at about six foot one. His hair was blacker than a raven’s wings and curled into his eyes which were a green so light they seemed to glow. His face was all clean lines, his shoulders and chest broad. I couldn’t help my gaze as it followed the flat plane of his stomach, to his narrow waist then down long legs that you just knew were hard with muscle under his pants. ‘Built like a Greek god’ flashed through my mind. I blushed.

  “This is you? The real you?”

  He nodded.

  “Why in the world do you go around looking like rock men and dragons when you look like this?”