A few of the humans looked up as they walked into the camp. Steven gave a wave.
“How many’d you get?” A short man with black hair made his way over to them.
“Five. You want them with the others?” Steven did a great job of not showing any emotion as he glanced to where the rest of the shifters were tied.
“Yeah.” The man looked over the captives. “Except this one. I’ll take her.” He grabbed Marianne from Alex and started to walk away. Alex put his hand on the man’s arm and squeezed until the human stopped moving.
“I caught her. I’ll be taking my turn first.” He grabbed Marianne back from the smaller man. The sorceress was as white as the tunic she was wearing, her eyes wide.
“I’m in charge and I get first go at my pick of the ladies.” The man sneered. “Unless you’d like to challenge me?” He pulled his dagger.
Jasper took a step toward them but stopped when Marianne gave a quick shake of her head at Alex. His friend tensed. Marianne moved ever so slightly away from him and mouthed the word ‘don’t’. Alex clenched and unclenched his fists.
“Take her then,” he managed to say through his clenched teeth. A few of the human’s friends laughed.
Marianne closed her eyes and swallowed hard as she was dragged toward one of the tents. Jasper noticed that Alex watched until he’d seen which tent they had entered before following after the rest of them.
Jasper took a quick glance to where most of the humans were sitting. No one was looking at them. He quickly untied Teean’s hands and the rest of his friends followed suit. He heard Rainen and Damian mutter under their breaths and felt the surge of magic brush past him. There were surprised cries from the humans. Jasper looked to them again. He remembered the feeling of being stuck in place. It appeared these beings weren’t overly fond of the sensation either. It took less than a minute for the four magic wielders to immobilize the human pack. Some of the tortured shifters managed to look up to see what was happening.
Marianne cried out from in the tent. Alex bolted toward it, ignoring Jasper’s yell to stay out of the line of fire. A fire bolt flew past him, narrowly missing him. The bolt slammed into one of the frozen humans. The tortured scream as he burned sent a shiver down Jasper’s back. He held his breath until Alex disappeared into the tent then set himself to work cutting loose the captives as the magic wielders took care of the rest of the humans.
He swallowed hard to keep an angry growl from making its way up his throat as he laid a young girl onto the ground. She couldn’t have been older than six or seven. Her face was blue and swollen and both of her arms were broken. It looked like she had tried to shift while her arms had still been tied. She whimpered at his touch. The only thing that kept him from exploding was the fact that she still had all of her clothes on.
“Shush, now, Sweetling. Just a few more minutes of this and we’ll get around to fixing you.” He smoothed her hair and took a deep breath before moving on to the next one. He jumped as an energy bolt flew past him and killed a human that had come out of his hiding place in the woods. Teean gave him a quick nod before moving on to his next target. Though the air rang with the screams of the dying humans, Jasper was still able to hear Alex’s outraged growl from the inside of the tent.
He looked up and saw the short dark haired man stumble backward out of the doorway. Alex was right behind him, his fist slamming into the human’s face once more before the smaller man fell to the ground. Marianne stumbled out of the tent, her arms still bound. Her pant leg had been slit open and blood was soaking into her boot. Her shirt had had a similar fate. Her face was already swelling from the abuse it had taken, her bottom lip split open from a hit. Alex jerked at something she said and he stopped his dagger mere inches from the man’s heart. He took his blade and slit the ropes from around her wrists. She stood and looked at the human lying on the ground, her body shaking. Jasper saw her lips move, watched as she pulled a wave he couldn’t see out of the air then paused. Alex held the man down. Marianne knelt and put her hands on the dark haired man’s chest. Jasper frowned. Nothing was happening. The man twitched and a gut wrenching scream exploded from his lungs. His skin turned red and seemed to melt away. Alex stood and backed away a few steps. Marianne’s eyes never left the human’s, even after they erupted in a splash of fire hot ooze. His screams faded to tortured groans then stopped completely. She sat heavily on the ground and Alex went to her side. She jerked at the touch of his hand on her arm, stood, shifted, and ran out of the camp.
Alex’s eyes met his. “I’ve got her!” he yelled. Jasper nodded. The last thing they needed was for anyone else to get captured. He scanned the rest of the camp. The odd human straggler was being picked off as they tried to dash into the woods to escape. A pained scream sounded from the furthest tent and a man was thrown out of it. A dagger flashed through the entryway and stuck into him. A blond man appeared, backing out of the tent with his hands held up. He seemed to think this was pointless and stopped, waiting for whatever was making its way toward him. The grizzly appeared, his lips curled to show his teeth. He sucked in a breath and growled in the man’s face. The human closed his eyes. Harold’s paw slammed him to the ground, his claws ripping through the man’s chest. There was no time to scream before all of the bear’s weight came crashing down on his face.
Harold shifted back and pulled his tunic off before reentering the tent. Jasper was scared to see what his friend’s mate would look like. He looked up as Ternach made his way to his side.
“Can you tell Hayden the healers can come? I’m pretty sure this is done.” Jasper took a deep breath and bent to lift the small girl into his arms.
The immortal nodded.
The first thing Hayden did was run to his side and he pulled her close.
“Are you alright?” She looked into his eyes and he nodded.
“I think she shifted with her arms tied.” He held on to the girl as Hayden ran a wave over her and healed the damages. He set her down and looked around for someone to watch over her. “Here, let’s go see if Francine can keep an eye on you.” He stopped as the girl clamped her arms around his waist. She shook her head frantically.
“Alright, Sweetling. You can stay with us.”
She visibly relaxed and peeked over at Hayden who smiled.
“Did we find Gina?” He nodded and led her down to the tent their friends were in. His heart was pounding in his chest as he walked into the tent.
“Oh, god, Gina.” Hayden swallowed hard. Their friend was curled against Harold’s chest, the tall woman wearing only her mate’s tunic which was long enough to cover her to middle of her thighs. She was so battered that Jasper couldn’t find any area on her where the skin was a normal color. She lifted her head. He thought she tried to smile.
“I’m fine, really.” She winced and lay her head back down. Harold’s jaw was clenched, his face streaked with tears.
“If you need any energy, take it from me.” His eyes met Hayden’s and she nodded. She pulled the first wave out of the air and spread it over Gina. She sighed with relief at whatever she saw.
“There’s nothing really wrong here. You’ve got bruises from hell and some shallow cuts…how did you keep them from hurting you?” She pushed the wave into Gina and Jasper watched as the cuts and bruises disappeared.
Gina looked up at Harold then closed her eyes. “I fought back the first time. I…I didn’t want them to touch me.” She swallowed hard. “The ones who fought were killed.” A tear rolled down her cheek and Harold wiped it gently. “I knew you were coming. I knew I just had to stay alive until you got here.” She reached up and put her hand on his face.
“I’m here, my sweet.” He swallowed hard.
“Hayden? We need you over here!” Hayden looked up at the sound of Danny’s voice. Jasper took her hand and the girl’s and led them to where the rest of the injured lay.
*****
I swung off of Dodge and looked around for Alex. “You’re sure he’ll come back here?”<
br />
Jasper nodded. “He was going to find Marianne and then come back.”
“What happened to Marianne?” Rodney pushed his way to the front of the crowd. His hazel eyes were narrowed with his frown. He noticed Jasper’s puzzled look. “We’re fated. She’s not happy about it and will barely look at me, but even though it’s a shock I’m not as opposed to the idea. Is she alright?” He ran a hand through his dirty blond hair.
We all glanced up as Alex came walking into our midst. Marianne’s small form shuffled along behind him, her swollen eyes down to the ground. Her cuts had stopped bleeding and I wasn’t too concerned that she was seriously hurt physically, though mentally she had obviously taken a beating.
“Marianne!” Rodney ran to her side. She stiffened and he stopped his hand before he put it on her arm. Her grey eyes never left the ground. “Are you alright?” He stood awkwardly before her.
She nodded, shook her head then nodded again. She flinched as he softly placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Marianne.” His voice was just a whisper. She looked up at him then closed her eyes before taking a step toward him. He pulled her close. “Come, now. Let’s go sit and I’ll get you some water.” He guided her past us. “I’ll let you know if she wants you,” he said to me.
I nodded and watched as they found a quiet area not too far from our camp. Alex was almost knocked over as Leslie threw herself at him. He laughed and kissed her deeply. Peter pulled Cassandra to his chest and hugged her tightly before holding her out at arm’s length and turning her in a small circle so he could look her over. Satisfied that she wasn’t hurt, he wrapped his arms around her once again. Luke was smiling at Mel.
“Did you miss me?”
She grinned. “Not at all, Love. Why are you back so soon?”
He snorted and crushed her lips with his. Her arms snaked around his neck. When he pulled away they were both breathing hard. She kissed him softly.
“Well, maybe I missed you a little.”
He hugged her close.
“Matthew!”
His face lit up as he watched Emelly make her way through the crowd to his side. She frowned at the bruise on his cheek where one of the humans had managed to sneak in a punch. He smiled and kissed her softly.
“See, nothing to worry about. I told you I’d come back.”
“You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine. You did more damage to me a couple of weeks ago when we were sparring, remember?”
Emelly blushed.
“Alright, then, anyone who needs sleep to build up their energy, you have four hours before we leave.” Jasper emphasized his statement by taking my hand and leading me to our blankets. I looked at Alex who sat by us.
“Did Marianne say what happened?”
“She did. I managed to get in there before he could get much done. She said he told her he had to get her ready first. That’s what the beating was for. He was about to undo his pants when I burst into the tent and put an end to his activities.”
“Thank God.” I looked around until I found Harold and Gina. He hadn’t let go of her hand since we had found her. She snuggled into his side and he kissed the top of her head. I knew she couldn’t possibly be as unaffected as she put on, but at least she was alive. If she was alive, she could heal and I knew that Harold was the kind of man who would be there to help her along her journey.
“Sweetling, come here.” Jasper smiled at the tiny girl peering at us from behind a tree. “Are you hungry, Nina?”
The midnight blue eyes lit up and fell behind a veil of light brown hair as she nodded. I patted the ground beside me. Her mother had been one of the women who had fought back.
“Alright, then, here you are.” Alex passed her some of his bread. Tara appeared with a pack she had filled with food.
“Ok. Jein will go back with her.”
I smiled at the young Wedelven woman. “Jein, this is Nina. Nina, this is our friend Jein. She’s going to go back to Sageden with you so you’ll stay safe.”
Nina stopped mid chew and turned wide eyes to Jasper. He put a hand on her head. “It’s best this way, Sweetling. It will be dangerous where we’re going. We don’t want you to get hurt again.”
Her bottom lip trembled and Jasper pulled her into a hug. “There, there, now.”
The sight of Jasper comforting the child made my chest hurt. His eyes met mine and I had to swallow a few times to make the cheese I’d been chewing go down properly.
Have you ever wanted to try flying, little one? Dreega, a bay mare from Dodge’s herd, walked over to us.
Nina nodded, but looked unsure.
Well, then, finish your bread and we’ll take to the sky. You get to ride me back to where you’re going. How does that sound?
Nina smiled and quickly finished her bread. She hadn’t said a word since we’d taken her from the camp. The little bit of information we had about her had come from the other shifters who had met her there. All we knew was that her mother had been killed two days after arriving, that Nina had tried to shift when she’d seen her mother’s body being dragged away, and that no one ever remembered hearing her talk. She also had refused to shift again since she’d been rescued. One of the men we had saved had been able to recall she had shifted into a bear cub.
Jein gave us all a hug, put on her pack and swung onto Dreega. Nina waved to us then threw herself into Jasper’s arms. She frowned at him and he smiled.
“We’ll see you when this is through, Sweetling.” He handed her up to Jein and turned to Dreega. “Don’t stop unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
She nodded. I’ll try to make it back in time. She loped off toward the open riverbank and lifted from the ground with a few graceful beats of her wings. Jasper sat behind me and I leaned against him.
“Dreega is fast and Jein is a great shot with her bow. They’ll be fine.” He smoothed my hair.
“Can you read my mind now?”
He chuckled. “I think that was more for my benefit than yours, Shlova.”
We looked up at the sound of wing beats overhead and I wondered why Dreega had come back. I caught my breath. The Faelie’s long black hair was pulled back into two thick french braids. Her eyes were the same color as the bright yellow in her wings. These reminded me of moth wings. They were covered in what looked like fine velvet made up of greens, blues and yellows. She was wearing a dark brown leather halter top and dark brown pants which were tucked into black boots. She looked extremely tanned. Standing there in front of me, she reminded me of the Gysps people who lived on the sea. She had to have been close to seven feet tall without weighing more than a hundred and fifty pounds. Thin was the understatement of the year, though she wasn’t bony, just long.
“I am Delaleh.” She waved me down as I started to stand. “Our elders did not wish to become involved and for this reason our numbers are not many.”
“Any little bit of help is greatly appreciated.”
Delaleh looked past me to Jasper. “Where will you need us?”
“We’d like for you to come in from the mountains to the west of Paradin. The Winged Ones will be there with you.”
She nodded, beat her wings, and disappeared into the sky.
“Chatty, isn’t she?” I smiled and Jasper chuckled.
“Get some sleep, Shlova. We have to be on the move soon.”
I wiggled under my blankets. “Bossy, isn’t he?”
Jasper grinned and stood to attend whatever he had next on his agenda for the day. The last thing I remember thinking as I fell asleep was that once this was over we would be in dire need of a vacation.
*****
“Shlova, you need some of that calming tea.” Jasper put a hand on my arm and I jumped. I took a deep breath and leaned into him.
“No. I don’t want to take any in case something happens. It makes me drowsy.”
He wrapped his arms around me.
“Aren’t you nervous? I mean, in three days we will be fig
hting the fight that will decide if Braw will get his wish to rid the world of strange beings or not.” I looked back at him.
“Of course I’m nervous, but going in there scared will only help Braw get what he’s after.” He paused. “How do you feel when you need to fight and I’m hurt?”
I thought about it and pictures flashed through my head. Jasper’s perfect blue cat eyes barely opened as he struggled to breathe on the ridge, his limp form lying in a heap in the cave, watching him fall to the ground after Mark had stabbed him and knocked him out cold. My heart beat faster and something stirred in me. I concentrated on that feeling; angry. When someone hurt him it made me angry. I felt him nod.
“That’s the one.”
I thought about what Braw was doing to these beings and the anger flared. Jasper jerked.
“Easy, now. I’m getting used to feeling your energy most of the time now, but warn a person when you’re going to do that.”
Matthew grinned. “I agree.”
“Sorry.”
I’m not complaining. That’s much better than nervous. I heard Ternach chuckle.
“Where are you?”
I’m sitting by the gates of Paradin having a shot of jeckden with the guards.
I started to laugh. “Are you kidding?”
No.
“Well, I’m glad you’re having a good time.” I snorted.
I’m finding out crucial information, my love. For instance, Yves, here was nice enough to divulge that most of the human army is inside the keep walls and that they are concentrating on the south and east sides. His friend George is a bit overconfident and says there is no way they will lose this fight since Braw has the staff and the immortal Ternach on his side. He chuckled.
Jasper frowned. “Well, here’s hoping they’re wrong about the second one.”
Do you doubt my loyalties?
“No. I believe you’re with us on this one, up until the point where we try to destroy the staff. Then I seem to recall you saying you mean to kill my mate.”
Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) Page 29