“Of course there’s nothing wrong with you! That’s the problem.” All of this was being said into his arms. “I’m afraid that should I see you in your indecent state, as you put it, I might not be able to control myself.”
“Oh.” I sucked in a breath. “Well, that’s good to know.”
There was a brush and some folded clothes on the end of the bed. I took the brush and went to sit on the chair in front of the mirror. Behind me, I could see him laying on the bed.
“So what did you do while I was sleeping?”
He looked like he was about to lift his head, then changed his mind. “Not much really. I got cleaned up and had some lunch. Then Zane caught me up on the last six months that I missed at the castle.”
“Why were you away from the castle for so long?”
This time he did look up. “I like patrolling, it keeps me away from the busy centers. That, and I was looking for you.”
Our eyes met in the mirror.
“How did you know I was coming?” I reminded myself to breath.
It took him a second to answer. “It was just a feeling I had. That’s the best way to explain it.”
We both jumped at the knock on the door.
“Everyone decent?” It was Tara.
“You can come in.”
She let herself in. “ I was just checking to see if the clothes I found for you fit?” She stopped short when she saw us, still staring at each other in the mirror. “You know what? I think I’ll come back later.”
It was almost like she hadn’t been there.
I took a deep breath. “Why is it that you don’t want to ‘lose control’?”.
Jasper got up and came to stand behind me. He took the brush from me, setting it on the desk.
“I am afraid that might not be what you want.”
My eyes widened.
“Also, I am nervous that if we did do anything of the sort, we would end up like everyone else I know who has been fated. There is too much at stake to lose sight of what we are supposed to be doing at the moment.”
Spoken like a true soldier, I thought, a little annoyed.
He was running his fingers through my hair, each touch sending shocks along my skin. I closed my eyes and a small groan made its way up my throat. His hands made their way down my neck. My head slumped forward as he started to massage my shoulders. Each rub was making the heat between my legs move higher into my belly.
“Good god,” I muttered. I stood and walked around the chair so that we were facing each other. I pulled out his shirt tails and heard him suck in a breath as I ran my hands up his chest.
“Never doubt how I feel about you,” I whispered. I pushed on him lightly with my hands, guiding him backwards to the bed. He stopped when his legs touched the frame. He had changed after his bath. This shirt had buttons.
I started at the bottom and worked my way up, taking my time. He stood frozen as I stripped the shirt off his shoulders and let it fall to the ground. I took a quick look at the cut on his side and made sure it was healing well before I stood on my tip toes and kissed along his neck and collar bone. He had shaved.
“What about...” I cut him off with a gentle kiss to the lips.
“We aren’t your typical fated beings, now are we, or we would have done this a long time ago.” I could hear his heart drumming in his chest.
My towel picked that moment to loosen and fall around my ankles. Jasper glanced down and groaned.
He wrapped his arms around me and lay me on the bed. His lips were everywhere. I felt like I was on fire. He stopped for a quick look at my face, his eyes burning with desire. If he was looking for any reason to doubt this was what I wanted he didn’t find any. He groaned in surrender as I reached down and undid the ties on his pants. Jasper pulled himself up and kissed me tenderly. I grabbed handfuls of his curls as his lips moved down to pay attention to my breast. He kissed each one softly and gently sucked each nipple. My head was spinning.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered and brought his mouth back down on mine.
I moaned and arched under him, wanting him to take me. I could feel him, hard against my leg.
His mouth still on mine, he gently ran his hands over my belly. His fingers tickled the insides of my thighs and I shivered. I caught my breath as he slid his fingers in me and stroked me on the inside. My eyes glazed over with pleasure and he smiled.
“Mmmm.” I seemed incapable of coherent speech for a moment. I grabbed fistfuls of sheets and felt the heat wave wash over me. I bucked under him and groaned.
His mouth claimed mine again, his body repositioned on top of mine.
I could feel the tip of him sitting questioningly between my legs.
“Now, Jasper. Please.”
I wrapped my legs around his waist and moaned as he slid into me. We took our time, learning each other’s bodies, smiling every time we made each other moan or gasp.
I ran my hands over his back, feeling his strength as he held himself over me, then ran them back up again to pull his lips down to mine.
Jasper pulled himself up a little more on his elbows, his thrusts getting a bit faster. I dug my nails into his back and pulled him deeper with my legs as I exploded from the inside out.
He flattened himself against me and groaned into my neck as he jerked with his release.
We lay like that until our breathing had settled down. I laughed a little as I felt him stiffen in me again. I pushed him over so that he was on his back and I straddled him.
“Maybe we are just typical,” I mumbled. We stated all over again.
*****
Some time later, there was a knock on the door.
“Just letting you know supper should be ready in about a half hour if you’re interested.” Tara giggled as she walked away.
I looked up at Jasper and blushed. “They all know, don’t they?”
“Considering we are newly fated, they are pretty amazed it just happened now. For most it happens right after the kiss. You just can’t stop yourself.”
“I wonder why we can resist.”
“I have no idea. Maybe we can find some answers to all of this while we are here.”
“Oh! That reminds me. We have to find an Wedelven healer named Fillian. She can help us.”
He nodded. “We’ll ask around after supper, maybe Tara or Ben knows of her. Are you hungry? Should we go down?”
I grinned as I rolled myself on top of him. “Who needs to eat, really?”
“Who indeed,” he mumbled into my neck.
We missed supper.
The next morning I woke up to Jasper running his fingers through my hair.
“Good morning, my love,” he leaned down and kissed my cheek.
“Good morning.” I stretched and smiled at the small protest my muscles made. If anyone had the nerve to say that sex wasn’t a good form of exercise, they had probably never had the pleasure of having really good sex.
“I went down and got some breakfast. I thought you might be hungry.” He laughed.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because your stomach woke me up!” He was still laughing as he sat on the bed.
“Well, it has been a while since we ate.” I blushed. I reached over his shoulder and grabbed a piece of fruit. I paused a moment to kiss his neck while I was there. The goose bumps that appeared almost made me forget about the food. My stomach growled at me and I laughed.
“I think I’d better eat something.”
He grinned and kissed my nose. “I’ll go downstairs and ask Ben about Fillian.” He started to leave.
“What?” I asked when he stopped by the door.
He came back to me and held me to his chest for a moment, then gave me a long, soft kiss. “Had I known how great life would feel with you in my arms, I would have stayed there and found you four years ago,” he whispered to me.
He left, leaving me humming to myself. I went to the chair with the clothes Tara had found for me. The shirt wa
s a white tunic with some gold and brown stitching. It was form fitting and extremely comfortable. The pants were the buckskin pants everyone around seemed to like. At the end of the bed were some boots. They were calf high, dark brown leather with laces all the way to the top. I looked at myself in the mirror and laughed. All I needed were some pointy ears and earthy colored skin and I could have passed as a Wedelve.
There was a knock at the door. “It’s just me.” Tara let herself in. She grinned when she saw me. “Not bad! Jasper’s going to want to tear all these clothes off of you when he gets back! Though I still can’t believe he managed to tear himself away as it is! Remember when I missed two weeks of school because I had mono?” She grinned at me when my eyes widened.
“No!”
She nodded. “Yep. And even that is a short amount of time compared to some!”
“Holy shit!”
She laughed and sat on the bed. “So? How are you feeling?”
I took my time and thought for a moment. “Well. There’s a few things. I miss my mom and dad. I’m scared about what’s going on. But excited too. And then there’s the whole Jasper thing.” I blushed. “I guess the only way to describe it is happy. I am unbelievably happy. I would fight dragons if that’s what it took to stay with him.” I laughed. “Are there dragons here?”
She laughed at me and nodded. “But don’t worry. They tend to keep to themselves up in the Northern Regions.” She tossed me a belt with a little scabbard on it. “Put this on and let’s go.”
I stared at it. The dagger’s handle was beautiful. It was silver and imbedded with green stones. “Go where?”
“Practice.”
“Oh, no! I can’t fight! I’ll do more damage than good!” I contradicted my statement by putting on the belt.
“Don’t worry. I’m just going to teach you a few defensive moves just in case. From what the others tell me, your magic will wipe out the enemy before we even have the chance to draw our weapons!” She laughed at the shocked look on my face.
Jasper and Zane picked that moment to walk in. They both stopped short and looked at me. Jasper looked over at Zane and elbowed him playfully.
“Go find your own. She’s mine!” He was laughing, but the way he said it made me blush. He walked over and planted a kiss on my hair. It was so casual. Then I saw the look in his eyes and knew it was taking him a lot of energy not to do exactly what Tara had thought would happen. I blushed some more.
He wrapped his arms around me for a quick second. As he let go his hand brushed against my belt. He looked down, his eyes widening then narrowing. He turned and glared at Tara.
“I told you no.”
“She has to know how to defend herself!”
“She won’t have to! I’ll be there!”
Zane put a hand on his shoulder. “What happens if you’re fighting and another dog sneaks up on her? Are you going to trust Phlann to keep her safe after what almost happened last time? You can’t be everywhere at once, Jasper.”
Jasper turned to glare at his friend. “Well, what if she just stayed here? She doesn’t have to come! It doesn’t make sense to bring her anyway. She’s the one they’re after!”
It was my turn to glare. “If you think you’re going to leave me here while you run off to get yourself killed, you’re crazy! I go where you go! I am not going to sit around here pacing while you guys are off fighting!” The thought of him going off to fight almost choked me. I stopped, my eyes wide.
“What’s wrong?” Jasper had been glaring at the floor. His head snapped up.
I stood as still as I could. “The colors are back.”
Jasper turned to Tara. “You need to go find an Wedelven healer named Fillian. She can help Hayden.”
“I know who she is. She’s the one who sent Wedelven guards for Hayden. She actually just got here this morning.” She ran off.
Jasper and Zane stood still.
“Jasper? They’re everywhere. I can’t even see through them!”
“I’m here, Shlova. Do you have any on your hands?”
I shook my head and breathed a sigh of relief as he took my hands in his. He pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around me. I lay my head on his chest, counting his heartbeats, trying to make the waves disappear.
“My goodness child! Put those away!” The voice was new to me.
“I’m trying!” I felt a hand touch my shoulder.
“You need to find something to think about. Something calming. Whatever this thing is, it is something that makes everything else disappear.”
The first thing that popped into my head was Jasper. The colors brightened.
“No. That’s not it. Whatever you just thought about is a good thing. That may be the one you have to think of to make your colors stronger. Try something else.”
I thought hard, still listening to Jasper’s heartbeat. It reminded me a bit of something. The steady rhythm. The thump noise. Something clicked. There was only one thing that could calm me. One thing that always made things right. The only thing that made me feel at peace.
I concentrated on Dodge. Riding in the trails, working in the ring. My two hours of peace and quiet away from the rest of the world.
I opened my eyes. The colors were fading. I thought of laying in the grass and watching him eat by the bridge. His soft nose on my hand when he ate crunchies.
The colors evaporated. I sighed with relief.
“Thank you,” I said as I turned to my newest hero. “You must be Fillian.”
She smiled back. “You must be Hayden.”
My first thought was that I was a bit jealous. She was beautiful. She had waist long thick strawberry blond hair. Her skin was a smooth caramel color with darker brown shadows blended into it. She was a couple of inches shorter than me and had all the curves in all the right places. My quick glimpse of her in my dream had been lacking on the details.
I glanced up at Jasper and was surprised to find him still looking at me. He planted a kiss on my forehead.
“Good job,” he whispered.
I looked back to Fillian. “I need your help.”
She nodded. “Tantara was explaining everything on the way here.” She gestured to Tara. “It seems you are a bit of a mystery.”
“I can do things no one seems to think I should be able to do. Like play with the colors, or see the bridge. Or see the future in dreams. That’s how I knew about you.”
She was nodding as she listened.
“It seems the only thing I can’t do is hear Dodge.”
She laughed. “No worries there, dear. Soon enough he’ll find his stone and you will hear him loud and clear.”
“His stone?”
Jasper cut in. “I’ll explain Dodge to you later. Let’s concentrate on you for now.”
I nodded.
“I guess I should start at the beginning. It would clear a lot of things up.”
“Wait. I think everyone should hear this,” I said.
“I’ll go find Ben.” Tara ran off.
Zane claimed Phlann and Shanus. “We’ll meet you in the courtyard.”
Jasper nodded. “Let’s go find Dodge.” He took my hand and we made our way outside.
Fillian excused herself. “There’s someone else who should be at this little meeting. I’ll be back shortly.”
We headed towards the back of the house. The Wedelven village was beautiful. The houses and shops were made of white stone and were lined along cobblestone paths. Though most Wedelves chose to live out of town, there were a few who preferred life close to the shops and all that they offered.
“It’s beautiful here!” I exclaimed. I wrapped my arm around Jasper’s waist as we walked. “So is there a Wedelven leader?”
“No. The Wedelves are Free Folk. They respect the laws of the queen when traveling on her lands, but when they are here, they keep to themselves.”
I liked the sound of that. Free Folk. “Do you think we could come back here, when all of this is done and over wit
h?”
He stopped and turned towards me. “You really like it here.” He gazed into my eyes.
I nodded. “I’m not sure. It’s a little hard to explain...” I tried to find the right words. “It’s almost like this feels like home.”
He tucked some hair behind my ear. “My love, we can go wherever your heart desires. I don’t care if we go live with the dragons when we are done, so long as I am with you.”
“How did you know, in the room?”
“What do you mean?”
“You weren’t looking at me, but you knew when the colors came.”
He frowned, thoughtful. “It wasn’t the colors. I didn’t know that’s what it was. I felt it when you got scared. It was like I was scared, but I knew it wasn’t me.”
I smiled. “Can you tell what I’m feeling now?”
He lift my chin with his fingers and softly kissed my lips. My head spun.
He looked behind me and rolled his eyes. “Do you plan it like this, or do you simply have the worse timing imaginable?”
Dodge snorted.
“We better head back anyway.” I gave my horse a hug. “Fillian is going to explain things to us.”
When we got back to the courtyard everyone was waiting except for Fillian and her mystery guest. I went to sit beside Tara and Ben. Jasper settled beside me, not letting go of my hand.
“So,” I smiled at Tara. “Tantara, hey?” I looked past her to Ben. “I don’t suppose your real name is Ben, then?”
He smiled at me. “Roben.” His focus changed to the end of the courtyard where Fillian and another Wedelve were walking towards us.
As they got closer I could see that he was nervous. I was getting a little uncomfortable at the way he was staring at me and not looking away.
Jasper put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him.
The strange Wedelve quickly glanced at him, then back to me. “It’s like looking at a portrait,” he mumbled to Fillian. His eyes were a deep green, bright against the contrast of his black hair and dark brown skin.
“Everyone, this is Brinnan.” Fillian introduced him. He sat by Phlann and continued to stare until Fillian started to talk.
“You have all heard the stories told about the baby girl found in the Wedelven woods.”
Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' Page 9