“You’d better start thinking into the future a bit more there, Hayden,” I told myself.
I stooped to pick up another handful of moss, then straightened and stretched. I realized that I couldn’t hear anyone else. Not even the sound of hatchets against wood.
“Great,” I muttered to myself. “I’ll never hear the end of this one.”
I heard a chirp overhead. “Hey, you! Good timing. Would you mind showing me which way the clearing is?”
The blue bird hopped down to a lower branch the flew to another tree to my right.
“That way?”
She flew in the same direction a little farther down.
“Thanks.”
She chirped.
“Did Jasper send you to babysit me so I wouldn’t get lost?”
She bobbed her head and I laughed.
“Well, I’m glad he did.”
I heard some movement to my left and blushed. “Hey, Tara. How full are your bags?” I dropped mine, reached behind me and froze, remembering I didn’t have my swords. I grabbed my dagger instead.
“Go tell Jasper!” I whispered to the blue bird without taking my eyes off the wolf.
This wolf was black and a little smaller than Luke. It sat down, looking at me.
I shifted positions as a second and third wolf came to sit beside the first. These were grey and smaller than the black one. I heard some more rustling and almost laughed when a red fox came trotting out of the woods and sat beside the wolves.
My dream flashed in my head. This was it. The one with me surrounded by the wolves. They formed a half circle around me, not moving.
“You really have to start writing this stuff down, Hayden,” I told myself.
The black wolf cocked its head.
Time seemed to stand still. Nobody moved.
I relaxed at little as three cats and a wolf came up behind me.
Luke continued forward to the black wolf and nuzzled it, a little whine escaping his throat. The black wolf’s tongue came out and licked the end of his nose.
Zane, Jasper, and Brice shifted back.
“It’s alright, Shlova.” Jasper put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, eyes wide, then put the dagger away.
When I looked back at the wolves Luke was in human form kissing a beautiful woman with long straight black hair and deep brown eyes.
He pulled away and looked at her for a moment then hugged her to his chest. “I wasn’t sure if you would come,” he whispered, his voice thick.
“I couldn’t let you have all the fun, what with playing nicely with cats and all that.” She grinned at him. “Not to mention that the den is pretty empty without you there.” She stood on her tip toes and kissed him.
She turned to me and smiled. “So you’re the reason the order of things around here is changing.”
I smiled back. “I guess so.”
“This is my mate, Mel. Mel, this is Hayden,” Luke introduced us.
Mel turned to Jasper and nodded. “Jasper. Nice to finally meet you again under better circumstances.”
He smiled. “Likewise. Sorry about on the ridge, there. I really did try to knock you out. I wasn’t aiming to break your leg.”
She shrugged. “I know. It worked out alright. Our healer survived the fight this time.”
“So you guys know each other?” I asked.
Jasper nodded. “When Luke found he was fated he brought Mel home to meet our parents.”
They all laughed. “Boy, was that awkward,” snorted Luke.
“So even though you have to fight each other, you try to not kill each other?”
It was Mel’s turn to nod. “Of course.” She smiled. “We’re family.”
The two smaller wolves shifted and I stared. The two of them were identical. Both boys were young, looking maybe nine years of age. They had the same dark brown hair and brown eyes as Luke. They ran to Jasper, almost knocking him over with their hug.
“Hi, Uncle Jasper!” Jasper hugged them both back warmly.
“Hey, boys! I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten! And it’s only been two months since I saw you last!”
They beamed at him.
I hadn’t realized my mouth had fallen open until Luke looked at me and laughed. “These are our pups, Tyler and Trent.”
Jasper introduced me. “Boys, this is your Aunt Hayden.”
It was Mel’s turn to lose control of her mouth. She looked at Jasper. “But you’re a cat! And she’s a human!”
Zane laughed. “Actually, she’s half Wedelve.”
I blushed. “Long story.”
Zane’s laughter cut off and everyone looked at him. He was staring at the fox.
Brice’s eyes widened as he looked where Zane was looking.
The fox had shifted into one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She was tiny, a good three inches shorter than my five foot four inches. If she weighed ninety pounds she was lucky. And yet, she wasn’t skinny. She was lean and muscled. Her eyes made the green in mine look dull, and her long red hair looked like flames as the breeze picked it up and swirled it around.
Luke laughed at the two of them. “Dawn, this is Zane, Brice. I believe you’ve met Jasper before, and this is his mate, Hayden.”
Zane closed his mouth and nodded.
“So what brought you here, Dawn?” asked Brice.
“I heard Mel talking to the blue bird about how to get here. For some reason it made sense to come along.” She was looking at the ground.
Brice laughed. “Hayden has a way of doing that to people.”
Zane grunted. “I have something I need to do,” he muttered. “I’ll meet you guys back at Tara’s later.” He shifted back into a panther and bolted.
Luke turned to his pups. “Well, boys, you are getting here just in time to help build your aunt and uncle a house.”
“Cool!” exclaimed Tyler. Or maybe it was Trent.
“Yes,” said Jasper. “We better head back to the clearing before Shanus and Prense think this meeting has gone wrong and come barreling over here, swords drawn.”
We started walking back. Luke had his arm around Mel, catching her up on what had happened since the last time she had seen him.
I laughed as Jasper was tackled to the ground by the twins. He managed to get away from them, grabbed one under each arm, and took off running toward the clearing.
Brice burst out laughing. “Now there’s a side of the captain no one’s seen before!”
Luke laughed. “That, my dear Brice, this is the real Jasper. When he is leading his men he is the most serious and calculating man I know. But the Jasper you don’t see is this one. He loves his family more than anything even if the only family he has left now are wolves.” His voice saddened a bit and Mel rubbed his back.
Then Luke was being ambushed by the three of them. He shifted and ran. The twins followed suit, chasing after their dad.
Jasper looked over at me, doubled over with laughter. I grinned at him and he jogged over, grabbing me in a bear hug. He looked down and kissed me on the nose.
“I’ll be back!” He shifted into a tiger and took off after the three wolves.
I laughed at the look on Brice’s face. “Go be a cat, Brice!”
He looked at me and laughed, then a jaguar was streaking through the woods.
Dawn, Mel, and I walked back towards the clearing.
“I wonder what Zane had to do that was so important all of a sudden,” I wondered out loud.
“Is he always that strange?” asked Dawn.
“No. That’s not like him at all. He jokes around a lot. The only time I’ve actually ever seen him serious is when he’s fighting. And even then, sometimes I don’t think he takes that completely seriously.”
Mel laughed. “I think you’re right about that.”
When we got to the clearing Luke and Jasper already had the twins put to work.
Dawn stopped short. “Oh, no.”
We stopped to look at her, then back int
o the clearing to what she was staring at.
Zane sat on one of the logs, his black eyes glaring at her.
“Do you know each other?” asked Mel.
Dawn’s voice was just a whisper. “Only through dreams.”
Mel and I stared at her.
“I thought this was supposed to be a happy moment. What is it with cats and finding their fated one. Can’t they just be happy about it? Only Jasper didn’t look that angry! Zane looks like he is going to kill you!” I whispered.
“I don’t think he knew she was a fox,” Mel guessed.
“No. He didn’t. Just as I didn’t know he was a panther,” Dawn explained.
“Well, you seem to be handling this a bit better than him.” Mel glanced over at Zane. “Oh! Here he comes!”
He was striding over, his face still a scowl. Everyone glanced up as he marched by them. He looked so mad that Mel and I stepped in front of Dawn, keeping her behind us. He stopped short, surprised.
The clearing was deathly quiet as everyone stared at us standing defensively between Dawn and Zane.
He opened his mouth to say something, stopped, closed it, closed his eyes and shook his head. After taking a few deep breaths, he looked at Mel and I. “I’m not going to hurt her,” he muttered, his eyes filled with confusion. “I just need to talk to her.
Mel glanced over at me, but didn’t move.
“Look,” he explained. “It’s just a bit of a shock. I always imagined she was a panther. And if not a panther, then at least a leopard!”
She pushed her way gently between us.
He smiled a little at her, looking shy and embarrassed. “Hi,” he spoke softly.
“Hello.” She smiled back at him.
“Maybe we could start over. I’m Zane, I’m not good with surprises.”
She laughed. “I’m Dawn and I kind of noticed that.” She took a couple of steps towards him and took his hands. “Is it the fact that I’m a dog? Or just the fact that I’m not a cat. Maybe if I was a Wedelve...” Her voice trailed off as she looked into his eyes, trying to see why he was so upset.
When he didn’t answer, she looked down at their hands, hers barely visible in his. “But if it’s too much to handle...”
The look in his eyes turned to panic. “No! It’s just... Do you know, I can’t remember. Maybe it’s the fact that you are a hundred times more beautiful than any of my dreams showed me,” his voice was a whisper. It was as if the rest of us had disappeared.
I was scared to move and ruin the moment.
She laughed. “You’re a bit taller than I imagined.”
He smiled down at her. “I’m sorry, about before.”
She shook her head. “I was just as shocked.”
Zane’s voice was thick, so quiet I could barely hear it. “I have been searching for you for almost ten years.” He gave a bit of a laugh. “No wonder I couldn’t find you!” He brought his lips down to hers, his hands softly holding her face.
Dawn threw her arms behind his neck and pulled herself up a bit. He wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the ground.
Everyone’s jaws dropped.
She moaned as he moved his mouth to her neck and then to her collar bone.
My eyes widened. I remembered what Jasper had said about things usually progressing right after the first kiss and I cleared my throat.
Dawn giggled and Zane stopped, keeping his face hidden in her neck. He peeked at me over her shoulder, his black eyes twinkling.
I laughed.
He was still a bit red as he set her down. He took her hand and laughed. “I will never make fun of you and Jasper ever again.” He grinned as he looked down at her. “That was amazing.”
“See! I told you so!” I smiled at him.
Jasper was the first to recover and make his way over to us. He put his arm around me, smiling at his friend.
“Why don’t we leave you two alone.” He kissed my hair. “Come, Shlova. You don’t get to escape all the work.” He gently led me back to where a house was starting to take shape. I took a quick glance back and smiled as I saw the two of them sitting on a rock, leaning in towards each other as they talked.
“Do you remember our first kiss?” I smiled at Jasper.
“How could I forget. It was one of the best nights of my life even if it was against my will,” he teased.
I laughed at him. “If we had done things your way, we would still just be holding hands. You and your sense of duty!”
He grinned at me. “Yes, well, I suppose it is a good thing you are stubborn and just take what you want.” He stopped and kissed me gently. “Now, let’s finish this house.”
Brice started laughing as Zane and Dawn went for a walk. “A cat and a dog. Now I’ve seen everything.” He shook his head in amazement, then his eyes got big. “I wonder what the cubs will look like!” He burst out laughing.
I gave him a slap on the shoulder.
Luke laughed. “How do you know they’ll be cubs. Maybe they’ll be pups!”
We all let that sink in for a minute.
“Uncle Jasper?” asked one of the twins. “When you and Aunt Hayden have cubs, what will they be?”
“I’m not sure, Tyler.” He was frowning.
I squeezed his hand. “Let’s finish our house.”
We all set back to work.
*****
A week later we all had supper in our finished house.
When everyone left I sat in front of the fire place, tapping the ground beside me. Jasper sat behind me and pulled me onto his lap so I could lean back against him, his arms wrapped around me.
I put my hands on his and sighed.
He kissed the top of my head. “You’re happy?”
I nodded and snuggled closer. “Unbelievably. You?”
“Extremely.”
“There’s something you’re not telling me.” I wasn’t asking. “Luke said that the most important thing to you is your family. He said that the only family you have left are wolves.”
He nodded. “My parents, as well as my twin sister and our younger brother, were killed when a pack found our home during their patrols. I was out hunting.”
I hugged his arms closer to me. “I’m sorry. What were their names?” It occurred to me that we never talked about my parents and that his family had never come up.
“My father’s name was Jesse. He looked a lot like me, but with green eyes. My mom, Carmelle, was beautiful. I got my eyes from her. So did my sister, Jane. But she got mom’s light brown hair.” His voice was quiet and thick as he thought back. “And Jared, well, I think he was going to have dark hair like me. And his eyes were green like dad’s.” He took a deep breath. “He was just a baby. Hadn’t reached his second year yet.”
“How old were you?”
“Fourteen. Luke had been gone for about six months then.”
“He wasn’t… I mean… He didn’t…” The thought I was having was to upsetting to word.
Jasper shook his head. “No. He wasn’t with them. He helped me find them. Later. Everyone of them. I swore that day that as long as I lived, I would work to make sure no one else would have to go through that.”
“That’s why you patrolled so much?”
He nodded.
It explained his dedication and why he was so good at what he did. They had pissed off the wrong tiger.
He rested his chin on my shoulder and I kissed his cheek. He was quiet.
“You’re scared we can’t have a family.” Again, I wasn’t asking.
Jasper stayed silent for a bit. I was about to ask him what he was thinking when he squeezed me a little tighter and kissed the back of my neck. “So long as you are with me,” he whispered, “I will be the world’s happiest man.”
“But...”
“Hayden,” he quietly cut me off. “There really is no point in worrying about it, now is there. If it happens, it happens. But if it doesn’t, I’ll still be the luckiest man alive.”
I leaned my
cheek against his and thought about a future that, until recently, had never crossed my mind. Having kids had never occurred to me, mostly because I had never found someone I would want them with. But watching Jasper with Luke and Mel’s twins, seeing how happy he was with them made me see how much it meant to him. And now, he was stuck with me and chances that we were even remotely genetically close enough to reproduce weren’t very good.
But then again, if there was one thing I had learned while living here so far, it was that things were able to happen, no matter how impossible it seemed.
I took a deep breath. “You’re right. As usual.” I felt him smile. “We’ll come to it when we come to it.” Not for the first time since we had met, it amazed me how calm and objective he was.
“So, are you excited for next week?” he asked, changing the subject.
I nodded. “I can’t wait to see it. You make it sound amazing.” Time had flown by since I had gotten here and the week of Wellfore was almost here. I had spent hours upon hours making braided rope halters at Tara’s urging.
“Do you really think people will like my halters?”
“Of course. Look at how many people comment on the ones you made for Peena and Goop. Did you find enough of the gin berries to dye the last of them?”
“Not quite. But I found a patch of those blue colored berries that you can’t eat and I mixed those in there. What are they called again?”
“Derk berries.”
“Right. Well, anyway, with the pink from the gin berries and the blue from these ones, the dye turned into a great purple color. Almost like a dark lavender.”
“Did you write out the portions, so you remember?”
I nodded. “You think purple will be a hit?”
He shrugged. “Purple isn’t my favorite, but I’m sure someone out there likes it.” He grinned. “Yan ist surpen, by the way.” He squeezed me tightly.
I laughed. “And why am I amazing?”
“Well, from what you tell me, and what Tara and Ben tell me, where you come from is completely different than here. And yet, you take it all in stride, like nothing is out of place, and act like you have been here forever.”
Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' Page 16