Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (23 page)

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
into 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.”