Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (31 page)

He shook his head.

I put my head on my knees and took a
few deep breaths. “Do you think it’s best if I go?” I looked up to
see his answer.

“He says of course.”

I jumped and Jasper reappeared. I
glared at him.

“Sorry.” He had caught something that
looked like a badger and busied himself getting it over the
fire.

“Where will you go?” I asked
him.

He frowned at Dodge. “Not too far from
here actually. I plan on being as close to you as I possibly can,
even if I am stuck over here. Brice will be staying at our house to
keep an eye on it. If anyone stops to ask questions, he’ll tell
them we left and he has no idea where we went.”

“How will I know when I can come
back?”

Jasper came to sit behind me and I
leaned against him. “I’ll send a bird.”

“How long, do you think?”

He wrapped his arms tightly around me.
“I don’t know, Shlova. Just think of this as an early visit to see
your parents. You were planning on going after Wellfore, after
all.”

“But I didn’t plan on them looking to
take me away, or on having to leave when I know that they are going
to be hunting for you.”

“Don’t even think of worrying about me.
I hunt, I follow, I disappear. It’s what I do.”

“I know.”

He got up to check the meat and pulled
it off of the fire.

We ate in silence and lay down for the
night. Jasper held me tightly against him. “Sleep,
love.”

*****

It was still dark when Jasper woke me
up. “We have to go.”

I stood and stretched. “What’s
wrong?”

“There are three of them about a half a
day behind us. I want to get farther ahead.”

“How do you know?”

A little chirp from up in the trees
answered my question.

“Do they know we’re here?” I looked
into the woods.

“No. But I’m not taking the chance that
they find out.”

I hopped onto Dodge and we sped off
again. We stopped briefly for a lunch of cannies, a fruit that
resembled an apple wrapped in an orange peel before we were on the
move again. By nightfall, I simply let myself fall off of Dodge and
into Jasper’s arms.

We lay down where we were without
bothering with my cloak or a fire.

I was woken up by Jasper whispering to
Dodge.

“I’ll get you to come until noon. Then
you’ll need to disappear. They’ll be looking for you
too.”

Dodge snorted.

“I don’t like it any more than you. I
can’t even ask Tara to go along because they’ll be watching her,
expecting her to show them where she is.”

Dodge stomped a foot.

“Is she telling the truth? Is it safe
for her there?” Jasper’s arms tightened around me. He took a deep
breath. “Well, if you say so.”

He kissed my hair. “I don’t know if I
can let her go.”

I swallowed hard and turned so that I
could bury my face in his chest. “I’m staying.”

Jasper let out a bitter chuckle. “No,
you’re not. And don’t bother being stubborn. I’m going to win this
one.”

“I’ll only go if you don’t wait around
here.” I looked up at him.

“Did you see something?”

“No. But this is too close to our
clearing. Go where we met. The crossing by the
waterfall.”

“I’ll go there.” He kissed me softly
and stood us up. “Let’s go.”

We loped at a steady pace until the sun
was high in the sky. Jasper seemed to recognize a landmark and
stopped.

I slid off of Dodge and gave him a long
hug and a kiss between the eyes. “Thanks, buddy. You stay safe,
now.”

He nodded and nuzzled my face then
trotted off.

“Come, Shlova. We’re almost
there.”

“I thought Tara said it was four
days.”

Jasper looked down at me. “It is. If
you are on foot and don’t run the whole way there with almost no
breaks like we just did. We’ve got about an hour of walking to
do.”

The butterflies in my stomach were
warring with each other.

“I can’t do it, Jasper.” I felt myself
start to shake with nerves.

“Yes, you can. And you
will.”

“But…”

Jasper stopped walking and held me by
the arms. “No buts, Hayden.” He gave me a little shake when I
looked at the ground. “Hayden, look at me.”

I looked up at him, fighting back the
tears.

“You will go, and you will be safe. You
will not worry about me. Once you go through the crossing, I will
disappear because disappearing is what I do best.” He relaxed his
grip on my arms. “And when things calm down and they realize you
aren’t around here anymore, I will send for you.”

“And then what?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure.” He
leaned down and kissed me softly. “We’ll figure something
out.”

The little blue bird flew down and
landed on my shoulder.

“Can you see where they are?” Jasper
asked her.

She chirped and flew away.

“Let’s go, Hayden.” He took my hand and
started to walk, leaving me no option but to follow him.

We walked without talking, both of us
lost in our own thoughts. I glanced sideways at him and felt a lump
form in my throat. He looked miserable. His frown hadn’t left his
face for almost three days. I gave his hand a squeeze.

His frown deepened as we walked around
a large boulder and came face to face with a lake.

The butterflies in my stomach took off
with a vengeance. “Where is it?” I asked.

He pointed a little farther down the
edge of the bank. “See the deer path that leads to the
edge?”

I nodded.

“Just walk down it a little way and you
should see it fork. The right fork leads you out.” He looked about
to say something, but stopped.

“What?”

“It’s nothing. I just… I thought… I
want…” His face turned red and he looked across the
lake.

“Good lord, Jasper, spit it out.” I
smiled at him.

“When Tara sent me to run that errand,
I was actually picking something up that she had gotten for
me.”

It was my turn to frown. “I don’t
understand.”

“I was curious, about customs from
where you’re from. About what mates do for each other there. She
told me about wives and husbands.”

My eyes widened.

“I was going to wait until we were home
again.” He reached down into his pocket. “But since I’m not sure
when we’ll get to go there, if we’ll get to go back there, I want
to give this to you now.” He took my hand and dropped a beautiful
gold band into it.

“It’s…” My voice cracked and I
swallowed. “It’s beautiful.”

He took it back and slipped onto my
ring finger. “Is that the right one?”

I nodded.

He took my hand and ran his thumb over
the ring. “I was hoping to make things a little more romantic to
give it to you.”

I leaned my head on his shoulder. “It
doesn’t matter.” I stood on my tip toes and kissed him softly. “I’m
yours and you’re mine, and that’s all that matters.”

The blue bird landed on a branch above
us and chirped.

Jasper’s eyes were wide. “They found
the trail. They’re coming fast.”

I looked back the way we had
come.

He looked at me, something close to
panic in his eyes.

“An hour. They’ll be here in about an
hour.” He grabbed my hand and started to run. “Let’s go!” He looked
at the bird. “Go! Let me know if anything changes.”

We ran along the bank of the lake, got
onto the deer trail and kept going until we got to a fork in the
trail.

I bent over, trying to catch my
breath.

Jasper’s eyes were focused on the trail
leading to the right. I put a hand on his arm and he
jumped.

He pulled me against him, his arms like
vices around me. “Promise me you’ll be careful.” His voice caught
in his throat. “I need you to come back to me.” He swallowed hard.
“You have to come back to me.”

“I promise.” I took a deep breath.
“Jasper, you have to promise too. If I walk down that path, you
have to disappear. You find somewhere to hide until this blows
over.”

“No ifs, Hayden. You’re going down that
path.”

“Then promise. I am not going if I
can’t be sure you’ll be safe.”

He chuckled. “I promise.”

I looked up at him, shocked. “Why are
you laughing?”

“Just because.” He took a deep breath.
“It’s better than the alternative.”

I felt my throat tighten with fear at
what was coming. “I don’t think I can do it,” I
whispered.

Jasper tilt my face up with his fingers
and kissed me softly. “Yes, you can.”

I jumped at the chirp that sounded from
a branch by my head.

“They’re coming.” He pulled me against
him and kissed me deeply.

I wrapped my arms around his neck
kissed him back, losing myself in the feel of him against me. I
breathed in deeply, determined to stamp this moment in my memory.
My heart was beating a mile a minute. I was overwhelmed by a
barrage of feelings. Fear, excitement, anxiety, and
sadness.

Jasper put his forehead against mine,
his breathing fast and hard.

“You have to go now.”

“I’ll be waiting.” I kissed him again.
“Oh, god, Jasper.” A sob shook me and I clung to him. “I… I love
you.”

“I love you more.” He touched his lips
to mine then quickly looked up. “Go, Hayden. Go now!” A growl made
its way up his throat. “Don’t stop running until you know where you
are!”

I turned and ran down the trail as fast
as I could go. I glanced back once and saw Jasper looking after me
before shifting and running off in a different
direction.

I ran until I thought my lungs were
going to burst. I was starting to think that I had taken the wrong
path when the ground under my feet started to change. The hard
packed deer trail widened and became a paved path. I stopped
short.

“It’s the park!” I turned in circles
and looked around to make sure I was right. My heart soared. I
spotted the fountain shaped like a frog riding a salamander that
made the park a few blocks from my house one in a
million.

I started running again. My feet
abandoned the path and carried me over the grass, taking the
shortest route home. I took a quick look for traffic and bounded
across the street, repeating the process twice more before coming
to a stop in my driveway. I was grateful it was getting dark and
that no one seemed inclined to be out walking at the
moment.

My truck had been covered and parked
closest to the house. Behind it were my dad’s SUV and my mom’s
car.

I stood frozen, staring at the front
door. Should I just walk in? Maybe you’d better ring the
doorbell.

A beam of light hit me as someone
opened the door and then closed it behind them again.

My dad dropped his keys and stared.
“Hayden?”

Sobs shook my body and tears flooded
out of my eyes. “Dad?”

“Oh, my god! Hayden!” He ran to me and
hugged me close to him. “Are you alright? What’s going on? Why are
you back?” He held me out at arm’s length to examine me. “Are you
wearing a dress?”

I snorted back my tears and laughed out
loud.

“Let’s go inside. Your mother is going
to have a heart attack when she sees you.”

I took a deep breath and let him lead
me into the house. I glanced back once to make sure no one was
watching, then stepped through the door.

My mother’s reaction wasn’t quite a
heart attack, but close. She turned at the sound of our footsteps
coming into the kitchen.

“Hey, mom.” I smiled through my
tears.

Her jaw dropped, her hands flew up to
cover her mouth. She looked me up and down, then back up
again.

“Is it you? Are you really here?” she
whispered.

“It’s me, mom.”

“What happened? Are you hurt? Are you
ok?”

“Mom, I’m fine.”

She slowly held her hand out and
touched my cheek. “Oh, baby, you are here!” She pulled me into a
hug.

My dad came up behind us and hugged us
both.

We stayed that way for a few minutes,
not talking, just happy to be together again.

My mom pulled away first and wiped the
tears off of her face with the back of her hand. “Are you sure
you’re ok?

“I’m fine, really. Exhausted, but
fine.”

She kept staring at me.

“What?”

“Are you wearing a dress?”