Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (36 page)

Jasper sat behind me and wrapped me in
a bear hug. “Just so you know, I’m never letting go,” he
whispered.

I leaned back into him and looked back
at him. “You better not.”

Shawn was standing awkwardly in front
of Shay. “I’m sorry, Shay. I wanted to tell you. But after I was in
your world for a bit, I knew you’d just think I was crazy. I mean,
who in their right mind would have believed me?”

She smiled at him. “Not me, that’s for
sure.” She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. “I love
you, Shawn, and even though this blows my mind, I’m ok with it.
Hayden was explaining all of this fating stuff. How did you know
where I was?”

“I was on patrols and happened to be at
the top of the hill we just came up. You rode by and I saw you.” He
bent down and kissed her softly. “I love you.” He took her hand and
they walked toward us. “Hayden, thank you.”

I smiled at him. “I think I owed you at
least that much after all the times you kept idiots like Dave away
from me.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a pity you didn’t let
Jasper finish him off.”

Jasper shrugged. “I told you. She’s
stubborn. It’s easier just to go along with it most of the time.”
He laughed and ducked away from my hand as I tried to slap
him.

Shawn looked down the path, took a deep
breath and shivered. “We better get back, Shay. They’re going to
wonder where we are.”

Shay glanced at me, then back to him.
“We’re not going back.”

“Don’t be stupid. You don’t want to
stay here! What about massage therapy and horse shows?”

She shook her head. “I can tell the
difference now that you’re here. I’m not going to ask you to live
in pain for the rest of your life, Shawn.”

“And I’m not going to pull you away
from everything that you know and thrust you into a life where
fighting and killing is normal!”

“Hayden seems to be doing just fine!
Are you saying I can’t handle it?”

“Well, in Hayden’s defense, she was
born here.”

“But she was raised there. We’re not
arguing about it, Shawn. We’re staying.”

Shawn stared at her with narrowed
eyes.

Jasper burst out laughing.

I elbowed him. “What’s so
funny?”

“You. Both of you. Do they raise you to
be like that? By the moons, I feel sorry for every man that lives
over there!”

“And what do you mean by that?” I mock
glared at him.

“Stubborn.”

I smiled. “It has nothing to do with
stubborn. We just know what we want.”

We were interrupted by the sound of
hoof beats coming toward us.

I got up and wrapped my arms around
Dodge’s neck. “Hey, buddy. Why aren’t you at home?”

Jasper translated for me. “He said he
couldn’t stay that far away.”

Shay’s eyes popped out of her head and
she looked up at Shawn. “Can you hear him too?”

He nodded. “I’m impressed, Dodge. I
never heard you think one thing while you were over there. Never
would have thought you one of the Winged Ones.”

Dodge snorted and looked in the
direction he had come.

Jasper smiled. “Well, that’s good.
Hayden will be wanting her swords.” He looked at me, his grinned.
“It seems you managed to call your pack back to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hey, Hayden!” Tara came running into
the clearing, followed by Ben.

Shay’s eyes bugged out of her head.
“Holy crap! You weren’t kidding!”

I laughed. “I told you they looked
different.”

Tara went to give Shay a hug. “You guys
need to catch us up. Like most importantly, why Shawn and Shay are
here.”

“Ok, but first, Jasper mentioned
something about my swords?”

Dawn grinned at me and tossed me a bag
she had just taken off of Peena. “I thought you might want some
decent clothes as well.”

I smiled back at her. “I don’t suppose
you brought any extra? Shay’s going to stick out like a sore
thumb.”

She laughed. “You know me and clothes,
Hayden. Of course I brought you extras. I couldn’t remember which
ones were your favorites.”

“Perfect.” I turned to Shay just in
time to be tackled by two small grey wolves. The two of them
shifted and gave me hugs.

“Aunt Hayden!” Tyler gave me a peck on
the cheek then turned to glare at his brother. “See! I told you she
was going to come back!”

“I knew too! I just thought it would be
longer!” Trent glared at his brother. “We’re glad you’re back,
Auntie!”

I laughed. “And why is
that?”

“We came to see Uncle Jasper while you
were gone and he is very cranky when you’re not here.”

Everyone laughed at Jasper’s
blush.

“Alright, boys. How about you go get
wood for a fire so we can have something to eat.” Luke was walking
into the clearing.

“What did you get, Dad?” Trent got off
of me first.

“We managed to get a deer.”

Zane and Brice were helping him drag it
to the beach.

I took Shay’s hand. “Let’s go get
changed.”

We stepped behind some bushes and got
into the clothes Dawn had brought. I put my belt on, making sure my
dagger was strapped into its scabbard properly.

“You use those?” Shay was looking at my
swords.

I nodded. “Don’t leave home without
them.” I took them from her and strapped them to my back. “Ahh.
Much better.”

We walked back to the group and I
wrapped my arms around Jasper.

He kissed me softly.
“Better?”

I nodded.

We spent the better part of the night
eating and talking, everyone catching everyone else up on whatever
they might have happened to miss.

Long after everyone else had fallen
asleep and the fire had died out I lay awake. Jasper pulled me
tightly against him and I sighed. We had made our bed a bit farther
away so we could let the twins get the last of the heat from the
fire.

“You’re still awake?” he
whispered.

“Yeah.” My hands found his and I
smiled. “You put it on.”

“Of course.” He chuckled. “I was
assuming that was why you got it for me.”

I laughed quietly. “Yes. It was.” I
turned so that I was facing him and kissed him deeply.

He groaned. “You know, when I used to
think about our first night together again, it never involved
having this many people around.”

I smiled. “Me neither. I think that’s
why I can’t sleep.” I kissed him again. “I would give anything for
the feel of you taking me,” I whispered.

“Now that’s just cruel,
Hayden.”

“What?”

“You can’t talk like that when I can’t
do anything about it!”

I chuckled. “It’s not like you’re the
only one suffering, here. I feel like I’m going to burst I need you
so badly.”

His lips found mine and he pulled me
against him. “Well, maybe we could take care of you, at least,” he
whispered. His hand trailed down my side and over my
hip.

“What are you doing?”

“Shush. Just remember to be quiet.” He
started to undo the laces on my pants.

“Jasper…”

He covered my mouth with his and pushed
his hand into my pants. His fingers slipped inside of me and I
groaned.

“You have to be quiet, or I’ll have to
stop.” He smiled at me.

He stroked inside of me knowingly and
had my bones turned into melted butter with a few flicks of his
fingers. My head spun and I muffled my moan in his
chest.

“Better?” he asked.

“Hmm hmm. What about you?”

“I’ll manage.”

He pulled his hand away and I realized
I wasn’t totally better yet.

I turned so that my back was to him and
scooted my pants down lower.

“What are you doing?”

I reached back, freed him of his pants,
and pushed myself back invitingly.

He caught his breath as I slipped him
inside of me. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer
to him. He kissed the back of my neck and shoulders.

“Oh, god, Jasper,” I
breathed.

He was barely moving at all, but I
could feel myself getting close to the edge again. I bit a mouthful
of blankets and my whole body shook with feeling. My release set
his off. Jasper groaned softly and held me tightly against him as
he came in me. We stayed that way for a few minutes, enjoying the
feel of our connection.

One of the twins whined in his sleep
and we pulled apart to pull our pants back up.

Jasper turned me toward him and kissed
me. “Not having you here, it was worse than being over
there.”

“I was miserable. I’m not going ever
again. You can’t make me.”

“No. I can’t do it again either. Do you
know how I managed? It was at night. I would lay by the fire and
wait, and then I would feel you.”

I smiled. “I hoped it would work. I
wasn’t sure you’d be able to feel me if I was over
there.”

He hugged me tightly. “It
worked.”

“What were you doing over there
today?”

“You wanted me there. That’s all I
could feel. It was so strong I couldn’t even feel what I was
feeling.”

I remembered sitting on the fence,
aching to have him with me.

“And then it changed. You still wanted
me, but you were scared. And by the time you started feeling ready
to fight, I was already almost where you were.”

I took a deep breath. “I’m
sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“That you crossed over. I saw it in
your eyes.”

“It was going to happen regardless. I
had been seriously thinking about joining you for about week. I
thought that if I was going to be in pain, I would rather be in
pain with you in my arms, than be in pain because I couldn’t hold
you. Feeling how much you needed me just sped up the process.” He
kissed me tenderly.

“So if I had said I was going to my
parents’ after the incident with Dave, you would have come
along?”

“That had been the plan. Do you want to
go back?”

He gazed down at me and I looked into
his eyes. I shook my head. “No.”

He searched my face for a few moments.
“Alright.”

“So what’s the plan for
tomorrow?”

I felt him shrug. “I’m not sure. All I
know is everything will be fine now that I’m with you
again.”

I kissed him. “So long as we’re
together. That’s all that matters.”

He sighed. “Good night,
Shlova.”

“Night, hun.”

Sleep quickly set in.

*****

“Shay? Shay!”

I woke to the sound of Shawn’s panicked
voice.

“Hayden! Something’s wrong with
her!”

I bolted upright and ran to
them.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. She won’t wake up. Her
breathing’s not right either.”

I knelt beside my friend and put my
hands on her chest. I frowned. “That’s not right.” I moved my hands
and put them on her shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” Jasper was kneeling
beside me.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t make
sense. Her energy…it’s not there. Not all of it anyway.”

Jasper looked at Shawn. “Did she say
anything? This morning, or last night?”

“No. She just said she was tired and
then we went to bed.”

“Where’s Fillian when you need her!” I
looked at Shay and tried to decide what to do. “Could it be this
place? Could it be taking her energy?” I was thinking out loud,
trying to make sense of it. “But my dad moved here and that didn’t
happen.”

I glanced up at Shawn. “I don’t know.
But whatever it is, it’s here.”

He nodded, understanding what I meant.
“Let’s go.” He saddled Doc and hopped on behind the saddle. Jasper
passed Shay up to him.

I swung onto Dodge and grabbed Macho’s
reins.

“I need your stone,” I looked down at
Jasper. “I don’t know if she can cross if I’m not touching
her.”

He nodded and handed it to me. “You’re
coming back?”

I smiled at him. “Do you really need to
ask?”

He shook his head. “Get her out of here
before it’s too late.”

Shawn gave Doc a kick and I followed
him on Dodge. We stopped when we reached the top of
hill.

“Here, put this in her pocket.” I
handed him Jasper’s stone.

We made our way down the
hill.

Shawn stopped Doc on the main trail and
laid Shaynna on the ground. He looked at me. “Is she getting
better?”

I lay my hands on her. “I don’t know. I
can’t see like that over here.” I put my hand on her neck and felt
her pulse. “Her heartbeat is better and she’s definitely breathing
easier.”