Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (13 page)

“Collin?”

“Yes, Hayden?”

“The packs we just scanned. Can you brief
them on what’s going on? We need to be told when a new pack comes
in. We’ll have to scan it right away to avoid any imposters
sneaking off if they catch wind of what’s happening.”

“Will do.”

“Thanks.”

Everyone started to head in their own
direction.

“Um, Hayden?”

I looked down and found Karryn looking up at
me.

“What are we supposed to do?”

“Oh. Well, go home for now.”

The three of them looked surprised. They
nodded and left.

Back at the house, Matthew excused himself to
go check on Emelly. I offered to run a green wave over her, but a
scowl from him and Jasper made me turn in the opposite direction to
my own bed.

“Jasper?”

“Hmm?” He turned away from the window.

“Will you stay while I sleep?”

“Of course, Shlova. I wasn’t planning on
leaving.” He lay on the bed beside me and pulled me to his chest.
Our fingers laced together automatically. It didn’t take long for
me to fall asleep.

*****

“How long has she been out?” Matthew looked
at Hayden worriedly.

“About ten hours.” Jasper took a deep breath.
“She’s doing too much; not giving herself time to recover before
she does something else.” He stood and stretched.

“Collin says another pack is on its way
in.”

“Alright.” He ran a hand through his hair.
The last thing he wanted was to wake her up. She needed to sleep.
Not to mention that he would rather she not be checking for humans
as it were. Six times in the past four days she had almost been
stabbed or bit. He glanced over at his friend.

“How’s your shoulder?”

Matthew shrugged. “I’ll live.” He had been
cut jumping between Hayden and one of the committed humans.

“She’ll want to fix you when she wakes
up.”

“I know. She told me when I wouldn’t let her
do it after it happened. I’ll tell her the same thing as I did
then.” He smiled and Jasper chuckled at the memory of Hayden
stalking up to Matthew, her green eyes blazing. She had cursed at
him, telling him he was stubborn, that it wouldn’t take any energy
at all to fix it.

He had shrugged and said, “What’s one more
scar? I wasn’t always bonded to the Chosen One, you know.” He had
leaned down, kissed her forehead and walked away. Hayden had
instantly turned red. She hated being called that. Jasper had felt
her anger escalate and he’d put a hand on her shoulder to calm her
down.

“You know, she was so angry that you called
her that, I think she was going to throw one of her waves at you.”
He grinned.

Matthew laughed. “I knew you’d stop her.”

“Yes, well, don’t provoke her too much.”

Matthew’s green eyes narrowed. “I noticed
she’s a bit crankier than usual.”

“It’s everything that’s happened. She tries
to shield me, but she’s hurting so badly that she can’t keep it
from me.” He felt his chest tighten and he brushed the loose hair
out of her face. She smiled at the touch. “We didn’t think we
could. She went into heat, well, it would have been just before I
was captured and taken to the cave; just before Hayden met you for
the first time.”

Matthew nodded to show he remembered.

“It didn’t work. We just assumed we were too
different. Maybe here we are, but when we crossed over…” He took a
deep breath. “Maybe it’s because I’m just human there. Your cat
half, it dies.” He shuddered. “It is the worst feeling in the
world. You’re in constant pain.”

He sat back down in the chair. “I’m not going
to lie and say I wasn’t devastated when Chaid said the baby was
gone, but had I lost Hayden…” He leaned over and kissed her on the
nose. “By the moons, Matthew, she died in that room. I felt it
happen. It was a hundred times worse than when I can’t see her.
I’ve asked other fated couples. It’s different for us. The farther
away we are from each other, the more it hurts. Hayden feels it
differently. She says she feels empty. For me, it’s pain. For those
two minutes that she was dead, I might as well have been. It was
pain unlike anything I’ve felt before.”

Matthew leaned against the wall and let him
talk.

“Sometimes, I wish she wasn’t her.” He smiled
sadly. “It’s purely for selfish reasons, of course. I mean, I would
still want her to be Hayden.” He gazed at her lovingly and felt his
love for her warm him. “It’s the Chosen One bit that could go away.
I would love nothing more than to go home, rebuild our cabin, and
simply spend the rest of our days living normal uneventful lives.
No more beings abducting her. For her to never have to kill again.
Do you know, every time she kills someone, and she’s never done so
other than in self-defense, she feels as though she is the worst
person in the world?”

“I knew she was against killing. I didn’t
know that part of it, though.”

“Do you remember when we were younger? When
we were just starting our training with Parker?”

Matthew smiled. “Good old Parker.”

“We used to say that if we ever found a way
to escape our bonds that we would hide ourselves away and live like
hermits.” He smiled back then turned serious. “Well, we did it,
Matthew. We have no bonds to Melana. Yet living like hermits still
isn’t an option is it?”

His friend nodded. “True enough.” He looked
at Hayden and smiled. “But in a totally different kind of way,
we’re bonded to Hayden, yeah?”

Jasper smiled back. “She hates that.”

Matthew chuckled. “I know. I wonder what will
happen after she beats Braw.”

“I’m not sure. But if your bond to her
breaks, you’d better visit. No matter how big this pack gets, it
will always be family that’s her main priority.”

“Well, since we’re supposed to be hermits
together, I suppose I’ll have to move to Sageden.” He gave Jasper a
pat on the shoulder. “I’ll tell Collin we’ll check the next few
packs manually so Hayden can get some more sleep.” He headed for
the door.

“Matthew?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks.”

“What are friends for if not to listen? Just
for future reference, though, you’re not in this alone, Jasper.
It’s like she stresses all the time. We’re not a pack, we’re a
family. We’ll all do what we have to and make sure Hayden succeeds.
That includes keeping her alive.” He put a hand up to his injured
shoulder, smiled and left.

Jasper folded his arms on the bed and lay his
head down in them. He smiled to himself. She was dreaming of
something relaxing. He let himself get lost in the feeling and fell
asleep.

*****

I awoke feeling completely energized for the
first time in almost a week. I opened my eyes and smiled. Jasper’s
head was next to mine though he was sitting in a chair. I pulled on
a couple of dark curls and watched them bounce back. He smiled in
his sleep. I brushed the hair out of his face and kissed his nose.
I was still waiting for him to break it again so I could straighten
it. It was a bit of a joke between us. His nose had been slightly
crooked when I had first met him due to a well placed fist during a
fight. It seemed as though his face had a ‘hit me’ sign on it. I’d
had to straighten and heal his nose at least five times since we
had been together. Granted, one of those times I had been the one
to break it, but in my defense, if you’re going to grab someone
from behind in the middle of a fight without identifying yourself,
you should expect some sort of retaliation. He liked to flash his
perfect smile and say it was a good thing they aimed for his nose
and not his mouth. I tended to agree. I was pretty sure I couldn’t
replace teeth even with magic.

Dark lashes lifted and I found myself looking
into sky blue eyes. I had to remind myself to breathe. He smiled
and I kissed him lightly. He tucked my hair behind my ear.

“How are you feeling?”

“Great. How long have I been sleeping?”

He looked out of the window where the first
rays of the sun were just starting to light the land. “Oh, I’d say
about eighteen hours.”

“Wow. I didn’t realize I was running that
low.” I moved back to make room for him in the bed and he climbed
under the covers.

“I told you that you were, but you never
listen to me.”

I grinned. “That’s because you’re
overprotective and tend to overdramatize things to keep me
safe.”

He laughed. “Overprotective, am I? Well if I
am it’s because I have to be.”

“Hmm.” I nestled my head against his
shoulder. “We should take a walk this afternoon. We could go to the
river. We haven’t had three minutes alone since we crossed
back.”

“That would be nice. I’ll check with Collin
to make sure he’s not expecting any packs to come back today. I’d
hate to run into one when we’re alone.”

“Alright.” My stomach growled and Jasper
kissed me before getting up.

“I’ll get you some breakfast.”

I smiled. “Thanks.” I watched him leave the
room and hoped Collin would give the ok for us to leave for a
bit.

*****

The day was hot and storm clouds were
starting to form overhead. I sat on a blanket by the river, pulling
bread and cheese out of my bag, and watched as Jasper carried the
fish he had just caught back toward me. He had taken off his shirt
and I felt myself smile as I watched the muscles stand out in his
arms and chest. I could still see the faint five inch scar along
his ribs that he’d gotten protecting me when I’d first crossed
over.

He dropped the fish on a rock and came to sit
behind me. He kissed the back of my neck and I felt him smile as a
shiver ran through me. He moved my hair off of the back of my neck,
his finger running lightly over it and onto my shoulders. He kissed
me again then moved to the side and got the fish ready for cooking
while I started a fire. I smiled.

“This reminds me of the day we took the twins
fishing.” I looked up at the sky.

“By the looks of it, today will end the same
way.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care if it rains so much
I drown in it.” I handed him a piece of cheese. “It will be worth
the time alone with you.”

He turned the fish over and smiled. “I agree.
Who would have thought that organizing a war was going to be so
hectic.”

I laughed. “I’m pretty sure you might have
had an idea.”

He flashed me a grin.

I leaned back against a tree and watched him
cook.

“Have you thought a bit more about what you
want to do after we’re done with Braw?”

I shook my head. “Not really. Now that we’re
back, I haven’t even really thought about crossing over. You?”

He smiled, his attention still on the fish.
“You know how I feel about crossing.”

“That’s what I don’t understand. If it hurts
that much, why would we go back?”

“It gets better the longer I’m there.”

“But it never goes away. I can tell the
difference, Jasper.”

He shrugged. “I meant it when I said I’d go
back.”

“I know. I don’t know. Why were we thinking
about it again?” Now that we were back in Quelondain it seemed
wrong to leave again.

He was quiet for a moment. “I think what
brought it on was the fact that life is quiet over there.”

“But life will be quiet here once this is all
done.”

“True enough. You know, though, I do miss
working on the ranch with Shawn. What about riding? You can’t tell
me you don’t miss training and showing your colts.”

“I do. Can we really leave everyone here? I
guess we could visit, but then every time you crossed back you
would have to start over with the pain.”

We were both quiet. I looked at him.

“Would we still rebuild here?”

He nodded.

“I was thinking we could build our next cabin
on the same side of the creek but on the other side of the
clearing.” He glanced back at me.

I pictured the clearing. “You mean, where we
took the logs to make the first one?”

He nodded. “We’ll have to clear the stumps
out, mind you, so it will be a bit more work, but it should be
nicely sheltered there.”

“That would be a nice spot.”

“Also, I was thinking we could make it a
three bedroom this time.”

I stopped chewing on the piece of bread I had
in my mouth. My heart felt heavy. “I don’t want to talk about that
yet.”

“Shlova…”

I shook my head and he turned back to the
fish. He pulled it off of the fire.

“Watch yourself,” he warned as he handed me a
piece. “It’s hot.”

“Really?” I grinned and took it from him. “I
never would have thought, what with it just coming out of the fire
and all.”

He smiled.

Once the food was done we cleaned everything
up. Jasper lay on his back, his hands behind his head. His curls
were damp with sweat and I leaned over to brush one out of his
eyes. My need for him grew as he looked into my eyes.

I straddled him and his eyes widened.

“Do you remember when you asked if I thought
you would always be enough to keep me happy?”

“I do.”

“Do you still worry about it?”

He took a moment to think before answering.
“No, why?”

I looked into his eyes so I could see his
reaction. “Do you think you’ll always need me? I mean, once all of
this is over, will our bond break? Do you think we were matched
just so I would have a good protector?” I asked.

He nodded, his eyes staying their regular
calm blue. “I’m fairly positive we were fated specifically for that
reason. As for what will happen after we defeat Braw, I can’t tell.
Who knows what will happen with bonds or whose will be affected. As
to whether or not I’ll always need you, the answer to that is
without a doubt. I don’t think I can even explain how much I do. I
love you, Hayden. I have from the moment I saw you at the bottom of
that hill.” He reached up and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Even
if we weren’t fated I would still love you.”