Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (19 page)

“You’re hard on a man’s nerves,
Em,” he whispered hoarsely.

Jasper chuckled and I went to
sit with him. I leaned back against him.

“And you, Hun, you are hard on a
woman’s nerves.”

“Hey, now! You managed to get
yourself abducted first.”

“God, what are we going to do
when this is all done and over with?” I looked back at him and
grinned. “We’ll be bored.”

Everyone laughed.

I think I
could handle bored for a while.
Dodge
nuzzled me and I petted his nose.

“Me too, Buddy. Me too.”

Jasper stood and pulled me up.
“Let’s take care of these bodies and set up camp.”

While the men moved all of the
dead into a pile, Emelly and I set up the blankets and started the
fire. I set a few extra bags under Damian so he was propped up and
could see what was going on.

“How are you doing?”

“I think I need a good night’s
sleep and I’ll be fine.”

Jasper appeared holding a small
cup of jeckden and handed it to Damian who took the shot and
nodded.

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” Jasper put a
hand on the sorcerer’s arm before standing. We sat down and passed
the bottle of jeckden around.

“So, Emelly.” I looked across
the fire to her. “What the hell happened?”

“We went for firewood. Kearan,
Mark and I. Mark said he’d seen some really nice logs by the edge
of the woods. I thought, well, there were three of us.” She looked
up at Matthew apologetically. “When we reached the field there were
six or seven men waiting for us. One of them knocked me on the head
and threw me over his shoulder. I wasn’t unconscious, just dazed. I
saw Kearan and Mark running up the hill and I thought it was great
that they had gotten away.” She closed her eyes and leaned against
Matthew’s arm. “When they reached the top, Mark grabbed her, pushed
her toward the edge. She fought back, but he pushed her down and it
looked like she might have hit her head. He pushed her again and
she screamed.” She shook her head, tears running down her face.
Matthew pulled her against him.

“Shush, now.”

“When they got me across the
river I managed to get loose, but one of them tackled me. I got my
dagger out. It’s like a blur. I’m not even sure what happened.”

“We think you got at least one
of them.” Matthew brushed the hair out of her face. “You did good.”
She shook her head.

“No, I didn’t. They left, or I
thought they did. I saw Hayden and I called out to her. By the
moons, Hayden, I’m sorry! I should have known better.”

I got up and hugged her
tight.

“I’m so sorry”

“It’s ok. Who knows what they
would have done to you if they hadn’t gotten their hands on
me.”

“But look at you! The whole left
side of your face is black and blue! Plus there’s your ribs; I can
tell they’re sore.”

I smiled. “If it makes you feel
any better, your face didn’t look much better than mine does before
I healed you.”

I looked across the fire at
Jasper who was talking with Parker. He laughed and shrugged then
seemed to go into some sort of explanation. He looked in my
direction and smiled when he caught me looking at him. I smiled
back. I got up to check on Damian who was snoring quietly. A green
wave revealed he was doing fine and I expected him to be mobile
again by morning.

Dodge looked up from the patch
of grass he had found.

“Hey, Buddy.”

How are you doing?

“Oh, I’m a bit sore. I’ve been
worse. How did you find us?”

I remembered
you said in your dream you had been travelling for two days when
Jasper caught up to you. Since you had said the trees had green
leaves, I knew you weren’t in the Blue Woods and that you hadn’t
made it to the Wedelven River. Plus I was sure that they would take
the long way around to the west since they would be pretty stupid
to go anywhere near Sageden.
His laughter
rang in my head.
Honestly, I
was just lucky. Though it helps that I can feel which direction
you’re in.

I hugged his neck and gave him a
pat. “Well, I’m glad you made it. It’ll be nice to ride a good
horse tomorrow.”

He laughed.
That one they put you on was a bit
rough, was it?

“Ugh. It was like riding an egg
beater.” I rubbed his ear. “There was something I was meaning to
talk to you about. It’s not for certain, mind you. Just something
Jasper and I have been discussing.”

He nodded.

“We’ve been thinking that maybe
we would go back once this is all done. Cross over for good. I
mean, we’d come back to visit and stuff, but we would buy a place
there. If that happened…”

I would come.

“But you would lose your
wings.”

He swished his
tail.
Hayden, I’ve only had
my wings for two years. I’ve had you for fifteen, almost sixteen
years now? Besides, if I get the urge, I can always cross back over
and go for a rip.

I burst out laughing. “You’ve
had me? I seem to recall you were my birthday present.”

He snorted.
And you were mine to watch over from
the moment I was born.
He nuzzled my
face.
I go where you go,
Hayden.

I hugged him tightly. “Ok. But
it’s not for sure.”

Just let me know.

“Do you know approximately where
we are right now?”

About five days from
Sageden.

“Really?” I smiled when he
nodded.

Don’t forget, you were on the
move for two days without stopping. We’re almost to the river. I’ll
fly everyone over it so we don’t have to double back to find the
bridge.

I gave him a hug and went to our
blankets. Jasper pulled me against him.

“Think we can travel five days
without me getting kidnapped or you almost dying?” I felt him
chuckle behind me.

“I hope so.” He kissed my neck.
“Get some sleep.”

I didn’t argue.

Cha
pter
Six

We entered Sageden quietly just
as the sun was starting to set. That was one of my favourite things
about the town. These were my mother’s people and to everyone here
I was just Hayden. Don’t get me wrong; they knew who I was, but
this was my home and these beings were my friends. The few people
walking the streets at this time looked at us and waved. Some
welcomed me home; most went on with their business.

We got to Tara and Ben’s house
and I hopped off of Dodge.

“Are you going home?”

If you don’t mind.

“Of course not. Go be a horse.”
I gave him a hug and watched him take to the air.

Matthew gave a few quick knocks
on the door and we all walked in. Tara and Ben were at the dining
room table playing poker. She grinned at me.

“I’m beating him.”

I started to laugh. Ben always
liked to bug us about our lack of skill at the game. Even Jasper,
who had just learned how to play, was better than us.

“Tantara, my love, what do you
say. All or nothing?” Ben flashed her a crooked smile.

“Roben, my sweet, you’re on.
Should we up the stakes?”

I looked on the table and saw
her emerald dagger, his new boot knife, as well as money. Ben
nodded.

“I’ll bet Goop.”

“Well, then, I’ll bet
Peena.”

I smiled at Jasper. Tara and Ben
liked to compete with each other and always bet some of the things
they loved the best. Jasper had brought it to my attention that
neither of them ever actually collected their prizes.

“Ok, Ben, you first.” Tara
chewed on her lip a bit nervously. Ben laid his cards down and she
smiled at his pair of tens and three fives. “Full house. Not bad.”
She dropped her cards on the table.

“Two aces and three kings.” Ben
looked at the cards and laughed. He leaned over the table and
kissed her. “Not bad, love.”

She smiled and took her dagger,
handed him his knife, and put the money in the jar that sat on the
counter.

“You can keep Goop. He snorts
too much.” She stood and came to give us all hugs. We introduced
Emelly and Damian.

There was a knock on the door
and Tara’s neighbour, Lantoc, walked in. He smiled.

“I thought I saw you guys walk
by. I just pulled out some homemade jurn berry grone. I thought you
might want a taste after a long journey.” He gave me a long hug and
shook hands with Jasper. Ben went into the kitchen and came back
carrying shot glasses and mugs of sloan; jurn berry grone was the
equivalent of the strongest shot you can think of. It needed a
chaser.

We all sat down and Jasper
filled them in on everything that had happened since we had gone
our separate ways by the waterfall.

“Holy shit,” murmured Ben.
“Absolutely nothing has happened here. Taleessa is on her way to
meet with the dragons. Shanus came back a few days ago and the
Scannoves are starting to congregate with the Winged Ones. If you
go to your clearing tomorrow, you’ll find you’ve been invaded by
about two hundred Namaels and Majs. These are all the ones whose
bonds to Damian and Melana have broken and are now bonded to
Hayden. More come strolling in every day. Sageden has an extra four
or five hundred Wedelves in residence.” He took Tara’s hand and
looked at Jasper. “This is nuts.”

Everyone nodded. I got up and
poured everyone another drink. Tara smiled.

“I can’t believe Brice is
alive!”

“I know! God, I feel awful. He’s
been there for three years and he refused to send someone to tell
us.” I shook my head. “I swear, when we get him out of there…”

Jasper started to laugh. “You’ll
what, Shlova?”

I mock glared at him then
smiled. “I’ll hug him to death.”

“So are you staying here, then?”
asked Ben.

“If you have room for us.”

“There’s always room for you
two. You can use your old room upstairs. Matthew’s been staying in
the other one. Parker, and Steven, if you don’t mind, Lantoc has a
couple of spare rooms next door. Damian, you can have the
couch.”

Damian nodded.

Ben got up and put some blankets
on the sofa. I stood up and gave everyone a hug.

“I’ll see everyone in the
morning.”

Jasper finished his drink and
followed me up the stairs. I sat on the bed and pulled off my boots
then got undressed before pulling on Jasper’s last clean shirt. I
collapsed back on the bed and watched as he pulled off his boots,
dropped his belt and pants to the floor, and pulled his tunic over
his head. He slipped under the covers and pulled me against
him.

He brushed my hair out of the
way and kissed the back of my neck and shoulders lightly. My whole
body tingled and I shivered. His free hand slipped under my shirt,
found my breasts and lightly ran over them.

I moaned and reached back
between my legs where I could feel him, hard against me. His moan
echoed mine. I spread my legs and caught my breath as he pushed
into me. He moved slowly, pulling me back against him. His breath
was hot against my neck and I could feel his heart pounding against
my back.

I had needed this since being
rescued from the humans. What can I say, high stress situations
excited me. It didn’t take long for Jasper’s slow thrusts to
shatter every nerve in my body. I turned my head back and his mouth
claimed my moan of pleasure. He pulled me hard against him. I
reached back and ran my hand through his hair. His body gave one
great shiver, his groan muffled in my neck.

I hugged his arms tightly to my
chest and he hooked a leg over my hip. We fell asleep, still
joined, exhausted by our journey.

*****

“Holy shit! Ben wasn’t kidding!”
I was stunned at the sight that awaited us as we entered our
clearing. Almost every inch of it was covered with people. The
woods along the far side of it were also starting to hold some
camps.

“This is unreal.” Jasper shook
his head. He scanned the people in the clearing and looked back to
Matthew. “It’s the whole second shift!” I noticed two men walking
toward us.

“Jasper!”

My mate gave both of them a hug.
“Cole, Kendall. How goes it?”

Cole, the oldest of the two, I
thought him to be about forty, smiled, his light brown eyes
squinting in the sun. He brushed some sandy blond hair out of his
face and looked around. “It’s going great. This is unreal. You
should have seen the look on Taylor’s face when we all walked away
and headed in this direction.”

Kendall burst out laughing. He
looked about twenty-five with black hair and light blue eyes. “But
nothing was as great as when half of his pack picked up and
followed after us!”

Jasper and Matthew grinned.

I looked to the burnt remains of
our cabin and felt a tightness in my chest. Jasper put his arm
around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.

“Hayden! Jasper!” Kacey was
making his way toward us followed by Roger and Colton. He gave both
of us a hug, his grey eyes smiling.

“Wow! Look at you!” I gave him
another hug and stepped back to see him better. He ran a hand
through his blond hair.

“What?” He smiled, his eyes
still locked with mine.

“You’re looking great!
Very…well, wow!”

He laughed. “Thank you.”

I thought back to the day I had
healed him after his pack had abducted Jasper trying to get to me.
Coyotes were shy by nature, but as a few of the other Majs guarding
my mate had been quick to point out, Kacey took the cake. It had
taken at least a year before the then thirty seven year old had
been able to hold someone’s gaze during a conversation. If any
conflict occurred, he was the first to look back to the ground. A
few beings we’d had to fight had been stupid enough to assume he
was a coward. Nothing could have been farther from the truth and
that was evident when he was fighting. He had always been a good
looking man. Now that he was confident and moved without looking
scared, he was breathtaking.