Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (2 page)

Jasper rolled the dead man over and checked
behind his ear. “He’s a dog.”

Luke reached back to his own ear and touched
his own crescent shaped mark. “It looks like they ripped him apart.
Turn him back over. I wasn’t really looking at his face. Maybe
Kacey, Colton, or I know him.”

Jasper obliged his brother and the three Majs
looked down and tried to recognize the dead man. I took another
glimpse and had to scramble away on all fours in order to throw up
a short distance away. My stomach heaved and I took a deep breath
as Jasper put a hand on my back.

“Are you alright?”

I nodded and wiped my arm across my mouth. I
took the canteen Matthew had brought over. “I think it’s the
baby.”

Matthew’s eyes widened into green saucers.
Luke’s head turned in our direction and I realized I had said it
much louder than I had meant too. Kacey, Matthew, Luke, and Alex
came to stand closer to me.

Luke, the only parent in the group, took my
hand and helped me up. “How far along?”

I took a deep breath. “About eight
weeks.”

Matthew gave Jasper a slap on the back. “When
were you going to tell us?” My mate smiled and shrugged. He looked
back to me, his sky blue eyes full of worry.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine. Anyway, we weren’t going to tell
anyone.”

Luke looked back down at me.

“There’s no point getting all excited about
it when the chances are good it won’t make it.” A lump made its way
up my throat.

“We were a little worried about it being able
to cross,” explained Jasper. “But now that it’s here, we have to be
realistic. Hayden will be a part of the battles we are about to
fight. When we call out Braw, she’ll be the main instrument in
trying to defeat him.”

Everyone was quiet, lost in their
thoughts.

Kip barked and everybody jumped. The hair on
his back rose and his lips curled back as he bared his teeth and
started to growl. We all lay low in the grass, Shanus, Phlann, and
Dodge moving so that they were hidden by a clump of bushes. I
pulled Kip down beside me and tried to get him to be quiet without
making any of noise of my own.

“See? I told you. You’re hearing things.” The
voice floated on the breeze and made its way to our ears. “Let’s
go. The sooner we get home, the better. I don’t know about you, but
I’ve been stuck in this place for far too long.” The second being
grumbled an agreement and the two of them turned and walked
away.

I looked up quickly and sent a nudge of magic
toward the two beings. Their lack of aura made me shiver.

“They’re humans,” I whispered to Jasper. He
nodded to let me know he had heard before shifting. Everyone else
that could followed suit and we inched our way in the direction the
two had taken. I looked back and waited for Alex to catch up to me.
“Is Cholta at the waterfall?”

The lion nodded its big head and I sighed
with relief. We were heading in the opposite direction. Knowing
that he was lying there alone and hurt made me want to abandon this
little recon mission and go to him in the hopes of being able to
heal him.

Jasper stopped and looked back. I made my way
to his side and followed his gaze. I squinted and tried to make out
the shapes that were moving through the shadows of the forest.
There looked to be about fifteen beings, some of them sleeping,
others up and about. They hadn’t lit a fire. I sent my magic nudge
toward them and scanned them one by one. I touched Jasper’s
shoulder.

“They’re all human except for the three that
are lying under those bushes to the left. Those are Majs.”

He nodded and gave some unseen signal. Our
pack separated and started to circle around the group in front of
us. He squeezed my hand and kissed me softly.

“Can you make a tree catch on fire?” He
pointed in the direction he wanted. I nodded. He shifted, paused,
and shifted back. “You stay here. Make it as far away from you as
possible. Do you understand? Wait until Luke is with the three
under the bushes.”

“But..”

He shook his head. “No, Shlova. You stay
here. Once everything settles down, then you get to those Majs and
see if they need help.” He had his captain of the guard, you will
listen to me look on his face.

I sighed. There was no point in arguing with
him when he had that look on. Well, there was. We just didn’t have
time to argue and try to prove which one of us was the most
stubborn today. “Fine.”

His gaze softened before he turned and
disappeared in the long grass. I poked my head up so I could watch
for Luke. I didn’t have to wait long. I turned in the direction
Jasper had pointed and picked a tall tree. The red waves moved in
front of me and I plucked the lightest one from the air. I took a
quick look around the tree to make sure none of my pack was in
harm’s way before throwing the wave at the branches. These burst
into flames and the wooded area we were in was easier to see.

There was a chorus of surprised cries from
the humans which was quickly followed by the attack from our group.
Luke ran to cover the fallen Majs and was soon circling with a
human that was shifted into a coyote. I looked around and found
Kacey facing off with two humans. Matthew and Jasper were standing
back to back, both of them shifted, surrounded by six humans, all
of these shifted into various dogs. Two of them fell as arrows
struck them, their archers galloping into sight on the backs of
Scannoves. Tara and Ben slid off of Phlann and Shanus, pulling
their daggers. The two scaly horse men reached back and pulled huge
broad swords out of the scabbards on their backs.

I heard a grunt to my right and looked up in
time to see Roger fall under two wolves. My swords were drawn
before I was fully standing. One of the wolves heard me coming and
turned to face me. I stopped and stared into the cold green eyes.
It bared its teeth at me and my heart jumped into my throat. I took
a few deep breaths and smiled.

Whatever the wolf had been expecting, this
wasn’t it. If it had thought to scare me and make me run, it had
another thing coming. This wasn’t my first battle and it wouldn’t
be my last. Being born the Chosen One had guaranteed for me that
life would be hazardous. Thankfully, I had good teachers when it
came to self-defense. I was, after all, fated to one of the best
captains on Queen Melana’s guard.

The wolf shifted into a tall dark haired man.
His green eyes narrowed. “You?”

It took everything I had not to laugh. “Hey,
there.”

“You’re really her?”

I shrugged. “Some people seem to think so.”
There was no point in denying it. My healer’s tattoo and magic
wielder’s amulet gave me away. So far as anyone knew, I was the
only one capable of doing both healing and sorcery.

He grunted. “You don’t look like much.”

“Yeah. I get that a lot.” Whatever it was the
people of Quelondain had imagined the Chosen One was supposed to
look like, I didn’t seem to fit the bill. We were circling so that
Roger and his opponent were behind me. I glanced back quickly and
was glad to see the jaguar situated on top of the black wolf, its
jaws clamped around the other’s neck. That left my opponent
standing far from anyone else. I sheathed my swords. “I don’t
suppose I could convince you to just run away and not come
back?”

He grinned. “Not likely. When I get you back
to Braw, I’ll get a hero’s welcome.”

It was my turn to grunt. I had been Braw’s
prisoner once before and I wasn’t willing to let it happen again. I
let the silver waves flow in front of my face and quickly grabbed
the light colored one. “Just so you know, I’m sorry about this.” I
threw the wave at him and the bolt of energy sent him flying
backwards. I crouched down and tried to swallow the lump in my
throat. I hadn’t lied with my apology. I hated killing.

“Hayden!” Jasper’s worried voice made its way
to me from in the direction in which I had previously been
hiding.

“I’m here, Hun.” I stood so he could see
me.

He wiped his dagger on his pant leg, sheathed
it, and stalked over to me. His arms crushed me to his chest. “I
told you to stay.”

I held him tightly and took a few deep
breaths. “I’m ok. Roger was under two of them. He killed one. I got
the other.” I took a step back and looked him over. “Are you
ok?”

He nodded. “Colton got a nasty bite on his
leg and Luke took a knife in his side, but other than that,
everything went well.” He smiled. “You’ll never guess who the three
Majs are.”

“I’ll take a long shot and say one of them is
Rainen. As for the other two, I have no idea.” We started walking
to where the rest of our pack was standing around. “Are they
hurt?”

“No. Nothing serious. Just some bumps to the
head.”

“So who are the other two?”

“The blond man’s name is Harold. The brunette
is Gina. They’re a mated pair. They’re also Rainen’s personal body
guards.”

“What about the guy in the clearing?”

“I’m not sure. They’re not talking.”

I found my brother-in-law sitting with his
back against a tree, his eyes closed. Tara was kneeling by his
side, trying to stop the bleeding with her hand. I squatted beside
them.

“Well, now. Why would you let someone stick a
knife in you? Don’t you know it hurts?” Luke’s dark brown eyes
opened just a slit and he managed a half grin at my joke. I let the
green waves run over his body and picked the light green one, or as
most healers liked to call it, the safe one. This wave simply used
a being’s own energy and concentrated it to the area that needed to
be healed. Luke sucked in his breath and let it out in a hiss
through his teeth as the wound healed itself. He inhaled deeply a
few times.

“Thank you.” He leaned forward and kissed my
forehead.

I smiled and patted his cheek. “No problem.
Just don’t do it again. Mel would kill me if I didn’t get you
home.” I looked up and took Jasper’s hand.

“Colton is worse than I thought.” His eyes
were narrowed as he pulled me up. He hesitated. “I don’t…”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t
what?”

“You might have to use the other wave.”

“Jasper! If it’s that bad, then why the hell
are we standing around talking? Where is he?”

My mate led the way without saying another
word. Colton lay under a bush not far from where Rainen and the
other two Majs were sitting with their hands still tied behind
them. Matthew was straddled across the fox’s chest trying to keep
him from moving. Alex and Ben were pushing on his right hind leg
which was wrapped in a blanket. Even in the dark I could tell that
the beige blanket was soaked in blood.

Matthew looked up, his face grim. “There were
two of them. Both of them grabbed the leg and started pulling.”

I knelt beside Colton and put a hand on his
head. “It’s ok. I’ll have you fixed up in no time.” I uncovered the
leg and had to take a few deep breaths. Most of the thigh bone was
exposed as well as half of the shin bone. The muscle and skin were
simply hanging on by fibers. “Shit. Ok. Matthew, don’t let him
move.” I ran a light green wave over him without much hope that it
would work. I was right. He had lost too much blood to help repair
the damage himself.

I looked into Jasper’s sky blue eyes. “I have
to try. I can’t just leave him like this.”

He nodded. “I know.”

I picked the second darkest green wave and
spread it over Colton’s leg. I pushed my own energy into him,
giving him the strength he needed to heal the worst of his
injuries. He whined and tried to move under Matthew’s weight. I
switched waves and finished the healing with the safe green. I
watched the muscles reform around the bone, the tissues and fat
covered those, and finally the skin closed. I ran my hand over the
red fur.

“There you are.”

Matthew got off of the fox who promptly
jumped up and shook himself. Colton shifted and nodded to me.

“Thank you.”

I smiled up at him and started to stand. A
wave of dizziness hit me, black spots filled my vision and I was
forced to sit down. Jasper was kneeling in front of me in a
flash.

“Are you alright?”

I felt him take my hands. “Yeah. You know I
always get dizzy after I give someone energy.”

“I know. I just didn’t think you had given
him that much.”

I took a deep breath and tried to keep the
world from spinning. “I didn’t.”

“Can you take it back?” Colton’s voice came
from my left. He had knelt beside me.

I shook my head and waited a few minutes. I
opened one eye to test my vision and looked directly into Jasper’s
worried face. I smiled. “I’m fine.”

He glanced down and I nodded. “Him, too.” I
could still feel the little glow of energy sitting in my womb.

Jasper pulled me up.

“Ok. Let’s go talk to Rainen.” I led the way
to where the three Majs were sitting. By Jasper’s descriptions,
Harold and Gina were sitting on either side of Rainen. They stood
as I approached. I wanted to laugh. The only form I had ever seen
Rainen in was her wolf form. As a wolf, she was the size of my
horse. As a person, she was an inch shorter than my five feet four
inches. Harold and Gina on the other hand, were extremely tall, the
former standing at least six and a half feet and the latter at a
good six feet even.

Rainen’s hair was black as the night and fell
in tight ringlets down to the middle of her back. It was tied
loosely at the nape of her neck with a leather string. She looked
to be about forty. Her midnight blue eyes met mine.

“Rainen.”

“Hayden.”

“I see you managed to get yourself in a bit
of a jam.”

She sneered at me. “Turning my people against
me will be your undoing.”

I let the surprise I felt show on my face.
“Your people? Those weren’t your people. Those were humans.”