Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (9 page)

He chuckled. “I’d rather you concentrate on
killing the enemy. I can survive being bombarded by your feelings.
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have lived through whatever the Zerpanay
threw at us.”

I took a deep breath as the exhaustion
started to win me over. “You know, there was something familiar
about it.”

“Hmm?”

“The energy.” I tried to fight off the
fatigue, trying to grasp at the feel of the magic. It slipped
farther away, just out of my reach, and sleep took me.

Chapter Three

“Em, I want you to get up in that tree and
hide.” Matthew pointed to a tall tree that looked like a
spruce.

“But…”

“Now.” He had kicked into captain of the
guard mode and I almost laughed as Emelly scrambled up the tree at
his order. I had learned years ago that when Jasper got that look
on his face and that tone in his voice I had better listen. There
was a reason they were both captains of their own pack and their
instincts were rarely wrong.

“Hayden and Rainen, you too,” added Jasper.
“If they are human they’re either coming to find Hayden, or they
are here to kill Rainen.”

Rainen and I looked at each other before
climbing up the tree. Jasper glanced up. “If they’re humans, feel
annoyed. If they’re shifters then just get out of the tree.” I
nodded and sent a feeling of how much I loved him for good luck.
His gaze softened and he smiled before turning back to the rest of
our pack.

“Alright. Dodge saw fourteen of them. As far
as they know, there are six of us. We wait until I get a sign from
Hayden. If they’re human, go for the kill. If they’re shifters,
we’ll see what they want. Dodge, see those boulders behind us?”

I do.

“Get behind them. If things go wrong you grab
those three and fly them to Howel.”

My horse snorted and nodded then trotted off
toward the boulders.

Jasper glanced up the tree as he felt my
objection to his plan. “If things go wrong, you get the hell out of
here, do you understand?” He didn’t wait for my reply.

“Hello, camp!”

Everyone looked in the direction of the call.
Harold stepped forward.

“Who calls?”

“Collin of Trach.” A tall dark haired man
wove his way through the woods. The rest of his pack followed close
behind him. I scanned them quickly and breathed a sigh of
relief.

“All clear,” I whispered to Rainen.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she answered back.
“He’s one of my best captains.” We made our way down the tree.

“Rainen.” Collin saluted his sorceress. His
gaze moved to me and his hazel eyes widened.

“Collin, I would like you to meet
Hayden.”

He nodded slowly then looked quickly to
Jasper. Recognition crossed his features and a growl made its way
up his throat. Rainen put a hand on his shoulder.

“Stand down, Collin. They saved my life.”

Gina and Harold came to stand behind us
protectively. Collin and his pack looked from Rainen to the two
Majs standing guard over their enemy. Dodge came walking back to
the group. A few of the dogs in Collin’s pack sensed the tension in
the air and shifted.

Jasper broke the silence. He reached into his
pocket, pulled out Brice’s shifting stone and tossed it to a
surprised Collin.

“Have you come across any shifters carrying
one of these?”

“I don’t have time to check when I’m
fighting.”

Jasper raised an eyebrow at him. “I mean
afterwards.”

“I don’t loot bodies.”

Matthew snorted but managed to keep any
comments he might have wanted to make to himself.

“By the moons, Collin, answer the question.
Have you ever found one of these stones?” Rainen looked at the
captain impatiently. The look on his face made me glad she wasn’t
looking at me.

“We have.”

“How many?” asked Matthew.

“I’m not sure.” He looked back to his pack.
“Raymond? Where are you?”

A short man with dirty blond hair and brown
eyes stepped toward the front of the group and came to stand beside
Collin. “Sir?”

“How many of those strange stones have we
found?”

Raymond untied a pouch from his belt and
looked into it. “We have nine of them, sir.”

“How long have you been collecting them?”
asked Jasper. Raymond looked to Rainen who nodded.

“Chad noticed them about three weeks ago.
There were four in one pack, two in the other, and three in the
last one we ran into.”

“Were they cats or dogs?” I asked.

Collin frowned. “Are you suggesting we would
kill our own?”

“They’re not your own,” I said. “They’re
human.”

“Humans can’t shift.”

“They can with stones that have a shifter’s
animal trapped in them.”

He looked down at the green stone Jasper had
tossed him. “How?”

“Steven, William, and Emelly. Would you mind
showing the skeptical man how you can shift?” Everyone watched as
they shifted and changed back. “These three are human. Check them
for a mark if you want.”

Matthew tensed as Collin checked behind
Emelly’s ears for a shifter’s mark and didn’t relax until she was
leaning back against his chest. When the inspection was over,
Collin looked to Rainen.

“What is going on?” He handed Brice’s stone
back to Jasper.

“It seems that Braw is a little more
ambitious than we all assumed. He wants to use Hayden to project
the power of his staff to all of the shifters so that he can… how
did he put it, Hayden?”

“Liberate you. He’s been planting spies in
both the Namael and the Maj armies.”

“Damian has been helping Hayden escape
everyone’s packs. He saw this happening but has been too ill to
tell anyone. He told her where to find me a couple of weeks back.
My whole pack except for Harold, Gina, and Brent were actually
humans. They killed Brent, knocked the rest of us out, and were in
the process of taking us back to Paradin when Hayden and her pack
ambushed them.”

“Why the spies?” asked Raymond.

“We think they are using the shifters to find
Hayden. By being cats and dogs they can cover more ground.” Jasper
put an arm around my shoulder.

Collin shook his head. “This is unreal. What
of these three?”

“Not all humans believe that shifters are
possessed.” William shook his head. “The man is cracked. I had nine
men and women with me when I left Paradin. We’re the only three
left. We have one man on the inside waiting for Hayden to attack.
There are more, we just have to find them.”

“How did you end up part of her pack?” he
asked Jasper.

My mate smiled. “I’m fated to her.”

The look on the Maj captain’s face was
priceless. He turned to Matthew. “And you?”

My friend shrugged. “For some reason, certain
cats and dogs break their bonds to Melana and Damian and form new
ones with Hayden. I’m one of them. When we left Sageden about a
month ago we had five Namaels, seven Maj, one Fairend, as well as
Wedelves, Winged Ones, and Scannoves in our pack. Oh. And two
dragons.” He grinned at me. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a
few more waiting for her when we go back.”

“So, is there a plan?” asked Collin.

“We are heading to Howel. Hayden wants to see
if she can help heal Damian. For the time being I have declared a
truce with her pack. If Damian recovers, we will discuss with him
the possibility of forming a truce with Melana’s. She has already
agreed it would be for the best. If he doesn’t recover, well, then
I guess the decision will be mine.” Rainen looked at me and I was
pretty sure I knew what her decision would be. I smiled.

“What are our orders?”

“Hayden says your whole pack is clean. Come
back with us. If we run into any more packs, it will be nice to
know we’re not outnumbered.”

Collin nodded. We were about a half a day
from Howel and our chances of running into more packs were good.
Everyone gathered their things, shifted and started off to our
destination. I noticed that Rainen as a wolf was now the size of a
regular one.

“Rainen!”

She looked back, shifted then jogged beside
my horse.

“How come you’re not big anymore?”

“I can change the size of my wolf. Being
bigger than everyone else made it easier for my pack to see me and
my commands. With everything that is going on now, I think I’d
rather blend in.” She shifted back and stayed beside Dodge.

Having been running from Rainen and her packs
for the past few years had put them in the bad guy category in my
mind. My imagination had run wild and any time I thought of Howel,
I had pictured a tall dark fortress under gloomy clouds, the walls
lined with snarling wolves. We broke through the cover of the woods
just as the sun was setting. I had been right about the walls,
minus the snarling wolves, and that was about it.

As we approached the gate, one of the two
grizzlies guarding it stretched then shifted. A quick magic nudge
in their direction confirmed that they were Majs. The black haired
man with stunning blue eyes focused on Rainen.

“Rainen. Welcome home.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Tanner. How have things
been?”

“Strange.” Tanner looked at the second
grizzly who had shifted into a woman with waist long black hair and
the same clear blue eyes as her counterpart. She gazed at the
ground and looked miserable. The man went on. “There was an attempt
on Damian’s life yesterday. Don’t worry, the bastard didn’t get
far.” He glanced at the woman quickly. “He tried sneaking into the
room not realizing that your sister had gone in there to update him
on the latest reports from the packs. It was Grant! He went into
the room, saw Traina then tried to take her out before going after
Damian.” He shook his head in disbelief. “She was knocked out
briefly,” continued Tanner. “When she came to, he was on top of
Damian, choking him.”

“Traina pulled him off and fried him.” The
woman’s eyes filled with tears. “He was so burnt we couldn’t
identify him. The only way I could tell it was him was because of
the silver armband I had given him a few years ago. ”

Rainen put her hand on her shoulder. “Mara,
are you doing alright?”

Mara tried to pull herself together. “It
just…by the moons, Rainen, it doesn’t make sense! Why would Grant
try to kill Damian? I just…I just…” She broke down and Rainen
pulled her into a hug.

“Tanner, take your sister home. Harold and
Gina will watch the gate until I can find Reese and Reagan.”

We all stayed quiet as the siblings made
their way into the keep.

“Grant was her mate,” explained Rainen after
they were out of hearing range. “Is there any way to scan a being
after they’re dead?”

I shook my head. “But maybe his stone didn’t
get damaged. We could check for that.”

“That would be the only explanation, right?”
asked William. “I mean, why else would he try to kill Damian?”

“These days? Who knows?” Matthew shook his
head in disbelief.

“The only problem I have with this is that
the two of them were fated. Humans don’t fate and it’s impossible
to fake being fated to someone.” It really didn’t make sense to
me.

“I agree with Hayden. Something’s not right.
Harold, Gina, as soon as Reese and Reagan get here, come to
Damian’s. Collin, you and your pack are with us. Until Hayden can
scan the rest of the packs here, you’re on protection duty.
Hayden’s pack is not to be harmed.” She looked from Jasper to me.
“Ready?”

I nodded then turned my sorceress’ amulet
around so that it hung against my back. We started into Howel.

“Wow!”

Jasper looked at me questioningly.

“It’s beautiful. It’s nothing like I had
imagined it.” The dirt path that ran through the keep split into
different directions. These paths were lined with homes and shops
built with stones for the walls and wood for the rooves. It
reminded me of a little medieval village. “Where’s Damian’s
castle?”

Rainen smirked. “We’re not quite as
extravagant as the Namaels. Damian’s ‘castle’ is right over there.”
She pointed to one of the little houses. “The one to the left of it
is mine. I should warn you before we go in there that my sister
Traina is fated to Damian.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” I glanced at
her.

“Not that aspect of it in particular. The
thing is that Traina is a sorceress as well. When she fated to
Damian she imagined she would become his second in command. That
position automatically goes to the sorcerer or sorceress that has
the second highest amount of power. I didn’t ask for the job, I
just inherited it when Chaddock was killed.”

There were two guards standing at Damian’s
front door. Rainen looked to me and I gave her the ok. Jasper,
Rainen and I entered while everyone else waited outside. Once in
the house we found two more guarding his bedroom door. I scanned
them and my heart jumped in my throat. I met Rainen’s questioning
gaze and frowned.

“Robert? Is someone here?”

Robert and his counterpart had just finished
acknowledging Rainen. The door opened and an older version of
Rainen stepped out into the hall.

“Rainen! What are you doing here?” It wasn’t
the comment of a sibling happy to see the other after a long
absence. It wasn’t even the comment of one who was annoyed to see
the other. It was pure bafflement and shock at the sight of
her.

“I brought another healer to have a look at
Damian.”

“But…” Traina’s mouth snapped shut. “If you
think it will help.” She turned to lead the way.

“I’ll be back in a second.” Jasper walked
back outside.

Rainen shut the door behind us and a minute
later we heard a scuffle on the other side of it. Jasper walked
into the room with Emelly.

“We managed to keep them alive this time.
Maybe they’ll give up some information.”

“Rainen, what’s going on?” Traina looked from
Jasper, to me, to her sister.