I felt Jasper tense beside me.
Alex seemed to notice as well. “No worries, sir. Like I said, that’s not why I’m here. Well, not to bring her back to Pinsaber, anyway. It’s just…” He looked at me intently, thinking of what he was about to say. “It’s a bit hard to explain, really. I know we’ve been ordered to find her and take her to Queen Melana. But it feels…wrong. It feels like I should be making sure that that doesn’t happen. Does that make sense to you?”
Jasper nodded and everyone relaxed.
“What about you?” I asked Leslie.
She tilted her head toward Alex. “I’m with him.”
“You’re fated?”
She started to laugh. “Fairends don’t fate. And besides, everyone knows that only beings of the same kind become fated.”
I started to laugh. “Boy, are you in for a surprise.”
“How so?”
“Well, for starters, my mom was a Wedelve and my dad was human that had crossed over. They were fated.” I grinned as their jaws dropped. “And then I’m fated to Jasper.”
Jasper put a hand on my shoulder and nodded. “It’s true. We’re not sure how or why, but that’s how it is.”
“It sounds like there’s more,” ventured Alex.
“There’s Shay and Shawn. He’s a Namael and she’s a human. They’re in the other world.” I remembered how she had almost died trying to stay here. This world had sucked the energy right out of her. “Then, there’s Zane and Dawn.”
“And what are they?” Alex’s eyes were wide.
“Zane is a panther.” I paused.
Jasper finished. “Dawn is a fox.”
“A cat and a dog?” Leslie’s mouth hung wide.
My chest felt a little heavier all of a sudden. “Man, I miss everybody.”
Jasper kissed my hair. “Let’s get home.” He looked over at the odd couple standing with us. “You’ll be joining us?”
Alex nodded. “If that would be alright, sir.”
“You guys will fit right in.” I smiled at them.
We started off toward home.
*****
After traveling with them for four days, my curiosity finally made me ask.
“So how did the two of you end up traveling together?” Though the two of them weren’t fated, it was clear that there were some strong feelings between them.
Leslie looked at me over the fire. “One day, about five years ago, I found myself in a bit of a jam.” She grinned at Alex. “You see, I had been out looking for some cannies. I’m not quite sure how, but a pack of dogs managed to sneak up on me. You didn’t get much of a chance to notice, but I’m not much of a fighter. Fairends strictly eat vegetation. We don’t hunt. We are solitary beings and don’t have any specific place that we call home.
“There is no one out there getting ready to invade the Fairends because quite frankly, there’s nothing to gain from it. For this reason, we aren’t great fighters. I think that most of the time, most beings forget we exist.
“Anyway, there I was, surrounded by dogs, when I heard this great roar from behind me. I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or frightened. I had managed to live the first twenty five years of my life avoiding shifters and now I was stuck in the middle of both kinds.”
Alex put a hand on her knee and smiled. “Thankfully for her, I was just a nice guy who thought a five on one fight wasn’t entirely fair.”
“He saved my life,” Leslie laid her head on his shoulder, “and almost died doing so.”
He shrugged. “One of them managed to slice me with a dagger on the inside of my thigh. I think if he had gotten a bit deeper I wouldn’t have been so lucky. And so Leslie saved my life in return.”
“I’m not a healer by any means, but I do know of a few pastes and whatnot to help with healing.”
“After that, it was just right to stay together.”
Leslie grinned at Alex. “It was a bit of an uneasy relationship at first. I had been avoiding shifters since the day I was born. It took a while for me to actually believe Alex was genuinely a good man.”
He stuck his tongue out at her. “I told you.”
I smiled. It was a great story.
Jasper gave me a kiss. “Get some sleep, Shlova. Tomorrow, I have a surprise for you.” He turned to Alex. “I’ll take first watch.”
“Yes, sir. Wake me when it’s my turn.”
Jasper shifted and walked away. I looked after him for a few moments before burying myself in the blankets.
I tried to stay awake for as long as I could. The thought of dreaming made me want to cry. I didn’t want to remember the screams; didn’t want to remember looking one last time over the river, hoping to god that Brice would be running toward us. I focused on my love for Jasper. I thought of the thrill of flying on the back of a dragon. Of finally being able to hear Dodge, and the great rush I had gotten when he had lifted off the ground by the river. I thought of Tara and Ben, Luke, Mel and the twins. Of Zane and Dawn.
But try as I did to keep my eyes open, sleep came for me and I was taken away, back to some of the worst moments of my life.
*****
I woke up feeling disoriented, just like I did every night. I kept my eyes closed and focused on slowing my breathing. The only thing that kept me from panicking was the feel of Jasper’s arms around me. He brushed my hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear.
“Shush. It’s alright, Shlova. You’re not there.”
I focused on Jasper and everything started to feel balanced again. One last deep breath rattled through me and I looked up at him.
He wiped the tears from my cheeks. “All done?”
I nodded and snuggled into his chest.
“Alex just took over. Go back to sleep. I’m here.”
“Do you think he could have gotten away?” My voice was barely audible. I had never asked his opinion and suddenly needed to know.
He was quiet for a moment. “I’m not sure, Shlova.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t think so.” He pulled me tightly against him. “Hayden. You have to let this go. You can’t keep reliving this every night. I can feel you pulling into yourself more every day that goes by. What happened to those shifters wasn’t your fault. What happened to Brice wasn’t your fault. You can’t keep blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong.”
He was right, of course, but I didn’t have the strength to tell him. Exhaustion took over and a dreamless sleep carried me away.
*****
“Alright, just a few more minutes.”
I laughed at Jasper’s sly smile. “What is it?”
“You’ll see.”
Dodge nodded his head. Jasper’s right. You’re going to love this surprise.
“What? How do you know about it?”
His laughter rang through my head. Hayden, only you couldn’t figure out what the surprise is.
We crested the top of a hill and my heart leapt into my throat. “Sageden!”
Jasper was laughing. “I had thought for sure you would have recognized some of the landmarks the last few days.”
I was laughing and crying at the same time. “You know me. I can’t find my way anywhere unless I can see exactly where I’m going.”
He grinned at me. “Let’s go. I’m sure Tara will have been worried sick.”
The last five minutes of our journey went by too slowly for me.
I barely took the time to knock before barging into the house. Tara and Ben were sitting by the fire.
“Hayden!” Tara launched herself off the floor and threw herself at me. We stood together, crying and laughing.
Ben came to give me a kiss on the forehead before going to stand by Jasper.
Everyone was grinning from ear to ear.
I heard some familiar chattering and caught Tiny as she ran up my leg and into my arms. “Tiny!”
She licked the tip of my nose, crawled onto my shoulder and looked around.
“Here, Tiny.” Jasper held a hand out and she
jumped from my shoulder onto him. She chattered quite the story to him and I grinned. When she was done telling him whatever it was that Tairats had to say, the tiny white lemur jumped back onto my shoulder and wrapped her tail around my neck.
Once everyone had calmed down and been served tea, Jasper introduced Alex and Leslie.
“Did you run into Brice? He’ll want to know…” Ben stopped what he had been about to say. “What’s wrong?”
I lay my head on Jasper’s shoulder and listened with my eyes closed as he ran through the events of the past few months.
Tara’s hands were shaking when she lifted her cup of tea. Ben pulled her into his lap and hugged her close. Though they had been shocked by the fact that Brice had been human and had betrayed us, he had managed to redeem himself and the fact that he was gone left us all with heavy hearts.
Tara’s caramel colored eyes blinked back tears. Ben brushed them from her khaki green cheeks. His brown skin darkened so that the green striping almost disappeared, which I had noticed happened when he was upset.
Tara took a deep breath then got up and went to the kitchen. When she returned, she was carrying six mugs of sloan, six small cups, and a bottle of jeckden, Quelondain’s version of very strong whiskey. She poured us each a shot of jeckden and handed us our sloans.
“To dear friends lost,” she whispered.
Everyone nodded and held up their cups.
“To Brice.” I shot back the jeckden and chased it with a swallow of sloan. The amber ale went down smoothly.
We all stayed quiet with our thoughts and memories for a few minutes.
“Alex, Leslie, do you want to stay here? We have the spare bedroom upstairs if you want.” Tara was forever the best hostess. They always had people staying with them.
“I actually wouldn’t mind that, until I can find us our own place, that is.” Alex looked at Leslie and she gave a slight nod.
“Yes, thank you.” Her violet eyes seemed to betray the smile on her lips.
I would have to get her alone and ask her if everything was alright.
Jasper’s arm tightened around me. “Do you want to go to bed, Shlova?”
I shook my head. “I want to go home.”
Tara got up and came to give me a hug. “We’ll come over tomorrow. We’ll go by the pond and let Zane and Dawn know you’re home.”
“Thanks, Tara.”
It was getting dark when we started for home.
If everything is well at the meadow, do you mind if I head back to the herd?
I patted Dodge on the neck. “Of course not. Wanting to show off your new wings, are you?”
He laughed. Maybe.
Jasper looked back at us, his perfect blue cat eyes laughing. He let out one loud contented purr before bounding down the trail toward our cabin.
Dodge gave an excited snort and galloped off after him.
*****
When I awoke, I was staring into our fireplace. Jasper was lying behind me, his arms tight around me. He gave a happy sigh in his sleep and I turned so I could hold him. I kissed his chest and snuggled as close to him as I could.
“Morning, Shlova.” His voice was thick with sleep.
I glanced out the window and smiled. “Actually, it looks more like afternoon.”
He cracked open one eye then closed it again. “So it does.”
I leaned back so I could look at him. He was thin from travelling and not eating properly, but some of his color had come back with a good night’s sleep. “You slept well?”
“Hmm hmm.” He glanced at the fire, reached over me to the stack of wood, and threw a couple more logs on.
“I was so tired last night, I don’t even remember getting home.”
He chuckled. “That makes two of us.”
I vaguely remembered giving Dodge a hug before he left, Jasper starting a fire, and laying on our blankets on the floor. “I don’t think I had the dream.”
Jasper kissed me softly. “You didn’t.”
I sighed. It had been a long time since I had felt so content.
Outside, muffled voices could be heard. I caught the words ‘boys’ and ‘knock’.
The door swung open and we were being ambushed by two cold little people. Or at least they should have been little people. I was sure they were a few inches taller than when we had left.
“Auntie!”
“Uncle!”
“Boys!” Jasper sat up and hugged them both.
I gave Tyler a crushing hug then did the same to Trent. Two identical faces grinned at me. “Is it possible you’ve gotten bigger since we left?”
They laughed and hugged me again. Not only were they taller, they were starting to thicken physically.
“Sorry, guys. We told them to knock first.” Mel came to sit on the ground beside us.
“They think that since they turned eleven last month, they’re too grown up to listen.” Luke made his way into the kitchen with an armful of bags before returning to the living room.
It was amazing how much the boys were looking more like their dad every day. The shaggy dark brown hair and deep brown eyes were almost identical in the three of them. It still took some getting used to that children here matured more quickly than kids back home. At eleven, the boys were closer to the fifteen year olds I was used to.
“Oh, no! Your birthday!”
The twins laughed. “It’s alright, Auntie. We understand.” Trent gave me a kiss on the cheek.
Jasper looked over to his brother. “How did you know we were back?” Tyler settled himself beside him.
“Dodge flew by before heading home last night.”
“We brought you a bit of food and stuff. I imagine your cupboards were pretty bare.” Mel got up and started putting items where she knew I usually kept them.
I got up to help her, glad that I had been too tired to undress the night before. If anyone had ever told me I would be married to a tiger and that my in-laws would be wolves, I would have laughed and asked them what they were on. But today, as I handed Mel a bag of plohats, a tuber that was a lot like a potato, it was so normal and familiar that I started to hum to myself.
Jasper glanced up at me and smiled.
The frown he had been wearing the past few months was gone and I knew he was just as happy to be home as me.
Trent was looking out the window. “Dad! There’s a herd across the creek!”
Jasper and Luke went to stand beside him. “Feel up to a hunt, brother?” Jasper smiled at Luke.
Luke grinned.
“Get the big buck.” I pointed to the one I meant. “I imagine everyone will be over tonight. We’ll do it up in the roasting pit.”
Jasper kissed me softly. “It’s nice to be home, isn’t it?”
I hugged him close and sighed. “Yes, it is.”
“Alright. The big buck it is. Boys, we’ll need your help for this one.”
The twins whooped and hollered.
“Here’s the plan…” Jasper and Luke started explaining strategy to the boys and I walked back to the kitchen to make sure I had everything I was going to need for supper.
*****
The twins had gone to bed in our spare room and the living room and kitchen were packed with our friends and family. I looked around and smiled. Jasper was leaning against the wall and I leaned back against him. His arm wrapped loosely around my waist. Tara was standing with Leslie and Dawn.
Ben was sitting with Fillian and Brinnan. Brinnan, my mother’s twin and my only blood relative alive that I knew of, looked over at me and smiled.
Mel was talking with Alex, who was still thoroughly amazed that Jasper had a wolf as an adopted brother and that some of the Majs were also defecting and joining our quirky group of misfits.
The front door opened and Zane ducked to get into the house. He shook snow out of his black hair and his black eyes automatically looked for Dawn. He smiled, walked up behind her and bent to give her a kiss, his dark skin standing out against her creamy complexion.
It was still striking to see them together. At six feet three inches he towered over her five feet one inch. Where he was so dark, she was bright with her red hair and green eyes. Of course, nothing was quite as shocking as the fact that he was a panther and she a fox.
I turned back to the conversation Jasper was having with Luke and Cholta, a Wedelve friend of ours.
“Of course it’s no problem,” Jasper was reassuring Cholta.
“I hate to ask what with you just getting home.”
“It won’t take more than three or four days. Besides, it has to get done. We’ll be having a few more storms yet and your deer need a roof on their barn.”
“Hayden, you don’t mind if I steal Jasper for a few days?”
I smiled reassuringly at him. “Of course not.” The roof and one wall of his barn had collapsed during the last storm and his deer were in need of a shelter.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, Hayden. Jasper was telling me you were hoping to imprint on a deer. I bred Haist this year but she didn’t catch. I’m hoping she does next year. If she does, you’re more than welcome to try with that fawn.”
“Really?” I pushed off of Jasper and surprised Cholta with a hug and a kiss.
He laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Jasper went to the fireplace and put a few more logs in the fire. Mel came out of the kitchen carrying cups and jeckden, Alex and Ben followed behind her with sloan to top up everyone’s mugs.
“Now that the twins are in bed, would you mind giving us the whole story?”
We hadn’t wanted the boys to hear everything that had happened. As far as they knew, their Uncle Brice had died saving me from the humans.
Jasper did most of the talking. I explained about the steam beds and filled them in on the events with the humans.
When we were done, everyone had gone white.
“If they can shift with those stones, they could be infiltrating both armies!” Luke’s voice was just a whisper.
I nodded. “It’s too bad the dragons can’t help us. They can see auras. They could tell us who was who.”
“What about you?” Jasper put a hand on my knee.
Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' Page 8
