I stepped away from Alex and wrapped my arms around Jasper’s waist.
“A shlova yan,” I whispered, my cheek against his chest. “Even if we hadn’t been fated I would have loved you.”
He crushed me against him. “I love you.” Jasper’s lips touched my hair.
I took a deep breath, kissed him lightly, and turned back to Alex.
“We don’t have to...” He stopped, his voice catching in his throat.
“Yes. Yes, we do.”
Jasper gave my hand one last squeeze and let go of me.
I wanted to tell him to look away, but knew he was going to watch regardless.
I took Alex’s face in my hands once more. “We have to do it like we mean it,” I told him as I looked into his eyes. I could hear his heart pounding and I pulled him down to me.
His lips were soft and fuller than Jasper’s. I started out slowly then moved a little closer to him, urging him to give in. For a moment I was sure he wasn’t going to take part.
I felt his hand touch my shoulder and his other one came to rest against my face. He pulled away for a moment and I looked up to see what he was doing. He looked over my shoulder to Jasper. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He turned his face back to mine.
His blue eyes burned into mine. My heart jumped. His hand moved behind my neck and hesitantly pulled me to him. His kiss was soft at first then became harder and my lips parted at the pressure from his tongue.
I heard Jasper hiss quietly behind us. My first thought was to pull away but I stopped myself. Instead, I threw myself into the kiss. I wasn’t planning on doing this again.
Alex’s hand moved down my back and pulled me against him. I took a deep breath and did the one thing I didn’t want to do. I closed my eyes and waited for the flashes.
Our kiss slowed and I pulled back to look at Alex. His eyes had the strangest look to them.
I turned and looked at Jasper. He sat on a chair with his head in his hands.
“Jasper,” I whispered. I looked back at Alex. He had relaxed a bit and was leaning against the wall looking at me.
I turned and went to kneel in front of Jasper. “Are you ok?” The lump that formed in my throat at the look on his face made it hard to talk. I stood and pulled him up so I could hold him against me. “Look at me, please.”
He did as I asked and we gazed at each other for a moment. I smiled.
“If you ever try to make me do that again...” His lips stopped any threat I had been about to make. His arms crushed me against him and he lifted me off the ground.
I held him close and his cheek rested on my head as he rubbed my back. “Thank the moons!” he whispered.
Alex chuckled behind us. “I agree.”
“So what does it mean, then?” I wondered out loud.
Alex shrugged. “I don’t know and right now I don’t care.” He laughed. “I wonder if there has ever been someone out there as happy as I am about finding out he’s not fated to someone.”
“Let’s have some supper and we can think with full stomachs.” I gave Jasper a long soft kiss before heading to the kitchen to make our plates.
We all sat down.
“Is Leslie coming tonight?” I asked Alex.
“No. She’ll come tomorrow morning. She had things she wanted to get done before coming.”
“So, since there is no way of knowing why Alex dreams of me, let’s get back to my dream.”
“When are we going to warn the others?” asked Alex.
“Tomorrow.” Jasper looked at me. “I don’t imagine leaving is an option?”
I shook my head. “They won’t chase me away from our life here. Not this time. This is our home.”
Jasper’s shoulders slumped. “I didn’t think so, but I still had to ask.”
“If I can paint that clearing well enough, maybe the birds could scout for it.”
Everyone was quiet and we finished eating.
I pulled my easel and paints out. I closed my eyes to picture the clearing, opened them again, and paused.
“I can’t do this with you guys watching me.” Jasper and Alex were right behind me.
Jasper gave me a kiss on the head. “We’ll be outside if you need us.” They started to head out the door.
“Jasper?”
He turned back towards me.
“If I can’t do this...”
He walked back and wrapped his arms around me. “We’ll figure it out.” He leaned down and kissed me softly. “If they think they can come here and take you away then they underestimate how much you mean to me.” He pulled me closer and I felt any doubts I had slip away. “I don’t care if you can save the world or destroy it. I’m not ready to give you up yet.” I took a deep breath and Jasper tilted my head up so I was looking at him. “I don’t ever see myself being ready to give you up. You are mine and I’m not sharing; especially after today. I don’t think I could go through that again!” He smiled, but his eyes were serious. “We will beat them. There just isn’t another option.” He kissed me tenderly and my worries started to slip away. It was amazing how one kiss from him could always make me feel better.
“I love you,” I whispered.
He grinned at me. “I know, but I still think I love you more.”
I smiled. “I doubt it.”
He gave me another kiss and headed outside to join Alex.
I turned back to my canvas and dipped my brush in some brown paint. I tried to see the clearing with my eyes open.
I was concentrating so hard that I didn’t even realize I was done until I blinked and the image was still there when I opened my eyes. I took a couple of steps back and nodded. It wasn’t perfect, but it was extremely close to what I remembered.
I felt the panic starting to rise in my chest as I thought of the dream. There wasn’t me and Jasper to worry about anymore. Was fighting really something we should be doing? What would happen to Tyler and Trent if things went wrong?
Tears spilled down my cheeks and I ran outside, throwing myself into Jasper’s surprised arms.
“Shush.” He kissed my hair and rubbed my back. “It’s ok. We’ll find it anyway.”
I shook my head. “That’s not it. I got it painted,” I mumbled into his chest. I pulled back so I could look up at him. “We have to leave.” Another sob shook me and he pulled me to him again.
“What made you change your mind?”
“The twins; I can’t put them at risk like that. They’ll be right in the middle of it.”
He took a deep breath. “Where do you want to go?”
“I want to go see Melana.”
“You’re not scared that if we go there I might have to stay?”
I shook my head. “If you had any urge to be there at all you would be there now. Does it even cross your mind?”
“No, actually.” He looked at Alex. “You?”
Our friend shook his head. “It might have something to do with the dreams, though. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about it either.”
“We’ll let everyone know our plans in the morning. They can decide what they want to do then.” Jasper kissed me on the bridge of the nose. “We had better go to bed. They are supposed to be here fairly early.”
Our plans for the next day had been a trip to visit Dodge, Prense, Phlann and Shanus.
“We have to send a bird to tell Dodge we’re leaving.” I could just imagine how upset he would be if he wasn’t told.
“He’ll come.”
“I know.”
The three of us made our way back into the house and Jasper and Alex went to stand by the painting.
“It doesn’t look familiar.” Jasper turned to Alex.
Alex shook his head. “I don’t recall seeing it either.”
I went to stand between them and Jasper put an arm around my shoulder. I stared at the painting. “If we leave tomorrow, we won’t have to worry about it.”
Jasper gave me a squeeze. “We’ll come back, Shlova.”
I looke
d up at him and let his eyes sweep me away. As long as we were together, that was all that mattered.
Alex threw some extra blankets on the bed in the spare room.
I walked over and gave him a hug. “Thank you.”
His eyes widened and he glanced over at Jasper quickly before returning the hug. “Don’t mention it.”
He settled himself down for the night. Jasper took my hand and headed to our bedroom. We climbed into bed and he wrapped his arms around me.
“Everything will be fine,” he whispered.
“Sa laug sa nos ist emsan,” I whispered to him.
“As long as we’re together,” he agreed.
*****
“Jasper!”
We woke up to the sound of Alex crashing through the front door as he shifted. Jasper leaped out of bed and I reached under it, grabbing my swords. He made it out the front door in two bounds and stopped before he could shift into a tiger.
I stepped into the living room, ready to take on whatever was coming.
Jasper started laughing and stepped to the side as Zane came stomping into the house, his leg bleeding.
“What was that all about!” he yelled back over his shoulder.
I set my swords down and went to see his leg. My heart was beating a mile a minute, my adrenaline pumping.
Dawn came to stand beside him. “Are you alright?” She was trying not to laugh.
Leslie walked into the house followed by a glaring Alex. Zane stood. “What’s your problem?” he demanded.
I bent closer to his leg to see the damage. Alex had gotten Zane’s thigh in his lion jaws. There were puncture wounds on the top and on the back of it. The blood was flowing freely, soaking into his pants and dripping onto the floor.
Alex glared at him. “Well, where do you get off sneaking around like that? I thought you were one of them!”
I put my arm on Zane’s arm. “You need to sit down so I can fix you.”
“I’m fine!”
I glared at him, the blood still pumping through my veins from all the excitement. “I don’t care if you think you’re fine! You’re bleeding all over my floor! Now sit down or go outside!”
Dawn pulled on his arm and he sat down.
“What do you mean, sneaking? I knocked on the door and no one answered. I was just checking through the window to see if they were home because the door was locked. I thought they might have left already!” He sucked in a breath as I healed his leg.
I looked up at him, about to apologize, but stopped. “Don’t you glare at me! I’m trying to help!”
“Well, why does it always hurt more when it heals than when it’s actually hurt?”
Jasper walked into the middle of the room. “Everybody calm down.”
All of the glares honed in on him.
“Now. It was just a misunderstanding. No one is hurt, well, anymore, and we should just be glad that Alex was wrong.”
I took a deep breath. “You’re right.” I got up and went to Alex to look him over. “Are you ok?”
Leslie was trying to calm him down. He nodded, some of the anger leaving him. “I’m sorry I bit you, Zane. I thought...well...what with Hayden having another dream...” He paused. “All I saw was your shadow when you moved away from the window.”
Zane seemed to forget the whole ordeal. “You had another dream?”
I gestured to the painting and explained it to them. Jasper and Alex gave them some of our theories.
“It really doesn’t make sense.” Zane was shaking his head.
“That’s why we’re leaving,” stated Jasper.
Dawn’s eyes flew open. “Where?”
“We’re going to see Melana. I don’t want to keep doing this. As much as I hate to, I have to get involved.” Tears filled my eyes and I wiped them away with my arm. “They won’t stop until they have me. Every time we think it’s over, this will happen. And if it’s not the Namaels or the Majs, it will be the humans. I think she’s our best bet for someone who will listen to what we have to say.”
Jasper came to me and pulled me to him.
Luke, Mel and the twins picked that moment to walk into the house. They stopped short. Mel looked at the blood on the floor.
“What in the world happened here?” She turned to Tyler and Trent. “Why don’t you boys go outside for a few minutes.”
Luke glanced at the blood soaked into Zane’s pant leg. Zane noticed his look.
“Alex bit me.” It came out so nonchalantly, like it was an everyday occurrence. I started to laugh.
Everyone looked at me. Dawn shook her head and her little snort set Alex off. Zane joined in. Mel and Luke looked at us like we had lost our minds. Jasper waited until we had all calmed down. “Are you alright?” he asked, his arms till around me.
I shook my head. “No, not really. You know how much I hate to fight.” I lay my head on his chest. Dawn put a hand on my shoulder.
“I don’t suppose someone would mind filling us in on what we missed?” Mel sounded more than a little irritated.
Alex brought over the painting and explained my dream to them. Luke lifted an eyebrow and looked over at Zane.
“Well, that was really just a misunderstanding,” explained Jasper. He ran through the events of the morning for his brother and sister in law. By the time he was done we were all laughing again.
Luke looked over to Jasper. “So what’s the plan, brother?”
“Hayden and I are going to Pinsaber.”
Alex looked insulted. “I’m going as well.”
Leslie glanced at him. “You mean we.”
He smiled at her. “I meant we.”
Dawn and Zane looked at each other. “Don’t forget us,” Zane exclaimed.
“Well, if you think you’re going without us you are sadly mistaken!” Mel came over and gave me a hug.
I looked at all of them, dumbfounded. “But, is that safe for you? All those cats!”
Luke shrugged. “We’ll deal with that when we get to it. If we go walking in with you and Jasper, they should pause long enough to hear our story.”
“We’ll send a bird ahead of us. Give them a few days warning before we show up,” Jasper thought out loud.
“So when do we leave?” asked Mel.
“Today. I don’t want to push our luck. The sooner we leave the better. I’m going to write notes for Dodge, Tara, and Fillian. The birds will let them know for us. If they want to join us it shouldn’t take too long for them to catch up.”
We got to packing only what we needed. Everyone else was already packed for the trip to see the Winged Ones.
I scribbled three quick notes and Jasper called the blue birds down. When I was done carefully tying the notes to their legs he looked at them. “We need these to get to Fillian, Shanus, and Roben.”
The birds bobbed their heads and flew away.
Jasper looked at me. “Ready?”
I tried to swallow the lump forming in my throat as I nodded. “Alright. Let’s get going before I change my mind.”
Jasper looked back towards our little house and took a deep breath. I reached over and took his hand. He leaned down, kissing me softly on the lips. “We’ll be back.”
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince himself or me. I nodded and didn’t let myself look back again.
*****
We traveled for six days before we made it to the base of the mountain. By the sixth day, I knew something was wrong. Trent came to stand beside me while we took a quick break.
“What’s wrong, Aunt Hayden?”
“I’m not sure, Trent. Something’s not right.” I looked around, trying to figure out what was making me so edgy. I looked at Jasper and shrugged. I could tell he was trying to relax but was getting too much nervous energy from me. Alex twitched every time there was a small noise.
A bird chirped up in the trees and I looked to see if it was one of the blue birds with news of the others. My heart jumped into my throat then dropped. I could feel my eyes alm
ost pop out of my head. I had been so busy looking around that I hadn’t looked up into the tall trees.
“Uncle Jasper!” Trent called out, scared by the look on my face. Jasper was there before he could finish his shout. He looked up where I was staring.
A growl made its way up his throat. “The leaves!” He looked back at me.
“We’re walking right into it!” I whispered.
None of us had noticed that the farther away we had gotten from the Wedelves, the more the leaves had started to turn colors.
“We don’t have months!” I managed to choke out. “It’s right now!”
“But that doesn’t make sense!” Alex was standing beside us. “Why would you dream of something that was only going to happen if you tried to avoid that same dream? Jasper told me about the first one...where you were able to avoid the wolves coming to the campsite because you saw them coming. The same happened with the ridge. It was just you and Jasper in the dream and then you were able to call everyone in to surprise the pack.”
I closed my eyes, knowing he was right. It didn’t make sense. Everything about this dream didn’t make sense.
We threw everything back into our bags and tried to decide what to do.
“Maybe we should keep going,” suggested Alex. “Maybe it is going to happen when the leaves in the Wedelven woods turn. We might be in the wrong forest.”
“I don’t know. We haven’t passed the clearing in my dreams yet. And the trees in my painting look a lot more like these woods than the ones around our house. It’s got to be here. Maybe if we head back we can avoid them.” My heart was about to jump out of my chest.
“Let’s do that,” agreed Jasper. We all grabbed a bag and started jogging back the way we had come.
The sunlight brightened as we came to a clearing we had already been through. I stopped short and stumbled as Dawn bumped into me. Luke managed to grab my arm before I could fall. I didn’t have to say anything. Everyone remembered the painting. It was of this clearing, coming at it from this direction.
Tyler and Trent stood back to back. I noticed them move their belts so that their daggers would be easier to reach if they were needed. The daggers had been their late eleventh birthday present from Jasper and they’d both gotten very good at using them.
Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' Page 12
