Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two'

by Chester, Mireille

“Are you ok?”

  He glanced down at me and nodded. His clenched jaw indicated otherwise.

  “I’m sorry about Melana making you come with us.”

  His dark green eyes widened in surprise. “That’s not what I was thinking about. I’m glad she did. I was about to volunteer when she brought it up.”

  I frowned. “But you looked so upset about coming!”

  He shook his head. “I wasn’t upset about coming. I was upset they got him. Jasper and I turned of age the same year and were put in the same pack to train. We stayed in the same pack for four years before we were each given our own. Even then, when there was need to combine packs, they usually put ours together. He’s the closest thing I have to a brother.” He looked toward the cave again. “Don’t you worry, Hayden. We’ll get him out.”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “I know.”

  When it was dark we made our way closer to the cave. I hopped off of Dodge and we all waited for everyone to get back.

  “Thank you, everyone, for helping. Remember, we don’t want to kill, but if it’s you or them, I can always fix them later.” Everyone nodded.

  “Kacey?”

  He came up to me and I wondered if he ever stopped looking at the ground. “Thank you,” I whispered and hugged him.

  He tapped me on the back awkwardly. “I just hope I can get him out.” He turned, shifted, and trotted off towards the cave.

  We waited impatiently for him to come back. I wondered what was taking so long and after what seemed an eternity, he came loping back. Alone.

  “They won’t let me take him; said that Rainen wants him here. I think we can force our way, though. There are only ten of them in there.”

  Everyone looked at me.

  “Take me in there.”

  Alex growled. “No way.”

  “If he takes me in as a prisoner, they’ll believe Jasper is supposed to come too. Tie my hands in front so I can still get the colors to work.”

  “I don’t like this, Hayden. If anything happens to you we won’t have to worry about the dogs because Jasper will kill us first.” Zane looked just as edgy as Alex.

  “I’ll go with her. They’ll just think I came back after escaping from you.” Luke came to stand beside me. “I think Hayden is right. This is the best way to do it with the least amount of casualties.”

  Matthew brought some rope and tied my hands loosely but convincingly in front of me. “You should be able to slip out of it when you need too.”

  I nodded. “Let’s do this.”

  Tara tied a gag in my mouth. It was so loose I could push it out with my tongue. Luke and Kacey each grabbed an arm and started walking with me. I started to hear voices as we got deeper into the cave.

  “What do you think was up with Kacey?” one voice asked.

  “Probably wants all the glory.”

  “Naw. That’s not like Kacey. I know a lot of coyotes are shy, but he takes the cake. If he could blend into the ground he would. It’s amazing he’s even made captain.”

  They looked up.

  “Kacey, he’s not going...”

  Kacey cut him off. “Look. Luke managed to escape and take the girl. We’re supposed to bring both of them to Rainen.”

  Everyone’s eyes bugged out of their heads when they saw me. I tried to look as much as a prisoner as I could.

  Kacey went to all the doors starting on the left. The others were too shocked to object. There were no other prisoners. Jasper was in the last one on the right just as he had predicted.

  Tears sprang to my eyes. He wasn’t locked in the shackles like we had thought simply because there was no need for it. He lay on the ground in a heap, his hands tied behind his back. His clothes were ripped and he was covered in dried and fresh blood. His breathing was shallow. His face was so swollen I couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or closed.

  Kacey walked into the cell and pulled him to his feet.

  Jasper growled and threw himself against him sending both of them crashing into a wall.

  “Careful, Kacey. He’s crazy. By the moons, anyone else would be dead by now and he still puts up a fight every time we open the door. Quite frankly, we’ve explained it to him… all he had to do was stop fighting and we’d stop beating, but he refuses to listen. He damn near killed Rick two days ago.”

  I saw Kacey whisper to Jasper and some of the tension left the battered shoulders. Kacey pulled him up again and walked him out of the cell.

  They were just getting past us when one of the guards got to his feet. “What in the world!”

  I heard a growl from behind me and all ten guards were on their feet. I wondered who had been impatient as I picked a grey wave out of the air and threw it at the guards. I relaxed a little when I heard Kacey holler back that they were out.

  I grabbed all the grey waves I could find in front of me and threw them as hard as I could. The chairs they had been sitting on fell back and the smallest one of them, I assumed he was a fox, slid backward into one of the rooms.

  I smiled and pushed harder and a few of them fell back into the wall. They then crawled to the safest place they could find which was in the open cells.

  I walked forward, keeping the wind in front of me. When all of them were hiding in the rooms I dropped my arms and four cats shifted and ran to close the doors. Four locks fell into place and Matthew patted me on the back.

  “Nicely done,” he smiled.

  “Thanks.” I smiled back at him. We ran out of the cave and back into the woods.

  “Jasper!” I knelt beside him just as Luke was cutting the ropes from around his wrists.

  He moaned as his arms rotated back to their normal position.

  “Hayden.” I could barely hear his whisper. I put my hands on him to see what was needed to heal him.

  A howl broke the silence. Kacey and Luke looked at each other and Luke looked back down at me. “We have to go now. That’s the rest of them coming back!”

  “Hayden can ride with us,” Prense stated. I hopped on behind Tara and cringed at the pain I knew Jasper was feeling as Zane lifted him up onto Dodge. Luke swung on behind him.

  Jasper leaned forward and grabbed handfuls of mane to help him stay on and we all shot off into the night.

  *****

  The sun was getting high in the sky when we finally stopped. I jumped off of Prense and ran to where Zane and Alex were laying Jasper on his back.

  In the daylight, he looked even worse. Some of the bruises were already turning yellow. I lifted his shirt and tried not to cry. His chest had three cuts crossing over it. None of them were extremely deep. By the way his left arm was laying I was sure his forearm was broken. Most of his injuries were internal from the beatings.

  Kacey was shaking his head. “I’m so sorry, Hayden.”

  “Stop it, Kacey. You got him out. We couldn’t have done it without you.” I put my hands on Jasper and concentrated. I kept my eyes closed when he put a hand on mine. “Don’t move,” I whispered to him.

  When I had assessed all of the damages I looked up at Zane. “There’s just too much for him to heal. I’ll have to give him some of mine.”

  “No.” Jasper tried to open his eyes.

  I tried to smile through my tears. “Are you going to stop me?”

  I closed my eyes and started to push some energy into him. Zane put his hands on my shoulders in case I got dizzy. I spread my energy over his entire body and he groaned as the worst of his injuries healed themselves.

  Alex, Luke and Ben held him as still as possible.

  I kept pushing, ignoring the faintness. My energy mixed with his and he clenched his teeth at the pain.

  “That’s enough!” he gasped.

  Zane pulled me back and I fell against him.

  “Is she alright?” Jasper cringed as he set himself up on his elbows to look at me.

  “She’s fine,” Zane answered him.

  A wave of dizziness hit me and I rolled away from Zane to keep from throwing up on him.


  “Stubborn ass,” I muttered when I was done. Someone handed me a canteen and I took a drink.

  “Look who’s calling who stubborn!” He groaned as he stood and came over to me. “Can you stand up?”

  I took his hand and he pulled me up into his arms. I clung to him, tears soaking into what was left of his shirt. He laid his cheek on my head and rubbed my back. I looked up at him, glad to see that the swelling had gone down enough that he could open his eyes.

  “Your nose has a bump on it again.” I reached up and touched it softly. “I thought you weren’t going to make a habit out of this,” I grinned through my tears.

  He smiled back at me. “I like to make your temper come out.” His lips touched mine softly.

  I sighed and lay my cheek back against his chest.

  “Thank you,” he whispered. “But do you know, I think your friend in there was wrong. I still think I love you more.”

  “I guess I’ll just have to keep saving you until you know how wrong you are.”

  Matthew shook his head. “Are they always like that?” he asked Alex.

  Our little group laughed and I looked over at Zane. “Wanna take bets as to whether he’s fated or not?”

  Zane grinned. “I take not.”

  Matthew blushed. “Well, not yet, anyway. That’s quite the mate you have there, Jasper.”

  Jasper smiled. “I can’t argue; she’s something else. Thanks for helping her.”

  Matthew grinned. “Well, now, I couldn’t very well leave you in the hands of the dogs.”

  Alex walked over and put a hand on Jasper’s back. “Welcome back.”

  “Thank you.” Jasper looked around. “Everybody. Thank you.”

  “So do you think you can keep yourself from near death for another couple of years,

  brother?” I stepped back so that Luke could give Jasper a hug.

  Jasper laughed. “I can try!”

  “I hate to rush everyone, but the closer we get to home, the better I will feel about celebrating this little victory,” Shanus interrupted.

  Jasper looked down at me and kissed me again. “Home it is.”

  Zane lift me onto Dodge and Jasper hopped on behind me with a groan. I looked around until I found who I was looking for.

  “Kacey, are you coming with us?”

  He gave a smile and a nod.

  Alex patted him on the back. “Welcome to our diverse little group.”

  We started off at an easy lope, eager to get home.

  “Are you strong enough to hold me? I’m about to fall asleep. Maybe Luke should ride behind me so you can rest too.”

  Jasper pulled me closer to him. “Like I could bear to let go of you right now. Go to sleep, Shlova. I’ll be fine.”

  I felt him chuckle as I managed to mumble the word stubborn before falling asleep.

  When I awoke, I still couldn’t open my eyes. I was lying on a blanket with Jasper’s arms wrapped around me. I managed to squeeze his hand weakly to let him know I was awake.

  He squeezed me back and kissed my hair. “Go back to sleep. We just stopped for the night.” He sucked in his breath as he moved so he could hold me closer. I shivered and he readjusted the blankets.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  I squeezed his hand again, sighed, and fell back asleep.

  I stayed in my half-awake half asleep mode for two more days.

  *****

  The morning was cool. Jasper felt Hayden roll so she was facing him. He mumbled something, positive he was still sleeping and pulled her closer to him. He felt her shudder against him.

  “Shush, Shlova. It’s alright,” he whispered. She tilted her face up and his lips found hers as he crushed her to his chest. He moaned then gasped as her nose touched his. He opened his eyes at the pain and found himself staring into deep green eyes filled with grey and gold flecks.

  “Thank god, you’re really here,” he whispered hoarsely. “This isn’t another dream.”

  She hugged him tightly. “Of course, I’m here. If they thought they could just steal you away from me they underestimated how much you mean to me.” Hayden smiled as she repeated the same words he’d once told her. “I love you so much,” she whispered. “When I realized they had taken you, it felt like half of my whole being got ripped away from me.”

  “I tried to come back to you. Every time they would open that door, I tried.” He kissed her tenderly. He looked up at the snorting sound coming from behind them.

  Hayden started to laugh. “Zane!” she whispered loudly. “You’re snoring again!”

  Jasper heard him grunt as Alex rolled closer to him and poked him with an elbow.

  “Geez, you guys! Can’t you leave a cat alone in the morning?”

  A few chuckles could be heard as more people started to stir.

  “I don’t want to move,” Hayden mumbled into Jasper’s chest.

  “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine; still very tired, but ok. How do I look?”

  He leaned back so he could look at her. She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “The truth.”

  Jasper rolled his eyes. “You’re a little pale, but not yellow. The dark circles are back under your eyes, but you don’t look like you’ve lost any weight.”

  “Ok.”

  “How do I look?” he smiled at her.

  She shook her head and put it back on his chest. “Horrible.”

  He laughed. “Thanks.”

  “Your face is swollen, you’re black and blue and yellow everywhere, your clothes are all ripped and stained with blood.” She looked up at him. “Should I go on?”

  He was still laughing. “No, that’s fine. If I look that bad now, how in the world did I look when you found me?”

  She frowned and he felt her try to shield him from the crushed feeling she was projecting. “If it weren’t for the fact that I saw you breathe, I would have thought that you were dead.”

  He pulled her closer. “Of course I wasn’t dead. I promised you I wouldn’t leave you, remember?”

  She nodded. “I remember.”

  He pulled back again and turned serious. “Whose blood is on you?”

  She looked down at herself. “The spatters would be when I sliced Nate open in the clearing. And the bigger drops would be from when I bit his hand when he was trying to abduct me.”

  “Is he still here?” Jasper was ready to kill.

  Hayden shook her head. “Dodge kicked him in the chest.”

  “And then Hayden burnt him to a crisp and kicked his ashes around.” Luke looked like he would choke with the effort not to laugh.

  Jasper raised his eyebrows at her and grinned. “Temper!”

  “Oh, be quiet! I was a little stressed out. Remember? I was too busy trying to save you to have some stupid little fox trying dumb things like that on me.” She grinned back at him. “Seems to me you just finished saying you let yourself get caught so you could make my temper come out.”

  He laughed. “Yes, well, pity I didn’t get to see it.” He tried to hide a cringe when she moved against him.

  Hayden got on her knees and pushed him onto his back. “Lay still.”

  “No. Not until you’re better.”

  “Jasper, I’m just going to see if the safe one will work.”

  Zane and Luke came to hold him down.

  She laid the wave over him and he hissed as everything finished healing. When it was done he closed his eyes and lay still, his breathing heavy.

  “I think it definitely hurt less to be hurt.”

  Hayden took his hand and stood, pulling him up with her. She shook her head. “You guys are something else. I heal you, and all you can do is complain. Next time you can all just lay around half dead and bleeding.”

  Jasper pulled her into a hug and laughed. “We’re not saying we’re not grateful, Shlova. We’re just saying that it hurts.”

  Matthew walked over to them. “Hayden?”

  She looked up at him.


  “It’s not that I don’t enjoy your little group’s company, but I would like to get back to Queen Melana.”

  “Yes, you’re right. And I am dying to sleep in a bed again.”

  Jasper squeezed her hand. “Lest nouth allais mairen, Shlova.”

  She swung onto Dodge and he hopped on behind her so she could sleep. “Let’s go home,” she agreed.

  *****

  Three days later we crossed over the Wedelven Bridge and everybody breathed a sigh of relief when we finally reached the edge of our clearing.

  Mel and Dawn came running out of the house. Luke fell to the ground as Mel ran into him without slowing.

  Zane caught Dawn in midair as she jumped into his arms.

  Jasper gave me a quick kiss and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

  “Welcome back!”

  I turned to the house with a smile as everyone but our little group dropped to their knees.

  “Was there ever any doubt?” I asked with a laugh.

  Melana walked up to us and looked at Jasper. “I’m glad to see you’re fine, Jasper, though from the looks of your clothes that wasn’t the case when they found you.”

  Jasper laughed. “That’s the nice thing about being fated to a healer.”

  Melana turned back to me. “I must say, I’m impressed, Hayden.”

  I grinned and gave her a hug. “Piece of cake, really. I do have to thank you for loaning me Matthew and his crew. They were a great help.”

  She nodded, her eyes still slightly big at the fact that I had hugged her.

  “Were there any casualties?” she asked.

  “Just Nate, the fox I healed at the clearing.”

  She looked at Matthew who had made his way over to us. He bowed to her.

  “What of the dogs?” she asked. “How many were killed.”

  “None,” he reported.

  “I beg your pardon?” Melana’s jaw hung open.

  His mouth twitched as he tried not to smile. “None.”

  She regained her composure and turned back to me. “How about you go get cleaned up and then you can catch me up on everything. I thought about making tea, but thought some sloan might fit the occasion a bit better.” She grinned. “A little bird told me you were coming.”

  The blue bird landed on my shoulder and bobbed her head.