Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two'

by Chester, Mireille

“I might just do that.” Leah looked ready to do something drastic even with all the witnesses here.

  Jasper looked from one woman to the other. “That’s enough. There will be no fighting. Leah, go home. Hayden, let’s get back to the castle.”

  Hayden shook her head. “Let’s do this.” Her tone turned mocking. “Or are you the kind who is too scared to follow through on a threat. Maybe you’re the kind who waits until the other isn’t expecting it?”

  Leah turned red and Jasper felt the blood drain from his face. He stepped in front of Hayden as Leah shifted. Hayden stepped around him and smirked at the tigress.

  “I suppose if you think that’s the only way you can beat me…”

  Leah blinked and shifted back. “What are you proposing?”

  “One on one, hand to hand. No shifting for you, no magic for me, no weapons for either of us.”

  “When?”

  “We’ll meet in one hour in the courtyard.” Hayden smiled. “The winner gets Jasper and the loser disappears.”

  Leah took a fraction of a second to think it over before nodding. She turned and stalked out of the pub.

  “By the moons, Hayden…” He stopped short at the look on her face. He took her hand and led her out into the street. Once they were alone he pulled her to his chest. He felt her take a few deep breaths. “Are you alright?”

  She shrugged. He tilted her face up. It was pale and he knew that the strange Hayden he had seen in the pub had been an act. He searched her eyes.

  “What was that?”

  She looked down. “Matthew told me about her. What she was to you. How she acts now that you’re not together anymore. It was going to come to this anyway, I think. I’m just getting it out of the way.”

  “Hayden. Once we leave here, we’ll never see her again. This is stupid.”

  She shook her head. “No. I saw the look in her eyes, Jasper. When she talked about getting rid of me, she meant it.”

  He had seen it too and couldn’t argue with her.

  He pulled her close again. “I’m sorry.”

  “About what? This isn’t your fault. The woman is obviously certifiable.”

  “I saw the look on your face when you saw us on the ground together.”

  She surprised him by smiling. “I won’t lie. It was a bit of a shock.”

  “You’re not upset?” He tried to feel any hint that she might be.

  “About the kiss? Why would I be?”

  “I just thought it might have seemed…well, I should have told you about Leah when we decided to come to Pinsaber.”

  “Would you be upset if you found me kissing Matthew?”

  “Why would you kiss Matthew?” He frowned and felt her amusement.

  “Just humour me.”

  “Alright, then. If I caught you kissing Matthew, I’m sure I would think there was a very good reason for it, not to mention that I would feel what you were feeling and in that sense be able to determine what was going on.” He glanced down at her. “But you don’t have the luxury of feeling what I do. You couldn’t tell how I was feeling.”

  She started to laugh. “Jasper, I didn’t need to feel what you were feeling. The pissed off, shocked look on your face was enough of an indication that you weren’t a willing party.”

  He blushed.

  Hayden stood on her tip toes and kissed him softly. He pulled her tightly against his chest and let his tongue play lightly with hers. She moaned and his stomach tightened at the sound. She sighed that small internal sigh that she felt whenever he held her and all he wanted to do was take her home; away from Pinsaber, away from Leah.

  “She won’t fight fair, will she?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  She nodded. “Ok.”

  “You know, even if you lose, I can’t go with her. I’ll still be fated to you.”

  “I know. That’s why she’ll try to kill me. She knows it too.”

  “Hayden?” Matthew walked over and shook his head. “Are you alright?”

  She nodded. Jasper’s temper flared. In one hour, Hayden would be fighting for her life and he was sure that the cause of it was something Matthew had told her.

  “What did you tell her?”

  Matthew didn’t seem surprised at the outburst. “Just that Leah had been determined to get you back since you’d left her; that every time you came to Pinsaber she found you. By the moons, Jasper, she’s even tracked you down to some of the smaller towns around here.” He looked his friend in the eye. “You know damn well that it was just a matter of time before Leah decided Hayden was the obstacle she was going to have to get rid of to get you back.”

  “So you told Hayden to fight her?”

  Hayden put a hand on his arm. “He didn’t tell me to do anything. He gave me the facts and I decided this was the way to go.”

  “I honestly didn’t mean for this to happen. I was just trying to explain to her why she shouldn’t be upset about seeing you lying on the ground with another woman’s tongue in your mouth.”

  Jasper felt the blood creep into his face. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “Alright. Here are a few things I remember about her fighting style. She’s not very good at hand to hand, but she does fight dirty…”

  *****

  I handed my dagger and boot knife to Jasper and watched as Leah did the same. She let her hand run down his arm knowingly. I tried not to let my anger show. Jasper tensed at the touch and his eyes, hard with anger, bore into hers. She was either oblivious to the fact that he wanted nothing to do with her, or she simply chose to ignore it. She gave his hand a squeeze.

  “Just you wait until we’re done here,” she breathed sexily. “I have big plans for you tonight.” Her hand traveled down his hip and Jasper growled low in his throat as she patted his rear. She winked at him, glared at me, and went to stand in the middle of the circle that was starting to form in the courtyard.

  “Bitch.”

  Jasper looked at me, surprised.

  “Well, what? You can’t expect me to not be more than a little pissed off. Shit, she’s not even trying to hide it. She’s just doing it right in front of me.” The red waves were moving in front of my face and it was taking a lot of effort not to grab one and throw it at her.

  Jasper must have sensed this and pulled me to him. “You need to calm down.” He tilted my face and brought his lips down softly to mine. The kiss got harder, hungrier. I moaned and melted against him. His hand ran up my shirt in the back. I shivered and dropped my shield. It was his turn to groan.

  A few whoops and hollers could be heard as our kiss was applauded by the crowd. I pulled back on my feelings and felt Jasper smile. The kiss softened and he placed his forehead against mine. His thumb ran over my lips.

  His voice was husky. “A shlova yan.”

  I took a deep breath. “A shlova yan jer.”

  He kissed me again before straightening. I slipped the gold band off of my finger and placed it in his hand then looked to the middle of the circle and tried not to laugh at the shocked look on Leah’s face. I put on my brave and obnoxious Hayden mask and walked to stand in front of her.

  “He’s my mate. Even when he was with you, deep down, he was already in love with me.”

  She glared. “I’m going to kill you.”

  I shook my head. “You’ll try.” I threw a right jab and caught her by surprise. Her head snapped back with the impact and I tried to ignore the pain in my hand.

  Leah stumbled back before putting a hand up to her nose to see if it was bleeding. It wasn’t. She growled and rushed at me. I saw her crouch low, looking to tackle me, and I brought my knee up as hard as I could. It connected with her chin and she fell to the ground with a cry of pain. The collision knocked me backward and I fell under her. She surprised me by quickly straddling me. She rained punches down onto my face and chest. My head exploded with pain.

  I heard Jasper growl and hoped he would have the sense to stay away. If anything, I was sure that our frie
nds would hold him back if the need arose.

  Leah leaned forward and hissed in my ear.

  I took advantage and brought my elbow up to the side of her face as hard as I could. My arm went numb.

  She growled low in her throat and tried to reposition herself on top of me. I rolled the other way and scrambled to my feet. I chanced a quick glance at Jasper and saw him standing between Luke and Matthew, each of them with a hand on his arms. His hands were clenched, every muscle in his body taut.

  I took two steps forward and swept my foot behind her legs. She fell to the ground with a thump. It was my turn to rain punches and elbows onto her. I hit her over and over, my arms and hands past the point of hurting.

  “Wait! Stop! You win!”

  It took a few more punches and one last elbow before Leah’s words registered in my head. I stopped with my arm raised, trying to catch my breath.

  Leah moved her arms away from her face and even I was shocked at all of the blood that was covering it. I brought my arm down to my side and tried to relax.

  “Say it again. Loud enough for everyone to hear.” I stood and took a few steps away from her. I put my hands on my knees and took deep breaths. Blood drops fell to the ground under me and I wiped the cut under my left eye.

  She gave a hard laugh and I straightened in time to see her jump toward me. She shifted in midair and I found myself under a tiger with nothing but my hands to defend myself with. I pushed my forearm up as she brought her jaws down to bite me. I jammed it sideways into her mouth as hard and as deep as I could. She clamped down and I felt the skin break under the pressure of her teeth.

  Somewhere behind us, I heard a scuffle and knew that Jasper was trying to get to me.

  “Hayden! Dagger!” Mel’s voice was accented by the sound of my dagger planting into the ground a couple of feet away from me.

  Leah pulled back and swiped at me with her massive paws. I rolled toward my dagger and screamed in pain as her claws raked over my thigh. I scrambled awkwardly and ran, grabbing the handle as I passed it. I heard her heavy footsteps behind me. I caught a quick glimpse of Jasper, his eyes wide with fear, struggling against Matthew and Luke. I jumped and twisted in the air so that I could see Leah. She launched herself at me and we collided in midair. The air left my body as I hit the ground, the three hundred pound tiger on top of me. I gasped for breath and tried to wiggle out from under her.

  “Let go!” Jasper’s angry yell broke my concentration. Leah sensed my distraction and stood, ready to press her paw down on my chest; obviously she was planning on making me suffer. Her movement gave me room to manoeuvre and I thrust the dagger up into her belly. I grabbed the handle two handed and pulled it toward me. She collapsed on top of me, her blood soaking into my clothes and the ground. Her weight kept me from breathing and my dagger handle was pressing into my thigh painfully. I managed to get a hand out from under her and made a ‘come here’ gesture.

  “Hayden!” Jasper ran toward us and pushed Leah off of me. He knelt beside me, his eyes wide, and I tried to suck air into my lungs. “Are you alright? What hurts?”

  I looked into his sky blue eyes and smirked. “Everything.” I groaned and sat up. The longer I sat on the ground, the more injuries I was starting to feel. I looked at Leah and knelt beside her then ran a green wave over her. I shook my head and wiped the tears from my cheeks with my arm. I looked up at the sound of footsteps running into the courtyard.

  “Hayden! By the moons, what were you thinking?” Hanna knelt beside me, ran a green wave over me and looked to Jasper. “You’ll need to hold her.” She shook her head. “You’re lucky those claw marks aren’t deeper, Hayden. I might not have gotten here soon enough.” I sucked in a breath as my leg healed.

  “Three broken ribs, a broken nose, a broken forearm…” Hanna listed off the body parts as she healed them. She patted my shoulder when she was done. “Off to bed with you now. Just because you stay up all night defending your mate’s honor doesn’t mean you get to avoid getting your tattoo tomorrow morning.” She laughed at my smirk.

  Jasper cradled me against his chest and kissed my forehead before carrying me to our room. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remembered was feeling him take my clothes off. I heard him thank Tara for getting the bath ready and he set me in it. I kept my eyes closed but smiled to show him I was alright as he washed the blood off of me. Once that was done he laid me down, climbed into bed, and pulled the covers up. His arms went around me and I felt him smile against my neck.

  “What?” I hugged his arms to me and kissed his palm.

  “Oh, I was just remembering. Do you recall when you first crossed over and we were talking about fating? You had asked me if I had anyone else before you kissed me.”

  “I do. You told me not since you had started dreaming of me six years before.”

  He nodded. “You said that was a good thing because you didn’t think you would win a fight against a big cat to win me.”

  I smiled as he kissed my shoulders. He turned me around and kissed me deeply. “You were wrong, Shlova. You won me.” He reached down and pulled my leg up so that it was hooked over his hip. “But never again, do you understand?”

  I started to laugh. “Well, so long as you don’t have any more psychotic ex-girlfriends I should know about, I think it’s safe to assume this won’t happen again.” I pushed him onto his back and straddled him.

  He shook his head. “No. The only crazy woman left in my life now is you.” He reached to the floor, found my ring in his pocket and put it back on my finger. His lips brushed over my knuckles.

  I grinned. “Alright, then. This crazy woman is in the mood to claim her hard earned prize.”

  He rolled us over so that he was on top of me. He nuzzled my neck and I shivered.

  “Since you worked so hard to win your prize, why don’t you just lay back and enjoy it, Shlova?” His voice was a whisper against my skin. I sighed and enjoy it, I did.

  *****

  The following morning, I sat on a chair in the back room of Marilynn’s shop. Hanna stood over me with a needle and a vial of green ink. She had drawn the shape of the leafy vine so that it ran under my right eye and curled around the side of it. I kept my eyes closed and tried to focus on the feel of Jasper’s thumb running over the top of my hand.

  “There!” Hanna patted a cloth over the whole thing and held it there for a bit. I opened one eye to look at her. She had pulled her shoulder length black hair into a bun to keep it out of her face. Her caramel colored eyes smiled at me. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”

  “No. I guess it wasn’t.”

  “Alright. Just one more thing and we’re all done.”

  I closed my eyes again as she spread a green wave over the tattoo and healed the skin.

  “Done.” She handed me a mirror.

  “Nice. I like it.”

  Jasper kissed my cheek and smiled. “It looks good.”

  Marilynn brought out four mugs of sloan. “Let’s celebrate. To Hayden.”

  “To me?” I blushed.

  Hanna smiled. “To Hayden. May she stay safe.”

  I laughed. “Well, that, I’ll drink to.”

  We all took a drink.

  One of Marilynn’s apprentices came running into the shop, his light brown hair wind-blown, his dark blue eyes wide. Teean was fourteen and had been under Marilynn’s care since the age of six when the orphanage had noticed his magical tendencies. His mother had passed away giving birth to him and his father was rarely home due to assignments on patrols.

  “Marilynn! They found another one! Just outside the keep!” He bent over, trying to catch his breath.

  “Calm down, Teean. Breathe.”

  He nodded and tried to calm himself. “Grant’s pack. They found it burnt.”

  “Where?” She stood and pulled him up into a hug. I realized he was crying.

  “The meadow to the south.”

  “Do they want me there?”

  He nodded again and
Marilynn hugged him tightly.

  “Alright. Hanna, can Teean go with you?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I’m coming.” He wiped his arm over his face and took a deep breath. “I…I have to see.”

  “I’ll come along,” volunteered Hanna. “I want to see this also.”

  Marilynn nodded. “Hayden? Jasper?”

  We both nodded and the five of us made our way toward the gates that led out of the keep. Marilynn put a hand on Teean’s arm.

  “Are you sure?”

  He nodded. “Maybe something happened. Maybe he got away.”

  Jasper swallowed hard and I took his hand. I gave it a squeeze, knowing that he was thinking about his own family being killed. Teean’s father had been running with Grant’s pack for the past five years. I hoped for the young sorcerer’s sake that he was right.

  We continued in silence, all of us dreading the sight we were about to see. The smell of burnt flesh and fur got stronger as we got closer. I started to breathe through my mouth.

  “Identify yourselves!” A dark haired man made his way around a bush and stood in front of us. His eyes widened and he nodded. “Marilynn.”

  She nodded back. “Who found the pack?”

  “Parker’s came across it. They were on their way back out.”

  “Is he still here?”

  The man nodded.

  “Alright.” She moved past him and the rest of us followed. We entered the clearing. There were men stationed around the whole perimeter of it. Some of them were shifted, others weren’t. All of them were on edge. In the middle of the clearing was a sight that made my stomach lurch. I swallowed hard, trying to keep from throwing up.

  Teean stopped short and Jasper went to stand by him. He put a hand on the young Namael’s shoulder.

  “Straighten up, Teean. You’ve already come this far.”

  Teean looked up at my mate. He swallowed, took a deep breath and the uncertainty left his face. He gave a small nod before walking off again.

  “Was that necessary? You could have told him to go home.” I fell into step beside Jasper.

  “It was. You know how it is, Hayden. Next year he’ll become of age and he’ll be assigned to a pack. If he doesn’t finish what he came here to do, he’ll forever doubt himself. If he doubts himself, he’ll second guess every move he makes. Not only will that get him killed, it will get others killed.”