Just let me know.
“Do you know approximately where we are right now?”
About five days from Sageden.
“Really?” I smiled when he nodded.
Don’t forget, you were on the move for two days without stopping. We’re almost to the river. I’ll fly everyone over it so we don’t have to double back to find the bridge.
I gave him a hug and went to our blankets. Jasper pulled me against him.
“Think we can travel five days without me getting kidnapped or you almost dying?” I felt him chuckle behind me.
“I hope so.” He kissed my neck. “Get some sleep.”
I didn’t argue.
Chapter Six
We entered Sageden quietly just as the sun was starting to set. That was one of my favourite things about the town. These were my mother’s people and to everyone here I was just Hayden. Don’t get me wrong; they knew who I was, but this was my home and these beings were my friends. The few people walking the streets at this time looked at us and waved. Some welcomed me home; most went on with their business.
We got to Tara and Ben’s house and I hopped off of Dodge.
“Are you going home?”
If you don’t mind.
“Of course not. Go be a horse.” I gave him a hug and watched him take to the air.
Matthew gave a few quick knocks on the door and we all walked in. Tara and Ben were at the dining room table playing poker. She grinned at me.
“I’m beating him.”
I started to laugh. Ben always liked to bug us about our lack of skill at the game. Even Jasper, who had just learned how to play, was better than us.
“Tantara, my love, what do you say. All or nothing?” Ben flashed her a crooked smile.
“Roben, my sweet, you’re on. Should we up the stakes?”
I looked on the table and saw her emerald dagger, his new boot knife, as well as money. Ben nodded.
“I’ll bet Goop.”
“Well, then, I’ll bet Peena.”
I smiled at Jasper. Tara and Ben liked to compete with each other and always bet some of the things they loved the best. Jasper had brought it to my attention that neither of them ever actually collected their prizes.
“Ok, Ben, you first.” Tara chewed on her lip a bit nervously. Ben laid his cards down and she smiled at his pair of tens and three fives. “Full house. Not bad.” She dropped her cards on the table.
“Two aces and three kings.” Ben looked at the cards and laughed. He leaned over the table and kissed her. “Not bad, love.”
She smiled and took her dagger, handed him his knife, and put the money in the jar that sat on the counter.
“You can keep Goop. He snorts too much.” She stood and came to give us all hugs. We introduced Emelly and Damian.
There was a knock on the door and Tara’s neighbour, Lantoc, walked in. He smiled.
“I thought I saw you guys walk by. I just pulled out some homemade jurn berry grone. I thought you might want a taste after a long journey.” He gave me a long hug and shook hands with Jasper. Ben went into the kitchen and came back carrying shot glasses and mugs of sloan; jurn berry grone was the equivalent of the strongest shot you can think of. It needed a chaser.
We all sat down and Jasper filled them in on everything that had happened since we had gone our separate ways by the waterfall.
“Holy shit,” murmured Ben. “Absolutely nothing has happened here. Taleessa is on her way to meet with the dragons. Shanus came back a few days ago and the Scannoves are starting to congregate with the Winged Ones. If you go to your clearing tomorrow, you’ll find you’ve been invaded by about two hundred Namaels and Majs. These are all the ones whose bonds to Damian and Melana have broken and are now bonded to Hayden. More come strolling in every day. Sageden has an extra four or five hundred Wedelves in residence.” He took Tara’s hand and looked at Jasper. “This is nuts.”
Everyone nodded. I got up and poured everyone another drink. Tara smiled.
“I can’t believe Brice is alive!”
“I know! God, I feel awful. He’s been there for three years and he refused to send someone to tell us.” I shook my head. “I swear, when we get him out of there…”
Jasper started to laugh. “You’ll what, Shlova?”
I mock glared at him then smiled. “I’ll hug him to death.”
“So are you staying here, then?” asked Ben.
“If you have room for us.”
“There’s always room for you two. You can use your old room upstairs. Matthew’s been staying in the other one. Parker, and Steven, if you don’t mind, Lantoc has a couple of spare rooms next door. Damian, you can have the couch.”
Damian nodded.
Ben got up and put some blankets on the sofa. I stood up and gave everyone a hug.
“I’ll see everyone in the morning.”
Jasper finished his drink and followed me up the stairs. I sat on the bed and pulled off my boots then got undressed before pulling on Jasper’s last clean shirt. I collapsed back on the bed and watched as he pulled off his boots, dropped his belt and pants to the floor, and pulled his tunic over his head. He slipped under the covers and pulled me against him.
He brushed my hair out of the way and kissed the back of my neck and shoulders lightly. My whole body tingled and I shivered. His free hand slipped under my shirt, found my breasts and lightly ran over them.
I moaned and reached back between my legs where I could feel him, hard against me. His moan echoed mine. I spread my legs and caught my breath as he pushed into me. He moved slowly, pulling me back against him. His breath was hot against my neck and I could feel his heart pounding against my back.
I had needed this since being rescued from the humans. What can I say, high stress situations excited me. It didn’t take long for Jasper’s slow thrusts to shatter every nerve in my body. I turned my head back and his mouth claimed my moan of pleasure. He pulled me hard against him. I reached back and ran my hand through his hair. His body gave one great shiver, his groan muffled in my neck.
I hugged his arms tightly to my chest and he hooked a leg over my hip. We fell asleep, still joined, exhausted by our journey.
*****
“Holy shit! Ben wasn’t kidding!” I was stunned at the sight that awaited us as we entered our clearing. Almost every inch of it was covered with people. The woods along the far side of it were also starting to hold some camps.
“This is unreal.” Jasper shook his head. He scanned the people in the clearing and looked back to Matthew. “It’s the whole second shift!” I noticed two men walking toward us.
“Jasper!”
My mate gave both of them a hug. “Cole, Kendall. How goes it?”
Cole, the oldest of the two, I thought him to be about forty, smiled, his light brown eyes squinting in the sun. He brushed some sandy blond hair out of his face and looked around. “It’s going great. This is unreal. You should have seen the look on Taylor’s face when we all walked away and headed in this direction.”
Kendall burst out laughing. He looked about twenty-five with black hair and light blue eyes. “But nothing was as great as when half of his pack picked up and followed after us!”
Jasper and Matthew grinned.
I looked to the burnt remains of our cabin and felt a tightness in my chest. Jasper put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.
“Hayden! Jasper!” Kacey was making his way toward us followed by Roger and Colton. He gave both of us a hug, his grey eyes smiling.
“Wow! Look at you!” I gave him another hug and stepped back to see him better. He ran a hand through his blond hair.
“What?” He smiled, his eyes still locked with mine.
“You’re looking great! Very…well, wow!”
He laughed. “Thank you.”
I thought back to the day I had healed him after his pack had abducted Jasper trying to get to me. Coyotes were shy by nature, but as a few of the other Majs guarding my mate
had been quick to point out, Kacey took the cake. It had taken at least a year before the then thirty seven year old had been able to hold someone’s gaze during a conversation. If any conflict occurred, he was the first to look back to the ground. A few beings we’d had to fight had been stupid enough to assume he was a coward. Nothing could have been farther from the truth and that was evident when he was fighting. He had always been a good looking man. Now that he was confident and moved without looking scared, he was breathtaking.
“Easy, now, Shlova.” Jasper grinned. “I might get jealous.”
Kacey blushed. I gave him another hug then surprised Roger and Colton by hugging them as well. Kacey turned to Jasper.
“At first we were just getting them to set up on the other side of the creek.” He shrugged. “We’re out of room and more come every day.”
Jasper scanned the crowd and nodded to the Namaels he knew. More and more of them were noticing that we had arrived and the buzz grew louder as everyone was alerted. All of a sudden, all was quiet. Everyone dropped to one knee and bowed their heads except for our little group of friends. I started to laugh.
“Oh, god. Nuts doesn’t even start to cover it!” I raised my voice. “Everyone, please, stand up!” I waited until the crowd was standing once more. “Please, there will be no bowing or saluting. I want to thank you for joining us.” I glanced to Kacey. “Did you tell them the rules?”
He nodded. “No one believes me.”
Jasper hopped up onto one of the large rocks that lined the clearing. The breeze tugged at his hair and clothes and I smiled to myself, thinking of the first time I had seen him address a pack before a fight. Of course, at that time, our pack had only been two hundred strong and that had been including the Wedelves and Scannoves.
“We would like to thank you all for coming. A few days ago, Melana left for the Northern Regions where she will meet the dragons. The plan is to have her attack from the north. Shanus reports that the Scannoves are on their way and Roben thinks we can expect another hundred Wedelves to join us. We are presently waiting for Rainen to catch up to us. She should be here in the next two or three days. In order to reach Paradin when Melana does we need to leave when the moons are full. We will head out in a week. Are there any questions?”
Everyone was quiet and I wondered how the other meetings were going at the moment; Shanus was filling in the Scannoves and Winged Ones that had already made it here and Ben was doing the same with the Wedelves.
Jasper got off of the boulder and took my hand.
“Where to?” he asked.
“Let’s go see your brother.” We decided it would be quicker to go around the clearing. I smiled at Kacey who was walking with us. “So what brought it on?”
“I think it had a lot to do with you. I know I was a captain for Rainen, but now that I look back, I’m not entirely sure how I managed that.” He chuckled. “Here…well, here it’s different. Luke is in charge. When he goes home, I keep things in order. Alex was helping out but with Leslie gone, he keeps to himself.”
“Is she alright? What happened?”
“She was called to meet. It is time for the Fairends to mate.”
“Shit. Where is he?”
“He was here yesterday.” Roger was walking behind us with Damian, Parker, Matthew and Emelly. “He stayed for a few hours and left again. He hasn’t told us where he goes.”
“How long has she been gone?”
Kacey frowned as he thought. “It has to be close to two months now. Mel said she left a couple of days after we went to join you at the crossing. Alex seemed alright with it at first. He’d been expecting it after all. I think he’s worried something might have happened to her.”
“Where do Fairends meet?”
“No one knows, Shlova.” Jasper glanced at Kacey. “She didn’t tell him?”
Kacey shook his head. “From what she’s told him, the location changes every time. Even Fairends don’t know where it is. It’s just a feeling that they follow until they get to the location.”
My chest tightened as I thought of what Alex must be going through. He had saved Leslie from a pack of Majs almost ten years ago and even though he was a Namael and she was a Fairend, the two of them had fallen in love. Since he was too old to fate, they didn’t have to worry about him leaving. The only obstacle the two of them had was the fact that Fairends were one of the only creatures besides Winged Ones that didn’t fate at all. Every six to ten years all Fairends were called to meet. There, hormones took over and the next generation of Fairends was conceived. Once the meeting was over, every Fairend went back to being solitary nomads. I squeezed Jasper’s hand.
“Watch yourself. I’m going to drop my shield.”
He nodded and stopped walking, bracing himself. I projected my feeling of sadness and worry as hard as I could for a few moments and then pulled back and shielded once again. Jasper took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Well, if he didn’t feel that, he’s learned how to shield himself.” He kissed my forehead.
“What did you just do?” asked Colton.
“Alex is one of my guardians,” I explained. “He can feel how I’m feeling.”
“Like Jasper?” Roger sounded amazed.
“Well, sort of. Alex only seems to feel when I’m feeling bad things and he can’t feel them as strongly. That’s why I had to warn Jasper. I had to project.”
“If she projects, she can knock me right to the ground if I’m not expecting it.” We started walking again.
“Luke is Maj, correct?” Damian looked at Jasper who nodded.
“My parents found him in the woods when he was a pup. His family had been killed. Dad brought him home and raised him as part of the family. When he turned of age, his bond to you made him leave.”
We got to the cave that was Luke’s den. Jasper knocked.
“I’ve got it, Dad!” Tyler’s voice sounded through the door. He stood in the doorway, his dark brown hair still short from having to be cut off, his deep brown eyes wide with surprise. “Uncle Jasper!” He threw himself at his uncle and hugged him tight. Jasper returned the affection. Tyler stepped back just in time for Trent to come running out of the house to crush Jasper with his own hug.
The twins turned to me and grinned from ear to ear. I smiled hugged them tightly. Trent looked at me and I recognized the same joking gleam in his eyes that I was used to seeing in his fathers’.
“Did you shrink, Aunt Hayden?” he asked. Tyler burst out laughing and straightened. Both of them were looking down at me.
“Geez, you two! We’ve only been gone a year and a bit. What has your mother been feeding you?” When we had left, the two of them were about an inch and a half shorter than me. They had to be at least two inches taller now. I turned toward the chuckle that came from the door. Mel gave Jasper a hug and then squeezed me tightly.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” she said. She tucked her long black hair behind her ears and looked up at her boys, pride glowing in her deep brown eyes. Her smile widened as her mate walked up behind them. I shook my head.
“If it weren’t for the fact that Luke is a half foot taller, you three could be triplets!” It was amazing how the twins were looking more and more like their dad. He smiled and lifted me off the ground with his hug.
“Glad you made it home, sweet sister.” He set me down and grinned. “I’m especially glad you managed to bring my brother home, too.”
I laughed. “It was close. You know how he likes to get himself into near death situations.”
Jasper grunted and hugged his brother. “She forgets to tell you that she managed to get herself abducted first.”
Luke laughed. “She does like to do that, doesn’t she?” He winked at me.
“Alright, everyone, let’s head inside.” Mel hooked an arm around Luke. “I think this warrants a drink and we need some introductions.” She smiled at Emelly who smiled back shyly.
I had barely made it into the house when a little
flash of white ran up my leg and settled itself on my shoulder. I pulled the little tairat off and hugged her to my chest.
“Hey, my girl,” I mumbled into her fur. She nuzzled my cheek then looked over my shoulder. She jumped from me to Jasper, all the while chattering something at him. She wrapped her tail around his neck. Jasper tensed, getting ready for the bite he thought was coming. Tiny stopped her chattering long enough to lick the end of his nose. He smiled and pet the little head.
“Hello, Tiny. Did you miss us?” Jasper grinned at me when she licked him again.
Kip gave a bark before running out of the woods. Tiny squeaked and jumped back to my shoulder.
“Wow! What is that?” Trent eyed the Australian Shepherd cautiously.
“This is our dog. Kip, sit.” Jasper reached down and scratched the blue merle ears. “Over there, they have dogs and cats, but they don’t shift. They’re just animals.”
The twins knelt down so that Kip could sniff them.
Once everyone had been introduced, Jasper ran through everything that had happened since we had parted ways with Luke by the waterfall. We then back tracked and told the twins of their uncle’s adventures in the Other World. They sat with their mouths open and eyes wide as Jasper described cars and trucks, microwaves, cell phones and other things that were unheard of here. He pulled his small pack up onto the table and looked through it. He smiled when he found what he was searching for.
“I know we missed your birthdays again, so here are your late presents. Happy thirteenth birthday, boys.” He handed them each a package. The boys smiled and unwrapped the small packages. Tyler frowned and looked at the wooden object in his hand.
“What is it, Uncle?”
Jasper reached over and took it from him, smiling. “It’s a knife.” He pulled the blade out of the pocket knife and showed the boys how to get the blade back in. “Keep it on you.”
Both boys nodded and thanked us.
“Can we take Kip outside so we can play with him?” Tyler asked as he gave me a hug.
“Definitely. I’m sure he’d love that.”
He headed to the door. “Come on, Kip.”
Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) Page 15
