Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (28 page)

“Should we get something to eat?” asked
Zane.

“Definitely. I’m starving.” I took
Jasper’s hand again and we all headed to one of the food
booths.

The vendor looked at our little group,
his grin widening. “Jasper! It has been years!”

Jasper smiled. “Taylor. How goes
it?”

“Good, man. Very good indeed. Where
have you been hiding?”

Jasper shrugged. “Keeping busy with
scouting and the sorts. Always work to be done.”

Taylor looked at me. “And you must be
the reason I have heard more than a couple of the ladies grumbling
today.” He grinned.

I blushed.

Jasper laughed. “Taylor, this is my
mate, Hayden. Hayden, Taylor. He is Zane’s great uncle.”

I could definitely see the resemblance.
Taylor was just as tall as Zane. Maybe even an inch taller. He had
the same black eyes and black hair, the difference being that
Taylor’s was streaked with silver.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, grinning
back at him.

“Zane, my boy, how are you?” He turned
his attention to his nephew.

“Just fine, uncle. More than fine,
actually.” He gazed lovingly at Dawn, who was looking up at him
with the same adoration.

Taylor’s eyes followed Zane’s look. “By
the moons, you found her!”

Dawn blushed and looked at Zane’s
uncle.

“Dawn, my uncle Taylor.”

Taylor came from behind the booth and
scooped Dawn up in a hug. He set her down and laughed. “You can’t
even begin to understand how happy I am for you two. It had gotten
to the point where the whole family was out looking for you just so
poor Zane would get on with his life. Ten years is a long time to
be waiting for your mate.”

Zane was a very bright shade of
red.

“So where exactly were you hiding all
these years, my dear?”

Dawn’s eyes nearly bugged out of her
head. “Umm...”

“Actually, I found her up in the
Northern Regions.” Zane took her hand. “I thought it was probably
the only place we hadn’t looked because, well, who wants to live
there, right?” He laughed.

Dawn looked up at him and giggled.
“Well, I did.”

Taylor laughed. “And you must be a
throwback.” He scratched his chin. “You are much too bright to be
black.”

She gave a quick glance at Zane who
nodded.

Taylor made his way back behind his
counter and started dishing out bowls of stew. He handed them out
to us. “On the house, kids. You have a good time
tonight.”

“Thanks, Uncle.”

We were starting to walk away when
Taylor stopped us. “Zane!”

We all turned as one.

“Have you told your mother yet? I was
up there a few months ago and she didn’t mention
anything.”

We all looked at Zane.

He shook his head. “We just got back
actually.” He looked embarrassed and kicked the ground.

Taylor laughed. “Yes, well, I see then.
I was newly fated at one point too. I know how it is.”

Zane turned a deeper shade of
red.

“All right. Go have some
fun.”

We all waved and turned to where
everyone was sitting.

I gave Jasper my bowl of stew and
spread my cloak on the ground.

“Here,” he said as he handed me both
bowls. “I’ll go get us a drink.”

I glanced over at Dawn. “Holy crap, was
that unnerving, or what?”

“It was horrible. I had no idea we
would need to come up with a story! And what in the name of the
moons is a throwback?” She almost looked insulted.

Brice was standing by us, looking
around. “Back in the day when the panthers were still a part of the
guard, there actually wasn’t very many of them. They were born to
leopards. As their numbers grew, they started to be solely fated to
other black leopards. It made sense. Tigers mate with tigers, and
so on.

‘Their line of breeding is so strong,
that now they only produce black panthers. Well, almost always.
Every once in a while, there is a throwback in the genes, and a
pair of blacks will have regular looking leopard cub.

‘That’s what Taylor thought you were.”
He had explained all of this and never looked at us
once.

“Brice. Relax. You look like you’re
standing guard.” I threw a pebble at him.

He glanced down a us and grinned.
“Sorry.” He scanned the crowd and relaxed a bit as Zane and Jasper
made their way closer to us.

“Do you think we’ll have to explain
Luke and Mel to anyone?” I asked Jasper as he sat down.

He shook his head. “I doubt it. But if
it comes up, Luke can be my second cousin on my mother’s
side.”

Luke laughed. “Now would I be Aunt
Celine’s boy, or Uncle Kurt’s.”

Jasper grinned. “We’ll go with Aunt
Celine’s. She never seemed to mind that you were...well, you
know.”

We all looked around to make sure no
one was close enough to hear our conversation.

The meadow was filling with beings,
some of them dancing, some of them eating, all of them having a
good time.

We finished our stew and I leaned back
against Jasper, watching the dancers. I took a drink of my
sloan.

I smiled at Tara and Ben as they headed
out to join them. I recognized this dance from one of the ones Ben
had been showing me. It was a fairly fast one and I tapped my foot
to the music. Dresses swirled on the danced floor.

Three songs and another drink later,
the music slowed. I recognized the tune. I looked back at Jasper.
“Want to dance?”

He smiled. “Sure.”

I stood and pulled him up. His hand
spread over the small of my back and the other held
mine.

I thought of something and frowned.
“Will it give me away if I mess up?”

He laughed. “I doubt it. Just because
someone is from here, does not mean they will know the
dances.”

He took up the steps and led me
skillfully through the crowd. “When did you learn this?” he
asked.

I smiled. “I’ve been practicing. Ben
has been teaching me.”

He looked down at me. “Just when I
think I might be starting to figure you out,” he
mumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the last I remember you telling
me, you hated going out and dressing up.”

“I did. I still do. This is a bit too
formal for my taste, but if we were coming to a dance, I wanted to
be able to dance with you. I do enjoy dancing. I have to admit that
I am having a great time and am glad I spent money on a
dress.”

He smiled. “Just wait for the next six
nights. Those are the fun ones.”

The song ended and he leaned down to
kiss me softly. “But I am glad you bought the dress. You look
amazing. And just the fact that you are here with me makes this a
great night.”

I blushed.

We spent the rest of the night dancing,
switching partners among our little group and friends we happened
to run into.

Luke led me back to our cloaks on the
ground after a fast dance that was a lot like a two step. We were
laughing, talking about the collision we had had with another
couple. I picked up my mug and drained the half cup of sloan that
was left in it.

“You’re going to have a bruise the size
of a melon!” I laughed. The other couple had tripped and fallen
headlong into us. More specifically into Luke’s back.

He grinned. “I wasn’t sure what was
happening at first. The first thing that popped into my head was
that someone was attacking us!” He took a long swallow of his
drink. “I almost shifted!”

“Oh, god! That would have been a
disaster!”

He shook his head at himself and
drained his drink. “Do you want another?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

We walked to one of the booths that was
selling drinks.

“Nine sloans, please,” I said to the
vendor.

Luke laughed at me. I stuck my tongue
out at him. “It will save everyone a trip when they get back from
dancing.” I handed the vendor my money.

We grabbed fistfuls of mugs and headed
back to our spot on the ground.

Zane was laying propped up on his
elbows, watching Dawn dance with Jasper. I sat beside him and
handed him a drink.

“Thanks!”

“Brice. For the hundredth time. Sit.
Relax.” I tapped his leg with my foot. “I got you a
drink.”

Brice glanced down at me and gazed back
out into the crowd. He sat and took the drink. “Thank
you.”

Jasper led Dawn back to our group, both
of them breathing hard from their dance. They each took a drink,
Dawn settling herself on Zane’s lap and Jasper sitting in his usual
spot behind me. I leaned back against him and yawned. “What time do
the booths have to be set up by tomorrow?”

“Most of the booths will be set up by
lunch.”

I looked to the horizon and saw the
faint light where the sun was thinking of coming up. “Maybe we
should head back. I’m beat. And I don’t think my feet could handle
even one more dance.”

Jasper chuckled. “I agree. And so do my
feet.”

We stood and everyone followed
suit.

*****

Jasper pulled his boots on and watched
as Hayden pulled the red dress over her head.

“Tara owes me big time,” she grumbled.
“I don’t even think red is my color.”

“You look beautiful.” He smiled at her
blush. He gazed at her and took in all of the details. She had put
on a long light grey tunic with the red pull over dress over it.
Her hair was pulled back into a loose pony tail at the nape of her
neck that was tied with a red silk ribbon.

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it.” She
looked up at him and smiled.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. But it was
extremely generous of you to agree to model Tara’s dresses this
week so that people could see them.” All of the girls were wearing
some of Tara’s designs.

Hayden looked at herself in the mirror.
“She sure is good, though.”

Jasper felt her give herself a mental
shake, one he was coming to recognize as a ‘doesn’t matter how hard
I try I’ll always look homely’ feeling. He gave his own head a
slight shake and walked up behind her.

She leaned her head back against his
chest and sighed.

“Red is definitely your color. And if
it weren’t for the fact that we have to get your booth set up, I
would show you just what I thought of how you look right now.” He
pulled her back against him and chuckled when her eyes
widened.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t take care of
that?” She grinned at him.

He turned her and hugged her to him. He
loved how she fit so perfectly against his chest. How he could rest
his chin on the top of her head and breath in her scent. He
groaned. “That’s tempting, Shlova. But you have customers
waiting.”

She laughed. “I’ll be lucky if I sell
one halter.”

He took her hand and led her down the
stairs and outside. As tempting as it had been to take her up on
her offer in the bedroom, he knew it wouldn’t have made a
difference. All he had to do was look at her, think of her, and he
was ready to bed her.

“I’ll go get the bags and you can set
the halters up how you want them.” He gave her a quick kiss before
leaving to grab the first of the bags.

Luke was in the kitchen getting some
breakfast ready for Tyler and Trent. He looked up and smiled at his
brother. “I have a feeling it will be a busy day for the women.
There were people knocking on the door at sun up asking to see
Tara’s dresses.”

“She is fairly amazing.”

“Are you getting the
halters?”

Jasper nodded.

“I’ll come give you a hand.” He gave
the twins a pat on the head and followed Jasper outside. “Then, you
can give me a hand hauling all those pies over from
Lantoc’s.”

Jasper laughed. “There’s always a
catch.”

They did a couple of trips in silence.
Back at the shed, Jasper stopped. It wasn’t a coincidence. Couldn’t
be.

Luke saw him tense. “What’s
wrong.”

“Last night, at the dance. I wasn’t
sure, but I could have sworn there was a man there just a little
too interested in Hayden.”

Luke chuckled. “I don’t think you have
to worry about it, Jasper. That woman only has eyes for
you.”

Jasper shook his head. “Not like that.
Well, I maybe thought it was like that. But not now. I just saw him
walking by again. He’s watching her.”

“But for who?”

“I don’t know. It could be for anyone,
no? I didn’t bring her back to Pinsaber like I was ordered to.
Maybe the queen has decided to send someone else to finish the job.
It could be for Damian.” He gestured to his brother. “We know how
easy it is to have dogs mingled in with cats. No one is watching
for it, and as long as nobody gets a look at your mark and you
don’t shift, no one is aware of what you are.”