Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (36 page)

He still refused to stay with us even with
Rainen’s promise not to try and kill him, but he was keeping close
to us except for when he would scout ahead to make sure the coast
was clear. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself.

“Alright, but you make sure you’re careful.”
For as much as I hated to admit it to myself, I was starting to
grow fond of the immortal.

He chuckled.
My love, all I’ll have to do
if I’m spotted is turn into a rock man then state who I am and the
humans will be falling over themselves trying to get away.

I smiled. He was probably right.

Feel better?

“I do. Thank you.”

I heard him yawn.
Alright, well then, if
you don’t mind, I’m going back to sleep.

“Ternach?”

Hmmm?

“Any luck thinking of a solution for our
situation once we reach Paradin?”

Not yet, my love, not yet. Don’t you worry,
though, I will.

I felt him fall back asleep and all of the
worry he had managed to talk me out of came flooding back.
Something was wrong. I just knew it. I’d never had a feeling this
strong before. So what could it be? If Ternach said the coast was
clear, what was it that I was so uneasy about? Could it be that
even though I was truly starting to like the man that I still
didn’t trust him? He seemed sincere with his help and had managed
to give us enough warning twice so we’d had time to avoid packs we
would otherwise have had to fight. It had gotten to the point where
even Rainen had asked what he thought of our plan to cross the
river. Of course, maybe he was just keeping me close until he had
to kill me.

I took a deep breath. No. I didn’t think
Ternach wanted to kill me. He’d had plenty of opportunity to do so
in the past little while. I jumped as the blankets behind me moved
then relaxed as the familiar feel of Jasper’s hand settled on my
waist.

“You’re still not happy about tomorrow?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“You know I’m usually with you on these
things, but we have to get over that river. The fact that we’re
going to try and take out the prisoner’s camp before we head to
Paradin is going to take us an extra day in our travels. If we’re
late, we’re leaving Melana to fight alone.”

“I know, I know, I just…I can’t shake this
feeling.” I tried to place it again. Nothing.

“Braw can’t afford to send all of his men out
to fight. He knows we’re coming by now and will be concentrating on
guarding the keep.”

“Ok, ok. I know. I’m probably just nervous.”
I moved back so that I was right up against him. “How’s Luke?”

“Hurting.” He took a deep breath. “That and
he’s worried about Mel; that she’ll get herself hurt or worse when
we get there.”

I didn’t say anything. I had been thinking
the same thing just a few hours prior when I’d been watching my
sister-in-law eat her supper. The half dead look in her eyes wasn’t
improving at all. She moved as though she was on autopilot and if
she smiled it was a weak excuse for a try.

“Do you want me to talk to him?”

“It might help.” We both looked to where Luke
had been sitting. He was still there, a dark hunched form sitting
against a tree. I got up and he looked in my direction as I made my
way toward him. He smiled and patted the ground beside him. The
breeze picked up which caused me to shiver. His arm went around my
shoulders and he pulled me against him. He chuckled.

“How do you get so cold?”

I shrugged. “How do you stay so warm?” We
were quiet for a moment. I looked up and brushed some of the dark
bangs that were in his face so that I could see his eyes. “How are
you doing?”

He took a deep breath. “I’m alright.” He
smiled sadly when I started to object. “Shush now. Do you want me
to talk or not?”

I nodded and leaned against him.

“I’m not lying, Hayden. I am fine. I’m sad,
though that’s not even close to accurate. By the moons, I miss
him.” His voice caught in his throat and I felt mine tighten at the
sound. “I’m worried about Tyler; that maybe he’s hurt or won’t make
it home. Losing one is…” He swallowed hard. “But losing both…” A
tear streaked down his face and he wiped at it with his free arm.
“And then there’s Mel.” He glanced to where his mate was sleeping.
“It’s almost like she’s not here. I just…it feels like I’ve lost
her too.” The tears were flowing freely now and he let go of me so
he could bury his face in his arms. I knelt and wrapped my arms
around him. He seemed about to pull away then gave in to the
pressure and leaned into me. I smoothed his hair and let him cry
just as I had done with his brother.

“You haven’t lost me, Luke.” Mel’s eyes were
wide and filled with tears. I wasn’t sure what I saw in them, but
guilt and fear seemed to be the most prominent. She knelt and took
him from me. “By the moons, Luke, I’m sorry.”

I squeezed her shoulder as I stood. She
looked at me and smiled and for the first time since Trent had been
killed, the feeling reached her eyes. I gave them each a kiss on
the head and made my way back to my mate. He was lying on his
stomach, watching.

He waited until I was back under the covers.
“What did Luke say? Mel was lying still and then it was like she’d
been bit by something.”

“He said he felt like he’d lost her as well.”
We watched as they made their way back to their blankets. Luke
pulled her to his chest and kissed her tenderly. She ran a hand
through his hair before kissing him again and settling against
him.

I felt Jasper relax beside me and I turned so
I could hold him. “Get some sleep.”

He pulled back so he could look at me and
raised an eyebrow. “That’s my line.”

I kissed him softly then looked up as two
leopards made their way toward us. I smiled. “Coast is clear?”

Emelly and Matthew shifted. He nodded. “So
far. Cassandra and Peter just relieved us.”

Emelly grinned. “Those two are so cute
together.” I had to agree.

Matthew took her hand. “We’ll see you in the
morning.”

“Good night.” I snuggled back into Jasper. “I
don’t think I can sleep.”

“Me neither.” We moved around so that I was
lying with my back to him and he pulled me close. It turned out we
were both wrong.

*****

“Alright, Ternach. What do you see?” All five
of the primary packs, Rainen’s, Ben’s, Shanus’s, Damian’s, and
ours, were all crouched low in the woods that ran along the edge of
the Wedelven River. Our secondary packs were lined up behind us. I
looked across the river, past the light blue grass that grew tall
along its banks, and into the woods I was certain contained
something we weren’t ready for.

Absolutely nothing, my love.

Jasper gave my hand a squeeze. I noticed he’d
stopped reacting every time the immortal used his pet name for me.
I saw movement along the bush line and tensed, but even from this
distance, Ternach’s white green eyes were easy to recognize and I
relaxed.

I’ve checked a good mile in every direction.
If there are any packs beyond that perimeter, you’ll all have time
to make it across before they get here.

I bit my lip, still unsure.

“It’s now or never, Shlova.”

I took a deep breath. “Can I pick never?”

He shook his head.

“Then I guess I pick now.” I gave Ben a nod
and he gave a signal to his Wedelves. They all ran out of the cover
of the trees and lined themselves on either side of the invisible
bridge. When the bridge was clearly marked, the rest of the earthy
colored beings lined themselves along the opposite bank, bows and
arrows trained at the woods.

Rainen and Damian had already started
displacing Scannoves with their spells. I saw Phlann cringe as the
sorceress moved on to him, then turned to look across the river and
saw him reappear beside Gabbynn, a black haired Scannove filly
covered in scales so black they shimmered with greens, blues, and
mauves when the sun shone. It seemed to be if you saw one you saw
the other these days. Phlann shook himself and Gabbyn laughed. I
watched as Winged Ones took to the air, flew over the river,
dropped off their charges and returned to do it all over again. Any
being that wasn’t traveling by magic or Winged One was running
across the bridge, making sure to stay between the lines of
Wedelves to avoid falling into the river.

I swung onto Dodge and Jasper hopped onto
Truin, a six year old buckskin from Dodge’s herd.

“Alright, Bud, let’s do this.” I gave him a
pat on the neck and braced myself as he dug in and launched himself
into the air. I could feel Ternach’s energy simply hanging around
me, waiting to move me should the need arise. I looked for him and
found him still at the edge of the woods. His eyes met mine and
didn’t look away until Dodge’s feet hit the ground. His magic,
however, didn’t leave me. The skin along my arms started to
tingle.

Sorry.
He pulled back a bit but not
much. The problem wasn’t the fact that we weren’t shielding; it was
the fact that we were both projecting, trying to feel for anything
that seemed out of place. My nudge bumped Rainen’s and Damian’s. I
glanced around until I found them. We all gave a small apologetic
smile. Under all of the more powerful nudges I could feel the other
magic wielders, all of them doing their part at searching with
their magic. I recognized Teean and looked for him. He had just
finished helping a young woman slide off the back of a dappled grey
mare.

The process of getting everyone over the
river was a much faster one than I had anticipated and we were soon
all in the cover of the forest once again.

I sat on Dodge’s back, tense, still expecting
something to jump out at us and go ‘boo!’.

A shiver ran through Jasper. “Could you tone
it down a bit, Shlova? I’m about to jump out of my skin.”

I agree with your mate on this one. I almost
disintegrated one of your blue birds and all it did was land on a
branch over my head.

“You know, the two of you sure are agreeing
on a lot of things lately.” I let my annoyance show.

I’m serious, my love. I’m going to go see how
many humans and captives there are in the prisoners’ camp and I’d
rather not destroy them all just because a rabbit hops across the
trail I’m on.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm
myself. When that didn’t work I closed my eyes and tried to think
happy thoughts. I almost screamed as Jasper pulled me off of Dodge
and pulled me into his arms. His mouth crushed mine and his tongue
parted my lips. I could feel him shaking. I let myself melt against
him, tried to get lost in the feel of him. It took more kiss than
usual and by the time I had lost the nervousness all I could feel
was the need to get Jasper alone somewhere. Ternach and Jasper
groaned.

“By the moons, Shlova, that’s not much
better.” He closed his eyes and held me out at arm’s length.

Ternach took a deep breath.
No, it isn’t,
but at least with this one I won’t kill everything in sight. Keep
her feeling like that until I get back.

Jasper grunted and raised an eyebrow at me.
“What’s happening to you?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but I think
Ternach wanted you to keep me horny, not get me back to
worried.”

He took my hands and pulled me down so that I
was sitting with my back to his chest. I was almost completely lost
in his bear hug. “You’ve only been feeling this since we decided to
take out the prisoners’ camp.”

“Was that when it started?” I tried to think
back.

He’s right, my love.

“Ugh, will you two quit the two on one thing.
Go do your scouting and stay out of this.” I took a deep breath. I
could feel my need for Jasper slip away and be replaced by
confusion. He gave my arm a squeeze.

“Confused, I can handle.”

Alex grunted his agreement. “I don’t know how
you and Ternach are handling this so well. I don’t feel it half as
strongly as you and I’m about to scream.”

I smiled apologetically. “Alright. So if it’s
the camp I’m worried about, then what about the camp is it?” I
started to think of the feeling and the fear crept up again. I
shivered. Jasper nuzzled my neck, his tongue running lightly along
my shoulder and I shivered a completely different kind of
shiver.

Both of us jumped at the shock Ternach
projected.

“What did you just see?”

I know what you were scared of.
The
tone of his voice banished all but the fear I had been trying to
keep at bay.
You were scared of what you were going to
find.

Jasper growled. “Get back here, now.”

A fraction of a second later he was standing
beside us, his light green eyes wide and his face pale.

“What did you see?” Rainen had made her way
to our side.

“Are there a lot of them?” Ben had his arm
around Tara.

Ternach shook his head. “There are maybe
fifty humans guarding the camp.”

“How many prisoners?” My voice was so quiet I
was surprised he heard my question.

“Twenty seven.” He met Jasper’s gaze.
“They’re not in good shape.”

Harold growled behind me and I jumped.

“We can’t take a chance they’ll harm them any
more when we show up.” Jasper had that faraway look he got when
running through scenarios in his head as quickly as he could. He
frowned, thought it over one last time and nodded. “We’ll use the
one thing they don’t have and can’t protect themselves
against.”

Everyone was nodding. It wasn’t a hard plan
to figure out. Rainen turned to Harold. “Spread the word. We need
every magic wielder and healer we have.”

Instead of following her order, he stared at
her. “I’m coming.”

Rainen looked about to object then glanced at
me as I put a hand on his arm. Harold looked down to me as
well.

“Of course you can come.” I frowned at Rainen
as I said it. Did she really expect the man to stay behind when his
mate was probably in that camp? Jasper looked up at our friend.