Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (24 page)

He pulled her closer. Why in the
world he would dream of that was beyond him. He took a deep breath.
Maybe it was to remind him to fight harder; keep her safer. He let
out his breath slowly. Not that he needed to be reminded. Above all
else, he would make sure never to feel that feeling again. If he
had to sacrifice himself to keep her alive, he would.

Hayden sighed. He brushed the
hair out of her face and pushed the painful feeling down, but
wasn’t able to fall back to sleep.

*****

The first thing I heard was the
sound of steel on steel. I jumped out of bed and ran to the window,
wondering who in the world was fighting this early in the morning.
The sound rang again and I found myself looking at Jenna lunging at
Tyler with her dagger. He countered and managed to push her back a
few steps. Jenna grunted and swiped a leg against his. Tyler fell
to the ground, rolled and was standing in time to block her next
lunge. She tripped and fell backwards, a small cry escaping her
lips as his dagger slipped across her forearm.

Tyler’s mouth twitched slightly
before he bent and helped her to her feet.

“Sorry about that.”

Jenna shrugged. Tyler pulled her
sleeve up and looked at the small cut on her arm. He took his own
tunic and put pressure on it.

I noticed how he refused to look
her in the eye. She looked up at him, a frown on her face.

“It wasn’t my fault.”

His eyes met hers briefly before
focusing on her arm once again. “I never said it was.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“Look. Things are what they are.
Trent refuses to come back and has decided to make me your guardian
until all of this is done and over with.”

“I don’t need a guardian.”

“I really don’t care what you
think.” His dark eyes smouldered with anger and I knew that even if
he hadn’t said it, he was blaming Jenna for his brother leaving. “I
gave my word to Trent and so until we defeat Braw and my brother
comes back, you will not leave my sight.”

“Maybe I don’t feel like being a
part of this. Maybe I’ll just head home.” She glared at him
defiantly.

“Well, now, that’s not going to
happen. I’m bound to watch over you and I’ll be damned if I feel
like traveling back to Howel. Not to mention that Aunt Hayden needs
me here. I swear to you, Jenna, if you even have an inkling of love
for my brother, you’ll stay here willingly or I will tie you up.”
He lifted the end of his tunic off of her arm and looked at the
cut. She started to pull away and he tightened his hold on her.

“That’s just it, though, isn’t
it? I don’t know if I love him! I know I’m fated to him, but I’ve
seen plenty of fated couples who hated each other.”

Tyler’s gaze sharpened even more
and his eyes blazed into hers.

“Hi, Tyler!” Bree came walking
out of the woods toward them. “I thought we could go to the
clearing to see who we run into.” She stopped short, her eyes wide
as she witnessed this battle of wills.

“I already told you. You’re not
leaving.” A low growl made its way up Tyler’s throat.

“Tyler?” Bree took a step closer
and stopped short as my nephew turned to look at her.

“Go along, Tyler. Go play with
your girlfriend.”

The killer look honed in on
Jenna again and this time she took a step back.

“Go, Bree. Jenna and I are
working on our sparring. I know you don’t like practicing.”

“Fighting is useless,’ argued
Bree, her voice almost reaching a whinny tone. “I don’t understand
why you insist on wasting time practicing when we could be having
fun.” I remembered how Mel had commented on Bree’s lack of ambition
or work ethic. She had been spoiled her whole life, thought it
should continue that way, and had decided Tyler was the one who
should be doing the spoiling.

“
Fighting is necessary. By
the moons, Bree, when are you going to wake up? Life isn’t all
trips to town and bonfires! Don’t you even know why your father
brought you here? We are going to war; a war that if we lose, will
kill us all. Not just the shifters going north to help Aunt Hayden
fight, but all of you who are staying behind as well. All it will
take is for Braw to touch Auntie with his staff and we will all be
obliterated! So don’t tell me that fighting is useless!”

Bree’s face blanched. This was
obviously a side of Tyler she hadn’t seen before. She shifted and
trotted off in the direction of the clearing. His glare followed
after her.”

“Tyler.” Jenna’s voice was just
a whisper. “You’re hurting me.”

He jerked and let go of her arm
which she hugged to her chest. He closed his eyes and took a deep
breath. When he looked at her again, the fury was gone, replaced by
concern and embarrassment.

“I’m sorry. Can I see?”

Jenna hesitated before handing
her arm over to him again. Even from my view in the window I could
see the finger shaped bruises forming on her forearm. He shook his
head.

“I’m so sorry.”

She put a hand on his. “Me too.
I didn’t really mean it when I said I would leave. I came here to
help your Aunt and I mean to stay to do just that. Finding Trent
was a shock. Having him leave was an even bigger one.” She took a
deep breath. “My brother and I came together. He was killed by a
pack of humans in the Blue Woods. He died to give me time to get
away. When I saw Trent and realized he was the one I was dreaming
of… well… I guess I was relieved I wouldn’t be alone anymore.” She
looked up into Tyler’s eyes. “But then he left.” Her gaze shifted
to the ground at their feet.

“You’re not alone, Jenna. You’re
Trent’s mate, or will be. You just became a part of one of the
oddest families around.” He gave a small smile. “I have a feeling
you’ll fit right in.”

Jenna looked up at him. She
frowned. “Did I do that?” Her free hand moved up to trace a bruise
on his cheek which was causing his eye to start swelling.

He shrugged. “Let’s go see if
Auntie is awake and she can fix up your arm.”

I turned away from the window
and got dressed. Jasper kissed me as I sat beside him at the table.
He already had a coffee ready for me.

“Aunt Hayden?” Tyler came to
stand beside me. “Could you have a look at Jenna’s arm?”

“By the moons, Tyler! You’re
supposed to be sparring, not cutting her to bits!” Mel came around
to see the damage. “Your brother will have a fit if he finds out
you hurt her!”

“I’m fine, really.” I noticed
how Jenna was hiding the bruises on her arm with her sleeve.

“I love how you didn’t notice
that my eye is swelling shut, mom.”

Jenna blushed. I ran a green
wave over her arm, healed the cut and covered the bruises with my
hand before healing them. Jenna’s eyes widened a bit.

“There you are, Jenna. Your
turn, Tyler.” I made him kneel. Facial injuries always hurt the
worst when healing. Jenna stood beside him and put a hand on his
shoulder.

“So any big plans for you
today?” I inspected Tyler’s face and gave him a pat on the cheek
when I was sure there was no further damage.

“I was thinking of going
fishing.” Tyler turned to Jenna. “How do you feel about
fishing?”

She smiled. “Love it.”

Luke nodded. “Be sure to be back
for supper at Tara’s. If Rainen makes it in today we’ll be having a
meeting with the captains of the packs. You’ll need to tell Trent
of our plans. I’m assuming you’re to go see him tonight?”

Tyler nodded. He got up off of
the floor and went to the room he shared with Trent then reappeared
holding two fishing poles and a bag containing all of their fishing
things. He handed one of the poles to Jenna.

“I’m sure Trent won’t mind if
you use his.”

The two of them left.

I looked at Mel. “What time did
he get home last night?”

“It was early this morning. He
came in, let me know he was back and that Trent was alright then
made a bed in front of their room where Jenna was sleeping.”

It occurred to me that Jenna had
a guardian just as devoted to her as Jasper was to me. If Tyler had
told her she wouldn’t leave his sight then that was the way it
would be. A promise made between the two brothers wasn’t one to be
taken lightly.

“Should we head to Sageden so we
can be there when Rainen arrives?” Jasper asked.

I nodded, a tweak of nervousness
making its way through me. With Rainen here, things were that much
closer to coming to an end. We were one step closer to our final
confrontation. Or what I hoped would be our final
confrontation.

Jasper took my hand and gave it
a squeeze. “Breathe, Shlova. We’re not there yet.”

I nodded. “I know. You know me
and fighting.”

He smiled. “I know.”

I helped Mel clean up and the
four of us started back into town. We ran into Matthew and Emelly
who were coming in our direction along the path. I gave them a
hug.

“Just the woman I wanted to
see.” Matthew smiled.

I laughed. “And why is
that?”

“Well it has been two days since
I last saw you. It’s been a while since you’ve been taken…”
Matthew’s dark green eyes didn’t hide any of the humour he was
feeling. “I was just thinking I should be around, that’s all.”

Luke and Jasper burst out
laughing. Matthew raised an eyebrow and cocked his head at me. “By
the moons, it’s already happened, hasn’t it?” He shook his head at
my blush. “How in the world did you manage that with over two
hundred cats and dogs sitting at your feet? Not to mention all of
the other beings gathered around!”

“Ugh. Don’t ask.” I laughed. A
group of shifters walked past us toward the clearing. One of them
stopped and nodded.

“Hayden.”

I smiled. “I’ve seen you before.
Give me a sec, I’ll remember.” I looked over his dark auburn hair
and light green eyes. He was a couple inches taller than me and
looked to be about twenty. His most obvious feature was the
healer’s tattoo under his eye. “You’re a fox?”

He nodded and grinned.

“If I remember correctly, the
last time I saw you, you were blowing backwards into a cell.”

“That would be me.”

“Hey! I remember you!” Matthew
was smiling.

The young man nodded to him. “I
thought that was you. My name’s Danny.”

I made introductions all around.
Danny nodded to Jasper and looked embarrassed.

“Sorry…you know… about the
beatings.”

I tried to push down the memory
of Jasper lying on the ground in a heap in one of the cells of
Rainen’s secret cave. Jasper shook his head.

“No worries. My memory is a bit
blurry after the second or third day, but if it serves me
correctly, you didn’t join in.”

Danny shook his head. “It felt
wrong even then. My bond broke about a week after Hayden and her
crew rescued you.”

“Why didn’t you come here?” Most
beings who broke their bonds managed to make their way to Sageden
to find me.

“Honestly, every bone in my body
told me to come. I stayed away thinking that after what I had done
to your mate you wouldn’t take me into your pack.”

Luke started to laugh. “Hayden
is pretty forgiving. I abducted her after the fight on the ridge
when she first got here. You’ll know Kacey? Of Roala?”

Danny nodded.

“He was part of the pack that
helped capture Jasper just before you met him. He’s been with us
ever since.”

Mel smiled. “Don’t forget
Brice.”

I took a deep breath. “With
Brice, it’s time to return the favour. Even if things go wrong in
Paradin, we get him out. No matter what.”

Jasper squeezed my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Shlova. He’s top priority on this mission.”

“Hey, guys!” Steven came jogging
up the path from the meadow followed by Parker. “A couple of
runners from Rainen’s pack made it to town this morning. She should
be here by lunch and asks that Hayden and any other healers we can
round up be ready for them if at all possible.”

“Oh! What happened?” I started
walking toward Sageden and everyone followed, Danny included.

“The runners weren’t entirely
sure. The one said he was by Rainen when it happened. It was almost
as if she ran into an invisible wall and collapsed. Any Maj that
had a feel for magic was affected. The stronger ones, like Rainen,
were immobilized, while the weaker of them were killed. Once the
magic wielders were taken care of the rest of them were ambushed by
three or four large packs of humans. They were a bit vague on the
details because it happened so quickly.” Steven ran a hand through
his white blond hair. “Any idea on what could cause that?”

I nodded. “Only one thing pops
into my head.” I shivered and Jasper took my hand.

“Do you think he would leave the
Northern Regions?”

I looked up at him. “Who knows.
But if Ternach is around here attacking shifters we’d better set up
more lookouts. We need to get everyone as close to Sageden as
possible. I think that between all the magic wielders here we
should be able to set up a shield large enough to at least warn us
if he gets close.”

“I’ll tell all of the captains
to inform anyone who has a feel for magic to keep their guard up.
If he’s around, someone will feel him.”

“So why would he come this far
out of the Northern Regions?” asked Steven.

“For me.” I shivered, thinking
of the last time I had met Ternach face to face. “My guess is that
he is helping Braw and is hoping to find me so we can have our
rematch.”

“But supposing he succeeds and
kills you that would go against Braw’s plan to capture you to
project the powers of his staff.” Parker looked confused.

Jasper shook his head. “Ternach
doesn’t care about Braw’s plan. He wants Hayden for his own
purposes. He doesn’t plan on killing her.” A low growl rumbled
through him.

I glanced up at him and knew
that even though I had never told him what Ternach had said he had
planned for me, Jasper knew. I let him feel my love and was glad to
see his jaw unclench, his shoulders relax.