Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) (4 page)

“Can you do it?”

“Whether I want to or not. All he has to do
is touch me with it.”

Her eyes widened.

“Two years ago I was captured by the humans.
I separated five shifters.” I swallowed hard to get rid of the lump
that was forming in my throat. “That was his little test. He needs
to do it on a certain night to get the power of the staff to
project as far as he needs it to. I couldn’t stop it, Rainen. I
felt it flow into me and I tried to push it out. Then I felt it
projecting out of me and I tried to keep it in, but I
couldn’t.”

“That’s why we were coming to find you.”
Jasper moved so that we were both facing the fire and the rest of
our pack made their way so that we could all see each other. “We
need a truce between Namaels and the Majs. Whether it’s a temporary
one or not is between you and Melana. Braw needs to be
stopped.”

Rainen was quiet for a moment. She looked up
from the flames. “I’ll admit that this was something I hadn’t
anticipated.” She frowned. “By the moons I would give anything to
have Damian awake right now. This is his department, not mine! I
just lead the army.” She looked directly at me. “Were you serious
about wanting to heal him?”

I nodded.

“Very well. I’ll declare a truce with your
pack. As for Melana’s, well, let’s see what we can get done with
Damian first.”

Everyone was quiet, lost in their own
thoughts. I leaned my head back against Jasper’s chest and closed
my eyes. He wrapped his arms tightly around me.

“Stop thinking about it,” he whispered in my
ear. “Are you still tired?”

I shook my head. “No. How long was I
out?”

“Two days.”

I looked to the waterfall to our right and
smiled. “Do you remember our first time here?”

“How could I forget,” he chuckled. “It took
everything I had not to pull you off of Dodge and kiss you.”

I turned my head and kissed his cheek. “I
don’t think I would have put up much of a fight.”

“A shlova yan,” he whispered.

“I love you more.” I smiled as Peena and
Goop, Tara and Ben’s deer, fought over a patch of grass. Watching
them reminded me that I had missed my chance at imprinting on
Cholta’s fawn last spring due to our unplanned trip out of this
world. I jumped up as I realized I had forgotten our friend.

“Cholta! Where is he?”

Jasper smiled and stood. “He’s fine, Shlova.
Rainen looked after him while you were sleeping. He’s resting now.”
He started walking toward one of the blankets by the fire. I knelt
beside him and ran a green wave over the sleeping Wedelve.

“He’s full of energy!” I looked over to
Rainen.

“I know a spell that multiplies energy. He
should have enough now that you can heal him with the safe green. I
put a numbing spell on him also so his pain would seem less until
you could fix him.”

“Thank you.” We looked at each other over the
fire for a few moments. I turned my attention back to Cholta. “The
scars I won’t be able to heal. Hopefully I can heal all of the
internal damage. It has been a long time.”

“How long after an injury have you been able
to effectively heal?” Rainen was leaning forward, watching as I
passed the green wave over my friend and started to concentrate his
energy where he needed to heal.

I pulled the ribs together and healed the
punctures to his lungs. “Seven days.” I moved to his right forearm
and fused the bones in it.

“What of the other healers you’ve trained
with?”

Sweat was starting to run down my face and I
wiped at it with my forearm. “Two.” I moved to his legs and pushed
the left knee joint back into place.

“How long has he been injured?”

I frowned and concentrated on Cholta’s hip.
There was nothing left of the joint.

“Six weeks,” Luke answered.

“His hip won’t go back properly. It was
starting to heal wrong.” I sat back on my heels and looked at
Jasper. “It’s like he was hurt a week ago. The breaks were still
fresh.”

“Would you mind telling me what happened?”
Rainen was looking at Luke.

“I didn’t see what happened to Cholta
specifically. The humans came to Sageden looking for Hayden. They
took us all by surprise.”

“Did they have a magic wielder of any kind? A
sorcerer, a healer, or a chanter perhaps?”

My brother-in-law shook his head. “Not that I
noticed. A chanter? I haven’t seen one of those since I was a
pup.”

She nodded. “They’re still around. Those who
know the art seem to keep to themselves. If the humans had sent one
of theirs disguised as a shifter to train with a chanter, they
would have quite a weapon on their hands.”

“What’s a chanter?” I had lived in Quelondain
for five years and had never heard of them before.

“Chanters are magic wielders. They don’t use
waves or spells, though. They use songs to weave their magic.”
Rainen turned to Gina. “When we get back to Howel we’ll find Trista
and see if she can help us figure this out. I’m sure I’ve heard of
a chant that keeps a being from healing, though I was sure that if
the chant was finished it helped hurry the dying process.”

“Maybe the chanter was interrupted,”
suggested Harold.

“Hmm. Maybe.” She looked back to me. “I can
lift the numbing spell if you’re done healing him. He should wake
up.”

I nodded. She mumbled something and pushed
her magic nudge toward Cholta. The Wedelve lay still for another
minute before moving his limbs one by one. He opened his eyes and
smiled when his eyes met mine.

“Hayden!” He sat up cautiously before giving
me a hug. “Thank you.”

I kissed his cheek. “You’re welcome. But I
didn’t do it on my own. Rainen helped.”

His eyes widened and he looked around until
his gaze fell on the Majs’ head sorceress. He cleared his throat.
“Thank you.”

She nodded.

“I couldn’t fix your hip,” I explained. “I’m
sorry. You’ll probably limp from now on. I hope it doesn’t cause
you too many problems.”

He laughed. “Hayden, dear, I’m alive. If I
have to live with a limp, I’ll pretend I’m dancing for the rest of
my life.”

I smiled.

Alex, Matthew, and Kacey came walking back
into camp carrying a large buck. I watched as they got it ready to
put over the fire. Jasper handed me a canteen of water then sat
behind me. I leaned back into him and sighed.

“I almost forgot how quiet it is here.” After
almost a year in the other world surrounded by buses, cars, and the
constant noise of phones, microwaves and other such things people
took for granted there, the silence was welcome.

Jasper chuckled. “I know. I keep waiting for
my cell phone to go off.”

I laughed. “Did you bring it?”

“I did.”

I looked back at him. “You know it won’t work
here, right?”

“Yes, I know that.” He smiled. “I brought it
along to show the twins.”

“I can’t wait to see them.”
My heart beat faster at the thought of seeing all of our
friends and family again.
The smell of the deer cooking over
the flames blew toward me in the breeze. My stomach growled. I
kissed Jasper’s cheek and stood.

“I’m gonna go talk to Rainen for a sec.”

He frowned slightly. “Do you want me to
come?”

“No. I’ll be fine.” I walked around the fire
and made my way over to where Rainen, Harold, and Gina were
standing around talking. The three of them looked as I
approached.

“Hayden.” Rainen nodded to me.

“Rainen. Harold. Gina.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I was hoping to get a minute to talk to you
alone.”

She turned to her companions. “Why don’t you
two run a perimeter check? Supper should be ready by the time you
get back.”

The two of them nodded before shifting. My
eyes widened.

“Holy crap!”

One of the grizzlies turned to look at me
before following after the other.

“I knew you had bears in your packs, I just
never had the chance to see them up close,” I explained to Rainen
who was smiling at my reaction. I sat on the ground and waited for
her to do the same. “The reason I wanted to talk to you was to
apologize.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry.” I took a deep breath. “About
Ream.”

She looked away from me and into the fire.
“Can you tell me what happened?”

“Well, um, he had been sent to abduct me. I
had a dream about it and we were able to build a bit of a pack to
surprise your son’s when they got to the ridge. Everything was
going well for us and it didn’t take long before Ream’s pack was
retreating. I remember looking down into the clearing and seeing
him walking toward the ridge by himself. Jasper and Zane went after
him. Jasper said another magic wielder must have been hiding in the
woods because he was knocked over by something and he couldn’t
move.” My eyes welled up with tears as I thought back to that day.
I cleared my throat before continuing. “Ream stepped on Jasper and
broke all of his ribs. He grabbed him by the throat.” I blinked and
tears slid down my face. “All I could think about was saving
Jasper.”

Rainen looked at me, tears rolling down her
face.

“I didn’t want to kill him. I don’t even know
if I did it on purpose. All I could see was red. I pushed it toward
them. When I looked again there was a wall of fire flying toward
Ream and Jasper. I picked Jasper up with a gust of wind. I had been
told that your son was a sorcerer. It didn’t make sense to me that
he just let the fire wall engulf him. It wasn’t until afterwards
that someone told me the Majs and Namaels can’t do magic in their
animal forms.”

Rainen shook her head and wiped her face with
her arm. “I told him to be careful.” Her voice was just a whisper.
“I shouldn’t have sent him. He was arrogant. Told me I was worrying
for nothing, that there was no way you could out magic him. You had
only been here a few weeks. He didn’t think you would know how to
control the waves yet.” She took a deep breath. “He was hard
headed, that boy; had a little too much of his father in him.
Thurstan was the same way. He’d argue with a rock just to hear his
own voice.” She smiled sadly and looked back to the fire. “We were
patrolling out by the Blue Woods. Our pack came across one of
Melana’s. I’d told him to stay back, that I could get them with my
magic if none of our pack got in the way. He said he was bored and
could use a bit of excitement. Then he rushed toward them. I didn’t
see their sorceress until it was too late. I tried to shield him. I
almost managed to do it, too.”

“How old was Ream?”

She shook her head. “He wasn’t born yet. I
had gone into heat just before we were assigned this patrol. He
never knew Thurstan.” She frowned into the fire. “I hated you that
day. Before then, you were a prize, something that would help us
defeat Melana. When Ream’s pack came back without him, I couldn’t
have cared less about the Namael queen. The only thing I wanted was
to capture you and get you to myself. I was going to make you
suffer and then you were going to die.”

The butterflies in my stomach were starting
to run out of flying room. I braced myself, ready to block whatever
she decided to throw at me. I saw Jasper tense across the fire as
he picked up on my nervousness. His stare focused on Rainen who
noticed the added attention.

“Your mate seems to think I might try to harm
you.”

“That’s my fault. I was getting a bit nervous
with all the talk about torturing and killing me. Jasper can feel
what I’m feeling.”

“Hmm. Interesting.” She looked back to me,
her dark blue eyes focused on mine. “I wouldn’t dream of harming
you now.”

“Why not?”

“Damian.” She said the name as if it should
have been obvious. “If you’re telling the truth and he has been
helping you, then I am bound to do the same. There are beings out
there who seem to think I have been trying to steal Damian’s
position as Head Sorcerer of the Majs.” She snorted. “By the moons,
that couldn’t be farther from the truth. My last orders from him
before he got too sick to talk were to find you and bring you back
to Howel. That is precisely what I’ve been trying to do. Battles,
fighting, magic; those are the things I can handle. Making
decisions that affect an entire population? No, thank you!” She
smiled and I smiled back. She chewed on her bottom lip
thoughtfully. “I miss my son, Hayden. He was my world; the only
thing I had left of Thurstan. I can’t say I don’t hold some sort of
hard feelings toward you for killing him, but he was a grown man.
He made his own choices. Walking out into that clearing expecting
nothing from you was a bad one. As for why you did it, I can’t say
I disagree with your actions. I watched someone kill my mate. Had I
not been knocked unconscious by her nudge, I would have made her
suffer for it. By the time I came to myself the battle was over and
I was alone.”

Jasper’s body relaxed as mine did, but his
gaze never left where I was sitting.

“I hate killing, Rainen. I don’t like
fighting. All I want is to be in my clearing, in my cabin with
Jasper. I want to go to bed at night without having to worry about
the next dream I have that shows us battling god knows who. I want
to wake up in the morning and not have to worry about whether or
not I’ll have to find some way to escape the next pack that manages
to get their hands on me. All I want is to be left alone. Once the
situation with Braw is done and over with, I’m hoping that life can
be like that. I mean, it would be stupid to cancel the truces after
this. There are dogs fating with cats for crying out loud. We can’t
have couples battling against each other. I’m not going to pretend
to know what’s happening, but my guess is that things are going to
change drastically in the next little while and I hope it’s for the
best.”

She nodded. “It all makes sense to me, dear.”
She smiled. “But like I said, that’s up to Damian.”