Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' (44 page)

He nodded and brushed some stray hairs
away from my face. “I did. And I won’t.”

I pulled him down to me and kissed him
hard. It was one of those kisses that held every emotion in the
book. Jasper’s lips answered mine. We were both breathing hard and
my head was starting to spin. He moved the kiss along my jaw line
then down to my collar bone. He pulled me close and held me against
him, his face pressed against my neck.

“Don’t ever talk like that again,” he
whispered.

I shook my head and ran my hands
through his dark brown curls. We stayed that way for a few minutes
before reluctantly letting go of each other. Jasper used a clean
spot on his shirt to wipe my face and I returned the favor. We
stood there, simply looking at each other for a moment.

“Should we head back?” What I really
wanted to do was spend some time alone with my mate though I knew
we had to get going.

He nodded, took my hand, and we made
our way back to the campsite.

Matthew was sitting beside Emelly. He
looked up as we approached, assessed the situation then smiled.
Then, being Matthew, he turned to the business at hand.

“I was thinking that maybe William,
Emelly, and Steven should use a shifting stone. If they could
shift, we would make better time.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea,”
agreed Jasper. He looked to Emelly. “Any thoughts on what you might
want to be?”

Her eyes widened and she looked at
Matthew. She shook her head. “Well, um, I don’t know. Do you like
being a leopard?”

He laughed. “I’ve been one for thirty
years and I don’t have any complaints so far.”

“Alright, then, how about a leopard?”
She blushed.

Jasper handed me the bag of stones and
I lifted them out one by one before nudging them. Namaels had a
light blue aura whereas Majs had a dark blue one. I had also
started to notice that each of the animals had a slight variation
to its main color. I found a stone that had a slightly more aqua
colored aura and passed it to Matthew. He smiled and gave it to
Emelly.

“You just have to think about it,” he
said softly.

She nodded, closed her eyes, and
shifted. The leopard looked up at Matthew. He smiled and shifted
also. The two cats rubbed heads and Matthew started to
purr.

By this time I had already found the
next stone I’d been looking for. I tossed it to Steven. “Here, try
this one.”

He caught the stone and took a few deep
breaths before shifting into a cheetah. He nodded to me.

“William?”

He looked at me uncertainly. “Um, I
don’t know.”

“Give him a wolf, Hayden.” Rainen
smiled at me.

I picked through the bag until I found
a wolf stone and passed it to him. He shifted and stood there,
looking from me to Rainen. The grey wolf shook before turning back
into William.

“Man, that is the weirdest feeling
ever.”

“Alright. Let’s move out.” Jasper gave
my hand a squeeze and kissed me softly before shifting. I hopped
onto Dodge and we all started off at a trot deeper into Maj
territory.

*****

Jasper was just starting to fall asleep
when he felt Hayden’s shields drop. He pushed himself to wake up
and concentrated on her feelings. He frowned.

Matthew walked by their blankets and
stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“She’s dreaming again.”

“That’s two in just over a
week.”

“She hasn’t done that since she first
crossed over.”

Jasper concentrated on her feelings,
trying to get a feel for what she might be dreaming about. He felt
her annoyance and her fear which quickly turned into two emotions;
her battle calm in the dream and an anxious fear that she was
feeling as she dreamed it. This was followed by a dual feeling of
overwhelming relief.

A sob shook her and tears flowed down
her face. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She
turned and held him tight.

“Thank god!” she whispered.

“What was it about?”

“It was the same dream.” She looked up
at him and smiled. “You don’t die.”

He frowned. “How?”

“Damian. In this dream he’s there. He’s
with you. When I push the energy out, he shields you.”

Matthew pushed away from the tree he
was leaning on. “Why would it change?”

“I don’t know. Maybe after I made up my
mind to go after Braw things changed. Maybe we get there sooner.
I’m not sure.” She took a deep breath.

Matthew smiled and gave Jasper a pat on
the back. “Well, either way it’s nice to know.”

Jasper smiled back. “I can’t disagree.”
He noticed some movement by a bush a little ways away. Emelly took
a step toward them then stopped, as if unsure if she was allowed to
come closer. A breeze blew through the trees and he felt Hayden
shiver against him.

“Care to join us, Emelly?”

Matthew’s gaze moved in the direction
he had looked. His friend’s face lit up with his smile. Emelly gave
a small nod and smiled shyly. She made her way to their
blankets.

“I just, I heard Hayden cry. I was
making sure someone was with her.” She turned red and looked at the
ground.

Hayden smiled. “I’m fine, thanks.
Jasper’s never too far away when I start to dream.” He felt her
love him and warmed all over. He realized, however, that Hayden
wasn’t feeling the warmth.

“Are you cold?” The night was cooling
off quickly and the temperature was dropping lower than it had all
week. He actually thought it might snow.

“Always,” she laughed. She leaned back
against him and he wrapped them both in a blanket. “If I had known
it was still this cool here, I would have brought my winter
coat.”

“Don’t you have a jacket, Emelly?”
asked Matthew. He frowned as another gust of wind blew by and she
shivered.

She shook her head. “When the human
pack attacked us, dad yelled at me to run. I didn’t grab anything,
I just ran.”

Matthew pulled his tunic over his head.
“Here. Put this on.”

“But…”

“It’s alright. I have another one. This
one is the thicker of the two.”

“But, what about you?”

“It’s fine. Shifters aren’t as affected
by the cold as humans are. Really. Take it.”

Jasper noticed Emelly take an
appraising look at Matthew’s bare upper body from under her
eyelashes. She finally took the tunic and pulled it over her head
then rolled up the sleeves.

“Thank you.”

Matthew flashed a smile. “No problem.”
He frowned again. “Do you have blankets?”

She nodded. “William and Steven each
gave me one of theirs.”

“Alright. Well, if you need another one
just come find me.”

“I will. Thank you.”

The two of them looked at each other
for a moment before heading off in opposite directions.

Hayden chuckled. “I think those two are
so sweet together.”

“They’re together?”

She tilted her head back and raised an
eyebrow at him. “Come on now. Didn’t you see the way she looked at
him? And when was the last time you saw a shifter with that look on
his face every time he sees a certain someone?”

He chuckled. “Zane.”

She smiled. “And Luke, and Alex, and
you.”

“Me?” He feigned ignorance. “Who do I
look at like that?”

She kissed his cheek. “No one
important.”

He fixed the blankets under them and
lay them down. “You mean there could never be anyone more
important. Now, go back to sleep. We have three more days to go and
we should be there.” They had made great time the past two
days.

“Alright. Bunna soit, hun.”

“Bunna soit, Shlova.”

*****

“Don’t be scared. Just go for the
kill.” Matthew smiled at Emelly. “I’ll stop it before you get to
me.”

She blushed and nodded then looked over
to me. “Can you show me again?”

“Sure thing.” I smiled reassuringly.
“Don’t worry. It took me a while to get it, too.” I crouched down
and waited as Jasper grinned at me playfully.

“Ready, Shlova?”

I grinned back. “Bring it
on.”

We had been taking a half hour every
time we stopped for a meal to help Emelly, William, and Steven with
their self-defense skills. Though Steven had been raised by
Namaels, his adopted parents were from a quiet community and hadn’t
thought to teach him much to do with fighting. He was, however,
very accurate with a bow and arrow. William’s fighting experience
was limited to what he had managed to teach himself in the nine
months he had been searching for me.

Jasper reached for my right shoulder. I
ducked lower and spun away from him. He grabbed for my tunic and
spun with me. I pushed off of him, tucked and rolled then came up
on one knee. By then he was already on top of me. I thrust my
dagger up as I stood, aiming under his breast bone. He stopped
short. The tip of my dagger was pressing into his tunic. I looked
up and our eyes locked. I had to remind myself to breathe. He
smiled, gently pushed my arm down and kissed me softly.

“Good job.”

I grinned. “Thanks.” I turned to
Emelly. “The trick is to stay just out of reach and then going for
the kill when they think you’ll be going in the opposite direction.
Try not to look where you’re going or where you’re
aiming.”

She nodded.

“Alright. Let’s give it a try. Now,
notice how Hayden didn’t slow her strike at all? You have to stab
as if you mean it. If you get in the habit of holding back in
practice you’ll end up doing it out of habit in a real fight. That
will get you killed. If something happens that you do get me,
Hayden’s right here and she can fix me up.” Matthew smiled as
Emelly paled at the thought of actually stabbing him. “Now, I’m
going to come at you. You had better try to kill me.”

He took two long strides toward her and
stopped short, his green eyes wide. Emelly’s own eyes were mirrors
of his. She dropped her dagger and scrambled back a few steps. I
burst out laughing.

“Looks like she got you there,
Matthew,” chuckled Jasper.

Matthew smiled and looked down. “Damn.
I hate sewing.” He looked at Emelly and his gaze softened. “Hey,
it’s alright. That was excellent.”

She closed her eyes and shook her
head.

“Look,” he said as he lifted up his
shirt. “You barely got me.” The tip of the dagger had barely broken
the skin just above his belly button. He bent down, picked up his
dagger and stuck it back into his belt. “Emelly, look at
me.”

He tilted her face up when she didn’t.
“Em.” He brushed the bangs out of her eyes which she finally
opened. He gazed at her for a moment before lowering his head. He
hesitated for a fraction of a second before touching her lips with
his. The kiss was soft and quick and I could see it took a lot of
effort to pull away when he did. He placed his forehead against
hers.

“Em,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’m not
going to tell you I know how you feel. I was brought up fighting.
I’ve been killing in battle all my life. I’m not saying I enjoy it,
mind you. I’d rather not have to do it.” He took a deep breath.
“What I will tell you, well…” His hands moved to cradle her face.
“You’re starting to mean a lot to me, Em. I need you to learn this
so that nothing will happen to you.” He pulled back and looked
searchingly into her eyes. “Please.”

She gave a small nod before closing the
short distance between their faces. This kiss was just as soft and
quick as the first yet held the promise of better things to
come.

I squeezed Jasper’s hand. “See?” I
pushed my hip into him playfully. “Together.”

He smiled at me. “I didn’t argue with
you about it.”

Emelly looked at us and blushed.
Matthew gazed down at her and I knew by the look in his eyes he had
lied to her. She wasn’t starting to mean a lot to him; she already
meant the world to him. It didn’t matter if she learned how to
fight or not, he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her if he
could help it. Of course, that meant he would put himself in danger
to save her if it was necessary and I didn’t want that. I tossed
her my dagger.

“Here. Try mine. It’s smaller than
Matthew’s and should be easier to handle.” I sat down on the ground
and Jasper settled himself behind me. Matthew and Emelly moved a
little farther away to work on her moves.

Jasper chuckled.

“What?” I hadn’t seen anything
funny.

“Jealous?”

“What?” I looked back at
him.

“Are you jealous of Emelly?”

“What are you talking about? You’re
nuts, you know that. Of course I’m not jealous. I happen to be very
happy for Matthew. He’s thirty now and has never fated to anyone
which means he probably won’t. He’s a great guy and he is precisely
the kind of man Emelly needs. He’s strong, brave, and loyal to a
fault. And have you seen them together? They’re great for each
other.”