Chapter Five

 

I could feel Jasper’s arms still around me, but somehow I knew that what I was seeing was a dream. We were all in different layers of a circle. Tyler and Trent were the center of the circle. Next came Mel, Dawn, Leslie and myself, all with our backs to the twins. Mel and Dawn were shifted and Leslie and I stood with our swords drawn. A few steps ahead of us, surrounding us and facing the same direction, Jasper, Luke, Alex and Zane were also shifted, teeth bared.

The outside of the circle stood a small distance from ours. I made myself look around. There seemed to be about fifteen dogs, all of them facing us and growling.

A step behind them was a grey wolf the size of Dodge.

“Rainen!” I muttered.

I felt Jasper tense behind me but concentrated on the dream.

I looked past Rainen into the woods. A jaguar was laying low on its stomach, watching. That’s when I noticed that the forest surrounding the clearing was full of slowly moving shapes.

I tried to see where we were, but couldn’t recognize the clearing. All I could tell was that it was closer to fall. The leaves were starting to turn colors but none of them had fallen yet.

Something big moved in the trees and my heart jumped in my chest as Dodge charged out of the woods.

“Dodge! No!” I yelled.

Jasper was completely still behind me as he waited for me to finish the dream.

As Dodge ran out of the woods so did about twenty cats. I lost my concentration. My dream slipped away and I started to cry.

Jasper pulled me to him. “Shush, Shlova.” He kissed me softly. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

I shook my head as he brushed the tears from my cheeks. “This is never going to end. They’ll never leave us alone!”

He stood us up and kissed me again, but didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Tell me about it.” He took a deep breath when I was done telling him about the dream.

“So we weren’t all there, then.”

I shook my head and we looked at each other, trying to figure out the meaning of it. Someone knocked on the door and I jumped.

Jasper went to answer. “Alex! Come on in. What brings you here?”

“I just...” He looked around the room. “I’m not sure actually. I was out hunting and got very edgy. Like something was wrong. I wanted to make sure you guys were fine.”

Jasper and I looked at each other.

“They’re coming again,” I mumbled.

“Who? When?”

“The Majs. I’m not sure. The leaves are going to be turning when they come.”

“So at least four months, then.”

I nodded.

“Would you mind telling me what you saw?” He came to sit beside me.

I ran through my dream again and he listened intently.

When I was done, he shook his head. “That doesn’t make much sense at all. If we had called for help from the other shifters, Tara and the rest of them would be with us too. So if we got surprised by Rainen, what are all the cats doing there?”

None of us had an answer.

I put my head in my arms and fought off the tears.

Alex put a hand on my shoulder and looked at Jasper. “I would like to stick around here, if you don’t mind.”

Jasper nodded. “Thank you, Alex.”

“I’ll go tell Leslie in a bit. Maybe what we need to do is scout around for the clearing.” Alex looked at me. “Do you think you could paint it for us?”

“I could try.” I looked over at Jasper. “What’s wrong?”

“I just...I didn’t know you painted.” He looked a little annoyed at the fact that Alex knew something about me that he didn’t.

“Mel mentioned it to me,” Alex explained. “She said you did a good job on the details. Something about deer, I think.” He stood. “I guess I’ll go finish hunting now that I know you guys are fine. I’ll be back after I’ve talked with Leslie.”

He gave Jasper a pat on the shoulder and left.

“That’s a little strange, don’t you think?” I asked Jasper as I moved some things around I had thrown under the bed.

“What’s that?”

“Well, just how I had a dream and somehow Alex knew something was wrong.” I lay on my stomach to get a better look.

“Yes, I suppose it is strange.” He sounded thoughtful.

“Oh. There.” I got up off of the floor. “I had made it for you.” I carried the painting over to him.

His eyes widened. “When?”

“When you left to go help Cholta with his barn. I put it under the bed so I could surprise you when you got home. With everything that happened when you got back I simply forgot about it until now.” I handed him the painting.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “You are very good.” He smiled at me and I blushed.

He put his arms around me. “Thank you.” He brushed some of the loose hair away from my face, his thumb running along my cheek and across my lips.

I sighed and closed my eyes as his lips replaced his thumb and he kissed me softly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back.

“How are you feeling?”

I shrugged. “Still a bit sore.” It had been five days since we had mated. He shook his head.

“Jasper. Stop it. You can’t hate yourself for this. It’s not like you did it on purpose. You didn’t mean to hurt me.”

“I’m supposed to protect you.”

“And you do. You saved my life the second day I met you, do you remember?”

“By the waterfall.”

“That’s right.”

He smiled. “I didn’t really have to do much. It was just one wolf.”

“But then the three came and you got hurt keeping them away from me.”

“It was just a scratch.”

“It was a dagger cut.” I lift his shirt and traced the faint five inch scar that ran down his side along his ribs. “I can remember each and every time that you have protected me or saved my life. Do you want me to run through them all?”

He shook his head. “What about the times you’ve done the same for me?”

“You mean at the ridge?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, well, you’re not allowed to do that to me again.”

He laughed. “I wasn’t planning on it.” His eyes softened as he gazed into mine. “That wasn’t the first time you saved me.”

I thought back, trying to remember when he had needed me to heal him before the battle on the ridge. I shook my head. “I don’t remember. What did I do?”

He smiled at me. “You saved me two days before I first saved you.”

“But we hadn’t even met then. I just saw you for a second. You were standing on the hill.”

“That’s right. I’m not sure how to explain it, really. But that day, you looked into my eyes, and that’s how it felt; like I had just been saved.” His voice was low and husky.

I melted. The man had a way with words.

“It’s the same feeling I get every time.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “Sounds stupid, right?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. I know that feeling.” I stood on my tip toes and kissed him softly. I pushed him down so he was sitting on a chair then straddled him.

He groaned. “By the moons, Shlova, how do you do that to me?” He ran his lips lightly along my jaw and down my neck.

I shivered against him. “It’s not me.” I ran my fingers through his curls as his tongue traced along my collar bone. “It’s you.” I pulled his shirt over his head. “I need you.”

He looked at me, uncertainty clear across his face. “Are you sure? You said you were still sore.”

I ran my teeth over his nipple and smiled at the moan that made its way up his throat.

“Hayden, stop.”

I pulled back and looked at him.

“I’m going to do this the way I should have done it the other night.” He picked me up and carried me to our bed.

He took his time, had me begging during most of it, and by the time he was done, all I could manage was to lie quivering on his chest.

His breathing started to slow and he brushed the hair back from my face. “Are you alright?”

I snorted. “Am I alright, he asks. Where were you during all of this? I’m pretty sure if you were listening you’d know that it was far better than alright.”

He started to laugh. “That’s not what I meant.” He hugged me tightly. “I didn’t hurt you?”

I wiggled up so I could I could kiss him. “No. You didn’t hurt me.” I glanced out the window and noticed that daylight was starting to fade. “I’d better start supper.”

Jasper watched me get dressed. He lay stretched out on the bed, his arms behind his head. Seeing him thus, the lines of his muscles showing under his skin, his curls sticking out at odd angles, his sky blue eyes half closed, he was beautiful to look at. Hell, he was always beautiful to look at. My gaze dropped down and I grinned at him. “Again?”

His stomach growled and he laughed. “I think supper might be more important.”

My stomach picked that moment to agree with him. I headed to the kitchen and decided what to make for supper. I grabbed some vegetables I had brought in from the icebox and swore under my breath.

Jasper wrapped his arms around me from behind. “What’s wrong?”

“I forgot to pull out meat. Can you run outside and get some from the meat cellar?”

“I suppose I could do that for you.” He stopped kissing the back of my neck long enough to turn me around and tilt my face up so he could kiss me softly.

He looked up when the door opened and started to laugh. “As if Dodge and the bird weren’t enough, now we have to worry about Alex.”

I looked behind me to the door and burst out laughing. “Alex! It’s ok. We were just kissing!” I thought about how it was a good thing he hadn’t gotten back ten minutes sooner. Thankfully, Jasper had pulled some pants on before coming to the kitchen.

Alex was beet red. He started to say something, stopped, then cleared his throat. “I got a couple of rabbits. I thought you could use them for supper?”

I gave Jasper a quick peck on the cheek before taking the rabbits from Alex. “Thanks.”

Jasper picked up the painting and brought it over to show Alex.

“Oh, wow! Mel wasn’t exaggerating!”

I blushed. “The only problem is that I’ve never drawn or painted something from memory.” I got the rabbits ready for a stew. “I guess that’s not entirely true,” I thought out loud.

Jasper and Alex looked after me as I disappeared into the bedroom. I came back out with my art pad, flipping through the pages as I walked. I found the last thing I had drawn and handed it to Jasper.

“That’s the trail I first saw you on.” Jasper smiled. “All I could think was ‘get down there and kiss her’!” he laughed.

I started laughing with him. “Is that why you ran away?”

He nodded.

“You and your sense of duty!”

Alex was looking at the drawing. “Why just his eyes?”

“Honestly, that was the only part of him I could remember.”

I looked into those perfect eyes and my heart did a flip. “Those are the eyes that changed the entire course of my life.”

Jasper grinned. “Well, I’m glad that they were enough to get you to follow me here. Though I never really thought there was anything special about my eyes. A good percentage of cats have blue eyes.”

I looked over at Alex. His were almost the same shade of blue as Jasper’s. I looked back and forth between them, trying to see the difference. Alex’s eyes had a ring of darker blue around them. Jasper’s were a bit lighter and had specs of darker blue in them.

Alex’s eyes were beautiful, but Jasper’s took my breath away.

“I’m not sure what it is. Your eyes are something else, Alex. But yours, Jasper, yours make me forget to breathe.”

I got up and stirred the stew. I smiled as I watched the two of them. In a lot of ways, Alex reminded me of Jasper. Appearance wise, they were completely different. Though both had blue eyes, Alex’s hair was the color of honey and straight. He was also a couple inches shorter than Jasper and his build was thicker.

And yet despite the difference in looks, the two of them were identical. It was the way they both thought before they spoke; the way they looked intently at whoever was talking to them and you knew they were really listening to what was being said. It was in the calmness that they both radiated, no matter the situation.

There was the fact that they both could read my moods and even if they weren’t in the same room, would somehow sense if I was worried. This last dream had been the perfect example of that. Jasper had woken, knowing too well what was happening though I hadn’t made a noise until I had whispered “Rainen”. Then Alex had shown up, simply knowing something was wrong.

I was fated to Jasper, so the bond between us explained how he could touch on how I was feeling. What was Alex’s reason?

I hadn’t realized I was still staring at him until Alex turned red. “What?” he asked.

“Oh! Sorry. I was just thinking.”

“What about?”

I was quiet for a minute, trying to organize my thoughts. “I was wondering how we are connected.”

His eyes widened and he looked quickly at Jasper and back to me. “What do you mean?”

“It just seems to me, that every time I feel worried, or scared, or anything off like that, you can sense it. Not as well as Jasper does. But you still can. Like this dream. Or when Jasper was out hunting a few weeks ago and I started to worry because he was taking a bit longer than usual. You showed up and told me not to worry because you were sure he was fine...but I hadn’t told you how I was feeling. I’m sure if we thought about it hard enough, there would be other times it’s happened.”

Alex started to look worried.

Jasper put a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong? You know something you’re not telling us. Why?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” Jasper didn’t sound mad, just curious.

“Because you will kill me.”

Both of us looked at him incredulously.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head as if trying to make this situation go away.

“Alex,” I walked over to him. “Why don’t you just explain what you think you know. We’re not going to kill you. Honestly, it can’t be that bad!”

He shook his head again and looked at the floor. “You won’t. He will.”

Jasper’s jaw dropped. “Why in the world would I kill you? I imagine that if you were to put Hayden’s life in danger, I might consider it, but no, I...” He stopped short and looked closely at Alex. “Did you do something to put her at risk?”

Alex shook his head no and Jasper visibly relaxed.

“Ok. So now that we have established that Jasper won’t kill you, why don’t you tell us what you think is happening?”

Alex looked uneasily at Jasper.

“How about I go sit over there. If you think I’ll come after you, you should be able to make it out the door before I finish reacting.” Jasper was grinning. He gave Alex one last pat on the back and went to sit at the opposite end of the room.

I went to stand in front of Alex and took his hands. “Now. What’s going on?”

He took one quick glance at Jasper then looked down at our hands. He frowned, looked up and his eyes met mine. “I don’t understand it at all.” His voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “It’s my dreams.”

I smiled at him, trying to get him to keep going.

“There’s a girl in my dreams.”

“So you’re fated.” I frowned. “Have you told Leslie?”

He shook his head. “No. Because it doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, do you know who she is?”

Alex nodded and glanced nervously at Jasper before looking back down to me. “She’s you.”

My mouth dropped open and I saw Jasper tense on his chair.

Alex was still talking. “It doesn’t make sense, though, does it? We can’t be fated because you are fated to Jasper. So why do I see you? Why can I tell when you need someone?”

He looked over at Jasper. “I wasn’t going to say anything. I was perfectly happy just being around her. I love Leslie and would rather not have to ruin what we have, honestly. I don’t plan on doing anything about it. Really. I just want to be here if she needs something and you aren’t around.”

I could tell Jasper was thinking hard. My hands were still in Alex’s and I was too shocked to pull away.

All three of us were quiet.

Jasper cleared his throat and Alex jumped and dropped my hands.

Alex’s blue eyes darted between Jasper and I. “I had better go,” he muttered and started to walk towards the door.

“Alex, stop.” Jasper stood up.

Alex hesitated. “No. I don’t think it would be right for me to stay.”

“We have to figure this out. If there’s one thing I have learned since Hayden has entered my life is that things don’t just happen when it comes to her. There is always a reason. So there has to be one for this.”

Alex relaxed a bit. “I really don’t know what that reason might be.”

“I can think of one, though I rather it not be it.”

I looked at Jasper. “What?”

“What if the two of you are fated because I won’t be here much longer?”

I felt a lump rise in my throat. “Don’t talk like that. We’re not fated because I didn’t dream of him.”

Jasper raised an eyebrow at me. “You didn’t think you had dreamed of me until you kissed me. Then you remembered.”

I simply stared at him. “You’re not allowed to leave me. You promised.” It sounded childish even to me.

“Maybe this is out of my hands.” He turned to Alex. “There’s only one way to find out, really.”

Alex’s mouth dropped. “You want me to kiss her?”

Jasper nodded. “There’s a reason for this and I want to know what it is.”

“No.” Both Jasper and Alex turned to me. “I won’t do it.”

“Hayden, we have to see. Maybe that’s not why. Maybe nothing happens to me, but whether you kiss or not is not going to change why this is happening. We need to see if you are fated and if you are then figure out why.”

“You want me to kiss him?”

“No, of course I don’t want you too. I just don’t see a way around it.”

“And what happens if we are. What does that do to us?” My voice was small.

Jasper looked miserable. “I don’t know.”

“Fine!” I strode over to Alex whose eyes widened. He took a few steps back and stopped short when he ran into the wall. I grabbed his face in my hands and pulled him down to me. The kiss was short and not terribly engaging.

Jasper looked like he was in pain. “That was hardly a kiss, Hayden. Now kiss him properly.”

Alex simply stayed plastered against the wall like he was trying to hide.

I glared at Jasper. He was right, of course. We had to see if this was it. That didn’t mean I had to like it. I felt guilty as I looked at him and my glare softened. He looked like he was choking.

I stepped away from Alex and wrapped my arms around Jasper’s waist.

“A shlova yan,” I whispered, my cheek against his chest. “Even if we hadn’t been fated I would have loved you.”

He crushed me against him. “I love you.” Jasper’s lips touched my hair.

I took a deep breath, kissed him lightly, and turned back to Alex.

“We don’t have to...” He stopped, his voice catching in his throat.

“Yes. Yes, we do.”

Jasper gave my hand one last squeeze and let go of me.

I wanted to tell him to look away, but knew he was going to watch regardless.

I took Alex’s face in my hands once more. “We have to do it like we mean it,” I told him as I looked into his eyes. I could hear his heart pounding and I pulled him down to me.

His lips were soft and fuller than Jasper’s. I started out slowly then moved a little closer to him, urging him to give in. For a moment I was sure he wasn’t going to take part.

I felt his hand touch my shoulder and his other one came to rest against my face. He pulled away for a moment and I looked up to see what he was doing. He looked over my shoulder to Jasper. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He turned his face back to mine.

His blue eyes burned into mine. My heart jumped. His hand moved behind my neck and hesitantly pulled me to him. His kiss was soft at first then became harder and my lips parted at the pressure from his tongue.

I heard Jasper hiss quietly behind us. My first thought was to pull away but I stopped myself. Instead, I threw myself into the kiss. I wasn’t planning on doing this again.

Alex’s hand moved down my back and pulled me against him. I took a deep breath and did the one thing I didn’t want to do. I closed my eyes and waited for the flashes.

Our kiss slowed and I pulled back to look at Alex. His eyes had the strangest look to them.

I turned and looked at Jasper. He sat on a chair with his head in his hands.

“Jasper,” I whispered. I looked back at Alex. He had relaxed a bit and was leaning against the wall looking at me.

I turned and went to kneel in front of Jasper. “Are you ok?” The lump that formed in my throat at the look on his face made it hard to talk. I stood and pulled him up so I could hold him against me. “Look at me, please.”

He did as I asked and we gazed at each other for a moment. I smiled.

“If you ever try to make me do that again...” His lips stopped any threat I had been about to make. His arms crushed me against him and he lifted me off the ground.

I held him close and his cheek rested on my head as he rubbed my back. “Thank the moons!” he whispered.

Alex chuckled behind us. “I agree.”

“So what does it mean, then?” I wondered out loud.

Alex shrugged. “I don’t know and right now I don’t care.” He laughed. “I wonder if there has ever been someone out there as happy as I am about finding out he’s not fated to someone.”

“Let’s have some supper and we can think with full stomachs.” I gave Jasper a long soft kiss before heading to the kitchen to make our plates.

We all sat down.

“Is Leslie coming tonight?” I asked Alex.

“No. She’ll come tomorrow morning. She had things she wanted to get done before coming.”

“So, since there is no way of knowing why Alex dreams of me, let’s get back to my dream.”

“When are we going to warn the others?” asked Alex.

“Tomorrow.” Jasper looked at me. “I don’t imagine leaving is an option?”

I shook my head. “They won’t chase me away from our life here. Not this time. This is our home.”

Jasper’s shoulders slumped. “I didn’t think so, but I still had to ask.”

“If I can paint that clearing well enough, maybe the birds could scout for it.”

Everyone was quiet and we finished eating.

I pulled my easel and paints out. I closed my eyes to picture the clearing, opened them again, and paused.

“I can’t do this with you guys watching me.” Jasper and Alex were right behind me.

Jasper gave me a kiss on the head. “We’ll be outside if you need us.” They started to head out the door.

“Jasper?”

He turned back towards me.

“If I can’t do this...”

He walked back and wrapped his arms around me. “We’ll figure it out.” He leaned down and kissed me softly. “If they think they can come here and take you away then they underestimate how much you mean to me.” He pulled me closer and I felt any doubts I had slip away. “I don’t care if you can save the world or destroy it. I’m not ready to give you up yet.” I took a deep breath and Jasper tilted my head up so I was looking at him. “I don’t ever see myself being ready to give you up. You are mine and I’m not sharing; especially after today. I don’t think I could go through that again!” He smiled, but his eyes were serious. “We will beat them. There just isn’t another option.” He kissed me tenderly and my worries started to slip away. It was amazing how one kiss from him could always make me feel better.

“I love you,” I whispered.

He grinned at me. “I know, but I still think I love you more.”

I smiled. “I doubt it.”

He gave me another kiss and headed outside to join Alex.

I turned back to my canvas and dipped my brush in some brown paint. I tried to see the clearing with my eyes open.

I was concentrating so hard that I didn’t even realize I was done until I blinked and the image was still there when I opened my eyes. I took a couple of steps back and nodded. It wasn’t perfect, but it was extremely close to what I remembered.

I felt the panic starting to rise in my chest as I thought of the dream. There wasn’t me and Jasper to worry about anymore. Was fighting really something we should be doing? What would happen to Tyler and Trent if things went wrong?

Tears spilled down my cheeks and I ran outside, throwing myself into Jasper’s surprised arms.

“Shush.” He kissed my hair and rubbed my back. “It’s ok. We’ll find it anyway.”

I shook my head. “That’s not it. I got it painted,” I mumbled into his chest. I pulled back so I could look up at him. “We have to leave.” Another sob shook me and he pulled me to him again.

“What made you change your mind?”

“The twins; I can’t put them at risk like that. They’ll be right in the middle of it.”

He took a deep breath. “Where do you want to go?”

“I want to go see Melana.”

“You’re not scared that if we go there I might have to stay?”

I shook my head. “If you had any urge to be there at all you would be there now. Does it even cross your mind?”

“No, actually.” He looked at Alex. “You?”

Our friend shook his head. “It might have something to do with the dreams, though. I don’t think I’ll have to worry about it either.”

“We’ll let everyone know our plans in the morning. They can decide what they want to do then.” Jasper kissed me on the bridge of the nose. “We had better go to bed. They are supposed to be here fairly early.”

Our plans for the next day had been a trip to visit Dodge, Prense, Phlann and Shanus.

“We have to send a bird to tell Dodge we’re leaving.” I could just imagine how upset he would be if he wasn’t told.

“He’ll come.”

“I know.”

The three of us made our way back into the house and Jasper and Alex went to stand by the painting.

“It doesn’t look familiar.” Jasper turned to Alex.

Alex shook his head. “I don’t recall seeing it either.”

I went to stand between them and Jasper put an arm around my shoulder. I stared at the painting. “If we leave tomorrow, we won’t have to worry about it.”

Jasper gave me a squeeze. “We’ll come back, Shlova.”

I looked up at him and let his eyes sweep me away. As long as we were together, that was all that mattered.

Alex threw some extra blankets on the bed in the spare room.

I walked over and gave him a hug. “Thank you.”

His eyes widened and he glanced over at Jasper quickly before returning the hug. “Don’t mention it.”

He settled himself down for the night. Jasper took my hand and headed to our bedroom. We climbed into bed and he wrapped his arms around me.

“Everything will be fine,” he whispered.

“Sa laug sa nos ist emsan,” I whispered to him.

“As long as we’re together,” he agreed.

 

*****

“Jasper!”

We woke up to the sound of Alex crashing through the front door as he shifted. Jasper leaped out of bed and I reached under it, grabbing my swords. He made it out the front door in two bounds and stopped before he could shift into a tiger.

I stepped into the living room, ready to take on whatever was coming.

Jasper started laughing and stepped to the side as Zane came stomping into the house, his leg bleeding.

“What was that all about!” he yelled back over his shoulder.

I set my swords down and went to see his leg. My heart was beating a mile a minute, my adrenaline pumping.

Dawn came to stand beside him. “Are you alright?” She was trying not to laugh.

Leslie walked into the house followed by a glaring Alex. Zane stood. “What’s your problem?” he demanded.

I bent closer to his leg to see the damage. Alex had gotten Zane’s thigh in his lion jaws. There were puncture wounds on the top and on the back of it. The blood was flowing freely, soaking into his pants and dripping onto the floor.

Alex glared at him. “Well, where do you get off sneaking around like that? I thought you were one of them!”

I put my arm on Zane’s arm. “You need to sit down so I can fix you.”

“I’m fine!”

I glared at him, the blood still pumping through my veins from all the excitement. “I don’t care if you think you’re fine! You’re bleeding all over my floor! Now sit down or go outside!”

Dawn pulled on his arm and he sat down.

“What do you mean, sneaking? I knocked on the door and no one answered. I was just checking through the window to see if they were home because the door was locked. I thought they might have left already!” He sucked in a breath as I healed his leg.

I looked up at him, about to apologize, but stopped. “Don’t you glare at me! I’m trying to help!”

“Well, why does it always hurt more when it heals than when it’s actually hurt?”

Jasper walked into the middle of the room. “Everybody calm down.”

All of the glares honed in on him.

“Now. It was just a misunderstanding. No one is hurt, well, anymore, and we should just be glad that Alex was wrong.”

I took a deep breath. “You’re right.” I got up and went to Alex to look him over. “Are you ok?”

Leslie was trying to calm him down. He nodded, some of the anger leaving him. “I’m sorry I bit you, Zane. I thought...well...what with Hayden having another dream...” He paused. “All I saw was your shadow when you moved away from the window.”

Zane seemed to forget the whole ordeal. “You had another dream?”

I gestured to the painting and explained it to them. Jasper and Alex gave them some of our theories.

“It really doesn’t make sense.” Zane was shaking his head.

“That’s why we’re leaving,” stated Jasper.

Dawn’s eyes flew open. “Where?”

“We’re going to see Melana. I don’t want to keep doing this. As much as I hate to, I have to get involved.” Tears filled my eyes and I wiped them away with my arm. “They won’t stop until they have me. Every time we think it’s over, this will happen. And if it’s not the Namaels or the Majs, it will be the humans. I think she’s our best bet for someone who will listen to what we have to say.”

Jasper came to me and pulled me to him.

Luke, Mel and the twins picked that moment to walk into the house. They stopped short. Mel looked at the blood on the floor.

“What in the world happened here?” She turned to Tyler and Trent. “Why don’t you boys go outside for a few minutes.”

Luke glanced at the blood soaked into Zane’s pant leg. Zane noticed his look.

“Alex bit me.” It came out so nonchalantly, like it was an everyday occurrence. I started to laugh.

Everyone looked at me. Dawn shook her head and her little snort set Alex off. Zane joined in. Mel and Luke looked at us like we had lost our minds. Jasper waited until we had all calmed down. “Are you alright?” he asked, his arms till around me.

I shook my head. “No, not really. You know how much I hate to fight.” I lay my head on his chest. Dawn put a hand on my shoulder.

“I don’t suppose someone would mind filling us in on what we missed?” Mel sounded more than a little irritated.

Alex brought over the painting and explained my dream to them. Luke lifted an eyebrow and looked over at Zane.

“Well, that was really just a misunderstanding,” explained Jasper. He ran through the events of the morning for his brother and sister in law. By the time he was done we were all laughing again.

Luke looked over to Jasper. “So what’s the plan, brother?”

“Hayden and I are going to Pinsaber.”

Alex looked insulted. “I’m going as well.”

Leslie glanced at him. “You mean we.”

He smiled at her. “I meant we.”

Dawn and Zane looked at each other. “Don’t forget us,” Zane exclaimed.

“Well, if you think you’re going without us you are sadly mistaken!” Mel came over and gave me a hug.

I looked at all of them, dumbfounded. “But, is that safe for you? All those cats!”

Luke shrugged. “We’ll deal with that when we get to it. If we go walking in with you and Jasper, they should pause long enough to hear our story.”

“We’ll send a bird ahead of us. Give them a few days warning before we show up,” Jasper thought out loud.

“So when do we leave?” asked Mel.

“Today. I don’t want to push our luck. The sooner we leave the better. I’m going to write notes for Dodge, Tara, and Fillian. The birds will let them know for us. If they want to join us it shouldn’t take too long for them to catch up.”

We got to packing only what we needed. Everyone else was already packed for the trip to see the Winged Ones.

I scribbled three quick notes and Jasper called the blue birds down. When I was done carefully tying the notes to their legs he looked at them. “We need these to get to Fillian, Shanus, and Roben.”

The birds bobbed their heads and flew away.

Jasper looked at me. “Ready?”

I tried to swallow the lump forming in my throat as I nodded. “Alright. Let’s get going before I change my mind.”

Jasper looked back towards our little house and took a deep breath. I reached over and took his hand. He leaned down, kissing me softly on the lips. “We’ll be back.”

I wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince himself or me. I nodded and didn’t let myself look back again.

 

*****

We traveled for six days before we made it to the base of the mountain. By the sixth day, I knew something was wrong. Trent came to stand beside me while we took a quick break.

“What’s wrong, Aunt Hayden?”

“I’m not sure, Trent. Something’s not right.” I looked around, trying to figure out what was making me so edgy. I looked at Jasper and shrugged. I could tell he was trying to relax but was getting too much nervous energy from me. Alex twitched every time there was a small noise.

A bird chirped up in the trees and I looked to see if it was one of the blue birds with news of the others. My heart jumped into my throat then dropped. I could feel my eyes almost pop out of my head. I had been so busy looking around that I hadn’t looked up into the tall trees.

“Uncle Jasper!” Trent called out, scared by the look on my face. Jasper was there before he could finish his shout. He looked up where I was staring.

A growl made its way up his throat. “The leaves!” He looked back at me.

“We’re walking right into it!” I whispered.

None of us had noticed that the farther away we had gotten from the Wedelves, the more the leaves had started to turn colors.

“We don’t have months!” I managed to choke out. “It’s right now!”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Alex was standing beside us. “Why would you dream of something that was only going to happen if you tried to avoid that same dream? Jasper told me about the first one...where you were able to avoid the wolves coming to the campsite because you saw them coming. The same happened with the ridge. It was just you and Jasper in the dream and then you were able to call everyone in to surprise the pack.”

I closed my eyes, knowing he was right. It didn’t make sense. Everything about this dream didn’t make sense.

We threw everything back into our bags and tried to decide what to do.

“Maybe we should keep going,” suggested Alex. “Maybe it is going to happen when the leaves in the Wedelven woods turn. We might be in the wrong forest.”

“I don’t know. We haven’t passed the clearing in my dreams yet. And the trees in my painting look a lot more like these woods than the ones around our house. It’s got to be here. Maybe if we head back we can avoid them.” My heart was about to jump out of my chest.

“Let’s do that,” agreed Jasper. We all grabbed a bag and started jogging back the way we had come.

The sunlight brightened as we came to a clearing we had already been through. I stopped short and stumbled as Dawn bumped into me. Luke managed to grab my arm before I could fall. I didn’t have to say anything. Everyone remembered the painting. It was of this clearing, coming at it from this direction.

Tyler and Trent stood back to back. I noticed them move their belts so that their daggers would be easier to reach if they were needed. The daggers had been their late eleventh birthday present from Jasper and they’d both gotten very good at using them.

Everyone took the position they had taken in my dream. Jasper looked back at me. “I love you,” he mouthed to me.

Before I could answer him, a noise came from directly in front of us and everyone shifted. Leslie and I pulled our swords.

The dogs had started coming out of the bushes, closing in the form of a circle. Behind them came Rainen. She stared directly at me. Jasper moved slightly so that he was between me and her.

I looked past the dogs, looking for the cats I knew were going to be there. The jaguar was right where it was supposed to be. Our eyes met and it blinked slowly.

Again, I wondered why they were here. Could it be that if wolves could turn good that cats could turn bad? It was a possibility I didn’t want to think about. If that was the case, we were all going to die here.

I looked to where Dodge was going to be coming from. I didn’t bother yelling when he crashed through the bushes. It was like everything was happening in slow motion.

Some of the dogs turned back toward the sound of the cats jumping out of the woods while some of them leaped toward us. Zane managed to tackle one before it could break through their line of defense. Luke was knocked over by two of them but was holding his own. Three of them seemed to have been ordered to deal with Jasper. Alex was circling with a coyote.

Jasper bared his teeth and swiped at them with massive paws as the three circled him.

Rainen continued to stare at me.

My first thought was to burn her like I had her son, but there were too many other beings around her. Her eyes flicked to the left and she seemed to smile as a wolf bit Jasper in the flank. He quickly turned, his claws raking along the dog’s entire body.

One of the wolves that had knocked Luke over left his friend to fight alone and leaped toward us. Mel threw herself at him, knocking him over as he landed by her. Dawn jumped on him, her jaws locking on his throat.

A fox snuck past Alex and his opponent and leapt at me. I slashed my swords up as he came down, his blood spraying me like warm rain as he fell and twitched in pain.

I glanced up and saw Dodge kick a wolf in the chest just as Prense, Phlann and Shanus came galloping into the clearing, Tara and Ben on their backs.

The dogs were realizing they were outnumbered and were starting to run.

Rainen seemed to get bored with the fighting and started to walk away, a howl rising from her. Jasper’s opponents started to run back toward the bushes and he chased after them. When they reached the tree line, he stopped and surveyed the mess in the clearing. His eyes met mine and I smiled.

“I love you more,” I mouthed to him.

Everyone was starting to shift back.

I looked at Trent and Tyler. “Are you boys alright?”

They nodded.

“Are you sure?”

“Go ahead, Aunt Hayden. They need you out there.” Trent sat on the ground and Tyler joined him. Neither one had ever been in a battle before and both were clearly shaken up.

The fox at my feet whined.

“If I fix you, are you going to behave?”

It nodded its head and I looked it over. I had managed to cut through its chest muscles which explained why he wasn’t running away.

“What are you doing?” a tall man with green eyes and dark blond hair asked.

I paused and looked up at him. “What does it look like I’m doing?” One stupid question deserved another, right?

“He’s the enemy.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I concentrated on healing the damage I had done. The fox whined and jerked under my hands then jumped to its feet, teeth bared at the blond man.

I put myself between them. “He might be yours, but he’s not mine.”

The man’s eyes widened in surprise. “But he just tried to kill you!”

All of my friends were making their way back toward us.

“I’m not on anybody’s side,” I explained. “I won’t be used to destroy the queen. I also won’t be used to harm any of the Majs. They are simply following orders, same as you. They just happened to be born dogs.”

“You would let a fox run with you?” The green eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.

“Well, actually, he would be the second fox to run with me.”

Dawn shifted to show him and shifted back again.

Luke and Mel did the same.

“So you run with dogs!” he snarled.

Zane and Alex shifted and walked to stand directly beside me before shifting back.

“And cats,” I stated. “And Fairends, Wedelves, Scannoves, and Winged Ones.”

I heard some laughter coming from the direction of the woods. “That’s quite the pack you run with my dear.”

All the cats I didn’t know bowed down. I almost laughed as Melana walked out of the woods. She was nothing like what I had pictured. She was a few inches taller than me, her skin so pale you would have thought she had never been out in the sun. Her hair was long, to the small of her back, and white. Her eyes were such a pale blue they almost looked transparent.

Since I wasn’t sure what protocol was when meeting the queen, I waited for Jasper to introduce us. My heart beat a little faster as I noticed he hadn’t made his way back yet. I looked around, trying to find his eyes among many.

Panic started to grip me. “Where’s Jasper?”

Zane looked around and I glanced at Luke, then Mel. They were all gazing around the clearing, trying to find him.

I saw some movement along the edge of the clearing where I had last seen him. There were two beings walking toward us, each of them supporting the other.

“Ben!”

“Leslie!”

Tara and Alex ran towards them and I followed suit. Ben had five gashes that ran from his left shoulder to his right hip. His shirt hung in tatters and I was sure this was the work of one of the bears in Rainen’s pack. Alex beat us there and had him lying on the ground by the time we reached him.

Leslie looked like hell, but didn’t seem hurt.

“I’m sorry, Hayden.” His breaths were short gasps of pain. “I tried to stop them.”

“Alex, Luke, Zane. Can you hold him down? He’s not going to like this.”

Luke and Alex each took a shoulder. When Zane had settled himself on his legs I placed my hands on Ben’s chest.

“Just a regular one will do,” I muttered to myself. I lay the wave over him.

Ben’s body jerked under my hands. When I was done Tara ran to hold him, tears streaming down her face.

“I saw them throw the net on him. One of them hit him over the head and they threw him on a horse. When I tried to follow after them, two of them jumped out from behind a tree. I didn’t even have a chance to turn my dagger on them.” He hugged Tara and kissed her. “Shush now. I’m alright.” Ben held her close, his eyes closed.

“This is my fault. One of them got me. They grabbed him when he came to free me. Oh, Hayden, I’m so sorry!” Leslie was crying.

“It’s not your fault, Leslie.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

She nodded.

“They are taking him to the second cave.” I jumped at the voice behind me. The man was small, only an inch taller than me at the most. He had auburn hair and dark brown eyes.

“You healed me. I don’t quite understand why. But this is the least I can do for you in return.”

“Where’s the second cave?” I asked him.

“It’s hard to explain. It’s very well hidden. I can show you if you like.”

I looked around for Luke. “Do you know where the second cave is?”

He shook his head. “I’ve heard of where it is. But only certain captains and their packs know the exact location. Nate’s not lying. He knows where it is.” He nodded toward the little man.

I nodded to both of them. A whine broke my train of thought. Laying a little ways away was a coyote. He had an arrow in his hip and a long gash along his ribs. The dark haired man standing over him was pushing on the arrow with his hand.

“What is wrong with you?” I snapped at him. I threw myself at him and managed to knock him down. A growl made its way up his throat as I knelt down beside the coyote.

Zane and Luke came to stand on either side of me.

“I wouldn’t do anything stupid,” warned Alex. He had made his way around and was standing behind the dark haired man.

Zane knelt beside me, still keeping an eye on the growler. “Can you fix him?” he asked.

I put my hands on him and concentrated. I glanced over at Zane. “I’ll have to use the other one.”

“Hayden, don’t you think...”

“He’s not going to die if I can help it!”

Zane sighed, knowing his argument was about to fall on deaf ears. “But if you plan on going after Jasper you’ll need your strength!”

“I won’t need much of my energy. Can you get the arrow out?”

Alex and Ben came to help hold the coyote down as Luke and Zane worked the arrow free.

After finding that Fillian couldn’t heal a being with my energy in it, we had done some experimenting and found that I could give my energy to someone and then finish the healing safely.

I found the dark green wave and spread it over the ribs. “I just need enough to get the ribs back into place. He should be able to do the rest by himself.” I pushed some of my energy into the coyote and he jerked under me. I pulled back and sat down as a wave of dizziness hit me. I could almost hear Jasper growling at me.

Zane put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you ok?”

I nodded, got back on my knees and spread a safe green over his entire body.

The coyote whined as everything finished healing. He stood up and shook himself before shifting back.

Melana’s guards tensed and Zane, Alex, and Luke stepped so they were around him.

I looked around. “Is there anyone else?”

Three cats made their way over with fairly minor injuries.

I blinked as tears welled in my eyes. For one tiger, a coyote and a wolf, it was already too late. I clenched my fists. “So useless! So pointless!”

Tara hugged me. “Shush, Hayden. You did what you could.”

“But it’s never enough, is it,” I whispered. I took a few deep breaths and got myself under control. “Let’s go get Jasper.”

Luke, Zane, Dawn, and Mel all seemed to be arguing. It looked like Dawn versus the rest of them.

“You are not coming!” Zane glared at Dawn.

“You’re not going without me!” She glared right back at him.

Zane looked at me. “Hayden! Tell her she has to stay! She can’t risk it!”

I opened my mouth, but hesitated before I agreed with him. “Risk what?”

Dawn’s eyes got big. “We never told you! With everything that happened when we got to your house, it didn’t seem important!”

Zane pulled her to him and kissed her before telling us the news. “We’re going to have cubs!”

“Pups,” she corrected him.

“Well, whatever they are going to be, we’re going to have some!”

I laughed. “Boy, that will be something to see!”

You could almost hear all the mouths fall open behind us.

I gave Dawn a hug and Zane a kiss on the cheek.

Alex interrupted the celebrations. “I think Mel, Dawn, Hayden and the kids should head home. We’ll go after Jasper.”

“I’m not going home, Alex. If Rainen is there, you’ll need magic.” My voice caught a bit and I swallowed hard. “And chances are good Jasper is going to need a healer.” I thought of something. “Why didn’t she use magic today?”

“My guess is that with all of the fighting so close to her, she didn’t want to take a chance changing back,” answered Zane.

“Oh.” It still seemed odd to me that shifters couldn’t perform magic in their animal forms.

Tyler and Trent looked at their mom. “We want to help, mom.”

She shook her head.

I looked closely at Melana. “At the risk of sounding rude and ungrateful, why are you here?”

“When Jasper didn’t bring you back we had a few scouts figure out your location without confronting you. Since inviting you to the castle didn’t seem to work, I thought I would come to you.”

My temper started to flare. “You call that an invitation? Your guards were trying to abduct me! A letter inviting me over for a cup of tea might have been a bit more civil!”

Everyone’s jaws dropped.

“Yes, well, I suppose my men may have been a bit direct. Either way, I wanted to meet you. As we got closer to you we started seeing signs of the pack so we started to follow them. It was pure chance that we showed up just as they attacked.”

“Well, thank you. It was greatly appreciated. And now that you’ve met me, I hope you don’t find it too insulting if I postpone any chatting until after I’m done saving my husband.”

I turned back to Mel.

“What’s a husband,” she asked.

“Where I come from, a husband is the man you swear to spend the rest of your life with. Luke would be yours. You would be his wife.”

She nodded. “Well, Hayden dear. I will go hold down the fort at home if you promise to bring me back my husband.” She gave me a hug.

“I promise. And thank you,” I whispered. By the way Zane and Dawn were kissing she had decided to stay behind.

Some of the queen’s cats were still staring at them.

I glanced at Melana and laughed. She was trying so hard not to look.

“Don’t worry, you never get used to seeing those two together!”

She shook her head. “I image not. It’s interesting. They are complete opposites in every way.”

I nodded. “I can’t wait to see the babies!” I looked at Nate. “So what’s our plan?”

He was standing beside the blond haired man with grey eyes that had been the coyote. Both of them looked to be in their mid-thirties. They stood directly in the middle of our little group, looking warily at the guards who were glaring at them.

“Hey, don’t worry about them. Or us for that matter. You can leave if you want.”

They looked at each other then sat on the ground, grabbing sticks and stones from around them.

“They will be taking him here.” Nate pointed to a rock in the diagram they had just made.

Luke came to kneel beside us. “Why there and not to Howel?”

“The plan was that if we couldn’t get her that we would try to take him.” He glanced at me. “We knew they were always together, we had no idea they were fated!” Nate looked back at Luke. “They are going to keep him there because they know she’ll come after him. But they are sure she’ll just head to the keep to look for him and aren’t planning on letting him get anywhere near her.”

“The keep is where the majority of the dogs will be,” the blond one spoke up.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Kacey.”

“How many will they have guarding him, Kacey?”

“Twenty, twenty-five. They will be concentrating on the keep. There’s no reason to put extra guards on him because you don’t know where the cave is.” The corners of his mouth twitched and he looked back to the ground. I smiled.

“There are three different entrances to that cave,” explained Nate. He pointed them out.

“So we go in all three and trap them in the middle,” stated Zane.

Alex nodded.

We all stood. “How far of a trip?” I asked.

“Seven days at a steady pace,” Kacey answered.

Dodge snorted. I’m coming.

I gave my horse a hug. “Thanks, buddy.”

“I’d like to send some of my men with you to help. Jasper has always been one of my best captains. I owe him that much at least.” Melana gestured to her pack.

“Thank you. But they only come if they follow my rules.” I looked at the blond Namael with the green eyes who seemed to be in charge. “No killing unless it’s necessary. No hurting for the fun of it. We are going to save Jasper, not decimate their numbers.”

His eyes got big when Melana nodded. “You will listen to Hayden.”

She turned back to me. “I would like to go with your friends, if that is alright with you.”

I almost laughed; the queen was asking my permission. I nodded. “You can have tea ready when I get back.” I grinned at her.

She laughed.

“Let’s get this show on the road.” I gave the twins one last hug and swung onto Dodge. Ben, Leslie and Tara hopped onto Prense, Phlann and Shanus. Everyone else shifted.

Queen Melana waved along with the rest of them as we trotted away. I glanced back one last time and noticed the jaguar in my dream sitting beside her as well as a lioness and a smaller tiger.

“Hey, Alex!” I called to the lion trotting ahead of Dodge.

He looked back, shifted and fell into step with us.

“The three cats that stayed with Melana, they were females!”

He laughed. “Well, you know, we have to reproduce somehow!”

“Why is this the first time I see them?”

“The men are the main army. The females are the Queen’s personal guard. They watch over the keep and escort her.”

I nodded. “It’s different with the Majs, right? I remember Jasper apologizing for hurting Mel.”

He nodded. “The Majs believe that if a fated pair fight together, they will try that much harder to win to protect their mate.”

“Makes sense to me.”

He shifted back but stayed beside Dodge.

Prense and Tara trotted up on our other side.

“So, my first question,” I started, “is how the hell did you guys get to us when you did?”

Both of them smiled. “Just good timing really,” explained Tara. “Prense, Phlann and Shanus had come to our house when the blue bird got there. We waited for Dodge because we knew he would be coming too. It was just really good luck.”

“Well I’m sure glad you’re here.” I patted Dodge’s neck. “How did you know we were leaving?” I asked him.

When the bird flew into the clearing and found me I noticed that it had a note attached to its leg. I went right to Tara’s to find out what was going on.

I patted him again.

“Brinnan and Fillian sent this note for you.” Tara handed it to me. In it, they explained that Fillian was nursing another Wedelve back to health (healing didn’t work on illnesses) and would meet us at the keep when she was done. Brinnan would come with her.

We kept a steady pace until nightfall. As the sun started to disappear into the trees, we found a place to make camp.

“So, it’s nice to see you’re alive, Luke,” Nate grinned at him. “When we found Ryland we assumed both of you had been killed.”

“Actually, I killed Ryland,” explained Luke.

Kacey’s eyes widened.

“Why?” Nate asked the obvious question and even the Queen’s cats listened for the answer.

“Because it was the right thing to do. If you plan on coming with us until the end, you had better decide who you are fighting for.” He paused and let his words sink in. “You may have to kill another dog.”

“So you fight for the cats now?” asked Kacey. There was no malice in the question, just curiosity.

Luke shook his head. “No, I don’t fight for the cats. I fight for Hayden. I fight for the one who, after being abducted, beaten, threatened, and attacked countless times, can still look at a dying creature and save it with no thought as to whose side it might be on. Hayden doesn’t want to fight. She wants to live her life in peace. Wants to enjoy her home, her family and the one she is fated to. I like that lifestyle. I have seen my pups grow more in the past two years than I had the previous nine.”

He looked at me and smiled. “Hayden fights for life with no thought to herself. Did you know, Kacey, when she healed you, she gave you some of her energy, her life, so that you could live?”

Kacey looked at me, amazed. “Why?”

“Because it doesn’t make sense; all this killing because of me. Whether I choose it or not, this is my fault and it’s the least I can do to make it better.”

Everyone was listening intently.

“I won’t be used to destroy anyone, but I will fight to protect innocent beings. Following orders isn’t a good enough reason for a death sentence, not to me, anyway.” I sounded as tired as I felt. I was having trouble keeping my eyes open.

Dodge swished his tail. You need to rest.

“He’s right, Hayden.” Zane walked over with a blanket. “Where Kacey looks a hundred percent, you don’t. You should get some sleep. You only have a few more days to make up the energy you gave him.” He draped the blanket around my shoulders.

“Thanks, Zane.”

He smiled down at me. “Get some sleep. We’ll keep watch.”

The night was starting to cool and I shivered. Luke shifted and lay beside me to keep me warm.

“Thanks, everyone,” I mumbled as I fell asleep.

 

*****

“Here, I’ll get on Dodge, pass her up to me.” I felt myself being lifted. I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t.

“Is she alright?” That sounded like Kacey.

“Yeah. This is nothing. You should have seen her after she healed Jasper on the ridge. If he hadn’t told me to stop her I’m pretty sure she would have died. The more sleep she gets the better.” Zane was passing me up.

“So she is like this because of me?” Kacey sounded so guilty. A small smile managed to make its way to my lips.

“She’s fine, see? She can hear you.” Luke was holding me.

I heard someone pat someone else on the back.

“Well, if you can hear me, Hayden, I fight for you now.” I felt a hand on my arm.

Luke tightened his hold on me as we started moving again. “Sleep, sweet sister,” he whispered and I let myself drift back into the darkness.

 

*****

It was dark when I finally managed to open my eyes. The lids still felt as if they were full of lead, but at least I could see. We had stopped and Luke passed me down to Zane.

Zane smiled, his black eyes lighting up when he saw me looking at him. “How are you feeling?” He set me down on a blanket.

“Still tired, but a bit hungry.” Luke brought me some bread and squeezed my shoulder as he sat beside me.

“Thanks.” I took a bite of bread. “How much farther?” I asked.

“We made good time today. Maybe four more.”

I nodded.

“Will you be better by then?” He looked at me.

“I’m not the one we should be worried about.” I looked down at my bread to keep him from seeing how anxious I was.

He wasn’t fooled. “We’ll get him back, Hayden.”

Zane put an arm around me from the other side. “They won’t know what hit them.” He smiled.

“I know.” I tried to smile back. “It’s just...I know they’re hurting him.”

Everyone was quiet. Tara handed me some cheese. “And that is why you need to eat and get some more sleep,” she said.

I shivered with cold and worry as I finished my cheese and I pulled the blanket around me.

Zane shifted and lay behind me. I leaned back and fell asleep against him.

When morning came, I was able to open my eyes completely without them feeling heavy. I sat up and laughed at Zane’s snoring.

“How does Dawn get any sleep with you,” I murmured to myself. Alex chuckled as he shifted back into a human. He had been sleeping between me and Leslie.

“No wonder I was warm!”

He smiled. I’d had a panther as a pillow and a lion and a wolf on either side of me. Everyone else was still sleeping.

“Why are you awake?” I whispered to him. It was still fairly dark.

He shrugged. “Just couldn’t sleep. Too many things running through my head,” he whispered back.

“Like what?”

He was quiet for a moment as he arranged his thoughts. “I was thinking about what Jasper had said the day he made me kiss you. About how maybe we were fated because he wasn’t going to be around much longer.”

My heart dropped and the feeling must have shown on my face.

“No! No. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not hoping for that, not at all. I will die to save him if I have to. It’s so strange that’s all. I’m just confused. I’m glad we’re not fated. I just would like to know why I see you.”

“You still do?” I was trying to keep my whisper as quiet as possible. I wasn’t sure if he had told Leslie about the dreams.

“Yes.”

“What are the dreams about?”

“Nothing, really. Usually you are just busy doing something, like cooking or picking herbs. You know, just everyday things and then you look up and smile at me. That’s it. Always just a variation of that.”

“Well, definitely not a fated dream.” I grinned at him.

“Why? What are they like?”

I blushed. “Let’s just say they are a bit more intimate.”

He turned red to match me. “Oh.”

We were quiet for a moment. “Maybe the dreams are just to keep me close to you. Maybe I’m like Dodge.” He looked over at me. “Maybe I’m just meant to watch over you.”

“I guess that could be it. Does Dodge dream of me too?”

Alex nodded. “I asked him about it once.”

“So you’re like my own personal body guard.”

He grinned. “It makes sense.”

I frowned. “Do you think you will become fated?”

He shrugged. “Not everyone is. Most lions become fated early on. I’d rather it didn’t happen, really. If I became fated, I would have to leave Leslie. I don’t want to do that. I thought it was odd before meeting your crew, you know, the fact that I love her and we are different. Now, I just hope it lasts.”

“You guys are great together.”

We were quiet again. He looked down at Leslie and smiled to himself.

“Should we start waking people up?”

He nodded.

I leaned back and poked Zane in the ribs. “Zane!” I whispered loudly. “It’s time to wake up!”

Zane twitched awake, his hind leg catching Luke in the back.

Luke grunted and shifted. “Ugh! What in the world was that for?”

Zane shifted back. “Sorry.” He turned to me. “That wasn’t very nice.”

I chuckled. “Sorry.”

Everyone else was getting up as well.

“Well, that was a boring few hours,” complained Nate. He had taken the last watch.

“Boring is good, Nate. Boring is good.” Alex gave him a pat on the back.

We all quickly ate and set off again, anxious to get where we were going.

Nate came to jog by Dodge and shifted so he could talk to me.

“Could I ask you a few questions about the healing?”

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

Dodge slowed to match the shorter man’s stride.

“How do you know what to heal?”

“When I touch a being it’s almost like I can see the damage no matter where it is. And it’s not really me that heals the person. They heal themselves. I just concentrate the energy where it needs to be.”

“And that is why there are different ways to do it?”

I nodded. “There are three ways actually. The first I used on you. You use your own energy. The second one I had to use on Kacey. If the being is too hurt and doesn’t have enough energy to heal itself, I give it some of mine. The third is the hardest. I haven’t been able to get it, and I’m not sure I would want to. It requires me to take energy from another being and transferring it to the one being healed.”

“Why don’t you want to use that one?”

“Well, it seems to me that killing one being to save another defeats the purpose of healing. Maybe that’s why I can’t do it. I can’t justify it.”

He nodded and looked around.

I looked up as well and noticed we had fallen back quite a way. I glanced down as Nate put a hand on my leg.

“I’m sorry, Hayden. It seems it’s not just will power that breaks bonds, otherwise I would have done it.” He yanked me off of Dodge.

I was surprised at how strong he was. He clamped a hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream and kept me between Dodge and himself so my horse wouldn’t kick him.

He started to drag me away and I tried to plead with Dodge to leave me and run to the others. I bit Nate’s hand and tasted blood, but he kept his grip on me.

Panic started to set in and the colors moved in front of my face. I got an idea.

I let go of Nate’s arm and picked a red wave. I threw it at a tree that stood between us and the rest of the group.

Everyone but Zane, Alex, and Luke ducked. Those three ran back toward us.

I felt Nate’s composure slip and he let go. I tripped and fell. Dodge saw his opening and turned, firing with both hind legs. Nate’s breath left his body in a sickly wheezing sound as his chest imploded and he collapsed to the ground.

Alex shifted and pulled me up. “Are you alright?”

I nodded then shook my head as Zane checked Nate for signs of life. “Don’t bother, Zane. He’s gone.”

“So much for the bodyguard idea,” mumbled Alex.

“You can’t protect me from my own stupidity, Alex.”

I caught sight of Kacey as the rest of the group reached us. “Did you know about his plans?”

His grey eyes widened. “No! I swear!”

We all stared at him. “God, I wish there was a way to test this bond breaking thing.” I looked at him closely. “I don’t like fighting. I don’t like people hurting each other. I don’t like killing. But I promise you this, Kacey. If you are lying and I find out about it, I will burn you to a crisp myself! Is that understood?”

He nodded eagerly.

Instead of lessening, my anger escalated with my outburst. I turned and threw a red wave at Nate’s body and watched it burn down to ashes.

Everyone stood in shocked silence, my friends included. I stomped over to Dodge, giving the ashes a final farewell kick, sending them scattering everywhere.

I swung onto my horse and urged him into a canter.

Everyone else followed wordlessly.

Later that evening we stopped for the final night of our journey. I got off of Dodge and gave him a hug. “Sorry about that, buddy. I should have been paying more attention.”

He shook his head. Don’t worry about it. Everything worked out fine.

Zane came to stand beside me. He was grinning from ear to ear.

I turned red. “What?

He lost control and started to laugh.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at us.

“It’s just...” He tried to catch his breath. “The look on your face when you threatened Kacey… It’s been a long time since you lost your temper like that! I was just remembering how when that used to happen you would just randomly set things on fire!” He laughed again. “But nothing... nothing was as funny as the look on everyone’s faces when you torched that stupid fox and kicked his ashes around!”

Luke was sitting on the ground trying to keep his laughter in.

I turned a deeper shade of red. “I was just making sure no one could see we had been there,” I muttered lamely.

Luke lost the battle and lay on the ground, tears running down his face.

I smiled. “Ok, fine. I lost my temper. I’m sorry if I scared anyone.” I looked around. “Kacey?”

He came walking up to us, unsure of what was coming.

“Kacey, I’m sorry. Jumping to conclusions about your involvement was wrong.”

“It’s alright, Hayden. Quite honestly, I’m surprised I’m still allowed to live after that. Most people wouldn’t take the chance.”

“Yes, well, my friends and I aren’t most people.” I smiled at him. “Now, I have a tiger I would like to get home. Let’s figure out how to do that.”

Since Luke only knew of the cave, Kacey took over.

“If we keep anyone there, it is usually on the right side because those two rooms have the shackles.” Kacey looked at me. “Sorry.”

“Stop apologizing.”

Kacey was about to go on when I thought of something. “Will there be any other prisoners there?”

He shrugged. “It’s possible. I’ve been leading patrols the past month, so I haven’t been there. Most prisoners go to the keep. This is just where we put them if we aren’t ready to head back yet. I mean, honestly, it’s usually empty. The only time we’ll take prisoners is if we catch anyone over our border.” He looked up at me quickly then back to the ground. “Well, except for now. Sorry.”

“Stop saying sorry.” I looked around. “If we find anyone else, we’re releasing them.”

The blond Namael captain seemed about to say something then stopped.

“Can I ask what your name is?” I looked at him, realizing that I didn’t know.

“Matthew.”

“You looked like you were about to say something.”

“I was just wondering how many rooms there were.”

Kacey answered him. “Four. Why?”

Matthew seemed to hesitate before speaking. “I was just thinking that since Hayden is so opposed to killing and since we will outnumber them, maybe we could just lock them all up.”

It took everything I had to keep my jaw from dropping. Some of his men weren’t as successful.

“That’s a great idea!” I blurted out.

Alex looked at Kacey. “You’re sure you’re with us on this?”

Kacey nodded.

Alex looked at me. “We won’t even have to kill one of them. What if we got Kacey to go in there and tell the others he is supposed to transport Jasper to Howel. They make it out of the cave then we sneak in there from all directions and trap them in the middle.” He smiled. “It seems like a nice day for a wind storm, don’t you think?”

I grinned. “Perfect. Kacey, you’ll have to open all the doors. Pretend to look for him.”

Kacey nodded.

Matthew looked confused. “I don’t understand the wind storm.”

“I’ll just blow them into the cells.” I laughed and pushed a small breeze at him in demonstration. “This is great. Let’s hope it works!”

“Kacey, I know my brother, he won’t come quietly.” Luke was frowning.

“I don’t think he’ll be in any shape to fight,” he mumbled, his eyes on the ground.

Zane laughed. “You don’t know Jasper, do you?”

Kacey shook his head. “I just know what I’ve heard from stories. Though I must say that from what I’ve heard, I’m glad my pack has never come face to face with one of his.”

Luke smiled. “Jasper and I have always had an agreement. Because we’re brothers and were made to fight each other, we had turned it into a game. The first one to get hurt lay down and stayed out of danger’s way. We had to make it convincing, mind you, so that no one wondered about it. When I abducted Hayden last year, he almost got the best of me and that was with four broken ribs. If it had been a regular battle he would have had to lie down because I got the first hit in.” He shook his head as he remembered. “I had to break four more ribs and knock him on the head to stop him. When it comes to Hayden, I don’t think there is much out there that will stop him and right now, the only thing he is thinking of is getting back to her.”

Kacey’s eyes widened.

“Tell him that I love him more.” It was almost a whisper, my voice barely making it past the lump in my throat. “Say, ‘Hayden says don’t be stubborn and that she loves you more’.”

Tara put a hand on my arm.

Kacey nodded.

“Ok, everyone. Let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.” I pulled my blankets out and settled in for the night. Luke shifted and lay beside me.

The next morning we traveled as far as we could without having to be scared of being discovered. Ten of Matthew’s cats went ahead with Luke and Kacey to capture any lookouts they could find before the others could be alerted to our whereabouts.

I glanced at Matthew who was standing and looking in the direction of the cave. He ran a hand through his dark blond hair and took a deep breath. I went to his side and put a hand on his arm.

“Are you ok?”

He glanced down at me and nodded. His clenched jaw indicated otherwise.

“I’m sorry about Melana making you come with us.”

His dark green eyes widened in surprise. “That’s not what I was thinking about. I’m glad she did. I was about to volunteer when she brought it up.”

I frowned. “But you looked so upset about coming!”

He shook his head. “I wasn’t upset about coming. I was upset they got him. Jasper and I turned of age the same year and were put in the same pack to train. We stayed in the same pack for four years before we were each given our own. Even then, when there was need to combine packs, they usually put ours together. He’s the closest thing I have to a brother.” He looked toward the cave again. “Don’t you worry, Hayden. We’ll get him out.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “I know.”

When it was dark we made our way closer to the cave. I hopped off of Dodge and we all waited for everyone to get back.

“Thank you, everyone, for helping. Remember, we don’t want to kill, but if it’s you or them, I can always fix them later.” Everyone nodded.

“Kacey?”

He came up to me and I wondered if he ever stopped looking at the ground. “Thank you,” I whispered and hugged him.

He tapped me on the back awkwardly. “I just hope I can get him out.” He turned, shifted, and trotted off towards the cave.

We waited impatiently for him to come back. I wondered what was taking so long and after what seemed an eternity, he came loping back. Alone.

“They won’t let me take him; said that Rainen wants him here. I think we can force our way, though. There are only ten of them in there.”

Everyone looked at me.

“Take me in there.”

Alex growled. “No way.”

“If he takes me in as a prisoner, they’ll believe Jasper is supposed to come too. Tie my hands in front so I can still get the colors to work.”

“I don’t like this, Hayden. If anything happens to you we won’t have to worry about the dogs because Jasper will kill us first.” Zane looked just as edgy as Alex.

“I’ll go with her. They’ll just think I came back after escaping from you.” Luke came to stand beside me. “I think Hayden is right. This is the best way to do it with the least amount of casualties.”

Matthew brought some rope and tied my hands loosely but convincingly in front of me. “You should be able to slip out of it when you need too.”

I nodded. “Let’s do this.”

Tara tied a gag in my mouth. It was so loose I could push it out with my tongue. Luke and Kacey each grabbed an arm and started walking with me. I started to hear voices as we got deeper into the cave.

“What do you think was up with Kacey?” one voice asked.

“Probably wants all the glory.”

“Naw. That’s not like Kacey. I know a lot of coyotes are shy, but he takes the cake. If he could blend into the ground he would. It’s amazing he’s even made captain.”

They looked up.

“Kacey, he’s not going...”

Kacey cut him off. “Look. Luke managed to escape and take the girl. We’re supposed to bring both of them to Rainen.”

Everyone’s eyes bugged out of their heads when they saw me. I tried to look as much as a prisoner as I could.

Kacey went to all the doors starting on the left. The others were too shocked to object. There were no other prisoners. Jasper was in the last one on the right just as he had predicted.

Tears sprang to my eyes. He wasn’t locked in the shackles like we had thought simply because there was no need for it. He lay on the ground in a heap, his hands tied behind his back. His clothes were ripped and he was covered in dried and fresh blood. His breathing was shallow. His face was so swollen I couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or closed.

Kacey walked into the cell and pulled him to his feet.

Jasper growled and threw himself against him sending both of them crashing into a wall.

“Careful, Kacey. He’s crazy. By the moons, anyone else would be dead by now and he still puts up a fight every time we open the door. Quite frankly, we’ve explained it to him… all he had to do was stop fighting and we’d stop beating, but he refuses to listen. He damn near killed Rick two days ago.”

I saw Kacey whisper to Jasper and some of the tension left the battered shoulders. Kacey pulled him up again and walked him out of the cell.

They were just getting past us when one of the guards got to his feet. “What in the world!”

I heard a growl from behind me and all ten guards were on their feet. I wondered who had been impatient as I picked a grey wave out of the air and threw it at the guards. I relaxed a little when I heard Kacey holler back that they were out.

I grabbed all the grey waves I could find in front of me and threw them as hard as I could. The chairs they had been sitting on fell back and the smallest one of them, I assumed he was a fox, slid backward into one of the rooms.

I smiled and pushed harder and a few of them fell back into the wall. They then crawled to the safest place they could find which was in the open cells.

I walked forward, keeping the wind in front of me. When all of them were hiding in the rooms I dropped my arms and four cats shifted and ran to close the doors. Four locks fell into place and Matthew patted me on the back.

“Nicely done,” he smiled.

“Thanks.” I smiled back at him. We ran out of the cave and back into the woods.

“Jasper!” I knelt beside him just as Luke was cutting the ropes from around his wrists.

He moaned as his arms rotated back to their normal position.

“Hayden.” I could barely hear his whisper. I put my hands on him to see what was needed to heal him.

A howl broke the silence. Kacey and Luke looked at each other and Luke looked back down at me. “We have to go now. That’s the rest of them coming back!”

“Hayden can ride with us,” Prense stated. I hopped on behind Tara and cringed at the pain I knew Jasper was feeling as Zane lifted him up onto Dodge. Luke swung on behind him.

Jasper leaned forward and grabbed handfuls of mane to help him stay on and we all shot off into the night.

 

*****

The sun was getting high in the sky when we finally stopped. I jumped off of Prense and ran to where Zane and Alex were laying Jasper on his back.

In the daylight, he looked even worse. Some of the bruises were already turning yellow. I lifted his shirt and tried not to cry. His chest had three cuts crossing over it. None of them were extremely deep. By the way his left arm was laying I was sure his forearm was broken. Most of his injuries were internal from the beatings.

Kacey was shaking his head. “I’m so sorry, Hayden.”

“Stop it, Kacey. You got him out. We couldn’t have done it without you.” I put my hands on Jasper and concentrated. I kept my eyes closed when he put a hand on mine. “Don’t move,” I whispered to him.

When I had assessed all of the damages I looked up at Zane. “There’s just too much for him to heal. I’ll have to give him some of mine.”

“No.” Jasper tried to open his eyes.

I tried to smile through my tears. “Are you going to stop me?”

I closed my eyes and started to push some energy into him. Zane put his hands on my shoulders in case I got dizzy. I spread my energy over his entire body and he groaned as the worst of his injuries healed themselves.

Alex, Luke and Ben held him as still as possible.

I kept pushing, ignoring the faintness. My energy mixed with his and he clenched his teeth at the pain.

“That’s enough!” he gasped.

Zane pulled me back and I fell against him.

“Is she alright?” Jasper cringed as he set himself up on his elbows to look at me.

“She’s fine,” Zane answered him.

A wave of dizziness hit me and I rolled away from Zane to keep from throwing up on him.

“Stubborn ass,” I muttered when I was done. Someone handed me a canteen and I took a drink.

“Look who’s calling who stubborn!” He groaned as he stood and came over to me. “Can you stand up?”

I took his hand and he pulled me up into his arms. I clung to him, tears soaking into what was left of his shirt. He laid his cheek on my head and rubbed my back. I looked up at him, glad to see that the swelling had gone down enough that he could open his eyes.

“Your nose has a bump on it again.” I reached up and touched it softly. “I thought you weren’t going to make a habit out of this,” I grinned through my tears.

He smiled back at me. “I like to make your temper come out.” His lips touched mine softly.

I sighed and lay my cheek back against his chest.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “But do you know, I think your friend in there was wrong. I still think I love you more.”

“I guess I’ll just have to keep saving you until you know how wrong you are.”

Matthew shook his head. “Are they always like that?” he asked Alex.

Our little group laughed and I looked over at Zane. “Wanna take bets as to whether he’s fated or not?”

Zane grinned. “I take not.”

Matthew blushed. “Well, not yet, anyway. That’s quite the mate you have there, Jasper.”

Jasper smiled. “I can’t argue; she’s something else. Thanks for helping her.”

Matthew grinned. “Well, now, I couldn’t very well leave you in the hands of the dogs.”

Alex walked over and put a hand on Jasper’s back. “Welcome back.”

“Thank you.” Jasper looked around. “Everybody. Thank you.”

“So do you think you can keep yourself from near death for another couple of years,

brother?” I stepped back so that Luke could give Jasper a hug.

Jasper laughed. “I can try!”

“I hate to rush everyone, but the closer we get to home, the better I will feel about celebrating this little victory,” Shanus interrupted.

Jasper looked down at me and kissed me again. “Home it is.”

Zane lift me onto Dodge and Jasper hopped on behind me with a groan. I looked around until I found who I was looking for.

“Kacey, are you coming with us?”

He gave a smile and a nod.

Alex patted him on the back. “Welcome to our diverse little group.”

We started off at an easy lope, eager to get home.

“Are you strong enough to hold me? I’m about to fall asleep. Maybe Luke should ride behind me so you can rest too.”

Jasper pulled me closer to him. “Like I could bear to let go of you right now. Go to sleep, Shlova. I’ll be fine.”

I felt him chuckle as I managed to mumble the word stubborn before falling asleep.

When I awoke, I still couldn’t open my eyes. I was lying on a blanket with Jasper’s arms wrapped around me. I managed to squeeze his hand weakly to let him know I was awake.

He squeezed me back and kissed my hair. “Go back to sleep. We just stopped for the night.” He sucked in his breath as he moved so he could hold me closer. I shivered and he readjusted the blankets.

“I love you,” he whispered.

I squeezed his hand again, sighed, and fell back asleep.

I stayed in my half-awake half asleep mode for two more days.

 

*****

The morning was cool. Jasper felt Hayden roll so she was facing him. He mumbled something, positive he was still sleeping and pulled her closer to him. He felt her shudder against him.

“Shush, Shlova. It’s alright,” he whispered. She tilted her face up and his lips found hers as he crushed her to his chest. He moaned then gasped as her nose touched his. He opened his eyes at the pain and found himself staring into deep green eyes filled with grey and gold flecks.

“Thank god, you’re really here,” he whispered hoarsely. “This isn’t another dream.”

She hugged him tightly. “Of course, I’m here. If they thought they could just steal you away from me they underestimated how much you mean to me.” Hayden smiled as she repeated the same words he’d once told her. “I love you so much,” she whispered. “When I realized they had taken you, it felt like half of my whole being got ripped away from me.”

“I tried to come back to you. Every time they would open that door, I tried.” He kissed her tenderly. He looked up at the snorting sound coming from behind them.

Hayden started to laugh. “Zane!” she whispered loudly. “You’re snoring again!”

Jasper heard him grunt as Alex rolled closer to him and poked him with an elbow.

“Geez, you guys! Can’t you leave a cat alone in the morning?”

A few chuckles could be heard as more people started to stir.

“I don’t want to move,” Hayden mumbled into Jasper’s chest.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine; still very tired, but ok. How do I look?”

He leaned back so he could look at her. She raised an eyebrow at him.

“The truth.”

Jasper rolled his eyes. “You’re a little pale, but not yellow. The dark circles are back under your eyes, but you don’t look like you’ve lost any weight.”

“Ok.”

“How do I look?” he smiled at her.

She shook her head and put it back on his chest. “Horrible.”

He laughed. “Thanks.”

“Your face is swollen, you’re black and blue and yellow everywhere, your clothes are all ripped and stained with blood.” She looked up at him. “Should I go on?”

He was still laughing. “No, that’s fine. If I look that bad now, how in the world did I look when you found me?”

She frowned and he felt her try to shield him from the crushed feeling she was projecting. “If it weren’t for the fact that I saw you breathe, I would have thought that you were dead.”

He pulled her closer. “Of course I wasn’t dead. I promised you I wouldn’t leave you, remember?”

She nodded. “I remember.”

He pulled back again and turned serious. “Whose blood is on you?”

She looked down at herself. “The spatters would be when I sliced Nate open in the clearing. And the bigger drops would be from when I bit his hand when he was trying to abduct me.”

“Is he still here?” Jasper was ready to kill.

Hayden shook her head. “Dodge kicked him in the chest.”

“And then Hayden burnt him to a crisp and kicked his ashes around.” Luke looked like he would choke with the effort not to laugh.

Jasper raised his eyebrows at her and grinned. “Temper!”

“Oh, be quiet! I was a little stressed out. Remember? I was too busy trying to save you to have some stupid little fox trying dumb things like that on me.” She grinned back at him. “Seems to me you just finished saying you let yourself get caught so you could make my temper come out.”

He laughed. “Yes, well, pity I didn’t get to see it.” He tried to hide a cringe when she moved against him.

Hayden got on her knees and pushed him onto his back. “Lay still.”

“No. Not until you’re better.”

“Jasper, I’m just going to see if the safe one will work.”

Zane and Luke came to hold him down.

She laid the wave over him and he hissed as everything finished healing. When it was done he closed his eyes and lay still, his breathing heavy.

“I think it definitely hurt less to be hurt.”

Hayden took his hand and stood, pulling him up with her. She shook her head. “You guys are something else. I heal you, and all you can do is complain. Next time you can all just lay around half dead and bleeding.”

Jasper pulled her into a hug and laughed. “We’re not saying we’re not grateful, Shlova. We’re just saying that it hurts.”

Matthew walked over to them. “Hayden?”

She looked up at him.

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy your little group’s company, but I would like to get back to Queen Melana.”

“Yes, you’re right. And I am dying to sleep in a bed again.”

Jasper squeezed her hand. “Lest nouth allais mairen, Shlova.”

She swung onto Dodge and he hopped on behind her so she could sleep. “Let’s go home,” she agreed.

 

*****

Three days later we crossed over the Wedelven Bridge and everybody breathed a sigh of relief when we finally reached the edge of our clearing.

Mel and Dawn came running out of the house. Luke fell to the ground as Mel ran into him without slowing.

Zane caught Dawn in midair as she jumped into his arms.

Jasper gave me a quick kiss and I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“Welcome back!”

I turned to the house with a smile as everyone but our little group dropped to their knees.

“Was there ever any doubt?” I asked with a laugh.

Melana walked up to us and looked at Jasper. “I’m glad to see you’re fine, Jasper, though from the looks of your clothes that wasn’t the case when they found you.”

Jasper laughed. “That’s the nice thing about being fated to a healer.”

Melana turned back to me. “I must say, I’m impressed, Hayden.”

I grinned and gave her a hug. “Piece of cake, really. I do have to thank you for loaning me Matthew and his crew. They were a great help.”

She nodded, her eyes still slightly big at the fact that I had hugged her.

“Were there any casualties?” she asked.

“Just Nate, the fox I healed at the clearing.”

She looked at Matthew who had made his way over to us. He bowed to her.

“What of the dogs?” she asked. “How many were killed.”

“None,” he reported.

“I beg your pardon?” Melana’s jaw hung open.

His mouth twitched as he tried not to smile. “None.”

She regained her composure and turned back to me. “How about you go get cleaned up and then you can catch me up on everything. I thought about making tea, but thought some sloan might fit the occasion a bit better.” She grinned. “A little bird told me you were coming.”

The blue bird landed on my shoulder and bobbed her head.

“That sounds great.”

We said goodbye to Tara and Ben who wanted to go home and get some sleep. Shanus, Prense, Phlann and Dodge followed after them, offering to stop by Fillian’s to fill them in on everything that had happened.

Melana’s guards went off into the woods in search of a place to rest. Only Matthew stayed behind.

Jasper and I sat on the floor. I leaned back against him, loving the feel of his arms wrapped around me.

Melana was laughing at Alex who was putting on a demonstration of me taking care of Nate after the abduction attempt.

Luke took over explaining when we entered the cave.

Melana’s eyes widened and she looked over at Kacey.

“So how did you do it, then,” she asked him.

“I’m not sure, really,” he answered, his eyes still down.

“It’s not just will power. Nate told me before he tried to take me, that if that was it, he would have done it,” I thought out loud. I looked up. “With Jasper we just assumed it was because he was fated to me. Luke because of Jasper and Mel because of Luke. With Dawn it was obviously because of Zane.”

I looked over at Alex. “What about you? Now that Melana is here, do you feel your bond again?”

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

I felt Jasper shrug. “Maybe there is no particular reason why it happens.”

I looked up at Zane. “Did you tell Jasper yet?”

“Not yet.”

“What?” Jasper glanced at his friend.

Zane grinned from ear to ear. “I’m going to be a daddy.”

Jasper laughed. “That’s great!”

“Can you tell how many you’re having?” I asked.

Dawn shook her head. “No, but foxes usually have two or three pups at a time.”

Zane looked over at her. “Panthers only have one.”

Jasper looked at them and laughed. “Well, however many you have, it will be interesting to see who they take after.”

“Maybe they will be red panthers!” Alex was grinning at the thought. Leslie gave him a playful slap to the shoulder.

I got up and gave them both a hug. “Whatever they look like, they’ll be perfect.”

I looked at Melana, suddenly curious. “Do you shift?”

She nodded. “I’m a tiger.”

“So are all the queens tigers? And is it always a queen?” Now that I had met her I could think of a million questions I hadn’t thought of asking Jasper.

“No.” She went on to explain. “Before me there was a king. He was a lion.”

“So how do you pick who gets to rule?”

“You’re just born to it. I’ll get to rule until the next in line reaches the age of twenty. Then I will step down. I’ve been queen for almost fifty years now. Most get to rule about thirty. It’s a little odd that another White One hasn’t been born yet.”

My jaw dropped. “How old are you? You look like you’re twenty five!”

Melana laughed along with everybody else. “I’m seventy three. When our rule starts, we stop aging until we are replaced.”

“So, White Ones. Explain that.”

She grinned. “I assume you noticed that I am a little pale.”

I laughed and nodded.

“That’s how all rulers are born. We also have a mark on our thumb.” She held hers up to me and I saw what looked like a wave. “When we step down, we actually change colors. I’ll never be very dark, mind you. I imagine I’ll turn blond with blue eyes.” She smiled. “It’s interesting to try and figure it out sometimes. When I shift I’ll never be orange like the other tigers, but I will darken up so that I’m not white anymore, probably more of a honey color.”

“Can I see?”

She stood and shifted.

“Wow!” I noticed I wasn’t the only one amazed. Everyone but Jasper, Alex and Matthew were staring.

Melana was beautiful. Her fur was the purest white and her stripes jet black. She blinked her almost white eyes and shifted back. She was blushing.

Dawn gave Zane a playful slap to the back of the head.

He pulled her to him and kissed her. “No worries, sweets. I’m more of a fox man myself!”

We all laughed.

We went on to tell Melana about everything that had happened with the humans.

“Well, isn’t that interesting. I need to get back to Pinsaber and discuss this with my generals.” She glanced at Jasper. “Is there any chance that you might be convinced to come back?”

He shook his head. “Not at this very moment.”

Tyler yawned and reminded everyone how tired we were.

We said goodbye to Zane, Dawn, Luke, Mel, and the twins, all of whom promised to come back later the next day.

“When you feel up to it, come visit the castle,” offered Melana as she started to walk away. There were still a few hours of daylight left and she wanted to get started home as well.

“We will,” I promised.

Matthew seemed to hesitate. He glanced towards Melana who was already shifted by the trees and frowned.

I gave him a hug. “Thanks again, Matthew.”

He nodded but didn’t move.

“Go,” I said. “We’ll still be here when you’re ready.”

“It’s the strangest feeling; like I’m being pulled in two directions. Is that how it was for you?” he asked Jasper.

My mate shook his head. “I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary until Hayden told me I would have to tie her up and drag her to the keep to get her there. That’s what I should have done, but I couldn’t.”

“Mine was different. I felt mine break the instant I stood in front of her in the clearing and I realized she was the one I was dreaming about.” Alex laughed at Matthew’s face and put a reassuring arm around Leslie. “We’re not fated. The only thing we can think of is that I’m one of her guardians, like Dodge.”

Kacey’s grey eyes were distant as he thought back. “I knew something was different when we left the keep. Every time I thought about the fact that we were going after Hayden I would question the order. I have never questioned an order. And when we were ordered to attack in the clearing, I couldn’t even move. I just stood there while everyone fought. Then the arrow got me and I fell, so I just lay there. I didn’t even try to get away when one of your cats came to finish me off.

“All I could think was that I would rather die than hurt her. But I don’t think I knew for sure until Nate tried to take her and I was positive that had Dodge not killed him I would have.” He blushed and looked back down. It was the most he had said in the past week and a half.

Matthew seemed to take in all of this information. He nodded to himself and shifted. The leopard bowed to me slightly then bounded off after the white tiger.

“Wow, Hayden,” Alex was grinning at me. “That’s two of the Queen’s best captains you steal from her.”

“I don’t steal anybody.” I turned and wrapped my arms around Jasper. “Except you; I would have stolen you if I’d had to.”

He smiled down at me. “Now, that would have been something to see.”

We made our way back into the house. Kacey hesitated at the door.

“Come in, Kacey,” Jasper smiled at him. “I’m sure we can spare the floor for you. Then you can move to the spare room when Alex and Leslie head home tomorrow.” He grabbed some extra blankets and passed them to Kacey.

“Kacey.”

He looked up from the floor, towards me.

“We have a few rules in our little group. Would you like to hear them?”

He nodded.

“We don’t kill unless we have to. We don’t fight if it can be avoided. We all help each other.” I smiled at him. “And most importantly, we aren’t an army, or a pack. We are a family.”

His grey eyes widened.

“You are a part of this family now. So, no more hesitating, no more looking at the ground. If you have an opinion, say it. There’s no right or wrong. You won’t be punished. If you feel like leaving to do something, you don’t have to ask permission. Is that understood?”

He nodded.

Alex gave him a pat on the back. “You’ll like it here.”

Jasper squeezed my hand. My heart did a flip at the look in his eyes. He led me quietly to our bedroom and closed the door.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Exhausted.” I smiled at him.

“You had better get some sleep, then.” His eyes were watching me as I slowly undressed. I shrugged and wiggled my hips to get out of my pants.

He looked at me with a small smile on his lips and I smiled back. I made my way to him and untied the laces of his tunic, watching his muscles move under his skin as he reached back and pulled it off in one fluid motion over his head. A couple of curls fell down over his eyes.

I reached down and undid the ties on his pants, helping them down to his ankles. My fingers ran lightly along the inside of his thighs when I stood back up.

His shiver made me smile and I let my tongue play over his nipples as I stroked him with my hand. He moaned and pulled my face up to his, his lips crushing mine.

“By the moons, Hayden, I need you now!” He picked me up and placed me on the edge of the bed. He looked down at me, his eyes burning.

I put one leg up on his shoulder, hooked the other one behind him and reached down to guide him in. I closed my eyes and moaned as he filled me slowly then pulled back again.

His hands gripped my hips and held them steady. His thrusts were strong and deep. Every movement sent shivers through my entire body. All of our fear, stress and relief of the past weeks were being released with every stroke. I moved my hips up to meet him and he groaned.

He pulled out and my body screamed for him. Using his hands on my hips, he gently rolled me over. The way he did it was almost like a question. It occurred to me that we hadn’t tried this position since the night we had mated.

I spread my legs in answer, gasping as he entered me and stayed completely sheathed in me. He lay down over my back and kissed my neck softly where he had once drew blood with a bite.

I moaned as he started to move against me, softly pushing as deeply into me as he could. I pushed back against him and could hear his breathing come in faster, shorter breaths. I buried my face in the blankets as an electric current started deep inside of me and spread outward to every nerve in my body.

Jasper pulled me against him harder and I gasped as another shockwave went through me before the first one was done. I felt him swell inside of me, his thighs tensing against the back of mine. His arms went around me, his chest on my back and he kissed my neck and shoulders softly.

We stayed like that for a few minutes until our heartbeats had slowed back to normal.

Jasper let go of me and I lay down, watching him watching me.

I raised an eyebrow and smiled when it became obvious that he wasn’t done.

Without a word he lay down beside me and brought himself up on one elbow. His fingers traced the outline of my breasts. His lips found mine, the kiss so soft.

“And now I need to love you,” he whispered.

Every touch, every kiss was slow, soft. I ran my fingers through his hair and my hips reached up to meet him. His lips never left my skin. His hands never stopped touching me. His rhythm never faltered.

Jasper covered my mouth with his as I bucked under him. I clenched around him and sent him over the edge. He rolled onto his side and pulled me to his chest, his fingers running through my hair. I closed my eyes.

He pushed me back and looked at me in surprise as a tear fell onto his arm.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” He started to pull away from me.

I stopped him by hooking a leg over his hip. “No. You didn’t hurt me. Will you quit worrying about that?” I looked up into his worried eyes and smiled. “I’m just...I’m happy, and relieved, and so grateful to have you home again.”

He relaxed and pulled me tightly against him. “You saved me, even before you got there. I’m sure I should have died. I could feel my body wanting to give up. But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Every time I thought of you it gave me the strength to hang on for another hour.”

I looked up at him with new tears in my eyes.

“Shush,” he whispered and wiped the tears away before kissing me softly. He pulled away slowly and looked into my eyes. His voice was thick as he continued. “When I was lying on the floor in the cave, I was thinking about how I would try to tell you how much I loved you when I saw you again.”

He shook his head a little. “There just isn’t any way that is accurate enough. I could tell you I loved you every minute of the day and it still wouldn’t come close to how much I do.”

I reached up and touched his face. He closed his eyes.

“I’ve thought about that too,” I whispered back to him. “I think I came up with a solution.”

He opened his eyes and I caught my breath at how beautiful they were. I was positive I would never get used to them.

“I think that maybe, just maybe, if we tell each other every day,” I kissed him softly. “And if we show each other every day for the rest of our lives, we might come close to letting each other know.”

He groaned and kissed me hard.

When I could catch my breath I looked up and lost myself in his eyes. “I love you so much,” I whispered.

We lay together, exhausted. I felt him smile into my hair and I looked up.

“What?”

His smile widened. “I was just thinking that after tonight, we’re off to a good start.”

I laughed and rolled so that my back was against his chest. He pulled me tightly to him.

“Oh, and Hayden,” he said with a yawn.

“Hmmm?”

He chuckled a little and I smiled at what I knew was coming.

“I still love you more.”

I snuggled closer to him. “And he calls me stubborn,” I mumbled as we fell asleep.