Free Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' by Mireille Chester

away.
     
    *****
    When I awoke I was warm and dry. I was
also naked. Soft lips kissed my neck. Fingers laced with mine and I
heard a contented sigh. My eyes flew open and I found myself
looking into the fireplace at our cabin. I slowly gazed back over
my shoulder and got lost in the perfect blue eyes that were smiling
at me.
    “Good morning, Shlova.”
    For an instant I didn’t care how I had
gotten home. All that mattered was that I was there. I turned and
crushed my lips to Jasper’s.
    He groaned and pulled me against him.
“I still can’t believe we’re home,” he whispered into my hair. He
ran his tongue along my lower lip and I moaned. “Hayden.” His voice
sounded funny. I looked up at him.
    “Hayden, wake up.”
    I blinked, and when I opened my eyes
again I was staring into blue green ones. My heart sank.
    Brice gave me a lopsided grin. “It’s
not that I don’t appreciate being woken up like that, it’s just
that I would rather both parties involved be awake.”
    I blushed. “Sorry. I had a dream I was
home.”
    “That’s kind of what I thought.” He
gave me a kiss on the forehead. “So, let’s get you there.” He stood
and helped me up. “You know, I was thinking, you saved me from the
archers. Do you think you’ll be able to save me from
Jasper?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, the last time Jasper saw me, I
had a dagger to your throat. I saw the look on his face. The next
time he sees me, I’m a dead man.”
    I had seen the look he was talking
about. “He’ll see you’re bringing me back. He’ll see that I’m not
hurt.” I grinned up at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” I
hoped.
    Brice laughed. “I’ll hold you to that.”
He took my hand and started to lead me toward the water.
    “Hang on.” I pulled back on him so he
would stop. “I want to try something.” I took the displacement
stone out of my pocket. “I want to see if I can get it to carry
both of us.”
    “You can do that?”
    “I’m not sure. But if I was able to
project that thing to the shifters, I think I might be able to
project this too.”
    “What should we do?”
    “I think if you hold me, it might be
easier to transfer it if we’re touching. And we’ll have to think of
the same thing.”
    “Jasper?”
    “Jasper.”
    Brice wrapped his arms around me in a
bear hug and leaned his chin on my head. I thought of Jasper and
tightened my hold on the stone. It started to warm my hand. The
warmth made its way up my arm, and slowly enveloped my whole body.
I pushed the warm wave over Brice. It crossed over to him easily
enough to start with but stopped short then began receding back
toward me. I felt the power of the shifting stone trying to deflect
it. I pushed it harder and was relieved when the warmth of the
displacement stone covered the other’s energy and I had him
completely engulfed. I concentrated on Jasper, of having his arms
around me. The heat gradually warmed up until the sensation was
almost unbearable.
    I was suddenly free falling and I held
on to Brice as hard as I could. As quickly as it began, the feeling
was gone and there was ground under my feet again.
    The first noise I heard was the sound
of a cat growling. The second was of a man screaming in
pain.
    I opened my eyes and saw Jasper
crouched low, his body tensed, tail twitching, ready to dodge as a
man came at him with a dagger. Dodge was farther to the left,
spinning from side to side, trying to keep three men away from him.
His new wings were folded tightly over his back.
    I noticed five more men coming out of
the woods. A glance at the ground showed me my swords beside our
packs. I dove and rolled, pulling them out of their scabbards as I
stood up.
    Jasper’s attacker was joined by two
more. One of the men made their way toward me.
    Brice shifted and circled around so
that the three men going after Jasper were caught between the two
of them.
    Jasper gave some unseen signal. Both
cats leaped toward the men.
    All I heard