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

were the screams as I
focused on my opponent. He lunged forward aiming for my chest with
his dagger. My swords swung up and scissored together. Blood
sprayed me, the man’s arm cut off just before the elbow. He
screamed and clutched his arm to his chest and ran into the woods.
I let him go.
    I looked over at Dodge in time to see
him jump forward and bite one of his challengers in the face.
Jasper and Brice took care of the other two.
    We all stood, unmoving, waiting for
another wave of attackers. The only noise to be heard was our heavy
breathing. Jasper shifted back. He still had his battle face
on.
    I bent down and quickly strapped my
scabbards to my back but didn’t put the swords away. The movement
drew his gaze to me. Perfect blue eyes looked into mine and
blinked. He turned to look at Brice who had shifted
back.
    If Brice saw the punch coming he wasn’t
quick enough to dodge it. His head snapped back and his nose
spurted blood.
    Jasper picked his dagger off the
ground, stuck it into his belt and stalked over to me. I sheathed
my swords and ran to him, wrapping my arms around his
neck.
    “Thank the moons,” he whispered. He
simply held me tightly to his chest and I felt him take a long
shuddering breath.
    “Shush. It’s ok.” The words barely made
it out with my sobs. Tears were running from my eyes. He smiled and
wiped them from my cheeks, then used his arm to wipe his own away.
He held my face gently in his hands and kissed me softly. My lips
tingled and my heart jumped. I felt him smile before he kissed me a
little harder. His tongue found mine and I moaned.
    He was breathing hard when he pulled
away and leaned his forehead against mine. “You’re
alright?”
    I nodded. “Are you?”
    “I am now that you are with me
again.”
    I hate to interrupt, but I’d
like to get away from here and closer to home if we
could . Dodge was walking toward
us.
    I smiled. “Hey, Buddy. Are you
alright?” I gave him a hug.
    He nodded.
    I walked around him and he spread his
wings so I could see. Jasper walked with me, his hand in mine,
neither one of us wanting to stop touching.
    “Wow. Those are amazing! Have you tried
flying yet?”
    I have. It is unbelievable.
I can’t wait to take you up there .
    “Awesome!” I turned to look for Brice.
He was leaning against a tree, trying to get his nose to stop
bleeding. “Did you have to do that?” I asked Jasper.
    He shrugged. “It’s less than what I
really wanted to do to him.”
    The three of us made our way over to
him. I let go of Jasper’s hand and made Brice kneel so I could heal
him.
    When I was done he stayed where he was,
looking at the ground.
    I gave Jasper’s hand a squeeze and he
sighed. “Stand up, Brice.”
    Brice’s eyes were wide as he did as he
was told. Jasper moved toward him and he flinched.
    “Relax, Brice. I’m not going to kill
you.”
    “I would understand if you
did.”
    Jasper shook his head. “You’re like a
brother to me. If I can forgive one brother for taking her, I can’t
very well kill the other one for it.”
    I started to laugh and everyone looked
at me.
    “What’s so funny about that,
Shlova?”
    “I was just thinking what a messed up
family we are.” I grinned at him. “You’re a Namael, Luke is a Maj,
I’m half human, half Wedelve, and Brice is a full
human.”
    The look on Jasper’s face was
priceless. “But…”
    “We’ll explain on the way. I tend to
agree with Dodge. Let’s head home. Do you know where we are,
Brice?”
    He looked carefully at our surroundings
then nodded. “The Wedelven River is about three hours from here. If
we can get across the river, we should be safe; from humans,
anyway.”
    Jasper gave me a boost onto Dodge. I
rubbed a hand over his wings. “You look like a bay Pegasus.” His
laughter echoed in my head.
    We started off at a trot, Jasper and
Brice staying human so they could talk. Jasper explained how the
Mother had given Faren permission to fly him closer to the human
border.