Destiny (The Chosen One Trilogy:Book Three) Read Free Page B

ears to identify them as shifters.”
    Harold nodded to Gina who walked to one of
the fallen humans. She rolled him onto his stomach and pulled his
ear forward. Her eyes widened.
    “There’s no mark.” She moved on to another
and then another. “None of them do.”
    “That’s not possible.” Rainen went to check
one of the bodies. She frowned.
    I went to stand by her. “It’s the stone.” I
searched the dead man’s pockets until I found what I was looking
for. I handed the small stone to Rainen. “It lets them shift. When
Braw separates a Maj or a Namael he can catch the animal in a
stone. They’ve been using these to get close to you and
Melana.”
    I moved to another of the bodies and found
his stone. “Tara.” I tossed the stone to her. I had tried showing
Melana’s court the shifting stones and had been accused of already
being able to shift. I wasn’t making the same mistake twice.
Wedelves couldn’t shift and everyone knew it. Tara took the stone,
closed her eyes, and drew in one deep breath. Her form wavered and
turned into a coyote. Her caramel colored eyes blinked. She sat
back on her haunches and looked at me, her head tilted in
question.
    I smiled. “That’s good, I think.”
    Tara shifted back into a Wedelve and handed
the stone to Jasper. “Ugh. That is the oddest feeling. You can feel
your bones shift and everything!”
    Rainen’s attention turned to me and I saw
Jasper tense. She ignored him and chewed on her bottom lip. “How
did you know where to find me? You said you came to save us.”
    “Damian.”
    Her eyes widened. “Damian hasn’t left his
room for years.”
    “But he can project himself. At least he
could. The last time we saw him he told us he could only project
himself to me and Jasper. He said he would displace us to one of
the crossings and that we were to stay in the other world for a
year. He let us know when we should cross back so that we would
find you. He said to be ready to fight.” I looked into her eyes.
“Is he still alive?”
    She nodded. “Barely.”
    I turned to the dead humans and took a deep
breath. “Let’s find their stones.”
    Rainen watched as we picked the dead men’s
pockets. “What do you do with them?”
    “Keep them, for now. I’m hoping I can find a
way to release them so they can rejoin their other halves.”
    When all of them were found they were placed
in the bag that already held almost thirty stones. My fingers
fumbled with the draw strings and dropped the bag. Jasper managed
to catch it before it spilled its contents onto the ground.
    “You need to sleep, Shlova.” His blue eyes
bore into mine.
    I nodded.
    He turned to the rest of the group. “Let’s
get to the waterfall and set up camp.”
    “Tomorrow, we’ll head to Howel.”
    His gaze came back to me. “Why Howel? We
already found Rainen. We can talk to her here and head straight
home.”
    “I want to see Damian. Maybe there’s
something I can do.”
    Rainen grunted. “I’ve tried everything. I’ve
brought in the best healers, I’ve tried every spell that I know.
Nothing works. Something is sucking the energy right out of
him.”
    “It won’t hurt for me to try.”
    Her dark blue eyes narrowed. “Why do you care
what happens to him?”
    I pictured the leader of the Maj with his
graying dark hair and his strange grey eyes. “He’s been helping
Jasper and I for the past few years now. It’s the least I can do to
try and repay him.” I could see the hatred and mistrust in her
eyes. I couldn’t blame her, but I was hoping we would be able to
get past all of our past encounters and work together in the near
future. More black spots floated into sight and I closed my eyes to
keep from falling.
    “Shlova!” Jasper’s arms caught me and he
cradled me against his chest. “Alright. Let’s move it. We’ll be
staying at the waterfall for as long as it takes Hayden to wake
up.” I felt him turn. “You might want to stick with us. Running
into another pack of