Page 26 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

“Who’s ready for a snack?” Nana asked.

“Me!” Ollie jumped up and bounced over to her.

“Then let’s go. We can’t have a hungry cub around here, now can we? You might eat the furniture.”

After she led the kids into the house, Sam turned to Vaughn. “You want me to hang out here with you guys or go inside?”

“I’m fine with you staying as long as Meshaq is,” Vaughn said.

“You can stay. First, Alpha Jerrick, how are they doing?”

Vaughn blew out a breath and ran his hands over his hair. “They’re okay. All a little underweight, Ben especially. From what I can gather, they were mostly fed microwaveable stuff, and not enough of it at that. From what we’ve put together, Ben took less so the other kids could have more. We can fix that, though. Regular meals with some extra protein all around.”

“And any other abuse than what is visible on Ben?”

Vaughn tensed at the question, and then breathed deeply once again. “It seems Mrs. Foote had quite the temper but slaps and withholding meals was the worst of it.”

Meshaq growled and even Sam wanted to find the woman and make sure she paid for what she’d done. He rarely lost control of his temper, but he’d actually wanted to hurt her the night before.

“She better hope I don’t find her,” Meshaq said.

“No luck tracking her?” Vaughn asked.

“No. Which is very concerning. As is the strength of the wards that were surrounding the house. I think we should have our own wards added. I can have them keyed into both of us, so I’ll know if something breaks through and can come immediately.”

“I’d appreciate that. We don’t have any magic users in the pack.”

“Well, Henry,” Sam said. “But he’s too young, I’m sure.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Meshaq said. “However, I wonder if Henry could have broken them all out of that house if he’d been able to use his magic.”

“We’ll have to ask him,” Vaughn said. “We have questions about their families, too. How long they’ve been there. Ben says he’s been there for ‘a long time’ and said that Henry was still ‘really little’ when he got there. So I’m curious as to where they came from.”

“I asked around,” Meshaq said. “A few folks remember a bear family having disappeared about ten years back. Foxes stick to themselves, so I’m having a harder time finding anything there. It’s the wolves and Henry I’m wondering about. You’d have heard of that many wolf cubs going missing, wouldn’t you?”

“I thought the same,” Vaughn said. “There are so few cubs that even one going missing would sound the alarm. Every wolf able would make their way to assist the pack. For us to find three we didn’t even know existed?”

“Something is really weird,” Sam said. “Did you figure out how they knew to ask for you by name?”

Vaughn shook his head. “I didn’t ask.”

“Another question for our young mage,” Meshaq said. “If he is a seer, that might explain how he knew who to ask for and where to find you.”

Sam couldn’t help but scowl in confusion as one more layer of this world was revealed. “Wait, now there’s not only magic but seers too? And why did that word cause Vaughn’s eyes to about pop out of his head?”

Vaughn had definitely paled and Sam definitely didn’t like it.

“Seers are extremely rare, more rare even than our cubs. They are protected carefully,” Meshaq explained.

“Well, Henry will be protected carefully regardless,” Vaughn said. “But we will require additional resources if he is a seer.”

“Understood,” Meshaq said. “I’ll make sure you have what you need.”

“Well, I don’t understand,” Sam said. “So seers are rare. Why are you so freaked out, Vaughn?”

Meshaq’s expression grew grim. “Because seers are often hunted down and killed, Sam. No matter what we try to do to protect them.”

Vaughn sat down on the step next to Sam and let out a weird growly rumbling sound. Sam wasn’t sure how exactly to interpret it, but he went with needing comfort. He laid his hand carefully on Vaughn’s arm. When Vaughn turned to him, his eyes were glowing blue.