Page 30 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

They all scrambled off of him. Sam pushed up on his arms and found Ben sitting beside him with the most adorable expression on his face. “Bring it in, buddy,” Sam said.

He waggled his arms, and Ben moved closer. Even sitting, Ben’s animal form towered over Sam. His head was huge and covered in deep blackish brown fur. Sam reached out to touch, and Ben leaned his head into Sam’s hand.

“So cool. You’re awesome, Ben.”

He actually didn’t even know if they could understand him. He hadn’t thought to ask if they could. He turned to ask Vaughn then remembered that Vaughn wasn’t Vaughn anymore. He was a wolf.

Wolf Vaughn sat half a dozen feet away, his brilliant blue eyes locked onto Sam. The kids had all walked over to him, with Ben leaving Sam’s side once he realized Sam’s attention was no longer on him.

“Wow,” Sam said.

Henry sat down on the grass next to Sam, smiling at his friends.

“You knew who they were,” Henry said. “It took me a long time to tell them apart. Well, Ben and Natasha are easy. But Emily and Jack are harder ‘cause they look alike. Ollie’s easy too, ‘cause he’s so little.”

“It wasn’t so bad.” He turned his attention back to Vaughn. “I feel like I’m supposed to do something.”

Henry nudged him. “You gotta go greet the alpha, Sam. Everybody knows that.”

“I don’t know that.”

Henry rolled his eyes. “Everybody knows, Sam.”

“You didn’t greet him.”

“Yes, I did,” Henry said. “When they were licking your face off.”

Vaughn cocked his head to the side, waiting, almost daring Sam to come closer.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Just go talk to him. You gotta go to him ‘cause he’s the alpha.”

“How do you know this?” Sam asked.

Henry shrugged. “I just know. Go on. Don’t be a baby.”

“Hey!” Sam protested. “That’s not nice.”

Henry scrambled to his feet and held out his hand. “Come on, Sam.”

Sam stood and reached for Henry’s hand. It was weird that a kid was comforting him and keeping him from being so scared, and Sam knew that underneath all that fur was Vaughn.

The eyes were the same and Vaughn did that same head tilt thing when he was thinking. It didn’t change the instinctual fear from making his belly flip nervously.

He was standing next to a wolf. And a bear. And a fox. And a mage.

“Sam, you gotta greet him.”

“How do I do that?”

Henry sighed like he couldn’t quite imagine how Sam had survived to adulthood. He knelt in front of Vaughn and bared his neck. Vaughn licked him there, sharp teeth incredibly close to very vulnerable human skin. Then Vaughn turned his blue-eyed stare back to Sam.

Waiting.

Sam slowly moved closer, his heart pounding nervously in his chest. When he was close to Henry, he knelt down beside him. He’d never respected the predator/prey relationship more.

He sucked in a breath then let it out slowly and tilted his head to the side. Vaughn leaned closer, his big wolfy eyes locked on Sam’s. He licked him once, twice, and then raised his head.

“That was kinda terrifying,” Sam whispered.