Page 32 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

After giving Ben his drink and being shooed back out of the kitchen by a newly-arrived Nana, Vaughn joined Sam on the couch. Sam leaned into him without taking his eyes of the screen. Vaughn looked to see what had him so absorbed and got caught up himself. Sam was researching homeschooling and had about half a dozen tabs open that he flipped back and forth between. He kept returning to one in particular, so Vaughn gave the tablet a gentle tug and slid it over so he could read as well.

Ollie grumbled as he was jostled a little then wiggled his way across both of their laps. Vaughn ran his fingers through Ollie’s soft blond hair as he read about homeschooling requirements in their state as well as different methodologies for teaching multiple-aged children in the home at one time.

“Time to eat,” Nana called.

She didn’t need to say it twice. Six hungry cubs bounded into the dining room and scrambled into their chairs.

“Can we talk about that later?” Vaughn asked, gesturing toward the tablet.

“Of course,” Sam replied. “I probably should have talked to you first.”

“No, it’s fine. I just— well, we’ll talk later.” He smiled as he stood and reached back for Sam’s hand. He tugged him up, and they went into the dining room where the cubs were impatiently waiting. Nana merely smirked at them. His parents came in next, taking seats at the table as well.

Vaughn couldn’t help smiling again. In fact, he’d smiled more in the past day than he had in the past year. The situation wasn’t great and what happened to the cubs was horrifying to say the least, but for this moment, Vaughn had everything he’d ever dreamed of. He closed his eyes and sent yet another prayer of thanks to the goddess for her blessing then turned his attention back to his family.

Nana had cooked up a strange concoction of salmon and sweet potato cakes that the kids devoured. Ben ate twelve of the things and leaned back in his chair with a pleased groan as he rubbed his belly.

Ollie ate his vegetables without argument, too hungry from their romp outside to remember he didn’t like them.

Once they were finished, Vaughn had them clear the table. They were used to cleaning up after themselves, and Ben even tried to convince Nana to let him do the dishes.

It would have been sweet if Vaughn didn’t get the impression he thought he had to, that if he didn’t help, he’d have to leave. Working on their confidence was going to take a lot of time. Vaughn knew a couple counselors who worked in the supernatural world— their kind were just as prone to mental health issues as the human population, no matter that they often tried to deny it— and would put in a call to get the kids some additional support. He and Sam would need it.

He and Sam.

Vaughn grinned again as he shooed the kids upstairs. Sam stayed behind to work on grading the last of the papers he needed to have complete by school the following morning. They had six kids and three showers up there, so he herded Ben into one while Henry waited his turn.

Natasha took the second with Emily waiting. He led Jack and Ollie with him into the third. A sack of bath toys had magically appeared in the bathroom, along with kid-friendly soap and shampoo. Vaughn really wondered sometimes how Nana made it all look so easy.

He let Ollie play in the tub for a while after Jack showered since Jack wasn’t really interested in the toys. His attention had been grabbed by the stack of coloring books on the bookcase. He was in and out of the shower in a flash, barely getting himself clean and into pajamas before he stretched out on the floor with a coloring book and a mug stuffed to the brim with colored pencils. Vaughn kept one ear on the rest of the kids, but they were all old enough that he didn’t worry too much. Ollie was his little troublemaker, and Vaughn ended up with half the bath water on him when Ollie discovered that one of the plastic ducks squirted water when he squeezed it.

Once he convinced Ollie it was time to get out of the tub, he got him dressed, and they joined the rest of the cubs in the middle of the bedroom floor. Ollie plopped down beside Ben, who was as absorbed in coloring as the younger kids.

“Okay, guys. I’m going back downstairs. It’s quiet time for a while. Ollie, that means we settle down, okay? Color and relax for a bit. Sound good?”

They nodded.

“I’ll be back in thirty minutes or so and we’ll get ready for bed.”

Vaughn was surprised to find Nana and his parents still downstairs. Sam hadn’t gotten a chance to grade his papers yet, but the four of them had laptops open and were jotting notes down on a variety of legal pads. “And what are we researching?” Vaughn asked.

“Homeschooling,” Sam and his mom said in unison.

“Kids furniture for the upstairs bedrooms and more clothes because three outfits apiece isn’t enough,” Nana said.

“I’m working on getting them official papers,” Stuart replied.

Vaughn looked at the clock then back at his family. “How long was I gone?”

Nana snickered. “Long enough.”

Vaughn sat down beside Sam and rested his hand on Sam’s knee. “I don’t want to spoil your plans, but Meshaq is looking for their families. I— don’t want you to be heartbroken. Any of you.”

Sam laid his hand on top of Vaughn’s and gently squeezed.

His mother reached across the table to him and Vaughn took her hand in his other one. “Son, you know as well as I do that the story isn’t going to go that way. If those babies had parents who were missing them, we’d know about it. Our world isn’t that big and a parent’s voice is very loud where their cub is concerned.”

Vaughn knew she was right, deep in his gut. It didn’t explain the hows or whys, but if someone were looking for those kids, he would have heard about it. At the very least, Meshaq would have heard about it, especially once he sent out feelers on them asking for information.