Page 205 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

After another half hour that was mostly spent discussing the weather, Eduard ushered his two cousins back to the path and gave the vampire guards a significant look. Sawyer and Henry stayed seated at the table, and Henry couldn’t help but wonder what had Eduard so tense.

Once they were gone, Eduard let out a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair. Andvari sat as well, while Draco hovered behind Sawyer.

“Sorry about that,” Eduard said.

“It was fine,” Sawyer replied. “They were nice. Well, Magdalen was nice. I think Helena wasn’t happy to be here.”

“No, she wouldn’t have been,” Eduard said. “I should have told the guards to not allow any family members entrance, but I worried about father’s reaction if he found out I’d barred their entry. It’s fine now.”

“You spoke to your father?”

“I did.” The tension in Eduard came back and Henry could see that it hadn’t gone well.

“That bad, huh?” Sawyer asked.

Eduard shrugged before reaching for Sawyer’s hand and threading their fingers together. “No one said this was going to be easy. We’re going to do what we have to do.”

They sat quietly for a few minutes, each lost to their thoughts, when Eduard’s cell phone rang and broke the mood. He took the call as he walked into the house. He ran his hand over both Sawyer and Henry’s shoulders as he left. Andvari took the opportunity to work out while Draco kept eying the lounge chair longingly.

“Go sleep,” Sawyer said. “Henry and I are going to be upstairs in Eduard’s rooms.”

Draco grumbled for a second, but he gave up the fight and kissed them both before going back to the sunny spot and lying down. Henry followed Sawyer into the house and upstairs to Eduard’s sitting room. They each grabbed a book off the stack Henry brought and settled on the couch side by side. It wasn’t long before Henry had laid down with his head on Sawyer’s lap while Sawyer held his book on the arm of the chair with one hand and petted Henry’s hair with the other.

Sawyer sighed, long and dramatically, and didn’t even seem to notice. Henry dropped his book on the floor and rolled over so he could wrap his arms around Sawyer’s middle. It was awkward and limb tangling, but he managed to do it.

“Talk to me,” Henry said.

“I just… it’s all been so much. I think everything has finally started to sink in.”

“Okay. And why does that make you so sad?”

“Not sad, exactly,” Sawyer explained. “I’m… I don’t know if I want to say this out loud.”

Henry pushed up enough so that their faces were closer together. “You can trust me. You know that, right?”

Sawyer nodded. “It’s just… I don’t think all this is real.”

He’d whispered the words, his voice cracking a bit as he closed his eyes and laid his forehead against Henry’s.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but we are real. This is real.”

“Come on,” Sawyer said. “How can it be? My best friend is a dragon. You’re a mage. I’m having regular sex with four men, none of whom are totally human. I’m supposed to be the mystical savior of the wizarding world, but I have zero magical ability. On the one hand, people are trying to kill me. On the other, one of my boyfriends is so rich he makes billionaires look like paupers. I’ve spoken to a goddess, an actual goddess. And have I mentioned I have no idea what I’m doing? Because that’s a big part of this. I’m pretty sure I’m crazy.”

Henry pulled Sawyer into a hug and held him tight. “You aren’t crazy. The situation is, though.”

“Yeah.”

Henry pressed their cheeks together for a moment, scenting Sawyer the way his brothers and dads scented him when he was upset. “Want me to tell you how I found out about my magic? I’ve never really told anyone.”

Sawyer squeezed him tighter and nodded.

It wasn’t something Henry liked talking about. He’d tried his best to forget the days before his dads rescued him. He tried to pretend that the person who’d taken him wasn’t still out there somewhere, that even with his hellhound uncle scouring the earth for the person responsible, they’d come up with nothing. He’d lived with that fear his entire life.

“I don’t really remember much from when I was little. It’s all kind of a blur. The first thing I really remember is being scared and my big brother, Ben, telling me it was going to be okay. I want you to meet Ben soon. He’s… well, he’s the most amazing guy I’ve ever met. He’s going to be a doctor like our dad. He’s in school now. Anyway, I knew I was different from Ben pretty quickly. There were other kids there, too, older than me and Ben, but I don’t remember much about them. Uncle Meshaq says that whoever had us had been messing around with our magic for a long time.”

“So Ben has magic too?” Sawyer asked.

“Yes and no. He’s actually a bear shifter. He turns into the most beautiful black bear you’ve ever seen. And goddess help you if you have any type of fruit on your person while he’s shifted.” Henry laughed, remembering the times when Ben ambled up and stole fruit right out of someone’s hand. That hadn’t happened until they were with their pack, when they’d had enough food, and Ben hadn’t had to worry about being responsible for all of them. “But we all have magic, in a way. It takes magic to shift, for Draco and Eduard to pull their beasts, for Andvari to use blood to heal. I don’t know how to explain it well, honestly. It kind of just is. But I can manipulate magic, air especially as you know. They can’t do that, even though they all have an element that they’re attached to.”