Page 250 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

Sawyer

Wind tickled Sawyer’s cheeks and blew his hair around. His feet were killing him, shooting stabbing pains up his calves. He opened his eyes and his breath caught in his chest. Panic nearly crippled him and he dropped to his knees in the sand. “No. No. Not again.”

He looked around frantically, trying to figure out a plan to escape when he saw her. When their eyes met, his breath caught in a hitching sob, and he lowered his head as his mind processed where he actually was. A second later, she was beside him, kneeling in the sand and her soft hand touched his back.

“Oh, dear boy. I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry for what has happened.”

“Mother,” Sawyer said. He pushed out another breath, his heart still pounding in his chest.

She touched his head and a trickle of warmth flowed through him, easing the ache and freeing him from his terror.

“Better?”

Sawyer nodded then reached out to touch her. She allowed it, even though Sawyer knew it wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had. Power flowed through him, his body acting as a conduit for her energy for a brief second before he pulled away, reassured once more that she was real.

“Thank you.”

“Come, we have much to discuss.”

Sawyer climbed to his feet, wincing as the sand forced his feet to bend and put pressure on his bruises. The Mother tutted at him as she reached out her hand again. Sawyer took it and her magic flowed once more.

“Concentrate, Sawyer. Think of healing and easing your pain.”

He did as she asked, and the pain began to ease. “That’s better.”

She pulled her hand away once more, and they began to walk together along the beach. His feet still ached, but it wasn’t that bone deep hurt that made it hard for him to stand. “Things are moving quickly. The landscape is changing, and the threads of fate are being rewoven constantly.”

“There’s a lot going on,” Sawyer confirmed. “I think— well, it doesn’t matter what I think I guess.”

“No, dear boy, it matters greatly. Tell me.”

“I’ve done nothing but think the past few days. It’s hard to do anything else when you’re flat on your back, you know?”

She gave him a look like he was an idiot and he laughed. “Right, you don’t know. Sorry.”

She made another little noise and he snickered again. “You know, I’m half convinced I’m like, in a coma or something. None of this is real and it’s all just some made up landscape so my body can heal while I’m lost in la-la-land skipping along merrily. I’d believe it if I didn’t hurt so damn badly even in my imagination. I mean, if my brain is strong enough to make up all this, you’d think it’d be strong enough to imagine away the pain.”

“Hmm. Perhaps.”

“That didn’t make me feel better. You’re supposed to say ‘No, dear boy, you’re not insane. You’re saving the world.’”

She snorted. Actually snorted and gave him another of her looks. “Tell me what you’ve been thinking, Sawyer.”

He stopped walking and turned to face the water. Even though it was in the middle of the night, the moonlight reflected off the waves as they crashed against the shore. Sawyer took a few steps forward and the water began to lap at his ankles. “I think that someone has been messing with the magic for a very long time.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Okay, so I was thinking about how the birth rates are all off. It’s a big deal, you know? That’s why Magdalen was so desperate. She hadn’t found her mate and she hadn’t had a child. But everyone seems to be affected, except dragons maybe? Which I need to think about and ask some questions about, but from what I understand from Draco, other dragons find their mates and have kids, but dragons don’t have a lot of kids anyway? I’m not sure. Like I said, I need to ask more questions.”

She nodded. “You’re correct, but go on.”

“So, if a bunch of the other clans are as desperate for mates and cubs as Magdalen was then that’s a lot of desperation. And it’s been going on for a long time, because from the pictures I saw hanging in Augustus’s house, griffin families used to have a bunch of kids. But Augustus and Francesca only had Eduard, and that was after years of being mated, right? Henry also said something about how none of his uncle’s pack was mated. None of them. I mean, most of the werewolves take a mate, but I guess it isn’t their one true mate? I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure that one out, but Henry said that his dads were mates, but they weren’t fated? Maybe? So maybe another real mate could come along? But that’s weird, right? Because they are real mates even if there wasn’t some super magical connection where the universe shouted mate at the top of its lungs, right?”

“Indeed.”

“It’s been happening for a long time, is all I’m saying. This isn’t something new. It’s like… you know how humans have fevers, right?”

“I’m familiar.”