Page 69 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

Vaughn

Vaughn only thought he knew fear. Nothing prepared him for hearing the news that Sam and Henry had been taken. They’d been out in the woods, protected by almost a dozen pack members and an extra hellhound guard.

He’d left Sam and Henry alone with only a single hellhound to protect them. What had he done?

Brooks drove the SUV back to the house. Vaughn sat in the back row with the cubs huddled around him. When Travis had come running into the clearing where they’d been playing, gasping for breath and paler than Vaughn had ever seen him, Vaughn had immediately shifted back into his human form. It hadn’t taken them long to get back to the vehicles and to the house, but to Vaughn it felt like an eternity.

Nana and his parents were waiting on the front porch for them to arrive. Meshaq and his entire crew of hellhounds were huddled together a dozen or so steps away. Sam’s dad was leaning heavily on the arm of one of his pack members, obviously pulled from the clinic after news of Sam and Henry’s abduction.

Vaughn barely let the vehicle stop before he leapt out and ran across the yard to Meshaq. “What do we know?”

“Teague says a portal opened in the middle of the living room. Shouldn’t have been able to do that. Zaire is stumped, too. She’ll be here soon. Solomon went to get her. She’s coming through a portal with him once she gets things settled at home.”

“That tells me nothing, Meshaq.”

“I know. I’m making a trip to visit the goddess now. Stick with me, okay? I’ll find them.”

“Vaughn,” his dad said from the porch.

The kids had all huddled there with his parents, Nana, and Sam’s dad. Meshaq gave him one last look before he disappeared into a fiery portal. Vaughn ran over to the porch, tucking the kids around him as they trembled.

“What happened?”

“We don’t know,” Vaughn answered. “A portal took them. Meshaq is going to the goddess and Solomon is bringing Zaire.”

“You said you’d keep my boy safe,” William grunted.

Vaughn couldn’t say anything to defend himself.

“The b-bad guy w-wanted Henry,” Ben stuttered. “H-he always t-took Henry when he c-came.”

Vaughn turned to look at him and grabbed Ben’s hand. “It’s okay, Ben. Do you remember the bad man? What did he look like or smell like?”

Ben whimpered and looked toward the mess that was the living room. It looked like a tornado had struck the room. “It smelled like that.”

“Teague!” Vaughn bellowed out the hellhound’s name and darted into the living room. He breathed deeply, trying to catch the scent of anything out of the ordinary, anything his years of medicine might recognize.

Teague ran into the room behind him and looked frantically around. “What is it?”

“Smell. What do you smell?”

Teague closed his eyes and breathed before coughing and looking at Vaughn again. “Damp. Old wood. Musty.”

Commotion from outside drew Vaughn’s attention again and he ran back outside to find Solomon and Zaire. She looked pale and shaky, but only held onto Solomon’s arm for a moment before moving to Vaughn.

“Tell me.”

“Ben says it’s a bad man. He recognized the smell of the magic. It smells off to me, too, but there’s something else. I think it’s the same scent from the house where we found them.”

She nodded and marched into the house, her magic flaring to life as she moved. She immediately jerked back and hissed. “What the hell? Solomon!”

“Yes?” The larger hellhound crossed to her.

“You were at the house where they were found, right?”

“I was. I searched it with my alpha.”

“Did it smell like this? Was this the magic Meshaq broke through to free them? The magic from the wards that were there?”