Vaughn
He’d left Sam and Henry alone with only a single hellhound to protect them. What had he done?
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.
“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?”
Her fractured sentences amped up Vaughn’s tension. She’d been so in control the last time he’d spoken to her, even when faced with the emotional upheaval of the kids.
Solomon closed his eyes and breathed as Teague had before him. “Yes. But this is different, more… potent. What is it?”
“I don’t know. We need Meshaq. This isn’t any magic I’ve dealt with before. Where the hell is he?”
“Here,” Meshaq said from the doorway.
“Did you recognize the magic from the house? The wards? Where the kids were?”
“No. But I have not dealt with as many wards as you might think. It felt like a combination of magic, much like if you and Henry were to combine forces the smell would be altered.”
“Regardless,” Vaughn interrupted, “I think they’re back at the house. It smells familiar.”
Meshaq opened his mouth to agree then snapped it shut again. He turned his head to the side before marching back out front. He paused only to put his hand on Ben’s shoulder.
“Your brother is calling me, little ones. We’re going to go get him.”
Vaughn and Zaire both ran forward with Teague and Solomon behind them.
“We’ll be back,” Vaughn said. “We’re going to bring them home.”
Meshaq opened another portal, and they all stepped through, emerging in the woods outside the old farmhouse. It looked even worse than it had just days before, haunting in its emptiness. Except it wasn’t empty. Henry and Sam were in there. Vaughn knew it to his very core.
A shiver of fear went down Vaughn’s spine and he tamped it down brutally. “How do we get them out?”
His features had begun to shift, his wolf demanding to be part of the action.
“The wards are here, but not as strong as before. She put them up in a hurry.”
Meshaq pressed against the ward, but Zaire put her hand on his arm and stopped him. “There is something else here. Use caution.”
Vaughn breathed, staring at the house. His gaze caught on a streak of red that dripped down against the mottled white paint. A broken window was just above it, and he knew that’s where they were.
“There,” Vaughn pointed.
As if conjured, Henry’s face appeared from the broken pane of glass. “She’s coming,” he whispered. But Vaughn heard him like he’d shouted.
Sam let out a roar and the sounds of crashing could be heard. “Do something,” Vaughn yelled.
Meshaq smashed through the ward and charged toward the house with Vaughn on his heels.
He hit the back door with his shoulder and it burst open.
Sam screamed in pain, and Vaughn bolted toward the sound.
Meshaq roared at the man blocking their path, but the only sounds Vaughn could hear were from Sam and Henry.
Their heartbeats.
Their breaths.
He charged into the back room and found Sam blocking Mrs. Foote’s path to Henry. His boy huddled behind Sam, whimpering with fear, but Sam was fierce. Her hands sparked blue, pouring through him but Sam held her firm even as he yelled with each pulse of magic she shot through him.
Vaughn hit her at full speed, knocking her away from Sam and burying his claws in her throat as they fell.
No more. He wasn’t letting her walk away a second time.
He didn’t move until the light faded from her eyes, and then he moved quickly to Sam, who’d collapsed once she no longer had her hands on him.
Zaire knelt beside Sam, muttering incantations to ease his suffering. Vaughn went to Henry and pulled him close.
“You okay?”
Henry sobbed but nodded, flinging his arms around Vaughn’s waist and holding tight.
“Sam,” he cried.
“Come on. Let’s check on him.”
Zaire worked and Henry knelt by her side.
Vaughn put his hands on Henry’s shoulders, and they waited and watched.
Then Henry lifted his hands as well and began moving them in a rhythm only he understood.
But a cool breeze drifted into the room and washed over Sam, who opened his eyes with a groan a moment later.
“Henry,” he gasped.
“I’m okay. I’m okay, Sam. Alpha is here. And Meshaq and Zaire, too.”
“Good.” Sam reached for Henry’s hand and held it as his gaze caught Vaughn’s.
“Everyone else?”
“At the house. We’re fine.”
“Not fine yet,” Zaire said. “There’s other magic here. We need to move.”
Vaughn looked around the room and found Solomon and Teague standing inside the door. Meshaq was on the other side, an unfamiliar shifter squirming under the hold Meshaq had on his neck.
“Help me,” the man pleaded.
Meshaq snarled his reply. But then the man’s eyes faded to black and he began to tremble. A black smoke began to pour out of him and Meshaq flung him across the room with a roar.
“Shit!” Zaire yelled. “Meshaq, get them out of here. Solomon, Teague. By me!”
Before they could move, a dark cloud began to weave its way toward them and Henry scrambled into Vaughn’s arms. Zaire turned and gasped.
The hellhounds ran to her and she put a hand on each of their shoulders. Magic flared to life in the room, hot and bright and unlike anything Vaughn had seen before. Henry screamed and began to tremble as the cloud worked its way closer to them.
“Meshaq!” Vaughn screamed.
He had no defenses against magic, could do nothing as Henry’s eyes rolled back into his head. Sam rolled over and crawled to them, and they both held Henry tight as he shook.
Meshaq had been outside the room with the man, and he was trapped on the other side the door now. Pieces of the black cloud floated around him and kept him from moving forward.
Henry reached out his hand to Meshaq and Vaughn watched as the hellhound shifted to his animal form, howling in rage and finally bursting through the barrier.
Zaire continued to fight against the cloud surrounding them, trying to keep it from touching Henry. She couldn’t fight it completely, not even with the help of the hellhounds, and Henry let out a frightened, pain-filled scream.
Vaughn roared, but every swipe of his claws flowed through the smoke with zero effect. Sam rolled to his side and managed to plaster himself against Henry’s back. They sheltered him between them, but Henry continued to convulse.
“He’s having a seizure,” Vaughn yelled.
Meshaq finally reached them, his animal form fighting for every step forward. He roared once more, and this time everything stopped. Bright light filled the room and Vaughn bent over Henry and Sam to shield them from its effects. Everything dimmed and grew silent.
Meshaq huffed, his huge black head looking around the room, breath steaming in the air and his eyes a bright red-orange.
After a moment, he transformed again, back into his human form, and he knelt beside them.
“Henry,” Meshaq whispered.
Sam moved back, still shaking himself.
“We need to get them to the clinic. Now,” Vaughn said.
They were all shaking, but Vaughn could handle himself in this type of crisis.
Meshaq stood and reached out for Henry. It took everything in Vaughn to let him go. Henry’s arm slipped as Meshaq lifted him and dangled in front of Vaughn’s face.
“What the hell?”
“What is it?” Sam asked, his voice hoarse from screaming.
“He’s been marked,” Vaughn said.
He stood and carefully lifted Henry’s arm. A black circle was on his wrist, where nothing had been before.
Meshaq’s eyes flared, and he growled once more.
“Get your mate, Alpha. Let’s get out of here.”
Vaughn reached for Sam and helped him stand. His legs wobbled, and he clung to Vaughn, but he managed to keep his feet.
“What is it, Vaughn? What happened to him?”
“I don’t know,” Vaughn said gently. “Let’s get him home, and we’ll figure it out, okay?”
Zaire and the other two hellhounds were shaking as well, and the expression on Zaire’s face let Vaughn know that she knew exactly what the mark meant. And she didn’t look happy about it.