by Macy Blake
Chosen One Universe -Volume Three
Macy Blake
Copyright of the collection © 2020 by Macy Blake
All rights reserved.
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Formatted by Leslie Copeland, LesCourt Author Services
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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Give Him Hell
Hellhound Champions Book Three
Nothing Gained
Chosen One Book Four
Stop at Nothing
Chosen One Book Five
Sweet Spot
A Paranormal Sugar Daddy Novella
Teaser Chapter
Magical Mates Book One
About the Author
Also by Macy Blake
Give Him Hell
Hellhound Champions Book Three
Copyright © 2019 by Macy Blake and Casey Drake
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Cover and symbols designed by A.J. Corza, www.seeingstatic.com
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All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For Alex who's been there since the beginning
Nick
Lightning crashed. Close. Too close. Cool blue light bathed the forest for a split second before blackness swallowed it up again. The fur on his face stood on end. Goosebumps crawled over his arm. He tried to make out a path forward, but he couldn’t see any kind of way through. He spun around, trying to find anything familiar, but of course there wasn’t anything. He’d never been outside the house, as far as he knew. He hadn’t been born there, but he also couldn’t remember a time before living there. Wind whipped the heavy rain so it battered him from all sides. Lightning struck a tree off to his left, and he jumped.
“Please,” he whimpered as he used one of his long claws to carve a deep notch on one of the trees as he hurried forward. He’d been leaving nicks along his path, hoping they would be enough to lead him back to the house so he could save the others. Jenny’s screams still rang in his head. They had taken her to The Room. The one they did all their… experiments in. Her scream cut off abruptly, and they all knew what that meant.
Thunder cracked and the sky lit up again. He pushed ahead through a copse of trees, and spilled out onto a road. He recoiled as light flooded the area. He crab-walked back into the trees, reaching up to scratch the bark even as he tried to hide himself.
“Hello? Is someone out there?” a soft voice called out.
He couldn’t let them get him. He had to get away, to get the others away from them.
“Are you there? Are you hurt?” she asked. She moved further into the trees, stopping right in front of him.
“No, stay away!” he shouted around the fangs. They’d done something to him, and now he was stuck like this. He couldn’t let her see him. It was A Rule. The most important Rule. No one could see them like this.
She sat down on the ground in front of him. She smiled and held out her hand. “It’s all right. I can help,” she said quietly. “What’s your name?”
He shook his head. He couldn’t remember it. Mrs. Foote had only ever called him lion. Her helpers just called him kid. That’s what they called all of them. Some of the newer kids knew their names. The ones that were there before him didn’t. They couldn’t remember them. He used all their names, as often as he could, so no one else would forget.
“That’s all right. We’ll give you a new one, okay?” She looked around and noticed the mark on the tree, following the line to another one a few yards back. “How about Nick for now? At least until you remember?”
Something about her made him feel safe. Someone he could trust. He tentatively reached out and took her hand. It was warm, and somehow dry, even in this downpour. He watched as his claws receded, and he could feel his whiskers retreating.
“How?” he sobbed, collapsing into her arms.
“Shhh, little one. I have you. You’re safe now.”
* * *
Nick cracked an eye open and stared at the wall. It was still dark out, but he wouldn’t be going back to sleep. Not after the nightmares plaguing him more and more lately. Besides, now that he was up he could go in early to work and pick up another shift before his scheduled route. With a groan, he swung his feet over the edge of the bed as he sat up and rubbed one hand over his face. His fingers came away wet. Crying in his sleep again. Not surprising, given his dreams. Memories. Nightmares. Whatever they were. He could still see their faces. They were so clear in his mind. Almost like a freeze-framed video.
He walked to the kitchen on stiff legs. Yesterday’s dishes still sat in the sink, along with a stack of takeout containers. He knew he should clean it up, but he couldn’t be bothered. Besides, in his mood, he’d probably just throw everything out and buy new forks. Plastic ones, so he wouldn’t have to bother washing. It’s not like he was a chef or anything. He didn’t really care. Right now, all he cared about was aspirin. And caffeine. Caffeine was necessary. He powered on the coffee maker and got dressed while he waited for it to heat up. Then he filled his travel mug and headed in to work, only glancing at the wall in the corner of his living room.
The ride to the distribution center was quiet. Sure, it was three o’clock in the morning, but still. No post-closing time drunks or after-party stragglers on the road. He parked at the back of the lot and went in.
“Morning, Bill,” he called as he punched in.
“Hey, Nick. I’d say you’re here early, but it’s not really for you, is it?”
“Couldn’t sleep. Whatcha got today?”
“Lot of offices downtown. Amazon sprees in the ‘burbs. Even the outskirts are heavy today.”
Nick studied the zip code map Bill had up on the computer in front of him. “I’ll take these,” he said, pointing to the routes on the furthest edges of their territories.
“You sure? They’ll take you all day.”
“I don’t mind. Good for clearing the mind, you know?”
“If you say so. At least I don’t have to worry about assigning them to Frank or Jesse. You know they’d bitch for days.”
Nick laughed along with him, mostly because it was expected. He didn’t feel much like laughing today.
“All right. We’ll get you loaded up while you go plot your route. We’re expecting one more truck this morning, and it’s got some packages for you. Not much you can do until it gets here.”
Nick shrugged. “I’ll go help the guys first. Get it done quicker.” He clapped Bill on the shoulder and headed deeper into the warehouse.
“I wish I had ten more of you,” Bill called as he walked away.
“No, you don’t,” Nick muttered.
After last night’s dream, he didn’t even feel like there should be one of him, let alone ten. He got busy getting ready for his day. The route he planned took him along all the smallest country roads he could find. He would be crisscrossing the northern part of the county, scouring every inch he could. Searching, searching, searching….
He was exhausted by the time he got home. He’d managed to pick up two more routes that took him back over the western portions of the county he’d already been t
o. He sighed as he stripped out of his uniform, dropping his shirt on the floor as he headed to his command center in the corner of his living room.
Maps of surrounding counties covered the walls. He’d drawn grids over them, and each grid was crossed off with a big, red ‘X’. Looking over the map on the table in front of him, he realized he’d have to move again soon. Try the next county. He sighed and marked off today’s grid and went over Tuesday’s again while he was at it. Of course, he’d had no luck. Notes and photos were pinned to the wall next to some grids. Possibilities for him to check again later. Maybe he missed something. Maybe the house was shielded. Maybe….
His phone pinged again, with another message from Mikey. Call me, bro. Got some big news. Nick shook his head and pushed it out of his mind for now. He loved his brothers, but he couldn’t bear for them to talk to him right now. Not with the dream so fresh in his mind. He stared at the wall, spacing out as he focused. He stared until spots formed in front of his eyes and he realized he’d dozed off, his exhaustion finally catching up with him.
“Where are you?” he mumbled before crawling into bed, not bothering to turn out the light. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He was dreaming again.
At least he knew it this time.
The screams had died down, leaving them all whimpering in each other’s arms. Mrs. Foote and her helpers finished with whatever experiment she’d done and had dumped Jenny in the room. Nick did what he could to comfort her. The wolves were gone, on some sort of mission to steal more kids or something. Mrs. Foote had complained about having more mouths to feed.
One of the younger kids had cuddled up next to him. They did that a lot. Eager for some sort of comfort. He did what he could, even though it wasn’t much.
“Look at me. Make sure you use their names, got it? But only in here. Don’t let them know it. They can’t take everything, as long as you keep your name.”
The poor kid. He was so scared. And Jenny was fading fast. One or two more trips, that’s all she had left. Nick knew it. He’d seen it before, with the older ones who’d been stuck in the room with him before. He had to get out of there. He had to save them. The others were too young, and Jenny too weak. It was all up to him.
Of course, he had been a kid, too. He just didn’t realize it at the time.
In the dream, he could hear the rat-a-tat clacks of Mrs. Foote writing her weekly report on her ancient typewriter. He recalled something about how the magic messed with the electronics, especially after they’d done what they did to them. She couldn’t use a computer for a couple days afterward. The radio didn’t even work right most days. Everything crackled with static and echoed over the speakers.
Nick wanted to get up, but he was still trapped in the dream-state. Memories choked him as he slept. Things he should remember when he woke up; things that might be important later. He tried to study the house, but all he saw were the dingy, dusty rooms they never left. Sheets yellowed with age, frayed on the edges, piled on the floor with cracked foam mattresses.
“I don’t see anything in here,” he said as he took in his surroundings. Just then, the radio clicked on, that static that he couldn’t forget playing loudly, filling up his mind. “The radio,” he whispered. There was that spot, on the road. His radio played fine, and then all of a sudden, it cut out.
Like he drove through a pocket in the world.
“The radio,” he repeated, shouting it this time.
Then the world started spinning. He tried to grab on to something, but there was nothing there. The walls disappeared, and the floor changed, the wood floating away, getting replaced with a map. He felt like he was on a globe, being spun as fast as it could. Then suddenly, it stopped. Both his stomach and his mind lurched. His eyes snapped open, wide awake now. He flew out of bed and ran to his desk. He leaned over looking at the map, trying to find that spot again. He was so close. He sniffled and wiped the back of his hand across his nose. It came away bloody. Not surprising, given the vertigo of the dream. A drop of blood fell and hit the map in front of him. Then everything stopped. He barely noticed his own breathing as he took in the bright red against the yellow and blue lines.
There. Right fucking there.
He grabbed his phone and keys and ran toward the door. Maybe he could bribe Bill into letting him off today. He’d put in enough hours this month anyway. The extra shifts helped his finances, and furthered his quest, but the company certainly benefited. Maybe he’d tell him it was some kind of religious holiday. Not that he really practiced any kind of organized religion. Mama Thea told him about the goddesses, and he knew the myth of the Chosen One, but he didn’t really follow any of them. If there really were goddesses and champions, surely they would have saved them as kids. He remembered Mikey’s call from the night before, and not for the first time wished he could tell them about his mission. He couldn’t, though. His brothers didn’t know about the whole supernatural thing. It wasn’t his place to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.
“Cat. Rowr.” He laughed, feeling light for the first time in years. Giddy, even. After ten years of searching, he’d finally found it. “We’re almost there, Mama Thea. I know where the house is now,” Nick whispered as he rubbed his thumb over the charm she’d given him.
It was the first thing she gave him. Well, after giving him a home, that is. The first personal thing that was his. It was a simple wooden disk with a lion carved on it. Nothing fancy, but priceless to him. It was powerful. At least it had been to his fourteen-year-old mind. It made him a part of their family. Just like Mikey’s pendant that he always wore on a cord around his neck, only his was special for him. Nick didn’t wear it anymore, but he did carry it around in his pocket most of the time. He needed the reminder that he was safe more than he cared to admit.
The road took him about thirty miles out of town, to the very edge of the county. He’d been in the area a few times, had been over these same roads in his searches. Nothing but one-lane roads and abandoned barns. Another fifteen minutes and he’d be in the suburbs of the next town over.
His dinosaur of a truck rumbled and shook over the deep ruts along the dirt road that circled around the property. He didn’t know how he missed it before, but there it was, looming in the distance. He stopped the truck and stared at it for a while. The outline was just visible in the moonlight. No lights were on in the house, but that wasn’t surprising. No one should be up at this hour, even if someone did still live in the house.
How long he sat there, he didn’t know. There were so many memories attached to this place. Horrible memories. He wished he’d been able to confide in his brothers so he didn’t have to go in there alone. But he couldn’t. Thinking of Sawyer and Mikey gave him strength and courage. He was their big brother. They counted on him. Just as the other kids had. He wouldn’t let them down again. Finally, he opened the door and stepped out onto the gravel.
“We found it, Mama Thea,” he rubbed at the charm again. It warmed up under his fingers. He held the keys in his fist, letting the charm dangle from his hand, his only company in the dim, predawn light as he began to creep forward, his boots crunching on the lumpy gravel drive.
Even from a distance, he could tell no one was there. He just knew it. Hell, he’d known it for a long time now, ever since he took off the charm, really. It wasn’t just his imagination: it did have power, even if he didn’t really understand how or what or why. None of it. He’d never taken the time to ask the kinds of questions he should have, and then it was too late. The only person who had answers was gone.
Mama Thea had tried to explain it to him when he turned eighteen. The charm muddled his memories of where he’d been, of what had happened here. It also shielded the black magic that still clung to him, keeping him hidden from anyone who might be looking for him. He had been so angry with her, couldn’t understand why she had arranged to keep it from him. It took a couple of weeks before he was ready to listen to her explanations. Only after he�
�d felt some kind of … shift around him that he couldn’t completely understand. The air around him was lighter, like he could breathe again.
She assured him she had tried to get back to where she’d found him, but all of his marks were gone. The trees were somehow whole again. His path had been lost. She had enlisted the help of some witches she knew, but their seer could only sense dark forces at work. In the end, all she could do was try to protect him. The charm kept him safe from anyone who may be searching for him and from his own memories.
He got it. Sort of. He’d been fourteen and angry at the world. Scared and out of the house of horrors for the first time in his life. He didn’t do well in school, beating himself up for every failure, to the point where he eventually just stopped going. Mama Thea tutored him as best as she could, but he’d been out of control. It made a sort of sense after he found out everything. Less than a month after their talk, he’d started searching. And now he was here, still trying to work up the courage to walk up those steps.
He wanted to go inside the house. Needed to, actually. He needed to see it for himself. See if it lived up to the nightmares he still had. He took a deep breath to steel his nerves and took a step forward. Magic fluttered around him and he stopped walking, trying to interpret the strange feelings around him.
Keep out.
The warning only strengthened his resolve. He ignored it and moved forward again.
Another warning buzz from the magic around him, and he realized what he was feeling. Wards. Someone was protecting the house. And that meant they knew he was there. This one was more than a warning. It stung and he clenched his fists and powered through.