Page 64 of Dealing With Drak

A hu-nim.

A living one with breath in his lungs and life in his eyes.

Familiar eyes.

“Caleb?” An-nana chokes out, her voice filled with emotion.

I nearly gasp. Have we truly found one of her brothers?

“Anna?”

His voice is raspy like he could use hydration. The sound of it does not worry my mate, though. No, she recognizes him further. I can tell by the pure joy that surrounds her and the way her heart stammers on its next beat.

“Caleb?” she repeats like she cannot believe her eyes.

From my place behind An-nana, I can see his larger frame. Large for a hu-nim, of course. Despite his eyes being identical to his sister’s, his hair is a dull yellowy-brown. Not bloody-fire colored like my lovely female’s. But still, I can see the resemblance.

“Holy shit, how are you?—”

His words die on his tongue as he moves to come closer.

Like a flash, my mate’s brother is captured from behind, a silver hu-nim blade pressed against his throat. A choked sob escapes An-nana’s lips, and my eyes narrow on the hu-nim male threatening Cay-leb. He does not see me, but I see him.

Instincts kick in, and when I notice tears in my female’s eyes, I see red.

25

Anna

My gun is drawn in a split second, but it’s not fast enough.

“Don’t fucking move, girly,” a gritty voice calls out. The man holding my brother hostage doesn’t notice Drak in the shadows to my side. There’s no way he does or he’d run. At the very least, I’d see him flinch after noticing him.

He’s older, salt and pepper staining the small bits of hair he still has. His teeth look practically rotted from his mouth, and with his appearance alone, I know he isn’t going away without a fight. A warning won’t do anything to a man like this.

He’s clearly surviving by the skin of his teeth, and he sees us as a ticket to some supplies—maybe worse. I can’t shoot him from this far away without the risk of hitting Caleb. It’s dark enough that my vision is skewed, and he has him too close to his face.

My hands freeze in the air, hot tears crawling down my cheeks. I can’t make them go away. The sight of my brother being held at knife-point is too much to comprehend. We just found him and someone is threatening to take him away from me all over again.

“Okay,” I choke out. “We don’t want any trouble.”

The man cackles. “I don’t give a fuck what you want, stay fucking still.”

“Tell us what you want,” Caleb bites out. I don’t know if he’s been in a situation like this before or if he’s just naturally calm, but he seems more annoyed than scared. I wish I could be pissed off, but I can’t shake the terror rushing through me.

“Everything you damn well have,” the man sneers. “That’s the way the world works now, motherfucker.

“Put the knife down, and you can have it all,” I lie. This guy isn’t getting shit from us except for being put out of his misery.

He ignores the offer entirely, tugging on Caleb. My brother winces, and I glare.

“This your girlfriend, pretty boy?” the man drones, looking me up and down with a sick glint in his eye. “Maybe I want more from her than what’s in her pack.”

“Try it, and she’ll put you down,” Caleb growls.

“Not once I get her to hand over that gun,” he retorts, grinning at me. “Drop it, or I slit his throat.”

Still, no fear crosses my brother’s expression. He flicks his eyes to the side, staring the man down. “You think she needs a gun to kill you? Go ahead, kill me, and see how well you fare with her. She won’t just kill you, she’ll torture you until you’re squealing like the fucking pig you are.”

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