Page 116 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“She is, too, my mommy!” Caleb yelled, yanking his hand away.

“We don’t have time for this,” Shane said, sighing heavily as he reached for Caleb’s hand only to have his little brother stubbornly shake his head as he backed away.

“She’s my mommy!” Caleb yelled as he reached up and angrily wiped his eyes while his bottom lip trembled.

“Caleb, I-Caleb!” Shane shouted when Caleb suddenly took off, leaving him with no choice but to pick Emma up and run after him, watching in horror as his little brother ran down the sidewalk and-

“Caleb!” Shane screamed as he watched his little brother suddenly change direction and darted across the street, barely managing to get out of the way of a taxi and kept running.

He chased after Caleb, watching as his brother ducked into an alley. Tightening his hold around his sister, Shane ran into the alley and damn near sighed with relief when he realized that it was a dead-end.

“Thank God,” Shane said, kissing Emma’s forehead before placing her down on her feet and rushed over to his little brother.

“What the hell were you thinking running off like that?” Shane demanded as he grabbed his little brother and ran trembling hands over him, looking for any injuries.

Caleb pushed his hands away as he said, “I want to go home!”

Shaking his head, Shane reached for his little brother’s hand. “That’s not our home,” he said, only to sigh heavily when his brother stepped out of his reach.

“I wanna go home to Mommy and Daddy!” Caleb screamed, pissing him off.

“They’re not our parents!” Shane snapped.

“I want Mommy and Daddy!” Caleb screamed, making Emma cry.

“We don’t have time for this, Caleb,” Shane said, reaching for his brother only to have him frantically shake his head as he stumbled back.

“I want Mommy and Daddy!” Caleb screamed again.

“Stop it! They’re not our goddamn parents!” Shane snapped. “They’re just using us and as soon as they get what they want, they’re going to give us to someone else that’s going to hurt us. We need to keep moving!”

“No,” Caleb said, sniffling as he stubbornly shook his head. “They love us.”

“No, they don’t!” Shane snapped, reaching over and grabbed hold of his brother’s hand and this time when Caleb tried to pull his hand back, Shane tightened his hold and pulled him closer. “You know what’s going to happen to us if we go back, Caleb. They’re going to do the same thing that Julia did to us. We need to keep moving!” Shane shouted, watching as his brother flinched.

Swallowing hard, Caleb mumbled, “Okay,”

“We need to go,” Shane said, biting back a sigh as he turned around to grab Emma only to feel his stomach drop when he saw the large man holding Emma by the back of her neck. Shane swallowed hard when he saw the man’s eyes flash silver as more men joined them, trapping them as a large hand wrapped around the back of his neck. Seconds later, sharp claws sliced through his skin as he was forced to drop to his knees.

“Let them go!” Shane yelled, watching as his brother and sister were shoved to their knees.

“Where’s your Master, mutt?” the man holding him demanded, using his hold around his neck to tilt Shane’s head to the side, exposing his mark.

“I don’t have a Master,” Shane snapped, only to scream in pain when the claws at his neck cut in deeper in warning.

“Where’s your master?” he repeated as he grabbed a handful of Shane’s hair and yanked his head back so that he could watch as the man holding Caleb grabbed his arm and-

“NOOOOO!” Shane screamed as he watched him break Caleb’s tiny arm.

“Where’s your fucking Master?” the man holding him demanded while Shane was forced to kneel there, watching his little brother, who’d he promised to protect, cried when the man reached for his other arm and-

“Get your fucking hands off my children.”

CHAPTER 56

Cedar Hollow, Pennsylvania

“Shhhh, it’s okay, min swete sunu,” Logan said, kissing Caleb’s forehead as he quickly made his way down the stone stairs while he struggled not to lose his fucking mind. “I’ve got you.”

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