Page 30 of Anaki

She knew a lot, while Emm and I secretly made fun of her.

She always took care of us. This was just a hobby of hers on the side, and we left her be.

An unsettling feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. How much of the warning signs have I ignored over the years, while thinking she was crazy or insane? All this time, I blamed mushrooms, fancy rocks and dementia.

“Hey, you alright?” Anaki was beside me in an instant, his hand touching my arm. The calmness of his touch made the worry go away. The ache in my body vanished.

Perhaps Abuela wasn’t so crazy after all. There was magic out there. I haven’t seen Anaki shift into some dragon, have seen no wolves or bears yet, but there was no denying the pain I usually had was down to a mere two on the pain scale.

“I’m fine.” I gave Anaki a small smile. “Just came to terms witheverything that’s happening around me. That this is real.” I let out a breath as I watched Luis jump on the couch next to Abuela. She pulled out her phone, so they could scroll funny cat videos.

What kidnappers were they if they let us have our phones? We were told not to tell Emm we were here. Of course, they had to be here for the phone call.

“That’s a good thing, right?” Anaki whispered.

I hummed. “I guess so. I can't think with you not wearing a shirt, though. You should put one on.” I eyed him up and down.

Anaki smirked and puffed up his chest. “Yeah, I did that on purpose. You seemed to like it earlier.”

I smacked his stomach with my hand.

Yep. Nice, hard washboard abs.

I blushed and looked away from him. “You are part of the care team. You are just making sure we don’t all flip our shit with what’s going on.”

Anger bubbled inside of me. That’s all this flirting was… to keep my mind off being stuck in a cabin and unable to go anywhere. He was here to keep me occupied.

Because who would want someone who was broken, tired, sick… and who had a son from a previous relationship? Anaki was a dragon. Supposedly. A hot, caring man who could have a girlfriend, or boyfriend, for that matter.

It could all just be an act.

Because men lie.

“It doesn’t matter.” I schooled my face. “You should put a shirt on. Itisdistracting, and I don’t have time for games. I need to take care of my son and get some work done, so we have money once this is all over.”

Anaki’s playful face fell, and it felt like a stab to my heart. But I couldn’t get close to him, not when this was all over, things would go back tonormal. We would move away and make sure we hid from the cartel that would still be chasing Emm.

I don’t need to be healing a broken heart during any of that.

Chapter Ten

Anaki

What was the saying?

Two steps forward? One step back?

One step forward, two steps back?

Whatever the human saying was, I was behind where I wanted to be with Elena. I thought things were going well. She approved of my body; it was clear when she eyed me up and down in her bedroom.

I know humans have preferences when selecting their males. With the bond that we shared, and my dragon lineage, I would sweep her off her feet. It had worked well with others when I danced on the bar.

Once dragon soulkins find each other, it was natural to show off our bodies. We were presenting ourselves, showing off the bodies that we had worked so hard for. I knew I couldn’t show all of myself to Elena, not when her elder and son were in the cabin. Dragons usually strode around naked when they found their mates, giving them a full view of their bodies.

Goddess, I don’t think I would have done that. Not with her being human and the whole situation between my legs.

Even I knew that would have been a step too far.