Page 5 of Hansen

“I’llbefine.”Eventually.The doctors tended to allow Evan to heal before they hurt him again.He supposed they didn’t want to risk killing him.

Orion didn’t look like he believed Evan.Evan thought that was the end of it until Orion opened his mouth again to say the most outlandish thing Evan had ever heard.“I was a hunter once.”

Evan’s first instinct was to move away, but he had a hard time believing that Orion could hurt him.

“I’m not anymore,” Orion quickly added.“I never wanted to be one in the first place, but I was born into it.You know what hunters are, right?”

Evan laughed.He thought it was obvious that he knew what hunters were, considering his situation.“How do you think I got here?”

“I’m really sorry.My father forced me to become a hunter, and I didn’t feel I had a way out.For a long time, I didn’t.I was a kid, and I would have died out there on my own.”

“So you hurt people.”

“I did.I also tried to help as many of them as I could.I got hurt in the process, which is how I ended up with the tribe.”

Evan had no idea what Orion was talking about.“The tribe?”

“They’re a bunch of supernatural people who help guys like you who were captured and hurt.Mostly, they raid the labs and help the survivors.”

“I was in a lab once.”Evan licked his lips.He wished he had some water, but he doubted that Orion’s father would give him anything even if he asked for it.He’d probably hit Evan if he dared try.“I was there for a long time.They moved me around, but the facilities were all the same.They hurt me every time.”

“If I’d met you sooner, I would’ve helped you get away.”

“To your tribe?”Evan wasn’t sure he believed that.He’d lost hope a long time ago.No one was coming to rescue him.The only person who had was Davey, and he had no way to find Evan.Even Evan didn’t know where they were.

“Yeah.I know it sounds weird, but the village became home after they helped me and my brother.My brother found his mate there.”

It sounded so easy that Evanwantedto believe it.He hoped that Orion wasn’t lying to him and that a place like that really existed.“And that was all it took?They didn’t care that you were hunters?”

“Oh, it hasn’t been easy, and I don’t expect it to be in the future.Most tribe members don’t trust us, and I don’t blame them.Some do, though.Some believed us when we explained that we were forced into it.I know you think it’s an excuse, and it probably is a bit, but when you’re fourteen and your father tells you that you have to kill someone because it’s your duty and that the people we’re fighting are monsters, you do what you’re told.”

“You’re not fourteen,” Evan pointed out.

“I’m definitely not.I used to do everything my father told me because I was terrified of him and what would happen if I didn’t, but as I grew up, I tried to help more people than I hurt.Sometimes, I didn’t have a choice, but when I did, I always chose to help people.I still do.”

Orion hesitated.Evan wondered why, but he didn’t have to wonder for long.

“You wouldn’t happen to know someone named Davey, would you?”Orion asked.

Evan stared.There was only one way for Orion to know that name.There was only one way for him to connect Evan to Davey’s name.“You know him?”

“Well, I don’t know if it’s the same guy.He’s my mate.”

Well, shit.Evan had expected Orion to confirm that he knew Davey, but that?What the fuck was Evan supposed to do withthat?

* * * *

HANSEN WAS JOLTED AWAKEby his phone vibrating on his nightstand.He blindly looked for it, almost knocking it to the floor before wrapping his fingers around it.

“—lo?”

“Something happened.We need everyone at Moore’s place,” Olga said in an urgent tone, telling Hansen she wasn’t kidding.

“I’ll be right there.”

Hansen hung up and shot out of bed.He wasn’t sure how long he’d slept, but the alcohol had left his system, and he felt good enough to fight.

Because that was why Olga had called him.Whatever had happened, she and Moore needed all hands on deck.

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