Kean

The five of them moved through the forest as stealthily as they could.

It would have been a mistake to say they moved stealthily. Five three-hundred-pound men simply could not move quietly enough to be called stealthy. They just tried to keep the noise down. Even in their bear form they wouldn’t have moved much quieter, and the long trek into the forest to reach the perimeter would have used more energy in the massive forms. Now that Kean knew where the patrols started, there was no need to stay in animal form. Not until the last moment.

As they approached the ATV patrol track, Kean climbed the nearest tree. His brothers followed without comment. They were used to operating as a team, and at a critical stage like this, they all knew that the less said, the better. Things were getting close to the critical time, where they would reveal themselves and begin drawing off as much of the base’s security as they could.

One by one they scampered—if such a term could be used to describe their movement—over the rutted tracks below, dropping to the ground behind bushes on the far side, so that no one would see their progress.

They stopped, huddled together and waited for the prearranged time to arrive.

“Thanks for coming,” he said, speaking softly, though not in a whisper.

Whispers were harsh, and could be heard from a farther distance than many believed. A simple soft, low speaking voice would die out before it carried very far.

Pierce waved him off. “That’s what brothers are for, Kean. We’re here for you.”

That wasn’t entirely true, he knew. Pierce was here for him, Mila, Madison, and to fight the Institute. Gavin was a mystery as usual, though he hadn’t argued against the idea. Then again, Kean thought, he hadn’t argued in favor of it either. He’d sort of just accepted that he was going to come along.

Maximus and Kassian were a different story. Both of them had come along, but not because they wanted to. No, they had made it very, very clear that they felt they were being forced into it. That the entire mission was blackmail just so that they could go home. Neither of them seemed to understand that it wasn’t Madison, or even Mila’s fault that they weren’t going home. Nobody was stopping them, as they’d been told rather vehemently when they started complaining about the plan.

In fact, both he and Pierce had bluntly told both of them to go on home then, to just leave. But the elder brothers had decline that honor, instead sullenly sticking around and agreeing to take part in the mission.

Kean’s hackles rose even now as he thought back to their actions leading up to this. They were the older brothers, dammit! They were supposed to look after and take care of him, Pierce, and to a lesser extent Gavin, though the middle brother was rather okay at taking care of himself.

Instead though, they had become prickly and distant as it became clearer and clearer that helping the shadow organization Maddy worked for was their only option to going home that didn’t end up with them in jail. Kean wondered why they were having such a hard time accepting that and dealing with the fact that their wild and unruly days were, for the most part, over. There would be opportunities, he was sure. Such as their mission today. They were going to get to cause all sorts of havoc amongst the Institute guards today, and wreak no small amount of destruction as well.

It’s likely that saving grace that convinced them to come along.

“We need to keep an eye on them.”

He jumped slightly as Pierce appeared at his elbow, speaking softly into his ear.

“I know,” he said sadly, not having to guess who his little brother was referring to. “Why can’t they understand? They’re older. Aren’t they supposed to be wiser as well?”

Pierce smiled, a sad expression this time. “I think the wild ways of the past five years or so has begun to take root within them. Their bears are becoming altered by their personalities.”

“You really believe that?”

For a long time, it had been debated on whether the animal entity that manifested in a shifter during puberty was already equipped with a personality, or if they happened to take on aspects of their human hosts. The whole nature versus nature argument revisited, but in a whole different way.

“Honestly?” Pierce said, shrugging. “I have no idea. But I don’t think we can deny the fact that they’ve become wilder over the last several years. More dangerous. Less civilized.”

“They’re going to kill someone today,” Kean stated dully.

“Don’t be so sure,” Pierce countered. “But they will do maximum damage, of that I’m positive.”

“Yeah. Until they forget their strength and ‘accidentally’ kill someone,” he muttered.

Pierce didn’t reply for a minute, acknowledging the truth in his last statement.

“That’s not why I came over here though,” he said, shuffling around until he was in a more comfortable squatting position.

Kean glanced at the digital watch he wore on his left wrist.

2:38

Seven minutes until they were to move out and begin attracting attention. It wouldn’t take long after that for the alarms to sound and response teams to come. But the brothers were ready, and they had a few surprises of their own this time.

“What did you want?” he asked, keeping an ear open for the sound of approaching ATVs. It wouldn’t be long now before one came past, and he didn’t want their last-minute words getting them discovered before they were ready.

The humans aren’t going to hear you over the sound of those nasty combustion engines.

Maybe. But Kean wasn’t taking any chances.

“I was wondering how things were going with you and Madison,” Pierce said, looking over at him.

“We’re fine?” he asked, not sure what his brother was digging at.

“Just fine?”

Kean frowned. What the hell was Pierce trying to get at? And why was he doing it now, right before they had to fight a battle against ten, twenty, hell, maybe thirty or even forty times their own number? Didn’t he realize that this was not the ideal time for Kean to be distracted?

“Are you trying to get me killed?” he asked mildly.

“What?” Pierce rocked backward onto his heels, his crouch becoming dangerously lopsided.

“We have a dangerous mission kicking off in exactly,” he checked the watched again, “five minutes. And you’re making me focus on Maddy?”

“Are you not already?” Pierce countered.

“Umm,” Kean replied, unable to formulate a good reply. “Not actively, I guess? I mean, she’s been on my mind, sure. But I was actually getting ready to fight. Now you’ve got me thinking about her.”

“I’ve been thinking about Mila,” Pierce confessed. “I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s always in my thoughts.”

“Yeah, but that’s because you love her,” he said lightly, patting his brother gently on the shoulder. “So it’s only logical.”

Pierce frowned. “You don’t love Madison?”

Kean glanced away, looking up into the canopy of leaves and branches above them, watching as the sun’s light was broken apart as it tried to filter through.

“Maddy is great,” he said at last. “Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s awesome. Really awesome.” His shoulders slumped slightly as he voiced at last the conclusion he’d accepted. “But you guys were right.”

“We were?” Pierce asked, surprised. “Right about what?”

“I don’t love her,” Kean said forcefully, trying to make himself believe it. “I’ve just fallen for another pretty—no, stunning—stunning, woman. It’ll pass in a few days, like normal. Or she’ll run away if I tell her, also like normal.” Kean looked over at his brother. “I’m jealous of what you have with Mila, Pierce. It’s clearly something special. I’m happy for you.”

Pierce stared at him. “You know, Kean, if we weren’t about to go tangle with a bunch of humans and probably some other shifters as well, I’d straight up break your nose right now with the hardest punch I’ve got in my arsenal.”

“What the hell did I do?” he asked, raising an arm to be ready to intercept the blow, just in case.

“You sound like a robot, you moron.” Pierce shook his head, shifting to take one knee, proving he wasn’t actually going to strike. “Tell me you don’t actually believe the tripe that just came out of your mouth.”

“I…” Kean hesitated as Pierce’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Don’t know,” he finished lamely.

“Really?” Pierce countered. “I saw the way you looked at her earlier, while she was talking about the plan. I saw the way she looks at you. Don’t try and tell me there isn’t something going on.”

“I’m not denying that at all,” he said. “Never have. I just said I don’t think I love her.”

“And why do you say that?”

“Because it doesn’t feel like any of the other times,” he said immediately, proud to have the answer ready.

“Because it doesn’t feel like…” Pierce echoed him for a bit then stopped speaking as he shook with silent laughter.

Kean glared at his brother and glanced at the watch.

2:43

“Kean, you idiot. You stupid moron. You just finished acknowledging the other night that you’ve never truly been in love with any of those women before.”

“Uh-huh. I know. I get that,” he said, his anger not subsiding at the constant reminder of his romantic past.

“Don’t you get it?” Pierce asked.

“Um. No?”

“You are really dense some times,” Pierce said. “Think about it, brother. You’ve never been in love. All those times you told someone that, you weren’t. Now you have this woman you obviously care for. And you say it doesn’t feel like the times were you haven’t been in love. That’s two negatives, my friend. And when it’s a double negative, that means—”

Kean’s watch beeped.

“It means I’m in love with her,” he finished, standing up as the sound of an ATV suddenly grew close.

“Yes, you moron. That’s exactly what it means.”

Kean eyed the forest around them, then pointed at a tree. “That one,” he announced.

Pierce came over to join him, as did Kassian.

“On my command.”

Kean waited…and waited.

“Now!”

The three of them pushed, and the tree toppled over abruptly, the nearly foot-wide trunk splintering under the force they exerted. The trunk landed across the ATV’s path, branches snapping under its weight.

There was a brief scream as the rider of the ATV threw up an arm to try and stop in time, but it was too late. The vehicle plowed into it, stopping abruptly. The two humans were thrown into the mess of branches and leaves, where Maximus and Gavin pounced on them, drawing the soldier’s own weapons and knocking them out with them.

Kean turned to Pierce. “I love her,” he repeated, breaking into a smile.

“Yeah you do, brother, yeah you do,” Pierce said, clapping him on the shoulder as they turned and ran into the forest, charging for the perimeter fence that was their next stop.

“Yeah, I do. I love her!” he shouted happily.

“Just remember to stay focused enough to make it out of here to tell her,” Gavin said as he jogged in close, before fading back out into the forest.

“Yeah,” Kean said, agreeing with the sentiment. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

He ran on into the forest with his brothers around him, and a huge smile on his face.

He was in love!