Stepbrother Bear: The Complete Set

by Rosette Bolter

  “I guess it doesn’t matter,” he said under his breath.

  I blinked and felt the coldness of a tear settle against my eye. “What are you going to do?”

  Aiden shrugged. Then pushed open his side of the car.

  He slammed the door on this way out.

  I quickly pushed open my own door and stepped out as he marched towards the oval.

  “What are you doing?” I cried.

  He glanced back at me, half a smile lurking upon his lips.

  “Exactly what you want me to,” he said.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Atmosphere. It’s the sum of parts put together. The stimulation of senses. Sights, sounds, smells. Even the invisible breeze can be felt against one’s cheeks. All of it adds up and gives us the belief that we are here. But are we really? Who is to say that this isn’t a dream?

  I’m not dreaming now. Neither is Aiden.

  Both of us know exactly where we are.

  He walked across the field towards the centre, with me trailing behind him. I tried walking fast to catch up. I tried jogging. I even broke into a sprint.

  But for some reason, it didn’t matter. Aiden and I were always the same distance apart.

  When I did reach him, he barely looked at me. He had a cigarette in one hand, and his eyes were on the sky. As far as I could tell, there was nothing up there. I turned myself around in a circle, trying to see which way they were coming from. I knew they’d be here soon. They had to be.

  “You understand what I did, right?” I asked him. “You know that I had no choice.”

  “You haven’t done anything, ugly,” he replied.

  “What does that mean?”

  He glanced down at me. “It means there was never any trust in place for you to break it.”

  “I’m getting the feeling you’re angry at me.”

  “We have bigger things to worry about now.”

  I saw it before he did. The giant black bird gliding down from the sky.

  I grabbed his arm. “Look.”

  Aiden’s eyes were pointed in another direction. As he looked where I pointed, I looked where his eyes had been.

  Another black bird.

  They crossed paths in the sky over us, and then began to circle.

  “Do you know who they are?” Aiden asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Who?”

  Before I could answer him, they abruptly dropped down and landed in front of us.

  Then Ryan and Lara shifted into their human forms.

  “Lara,” Aiden gasped. “What happened to you?”

  She stared back at him in silence, her eyes glazed and sad.

  Ryan took a step forward. “The same thing that happened to you. The same thing that happened to me. The same thing that … happened to all of us.”

  “What about the others?” Aiden demanded.

  “You’ll see them soon enough,” Ryan replied.

  Aiden brushed past him and made his way to Lara. He attempted to reach out to her,

  “Stop it!” Lara cried shrilly. “Just stop it!”

  Aiden lowered his hand and looked back to Ryan, his eyes glowing with rage.

  “There’s two ways we can do this,” Ryan said. “You can either come in peacefully and the exchange will be made – or –”

  Aiden shoved Ryan violently, causing him to trip over.

  “No!” I shouted. “Don’t fight him!”

  Aiden glanced at me and I held his gaze. He was momentarily restrained.

  “I’m okay, I’m okay,” Ryan mumbled getting back to his feet.

  Aiden grabbed a hold of Ryan by the throat. “Where is she? Where is that bitch? Is she here?”

  Ryan stared up at him nervously. “Why? What does that matter?”

  “Just frickin’ tell me,” Aiden hissed. “Is she here or isn’t she?”

  Ryan clenched his teeth together.

  I grabbed a hold of Aiden’s shoulder. “Please,” I said. “It doesn’t matter if she’s here or not. We have to save the others.”

  He looked back to me. “Stay away from me, Bianca. I mean it.”

  My face fell. “Please, Aiden. Just stop. Stop for me.”

  Aiden growled violently, and pushed me to the ground. Ryan managed to get free from his clutches and regain his feet.

  He stepped back from Aiden as Aiden moved forward.

  “This is it,” Ryan said. “Think about what you’re doing. Do you want to fight? Or do you want your family?”

  Suddenly Aiden stopped. He lowered his head.

  Sighed.

  “Aiden,” I whispered. “Do the right thing.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  There wasn’t a whole lot of time for it, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I was still trying to figure out why Aiden would allow me to lead him into this trap. Was it because he wanted to put a stop to these guys coming after him? Was he hoping to get the General on her own so he could … convince her of something?

  I wiped the tears from my eyes as Aiden stood frozen. In the back of my mind, I wondered … what if … what if he wanted to get the family back again? Even if it had been years since their capture.

  What if he knew…

  …this was the only way?

  “Aiden,” Lara said in a quiet voice. “Fucking hell, Aiden…”

  Aiden coughed into his hand.

  “Which way are they?” he asked.

  Ryan put his hand in his shirt and pulled out what appeared to be a purple glowstick. He turned its light on and then held it over his head, waving it in the air.

  Ryan’s eyes searched the circumference of the plains around us, and we all followed likewise.

  Far away in the distance, we could now see another purple glowstick being waved back.

  Ryan put his away.

  “I’ll walk half the distance,” Aiden said in a low voice. “I want to see the rest of them coming at the same time.”

  “Hold on a second,” Ryan said. “We have to send word.”

  He nodded to Lara, and then she crouched on the ground as though she was about to shift.

  “No,” Aiden said quickly. “Lara stays here. You go. You send word yourself.”

  Ryan placed his hand on Lara’s shoulder. “Very well.”

  He bowed down and then shifted into his bird. Moments later he was just another black dot in the sky.

  “They have brought them, haven’t they?” Aiden asked, turning to Lara.

  She nodded. “The General has been kind to us. She means us no harm.”

  Aiden spat on the ground. “Yeah right.” He briefly glanced back me a moment. “So I guess this is goodbye then.”

  My lips trembled. “But … but … Won’t you try to escape again?”

  “What’s the point?” Aiden replied. “She’ll just come after you and the others again.”

  “Surely she doesn’t need you forever. There must be some –”

  “You know what I am now,” Aiden said in a dark tone. “I can’t escape from it. Half man, half beast. The product of a scientific experiment. It’s like Ryan said. It’s happened to all of us.”

  I turned to Lara. “What’s going to happen to you?”

  “I think you know, Bianca,” she replied.

  My whole body shook. “No. Just – no. This isn’t happening.”

  And then each of them turned away from me.

  Aiden to set off on his journey across the field.

  Lara walking right beside him.

  I was left alone, standing here in the cold, the dark. The endless combination of the senses.

  Sights and smells.

  The full blown atmosphere.

  And it occurred to me, that this was how it was going to play out. Aiden and Lara were going to walk back into the arms of that madwoman, to live in a life of horror and war.

  Even though this was the price for making the others safe, it still wasn’t right.

  It wasn’t fair.

  And the only person who se
emed to know and care about the difference was leaving me right here.

  Then again.

  Maybe Aiden wasn’t the only person…

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Do you want to come along for a ride in my emotions with me? Shall we start by going down the river? Or shall we go straight into the bottom of the lake?

  It’s water, and it’s feeling. It splashes everywhere.

  I fell to my knees before they did. Just seeing them all. Walking side by side in a wide reaching line. Their eyes were blindfolded and their mouths were gagged. When they did fall to the ground, they all seemed to fall at the same time.

  There were no tricks up the General’s sleeve. No double-crossing from Ryan.

  Everyone who had been at the wedding and was taken was now free and alive. They were thin, malnourished, and a little beat up. But no one remembered anything that had happened to them.

  It was as though an invisible hand had wiped their memories clean.

  Once I’d located Mom and Dad, I brought them back to the car and we quickly sped away so I could call the police and tell them what happened. We returned to the site and everyone was still there – everyone but Aiden and Lara. They’d kept on going, towards that purple light. After all this time of turning his back on everyone, Aiden finally had made the ultimate sacrifice for them.

  I wondered… Was it just seeing me?

  Did I somehow make him remember the good that was inside of him?

  The sad truth was that perhaps I’d never know.

  I just had to be grateful for what I had now.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  There was no short cut to Mom and Dad’s recovery. They didn’t want to believe what I told the police. No one did. Many of the surviving captors wound up in and out of the hospital for a good many months. Eventually they decided that it was better for them to just forget about what happened. Or at least what I had said happened. A few months later I was called into the living room one evening and explained to that they were going holidaying in France indefinitely. They needed a change of scenery. A way to restart their lives in the best possible direction.

  “And maybe when we return Lara will have come back,” my Stepmom said casually.

  Dad smiled, but I could see there wasn’t much behind it. Even though he was in denial, some of what I’d said must have gotten through.

  “I wish you all the best,” I said, trying to stay positive. “I’ll call you if I hear from either of them.”

  “Yes, dear,” my Stepmother beamed. “Good idea.”

  I went with them to the airport and watched them leave. It was a bittersweet victory. Knowing that they’d be out of harm’s way, but also knowing that they didn’t believe me and pushed me away.

  Maybe it was for the best.

  A few days later a package arrived for me in the mail. I unwrapped it, opened the box and took out the instructions to read through them carefully. The following weekend I took a drive out to an isolated area and brought a bunch of glass bottles with me.

  I was careful to look around in all directions. Make sure no one could see what I was doing. Make sure no one was going to get hurt.

  Then I took out the gun from holster and aimed it at one of the bottles.

  I wasn’t sure if she’d forgotten about it, but I knew where the General lived.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The lights are out. The curtains drawn. The sky is dark.

  It’s me standing there, at the edge of the pavement. A shadow moving across the ground.

  I didn’t want it to be like this. I wanted to move away and forget it all like the rest of them, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I can’t go on until this is resolved.

  And what a way to resolve it.

  My feet carry me up the driveway and I walk underneath the porch’s sensor-light. I stand still. My breathing calm. My heart rapid. What am I going to do now?

  Am I really going to hurt someone?

  Ding-dong.

  My finger leaves the doorbell and put a hand to my waist to make sure the holster hasn’t slipped. Just in case.

  The door opened slowly. The General is standing behind it, by herself and dressed in uniform.

  “I had a feeling you’d turn up one day,” she murmured through the security frame.

  She stepped forward and opened it up for me. I stared at her, unsure for a moment.

  Then I entered the house.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Where is your husband? Where’s your … baby?” I asked stepping inside.

  The General looked at me slyly as she closed the door. “Why don’t you take a seat in the lounge room, Bianca.”

  I glared at her a moment, but then submitted to her request.

  I sat down nervously as the General sat opposite me.

  “I moved them away after Aiden came back to us,” she said answering my question. “I was pretty sure you’d turn up here and I didn’t want them in any kind of danger.”

  “Why didn’t you just – why didn’t you have me killed if you thought I was such a threat to you?”

  “Your brother and sister would’ve become a problem if I handled it that way. It’s better that we can just talk this out.”

  I reached down and pulled the gun from my holster. I pointed it in her direction.

  But the General’s face didn’t change.

  “Where are they?” I demanded. “I want them returned to safety.”

  “That’s out of the question,” the General said quickly. “And even though I’m sure that’s a loaded weapon, I don’t think you’ve come here to kill me.”

  I gritted my teeth, frustrated.

  I stood up and extended my arms further.

  “I’m warning you, General –”

  “And I’m warning you, Bianca,” the General cut over me. “If you shoot me, your whole life will change forever. The police will eventually catch you. They’ll put you in prison. Your father’s heart will break. As will Aiden’s and Lara’s, whom you of course will never see again.”

  “You can’t do this,” I said. “You can’t get away with holding them captive.”

  The General stood up slowly. “Bianca. They’re not in captivity. They’re being put to work.”

  “I don’t want to hear about that. I just want them back.”

  She moved towards me. The gun was directly pointed at her head.

  Another step and she’d be touching it.

  “Let them go,” she said.

  “No,” I cursed. “You let them go.”

  “Let them go,” the General repeated. “Live your life. While you still can.”

  My face screwed up. Tears filled my eyes.

  What was I thinking about?

  Which thoughts were I allowing to enter my head?

  Could I really do this? Could I kill her? Could I live with that?

  Or could I live with her getting away with it?

  “Your life starts now,” the General whispered. “Whether you choose to begin or end it, is up to you.”

  “Why?” I said finally. “Why … why would you let me kill you?”

  “Because this country is worth dying for.”

  EPILOGUE

  The gun doesn’t go off in my hand. There is so resolution of justice for either my brother or sister. I am left to walk out of the General’s house, crying and sobbing – not knowing that maybe someday everything will be okay.

  I look ahead down the road. I look into the future. I see myself standing just outside a wedding altar. I’m wearing a bright orange dress and there are flowers in my hair. Everyone has turned around from their seats to look at me. I look past them towards the edge of the reception where the pastor is waiting with the bride’s maids and the best men. The groom is dressed all in black. But I don’t know who I’m looking at because he is a stranger.

  As is my stepbrother, Aiden Phillips, who has been away at war. A war our country won. You won’t read anything in the papers about his or Lara’s condition.
The secrets of their experiments are kept from the public. But still their faces are plastered about the pages. They’re heroes. They saved people’s lives.

  And it was all for a good reason.

  But it’s not Aiden waiting for me at that the end of that aisle. It’s another man, a man I haven’t met before. A man I’ll meet someday. If I were to search for Aiden, perhaps he would appear somewhere amongst the crowd. A terrible, goofy smile etched on his face. Taunting me. Making fun of me. Perhaps he would tell my new groom about our thing together. Perhaps he would say he’s going to steal me away.

  These are just my thoughts. On what I have to look forward to.

  That dark empty road that stands in front of me.

  But where it leads, I know not.

  Only –

  “Bianca.”

  I turned around, my heart skipping a beat.

  Both Aiden and Lara were on the footpath behind me.

  They each stepped off Aiden’s motorcycle and began to approach.

  “Oh my God!” I squealed. “You guys!”

  I ran up to them and hugged them both.

  “I don’t understand. How did you – how did you know to find me –”

  “Don’t think we haven’t been watching you,” Lara said mysteriously. “We were a little concerned to find you here –”

  “It’s okay,” I interrupted. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t hurt her.”

  “How are Mom and Dad doing?” Lara asked.

  “Fine,” I mumbled. “Actually, they’ve gone to France.”

  “That’s okay,” Aiden said. “We’ll see them when they get back.”

  I looked to both of them, feeling more and more confused. “Aren’t you guys on the run or something? Does the General know you’re here?”

  “She may have tried to explain to you, that we’re happy doing this now,” Aiden replied. “It’s not for nothing. We can actually use our abilities for good in this world.”

  “And we get paid well too,” Lara added.