Page 8 of Three

“Doesn’t look like a victim to me, or a bear,” Gabe interjects. He’s staring at him a little too intensely. Either he wants to kill him or fuck him. Since my bro is supposedly asexual—being a robot and all—it must be the first one. I can’t let that happen, though. Not before discovering what he’s hiding inside those tight jeans.

“Time is up, Bear Man. Kindly release the shithead.” My lips turn up slightly, and I give him a relaxed expression, but my body is tensing, ready to fight if he doesn’t oblige. I almost wish he wouldn’t. Feeling all that raw power under my fingers would definitely keep my senses alive.

His deep gaze is on Gabe for a few seconds too long. Then he turns it to me, still no fear in his eyes, but inquisitiveness and a hint ofinterest—or that’s what I’m telling myself.

He suddenly lets go of the donor’s neck, and the guy crumbles to the ground like a bag of potatoes, wheezing and gasping. I lift my foot and stomp my sole on his face, making him go to sleep.

“Good choice. Thank you.” I give Bear Man a big smile, hoping he can see my white teeth through the beard, and proceed to haul the donor over my shoulder. I can detect a faint smell of alcohol coming out of him, but I barely feel his weight on me. My senses are almost gone.

I walk to the back of the van, and after opening the doors, I unceremoniously throw the donor inside. Gabe is waiting there with a tranquilizer, which he injects in the donor’s neck before going back to the driver’s seat.

I’m closing the doors when I feel Grizzly behind me.

“What do you want with him?” He glances at the donor’s body. He’s an inch from invading my personal space, and I wish I could smell his sweet, smoky scent with a hint of tobacco again.

“He…owes us something.” Information and samples of his DNA, and more if my researcher brother, Sari, says so.

“You aren’t going to tell me who you are, are you?”

I also love a perceptive man.

“Next time, perhaps.” I need to know more about my bear first. I’ll never put my family in danger.

“So sure about a next time?” he counters.

“Don’t you believe in fate?” I ask, moving to the passenger door.

He growls a no.

“How about coincidence?”

“If we meet again, it won’t be a coincidence.”That’s for sure because I’m going to make it happen.

“Einstein said, ‘coincidence is God’s way to remain anonymous.’”

“God.” He makes it sound more like a curse than a deity. Interesting.

“In what do you believe, then?” My hand hovers over the door handle as I find myself waiting for his answer.

“We create our own path.”

I hear a huff coming from inside the car. I must have imagined it; Gabe never reacts to anything.

“You mean, we freely choose one of the paths that fate shows us?” I fuck with him a bit.

“Wedecide where to go,” he clarifies with a steady, deep gaze before turning around and walking toward the bodies on the ground.

“Some of us are forced in a certain direction,” I retort. We were after what happened to us.

“There’s always a choice.”But is there?He stops near Marcus Baker, and after grabbing a fistful of his hair, he pulls him up, making him grunt.

I pocket the nuggets of information Grizzly offered me about himself. It’s the small, imperceptible details lying in the different shades of gray that shed some light on the essence of a person.

Information is the most powerful weapon. I should know, as a hacker and a fact addict—if that’s even a thing. I specifically look for evidence of evil in people, and with my cyber skills I can dig rabbit-hole deep. In Grizzly’s life as well.

“We were never here.” I put as much warning in my tone as I can.

“Nobody was.” He punches Marcus in the face and then steps on his hand, pressing his shoe hard to the ground.