Harvest Moon: Mated To My Four Stepbrothers

"I'll drive you."

I had just stuffed the last piece of bread into my mouth when my eldest brother Caleb's voice came from across the kitchen island. He was wearing a crisp shirt, holding a cup of coffee, his gaze fixed on me with no room for negotiation.

"No need. I'll take the bus." I grabbed my backpack, trying to keep my voice normal.

"It's raining today." My second brother, Elijah, walked down the stairs, twirling his car keys around his finger. "The bus stop is a five-minute walk. Get in, Liliana."

Outside, it was only drizzling. I tightened my grip on my backpack strap. "Really, I don't—"

"Lily." Caleb set down his coffee cup with a soft clink. That one sound made the living room go quiet. He looked at me, his gray eyes like a frozen lake. "Don't make us repeat it a third time."

I took a deep breath and swallowed my protest. Rebelling at this point would only make the rest of the day harder. I silently walked toward the door. Elijah had already pulled it open and made a "please" gesture, the corner of his mouth curving with satisfaction.

The car smelled of Caleb's signature cold cologne. The radio was tuned to the news channel. No one spoke. The windshield wipers swished rhythmically.

As we neared the school, I saw Ben. He was running from a side path toward the bus stop, without an umbrella, his brown curls wet from the rain. He saw me in the car, his eyes lit up, and he waved enthusiastically with a bright smile.

"Lily! Morning!" He jogged up to the car, completely unbothered by whose car it was.

I forced a stiff smile and opened my mouth—

"Huh..."

A low growl, rumbling deep from the chest, laced with warning, came from the driver's seat on my left. It was Caleb. He wasn't looking at Ben, just staring straight ahead, but his jaw was tight.

Almost simultaneously, Elijah in the passenger seat on my right slowly, deliberately turned his head toward Ben outside the window. He didn't make any exaggerated expression, just looked at him like that—his gray-blue eyes devoid of any warmth, like assessing a lifeless object. The silent, icy pressure radiating from him was palpable even through the window.

The smile on Ben's face instantly froze. His hand, mid-wave, stiffened. Confusion and primal unease flickered in his eyes. He glanced at Elijah, then quickly at the expressionless Caleb in the driver's seat. His throat bobbed.

"...Uh, sorry, I... I gotta go." He stammered, then practically fled, dashing into the rain without even stopping at the bus stop.

The air inside the car felt instantly sucked dry. The sound of the wipers became unbearably loud.

"Who is he?" Caleb asked, his voice even, but each word like an ice pick.

"Classmate. Same class. His name is Ben." I stared at my backpack on my lap, my nails digging into the fabric.

"Stay away from him from now on." Elijah turned back around, his tone casual, as if he had just swatted away a fly. "He doesn't look too bright."

The car stopped at the side gate of the school, a relatively secluded spot some distance from the main entrance. "Wait for our call after school," Caleb said. No goodbye.

I pushed the door open and fled into the drizzle.

At lunch, the rain stopped. The sun peeked timidly from behind the clouds. Leo and I sat on a bench by the playground, sharing a bag of chips.

"So, Emily's party—can you make it or not?" Leo nudged me with his elbow, his blue eyes full of anticipation. "Friday night, at her place. I heard Jason Miller got his brother's ID, can get us some 'good stuff.'" He winked.

"I want to go," I sighed, the chips tasteless in my hand. "But I need to figure out how to ask my 'wardens' for permission."

"Seriously, Lily," Leo lowered his voice, his expression turning serious. "What's up with your brothers? Last time I just went to the library with you to look up some stuff, the third one looked at me like he was about to come down from the observatory to strangle me." He tilted his head toward the dome-shaped observatory at the top of the school building.

I followed his gaze. The dome's windows reflected the sunlight, a blinding white blur. But that feeling came again—like an icy needle prickling the back of my neck. I knew Gabriel was probably up there, watching through his precious telescope. He liked heights. He liked having a view of everything.

"Don't look," I turned back, forcing myself to relax my shoulders. "Just think of them as... overprotective."

"This is overprotective? This is fucking—" Leo cut himself off when he saw my expression, swallowing the rest and replacing it with sympathy. "Ah, forget it. But try for the party? Make up an excuse? Study group? Community service?"

"I'll try," I said, but I knew how slim the chances were. Study groups needed a "guardian's" signature for confirmation; community service required photo evidence. And Adrian, the youngest in the family, was a junior at this school, a track team star. He was like a mobile surveillance camera.

When the final bell rang, Leo and I had just walked out of the teaching building, planning to go to the library to borrow a book he'd recommended that might help with my history paper, when I saw Adrian leaning against his motorcycle, blocking the middle of the main road.

He wore a tight athletic t-shirt that outlined his lean muscle, arms crossed over his chest, his blond hair glaring under the setting sun. When he saw us, he straightened up and walked over.

"Lily, let's go home." He was succinct, his gaze sweeping over Leo with undisguised coldness.

"Leo and I are going to the library," I tried to sound firm. "We'll be back soon."

"Mom made your favorite red wine braised beef. She wants us all home early." Adrian was unmoved. He reached out to grab my arm. "Let's go."

"Adrian!" I shook off his grip, my voice rising slightly, drawing glances from a few passing students. "I'm not three years old! I said I'm going to the library!"

His eyes darkened. He grabbed my wrist again, harder this time, and I sucked in a cold breath. "Don't make me say it a third time." He lowered his voice, a warning in it, then turned to Leo, his tone one of outright expulsion. "You. Stay away from her."

Leo's face darkened. He wanted to step forward. "Hey, you—"

Adrian just gave him a cold glance. It was the same look as Elijah's—icy, full of primal menace, a warning from an apex predator. Leo froze, his fists clenched, but in the end, he didn't move.

I was dragged, almost pulled, toward Adrian's motorcycle. Struggling was futile; he was too strong. I looked back and saw Leo standing there, his face pale, his fists tightening and loosening.

The engine roared, drowning out all my protests.

"...Mom, you can't just let this happen every time!" I threw my backpack onto the living room sofa, my voice trembling with agitation. "Today! They brought me back from the school gate like escorting a prisoner! Just because my friend wanted to go to the library with me! Is this normal?!"

Mom came out of the kitchen, still holding a ladle, her face wearing its usual weary gentleness. "Lily, sweetheart, calm down. Your brothers are just worried about you. You know, ever since... uh, they just care about you too much."

The same old excuse. Ever since my father died and she married my stepfather, and these four "brothers" entered my life, this excuse had become the universal shield.

"This isn't caring, this is control! It's imprisonment!" I nearly shouted. "I'm seventeen! I have no space of my own, no friend dares to come near me! This is not right!"

"They're your brothers, Lily. Family has to understand each other." Mom came over to pat my head, but I flinched away. She sighed. "Dinner's almost ready. Go wash your hands and calm down. Your stepfather won't be home tonight, just us and your brothers. We'll have a nice chat, okay?"

A nice chat with them? That would just be another one-sided lecture and set of rules.

I ran back upstairs to my room, locked the door, and slid down against the door panel to the floor. Anger, frustration, and a deep sense of helplessness flooded over me like a tide. Why didn't anyone understand? Why did even Mom choose to look away?

Because weakness only invites more trampling, my dear.

A voice—low, with a hint of teasing rasp—spoke directly in my mind. Not heard with my ears, but emerging from the depths of my consciousness.

Justice.

Look at them, Liliana. Justice's voice flowed through my nerves like a warm poison. Weaving a cage in the name of love. Depriving you of sunlight, clipping your wings. And you, like a tame canary, don't even have the courage to peck at the bars?

"I've tried!" I retorted inwardly, my fists clenching. "Every rebellion just leads to tighter surveillance! What can I do?"

Heh... what can you do? Justice chuckled, a hint of bloodthirsty excitement in it. The wolf pups think they're guarding a lamb. They've forgotten—or perhaps they've never truly understood—what dwells inside this body.

A strange, scorching power stirred at the base of my spine, sending a slight shiver through me. Not fear... something stirring, eager.

It's time to make them reacquaint themselves, Liliana. Justice's voice was full of incitement. A little "accident," a harmless "lesson." For example, let a crack appear in their most cherished, controlling "order."

"What do you want to do?" I asked, my heartbeat inexplicably quickening.

The weekend party is the perfect stage. Justice murmured, coaxing. You need to get out. You need to touch the world they forbid you from. And that boy Leo—he's a suitable helper, and a perfect... catalyst. Imagine the expressions on your "brothers'" faces when they find their little bird not only flew the coop but is also having a grand time with other "wild birds"... They'll be priceless.

Break their rules. Challenge their authority. Watch the cracks form in their composed, cold masks.

That thought, like a wildfire seed, landed in my heart and instantly ignited. The long-suppressed frustration and anger found an outlet.

I slowly stood up and walked to the full-length mirror. The girl in the mirror had slightly red-rimmed eyes, but something was faintly glowing in their depths. I raised my hand, my fingertips gently brushing the cool glass.

"Justice," I whispered, barely audible, to my reflection and to the resonant voice inside my mind, "you're right."

In the mirror, the corner of my mouth curled upward, extremely slowly, into a small, cold arc.