Upside Down (COMPLETE) Inside Out, Book 2 [BoyxBoy]

Keith

 "Okay, I want to say only a short reminder here," Dan shouted among the crowd standing in the open yard under the bright full moon, but Keith couldn't pay much attention. "From the information I have, a powerful wizard has been lingering around the territory. This guy may not be nice, so I need all of you to be extra careful ..."

The feel of Nathan's touch still lingered around on his skin, and he winced at the thought of it. As he moved around and gathered with the other boys from the pack, Keith found himself looking around, searching for the boy that had been fucking around with his feelings since the past few weeks.

He didn't want to admit that he was in love with Nathan, although the signs were pretty much clear. Keith always thought he would never be the ones he stumbled upon in online gay teen forums, the ones who'd found themselves falling for straight guys, but here he was, thinking about a guy who would be his stepbrother soon. No, I'm not in love with him. He let out a breath, sighing. He wished he knew how to distract his heart from feeling this way, but he didn't know where to start.

Okay, maybe he had made a move: Keith thought it would be best to accept that Nathan was a heterosexual all along. The intimacy Nathan had shown Keith was nothing but a pure act of kindness, and it made sense to him now. Nathan was a good son to his father, a warm beloved brother to his two sisters, and when Keith entered his life he treated him just like how he would welcome a new family member with no judgment. It seemed clear to him that Nathan had probably been ready with the idea of a blended family all along, and those acts were his part of being who he really was.

But someday Keith needed to make Nathan realize that he had feelings, and Nathan needed to tone down his way of treating Keith and give him space. Maybe I don't want that—maybe I want him to treat me like he does forever.

Keith spun around the sea of shirtless boys but he still couldn't see Nathan. A few moments later, he made himself stop; why would he care about Nathan so much? He didn't understand, sometimes he wondered how genuine he felt for the boy that he'd live with soon. Keith couldn't deny that he cared so much about Nathan, and the fact angered him. He felt like everything was at Nathan's fault, that none of this would happen if they behaved like normal strangers did.

"You can only attack in self-defense," the Alpha continued. "If you find yourself in harm's way, howl three times before doing anything and I will reach to you as fast as I can ..."

"Hey," said someone from Keith's back out of the blue. "Where's Jordan and Colby?"

Keith squinted in the dark to remind himself who was the person talking to him, and it took a few seconds before he fully remembered. It was Jordan's brother, looking jumpy and excited to start the night. He didn't remember interacting that much with him before, and he hoped Stanley was just as nice as his little brother. Not that he had any bad instincts, though.

"I'm not exactly sure ... I was with him just now, but somehow I lost him among the crowd."

Stanley laughed. "Well, I was supposed to be with him ... but I'm sure he's going to be fine."

"Why, what's wrong?" Keith asked. "Do you want me to find him?"

"No, no ... it's fine. Our mom thinks Jordan's not so good at taking care of himself, so she makes me hover around him all the time," Stanley said. "Anyway, it's your first hunt, isn't it? You can come along with me ... oh, we should tag along your brother, too!"

"Brother?" Keith blurted out—not that he wasn't clear about who Stanley referred to, but it felt odd to hear someone thought about Nathan and him that way.

"Yeah, Nathan ... where is he, though? Thought you might know," Stanley said.

"Oh, I'm not sure, too ..." he said, and he knew he needed to switch the subject. "Um, why's your mother worried so much about Jordan, though? Why all the doubts?"