“Worse than it Looks"

Turbulence rattled the Vertical Assent Transport slightly as it finished climbing over the storm pouring rain onto the jungle below. With the human pilot focused on flying, the owl shifter's head swiveled back, catching the lioness shifter opening the cockpit door. “Can I hide up here?" she asked.

“We're happy to give the medic a safe place to hide, Kimbunga," the owl replied. “Will Caden be okay?"

“I got his wound stitched up," the lioness said, stepping into the cockpit. “Arrow is donating blood to replace what Caden lost before he was found. Since Caden is human, he can't replace the blood he lost before Lavin found him on his own very quickly. Hopefully Arrow's wolf blood can also help counteract the effect of the bear shifter wound Caden received getting the files from the base."

“Yeah," the owl said. “Teenaged Caden is bad enough. No one wants the added aggravation of new shifter added to that."

 Kimbunga nodded and rolled her eyes. “True. Normally, I'd say Caden will be fine, but I'm not sure how well the talk with the boss is going to go." The lioness closed the cockpit door, shutting out the rising voices echoing from below.

In the back of the transport, Caden was not yet shouting – but he was well on the way.

Even his toughest opponent showed Lavin a healthy respect. In his hybrid form, the bear shifter towered over 10 feet tall. While Caden was over half that height when standing, the bare-chested human was currently strapped into his chair. Bandages were wrapped around his torso, covering most of the tattoos there, and an intravenous tube ran from his arm to the furry arm of Arrow – the wolf shifter – who was trying to look as small and non-threatening as he could, hoping Lavin's attention would not turn to him.

 “Why are you sending me back to headquarters?" Caden demanded. “I was the one who found the prototype's location, while the rest of you were planting charges to take down the manufacturing plant."

Seated next to the angry human, Arrow did his best to be small and unobtrusive. He'd rather be anywhere else if the human was going to aggravate the boss, but his blood was needed, so he'd remain and hope trouble wouldn't hit him by association.

Lavin scowled, making Arrow cringe. “You are still getting some of Arrow's blood to replace what you lost while taunting my brother, again," the bear growled, arms crossed. “Your body armor needs a lot of repair before it's wearable – if it's repairable! It should probably just be replaced. Despite treatments, you might become a shifter. Any one of these things alone would have sent you home."

“I feel fine," Caden argued. “The blood transfer will be finished by the time you reach the target location. Obviously, the battle armor doesn't make me invulnerable, so it just means I'll have to be careful."

A firm, “Ha!" from Lavin cut the human's words short, as the large, furred male leaned forward. “You are never careful. You are a stupid teenager who thinks he is immortal. This is exactly the reason why you have been denied every time you ask for the 'gift' to bring you into the family. I cannot help but suspect that you let my brother's claws tear through your armor because you got tired of me telling you, 'no.' I should never have let you on this team at all. You are too young and impetuous. Those two are never good traits for a shifter. You are off-team until we determine whether you are still human, or you are no longer teen shifter. No exceptions."

“The team medic said to get blood from Arrow because two shifter lines trying to gift me at the same time are more likely to cancel each other out, than the likelihood of just one failing," Caden argued. “In any case, it will be a week before my first change, so there's no reason to take me off the mission later tonight."

“That you started arguing with me proves my point," Lavin rumbled. “That you continue to argue proves your stupidity. I have been lenient with you in the past, Caden, but if you continue your current course, you will find yourself off the team – even if you do not change. You have combat skills the rest of the team can benefit from learning, but they do not make you indispensable and can be taught during training – possibly by someone other than you. Stop arguing before you get thrown off the transport, instead of just off the team."

Caden let out a huff, crossing his arms. He winced as they rested on the bandage, then set them to his sides again. “Where do things go from here, then? I don't like the idea of sitting and waiting to see what happens while all of you are risking your lives. You took me in and now I care about the lot of you. I can't and won't ignore that just because of a little scratch."

“This is not punishment," Lavin said. “It is not us abandoning you. I do this because if you change, you will make this surly teenager funk you're in right now look like restful nap in a sunbeam. First change floods you with hormones and strength foreign to your body. It is mountains worse than puberty, piled on top and feeding strength back and forth between them. Plus, you will have sharp claws and big teeth and a bloodlust that demands using them on anything that looks at you.

“That's why we need you getting every treatment to prevent you changing, and for you to be in a place that can safely prevent you from hurting others or yourself if you do change. Until then, playing the 'what if' game only builds up aggravation, so I need you to be patient and follow my orders. Okay?"

Caden shook his head and sighed. Frowning, he gave a nod to his comrade. “I'm not going to like it, but better bored for a week than hurting any of you in the field."

“Good. And it's two weeks to be sure," Lavin said, turning to the cockpit to arrange getting Caden dropped off where he could be taken to headquarters.

Since he was walking away, he missed one of Caden's best aggravated scowls.