(MxM) Tales Of A Shifter (P1) - The Meeting

Chapter 37 - New Life

Ezekiel traversed the darkness at a steady sprint behind the rest of his brothers and his father that lead the way. The supple grass pulled and tugged at his legs, snapping as he continued to move further into the Clan Lands with his family. The nearly inescapable scent of pine colored all of the soft breezes that stirred the forests around them. Cricket call and the steely moon light above, gave ambiance to the calm night but for the most part Ezekiel and his family roamed the darkness in relative silence.

Ezekiel easily kept up with his brothers, at times pulling ahead or racing along Nate whose two tones eyes nearly reflected the moon in the sky as they began to glow.

And as all of them tracked along the path that their father traveled, he quickly realized that instead of traveling to the west where the dead moose's had been found their father was leading them to the southern part of their Lands. Ezekiel knew that four or five miles to the south laid the southern village, which was home to nearly fifteen Shifter families, three fields and one farm.

Having lived in the Leopard Lands his whole life Ezekiel was very familiar with the layout and distance needed to travel before he arrived at each of the villages inside of the Clan as well as some of the outlying structures built between some of them. So the moment he spotted the large wooden cabin stationed a few miles off the out skirts of the slumbering southern village he wasn't surprised. Soft light in the windows alerted Ezekiel to the fact that the occupants inside were awake, and as Ezekiel and his family closed the distance towards the large wooden home, the front door was thrown open and two bodies moved into the light on the front of the vast wooden porch.

And before he knew it Ezekiel was looking at his cousins. The last two Guardians in the Leopard Clan.

"Erin! Drin!" Ezekiel called out as they dashed the rest of the way across the field and stopped on the lager dirt path that lead directly to the wood pouch that his cousins were standing on. His brothers and father took a moment to catch their breaths. Something he barely felt the need to do. So leaving them behind him he raced up the steps and engulfed the last two members of his family.

Erin was a tall willow, 17 years old and 5'10 with the legs and arms of an amazon, long thin and defined in the jeans and blue sweater that she wore. A few soft appealing curves filed out her tall figure, short brown hair and a heart shaped face.

A tear drop chin, small hazel eyes and a gentle mouth completed her soft features, which quickly spread into a beautiful smile of surprise when Ezekiel hugged her softly and placed a kiss to her temple.

"Ezekiel!" Erin began as she pulled back slightly. "I missed you, where have you been."

To that question Ezekiel had only one reply. "I've been kind of busy."

Drin, his cousin's mate, and Ezekiel's cousin-in-Law by Shifter law, waited until Ezekiel and Erin had swapped appropriate pleasantries before he took Ezekiel's hand in a friendly shake and let Ezekiel tussle his hair a bit before he moved back.

Drin seemed a little stiff to Ezekiel as they pulled apart, all though the younger Guardian had always been a little ridged when it came to anyone except his beloved Mate.

Drin was a short, buff boy compared to his more willowy and slender Mate.

Barely older than 17 as well, with sharp blue eyes, black curly hair cut close to his head and a flat nose. He, unlike many of the men in the village, had very little height but Ezekiels cousin didn't seem to be effected by this much.

If anything Drin was more confident because of his size and even though all of the men in Ezekiels household outweighed him and out stood him Drin had emerged from more than one fight with his head held high. But this was not to say that Drin was cocky or spent his time picking fights, like Ezekiel's brother Lander did. In fact Ezekiel knew his Cousin in Law was awfully accommodating, much like Erin was. He welcomed company, enjoyed a simple conversation and rarely had a hiss or a snarl to dish out.