(MxM)Tales Of A Shifter (P2) - The Clan Celebration

Chapter 14 - I Want You To Stay

Chapter 14

After arriving back at the Mansion Brandon and Ezekiel silently agreed on heading up to the second floor. The sun was setting. Night crept up over the home and in the silence their beds called to them.

The smell of burning candles and soft pine danced all along the halls as Ezekiel and Brandon stepped off of the top of the staircases and Ezekiel walked beside Brandon to his room. The moment Brandon saw the door to his room, he mumbled a quick good night to Ezekiel and tried to disappear, but his name on Ezekiel's lips held him in the hall, before he could manage to even turn the door knob.

"Brandon? Wait...please." Ezekiel called as they came to his bed room. The call was a question and a demand all rolled up into one.

All throughout the hike back to the Mansion it had seemed he wanted to say something, but until now the words had remained unspoken....and because Brandon partially feared what he would say....he had allowed Ezekiel to remain in silence.

Brandon sensed something coming to a head between them. Something that they both tried ignore, but Brandon felt both of them had become far too aware of it......to just continue to ignore it.

Instantly Brandon prepared himself for a question about how he was feeling or what he was going to do with the rest of his night. Instead Ezekiel hit him with this.

"Will you tell me who taught you how to fight?" Ezekiel asked him.

With a small frown at the sudden and random inquiry Brandon turned from the door and looked at Ezekiel as he replied. "No one taught me to fight...." He said softly.

With a slight smile, Ezekiel shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe that..." He said turning eyes full of surprise and appreciation on Brandon. "Your skill level is nothing to sniff at Brandon. You've been through some intense training. In a physical fight you could probably outmaneuver a lot of people. Your good, so who taught you to move like that?"

Felling a ridiculous twinge of pride at Ezekiels praise, Brandon shrugged and motioned to himself. "I taught myself..."

A flash of something registered in Ezekiel gaze at this, but before Brandon could figure what it was....it was gone, and Ezekiel was looking away. "Why?" he asked, this inquiry just as sudden as the last.

Brandon reached down and tugged at the hem of the leather of his gloves. Something felt like it was coming, he just couldn't figure out what it was, so he continued to answer Ezekiel's questions.

"Well...." He softly replied to Ezekiel. "I've got to protect myself. It's a big bad world so I needed to know how to handle anything that might be a threat. So I studied and read some books and eventually I had picked up a few combat tips."

Ezekiel squinted at him and asked "And now you want to go back into that? Why are you so eager to get back into danger?" He demanded in a growl.

Brandon felt a spiteful laugh fall from his lips "Am I supposed to be afraid of getting hurt? Danger exists." He responded in a cold tone that he couldn't wholly control or soften. "I'm not safe anywhere, you aren't safe anywhere. No one is Ezekiel. It's a dog eat dog world...and wherever I go, I'll be in danger. That's just how it is." He finished off with a shrug.

"That's not true...." Ezekiel tried to say, but Brandon wasn't willing to allow him to keep going.

"Whatever you say." He sighed turning his back on Ezekiel and cutting him off. "Let's just drop it. None of this will matter at the end of this week, because I'll be back on the road."

To break the awkward tension and to move away from where he felt the conversation was going. Brandon laughed, reached out to open his bedroom door and said.