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

Chapter 42 - Escape

Chapter 42

The mortal was as crafty and stubborn as Ezekiel gave him credit for....maybe even more so.

After the attack on the Clan Celebration and their falling out Brandon refused to budge. And Ezekiel refused to continue to pretend like he didn't have suspicions.

So he had no choice but to pull back and give Brandon the space that he acted desperate to have.

Ezekiel didn't chase after answers he was dying to have. He didn't question and dig....and he physically had to stop himself from trying to touch the man all the time.

And the fact that Ezekiel could barely stop himself for reaching for the mortal at any given hour....or when they accidentally connected gazes.....should have frightened him....but all it did was make Ezekiel more frustrated with their current standoff. Why did Brandon insist on turning from not only Ezekiels company....but the mutual attraction they felt was confounding.

And the dreams!

There were no words to explain the confusion the sensual, hot dreams he suffered through at night had on Ezekiel's mind and body in the day light.

To spend his nights tangled in Brandon's arms. Too share a kiss, to touch his body, to caress his moaning skin and then to awaken to the knowledge that Ezekiel didn't really know what Brandon's embrace felt like...was painful.

The ache felt like the edge of madness at times.

And even thought Ezekiel respected Brandon's wishes it was hard not to give in to emotions.

Ezekiel felt..... irate and pulled into far too many directions as the week progressed and both he and Brandon seemed unable to find the words to speak to each other.

And an ever present leech on Ezekiels energy, time and patience was his daily duties as a Guardian.

More then once Ezekiel and his siblings were called out as reports from various members in the surrounding villages. The reports detailed Ghouls or suspicious sounds in the forest.

But no matter how often the Guardians ran down the reports...

The Ghouls somehow managed to scamper off and hide as if they were ghost's.

The Ghouls seemed to be able to move and leave no trail or scent behind, which was surprising considering how disgusting their body odor was up close and how unintelligent the Ghouls appeared to be in person it was hard to believe that they could do anything strategic such as cover their trail.

But on the other side pulling Ezekiels attention was Brandon. One unsuccessful attempt after another to find the last of the invaders lurking in the woods began to weigh down on the brothers and Ezekiel slowly began to notice that Brandon....became more and more reserved and secretive as the days passed.

Suspiciously Brandon had taken to accompanying his family every morning for breakfast...and going out on patrols to the villages.

And now Ezekiel knew why.

Earlier that day Ezekiel had returned unexpectedly from his patrol to pick up a fresh set of tools from his garage.

IT was midday...and no one was in the mansion except for Brandon who had randomly elected to stay in his room.

Mantilo was off with Glen doing doctor and Clan head calls all around the Clan Lands....and holding funerals form the leopards that they had lost a week before while fighting against the Ghouls that attacked.

Lander, Nate and Walter were all out in their respective Villages patrolling and working the fields.....None of them, including Ezekiel, were supposed to be returning until the early morning hours....So it made since that this was the time when Brandon would make his escape.

Ezekiel ran up the steps of the mansion, only for a sudden movement in the shadows far to the north of the forest to catch his attention. For a second he thought to leave the shadows be....until a rare breeze hit him in the face carrying a scent.

Casting the spicy scent of the one person who was forbidden to transverse the lands without a chaperone. Brandon.

"Shit.....is he in the woods? Doesn't he know there are still Ghouls out there?" Ezekiel hissed, turned form the mansion and tried to follow.

Ezekiel rushed into the woods intending to call Brandon back, but the moment he broke the tree line he was perturbed to see nothing but the back of Brandon's shadow disappearing further into the dim canopy as he appeared to take off at a run.

Felling a small prickle of anger in the back of his head Ezekiel took a deep breath and scanned the area. He didn't sense anything dangerous hidden in the forest....he didn't scent any lingering scents of excrement and rot. No Ghouls had visited this patch of the woods....but how could Brandon race into a potentially dangerous area like that! Why would he do this!

Calm down....maybe he just wanted to go for a walk in the woods...?

Ezekiel shook his head, turned and clambered up a strong pine tree using his claws and his strength to clear multiple branches, easily climbing multiple feet, until he spotted Brandon traveling at a brisk and cautions pace to the north east.

IT only took Ezekiel a few minutes of watching him....for Ezekiel to realize that this was no error in judgement or a simple evening stroll.

Brandon was in fact attempting to escape.

He had his pack secured to his back. It appeared quite full and it was easy to tell that Brandon was traveling in a careful way. He purposely avoided branches or twigs that would snap and leave an easy trail to track.

With mixed emotions Ezekiel simply followed behind Brandon's back for a long time. He moved in silence as only a big cat could. Stealthily he followed Brandon a good four miles into the brush.

He followed because he wanted to make sure nothing happend to the stubborn man. And because he was also caught in indecision.

Should he stop Brandon...or allow him to escape?

The rational side of him tried to attack the problem.

Then fact that Brandon was trampling all across his father's rules, and authority is what should have hit Ezekiel the hardest as he got ready to confront Brandon, but if Ezekiel was honest with himself his anger at Brandon in those moments had nothing to do with his father's Lock Down being broken......or blatantly disrespected.

If it did Ezekiel would have let the beautiful man slip away and never think twice about it, because Brandon was not beholden to the Laws of the Clan Head being that he was just a mortal.

But the irrational.....and unexplainable side of his brain pushed him to stand in Brandon's way.

Because weather Ezekiel liked to admit it or not.....he was truthfully angry that Brandon was trying to get away.....from him.

It was crazy...and obsessive...and inappropriate, but a part of him was positively incensed by the thought that the mortal was going to slip away into the unknown and possibly never return. Into danger. Into solitude.

With an angry growl Ezekiel couldn't halt, he jumped and crouched down on the branch six feet above Brandon's head and shouted down at him.