Tales of a Shifter (P5) The White Mountain

Chapter 53- Missing

Chapter 53 - Missing

De-shifting and setting eyes on the Mansion after so many days away on patrol Lander couldn't deny the calm that settled on him. He couldn't deny that he hated being attacked by the emotions and thoughts of others. Even his own family members. Erin and Drin didn't live with them and so did not count.

But with his brothers only Ezekiel and Nate were exceptionally easy to read or to feel. Walters mind was nearly impossible to feel, as well as his emotions seeing as his elder sibling spent every waking moment closed off in a numb self-imposed prison. A punishment of his own choosing for mistakes their eldest brother had made long ago.

That left only his mother, father and Brandon.

Mantilo was a powerful man, who schooled both his emotions and mind and Lander found it relatively easy to ignore the buzz of his father's mind and emotions, because the Clan Head had a strong sense of self. A strong block on his own mind simply born from struggle, strife, survival, and wisdom.

His mother Glen was a healer and her age, wisdom, as well as her own empathy and struggles had made her mind just as strong, but perhaps not as impenetrable as Walter. Her emotions were muffled, her thoughts easy to push away, but not nearly as easy as he wished.

And then there was Brandon. The mysterious Mortal had always been hard for Lander to read or to feel. Much like Kim. But once he let Lander into his head, Lander had found it hard not to at least sense the man's emotions even when he didn't want to. He caught wisps of his feelings for Ezekiel. His fear. His pain or confusion. To Lander it seemed that the Mortal had suffered so greatly that his own mind was a fortress, but his heart, was a vulnerable mess and unfortunately Lander sensed it far too clearly in the last few weeks.

So all in all, compared to the continuous attacks he received from working in the Villages from the dozens of Shifters he had to patrol around and work with, being at the mansion was in many aspect much easier to deal with. Less people. Less pain. Less thoughts. With his family there was a degree of safety. Familiarity. Understanding.

And if the Guardian was honest with himself. He could only tolerate being away from the cocoon that they provided for so long. Even with the new addition of Brandon. The mental and spiritual fatigue of being with his family was one that he could live with.

Thoughts of regret touched him as he thought about the oasis he thought he had found in Kim. But he couldn't trust her anymore. The home he thought he had found away from home with her had been easily destroyed by her lies and his own abilities.

He realized now that he wasn't safe anywhere. With anyone. Because his abilities were just too sensitive. Perhaps he should just accept that and his own cosmic place as the personal punching bad for anyone and everyone with a pulse.

Eventually Lander snarled as he slammed the front door and walked further into his family's homes. And he nearly wanted to smash a wall when he was suddenly and heavily assuaged by thoughts an feeling swirling across his soul, mingling with him inside. Worry. Apprehension. Fear.

It colored the very air. It stretched down the walls, like paint peeling. It struck him in the core and wouldn't go away. Instantly Lander sensed the center of this feeling. His mother Glen. He felt her mind, its focus on two things. Ezekiel and Brandon.

Her anxiety rumbled across her mind and heart making all of Landers inner beast perk up and without hesitation his feet jumped to bring him to her side.

He didn't have to go looking for her. He already knew where he would find her. And that she wouldn't be alone.

Lander turned the corner at the far right of the door and quickly walked into the kitchen.