GODDAMIT!!! STOP SHOUTING THIS INSTANT!!" Mantilo bellowed as he suddenly appeared in the kitchens doorway. The moment his eyes rested on the scene unfurling in the room he let out a hair razing snarl of disapproval. "YOU WILL RELEASE EACH OTHER....RIGHT NOW!!"
The authority....and the danger in that tone barely managed to make the rage dissipate. Instead Ezekiel almost made the mistake of turning to his father and roaring back at him.
The only thing that stopped him was Brandon suddenly standing next to him, with Nate. Nate didn't speak he simply put a strong restraining hand on Ezekiel's shoulder. Brandon reached out and gripped his wrist, grabbed and his shirt squeezing it slightly. A small fist hitting Ezekiel on his chest.
"Ezekiel! Look at me. Calm down!" he called as he captured Ezekiel's gaze. The feeling of warm leather was all that registered from his touch but his voice was somehow calming to his senses. Nates touch helped him as well. It all washed past the anger, thier presence cut across the anger, and dashed it away.
"Ezekiel let him go...Come on, it's not worth it. I know you dont want to hurt him..." Brandon softly implored with a tip of his head, before he dropped his hand and stepped away.
Ezekiel snarled wanting to ignore the calm settling over him before he looked back at Lander. Then without a word he shoved Lander back and finally released his clothing.
Lander growled right back him before with a huff, he yanked on his rumpled shirt and started to step away. But perhaps because he always had to have the last word, Lander took a step back in Ezekiel's direction and lowered his voice into a whispered hiss that he directed at Ezekiel and Ezekiel alone.
"See that? Seehow close you were to losing it right there?" Lander asked, a serious look in his eyes as he glanced at Brandon and Nate, then back at Ezekiel with a small smirk on his face.
"It's like I said to you the other night Ezekiel. It's in your mind." He slightly preached as he reached out and tapped on Ezekiel's forehead. " You're dangerous....when he's around, you ARE dangerous. Your losing control!"
Ezekiel hissed and slapped his hand away.
Suddenly Glen broke away from Mantilo at that moment and released a soft sigh. "My gosh! What on earth is going on in here?" Glen huffed, crossing the room. She was wearing a slim whit sundress, slashed with a rainbow of dyes, fanned out in the elegant shapes of unfurling flowers. Her sandy brown hair was pulled back at her nape in a beautiful braid and a simple pair of clear gems sat sparkling in her ears.
"You boys were so loud and boorish that we had to cancel the meeting we were holding down the hall ." Glen walked over to the table, her big green eyes widening slightly as she spun and sent a glare about the dining room. "And you spilled juice everywhere!" she cried. Her gaze brushed over Lander, then Ezekiel and it softened as she crossed to them.
"What on earth has got you both so riled up?" She asked as she came up to them and placed a small hand on both of their arms.
Silence followed her question. Mostly because no one except for Lander and Ezekiel knew the real answer to her questions and neither of them seemed willing to share.
Mantilo who was waiting for a response as much as anyone else in the kitchen, let out an impatient growl. "WELL? Are you two going to explain what the hell all of this was about or not!?"
To Ezekiel's surprise a wide smile suddenly spread across Landers face. The pendulum that was Landers emotions causing Ezekiel to feel temporarily bewildered. "It was nothing..." He said, then Lander turned his cruel green gaze to Ezekiel and shrugged at him.
"Right?" he asked with a slight lift of his eyebrows.
Knowing that it was best to simply agree Ezekiel dropped his gaze and nodded his head.
"Right....It's nothing..." Ezekiel bit off, looking away from the quizzical glances everyone was giving him.
Keeping his gaze on the ground to hide the glowing slits that he felt his eyes had become Ezekiel walked away from his mother and quickly took his seat next to Brandon who wasn't staring at him like everyone else, but was glancing at him from the corner of his eye every now and then. Glass was cleaned up and the table pushed back into place.
Lander, Nate and Glen all broke apart and went to their own seats, everyone did, except for Mantilo who crossed his large arms over his chest and sighed.
"Well, if this foolishness has been settled, is everyone ready to hear their assignments and a few personal announcements concerning the Celebration?" he asked every in attendance.
With a solm nod everyone in the room agreed, everyone except for Brandon who turned to Ezekiel and quickly whispered. "Um...Can I be in here for this? Isn't he talking about Guardian stuff?"
Ezekiel could only nod him off.
He wasn't able to speak without hissing, so he held his tongue. Ezekiel privately struggled to control the slight after shivers of adrenaline and he felt his Heart racing. It was just dying down. The threat that Lander had made sitting like a lump in his stomach for a few more dark minutes charging Ezekiel with deep discomfort and making his inner Leopard snap in violation.
In those seconds Mantilo's heavy voice filled the room as he began to lay out the daily patrol routes for Ezekiel and his brothers, but Ezekiel drifted in and out as he spoke. Until Brandon suddenly turned to him, with a suspicious look on his face he leaned over and whispered to Ezekiel so as not to interrupt Mantilo. His dirty blond hair shifting forward on his crow as he caught Ezekiels gaze.
"So...um....What WAS all that about...?" Brandon asked him in a hushed tone, his gaze burned as it pinned Ezekiel to the spot. His cool green eyes always managed to capture Ezekiel interest, but Ezekiel was worried to look back into them at that moment.
"You kinda looked like you were about to strangle Lander to death or something Ezekiel." He said.
To get away from that question, Ezekiel put a hand over his eyes pretending to rub then and let out a sigh. "IT was nothing. Forget it even happened." He whispered loud enough so that Brandon could hear him, then he lapsed back into silence....and so did Brandon.
Instantly Ezekiel was grateful for the silence, grateful that Brandon's gaze was no longer fixed on him, because the incident that had just transpired was in fact....everything.
Especially since it had been all about Brandon.
Ezekiel wanted to forget it. But Landers words had been echoing in his head ever since that night.
You are dangerous....He's messing with your control...
Ezekiel wanted to forget but he remembered exactly what he had been dreaming about the night before.
*What do you guys think so far? Enjoying the Tales?Chapter 6The previous night had found Ezekiel far out in the darkness of the Pine woods. Still miles away from home, frustrated, and exhausted after days of fruitless hunting Ezekiel , his brothers and their father had decided to call it a night, each of them separately curling up around a lumpy clearing, where thick ridged roots sprouted up from the ground and laid like rocks beneath the pine straw that littered the earth.It was far from comfortable sleeping arrangements, but Ezekiel and his siblings were used to such things so, after appointing Lander First Watch Ezekiel had walked off a ways and slowly plopped down by a tree.With a helpless toss and turn.....Ezekiel eventually faded away, beneath the dark tinkling canopy above that hid all from view, but the barest of moon light.And it was an untold amount of time later, before the vision had seized a hold of him.Suddenly Ezekiel awoke to the darkness. Instantly Ezekiel reali
Ezekiel bashed his knuckles into his brother's jaw and as Lander was thrown back into the floor, as Ezekiel wrapped his right hand around his throat and twisted his arm. With a furious hiss Ezekiels hand clamped down at the junction at the top of Landers wrist and put painful pressure on the joint untill Ezekiel had bent it inward towards the pulse.Ezekiel could have snapped his wrists or broken his neck in his fury, but beyond the anger was the slow realization of just who this person was to him. Just exactly who he was about to harm....and somehow Ezekiel....stayed his hand.He curbed it just enough that with a harsh shove he slammed his brother back into the unforgiving Earth and rolled off of him before he could do any further harm. Lander was up in seconds, crouched on his hunches he released a blood curdling snarl, claws slowly growing out of his fingertips.Ezekiel let the beast inside bleed out over his flesh, he felt his jaw shift, his skin flash into that of another creatur
Chapter 8Outside in the fields, guarded by the swaying pines of the leopards lands, Brandon was getting the work out of his lifetime.The cart that Ezekiel had agreed to haul out to Erin and Drin’s home in lue of the upcoming Clan Celebration was indeed large....and as Ezekiel had guessed it was “as heavy as a horse”. Brandon and Ezekiel both stood shoulder to shoulder, pulling on the long wooden handle, and marching the cart forward beneath the pine trees.Ezekiel and Brandon traveled along a well-trodden path of firm earth. Brandon had been informed by Ezekiel earlier that morning that paths such at the one that they traveled crisscrossed all of the Leopards lands and that many of them had appeared over time as traffic from different areas created divots in the earth. Rainfall and wind had seemed to do the rest.Halfway to Erin’s home Ezekiel stopped and handed him a chilled water canteen.Brandon was damp, his shirt felt glued to him, so with a few deft flicks of his fingers he un
Chapter 9Chapter 9And suddenly Erin was standing there. Standing in a long bright orange sundress, that was split along he calf’s and sporting golden lace up saddles she looked just as lovely and Amazonian as Brandon remembered seeing her nearly a week before. “Ezekiel! Brandon!” She called as she left her front door open behind her and quickly walked down the steps of her front porch.“Erin...slow down!” Ezekiel intoned from the cart, as the young Leopardess nearly stumbled down the steps, her long legs moving far too fast as she rushed up to them. She wasn’t showing, so unless Brandon had been told he wouldn’t have been able to guess that the bubbly girl skipping towards him was quickly on her way to motherhood.Her hazel eyes were glowing with a slight ember light and a large smile was plastered across her face which showed off the small fangs that were growing. Her excitement was instantly infections as she nearly danced to a stop in Brandon’s wake and waved. A frilly, bubbly en
Chapter 10After that Ezekiel and Brandon delved into a silent rhythm.The soft sun beat down on them and the grass, warming it, so that every blade that brushed against Brandon’s ankles felt like the warm brush of a breath. And Brandon found the work and view to be a calming affair all around.Even Ezekiels company calmed him. His presence perhaps calmed Brandon most of all. Mostly because Brandon found that he craved proximity to the Guardian that went beyond his own understanding.Even though Ezekiel held himself in a brooding silence as they worked.But this was understandable considering the fact that the two of them had only just gotten over a large...and mostly unresolved argument, minutes before arriving at Erin’s cabin.And for the most part, rather then continue to fight, Brandon allowed him to stew....especially seeing as Brandon had done everything in his power to aggravate and upset the guardian in the first place. So for a long moment they sat in shallow companionship, a
Chapter 11Somehow feeling like the lamb to the slaughter as Ezekiel playful offer tried to take root Brandon shook his head. “No. Not on your life.”“No? Why not?” Ezekiels tone took on a slightly goading overture. “You can’t be afraid to spar with me are you? You seem to know how to handle yourself in a fight.....”Something about the way that he said this sounded like a clear challenge. And damn him....but Brando had never been able to turn away from a challenge. “I do know how to handle myself!” He replied sharply.Knowing that he had won part of the battle Ezekiel smiled, like a Cheshire cat. “Well then...” HE intoned putting out his hands to his sides, palms up. “Spar with me...”“Are you serious? You really want to do this?” Brandon sighed.“Well were out here for the rest of the afternoon.” Ezekiel said back dropping his hands and motioning to the sun that wasn’t even halfway past the wide clear sky. “And it will be a good way to pass the time...”“And I guess that’s important
Chapter 12The beast was thrice his size, with creamy yellow fur dusted with black splotches, triangular ears, tufted with soft white, long silvery whiskers trembled against his skin, while ferocious fangs gleamed, and dark blue eyes glared at him. Brandon stared in shock into the beasts gaze, until a tongue was suddenly lapping across the tip of his nose and a long soft snarl filled the air.“WHOA! “With a shout of surprise Brandon shoved and kicked out ward, while scrambling backwards and he was moving in such a panic that he soon slammed back into a pine tree.His first thought was to get up onto his feet, but he was frozen in mid scramble as a vicious rumble vibrated on the air. Slowly, afraid to look at the beast, Brandon glanced up and was horrified to be staring into the angry, tail lashing, snarling, three hundred pound face of a Leopard, with eyes that glowed a supernatural tint of blue.The moment Brandon looked at the Leopard head on, it got riled up. It snarled and roared
Chapter 13“The leopard made YOU Shift?” Brandon asked him, glancing down at Ezekiel’s hands. Somehow he strangled the growing need to reach out and un-ball the hard fist that Ezekiel had formed. The same need that had urged him to reach out and pet a giant snarling Leopard, instead of run.But a moment later Ezekiel had dropped the fist with a curse. “Damnit!” Ezekiel growled in sudden and visceral agitation. He reached out, possibly intending to touch Brandon’s cheek, but at the last moment a look of guilt flickered across his face and he pulled back. “Did he hurt you...?” Ezekiel asked him softly, looking Brandon over for injuries as he spoke. “Our strength....our anger....I can’t control them when I’m Shifted.”Hoping to sooth Ezekiel’s obvious anxiety Brandon shrugged both of his shoulders and shook his head. “No I’m fine.” He reported, then feeling a small smile growing on his face he said. “When he first appeared he did sort of swipe and snap at me. But then he just sat on top