Chapter 23 - Frying Pot to Fire
Damn!
Ezekiel panted to himself. He wasn't tired, but the adrenaline crawling all along his heart made him gritty. As did the Leopard inside that was wide awake and snarling to get free.
And it wasn't mad like he was. No. It had enjoyed the chase....The leopard was pouring its power into him, it was scratching at his mind trying to break free. It liked the hunt.....maybe a little too much.
Ezekiel ignored its mewling calls in his head and tried to focus on the strange green eyed mortal who was proving to be as slippery as an ell even with his exhaustion clear to the naked eye.
How in god's name is he still able to mo
At that moment Ezekiels mother steeped between them, her deep green eyes slit and glowing like a cats in the night. "Stop this both of you!" She hissed pushing them apart with a stiff shove that forced both men to give way.Ezekiel knew that his mother was in some way on equal footing with his father when it came to power and influence in the village.She stood with his father on even ground and so was likely the only one in the whole village that could challenge him... or calm him down. And as she flashed her teeth at the both of them, he realized that she was pretty darn good at intimidating him too. Mantilo growled back at her, but all of the aggression melted out of him as she returned the sound. Not waiting for another response she walked back and looked over at the mortal who was still kneeling in a ball on the ground b
Chapter 25Ezekiel swallowed dryly as he realized his father's gaze was on him. His eyes burning through the back of his head. Ezekiel wanted to just walk away from the coming lecture, the coming confrontation, but he also didn't want to drag it out.So he turned back to his father and without making eye contact he took a knee kneeling before him in submission. And instantly an age old ritual was began. A ritual that his father had taught him to practice since he was a child. Ezekiel had always been given the ritual as a form of punishment.But he knew that it could also be used to ask for forgiveness for trespassing against others or against the Clan Head himself. Ezekiel knew that it was something considered outdated. Reserved for the Guardians and the Clan Head
Chapter 26Brandon fought to ignore this new, painful world that he had woken up into.He felt out of place here with its hulking men, glowing eyes and sharp teeth. He stumbled into the room because there was nowhere else for him to go yet. The room he inched into was dark, except for the light that was bleeding into it from the hallway, he was so nauseous now that everything was pitching from side to side. But no matter how much he tried to no vomit would come up. There was just the dull ache of sickness in his stomach. He couldn't analyze the room, search for an escape route. He also couldn't keep his feet.With an agonized gasp he fell to his knees on the carpet and stayed there. He clutched at his body, trying to hold the pain at bay, but all he managed to do was dissolve into pointless tears of pain and fold in over hi
Chapter 27It was only in the silence that Brandon allowed himself to acknowledge his racing heartbeat and the fear. And it was only in the loneliness that he started to piece his choices together."Who are these people?" he said to himself closing his eyes. Now that Brandon was alone and his relative safety was assured at least for a few more hours he allowed himself a moment or two to reflect on his current situation.My gloves.An image of thin, wrist tight black leather gloves came into his mind. He didn't waste the time looking around for them. They were gone. So was his blade and the rest of his clothing.Sadly the gloves were the first thing that he thought of because he didn't trul
Chapter 28Glen stalked behind Mantilo all the way to the bottom floor of their home.A soft warmth crawled all along her arms, and brushed her spine, a feminine hiss curled down her throat. She ignored her sons as they trailed behind both her and Mantilo, no doubt they were waiting to see what was about to transpire.Mantilo stomped down the steps in front of her, a faint heat and the scent of his inner beast tickled her senses. Pulling up many different responses from her. The strongest of them being pleasure. Even in the midst's of rage...the female Shifter and the woman in her couldn't help but be excited at the familiar tingle of their mate floating into her lungs. It was a tingle that Glen always felt when she caught Mantilo's scent or simply saw him walking around or standing beside her.
Chapter 29Ezekiel walked back through the front door to their mansion with determination.Almost two days had passed since he had gotten caught up with the mortal.Ezekiel had spent that time on thin ice and mostly far away from the house and out in the villages. Which was not something completely new.As Guardians Ezekiel, and his brothers sometimes spent days...to a week, out of the home fixing one Clan issue or another.Ezekiel had spent a lot of his time patrolling in the hours since being kicked out of the house by his father. To keep his mind off of what was transpiring with the mortal Ezekiel kept busy cleaning and running errands to burn away the curiosity about what was happening with the stranger. But he still wonder
Chapter 30The panic that tried to grip him in that moment was so sudden and so unwanted that Ezekiel shoved the grip it tried to take on him away instantly. But even as he turned away from panic...he knew that he had to act quickly.Ezekiel snarled and turned on his heel and went to pull the door open and alert his family until something across the room smashed into the ground and the sound of desperate scrambling filled the air. And then two seconds later all sound ceased.Ezekiels head snapped in the bathrooms direction and with a small hiss he dropped his hand from the door knob and tiled his ear toward the bathroom. Silence was all he got at first...then he heard the short rapid breathing of someone who was desperately trying to hide."Hello?" Ezekiel said, bu
Chapter 31The stranger grabbed him and Ezekiel couldent understand or quite deny the sharp arc of soft electric awareness that caressed him all over his skin as the man wrestled with him.His long lean legs wrapped around Ezekiel hips, while his other hand snatched at Ezekiels hair, tangling in his scalp and Ezekiel sensed the strike that was coming next.The mortal was going to stab the needle into his chest. Speed and skill brought his palm up into its path. He crushed the mortal's hand into his own and the syringe and at just the right angle to keep it from shattering.The mortal gasped, his green eyes widening in fear as Ezekiel nearly crushed his hand. Ezekiel could have snapped his wrist just them, or used his strength to force the syringe to burst in his hand and c