(MxM) Tales Of A Shifter (P1) - The Meeting

Chapter 72- Ghouls

"I'm sorry." Ezekiel sighed.

Shaking his head Ezekiel quickly went to Brandon and hissing under his breath, Ezekiel rubbed at his shoulder. "Brandon forget him...he's just mad that he got his ass kicked and needed your help." Ezekiel said as he let his brother walk a few steps away.

Then Ezekiel rolled his eyes at Brandon and reached out to tap Brandon on the back of his hand. "Anyway. Thank you...Thank you for helping my brother."

With a blink Brandon shrugged and noticeably stepped back from him, perhaps so that he couldn't be touched again. "Don't thank me....I only did what you asked me to do."

Brandon supplied coolly. And something in his words confused Ezekiel. The dull flat stare that Brandon cast about the desecrated room was speaking to his current state of mind, but Ezekiel didn't know what was causing him to speak and move so... lifelessly.

"I owed you Ezekiel...." Brandon finished and looked away.

"Wait. You owed me? What do you mean by that? You jumped into a potentially fatal battle....just because I asked you too and you felt obligated?"

Ezekiel asked him and hoping to get his attention he reached out and touched his shoulder. "Hey...what do you owe me?"

>Brandon looked back at him then. Nothing showing on his face or in eyes, he was just so cold. Ezekiel didn't know what was on his mind. But his next words caught the Shifter off guard. "I owed you....for the things you've done for me." Brandon said.

And Ezekiel surpressed the desire to sigh. A part of Ezekiel instantly knew that Brandon had only helped Lander because Ezekiel had screamed at him to move, but another part secretly believed that Brandon had helped....because he had wanted to. Because Brandon cared about his brother dying....but now Ezekiel understood that perhaps Brandon felt....a debt to him
and him alone.</span>
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<span>And that idea slightly saddened Ezekiel....because he had in-fact done very little for Brandon. Nothing that any decent Shifter wouldn't already do. And Ezekiel realized
that Brandon saw his actions as...abnormal. Somehow...simple kindness seemed abnormal to him.

" Look you don't owe me anything..." Ezekiel tried to tell him, but Brandon simply stepped away from him and with obvious irritation he gestured to himself.

"Yes I do. I owe you... and I owe you more even now, and I don't like owing people Ezekiel...but I owe you my life....twice now."

With a slight grimace Brandon shrugged and continued. "So, now I've got to pay you back. Helping Lander was just a part of, what I owe you...nothing else. I don't need you to thank me or read anything into it either. Like a business transaction. Nothing personal."

"You are so stubborn." Ezekiel commented softly, holding Brandons eyes. Then Ezekiel got an idea. It often seemed that the best way to convince a stubborn
person....was to agree with them. So he did.

"Alright...fine." Ezekiel began, smiling and taking a step closer.

"I'll let you pay me back right now. No more feeling indebted to me. Will you do anything that I ask you to do to pay me back in full?" He inquired softly. Brandon must have sensed the sinister edge to his words by now, because he cut a small suspicious look at Ezekiel before slowly shaking his head "Yes."

"Yes?" Ezekiel smiled and pursed his lips as He reached out and took Brandon's left wrist in his hand, then he lifted it up between them "What...if I asked you to take off this glove...just
one?"

In a split second the dull stare was transformed into an annoyed glare as Brandon snatched his hand away from Ezekiels hold and shook his head. "No...The gloves stay
on Leopard."