Chapter 9 – Team Work


    Team Work


    All three of Ezekiel''s brothers shared anxious unsure looks.


    Then all of them leveled their eyes at him. As if to say “WE TOLD YOU SO!”


    But before Ezekiel could even think of the words his mother opened her eyes.


    Without a word she put a small hand to the mortal’s chest. Then putting a hand to her own wrist she began silently counting the mortals'' pulse. Tight-lipped and not sparing any of them one glance she bit off two words. “Explain this!”


    Ezekiel, and all of his brothers were grown men, although Ezekiel had only just turned twenty-three, he was definitely not a child.


    He didn’t fear his parents, or really much when it came to being a Shifter but in that moment......he was totally blown by how much anger one woman could pack into those words. Ezekiel swallowed, looked at Lander''s sneering face, and flipped him off; then he went about recounting the entire story.


    This time leaving nothing out.


    “So, he was already delirious when he attacked you basically? You describe mostly delusional behavior.” Glen mused more to herself more them to her sons, then she touched the mortal’s forehead again. “He seems to be suffering from a terrible infection. He could very well have attacked you out of paranoia and illness.”


    “So you believe me?” Ezekiel asked her. “I don’t think that the attack was planned. He got lucky.”


    Glen looked at his shoulder and then hissed. “I don’t like it!! That was one lucky attack that could have killed you.” Glen told him, then she shook her head. “But, yes. I see your point. His vitals are so poor. He’s practically on fire from fever, and blood loss is going to take its toll on rationality.” Glen shrugged. “I can only speculate, but in the end, it won’t matter if he dies on us.”


    Lander ran a hand through his scalp with a snarl. “So you’ll help him!?” he asked her coming out of the corner to the center of the room. Glaring at Ezekiel he looked at Walter and spit at him. “Say something here!! You’re the oldest Walter!! Talk to them for me!”


    Walter, who was sitting, eyes closed, head tilted back to the wall, and his long legs out before him chuckled mirthlessly. Clam, uninterested brown eyes, opened and looked at them all, as Walter lifted his head and shrugged. “I don’t think you want me to weigh in here Lander.” He said softly. “I would not in fact be your supporter. I believe that we do what we need to do, what we want to do....and deal with the consequences later. If death can be prevented it should.”


    Nate, who was standing by the door, tossed his hand into the air. “I agree.” He said with a wolfish smile at Lander. Then he put his hand back down and said “We should let Mom try to heal the stranger. No matter what...We’ll deal with the Clan rules later.”


    Ezekiel smiled at him, then looked at his mother. But she seemed to be in her own world. His hands were shaking slightly as she put her hand on the mortal’s chest. She pulled it back when his shirt made a wet slapping sound beneath her fingers. When she looked at her palm it was dripping with fresh blood. “No,” she said softly. “I can’t. This is a Mortal and I’ve never...”


    Their mother looked at Ezekiel, then back at the mortal, but she shook her head. She stood up and walked a few steps away from the bed. “I can’t do it. ”


    “Because of dad?” Ezekiel asked her following behind her until she stopped a few feet away from the bed and turned to him. She put a hand to her hip as she looked at him with a swift eye roll.


    “Ezekiel, I love you father, but the man doesn’t frighten me in the least. In not saying “no” because of your Father. ” Glen touched his shoulder, as he came up to her. “I can’t do it because I’m not skilled enough, sweetheart. I don’t know if I can save the stranger or if I’ll just end up killing him faster.” Glen told him. With a helpless shrug, she walked back over to the bed and motioned to the mortal. “Look at him, listen to that heartbeat, he''s drenched in his own blood.” His mother bit her lip. “Mortals are delicate. He’s already got both feet in the grave Ezekiel. I’m a healer, not an angel. And mortals are so...fragile.”


    “So you don’t know if you can?” Nate asked her, striding up to her side and Ezekiels. Two-toned eyes holding her gaze. “That doesn’t mean that you can’t. And if he dies....we did what we could. Rather than doing nothing and him dying anyway....right?”


    Walter threw his hand into the air this time. “I agree.” He said with a dry voice.


    Lander rolled his eyes, but he didn’t say anything.


    “Alright.” His mother said, turning back to the bed. “I will do what I can, but God Ezekiel this is not going to end well for you or your brothers.”


    “Come on. “Ezekiel hissed. “Dad will understand.....don’t you?” he asked her. “I know you see that this was important!”


    “I do sweetheart....more then you know.” Glen said smiling. “But your father is such an alpha male. He won’t take this well. Rules are rules and now there is a mortal here in his home!!? You need to tell him about this. Tonight. He will be here soon anyway.”


    “Not if you stall for some time actually.” Walter suddenly chimed in with his eyes once more closed. Everyone looked over at him, but he didn’t say anymore.


    “Stall for time? How?” Ezekiel asked. But Walter didn’t respond.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ezekiel sighed and looked at Nate. “So we got to stall Dad. Got any ideas?” He said to Nate looking for some kind of idea, but Nate was just as helpful as Walter.


    Nate smirked and shrugged. “Don’t ask me.”


    “UGH!” Lander suddenly snarled at them all. “My god! You aren’t gonna stall Dad. He’ll know some things up the moment he can’t locate Mom. The man’s not stupid! You would have to come up with something really good to get him to stay out there all night long, chasing his spotted tail!”


    Ezekiel got quiet.


    He knew that Lander was right, but there had to be something that he could do.


    Ezekiel took a moment to think, then he scratched his chin unconsciously, but then he stopped when the smell of copper zapped his nose. Looking down at his hand, he watched the blood of the mortal flaking off of his hands and......got an idea. “One of us could do it.” He said suddenly, turning his nose away from his hand and dropping it.


    “We could use the blood scent to lure him out of the village....!”


    ***


    A few minutes passed and everyone was still hovering in the room, deciding just what their roles should be in the coming hours.


    Nate’s face scrunched up in doubt after Ezekiel proposed his idea to stall their father with the intruder''s Blood scent. Whit and obsidian eyes peering across the room and out the window at the slightly lighter sky.


    The morning sun was only hours away.


    “Can we really stall him like that? Won’t we just be announcing the mortal’s presence to him? He’s not going to be happy!” Nate surmised correctly.


    But Ezekiel shook his head. “Sure but if one of us can keep him going until tomorrow it won’t matter.” He pointed out.


    “Ok. So we stall him.” Nate smiled.


    “No.” Glen snapped at the both of them from her spot next to the bed. “Your father needs to know about this! Stop this nonsense!”


    Ezekiel put a hand to his head.


    “Look Mom he’s going to die....” He said looking at the mortal. “Just look him over and get him stable. Well, tell dad about all of this tomorrow. Just one night! You promised.”


    Glen hissed at him. “I said I would think about it.” Then she bent over the mortal and brushed his fevered forehead. “He’s getting hotter. ” She said softly. Then she looked at them all. “I’ll need Nate to help me if I do this.”


    “What?” Nate whined, dropping his smile for the first time that night. He looked kind of pale as he looked over at the mortal too. Ezekiel knew that anything to do with cutting or medicine made his brother skittish. Another mystery about his wolf sibling.


    “Not for the surgery Nate. “Glen assured him quickly. “I’ll just need you to go and get the needles and morphine, then I’ll need your nose for a moment. I won’t ask you to cut anything.”


    “Oh,” Nate said still looking almost as pale as his white-rimmed left eye.


    “You’ll sniff out the infection in his body and give me an idea of how severe it is, then you’ll go out so I can work on it,” Glen told him. She smiled at him encouragingly. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna split him open in front of you.′ She chuckled as Nate crunched up his nose in disgust, then she shot Ezekiel a cool look.


    “But?” Glen hissed at Ezekiel now. “Once I stabilize this stranger we WILL tell you father about him. Surely if we tell him tonight I fear that his anger will not allow him to see reason. He will want to move the mortal away, take him to other mortals, but as injured as he is this stranger will likely die in the next few minutes without some sustained care and very little movement.” Glen sighed. “One night Ezekiel!”


    Then Glen turned back and began braiding up her hair. Ezekiel guessed that she needed it up so that she could work.


    While she did that he turned to Nate again.


    “So even if this mortal survives....how are you gonna hide him even for a few hours!?” Nate exhaled looking around. “Dad is so gonna smell this as so as he comes up the stairs. I’m gonna be here so I can’t do it.”


    “I could do it but....” Ezekiel said, then he stopped and looked down at his shoulder. “Dad would smell my blood even more than the mortals. I’ll need more time to heal.”


    “So?” Nate said looking at Ezekiel then looking past him to their other siblings Walter and Lander. “Ask them.”


    Nate turned and went to the door. “I’ve got some morphine to pack.” He said to Ezekiel then he raised his voice. “I’ll be back in a jiffy Mom. Do you need anything else?”


    “Crushed rose paste for the abrasions on his arms and face as well. Styptic for the bleeding wounds.” Glen listened to him, then she stood up from the bed, skirts swishing, hair bound back in an intricate brown braid as she walked into the bathroom doorway. “Be back by the time I’m done sterilizing my hands.” She told his brother. Then she was out of sight.


    Nate didn’t waste a moment. Ezekiel barely saw the door open and close behind him.


    Once he was gone Ezekiel swallowed and looked at his eldest brothers. Walter hadn’t moved or said a word since suggesting that they stall their dad. And somehow Ezekiel knew that he wasn’t going to do anything he didn’t want to do.


    But he had to ask.


    Ezekiel turned to Walter. “Walter can you run interference?” he asked him from the center of the room. Walter opened his eyes and quirked an eyebrow at him.


    Walter looked back at him silently, then simply closed his eyes and put his head back on the wall again. “No.” He said. “I’m not leaving this spot until that intruder has a needle in his arm.”


    With a groan, Ezekiel turned away from him. He knew that asking Walter again would only get him the exact same answer. He wasn’t going to leave the mortal alone with their mother or without an escort until he was ready.


    And suddenly Ezekiel was faced with a choice. He outlined his options to himself.


    Shit. Nate’s helping Mom get the morphine and gauze. I’m a bloody mess. Walters being stubborn......so that leaves...


    Ezekiel groaned again, then knowing that he had to suck it up, he walked away from the bed and towards Lander. Lander was leaning back in the corner again, actually watching him as well.


    Not wasting his energy on engaging in a glaring contest Ezekiel quickly crossed the room, took a shoulder to the wall beside Landers, and just said what he needed to say.


    “Lander......will YOU PLEASE run interference with dad?” he asked.


    And with a hiss, Lander surprised him by smiling darkly. “Ok...maybe I’ll help a little bit. But only because I can see how scared shitless you are by the thought of Dad walking into this house tonight. ”


    Ezekiel flashed his fangs at him. “So you’re helping us now....why? Mood swings much?” He teased. Knowing that he was looking at a gift horse in the mouth and not caring.


    “Shut the fuck up. ” Lander hissed at him. His eyes flash with light for a slip seconds. “I guess I’m helping...but only because moms a part of this shit show now. She needs time to work her magic right?”


    Turning a shirtless back to him. Then making his way out of the room Lander added almost as an afterthought. “Or maybe it’s because I plan on leading Dad right back here anyway so he can kill that filthy eyesore? Who knows?”


    Before Ezekiel could even think to respond, Lander was out of the door.


    “Asshole.” Ezekiel sighed to himself, then jumped when a cold thought spiked into his head cutting like a nail in his left temple.


    You forgot to tell me thank you, little brother.....be greatful.


    Lander hissed in his head, then the cold started to slip away.


    With an impotent yowl under his breath, Ezekiel rolled his eyes at his brother. Then he opened the door and hissed at his brother’s shadow going down the hallway. “Stay the hell out of my head, Lander!”


    Ezekiel thought he heard a phantom of a laugh in his thoughts, but he couldn’t have been sure as the cold faded away completely.