Chapter 29- Willingness


    Brandon kept his mouth tightly clenched and his body still as he watched the Shifter turn away from him and throw the door open to the hallway.


    “Mom....he’s gone and popped his side open again!” The Blue-eyed Shifter barked as he stepped back to allow the people in the hall into the room.


    “What....!” Gasped the small female Shifter from before. The woman slipped past the Blue-eyed Shifter and up to the side of the bed. When her round eyes locked onto the blood that was drenching his shirt, she made a slight hiss in her chest and put her hands on her tiny hips.


    “What did you do?” she huffed at Brandon, her expression one of disappointment, but Brandon was still too stunned to answer her. Both by the pain growing in his hips and gut...and by the way the Shifter had reacted a moment ago.


    What a dangerous look he gave me.


    Brandon thought, looking at the Blue-eyed Shifter back. The sharp teeth and beastly eyes from a moment ago felt burned into his mind. Brandon felt a shiver go down his spine and his belly flutter.


    He looked like he was about to jump across the room and eat me.


    With his dirty blond locks brushing his neck and his shoulder bunched as he held the door open, nothing about his profile revealed any of the tension that had been all through his body when he had pinned Brandon to the wall. Or the aggression on his face after he had sat Brandon in the bed.


    Even though Brandon couldn’t see his face, he felt he was wearing a calm smile as he let his family into the room, standing by the bedroom door and talking to the three tall men following the female into the room.


    Brandon only had a few seconds to look at them all and analyze them before the pain began to fog his mind too badly for him to care anymore about picking apart his newest visitors.


    Brandon quickly realized that all of the men that had come into the room were slightly familiar to him.


    It took him a long, slow moment to place them, but Brandon rolled his eyes when it clicked.


    Oh, goody...


    Brandon thought to himself, swallowing hard as a soft wave of vomit tried to rise up his throat.


    These are the jack-offs that were with Mantilo and the little lady from the other day. So I was right. These are the blue-eyed Shifters’ family members? Mother...and brothers...but I don’t see his father this time.....


    Brandon looked at each of the males that entered and couldn’t pinpoint much of a resemblance between them all. If they were alike in any way that Brandon could discern, it was in their combined good looks, eye-catching physique, and size. And the eyes. None of their gazes struck Brandon as sharply as the blue eyes did, but each of the Shifters that came into that room.....he could see lights in their eyes...something living with them in their souls. Brandon couldn’t quite guess what that was or why it felt dangerous to him yet.


    The green-eyed and golden-haired Shifter that Brandon had flipped off before was the first one to enter the room behind the female. He took one cold look at Brandon....sneered, and flashed a mouth full of sharp canines as he not so subtly returned Brandon’s middle finger to him. Then proceeded to stand as far away from the bed as possible while still standing in the room.


    The following two male Shifters to enter both cast him confident nods and went to stand at the foot of the bed. One Shifter had the same black and white eyes and piercings that Brandon remembered, while the other Shifter was a wall of muscle only slightly less intimidating than Mantilo, with brown eyes that were tinged a slight yellow.


    The small woman standing with her hands on her hips shook her head and tried to grab him. That instantly shocked Brandon back to the moment and away from the large men that had walked in.


    “Hey Hey...Who are you, people! What are you trying to do now?” Brandon groaned, throwing the small woman’s hands off of his as she gently tried to pull his hands away from his bloody shirt.


    “We can talk about that later...” The blue-eyed Shifter growled at him, suddenly turning from the doorway....and his eyes were no longer filled with the strange light that had taken Brandon’s breath away and made him feel like a deer in a lion’s cage. But when he looked at Brandon, he only let his eyes linger for a moment before he looked away again. “Well, deal with introductions when you’re not bleeding all over the sheets, stranger.” He said as he walked forward.


    The blue-eyed Shifter spoke and stood next to his mother. “For now, well, just focus on that leak in your hip...” He said to the female as he stopped beside her. “Mom, it’s a pretty consistent flow of blood. You may have to re-stitch him up.”


    Glen, as Brandon remembered her being called, walked over to the four Shifters and spoke directly to the blue-eyed one. “Oh, That’s a lot of blood. Tsk, I won’t be able to pinpoint it with it smeared everywhere. It’s probably drenched his hips now, too....it will take too long to wash the blood off like this with a rag.”


    ““Fine....just dunk him in the shower then.” The male with different colored eyes said to her with a shrug.


    Brandon watched Glen bite her small pink bottom lip. “Well, it’s a good idea, but I can’t lift and clean him alone. Why don’t one of you boys take him to the bathroom and spray him down for me? “She said, turning soft eyes on all of the men.


    “NO....” Brandon said softly, holding his hip tighter as the idea of getting touched by more people made him hurt deep in his heart. He also distantly disliked the idea of getting naked in front of any of the strangers....but the main driving force behind his denial was his sexual orientation.


    “But...” Glen protested, slightly stern in her tone. “I need to get at the wounds soon or your only going to get weaker and sicker form blood loss.” She tried to reason with him.


    Oh god....is that even possible? How can I feel any weaker than I already do?


    Brandon asked himself. And it was the idea of being weak and sick for even longer that made him give in.


    “O...k, but can you take me to the shower?” Brandon said to the green-eyed woman, but with a hiss, the blue-eyed Shifter shook his head in denial.


    “She can’t lift you like one of us could, and you need to let us help you.” He stated sharply, his eyes never straying to look at the blood or anywhere but Brandon’s eyes. “Don’t you feel terrible? He asked softly. “The sooner we get this done. You’ll be patched up...”


    “No, you don’t understand.....” Brandon said, cutting him off. “I want the blood to stop, but I don’t wanna shower with any of you strange men!”


    “Why?” Glen asked him with a small questioning tilt of her head. Which made her curls shift to the side with her.


    “I just...I would prefer it if a woman helped me wash off.” Brandon hedged rather than speak further, but the blond-haired Shifter laughed at him from across the room with angry eyes as he pushed off the wall and walked up to the bed.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    “You would prefer if a woman helped you?” He sneered. His statement is not a question but more of a challenge. Even so, Brandon responded to it.


    “What?” he tried to breathe shallowly to keep the pain in his stomach from spreading with each inhale. “Is there something wrong with what I said?”


    “Yes... You said you want a woman to wash you? “He rehashed Brandon’s words. “Well, of course you would want that,” He sneered. It seemed to Brandon that his face, though handsome, was permanently either stuck in a cold sneer or a nasty expression of some kind. “What man doesn’t want a pretty woman to jump into the shower with him? But I think you forgot that that is our mother, you little shit! We’re not gonna let her go into the bathroom with some naked mortal.”


    Brandon struggled to explain for a second. Then he just gave up. “Fuck it....” He sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair, then he explained. “I’m not attracted to women, you dumbass.”


    As one, all of the Shifter’s eyebrows in the room went up, then came down as they exchanged looks.


    “Ah....” Glen said softly. “Sorry about that.”


    “It’s fine...you didn’t know, and I don’t wanna be rude, but I don’t think it would be appropriate...So maybe I should receive help from you and not your sons.”


    “We get it.” The blue-eyed Shifter growled, looking at his family and then at Brandon.


    “So, you’re not gonna kill me for asking your mom to help me wash..?” Brandon said as he grunted and squeezed his stomach. The Shifter let him recover before he shrugged and responded.


    “No,” he said to Brandon. “If you swing a certain way, I understand how uncomfortable showering with random men might be.” He told Brandon.


    Confused by that little bit of sympathetic insight, he motioned at the Shifter.


    “You do?” Brandon asked him. “Uh, most men don’t get it.”


    “Good thing he plays for the other team, too, huh?” The black and white-eyed Shifter teased, elbowing his slightly younger-looking brother playfully. The blue-eyed Shifter just hissed at him and rolled his eyes.


    Brandon looked at the blue-eyed Shifter with a small scoff. He was slightly surprised by this admission and partially not. The man was gorgeous. Not just his eyes. His face, his smile, and the way he moved. The man oozed something like aggression and magnetism. Brandon found it hard not to find him pleasant to look at. He was more THERE than anyone else in the room to Brandon, and he didn’t know why. He certainly didn’t like it, but there it was. A sculpted package of muscle and looks that seemed like he had been fed beef with aside of testosterone since he was a kid. And the women would be jumping for his attention.


    Why am I surprised...but its not like it should even matter to me right?


    Brandon had to ask himself...but there was something in the Shifters gaze that made him feel things. There was an interest in Brandon that was just a little more keen then most men’s would be, an allure in his eyes, huskiness to his tone when he spoke...and the flutters that caressed Brandon’s skin when the man put his hands on his body.


    “Oh....ewww.” The green-eyed Shifter said childishly...but the mean glint in his eyes wasn’t childish to Brandon in the least. He looked at his mother and rolled his eyes.


    “Ewww....” Brandon said, mimicking the noise he had made. “What the hell does that mean!?” Brandon said, frowning deeply and shooting him a glare.


    The blond-haired Shifter didn’t like his tone because he took an aggressive step forward and hissed.


    “What the fuck do you think it means you little....!” The Shifter began to shout.


    “Stop it and Shut up, Lander!” The blue-eyed Shifter growled and then looked back at Brandon. “Ignore him.”


    He said to Brandon quickly as he shot his brother a quelling look that, for all Brandon could see, just made the green-eyed brother angry, but for the moment, he was silent.


    “So...you aren’t attracted to woman at all?” The most enormous brother in the group suddenly asked him. It was the first word that the large man had spoken since he had walked into the room. He had a deep, calm voice.....it was nearly emotionless. It was such a strange sound on his ears that he shot the large Shifter a curious up and down look before he responded


    “I told you.” Brandon said, looking at the large man in his slightly yellow eyes and seeing nothing there but a sharp emptiness and strength. “I play for the other team alright. Nothing about this woman is of any interest to me. Nothing.”


    “Nothing!” Glen huffed and puffed. And suddenly, she flipped her curls behind her left shoulder with her hand in a feminine display of disgust. “Well, how insulting of you. I’m deeply wounded. So what am I ugly to you!?” She hissed, looking at her sons.


    “Oh Oh gosh I didn’t mean to be an ass.” Brandon told her. “Your very beautiful Mrs. Glen....I just mean that to me, you aren’t attractive...”


    “Huuuh! Excuse me!?” Glen began mouth agape, she stamped her foot and looked positively miffed.


    Brandon slammed two hands into his face and released a scream of frustration. “Oh god! I didn’t mean for it to sound that way!”


    In the few seconds of awkward silence that followed, Brandon did his best not to try and put another three feet into his mouth. When suddenly a soft giggle began to float on the air. When Brandon looked at her Glen was smiling back.


    “Gotcha!” she said with a sweet little hop in place. “I’m sorry I had to get back at you a little for being so rude to my husband the other night.”


    “Oh....ok I guess.” Brandon said, because there was really nothing else for him to say. Glen simply smiled back.


    Lander suddenly threw his hands into the air. “SO were decided then? Well, that’s just freaking great. The mortal gets a bath, and the rest of us have to suffer because there’s another one running around our house.”


    “Another one?” Brandon said, not really understanding the Shifter’s point until he looked at the blue-eyed Shifter. “OH.....You mean another gay man?”


    The green-eyed Shifter stuck his tongue out like he had tasted something nasty, then shook his head. “Ewww!” He exclaimed with a dramatic shutter. “Don’t say it so casually...It makes my freaking skin crawl when you people come around me!” he said with a cold glare.


    “Come on...just let it go for once!” The two-toned brother hissed at him, trying to calm the growing tension, but the green-eyed Shifter didn’t even glance at him.


    Brandon scrunched his face up in confusion and utter awe that someone would be so rude and be that way in his own siblings’ face. But the blue eyes Shifter simply rolled his eyes to the heaven and let his bother continue. Brandon would not.


    “Seriously, are you just being an asshole to be funny? Or is that how you really feel?“” He asked the Shifter angrily.


    “Of course, this is how I really feel. ” The green-eyed Shifter shrugged, his eyes sparkling with disdain that he directed at Ezekiel and then at Brandon. “First Ezekiel and now you. That’s two more gays than I ever needed to know. Fucking homos are invading the world.”


    Brandon shook his head as the Shifter’s completely disgusting attitude took root, even though he wanted to ignore him. He couldn’t fight the flare of anger that he had ignited.


    “What the hell did you just say to me..!? I will beat you...”


    Brandon began, his fists tightening in his shirt, but as a wave of nausea hit him in the chest, he could only bite the inside of his cheek and bend forward to hold back the roll of sickness. The Shifter laughed at him.


    “Stupid fags...” He sighed, turned on his heel, and walked out of the room. “I’ll see you guys later; I’ve got a date with a moose carcass from the Dorman’s House that has to be skinned before Dad gets home in the morning. Let me know how things go.”


    And with a wave, the blond-haired irritant was gone from Brandon’s sight.


    “Ass hole!” Brandon spit in an angry whisper to himself as he tried not to throw up on the mattress.


    “Seriously Mortal...Just ignore him....” Said the Shifter with piercings in his face, a soft smirk on his handsome face. And as much as he wanted to, Brandon didn’t even have the energy to growl back at him.


    At this point, Glen stepped up to the bed and bent down beside him. Placing a warm hand on his forehead, she tilted his head back. “ Not good. Your temps gone up fast....!” She began in surprise and used her other hand to smooth back his scalp and look him directly into his eyes. “But you’re not delirious.....” She sighed and released him gently. “Can you manage the pain for a few minutes more?”


    Brandon wanted to say no, but he bit back, held his hip harder, and nodded quietly.


    “Ok.” She said, standing back onto her feet and going to the door. “I’ll be back in a jiffy. I need to grab the medical supplies downstairs and change clothes...Three minutes tops.” She said and slipped out of the door with a small sashay.


    “Come on. We can’t be late for patrol, “ he said. “Dad will be back from his business in the morning.” The large and mostly expressionless Shifter said as he turned and walked out of the room, without another word. Followed by the Shifter with two-toned eyes, who smiled at Brandon softly and walked out. Leaving Ezekiel, who nodded at him.


    “I’ll come and talk with you later....” The blue-eyed Shifter said as he began to follow the rest of his family, but before he exited the room completely, he stopped, snapped his fingers, walked across the room to the bathroom, and disappeared inside for a minute or two. When he came out, his bright blue eyes had a smug light in them.


    He hefted the small waste bucket that held the rest of the discarded needles and bandages from the surgery that his mother seemed to have done on him. “I’ll be taking this with me. So just stay in the bed until my mom comes and gets you and try not to move too much.” He said as he walked out of the room with the trash can and closed the door behind himself.


    Only a few minutes after he left, Glen returned with a gorgeous smile on her small face and began to help him out of his bloody clothing. Brandon realized then that he was absolutely disgusted with himself. Because he sat there and waited as the Shifter had asked him.


    Bossy UGLY Blue Eyed bastard!


    Brandon grumbled to himself.


    But even to himself, he couldn’t ignore the fact that knowing that the Shifter wasn’t straight made him feel a little bit better. It made him secretly want to smile. It made something in his stomach churn like butterflies.