Chapter 14
"Should we warn him?"
"Are you kidding? At least he came back because if he didn't I was so sure we were all in for hell today too."
Gunner could hear the words of the guards and servants as he walked through the mansion gate up the pathway. There were people all over the place that were looking at him as if they held relief in their hearts that he had come back. He could not understand why they were looking at him in such a manner. The way they were acting made his heart feel as though it was going to drop into the pit of his stomach.
"What's going on here?" He asked himself out loud as he glanced around at everyone as they avoided approaching him and continued to whisper. One person had even took a dead run into the mansion door before he could make it completely to the building. As he watched the scene he could only imagine they were heading in to alert Prince Clyde of his return.
"So you do know where you live." Prince Clyde's cold voice called out to him as he neared the door. The look on his face was one of anger and yet he could not hide the glint of relief in his eyes that Gunner was home and safe.
As Gunner continued to step forward he did not reply. He was not going to feed into Clyde's bad temper by responding to such a thing. The moment he neared Clyde, however, he found the prince's hand grasping tightly onto his collar to hold him in place. Leaning in to inhale the scent of Gunner carefully he felt as though he wanted put his fist through another wall. The scent of Apollo was strong on him and it felt insulting to know that they both had been near each other when he warned Apollo once already.
"You were with him last night?" Prince Clyde continued to hold onto the collar as he gazed into Gunner's with a look as though he had been severely wounded. It almost seemed as though his body was trying not to shake.
"I.. Ran into him, yes." Gunner responded while trying to avoid the fact that he had left yesterday specifically to meet him. He was not sure why he felt so guilty about it.
"At least your safe. I was so worried something happened to you out there." Prince Clyde did not wait for them to head inside before his body collapsed from both physical and emotional exhaustion. Wrapping his arms tightly around Gunner's neck he put his weight onto the man and buried his face into that warm neck of his. As much he wanted to wait until the scent of Apollo was washed away he had been so worried for the sake of his life that he could not care about it. Breathing deeply he tried to focus his mind on nothing else but Gunner's intoxicating scent that he had felt so desperate for all night that he had not yet gone to bed.
"Hey! Don't go killing me off that easily!" Gunner felt his own brow twitch at the idea that Prince Clyde would assume he would fall to a demonic beast so easily in the city.
"Oh, right." Prince Clyde's eyes lit up with the sudden thought that came to his mind. Standing back up straight he tightly grasped hold of Gunner's arms to make sure he had his full attention.
"What?" Gunner asked.
"I have to make a trip to one of the safety zones in the city. I want you to come with me." Prince Clyde's face displayed a look that he was hoping for a yes from Gunner. Going to the safety zones in the city meant the trip would be for several days at a time. Every time he went to one it meant that there was a problem that needed looked into whether it was something simple or something as dangerous as beasts trying to force their way into the zone to go after the survivors.
"Is there something wrong with one of the zones?" Gunner wondered if something had happened at one of the safety zones. If one of them was to fall it would cause a huge loss that the city could not afford. Finding people who were still alive among the city was already a hard thing to do and to loose a whole zone would be a disaster that would be nearly irreversible.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with for now. I can take care of things, but I want you to come with me. " Prince Clyde refused to feed him information on the reason behind going.
"Alright, sure. I feel like a trip could be fun." Gunner smiled as he grabbed hold of him and slammed the Prince's back up against the wall. Yanking the muzzle off his face he leaned in and planted his lips against Clyde's. He could feel the prince tightening his arms around his neck as they both stood there. Sliding his hand up under the prince's shirt he could feel him shivering slightly as if he was trying to force himself to look calmer then he was.
"We're still in the doorway, Gunner. The guards can see us." The prince scolded as he broke free from the kiss after realizing they were still standing in the doorway. When he realized some of the guards were averting their eyes from the situation it caused his face to flush red. He was not the type to usually be so open in front of others when he could avoid it.
"You weren't complaining a second ago." Laughing slightly at the sudden change in the prince's attitude towards him he took a step back from him. Gunner could see the prince blushing slightly out of the corner of his eye as he looked off into the distance. The man was never really honest with himself and it was something he had learnt long ago. At times it was kind of cute though other times it gave Gunner nothing more then a migraine when it came to things that mattered.