Petty Little Monsters (Little Monsters Series, Book 1)

30

"Gael, let them work in peace," Abel finally said, joining me on the small lawn in front of the house and pulled me up on the porch.

"But it's so interesting," I whined like a kid being told no to five more minutes in front of the telly.

"I know, love, but they need to concentrate, and it's hard with a total hottie following them around."

"I doubt that's what's distracting them, considering Fred's gay and her mum is lovingly married."

"Even married people browse the menu, without buying," Fred's mum said as she passed the porch.

My face was burning. I wanted to bury myself amongst the rosebushes.

"Mum, no hitting on my friends. Especially in front of their boyfriends!" Fred yelled from the side of the house.

Abel snorted and kissed my cheek, just making my whole face even hotter.

"Thank you so much for this," I said and poured Fred's mum another glass of wine.

"There's no need to thank us for this, sweet boy," she said and smiled.

She was young. Or she looked young and just as pretty as her daughter.

"We take care of our own. Especially in times like these. You've been dear to our kids, and we all trust their judgement. And the Creek clan has basically adopted you and Abel. They don't do that for just anyone. We all need to stand together in this. Both me and Maura were kids when this started. We lost some very good friends over the years." She sighed deeply. "And Fred said, you've met Mags. She used to live here in the town. After everything happened, she moved to the forest. Now she works as a guardian for the wolves who pass through. But she shouldn't have to. She should be able to live here unbothered." She took a sip of her wine. "Which is why, we're trying harder to prevent this time rather, than doing damage control after things have gone wrong. Because then the damage is done. It's too late."

"I still really appreciate it. I haven't been here very long so... It's still overwhelming how nice you've all been. So welcoming." I looked down at my hands, fidgeting in my lap. Abel's slid into one of mine, preventing me from fidgeting myself into a knot. I appreciated the gesture so much.

"We're trying to not repeat the mistakes of our parents. They tried and failed. We wanna... Not fail." She shrugged a little and then took another healthy swig of her wine.

We sat in silence for a bit, while I mulled over everything. I still didn't fully know, what had happened. I wasn't sure I was allowed to ask either.

I decided to not be a chicken but a wolf.

"Can I ask what happened with the wolves?" Wolves can still have manners.

Fred and her mum shared a look before Fred inhaled, getting ready to answer.

But then her mum rose to her feet. "I need to get home. I'll see you and Cal next week, honey. Thanks for the wine, Gael." She didn't even wait for us to say goodbye. She just let herself out.

"Did... Did I do something wrong?" I asked then.

"No, she just doesn't wanna talk about it. And she doesn't wanna be rude by saying she doesn't wanna talk about it." Fred rolled her eyes. "She hates conflicts, so she'll do anything to avoid them."

I mean... I could relate to that on an almost spiritual level.

"And the wolves were frozen out and harassed until they left," Abel chimed in, giving my hand a soft squeeze.

"Yeah, then everyone could pretend they all left on their own." Fred nodded.

"But... Why?"

"Just good old 'we don't take kindly to your kind around her' small town bullshit."

"Tale as old as time in any town with anyone the town doesn't like," Abel said and rolled his eyes rather dramatically.

"But why is it wolves?" I asked, feeling more and more defeated.

"I mean, you don't have a good reputation. It's probably also about the fact that you're not born supernatural. You're attacked and then boom, you're a supe. It doesn't sit well with everyone in the community. Also, because you're perceived as cultureless. You don't grow up with tradition linked to being a wolf, but only linked to being a human. So you're this weird inbetweener. Obviously, we don't feel that way because we're not weird purists." Fred grimaced and poured herself some more wine.

I grimaced too. "It's not like I asked for this."

"Neither do people of colour. Or disabled people. Or queer people. There'll always be marginalisation. It's human nature and as much as we like to distance ourselves from humans, we're really not that different."

I nodded a bit and finished my drink. I didn't know how to feel about this. I thought I had found a community and in so many ways I had, but it still felt so defeating to realise in this one I was at the very bottom.