The Faye's Secret

Chapter Five

~Abby~

She definitely hit her head.

Abby stared at Wesley, waiting for him to take back what he had said and say it was a joke. But he didn't. He didn't say anything. Just stood still and watched her. But she could see the muscles of his shoulders pulling tight, like he was battling with his own body to stay put. Looking closely, Abby couldn't help but look for something, anything, that would tell her that he was indeed a werewolf. But he looked normal, like any of the guys she went to school with. Although he was definitely more handsome than most of those guys.

Alex broke the silence then, before either Wesley or Abby could say anything. "Why don't we all just take a seat and talk? Sitting might help Wesley from thinking you're going to bolt out the door." He picked up Abby's mug and headed to the microwave to re-warm the untouched apple cider.

She looked back at Wesley and saw his hands clench, his knuckles turning white, before he let out a long breath. His shoulders started to unbunch and he took a step back towards the island. He pulled out a chair for her. When she looked back up at his eyes, they had softened again. Had he been ready to grab her if she ran for it? Was it too dangerous to let her go, now that they had told her the truth? Somehow she doubted that she would get very far - Wesley's legs looked like they could run a lot faster than hers.

With a frustrated sigh, she made her way back over to the island. What other option did she have? She had no idea how far up the mountain they had gone -- and no idea how to get back down. But there was also that tiny voice in the back of her head that had been nagging at her since she woke up. That maybe all of this wasn't a joke. That finally, after so many years of feeling like the outsider, she was going to get answers.

She sat back down at the island, her hands clasped in her lap. Wesley stood behind her for a moment, before making his way back to the other end, where his own untouched cider waited.

Wesley felt like he would jump out of his own skin if she didn't sit back down.

He had been trying to get better control over himself since she had walked down the stairs. She was not afraid of the two strangers in her immediate company, that was clear. That was a good sign, his brain had told him. Right before his brain had also said that he needed to snap the hell out of it and get far away from her. She was clearly doing something to him, whether she knew she was Faye-born or not.

He had no idea what could be causing him to feel so many emotions or want to act out so irrationally. All he knew was that he had never felt like this at fourteen and going through puberty. Alex had always teased him about trying to get dates with the local girls in town, but none of those girls had ever made him feel like this. So unhinged. So emotional. So like his father. And he was nothing like his father.

The wolf under his skin growled at the comparison and he didn't blame it. Even if his father had been a good man once, the few memories Wesley had of him were not. He wasn't some wild animal that couldn't control the beast sleeping under his skin. Even if, currently, his wolf was giving him a run for his money. He was surprised that he hadn't shifted - a huge black and gray wolf standing in the kitchen, ready to protect this woman from everything.

After she took the seat he offered her, albeit a little gingerly, he returned to his own place at the other end of the island. He watched as Alex set the now steaming mug of apple cider in front of her. She wrapped her hands around it, as if seeking its warmth. Was it cold in the house? He doubted it. Even though they were all werewolves and could generate enough body heat to keep themselves warm, Wesley doubted that the heat was set that low. Just because their body temps ran higher than a human's didn't mean Alex would want his pipes to freeze in the winter.