THE WITCH AND THE WEREWOLF~ tyler lockwood

04) not a laughing matter

Tyler raised his head slightly. "I should have asked you to come down here instead of Aimee."

I laughed and laughed and my amusement made Tyler crack a smile. "Nice try, Lockwood, but I'm not some booty call."

"Who said I even want you like that, Ginger?"

I smirked and crawled closer to whisper in his ear. I felt his whole body stiffen up and I smiled when I realized my boobs were pressed against his chest. "From what I've heard you have a thing for feisty redheads."

I pulled away and Tyler's whole face was red. I was about to offer another witty comeback when we both heard howling.

Tyler jumped to his feet and grabbed my hand without a second thought and pulled me out of the cellar and up the stairs. When we reached the clearing by the swimming hole I realized Tyler still hadn't released my hand and had intertwined our fingers.

I didn't pull away either. Holding hands with Tyler Lockwood wasn't all that terrible.

He dragged me across the clearing and into the woods and the moment was over. We soon came across Caroline and Stefan arguing.

"Hey!" Tyler hollered. "What are you two doing?"

I don't think Tyler took too nicely to them hanging around his property when he told everyone to clear out.

"What are you doing?" Stefan retorted and narrowed his eyes at Tyler and I's intertwined hands.

I quickly dropped Tyler's hand like it was on fire and backed away. Then a werewolf, something I thought only lived in myth, ran between Tyler and I and pounced on Caroline. I screamed and Stefan threw the werewolf off of Caroline and into a nearby tree.

"No!" Tyler exclaimed and when I saw the expression on his face I knew. I knew what Mason Lockwood was and why the cellar was off limits. Mason was a werewolf: a vampire's sworn enemy.

And another supernatural hazard to this town.
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I avoided Tyler, vampires, and even Bonnie the following day. I couldn't cope. I was starting to trust Tyler and now I felt like that trust was violated even though he didn't do anything to me directly. But when I saw his reaction to the werewolf, all the pieces clicked in my head and I couldn't ignore the fear snaking around my heart.

My magic was on edge the following night after the werewolf sighting and my wrists were raw and red the next day. Today the redness is less pronounced and looks similar to healing burn marks, but still stings and gets irritated from the slightest touch.

Jeremy called after I turned on the faucet in my house's only bathroom. I talked to him while running my wrists under the cold water to soothe them. It was a momentary release.

"Come to the Grill with me?" Jeremy prompted.

I sighed and turned the faucet off. The stinging sensation returned and I bit my lip. I don't know if going out in public with my wrists like this was a good idea. Jeremy knew about my magic, I could never hide something so connected to me from him, but I knew he'd be concerned about the burn marks. I didn't want him to worry about me.

"I can't, Jer."

"We never spend time together anymore," Jeremy mumbled and my heart tugged for my best friend. "I don't want to sound selfish, but you promised to me here for me after what happened and you've been a no show, Rory."

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I was a mess. My hair was a red birds nest and my skin was pasty and sweaty. My lips were chapped and dark circles crested my eyes. I looked how I felt, but Jeremy was right. I wasn't the one who overdosed on pills. I needed to stop pitying myself.