hi this is the chapter where things get good lov u thanks sm for reviewing y'all it makes me so happy

"Hey, Kim, I swear to god, if you move one more time I'm going to draw a penis on your eye."

The girl in question let out a heavy sigh and stopped fidgeting under my touch. She had some sort of fancy dinner date with Jared and she was begging me to do her makeup. 'Can you give me like a romantic, red look?' I agreed, but only because it would get me out of the house. I had been spending a lot of time there, in my room with my now normal cat, because Seth hadn't talked to me in four days. Not a text, phone call, or knock on my door. No, Seth Clearwater was avoiding me. And the worst part was, I knew why; he had seen my scars. It was stupid of me to take off my jacket just so I could be physically closer to him but I was on a fever high. And now he knew. Fuck, he must have thought I was some sort of psycho. Just like that, Seth was out of my life. Every day we were apart my heart hurt, and I missed him more than words could describe. My closest friend and he was already gone, just when I thought things were going where I wanted them.

"How do you do this every day?" she questioned as I drew a straight line off her eyelid. "Everyone makes fun of me because they think I'm the girly one but fuck I don't have the patience to do this." I chuckled, capping off the eyeliner and switching it out for eyebrow gel. "How did you even teach yourself how to do this?"

Her eyebrows were already full, I just gave them more shape, filling out her face. "When I was a little girl, I kinda got bullied for having gay dads. And criticized. Bullied by kids, criticized by adults. They told me I would end up too boyish because I didn't have a motherly figure. So I just threw myself into traditional feminine things like makeup and dresses and princesses. Some of them stuck, some of them didn't. I have like, three hundred eyeshadow palettes but no dresses. I've been doing makeup since I was like, seven maybe. It got better when I moved from toy makeup to the real thing around age thirteen." I dug out a wine red lipstick. "This is going to stay on no matter what. Okay? I mean it. Eating, kissing, whatever kissing leads to."

Kim rolled her eyes, which look like a perfectly blended sunrise thanks to me. "Shut up, Lex." My heart dropped at Seth's nickname for me. "I never really asked about that. So one dad is your biological one?" she paused. "Is it okay for me to ask?"

"I don't care just shush so I can paint your lips." She complied. "My Baba and mother immigrated here during the Lebanese Civil War in the eighties pretending to be lovers. Baba met my dad in New York City where they were both working. Dad won't tell me as what do I assume he was a stripper. They fell in love and got 'married' in 1990 to celebrate the end of the war. But technically gay marriage was still illegal, they just kind of signed a fake contact. Anyways, Dad and Baba paid my mom a lot of money to carry me before she went back to Lebanon. I was born, she disappeared, I never met her. We moved to California when I was one."

Her makeup was done, and she looked hot. "So you don't have any family besides your dads?"

"Nope," I said quickly? unbothered. It didn't matter to me. "My dads are enough. I love them very much and I don't need anyone else to be apart of my family. Besides, Dad's parents were homophobes. Now, look at my masterpiece."

Kim turned to look in the mirror in her room and smiled brightly. "Wow! Alex this is amazing. Shit, I look hot as fuck." She twirled a strand of her straight hair in her hand. "Alex, because of you, I'm gonna get laid tonight."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, you would have gotten laid anyway. Jared can't keep his giant man-hands off of you." It was true. She had on a black, spaghetti strapped dress that hugged her hips and flowed in the right places. "You do look hot though. You're welcome."

Kim twirled around before putting on a pair of small black heels, giggling. "How's Seth?" she asked. The question was innocent enough but there was a tone in her voice that suggested she knew I hadn't been talking to Seth.

I sighed, plopping down on her bed. "He hasn't talked to me in days, Kim. He's completely avoiding me, and I have no idea why." Lie. "What's worse is I texted him like, a million times and he hasn't responded once. I never text first, Kim." She took a seat next to me and placed her hand on my knee. "I really like him. And I don't mean 'like' him like he's a good friend. I mean I like him and want to do stupid things, like hold his hand and, I dunno, stuff like that."

There was a stupid smile on Kim's face that was inappropriate for the situation. "Alex, you want to date Seth. That's the word you're looking for. You, Alex Manson-Assaf want to date Seth Clearwater, and you want him to be your boyfriend. You want Seth Clearwater to be your boyfriend. You, Alex-"

"Okay, Kim! I think we got it!" I groaned, falling back on her bed. "That is the situation, yes. Just maybe not as intense as you made it seem. The problem is that Seth Clearwater wants nothing to do with me, Alex Manson-Assaf." I groaned loudly and for a long time, hoping it would make me feel better. It didn't.

Kim threw a pillow at me. "Oh, stop being so over dramatic, Alex. Seth likes you. I'm not sure how you haven't figured it out yet. Literally, everyone can see that you two are into each other. Jared says you're basically all he talks about, and I know for a fact Seth's basically all you talk about because when you're not with him, you're with me. And when we're together, Seth is usually the topic of conversation. The sooner the both of you come clean about it, the better it will be."

"Well, I'd love to tell him how I feel," another lie, "but I can't. I'm not sure if you remembered this little detail, but Seth is avoiding me." I stood and looked down at Kim with a soft smile. She really did look beautiful. "Listen, the ball is in his court right now, and there's nothing more I can do. When he wants to talk to me, he will, and then I'll come clean. Until then," I picked up my makeup bag and slung it over my shoulder, "have fun at your date, and don't get pregnant."

She smiled back at me. "Be safe."

I had walked over to Kim's house when it was light out, but since then the sun had completely set and it was dark as could be. I didn't have the car, as my parents had gone to Seattle for some sort of work party, but took two cars because they both left from work and arrived at different times. Also, I just enjoyed walking at night. I was hoping, every time I stepped outside after dark, that I would see my wolfy friend. But when Seth disappeared, so did my Nugget. I plugged my phone into my headphones and played some loud rock music, blocking out any sounds.

It was nice to be alone. I had my own thoughts and there was nothing to interrupt them. It was prime time for creativity and self-reflection. It was nice to be alone, but it was nicer to be with Seth. How could I have any semblance of self-reflection when all of my thoughts were on the boy with dark eyes and a big smile. Seth was everything I had ever wanted: he was nice, considerate, and a Cancer. Everyone knows that Cancers and Scorpios are most compatible. Despite my fear of men, which caused me to clench tightly onto my knife in my sweatshirt front pocket, I couldn't help but let Seth in immediately. There was something that kept bringing me back to him, and I always thought he felt it too.

Until he stopped answering my calls.

I knew it was my scars. There was no other explanation. I had gone through my last interaction with him hundreds of times, trying to pick out some tiny detail that would provide me an answer. Sure, I was throwing up, but he would hold my hair back and insisted on taking care of me, telling me it was no issue. He smiled at me and he put his arm around me and I saw the look in his eyes. He cared about me. I didn't doubt it for a second. I was barely conscious when he took me in his arms and carried me to my room. Seth was so careful with me, the way you're careful with your favorite toy as a child like he didn't want to break me. The last time I saw him, he walked out of my room with a smile on his face.

If he left because of my scars, he did a great job of pretending he never saw them in the first place.

I knew all this mindless contemplation wasn't good for me. I knew that if I kept going I would drive myself insane, but I was living off of every memory of Seth I had, completely aware of how pathetic this boy made me. Fuck, before Seth I didn't need anyone but my parents and blink 182, and now I was so dependent on Seth for happiness I felt like I had lost a part of my independence. My mind was telling me to get over it while my heart and every other cell in my body was telling me to get close to Seth before they exploded. It was a modern tragedy. My deep affections for Seth caused me to lose every aspect of who I thought I was and what was familiar. I was used to snarky smiles and deception and wariness. I hadn't given my heart to anyone since it was first stolen from me, but now I had practically gift wrapped it for Seth. And where was he?

During my inner monolog, I stopped paying attention to where I was stepping and managed to fall on the gravel road. "Fuck," I whispered under my breath as I landed on my hands and knees, scraping them up. At least my jeans were already ripped. I stood and brushed the loose gravel off of me, ignoring the small amount of blood that was dripping down my leg and pooling on my left hand. Great.

For the rest of my walk, I was determined to push Seth from my head and instead thought about how I was going to have to show up at therapy again soon. Dr. Cullen and I hadn't exactly left off on the best of terms, but I promised my fathers I would try. Swallowing my pride and showing up at that office would not be easy, but I would rather be humiliated than break that promise. It was something that would be easier if I could tell Seth about it and fuck. I couldn't push him out. So, someone else did it for me.

In the next few seconds, everything happened so quickly that I barely had enough time to process it all. My spine arched in, and I knew in an instant I wasn't alone. I whipped around and pulled out my knife, but no one was there. For a moment, I stood still in silence, ready to attack. But there was no one there. After a few seconds, I decided to get on with it and turn around. Then there was someone there.

It was a woman, so I had less to fear, but I still could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Her blond hair was long and pin straight, her skin pale, without any trace of color. And most shockingly, her eyes were red, violent red. She was dressed in an absurd getup, a long white dress that matched her devilish eyes with no shoes. Worst of all, there was a shit ton, no fuck ton of blood on the front of her dress. Either something terrible had just happened to this woman, or something terrible was about to happen to me.

She tilted her head at me, curiously. "Funny," she whispered, taking a step closer to me, and I launched backward, "you smell like a wet dog, but you're not one of them." Her eyes darted down to my exposed knees. "You're coated in their smell, but on the inside, you're not one of them. You don't have their blood." A sickening smile crept on her face. "You're one of their...pets."

My mouth felt dry. "I have no fucking idea what you're talking about, but you're creeping me out. I'm not anyone's pet. Do you need help or something? Do you want me to call 911?"

Her eyes kept flicking all over my body like I was some sort of meal. Fuck, was this bitch a cannibal? Was I in some weird Jennifer's Body shit? "You're all alone," she said in a sing-song voice, and moved towards me in a speed I was convinced was not humanly possible. Her hand rested on my cheek. Her ice cold hand that could not have been human. "All alone..." she trailed off, moving her face closer to mine.

Somehow, I knew I was about to die.

Her lips parted slightly, and she moved like she was going to kiss my neck when a noise came from the woods. Her head snapped in that direction and she smiled that terrible smile once more. Tears fell down my face. I didn't want to die, not anymore. If this was some sort of punishment for when I was sixteen, I just wanted it to be over with. "Well, well, well," she mused in a sugary-sweet voice. "Look what we have here. Look, darling," she used her grip on my face to turn my head. It was fucking Nugget. "I suppose maybe he's your pet."

Violently, she released me and threw me to the ground. Jesus, she was strong. My ankle throbbed in pain, and I knew it was broken. The wolf let out a low growl and snarled as he stepped towards the woman, and I finally understood how someone could be afraid of him. "Come to play, doggy," she giggled, and he lunged at her, snapping his teeth at her neck.

I couldn't watch. There was an awful dread in my stomach and I was convinced this was some sort of torture. I crawled towards the edge of the road and curled up in the ball, in too much pain to run. My eyes were squeezed shut, but I could still hear the noises. The woman's grunting, the wolf's growling, and occasional whimpers. It was too much, but when I tried to cover my ears it did nothing. I could hear everything, and it ended was a cracking.

There was nothing. No sounds, no voices, but I still couldn't move. I was convinced I had gone into some sort of shock, as I stayed curled up in a ball. It was only a few minutes before I felt warm hands on my back. "Don't touch me!" I screeched, throwing fists at whoever was there.

"Hey, hey, hey. Lex, it's me." I froze. "Lex, it's me. It's Seth. You're okay; you're safe." I looked up to see Seth bent over me with a concerned expression. It was him.

In that moment, I didn't care that Seth had been ignoring me. I didn't care about my ankle or the fact that I almost got eaten or something. All I saw was Seth. I leaped up into his arms, hugging him with everything I had. "Oh my god, Seth," I sobbed into his chest, and he snaked his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. "Seth we have to get out of here. Please get me out of here."

He pulled away slightly and looked down at me, examining every inch of me. "Okay," he agreed and swiftly lifted me into his arms. "I'm gonna bring you to a friend, okay?" Seth said as he started running back towards his house. "He's a doctor and he can fix your ankle. You're gonna be okay, Lex. I swear it."

We didn't talk while Seth ran. I just pressed my head against his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat, breathing in his scent. Fuck, I missed him so much. I breathed in his scent, wanting to take in every aspect of him. Tears were still running down my faces as flashes of what just happened ran through my brain.

We arrived at Seth's house in record time. I didn't care that it seemed impossible to run that distance that quickly. At this point, I didn't want to question anything. Seth put me in the passenger seat in his truck and ran around to the driver's seat. Whenever we were in the car together, Seth drove carefully. But tonight, he sped out of the driveway and almost floored it down the road, his grip on the steering wheel turning his knuckles white. "Alex, love, I am so sorry. I can't even believe this happened. Fuck!" he yelled, slamming his hands against the wheel briefly. I jumped, startled. "Alex, will you ever be able to forgive me?"

I was lost. "Seth you didn't do anything. You helped me, you didn't do anything wrong."

He shook his head. "No, no Alex you don't understand. I let that leech get past. I was distracted. I was distracted and it almost got you killed. Fuck, Alex if anything happened to you..." he trailed off, his voice sounding pained. "If something happened to you because of me, I just don't know what I'd do."

I had so many questions I didn't even know where to start, and I didn't have the energy to. "Seth, I'm so confused."

"I'll explain everything to you after we get your ankle fixed. I promise Alex. No more secrets."

I stared at Seth for a while. He was tense, every muscle in his body was shaking. I unbuckled, and slide over to him and leaning into his body. I placed my hand on his knee, and he physically calmed at my touch. "Okay."

We arrived at a large house in the middle of the woods, and I had a sinking feeling of familiarity at how glass the house was but ignored it. Seth ran around and lifted me out of the truck again, and wouldn't put me down. Instead, he ran me up to the front door. Before he could knock, someone opened the door. He was pale, like her, but his eyes were the same shade as Dr. Cullen's. "Seth, come in."

He did as told, and rushed up the stairs. I was confused and anxious to the point where I could do nothing but keep my mouth shut. There were several people standing around up the stairs, and they all looked the same. Chalky pale skin, bright hazel eyes, and unrealistic beauty. Seth set me down on a couch as the man from downstairs joined us. "Alex, these are the Cullens." My heart sunk. Oh fuck, was she here? "Edward, Bella, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper." Seth had a thing for introducing me to large crowds. He turned to the one I believed to be named Edward. "Where is he?" he asked in a rushed voice.

"Coming," was Edward's brief reply. Seth nodded and sat by my side.

I sat there, feeling ridiculously uncomfortable. I was in a room filled with human perfection, and they all stood there, motionless and staring. "Jasper," said a short-haired fairy-looking girl, "do you want to come cook dinner with me?" I wasn't stupid. I knew she was trying to get out of this uncomfortable situation.

"Sure," he answered. "Rose, Emmett, you have to help, too." They all left the room with graceful steps, each shooting me a sympathetic look while Seth sat next to me, staring at the floor as if he was trying to burn a hole in it.

I didn't remember the Cullen's faces or names. This was, in large part, due to the fact that to me, they all looked the same. Like statues. Ice cold statues with different colored hair. A shiver went down my spine. They all had uncanny similarities to the woman in the white dress. The white dress covered in blood. As if he could sense my discomfort, Seth reached over and grabbed my hand. I relaxed at the touch.

After another minute or two, a pale haired man came bounding up the stairs, a familiar face behind him. I pretended not to notice her as Seth stood, addressing the man. "Another one broke through our defenses and found Alex. Everything is taken care of but I think she broke her ankle."

While the two of them talked, Dr. Cullen stared at me, and I avoided eye contact. "I used to break my bones a lot."

I looked up to see another perfect woman with soft brown hair and those stupid eyes. "Yeah that's a thing that happens sometimes," I agreed, not wanting to get into a friendly conversation at the moment. I felt like a child being brought to the doctor's office.

She either didn't get the message or got the message and didn't care because she sat down right next to me. "So, Alex, I've heard a lot about you. Seth talks about you all the time," she said with a smile. "I'm Bella, by the way. I know it must be hard to remember all the names at once." I nodded, not wanting to continue this conversation any further. "It'll be okay."

"Thank you," I whispered, keeping my arms crossed over my chest. At last, she stood up and grabbed Edward's arm, pulling him out of the room.

The blond man appeared in front of me once again. "Hello, Alex. My name is Carlisle. Do you mind if I take a look at your ankle?" I nodded, and he, gently as he could, pulled my sneaker off. I winced at the pain. My ankle was insanely swollen, and Carlisle pressed his fingers softly against my skin. My breath hitched. They were as cold as hers. "I'm going to give you a boot, but I recommend going to get an X-ray when you can. It's at least sprained." He stood and turned to Seth. "Make sure you get her home safe."

I turned to look at the boy next to me. His face was twisted in pain as he stared down at my foot, but gave a curt nod nonetheless. "Seth," I whispered, and he looked down at me with a heartbreaking expression. I placed my hand in his cheek. "It's okay."

He covered my hand with his own and leaned into the small embrace, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "It's okay."

I left the Cullen's house with a boot on my ankle, in Seth's arms, and without any acknowledgments to Dr. Cullen, so I considered it as successful as it could have been. Seth drove back to my house slower than he did on the way to the Cullen's. He wasn't angry anymore, he was nervous. There was something big he was going to tell me. Something he had been avoiding.

When we pulled up to my house, I got out on my own and wobbled a little. Before I could fall, Seth was at my side, holding on to me. "Thanks," I said. "I want to walk." He nodded, but still put his arm under mine and helped me walk to up to my front door.

"Alex, can you do me a favor? I need you to go inside, clean up your cuts, and meet me in your backyard. Can you do that?" I nodded, and he placed a small kiss on my forehead. My heart fluttered, not knowing it wasn't the time for feelings like that. "Thank you."

I watched Seth run off to the woods before I went inside. Quickly as I could, I ran my hands under water to wash up the dried blood and wiped off my knees before slapping a band-aid on. I didn't care about it at all. I just wanted to see what was bothering Seth. I had never seen him act like this before, and it gave me a bad feeling.

I stepped out my back door and there he was, standing in front of me, shirtless. The pained expression never left his face. "Seth, you gotta tell me what's going on. I need answers here. I have no idea what happened back there."

Nodding, Seth ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. Okay, Alex. I can tell you. It's okay," he sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "Alex. Alex, Alex, Alex. There's no easy way to say this so I'm just gonna go right out and say it. I'm a werewolf."

I narrowed my eyes. "Is this like a joke or something? Is that like, your fursona? Are you trying to come out as a furry to me right now? Because if you are, that's not funny."

Panic did not look good on Seth as he scrambled to come up with something. "No, I'm not a furry. I-I don't even know what that is! Alex, you've seen me. As a wolf, you have. I'll prove it to you, okay? Just, promise me you'll stay right here?"

"I promise," I said. This had to be going somewhere. There was no way in fucking hell Seth was a werewolf, and I was halfway convinced he was insane. He ran off for the woods, and I expected him to come out in a full fursuit. But instead, something else came out. "Nugget?" I whispered as my giant wolf friend stepped out of the forest just seconds after Seth disappeared in there. "No way." I wobbled closer to him. "No way."

He had Seth's eyes.

It was if my legs stopped working because I fell to the ground. Gravity was weighing down on me. Nugget or Seth or whatever ran into the woods, and he came back as Seth, in all his shirtless glory. He dropped to the ground next to me. "Alex, are you okay?"

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think. I poured all my secrets into that giant wolf, secrets about my health, about my parents, my feelings towards Seth himself, and it turned out to be the gangly boy the whole time. The feeling in my stomach was a white hot betrayal. "I need you to leave," I whispered.

His eyes widened. "Alex, no. There's so much more I need to tell you. You need to know everything and-"

"I'm not sure if I want to hear it."

The words felt like cotton balls falling out of my mouth, and Seth looked physically hurt by them. He stood, and fell back. "O-okay. Okay, Alex. I'll leave. But you need to know, I'll be here the second you call me. Whenever you need me, I'll be there." I looked into his eyes. "You're my world now, Lex." With that, he turned to run into the woods. Like that, he was gone again.

I sat there on the grass in my backyard. I sat there, frozen until I heard a gut-wrenching howl. Then I broke into sobs.

wild'n. tell me what u think or i'll leave it on this chapter forEVER lmao lov y'all