Seth liked to watch Alex.

He liked to study the features of her face: the shape of her almond eyes and their darkness, the fullness of her lips, the fullness of her eyebrows and the hook of her nose. Sometimes, he'd try to count the freckles that stretched from her nose to her eyes. He liked it when the corners of her lips twitched when she was trying not to laugh. He liked it when she didn't put on makeup and he could see the way her nose was shaped. Everything about her was beautiful, and he noticed begrudgingly that she looked a lot like her dad.

The steaming plate of food in front of him looked delicious, and the smell of it wafted up his nose, but he couldn't eat, because the way Alex's dad stared at him made him feel sick. Still, he scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes and shoved it down his throat, not wanting to appear rude on his first meeting with his imprint's parents.

There was one dad on either side of him, and Alex was sat directly across from him, eating her food like she was completely unaware of the stare her father was giving him. "So Seth, do you go to school?" the blond dad, Caleb, asked Seth.

"Oh, um, no, I don't. I graduated high school last year. Now I work around the rez, for the tribal council," he replied, and it wasn't technically a lie. He did work for the tribe, it's just that normally that worked consisted of administrative positions, working in conservation or advocacy, not turning into a giant wolf and ripping off vampire heads. Although, Seth wouldn't mind doing that type of work in the future.

This seemed to appease Caleb, but the dark haired father, the one Alex called Baba, scowled at Seth's profile. He scoffed a little, and then looked back down at his plate. "Don't mind my husband. He's just grumpy and a little too protective of his little girl."

Alex snorted, and she looked up at Seth with a grin. "And now he's extra grumpy because he can't find anything wrong with you." Alex looked up from her plate and her eyes met Seth's and his heart skipped a beat at the grin on her lips. He smiled back at her.

Alex's dad cleared his throat, and Seth jumped at the sound. He turned his attention back to his food and started eating again, focusing his whole attention back on the food. He was learning rules A had throughout the course of the dinner, and apparently looking at Alex was breaking one of those rules. He also learned that he could call the blond dad by his first name, but he had to address the dark-haired one as Mr. Assaf. He made Seth repeat their surname about twelve times to get the pronunciation right. Seth was pretty desperate for his approval. "So, Seth," Mr. Assaf asked, "Lebanese weddings typically last three days. Are you prepared for that?"

The question made Seth's eyes widen, and the food in his throat got caught. He coughed, eyes watering. "What?" he asked, voice hoarse.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Be nice, Baba."

"What? The boy has a right to know what he's getting into."

"Armin," Caleb warned.

But Mr. Assaf turned to Seth, who was still gaping and somewhat gasping for air. "Because I assume if he's paying all this attention to my daughter, it's because he really cares about her. And not because he's going to hurt and use her like the last one."

"Armin!" Caleb snapped, eyes glowering. "Clear the table with me. Now."

Seth looked back and forth between the two husbands as they stared each other down. Eventually, Mr. Assaf stood, and grabbed the bowl of vegetables off the table before walking off into the kitchen. Caleb shot Seth a sympathetic look. "Sorry. He likes conflict," he said, and then stood and followed his husband into the kitchen.

Seth quickly glanced back at Alex. He expected her to be shaken up by the comments of her father, to see her shaking or with a clenched jaw or tears in her eyes. But she remained indifferent, eating what remained on her plate. "He does this kind of thing a lot."

"Is it me he doesn't like?" Seth asked.

"No, honestly. You're just a body to him. A male body. Any other dude could be sitting in that spot and it wouldn't make a difference to him."

"Ouch," Seth put a hand over his heart, "and here I was thinking I was special. Now I know I'm just another body."

Alex chuckled. "At least it's a nice body. Although, I can't tell if the rippling muscles tearing through your shirt help or hurt in Baba's case. Maybe he wouldn't be so intimidated by you if you were a foot shorter and wore glasses, and I dunno, had like maybe just one zit."

Seth was acutely aware of the arguing of Alex's parents in the kitchen, but their voices were toned out and he could only focus on Alex's words and his ears got hot at her words. "You think I have a nice body?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Alex was full of surprises today. Instead of flushing and shying away from him, like he would expect, she pushed her dinner plate out of the way and leaned forward across the table. "I think it would be nicer if it was closer to mine."

The only thought that Seth could muster was oh god oh god oh god. He didn't know what to do with that, but it made his body feel electric. Alex was already enticing, but when she bit down on her lower lip and batted her eyelashes, Seth melted. He mimicked her body language, resting his arms on the table and placing his face closer to hers. This was where they were before Alex found out the truth, before everything had fell apart. And Seth was almost too excited that they were picking up where they left off. "I can make that happen," he said in the softest voice he could muster.

Her eyes fluttered close, and she gently brushed her nose against his. All of the heat in Seth's body rushed to his face and he was intoxicated with the way she smelled and it dawned on him that Alex was about to kiss him. He closed his eyes, waiting for the first moment of contact.

But it never came.

The door between the kitchen and the dining room swung open, and Seth slammed back into his chair like the sound shoved him. He thought for a moment he broke the wooden chair beneath him. It was like every drop of blood he had was in his cheeks.

Mr. Assaf glared down at Seth, his hand still gripping the door frame. Alex leaned back in her chair and groaned. "What do you want Baba?"

The man ignored his daughter, but instead stared down at Seth with such an intensity it made him squirm. Seth was all over the place tonight. "Sorry, Seth. For being um, overbearing."

Seth blanked. "Um, thank you?" His mind was really having trouble going from nervous to horny back to nervous again at such a rapid pace.

Mr. Assaf looked back and forth between the two of them, like he knew something had happened in the time. But instead of commenting like he probably wanted to, he let out a heavy sigh, and disappeared back into the kitchen.

"Well," Alex chirped after a moment, "that went better than I thought it would."

Seth left Alex with a kiss on the forehead and a promise to jump through her window if her light was still on when he was done with patrolling. And when she closed the front door on him, he sprinted towards the woods and phased, the stretch of his four limbs scratching an itch. Seth weaved between the trees, mind drifting from thoughts of Alex to different thoughts of Alex. He was starting to feel like everything was falling into place again.

Well, everything but the unknown tick that had made its way into Alex's room and the tarnished relationship between him and one of his brother's, whose name he refused to even think. Yeah, everything but those two things. But Seth was just gonna ignore those for now.

Instead, he focused on the way her perfume that made her smell like fresh fruit and clean air and how close her lips were to his. It sent shivers down his spine. He wondered how she tasted.

He ran through the woods and drifted in and out of Forks and the reservation, checking up on Charlie. Seth wasn't surprised to hear him snoring from the couch with baseball highlights playing in the background. It's been a while since he'd checked up on Charlie. Actually, he thought with a flinch, it's been a while since he had done anything other than worry about his imprint. He imagined what his life would be like when everything was just settled, and Alex could come with him to meet his family and Charlie and spend time with the people he cared about.

Someone's in a good mood. Jared's voice cut through his thoughts.

Yeah! It's me! I'm in a good mood. The images of Alex's face as she leaned in closer to him played back in his head. The disapproving tone of her father didn't even matter. He would hear it over and over if it meant he got to (almost) kiss Alex.

But the thought made Jared scoff. God, you're so whipped you're doing splits over an almost kiss? I wasn't even this bad with Kim. Oh, speaking of which, tell Alex that Kim is gonna lose her mind if she doesn't text her back. She misses her.

Seth faltered a little. He forgot Alex and Kim had gotten close. He wondered how much of Alex's life had been messed up because of him and because of that asshole son of bitch that Seth hated and would never talk to again. Seth wished Alex spent all of that time she spent with the unnamed asshole with Kim instead. I'll let her know.

You know you have to talk to him eventually.

No I don't. And you wouldn't either, if it was Kim.

There was a beat where Seth could hear only the sound of his paws hitting the ground with large thumps. He listened as Jared imagined someone else in the pack putting his hands on Kim. I mean, I guess you're right. But I would talk to them eventually. I would have to. We're brothers.

Seth grunted. It was easy for him to say because for him, it was just a hypothetical. Just a thought experiment meant for him to wonder about what his reaction would be. But it was real for Seth. And he couldn't think of his so called brother without replaying the little movie he had saved in his head; of him marching up to Alex and kissing her. A low growl ripped through him.

Yikes.

I can't even think about him without losing it. He can't just do shit like that and think he can get away with it.

Yeah, well, you definitely made him pay for it. Images of the fight flashed through Jared's mind: Seth snarls, the blood, the bruises and the blood and how it looked on his human skin. I wouldn't say you went overboard, cause he's not dead, but he definitely had a hard time bouncing back from that one.

I don't feel bad.

I'm not saying you should. I'm just saying he definitely didn't get away with it.

Seth tosses around thoughts and ideas in his head. Attacking his brother so brutally and without any regret was never something he thought he was capable of, but then he met his imprint, and it was like he was capable of anything. Seth didn't know if it was a good or bad thing.

I'll forgive him when Alex does.

Yeah, but what if-

Shut up.

What?

Seth's head whipped around. It was so faint, but he could smell it when the wind blew from the east. He started sprinting after it. Do you smell that?

Jared raked through Seth's racing thoughts and memories, picking up pretty quickly. I'll be right there.

A howl ripped its way through the silent woods and the scent was stronger now, as Seth ran east. It was with a panic that he realized east was the direction towards Alex's house, and he pumped his legs rapidly. It was the same scent, the same vamp, that had left its stench all over Alex's room.

This was a coincidence he didn't like. His blood felt cold as he thought about the possibilities of what this could mean.

I'm here. Jared's voice ripped him from his thoughts. There's nothing by Alex's house. Area's totally cleared. But the scent is here and its strong.

Is she okay?

Yeah. I can hear her heartbeat. She's asleep.

Follow it.

Jared listened, tearing off in the direction of the scent as Seth arrived in the woods behind Alex's home. The scent was pungent. It made Seth feel sick. He paused outside of Alex's bedroom, looking up into her window (lights off) and listened for her heartbeat. It was steady, like her breathing. Her dads were both okay, he noticed as well.

Scent's gone. Disappeared off a cliff.

Fuck. Seth realized with a low growl that this would be a frequently occurring incident.


"You look like shit," Alex's voice made Seth jump. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

She tossed a muffin at him and then took a seat next to him on his front steps. "Yeah, not really. Busy night." The scent still lingered in his nose. He took a large bit of the muffin she made for him.

"Be honest. On average, how many things do you kill a night? Like, are you batting thirty kills a night or is it a little bit lower than that?"

Seth snorted. "Fortunately, I don't think that there are enough vampires in the world for me to kill thirty a night. I think in the past couple of months since we've met you, we've killed around twelve. It's actually the most we've ever killed since that the newborn war."

Alex widened her eyes. "Newborn war? Like babies? Like you killed babies?"

"No, like new vampires. Like they're new vampires," Seth explained, and then raised an eyebrow. "Does that make sense?"

"No, but I think I'm good not getting it." She played with the bits of wood that stuck out from Seth's front porch. "I don't really like the concept of vampires. They're really," she paused, looking up at Seth, "creepy. Did you ever catch that one that was in my room?"

Seth put on a tight smile. "Nope. Whoever it was was probably just passing through." He didn't like lying to Alex, but he didn't want her to worry. If she needed to know, he would tell her. But there was nothing important to tell her, and he hoped there wouldn't be. "You're safe, honey."

Their almost kiss lingered on his mind as Alex rest her head on his shoulder. It was an unusually hot and sunny day in the corner of Washington, and Seth was pleased to note Alex was wearing a tank top, arms exposed, and did so comfortably, without her hands reaching to cover her skin. It's not that he liked looking at the scars that littered her arms, but he liked that she felt comfortable enough around him to not cover them up. "What evil crimes do you wanna do today?" Alex asked.

"Hmmm, breaking and entering? I could probably get us into some good restaurants and we could have our go at all the food."

Alex scrunched up her nose. "Nah. The food wouldn't even be cooked. You wanna eat raw pasta. I think we should use the ungodly strength you have to our advantage and like, beat up some people I don't like, get away with a little assault and battery."

"What about tax evasion?"

"Boring. I do that anyways. What about..." Alex trailed off and then leaned her face towards Seth. His breath hitched in his throat as she put her lips closer to his, and he didn't notice her hand reaching into his pocket. "Grand theft auto!" Alex exclaimed, and then took off running towards Seth's truck.

"Oh no you don't," Seth said, leaping up from his seat and chasing after Alex. It didn't take long for him to catch up to her at the door of his truck. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her into the air. "Not my truck."

Her giggles were like music as he twisted her around in the air, one hand working to get his keys back, and other tickling her side. "Seth," she breathed his name in between laughing fits, "please, I'm dying."

He snatched the keys from her and placed her back down on the ground. "Thank you," he grinned, dangling the keys above her head. He placed a little kiss on the top of her head, just to get rid of the pout on her face. "How about we just go swimming instead?"

Alex's face brightened. "Swimming?"


so i don't have a job until april 7th because of corona virus. i don't have classes or my internship or anything. so i guess updating this story is my only responsibility now. thanks to everyone who reviewed, pls keep em coming. they're motivating and help me update faster. also im lonely here in self isolation so they help.