Werewolves and Vampires

Chapter 21: Claire

“Hey, Lila,” Dakota said, forcing a smile. I sent her a slightly forced smile back.

“Was Wyatt here?” Matt asked, looking annoyed.

I glared at him. Seriously? He was already starting? “As a matter of fact, he was.”

“Why?” Matt asked, his fists curling at his sides.

“I’ll explain later, because if I tell you why he was here first then you won’t understand,” I said, swinging slightly forward and back. “You guys might want to sit down for this.”

Dakota pulled up on the swing next to me, Mirah on the other swing on my other side, while Matt and Jared sat on the wooden edge of the sandy area of the swing set.

I took a deep breath and told them everything, starting from the first time I went into the forest. Of course, I kept most of the parts with Wyatt to myself, except for when they were necessary like when I told them about yesterday morning.

By the time I was finished, I had almost cried several times, but I would just inhale deeply and continued on. The reason I would inhale was because then I’d catch Wyatt’s scent, and it made me feel better.

When I was finished, everyone seemed shocked, sympathetic and if possible…even a little guilty.

“We’re so sorry, Lila! We didn’t realize how badly this was affecting you,” Mirah said, giving me a guilty look.

“It’s okay guys, you didn’t know,” I shrugged, swinging my legs back and forth so I could start swinging a bit.

“What I still don’t understand is why Wyatt is being so nice to you,” Jared said, furrowing his brow. “I mean, he’s barely spoken to anyone outside his coven and suddenly you move here and he just starts conveniently showing up when you need him?”

“I thought that was a little fishy too,” Matt said, giving me a suspicious look.

I glared at both of them, “If you guys are insinuating that Wyatt has something to do with that thing living in the forest you’re wrong.”

Jared’s blue eyes widened, “I wasn’t going to, I swear! I was just saying that maybe he has a crush on you or something. Or maybe he’s stalking you and that’s why he’s always there when you need him.”

I chuckled. Jared was always so weird. “Not likely,” I said. Albeit, his theories weren't exactly false. Weird or not, the guy had hit the bulls eye. About the crush, not the stalking. At least, I don't think.

I turned to Matt, “And what about you? Were you going to say that he has something to do with this?”

He shifted uncomfortably, “Lila, I just think that maybe-”

“No ‘maybe’s’ Matt, I know you don’t like Wyatt, but just because you don’t like him doesn’t automatically make him a bad guy,” I said firmly, using my ‘alpha’ tone with him.

Matt bowed his head, “I’m sorry, Lila. There’s just something about him….” He shook his head. “Never mind, I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.”

“Good idea,” I said, feeling irritated again.

There was a stunned silence, before Jared, Mirah, and Dakota all burst out laughing.

“What?” I asked, frowning at them.

“It’s just….” Mirah started.

“No one’s ever put Matt in his place before," Dakota finished.

“Dude!” Jared laughed, slapping Matt on the back, “You are so whipped!”

Mirah proceeded to make whipping motions, sound effects included. Which made the three of them laugh harder, and even I started to giggle.