Coyote Wolf

17 | A BAD ARGUMENT

NAYLAN

I've been tense.

I don't know if it's because I was hiding something from Mavis and I didn't like it, or if it was because I could sense tenseness and insecurity radiating off Mavis whenever we met. I didn't bring it up because it would be rude to point out I was sniffing out his emotions with my wolf, but mate bonds were powerful, and it wasn't my fault that he couldn't seem to hide his emotions all that well.

Maybe he didn't care.

Maybe he wanted me to feel them and bring them up myself.

That speculation made me even tenser.

"Hey, you haven't said anything for a while, are you even listening to me?"

I blinked at Mavis' words, turning to look at him with an apologetic gaze.

"Sorry," I muttered, giving him a small smile. He frowned a little but mirrored my awkward have by slightly upturning his lips. He looked a bit hesitant—as if he had something on his mind, but he didn't say anything, and instead looked away, gazing down at the row of stairs beneath us. We were both sitting on the wooden stairs that lead into the woods hiking path out and into the main city. We've started coming here more, a bit tired of just standing by the river or taking long walks through the woods that were getting humid as the weather changed.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

I blinked, looking away from him before staring down at my hand that was fiddling with my phone. "Nothing," I said, biting down on my bottom lip. "I'm just a bit wary, that's all."

"Wary about what?" he asked me, reaching out to hold my shoulder before making me turn to face him more. "Come on, you can tell me."

"I can feel it, you know," he said in a low voice, cocking his head. "Your panicked thoughts. Your wariness," he emphasized, moving to hold on to my free hand. "You can tell me what you're thinking about."

My eyes went wide as I gauged his face. He looked concerned—a bit serious.

"I—" I paused talking, wondering if he already knew what I wanted to say but he just wanted me to tell it to him. Does he know about the Hyenas already? Isn't he mad that I didn't tell him? I wondered as I gauged his face. He'd never been this interested in how I felt before. Was this what he was worried about too? Was that why he seemed so tense?

"I can't," I said after a while of staring at him. Just in case he was playing 4D chess with me.

He blinked, looking a bit taken aback by my words. "You can't tell me?" he repeated, making sure he heard my words correctly.

"Yeah," I deadpanned, looking down at my mud-covered sneakers. "I can't tell you, it's private."

"Why?" he asked, making me look over at him. "Am I just supposed to sit here and feel what you're feeling without being able to help?"

"It makes me feel like shit." His voice shook, and for a minute I thought he might sob. "Why don't you ever talk to me about stuff. I've just been watching you feeling mad about things and not bringing it up—"

"Why are you taking this personally, we're not dating," I pointed out, feeling a bit weirded out about how suddenly emotional he was being.

"We're mates, Naylan," he said, stating the obvious.

I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. "Well, I'm sorry for making you feel like shit. I can't do anything about mates feeling stuff, but don't make it out like it's just me, I can feel what you're feeling too, you know," I said, sitting up and looking at him. "You're tense too, you know? What's that about?" I asked, watching as he blinked in surprise before looking away from me, but not fast enough for me not to catch the light blush on his cheek.