Coyote Wolf

19 | LET ME STAY

MAVIS

"Mavis, it's not what you think it is," Leigh whispered to me, holding on to my shoulders as I tried to wrestle away from her grip without causing a scene. "Just take a deep breath and let me explain things," she said, and I snorted, feeling my eyes sting with tears.

When Naylan had said he was going downtown to meet up with someone I had told myself that I didn't care and had continued on my way home. The thing is, I did care. A lot. I couldn't sleep and I kept wondering who he was going to meet up with. Sometimes I would even get angry for a bit, sure he had told me that specifically to frustrate me, but despite my urge not to play into his game if that what was what he was doing, I ended up dressing up and taking the first bus to the main city once I was done with my morning duties.

It wasn't supposed to be serious. I was supposed to come to Georgiou's, claiming that I wanted to talk to him so that I could get a glimpse at Naylan and calm my wolf before heading back. Well, most of the steps went well, aside from the part where I found Naylan hugging someone else. He had been smiling... and I don't know why, but it fucked with me mentally, so I had to leave, but Leigh wasn't letting me.

"That's Naylan's brother," she said, making me blink back a bit before frowning.

"Brother?" I mouthed, turning towards the door that led to the kitchen. My eyes locked with Naylan's who was standing not too far away from it. I looked away, trying to listen to what Leigh was now mouthing to me as the sound of the nearby people buzzed in my head.

He followed me? I wondered. My face warmed up with embarrassment when my chest squeezed with happiness. Why was I so glad about that? It's not like he really cared about me. He made that clear already.

"Naylan came to visit his brother, that's all there is to it." I heard Leigh say in a low voice. I swallowed the spit in the back of my mouth, but it didn't make the clogged-up feeling go away.

I wondered how Leigh even knew why I had been so desperate to leave. I mean, maybe it was obvious that I was that into Naylan, or maybe our bond was just obvious. I had just stormed out with raging pheromones. Regardless, the whole thing would be embarrassing to talk about sometime in the future when I wasn't a blubbering mess from my wolf's emotions.

I nodded, standing up straight. "Okay, I get it," I said, watching as she let go of me slowly. It seems like she didn't trust I wasn't going to try to make a run for it again.

"I know it can be upsetting, but let Naylan explain himself," she said, making me blink at her before looking over my shoulder, and sure enough, Naylan was standing a distance away from us. Staring at me like he was looking for permission to come forward.

"O-okay," I stuttered, looking down at the tiled floor that was covered in shoe footprint stains and red streaks of pasta and pizza sauce.

Leigh smiled, giving my shoulder one last squeeze before taking her hands away. "I'll leave you two to it," she said before turning and disappearing into the crowd.

It took a while for Naylan to walk up to me, but when he did, he stood right in front of me with his hands squeezed into fists and held at his sides as he kept opening and closing his mouth—probably looking for what to say to me. I knew it was awkward for me to appear out of nowhere after not talking to him for days. I felt foolish under his gaze, and I wanted him to say something—anything—so that I wasn't forced to dwell in my own mind for too long.

"Mavis..." he trailed in a soft voice that made me look up a bit. We locked eyes, and his brown eyes searched mine. "What are you doing here?" he asked me, and my face flushed. I knew it was an appropriate question but did I really need to explain myself? The situation was embarrassing enough.