He was still trying to process that Alex had returned, but when Alex reacted to Seth's throwaway statement about the werewolves, Seth paused. The question caught him off guard because it seemed abrupt and he didn't know the answer. His eyes glanced around. “A lot,” Seth said. He fidgeted a little and looked back at her. Seth didn't know the actual number. “They tend to live in packs so....” He shrugged and trailed off.
The initial relief that Alex had come back at all started to fade into the present, but after the conversation had flipped to evil werewolves, Seth didn't quite know how to get it back on course. When Alex declined the coffee, Seth nodded. He realized she couldn't drink it. He'd forgotten that. Alex was seething. Under that, she looked hurt, but Seth didn't know the specific cause of either emotion. Since he was the one who'd just unloaded his biggest secret, and Alex was the one processing, he decided to let her lead them where she wanted to go.
It wasn't a place Seth thought she could possibly go.
His brow furrowed, and his mouth opened a few times, but Seth let her finish. “What? Alex. No.” Seth said. “I've let you into my life more than any other living person. You know more than anyone. I just didn't tell you about that part of it. And I told you I wasn't going to tell you about that part of it. It's not an importance thing...Just no.”
“And hey,” Seth said, “you're the one who's pounded into my head that you want your stay here to be temporary.” Through most of what Alex said, he'd looked more confused, but his anger sparked at that part. “Willow Creek's just a place to step back and regroup before you find your way back to the big city and the places you actually want to be. That's not totally on me. I mean, look at this place,” Seth's voice stayed mostly level, but it rose slightly. “You've been treating our house like it's a bad hotel. That doesn't exactly say 'Seth, I want to stick around and forge some deep lasting bonds in your kooky little magic town.' You've only been here for a few months. And I had nothing to do with Cassie. That's a whole different thing.”
He got that she was angry. He got that he'd just sprung a big thing on her, and emotions were running high right then, but that didn't make those points totally fair.
“It's not that I didn't think it mattered if you knew. It's that I thought it did matter. Knowing this stuff can totally change a person's perspective on everything. It can change their life. Flip it upside down. I didn't think I should do that to you at this point. And it's not something I've ever told anyone. And you are important to me, okay?” She drove him crazy sometimes, but Seth had never thought she didn't matter. “ I wouldn't have told you right now if it wasn't for the baby, and also because of Cassie,” Seth admitted. “But I don't know about 'ever.' If things stayed the same between us, probably not. If you decided you were staying here or something else changed, maybe yes.” He hadn't completely vetoed the idea. He just...hadn't wanted to tell her before. Seth hadn't planned it into the future.
He didn't know how else to respond. The end of Alex's reaction still hung in the air between them, but Seth was still trying to make sense of it. He wanted to tell her she wasn't stupid, but Seth didn't know what she was talking about. He wanted to ask, but something held him back. In the end, Seth let the conversation twist back.
“The Youngs are the founding werewolf family,” Seth said. “You know Jackie. Her grandparents are the leaders of the werewolf pack in town. The wolves do whatever they say. It's kind of weird. But they're good people. And really, really, territorial. So any evil werewolves wouldn't be welcome.”