“That’s not,” Alex’s denial started strong, before it abruptly fell away. Seth had taken her words in a way that she hadn’t intended; his indignation was the beginning of a wall that she wanted to break through before it got too solid. But she’d hit a chord. When she stopped, she wouldn’t say that it was because he talked over her, but because she needed to hear him out. Her gaze remained steady and her hands stayed still by her side while she listened to him; the only time her expression sharpened was when he mentioned her pregnancy, but she kept all of her thoughts on the tip of her tongue until her first word nearly eclipsed his last.
“I never said that I think that I treat you more importantly than you treat me. I didn’t mean it that way. I said that you’re important to me, because you are, and I only meant I don’t think it would go both ways in the context of our living arrangement. If I invited you to live with me outside of Willow Creek, Seth, would you? If I laid out the reasons why it was important to me? And I know that our situations are different, so you don’t need to point it out; it’s not a totally fair comparison. All I’m saying is that if I’d known that this was as important to you as it clearly is, it might have changed something for me. It’s fine that you’re not as open as me, but I would have been willing to have this conversation. Being with you isn’t a sacrifice to my happiness.”
Turning away, Alex ran a hand through her hair before she looked at him again. “You’ve done more for me than almost anyone in my entire life, Seth, and I’ve never trusted someone with as much as I’ve trusted you. You’ve always been there for me. That’s not what I meant.”
Her agitation nearly crackled underneath her skin, but when Seth continued, Alex was caught by enough surprise that it quieted. If she’d thought he was going to continue following that thread, she hadn’t expected that he would have touched on the remark about her father. There was an initial unease when he said that her childhood home had been fake, but her breath hitched when he said that he wanted her to have a real house. When Alex’s head bowed, her long, dark hair fell over her shoulders and she closed her eyes.
His words made her ache in a place she’d thought had healed a long time ago. If they weren’t standing in clear view of all the cracks in their marriage, Alex would have walked into Seth’s arms at that moment. Instead, she inhaled softly and shook her head. “I don’t hate the house, Seth. I’m not going to sell it.”
Enough of her emotional sore points had been pushed that night that when Seth let the blame about the secret keeping drop, Alex felt the relief in her shoulders when the tension relaxed slightly. When he identified Jax as a gifted human, she just nodded. She wondered if all of the Reynolds were gifted, but she thought that was a question better saved for Harding.
The idea of Levi Whitby and Xander Kingston as centuries old beings that had been around since before Willow Creek had started was enough of a revelation that Alex knew it would inform the way that she looked back at any interactions she’d ever had with either of the men, but processing that information in full wasn’t high enough on her priority list that she wanted to tackle it right now. The museum exhibits sounded interesting, though. “I’d like to see them.”
The subject of hunters was much more pressing. As soon as Seth clarified, Alex’s heartbeat sped up and she looked at her husband, her eyes searching. “Why would they do that?” A second later, she shook her head. It was a rhetorical question. A few minutes ago, she’d been worried about evil werewolves. It wasn’t a reach to find her own answers. It made her want to talk to the Carvers, though.