Rhydian felt a smile pulling onto his lips as his mother took him and his brother, Bryn, back to their pack…people he had once considered friends and family.
He smiled and put an arm around Bryn's shoulder, the latter smiling up at his brother.
Ceri grinned. "Okay, we're going to get some sleep, and tomorrow we set off."
"BRYN!"
Suddenly a girl came flying at Bryn and she threw her arms around his neck, and he laughed, hugging her back.
"Hey, Rose." He said, as they pulled away from each other.
Rose had long, bright red hair which was pulled into a ponytail, and she had green eyes. A girl with the same eyes appeared, and as soon as she saw Rhydian she stopped dead.
"Rhydian?!"
"Charlie!"
The teenagers embraced each other tightly, laughing as Rhydian lifted her off her feet. Rhydian remembered Charlie; he had quite a few childhood memories with her, and she had been his best friend for so long. Rose was her little sister.
Charlie, unlike Rose, had shoulder-length blonde hair to go with the green eyes. As they pulled apart, he saw her eyes were shimmering.
"Hey, don't cry!" Rhydian said, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears, as he had always done.
"Sorry, it's just…I didn't think you'd come back. I really missed you…and then when Ceri and Bryn were here without you…I didn't know what to think." Charlie said, smiling softly as she kneeled down to hug Bryn. "Hiya, kiddo." Then she moved to hug Ceri, too, and this time it lasted longer, but not as long as Rhydian and Charlie had hugged.
"How's your father doing?" Ceri asked as they began to walk along.
Rose stopped dead. The others didn't notice, but Bryn went back to stand in front of her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, frowning softly.
Rose shook her head slowly, her ponytail bouncing wildly. "Can you smell that?" she asked, breathing in.
Bryn copied and he noticed it; the scent of hunters.
"MUM, RHYDIAN! RUN! THE HUNTERS!" he shouted, just as a huge herd of them appeared.
In the midst of running people, Bryn grabbed Rose's hand and they ran through the crowd, towards Ceri's shouts. "BRYN! ROSE!" she shrieked over the noise.
Several people were transforming to Wolfbloods, and they were attacking the hunters. Suddenly, Bryn lost Rose's hand.
"BRYN!" she screamed over the noise, and he knew he hadn't 'lost' her.
"MUM! SOMEONE'S TAKEN HER!" Bryn shouted as he got to Ceri.
Charlie began running in the direction Bryn had come in, but Rhydian grabbed her.
"It's not safe!" he said.
"But Rose…"
"We'll find her!" Ceri called.
A sudden blaze of fire from the camp made everyone stop dead.
"I'VE GOT HER! NOW LET'S GO!" Rhydian said, appearing with Rose in his arms. She was unconscious, and frankly nobody had noticed he was gone. The crowd screamed and everyone ran, and Ceri took over from Rhydian, holding Rose.
Bryn worriedly followed, and Rhydian reached out and grabbed Charlie's hand.
Rose awoke with a start, and Bryn was leaning over her, brushing red hair out of her eyes.
"Hey." He whispered. "You okay?"
Rose nodded and sat up. "What…happened, after I got knocked out?" she asked, looking around her. Everyone was laying down or already sleeping.
"We ran for about 3 hours straight, and we decided to stop here. We lost half the pack along the way, but we lost the hunters as well." Bryn swallowed. "I'm just glad you're okay." He said softly.
Rose looked around. Charlie and Rhydian were curled up together, as wolves, fast asleep.
"Where was Rhydian? All that time?" Rose asked softly, as Bryn snuggled into the sleeping bag next to hers, and she lay down in hers, curling up. They turned to face each other.
"He was…undercover, with foster parents. Rhydian…lost his best friend. Well, she's not dead," he said quickly as Rose looked shocked. "He just…didn't get to say goodbye to her." Bryn said quietly.
"…Bryn?" Rose asked softly, after a silence.
"Yeah?" Bryn said, turning his head to look at her.
"Promise me…that I'll never lose you." Rose said quietly.
Her hand was in the middle of the sleeping bags, on the grass. Bryn reached his pinky out, and wound it around hers.
"Pinky promise." He said softly. That had always meant a lot to them.
Rose smiled, and she broke the pinky promise to hold his hand in hers.
"Good." She said softly. "And I pinky promise you'll never lose me."
Bryn smiled, and they slow fell asleep holding hands.
A low, moany-growl escaped from both Charlie's and Rhydian's wolf-mouths as Ceri shook them to get them up.
"You both need to eat." She said quietly. "Our group…you two, Rose, Bryn, me and David (Charlie and Rose's dad), we're all setting off in an hour. You'll both need to be ready." Ceri patted them both, and went to wake Rose and Bryn.
Rhydian nudged Charlie with his snout and nodded at the two kids.
They were holding hands. Charlie snuffled softly as if she was giggling.
Ceri allowed them all another 10 minutes while she made breakfast.
Charlie suddenly nuzzled Rhydian, which took him by surprise, but he smiled and rested his head on top of hers, placing his paws on her ones.
That was the way Wolfbloods show they are going to protect someone.
