I Won't Let You Die

It was Friday afternoon, and in the forests surrounding Stoneybridge, two teenagers were running through the forest at unnatural speeds, running around trees and jumping over small ledges and fallen tree trunks: there was one boy, with short, blonde spiky hair the standard uniform of Stoneybridge School of a green tie and light gray shirt, with the additional weathered brown jacket, black trousers and shoes, and a tattered and old bag hung over his shoulder: this was Rhydian Morris, and the girl, who had shoulder-length brown hair, with, again, the green tie and light fray shirt, black trousers, black shoes, and a new-looking bag hanging from her shoulders: this was Maddy Smith.

These two teenagers may look normal, but they are something far from that: they are Wolfbloods, creatures that have been around for an unknown number of years and have been hiding within human communities, and only gave into their true nature during a full moon. Today, however, was not a day of the full moon; but that didn't mean that Rhydian and Maddy couldn't have fun! They were running their fastest to try and beat the other to Maddy's house, all the while laughing heartily. But little did they know, they were being watched. Hiding behind a few fallen branches, a wolf was crouching down, waiting to strike any prey that came into its view: this was a Wildblood, a Wolfblood that didn't want to live with humans, and went rouge in forests in different parts of the world. Suddenly, it spotted two humans- no, wait! The Wildblood took a quick sniff, and discovered they too were Wolfbloods. But, the wolf seemed to let a small evil smile crawl onto its face: a kill was a kill, no matter what the prey was, even if it was your own kind. Silently, the Wildblood waited until one of the tame Wolfbloods, the female, ran within its strike range.

Suddenly, Rhydian sensed something was wrong, and sniffed the air: another good perk of being a Wolfblood; you still have the senses of a wolf, even if you are in human form, and that included great hearing, pin-point eye sight, and powerful scent sensitivity. Rhydian suddenly went wide-eyed when he smelt the Wildblood, and he saw it hiding under a few fallen branches, getting ready to pounce on Maddy! Without even thinking, Rhydian ran to catch up with Maddie, who had slowed down to see where he had got to. Suddenly, he felt his entire body change: it when from the strange-feeling human form, to the sleek, natural form of his Wolfblood self, consisting of dark gray fur and a few darker streaks of black running across his back. Yet another good point of being a Wolfblood instead of a Werewolf: Wolfbloods, instead of being forced to turn into a wolf like a Werewolf, a Wolfblood can control when they want to turn into their wolf form to a curtain degree, but they naturally transform if they're feeling threatened or angry. Anyway, Rhydian charged after Maddy, his paws pounding the leaf covered ground of the forest.

"Rhydian, what's wrong?" asked Maddy, turning around to see what had caused him to 'wolf-out'. Suddenly, the Wildblood jumped out of its hiding place and lunged at Maddy, its claws extended and jaw open, aiming for the throat. Maddy was frozen: she couldn't get out of the way in time. But before the Wildblood made contact with Maddy, Rhydian made contact with the Wildblood's side, knocking it off and into a tree. Rhydian stood in front of Maddie and snarled at the Wildblood, who had just got back up and snarled back at Rhydian. The Wildblood then lunged at Rhydian, who jumped up to meet the Wildblood and the two wolves were rolling around on the ground, snarling and growling and trying to getting the upper hand on the other. The Wildblood then got a lucky shot when Rhydian accidently let his guard down for a second: the Wildblood sunk its teeth into Rhydian's shoulder, causing Rhydian to yelp in pain. Rhydian then managed to get his back paws under the Wildblood's abdomen and pushed it over him and onto the ground again. The two wolves then got back up and started to circle each other, snarling all the while. Then, without warning, the Wildblood swiped its paws across Rhydian's face, leaving three long, thin claw marks running over his right face. Rhydian yelped in pain again and took a few steps back. The Wildblood then smirked at Rhydian, who was getting weaker and weaker from the blood loss. Then, in a burst of energy, Rhydian lunged at the Wolfblood and started clawing and biting at the Wildblood. The Wildblood tried desperately to escape Rhydian, it even bit into Rhydian's abdomen to try and get him off, but it was no use; Rhydian was just too loaded up on adrenalin to stop attacking this Wildblood who threatened Maddy.

Then, Rhydian locked his jaw around the Wildblood's neck, threatening to break skin. The two Wolfbloods were panting in exhaustion. Rhydian then growled at the Wildblood while he had its neck in his mouth, as though he was saying, 'Leave this place, and never, EVER, come back. You hear me?!' The Wildblood nodded in fear, and once Rhydian released it, the Wildblood ran into the depths of the forests, its tail tucked between its legs. Rhydian, who was still panting, turned around to face Maddy, who had watched the entire fight unfold, and looked at Rhydian with wide-eyes. Rhydian then turned back to his human form, but a few seconds after he changed back completely, he started to feel a little light-headed and the next thing he knew, he was trying to keep himself from letting his face hit the ground. "RHYDIAN!" shouted Maddy, and ran over to Rhydian, who was on the verge of passing out. Turning him over so his back was lying on the ground, Maddy looked him over. She was shocked to realise that his wounds that he got from the fight were still bleeding and looked painful: his gray shirt was slowly turning crimson from the wound on his stomach, and he had to keep his right eye closed because of the blood coming out of the wound just above his eye was pouring into his eye. The wound on his shoulder was still bleeding as well, and Rhydian looked as though he was struggling to breath.

"Don't worry, Rhydian, you're going to be fine," said Maddy, loosening her tie and taking it off, before wrapping it around the wound on his shoulder, causing Rhydian to grunt in pain. Maddy felt her eyes starting to tear up: Rhydian had saved her, and now he was dying because of her! She felt so bad! Resting his face in one of her hands, Maddy said, "Rhydian, stay with me! You're going to be fine, you hear me?" Rhydian, who was breathing deeply and looked very pale, turned his head with difficulty and looked at Maddy, and hoarsely said, "It's too...too late, Maddie. I...can't fight it." But Maddy, with the first of many tears starting to fall down her cheeks, said, "NO! I won't let you die! You're part of the pack now! We look after each other; I can't lose you! I can't...I can't..." Maddy then gave up with speaking and rested her head on Rhydian's chest, silently crying and begging him to hold on. Then, an idea came into her head. Lifting her head off of Rhydian's chest, and looked around to make sure that there was no-one in the forest, she said, "Rhydian, look at me." Rhydian did so, but with a bit more difficulty than before. Maddy said, "I'm going to get my parents, OK?" Rhydian nodded weakly, and Maddy got up and ran a short distance towards her house. She looked around again to make positively sure that there definitely sure that there was no-one else in the woods except her and she closed her eyes and turned into her wolf form.

Her wolf-form was slightly smaller than Rhydian's, but it wasn't that surprising, what with her being a female and all, but her fur was made of light gray with hints of white fur running down her sides. Her eyes, like all the other Wolfbloods, were bright yellow, with the small black pupil in the very centre. She lifted her head up and howled; her howl sounded so majestic and feminine, but at the same, frantic and desperate for help. She howled a second time, louder and even longer than the one before, desperately trying to get her parents to hear her. She howled another two times, each growing louder and more desperate with each one. Soon, she stopped howling and ran back to Rhydian, hoping that her parents had heard her. When she got back to Rhydian, she was still in her wolf-form, and she started to look him over, seeing if he had changed in the time she had left him alone. Unfortunately, he had become even paler than he was when she last saw him, and the blood had spread farther around the wounds and the blood coming from the wound on his stomach was covering his entire lower stomach and it had drenched his gray shirt completely in blood. Whimpering in sympathy, Maddy trotted over to Rhydian's weak form and started licking the wound on his stomach, hoping to help it heal faster. Rhydian gasped and groaned, closing his eyes to try and ignore the dull pain coming from Maddy's rough wolf tongue licking his wound.

After a few minutes, Maddy stopped licking and walked up so she was looking at Rhydian, to see if there was anything else she could do to help him. Rhydian seemed to understand her, seeing as he muttered, "No...I'm fine Maddie...I'm fine..." Maddy whimpered at Rhydian, and by instinct, she lightly nuzzled his face, hoping that it would help him with the pain. After a few more nuzzles, Maddy lifted her head up and nudged his right arm, trying to get him to lift it up. Rhydian, with some difficulty, slowly lifted his arm off the ground a few inches, giving Maddy just enough room to fit her muzzle in the gap to let her push the arm up enough for her to crawl in the gap between the ground and Rhydian's arm. Once she had crawled under Rhydian's arm and got comfortable, she lightly snuggled into Rhydian's side, silently motioning to Rhydian that she wasn't going to leave him. Even those his face was filled with pain, Rhydian forced a small smile onto his face and whispered, "Thanks Maddy...You're the best..." Rhydian looked as though he was a few seconds away from passing out, but just before he passed out of blood loss, Rhydian muttered, "I love you, Maddy," before he closed his eyes and rested his head against the ground; he was out cold.

Maddy perked her head up at the mention of her name, and was startled to hear Rhydian admitting his feelings for her. Resting her head on her paws, she thought it over: was Rhydian just saying it because it might be the last thing he says, or because...he really did think of her in that way? Maddie shook her head; Rhydian was probably just saying it because he might not see her aga- NO! She couldn't think that would happen; Rhydian would survive and he would recover. Whimpering, Maddy watched the surrounding area, waiting for her parents to, hopefully, arrive and take Rhydian to their house to fix him up.

By the time Maddy's father arrived, Rhydian's body had become so cold that Maddy, now returned to her human form, was worrying for his health; sure, he was a Wolfblood, but these injuries were not what the powers of a Wolfblood were use to: they had to be mended by an older, more experienced Wolfblood who is used to dealing with injures such as this. Thankfully, her mother had been training for a short period of time with the humans, so she could fix any injuries in case anything like this, or possibly worse, happened to either Maddie or her father, Dan. Dan, a middle-aged man with short, scruffy brown hair, a thin beard and normal clothes, slammed the door of the families Jeep close and ran over to Maddie and the passed out Rhydian. "Maddy, what happened?" asked Dan, looking her over before checking Rhydian over. Maddy explained, "Me and Rhydian were running home from school, and then is Wildblood came out of nowhere and lunged at me! But Rhydian fought off the Wildblood, and that's how he ended up like this." Dan, who was making sure Rhydian's injuries weren't life threatening, looked back up at Maddy and said, "We have to get him in the Jeep and back to your mother: she'll know what to do." Nodding, Maddy, being careful not to touch any more Rhydian's wounds, helped her father gently put Rhydian in the back of the Jeep and climbed in the back with him, while her father got into the front driver's seat and they started towards Maddie's house.

"Don't worry, love; Rhydian's going to be fine," reassured Dan as he sat down on the sofa next to Maddy and handed her a cup of hot chocolate, to which Maddy accepted, but put down on the table in front of the sofa. When she and her father arrived at their house, Maddy shouted the house down for her mother, and she didn't stop shouting until her mother, wearing a dressing gown came down the stairs and demanded why she was shouting the house down at six in the evening. But when she saw the state Rhydian was in, who was carried with his arms around the shoulders of both Maddy and Dan, she immediately told them to put Rhydian in the spare room while she went to get her supplies. She told Maddy and Dan to wait in the living room while she went into the spare room, a tray of bandages and towels in tow. That had been nearly an hour ago, and there hadn't been a single sound from the spare room since her mother went in to try and clear Rhydian's wounds. Maddy hadn't move from her spot on the sofa other than to get up to pace around the living room for a short period of time before returning to her same spot on the sofa. Other than that, Maddy was like a statue: not moving unless her mother came down from the spare room with news.

"So, this Wildblood: do you know if it was Ceri or not?" asked Dan, but he didn't get a response for Maddy; she was too deep in thought. By 'Ceri', Dan was referring to Rhydian's mother, a Wildblood that had been hanging around Stoneybridge until a few weeks ago, trying to get Rhydian to return to his old pack, but he refused to go with her after he took part in a football match, claiming that he 'finally belonged in something that he wasn't born into'. Ceri was last seen running into the forests, infuriated that Rhydian had chosen to stay with Maddy instead of going away with his own mother. Dan, knowing that his daughter had too much on her mind to answer his question, sighed and rested against the back of the sofa, and like his daughter, started waiting for any movement or sound to come from the spare room and down the stairs.

After another fifteen minutes of silence and patience, a door upstairs opened, but didn't close. Then, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs filled the living room, causing Maddy to stiffen up with worry and fear, in case her mother told her the worst...Her mother, a middle-aged women with shoulder-length brown hair and casual clothes, entered the living room, the sleeves of her top rolled up to her shoulder and her hands slightly bloody. At the sight of her mother entering the room, Maddy immediately stood up, hoping that the news would be good. Her mother looked at her, and she smiled at her, saying, "He's fine, Maddie. He just needs some rest." But Maddy didn't listen to the last thing her mother said; upon hearing the word 'fine', she rushed past her mother and practically ran up the stairs, climbing three at a time. But when she reached the entrance of the spare room, which was left agar, she slowed down to a walk. When she stood in front of the door, she took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

Rhydian was lying on the spare room's bed, shirtless, with the wounds on his shoulder and his abdomen covered in bandages, while the scratches over his eye were still visible, but at least they were clean; Maddie secretly hoped they would scar; she thought Rhydian would look even more attractive with scars covering his face, knowing they were from him protecting her. He was peacefully sleeping, his bandaged stomach and abdomen slowly rising and falling with each breath he took. Maddy smiled and, trying her best not to accidently step on one of the squeaky floor boards, slowly tipped toed her way over so she was kneeling down on the floor next to him. Slowly, looking for any signs that he was about to wake up, Maddy slowly intertwined her hand with Rhydian's. She then whispered, more to herself than to Rhydian, "Did he really mean what he said when he was about to pass out? Or was he just testing me, to see if I loved him back?" Maddy then slowly rested her head on the side of the bed that wasn't occupied by Rhydian, and quietly listened to her breathing and the howling wind outside. Suddenly, she heard a voice; a voice that shocked her completely, "I really meant it, Mads."

Startled, Maddy lifted her head up, and Rhydian's eyes looked into her own. The two just stayed like that for a few minutes, looking deeply into each other's eyes. Maddy then broke the silence, by saying, "So, you do...love me?" Maddy saw that Rhydian had blush slowly covering his face, but regardless, he smiled and, cupping her face with one of his hands, said, "I love you, Maddy Smith." Smiling, Maddy copied Rhydian, but cupping his face lightly, and slowly, they both started to move their faces closer and closer together, until a moment of magic happened between the two young lovers. Rhydian loved the softness of Maddy's lips, and Maddy was the same; this was a feeling that she would never get use to. Even though neither of them wanted to stop this moment, they knew they had too, and after a few minutes, the two Wolfbloods reluctantly separated, breathing deeply and with smiles plastered to their faces.

"I love you, Maddy Smith."

"And I love you, Rhydian Morris."

Hope that you Wolfblood fans out there like this story as much as I do! As always, Please R&R

Nf991

A/N (21/12/2012) : If anyone has any ideas for Wolfblood One-Shots I can write, leave the name of a story and the plot in a Review or in a PM and I'll try to write as many as I can!

Nf991