Rhydian scowled at the back of the teacher's head. He hadn't been able to focus all day, all week really, since Maddy left. Shannon, who was sitting beside him looked up at him with concern on her face. Rhydian tried to smile back but it came out as more of a grimace. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked down at the table, blinking hard to get rid of the tears that had suddenly come to his eyes. They had developed a habit of doing that recently. He rubbed the palms of his hands into his eyes, then stood up suddenly. Mr Jefferies turned round at the sound of his chair being scraped back and looked at Rhydian in mild surprise.

"Is anything the matter, Rhydian?" Rhydian looked at him but only half saw him.

"I... No... I mean yes... I mean..." He stuttered into silence as the rest of the class laughed. Shannon tugged at his shirt, trying to pull him back into his seat. Reluctantly, he sat back down and let his mind wander, paying no attention to what was happening in the classroom.

It had been a week since he'd seen Maddy. A week since he'd last caught her scent, held her in his arms. A week since he'd broken down on the moor above Stonybridge, howling in misery at the injustice of it all. Shannon and Tom had been so good. They'd helped him to his feet and muttered words of comfort to him, even through their own tears. They'd ended up going back to Shannon's house, where they sat side by side on the sofa in silence, but for Rhydian's sobs. Shannon's mother came home after three quarters of an hour and sent Rhydian and Tom home because of the late hour. Rhydian had barely made it back, and when he did get through the door he was instantly accosted by Mr Vaughn, who sent him to his room without dinner for being so late. Mrs Vaughn came up bringing food after a few minutes, having seen how upset he was, but Rhydian didn't touch it.

Rhydian hadn't been in to school the next day. He told the Vaughn's he was sick and locked himself in his room all day, just sitting on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Why had she had to go? It was safe, wasn't it? The DNA was gone! But so was Maddy.

By eight o'clock that evening Shannon and Tom were getting really worried about Rhydian. They had gone round to his house, but Mrs Vaughn had told them Rhydian was ill. They had left, knowing the truth and feeling worse than before.

Rhydian hadn't slept that night, but instead sat on his bed, looking at the sketches he had done of Maddy, noticing imperfections in his drawing that weren't there.

The next day had been Saturday, so no one missed Rhydian for school. He had gone into the woods and found his and Maddy's special place and curled up at the base of the tree and cried himself to sleep, not having slept in almost forty eight hours. He awoke and crept home at eleven, climbing into his room through the window.

Rhydian was brought out of his daydream by Mr Jefferies shouting his name.

"Rhydian!" Rhydian's head jerked up and he looked into Mr Jefferies face, his eyes bloodshot, and his face blotchy.

"Sir?"

"I..." Mr Jefferies seemed unsure, "are you sure you're alright?" Rhydian opened his mouth to reply, then shook his head.

"Actually I feel a little off..."

"I'll take him to the nurse," Volunteered Tom. He took Rhydian by the arm and helped him to his feet, "come on." Rhydian left the room under the gaze of the rest of his classmates. Once they were in the corridor and out of sight, Rhydian stopped.

"Tom, I..."

"Don't thank me," said Tom, cutting him off, his face serious, "look, what you and Maddy had was special. I could see that. Anyone could see that. You're not going to be okay straight away. I understand that." Rhydian nodded gratefully.

"Thanks." Tom smiled reassuringly.

"I've got to get back to class. You... Do what you think." And with that he turned and jogged back down the hall.

That night, Rhydian tried to use Eolas to try to see Maddy, but it wasn't working. In frustration he tried to clear his mind, but he couldn't seem to connect with nature. With a sigh he turned and entered the house.

Over the next few weeks, Rhydian tried to settle back into the regular flow of life. He went to school, hung out with Tom and Shannon, even played football with Jimi and his mates, but everyone noticed he was more subdued, keeping his head down.

The first full moon after Maddy left, Rhydian went up onto the moors. As he sat waiting for the moon to rise, he thought he saw the silhouette of a wolf against the darkening sky, but when he looked closer, it was just a clump of bushes. He sighed and turned his head away.
That whole night, even in wolf form, Rhydian sat and gazed at the last spot where he had seen Maddy, before she and her parents transformed into wolves. As the moon set and he returned to human form, he looked around and howled at the sliver of silver on the horizon. The howl ended as a wail, and Rhydian went home with tears still streaming down his face.

One month after Maddy left, Mrs Vaughn started to get worried about Rhydian.
"You'd think he'd be over her by now, wouldn't you?" He heard her saying to Mr Vaughn as he pressed his ear to the crack in the floorboards over the sitting room. "I mean, it's been a month, and he's hardly any better! He never leaves his bedroom, he hardly sees his friends, he's so quiet, except when... Well..." So she'd heard him crying. He felt angry with himself and stood up, not wanting to listen anymore.

Two months after Maddy left, and Rhydian was getting counselling. His social worker had fixed him up with one of the best psychiatrists in the area, but she wasn't helping him much. He hardly spoke to her during their sessions, and he overheard her telling Mrs Vaughn that she didn't think there was much point in him coming to see her again unless something changed.

Three months. Four months. Rhydian started having dreams, nightmares in which Maddy told him that she had never loved him, that he was the reason she had left. He began to try to stay awake.

Five months after Maddy left, Rhydian collapsed at school. Painfully thin from not eating, exhausted due to lack to sleep and the absence of the moon that day, he saw Shannon scream as if in slow motion... Tom race for help... faces crowding round him... Maddy... Maddy! He tried to sit up but a hand on his chest kept him pinned to the ground.

"Dont try to move Rhydian..." He blinked and looked up into Mr Jefferies face.
"Wh..."

"You collapsed. The ambulance is on its way."

"Maddy... Where is she?"

"Maddy?" People looked at each other, confused.

"Maddy's not here, Rhydian." Not here... But, then why... Rhydian's eyes slid shut and his head fell back to the floor.

Maddy was running... Running fast... She didn't look happy... She was running from something, but from what? Rhydian tried to go to her, but he couldn't move! He was trapped... Just as everything faded into blackness, Maddy screamed.

Maddy ran, gasping for breath, not daring to turn her head to look at the wolfblood who was pursuing her. She caught his scent as the breeze changed direction, he was gaining on her. She closed her eyes and thought hard, relying on her remaining senses to guide her as she focused all her mental power. She had no idea if this would work, but it was her only chance to escape the wolfblood who would kill her if she tried to fight. RHYDIAN! The mental shout was almost painful. She opened her eyes with a gasp and put on a fresh burst of speed, hoping against hope that it had worked.

Rhydian lay on the gurney in the ambulance, eyes closed, breathing fast and shallow. Tom, who was riding in the ambulance with Rhydian, looked down at his friend, terrified. This was his fault. He should have noticed it sooner. Rhydian looked so pale and fragile, so unlike his usual self. Tom rested his head on his hands, as the ambulance sped down the road towards the hospital.

Rhydian awoke in the bright, sterile glare of the hospital. He opened his eyes slowly, squinting up at the ceiling.

"Rhydian?" Tom's voice spoke from his side and he turned his head.

"Hey..." he smiled weakly.

"I was so worried man... what..." But Rhydian had suddenly sat blot upright, pushing his covers back.

"Maddy!" he half shouted.

"Maddy? Rhydian..." Tom began.

"She's in trouble. There's a wild wolfblood, chasing her, it's going to kill her!" Rhydian looked down at the hospital gown he was wearing, "Where are my clothes?" Tom held up a bag, speechless.

"Rhydian, I really don't think..." Rhydian made a grab for the bag, but overbalanced. Tom grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down onto the bed. "Mate, you're not well. You need to rest. You just had a nightmare, right?" Rhydian drew a shaky breath.

"This wasn't like any nightmare I've ever had before... please, give me back my clothes!" Tom looked unsure as he lowered his hand holding the bag with Rhydian's clothes in.

"I'm not convinced..." He began, but suddenly, Rhydian bared his teeth, his pupils suddenly ringed with yellow.

"You give them to me, or I swear I will hurt you." Tom shook his head, backing away wordlessly.

"You're not well..." Rhydian made a second swipe for the bag, seized it and ran out of the door. Tom stood for a second, undecided, then sprinted after him.

Rhydian stood on the pavement for a moment, trying to decide which way to go, then took off running to his right. The hospital was in the centre of a large town, and the cars and electricity buzzing nearby made Rhydian's head spin. He reached a park and ran into a clump of bushes, hurriedly changing out of the hospital gown and pulling on his jeans and school shirt.

Then he crouched low to the ground and dug his fingers into the mossy soil. He closed his eyes and turned his face to the sky, opening his eyes and looking up into the cloudless blue. Then he saw her.

Maddy was still running, but she was tiring, and the wild wolfblood was not. Rhydian looked at the scene frantically, trying to see where Maddy was, but he didn't recognise anything. He zoomed out on the imagine in his mind, and suddenly a path was clear. He sprinted out of the park and down the road, towards Maddy.

It hadn't worked! He hadn't heard her! There was now a burning pain in her chest and her legs felt like they were on fire. Maddy had no choice. She turned and faced her pursuer.

Rhydian gasped for breath as he sprinted faster than he'd ever run in his life towards Maddy. He didn't know how far away she was or how long it would take him to get to her, but he knew he was going in the right direction. He pulled off his jacket and threw it behind him as he sped on, it would only weigh him down and encumber his progress.

Maddy leapt into the air as she transformed, taking her attacker by surprise as she soared over him. It didn't take him long to come to a halt and turn on her himself. Even though her wolf was fully grown, he was much larger than her, much stronger and much more experienced. She raised her hackles and growled at him, placing one of her back paws behind her, ready to spring. He advanced on her, his own hackles raised and teeth bared. She saw that one of his canines was missing, doubtless knocked out in a previous fight, like the large bite taken out of his left ear. She shuddered mentally, terrified, but she wasn't going to back down now.

Rhydian stopped suddenly, an unfamiliar scent reaching his nostrils. Then with a gasp he recognised the wonderfully familiar scent of Maddy, less strong and tainted with fear. She hadn't been here too long ago. His heart racing, Rhydian followed the scent.

Maddy growled again and suddenly, without warning the wild wolfblood lunged at her, knocking her to the ground. She struggled to throw him off her, but he was nearly twice her size and weight. He looked down at her with a satisfied expression on his face, then leaned in for the kill.

Rhydian suddenly felt a pain in his side that didn't come from him. The wild wolfblood had caught up with her! Even now she could be... No, he couldn't think about it. He kept on running as he transformed into the wolf.

Maddy could feel the saliva as it dripped from the wild wolfbloods open jaws, could smell his foul breath. She struggled again, weaker now, knowing it would do no good. She closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come. Rhydian...

Suddenly, the weight was taken from her as the wild wolfblood flew from her. Unsteadily, she got to her feet. It couldn't be...

Rhydian and the wild wolfblood were locked in combat. Their jaws snapped, their claws dragged across earth and flesh, their growls rising from where they fought, each aiming to kill, heedless of their own injuries.

Maddy looked on helplessly, then howled loudly. Both Rhydian and his opponent stopped and looked around. The wild wolfblood took a step towards her as she took a step back. She knew what she had to do. Rhydian was weak already, he couldn't win a fight against a wolfblood who was so much more experienced than he was. Maddy transformed back into a human as she backed away. She looked at Rhydian desperately.

"Run!" He shook out his wolfish mane and transformed as well, still shaking his head. Oh how she had missed that beautiful face.

"No! I can't leave you Mads! He'll kill you!"

"Go!" She screamed, "please! You can make it if you-" the rest of her sentence was drowned in a scream. The wild wolf blood had leapt at her, jaws open, paws outstretched, there was no way she could escape this.

Rhydian leapt. He jumped in front of the wolf that was about to kill Maddy, and took the full force of the blow. He heard a snap as the other wolfbloods neck broke from the collision. Both wolfbloods fell to the floor, human and wolf.

"Rhydian!" Maddy screamed, "oh my god, Rhydian!" She knelt by his side and saw with numb disbelief the gaping wound in his side. "No..."

"Maddy..." Rhydian's voice sounded feeble and weak.

"No, dont try to speak, we're going to get you through this, you're going to be okay..." Tears fell thick and fast down her face as she spoke, knowing that the wound was too deep, he was bleeding out fast, too fast.

"I love you..." The words were whispered, Rhydian barely had the strength to form them.

"I love you too... I love you too, Rhydian..." She grabbed his hand and squeezed it, feeling only faintly as he squeezed back. His eyes locked onto hers, then closed. Maddy laid her head on his chest and sobbed.

When Rhydian woke up it was dark. He frowned and opened his eyes, looking around the dark cave. He tried to push himself upright but a searing pain in his side forced him back down.
"Maddy..." He croaked, his voice faint and his throat dry.

"Rhydian?" He turned his head to the side. She had lifted her head from where it had been resting, asleep on Rhydian's bed, tear tracks visible from her reddened eyes, "you're alive!" She wrapped her arms around his neck. He failed to suppress a groan as she put weight on his injured side. She flung herself backwards, "Rhydian! I'm so sorry..."

"No, its... It's fine... What happened?" She explained how once the wild wolfblood was dead, wolfbloods had come out from behind the trees and hailed Rhydian as their new leader because he had killed the last alpha. Their healers had come forward and tended to his wound. He had been unconscious for three days and Maddy had been beginning to lose hope.

"But I... I don't want to be an alpha... I dont know this pack, I can't be a leader. All I want is," He voice cracked, "is you..." Maddy smiled through fresh tears.

"I love you so much," she said, as she took his hand on the bed, "you stupid boy..."
He grinned up at her, suddenly tired, but content.