Ch. 4 - Rhydian's Surprise

Maddy could hear Tom trying to follow her. Sorry, Tom. I can't let you be the overprotective friend, not tonight of all nights. Maddy used her keen wolfblood senses, doubling back as soon as she left the inn and waiting until Tom came out with only the whipping winds and torrential downpour to greet him. Hopefully he'd have enough sense to go back inside, but she couldn't afford to wait around to find out. She waited just long enough until she was sure he had no idea where she'd gone, and then she slipped away quietly down one of the side streets.

The wolfblood girl made her way towards Lindisfarne Castle. As soon as she left the village, the playful wolf inside her tore free. Her wolf wasn't afraid of the storm. Her wolf welcomed it. Embraced it. She barreled ahead, oblivious to her hair swirling like a miniature whirlpool on top of her head thanks to the raging weather. She didn't care, she was free—away from prying human eyes. The relief at being alone and free to transform was so great, she even forgot her fear of running into a hostile wolfblood or two.

A somber face reared up in her mind. Gerwyn's. She couldn't guarantee that she would find him in the storm, but she would give it all she had. Catching and retaining a scent in this chaos was close to impossible. Still, keeping her goal in mind, she climbed up a rocky hillside just east of Lindisfarne Castle. This should give me the best vantage point to see who else is up and about or going bump in the night. The moon was so bright that she could pinpoint its otherworldly gleam even through the nasty thunderclouds. She pulled herself up on top of the highest ledge, where a little rocky plateau made for the perfect lookout spot. She gazed out over the wave-battered shoreline. The headlands had an eerie beauty to them as the storm lashed the world with everything it could.

Gerwyn, where are you? She'd only just met him, and still she wanted to help him. He hadn't frightened her, once she'd recovered from the shock of his ambush. His face had looked sad more than anything. She had to know—who was hunting him? And why?

As the slender wolfblood girl stood near the precipice, adjusting her wolfblood vision to make the dark appear more like day, a sudden gust of wind buffeted her. A crack of lightning abruptly struck the ground less than 50 yards away. Her vision blanked as she stumbled. She felt earth give way beneath her feet.

Ahhh!

The world spun as she felt herself slide down the hillside, hit a large, sharp rock, and pivot sideways as gravity continued to pull her down hard. She felt something break in her right ankle as pain made her shout—not that anyone could hear her as the screeching winds swallowed up her cry.

Then the world went cold…and dark.

ELSEWHERE ON THE ISLE OF LINDISFARNE…

It's a simple plan, mate. Simple in this case did not mean good. It just meant they had limited options. Rhydian knew his role; he was to search the island's eastern coast, Matei and Emilia would take the western coast, and Jana, who had the best tracking ability in the whole pack, had reserved the central part of the island as her appointed region to search. If Gerwyn was anywhere on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, they were determined to find him. But how did you find a wolfblood who didn't want to be found in the middle of a wickedly bad storm? Not without a break and more than a little luck.

So far, Rhydian definitely was not feeling lady luck on his side. In fact, Rhydian was chilled and wet and not particularly happy.

What will I do once I find him? Resentment churned inside him like the vicious undertow of the storm-tossed currents. He didn't even know why it mattered to him so much. Mum had all but told him he was wasting his time. Dad had abandoned them…and the why of it was probably unimportant. The fact was, he had left his family, his responsibilities, and Rhydian couldn't think of any justification that would bridge the rift or purge all the anger in his heart.

Still, a small part of him hoped. A tiny part of him wanted to try anyway, if not for him, then for Bryn and Ceri. What if we could be a family again?

Of course, bringing Gerwyn back to the pack required them to actually find him, and that was a big 'If.' It was strange, how Gerwyn had managed to stay one step ahead of them. He shouldn't have even had the faintest clue that they were tracking him, yet every time Jana had used her wild wolfblood senses to put them hot on his trail, they'd gotten close—only to discover that they'd barely missed him.

It had been over a week since they had left the North Wood to begin tracking him. An unsettling thought distracted Rhydian for the briefest moment—What if we aren't the only ones after him?

Rhydian paused as he looked up at the intimidating bulk of Lindisfarne Castle. Lightning flared, bringing it to life. In the same instant he switched his gaze to a tall, jagged outcropping just east of the castle, and his heart leapt to his throat when he saw a figure's silhouette framed by the blinding flash.

Gerwyn?!

The wolfblood boy ran like a gust of wind. You're not escaping, Dad, not this time. He reached the bottom of the rocky hill, only to smell a wolfblood much, much closer than he'd expected. And he could tell from the scent that it wasn't Gerwyn either. Rhydian paused. His blue eyes turned yellow as he turned on his wolfblood night vision sense. He peered down and saw, soaked and nestled in the wet grass near the foot of the hill, a slender, injured young girl. He rushed over to her immediately. He sniffed again, just to be sure.

She smells like one of us. The smell was off, though, just a tad more human than it should have been. She's a cub then. Hasn't finished her first change yet. He looked her over carefully. She was young, but not too young. The girl had to be about his age. She was a brunette with a striking face. In a less hectic time and place Rhydian would have called that face cute, even adorable—okay, probably even beautiful. The concerned boy looked for a pulse, and felt her heartbeat—strong and steady. He let out an anxious breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding back.

He looked her over more closely and saw the hideous angle of her right ankle. Not good. I can't move her. But…if she was on the verge of her first change tonight, with the Full Moon, the good news was that he wouldn't have to! He shook her gently.

"Wake up. Please open your eyes." When she didn't stir, Rhydian…did something he himself couldn't explain afterwards. Maybe it was the angelic serenity of her face, or maybe…maybe what? Rhydian couldn't articulate it, but his heart reached out to this unknown wolfblood girl, totally alone in the middle of a fearsome storm, injured, without a pack to help her. His heart clenched with sadness. She's just a cub…she needs a pack…and just luckily I've brought one with me. In that instant he determined he would help her. Somehow or other, though, in the exact second he made that decision, another more primal part of Rhydian decided on a method of 'helping her' of a very different sort.

The wolfblood boy's eyes flared vivid yellow as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. "Please, wake up," he murmured as he slowly drew back, startled at what he'd done.

The brunette's eyes fluttered open. They were gorgeous, chocolate-brown eyes, orbs of color made all the more stunning by the washed-out grays of the surrounding storm. She peered up at him, at first in fear. He had hunched over her to shield her from the wind and the onslaught of rain, but he realized how it might look to her. So he quickly smoothed tendrils of wet hair away from her glistening face. He caressed her cheek in a move more intimate than he'd intended, but he just wanted to comfort her—to let her know that she was with one of her own kind.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here to help."

"Oi, get off of me," the petite girl growled, trying to sit up. Her ankle twitched and she shrieked in pain, falling back to the ground.

Rhydian stayed patiently hunched over her, keeping the rain from soaking her more than it already had. "Please, don't move. You've taken a nasty fall and your ankle's one twist short of a pretzel. You need to stay completely still." The girl's face contorted from too much lingering pain, but Rhydian wouldn't let her focus on it. He took her hand and brought to his chest, giving it a gentle, tender squeeze. "Focus on me. Listen to my voice. I'm going to look after you, all right? Please, trust me. I won't let anything happen to you. I won't." The girl's eyes softened as the pain subsided. A few tears slid down her cheeks, barely distinguishable from the raindrops.

"It hurts so much," she moaned.

"I know it hurts, but the Full Moon is almost at its height. We're going to change soon. You feel it, don't you?"

The brunette nodded quickly. "I…do. It'll be…it'll be my first," she sighed.

"The change has a healing effect on the body. When you change, your ankle will mend. You'll see. I promise, you're going to be okay. More than okay."

The girl eyed him suspiciously. "So who are you and why are you here?"

"I'm Rhydian." His blue eyes crinkled with empathy. "I'm here looking for my dad. Do you have a name?"

The girl nodded. When Rhydian realized she didn't plan to say anything more, he grinned. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you? Name—care to share?"

"That depends," the girl replied with a reluctant look. "Have you come to hurt a wolfblood named Gerwyn?"

Rhydian's eyes widened to the size of small moons. "No! He's my dad. He's the one we're looking for. You've met him?"

"Briefly," she replied, "after I first came to the island with my schoolmates." The brown-eyed girl seemed satisfied by Rhydian's earlier answer. Her face softened. She looked up, abruptly realizing that this odd wolfblood boy was still gripping her hand tightly in his.

"My name's Maddy. Maddy Smith."

"Pleased to meet you, Maddy Smith," Rhydian said with a wolfy grin. "Stay here. I'll go get my pack-mates, and we'll come back here straightaway to look after you." Rhydian moved to go, but suddenly the hand he had been gripping was now gripping his right back. He saw terror in Maddy's eyes.

"Don't go." With the waves pounding the shore like artillery fire, with the wind screeching like a horde of banshees, he couldn't blame her. He stayed like that, hunched over her like the perfect wind buffer, until finally, bit by bit, the storm entered a calmer phase. The lashing wind became less vicious and more playful. The rain lessened to a fine, misty drizzle.

He felt the pull of the Moon getting stronger now. Any minute now…and he would transform. They both would.

The girl named Maddy smiled up at him as the storm eased up. "Thank you for staying." He nodded. Then she frowned.

"Rhydian…what kind of a name is that?"

"It's Welsh," he said, grinning like a damn fool.

"And why do you"—she sniffed the air, probing with her wolfblood nose—"why do you smell like my parents?" Her cheeks turned the reddish-magenta of embarrassment as Rhydian laughed.

"You're just smelling your own kind. We're both wolfbloods, silly girl."

Maddy tried not to feel too embarrassed as she lost herself in those crystal-blue eyes. "Did you just call me a 'smelly girl'?" she grumbled. Even with the storm becoming tamer, the sound of the wind could still muddy the occasional word.

"No, I called you a 'silly' girl," Rhydian said. "But I can call you a smelly girl if you like. You smell like—" and now he couldn't resist smirking, "—wet dog."

"Shut up!" Maddy cried, smacking at his chest as he laughed at her. Why did the sound of his laughter make her heart feel like it could fly up and waltz among the angry-looking clouds? Then she felt it—it was happening. She looked down at her arms, inky-black lines racing up her veins as the earliest sign of the change took effect. Rhydian linked both his hands with hers. She could see his eyes go from ice-water blue to primal yellow as darkening veins spread up his cheeks, across his forehead even.

"It's happening," Maddy said excitedly. "Will your pack-mates find us? Can I…can I run with you and your pack?"

Rhydian smiled. "Of course you can, silly girl. Did I not say I would look after you? This is your first change. You should be spending it with a proper pack, and so you shall."

Maddy felt something tug at her heart. Why did she instinctually feel as if she'd known this wolfblood boy for years when they'd just met minutes ago? Sometimes, when you met a person, there was this touch of a kindred spirit, just a feeling—as if maybe, just maybe, you'd known that person in some alternate universe. That was the best Maddy could come up with as she looked up at the wolfblood boy who had just now dropped into her life as unexpectedly as a rogue comet.

"Rhydian…thank you. I'm glad you're here."

"Me too." Rhydian's wolfy grin broke wide as they both began to transform. His last words rang out in the night. "Here we go, she-wolf. Come along, smelly girl—I'll teach you what it means to run with a pack."

Near Lindisfarne Castle, a wiry figure spied the two teens as they changed from humans into wolves. Quickly and silently, the figure fled into the night.

A/N - Hey wolfblood sisters and brothers! The Maddian has begun, and you know what that means…Jana/Matei and the rest of the pack are close behind. This story is going to show you a different kind of Rhydian - still completely in character yet with a more positive history. I asked myself, how would Rhydian and Maddy's budding relationship have been different if Rhydian had come from a more stable background and already been accepted by a proper pack? When things take a turn for the worse for Maddy at Bradlington High, making her feel like a shunned outsider, will it be Rhydian who has to come in and give Mads a new sense of belonging?

In the upcoming chapters we'll also find out what's going on with Jana's pack. Please add a new comment, throw out some ideas, share a few of your thoughts. I'm trying to cover a lot of new ground with this fanfic and I love you guys to pieces for being such great inspiration! :)