Chapter 21 - Battle of the Alphas

A redhead and a brunette circled around each other in a wooded clearing behind Bradlington High, tension crackling like the lash of a whip. I imagined the scene we must have presented, Jana and I, our teeth bared at one another, eyes burning liquid yellow as our wolves snarled and strained at the leash.

"You shouldn't have done that," I growled, "and I'll be making sure ye don't do it again."

Jana's pale face screwed up even tighter. Nope, she wasn't backing down. This was alpha against alpha. The claws were coming out.

She lunged forward and I leapt to meet the wild wolfblood's charge. Jana's momentum was too much, throwing me back as the world jarred all my senses, but I was ready for it. I twisted, using her momentum against her. I rolled through the attack and landed on top of her, pinning her. She kneed me in the chest, dislodging me long enough to spring up and grab my hair. Before she could start yanking I sent a jab straight to her face. She staggered backward, stunned as I landed a solid kick to her chest that sent her flying onto her butt. Instead of pressing the attack I backed away. Wait for it…. The enraged alpha leapt to her feet and lunged for me again. She was bigger and stronger, but I was faster. I sidestepped, shoving her in the back as she went tumbling into the woods. That's when I heard it. A shriek of terror….

EARLIER THAT DAY…

I grinned at Tom, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "See. You can do this." Tom gave me a sheepish grin right back, his slumped shoulders finally lifting a little. We were sitting in one of the study rooms off the library, a Latin-Greek vocab workbook splayed across the tabletop.

"Thanks for helping me Mads. I still don't understand why I should have to memorize all this rubbish."

I smiled at him, repressing the urge to roll my eyes. "Yes, just trust us! You'll be glad you kept at it since more than half the words in the English language use Latin or Greek roots."

Now Tom had the audacity to roll his eyes at me. He shut the workbook with a clap of finality. "You should talk, Mads. Trust 'us'? Really? It's trust 'me', Mads. If you're going to tutor me to pass my language exams, the least you can do is speak properly and forgo the Geordie accent," he huffed, winking at me as a smirk lit up his whole face.

"Oh, why don't you just blow it out your…" I deteriorated into a fit of giggles as he reached across the table to tickle me. Why did all my mates have to know that I was the most ticklish and take full advantage of it? I laughed at the unfairness of it as Tom's fingers wiggled away, relentless as the plague. Normally horsing around like this was a me-and-Rhydian thing, but I'd noticed ever since sharing my secret with Tom, he was a little more affectionate with me. Sometimes I wondered if he was trying to be more tactile and touch-oriented now that he knew about my wolfy nature. Whatever the motivation, I didn't mind it. It felt like Tom and I had become just that much closer.

I squealed as I slipped out of my chair, rushing around the table and pulling him into a headlock—not too tight though. The librarian's face peered at us through the glass window in the study room door. Mrs. Bingham's eyebrows fluttered as she opened the door and gave us a cross look. I froze like a cub caught in headlights.

"Sorry Miss, Tom and I were just—"

"Goofing off?" Her harsh look melted into sheer amusement. "I should expect so, after working hard at it for what, the last hour?" Mrs. Bingham had one of those pretty, perfectly symmetrical faces that hardly aged so that she looked not a day over 35 even though she was probably in her early 50's. She gave us an indulgent nod as she self-consciously rearranged her bright blond hair. The bell rang.

"Off you go then. Try not to get into too much trouble," she teased as me and Rhydian replied in unison.

"Yes Miss Bingham."

Tom gave me a playful shove on the shoulder and I shoved him right back.

"See you after maths?" he asked.

I shuddered. "Only if I survive…"

In maths I had plenty of time to daydream. I was ahead in the homework—for once—and I had a lot to mull over. Tomorrow night was the lunar eclipse and all my nerves were on pins and needles. Yesterday had been the last day of my grounding, so I had double reasons to be antsy, like a little kid about to go on their first rollercoaster. Rhydian had promised to come over tonight, the first night in 28 days, and I was positively over the moon as anticipation got the best of me.

The last few weeks had been productive too. Rhydian had gotten to know his mum with our piecemeal visits at Bernie's. Jana and I had gotten to know each other well enough too, sitting up at the counter and running interference. Whenever some of our idiot classmates tried to poke fun at the strange 'homeless lady' in the corner we could be surprisingly intimidating when we put our minds to it. Jana had perfected a glare I was still working on a way to imitate.

As maths let out I heaved a sigh of relief. Lunch. Yay. I was just striding over to the cafeteria when my keen wolfy hearing detected voices in the darkroom. I stopped abruptly, pressing my ear near the door. Rhydian's voice…and Jana's.

"Don't you want more of that? That feeling of belonging?" Jana's tone alternated from gentle persuasion to strident sureness.

"Jana, I've only just started…I don't know where this will lead, or even if it will lead anywhere."

"You know she never wanted to give you up. You were taken from her, Rhydian." I heard movement. "Come with us. With me. You know I'll look out for you."

I heard Rhydian's confusion. I could smell his anxiety through the cracks in the door.

"Jana…"

"I'll even help you find your father. You could have a proper family again and be in a proper pack."

"My father?" I could envision the frown on Rhydian's face. "When I brought him up Ceri immediately changed the subject. What makes you think that—?"

"His name is Gerwyn. That's pretty much all I know. But whatever the reason he left your mum, I'm sure there's a good explanation. I could help you hunt down your father, Rhydian. I've got the wild wolfblood tracking skills to do it. Maddy, the Smiths, they can't help you regain what you've lost. But I can."

I heard Rhydian make an anguished sound. Quietly I opened the door, moving ever so slowly.

"I don't know what I want, all right?" he almost shouted. "I'm still trying to figure out what I even mean to Ceri and…ugh. I just assumed that my father was dead or that he left a long time ago. I don't even know if I want to find him, Jana, or even if I should."

"Listen to your heart, Rhydian. Listen to your wolf instincts, they will guide you," Jana insisted, and Jana's subtext was clear; the only proper answer is to agree and leave the human world far behind.

I stepped inside, my eyes searching Rhydian's expression. He looked like someone had taken a knife to his heart, twisting the blade after plunging it all the way to the hilt. His blue eyes shone stormier than a hurricane-whipped sea, and he ran a trembling hand through his hair as the veins blackened up and down his arms. His wolf bristled, all right. I could see a panic attack looming on the horizon, Rhydian was prone to those, had nearly wolfed out on more than one occasion, several times where I'd barely pulled him back from the brink. Now, here in the first place he had finally started to feel where he actually belonged, here in Stoneybridge, he must have felt himself caught between that and this—Jana dangling the possibility of a mother and father restoring some ideal life that no longer was and probably had never existed. I wanted Rhydian to get his family back in the worst way too, if it would bring him happiness…but only then—and that's what made me different than Jana. I could see that Jana's relentless argument was too much for Rhydian to handle. I could see a wolfy meltdown in the making.

"Rhydian, if you'll just trust me I know you'll see the same things I do. That your loving family never left you, that your pack is waiting for you, to give you a place where you don't have to hide what you are, where you truly belong!"

"It's not that simple!" I hissed, slamming the darkroom door shut behind me. Jana froze and Rhydian jerked all startled. The wolfblood boy's eyes fastened onto me with relief as I rushed over to him, slipping my hand in his. I saw those darker veins recede the moment my fingers glided through his, clasping him tight.

"Maddy," Rhydian said, that total relief washing through his voice as my scent calmed him. I leaned on my tiptoes, nuzzling his cheek as I soothed him.

"Don't let anyone tell you what to do, Rhydian. You deserve happiness, happiness on your terms. You shouldn't let someone else define what that should be for you." I sent a searing look Jana's way before pointedly ignoring her, focusing only on calming Rhydian's wolf. My hands rubbed up and down his arms as I searched his face. I leaned up on my tiptoes again, kissing the tip of his nose, his cheek, giving him a peck on the lips.

"If Ceri loves you as much as she claims to, then she'll care enough about you to get to know you without destroying what you've built here." I felt Jana's anger like a palpable aura, an inferno heating up my back. I turned, regarding her for the first time as I finally heard Rhydian's breathing steady.

"Jana and I need to talk alone for a moment," I said, pursing my lips as her gaze and mine clashed like two invisible forces of nature. The space between us might as well have been a battlefield.

As Rhydian recovered the rest of the way from his panic attack, he took note of our rigid stances.

"No. You two—come on. Let's go to lunch."

"You go on ahead," Jana said sweetly to him, her smile filled with malice as she kept her gaze glued on me. "We'll catch up."

Mumbling something about she-wolves being impossible to reason with, Rhydian slung his rucksack over his shoulder and sent us one last pleading look before he slipped out and closed the door.

I smiled just as coldly, drawing first blood. "If you ever do that again, I'll send you back to your precious wild wolfblood pack with your tail tucked between your legs."

"Do what?" Jana chided, her eyes flashing fire. "All I did was try to help him."

"No, you tried to help yourself. You weren't looking out for what's best for Rhydian. You miss your wild wolfblood pack, and that's fine. But don't you dare go pressuring Rhydian into things that he at best isn't ready for and at worst doesn't even want in the first place!" I stalked towards her, fingers wriggling as I felt them tingle, the wolf ready to unsheathe its claws. "If you act like a selfish brat, you can expect to be treated like one too—one who needs to be put in her place."

If I was being completely honest with myself, part of me was jealous of Jana. During the time I had been grounded she'd wiggled her way into Rhydian's trust…and that hurt. It hurt because just when I had solidified my pack—Shan, Tom, me and Rhydian—now we had this interloper throwing everything out of balance. I still didn't know what to think of her, but I did know that if she wasn't going to put Rhydian's needs above her own, then I'd make her realize, one alpha to another, that it damn well carried consequences.

"Let's settle this like real wolves then," Jana growled.

I smiled at her, no warmth in my words as I replied. "I couldn't agree more. Woods behind the football field?"

"What are we waiting for then?" Jana said.

So that was how Jana and I came to be facing off like mortal enemies in the woods behind Bradlington High….

A/N - Hey Wolfblood fans! I hope you enjoyed the build-up between Maddy and Jana in this chapter. Please leave a comment or review what you thought of it and I'll take it to heart. Always appreciate hearing a kind word.

The climax of the alpha she-wolf faceoff will be decided in the next chapter I promise. (Also, as one guest comment asked about, the answer is Yes, I will be incorporating Gerwyn into the story in the future. Plans are set). Oh, and coming up also - Liam will be surprising in more ways than one…

Thanks again for stopping by, I'll be sure to update soon. XXOO :)