Maddy growled as she woke up covering her eyes from the sun as she rolled over pushing her face into her pillow.
"Maddy?" Emma called to her daughter's room. "Merry Christmas darling! Breakfast will be ready shortly come downstairs!"
Maddy growled as she sat up. "Leave me alone!" She yelled as she pulled the covers over her head more.
Emma froze as she heard what her daughter said. Daniel blinked at that as he stopped cooking for a moment. "Love, why don't you go up and check on her?"
Emma hummed softly. "Yeah, I think I might." She said as she slowly made her way up to their daughters room. "Madeline? Are you alright?"
She groaned as she burrowed further into her bed. "I'm sorry but just go away I'm not in the mood."
Emma sighed as she opened the door softly. "Pet, it's alright. I get that you miss Rhydian, but didn't you have fun yesterday?"
Maddy sighed as she stayed under her covers ignoring her mother. "We've made your favorite this morning." She said placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Mum." She said barely poking her head out of the covers. "I'll come down in a little bit I just don't want to get up right now."
"Does it have anything to do with Rhydian not being here?"
She sighed as she looked at her mother. "Maybe. I don't know. I didn't think I would miss him this much. I know that pack being apart can have a physical affect, but this is insane. My insides feel like they're trying to rip themselves out of me and the wolf is right on the surface."
Her mother looked at her sadly rubbing her arm over the covers. "Alright, you can stay in bed a little longer. I'll bring up a plate of food and some tea. Might help you calm down."
Maddy smiled softly as she looked at her mother. "Thank you, mum." She said as Emma stood up and kissed her head.
"Anytime pet." She said patting her head before heading to the kitchen.
Daniel looked at her and raised and eyebrow. "How's she doing?" He asked making a plate.
"I'll tell you when I come back down." She said making a cup of tea for her and grabbing the plate he'd made. "I'll be back shortly."
He nodded as he poured two cups of tea for the two of them and making the plates as well.
He set them at the table putting the rest of the dishes in the sink for a later time. He hummed as he sipped his tea sitting down as his wife entered the room. "So, how's our little girl doing?"
"I think her, and Rhydian might be true mates." She said taking a sip of her tea.
He looked at her and blinked for a moment as he set the tea down. "With her moody behavior recently, I think it would be reasonable to think so."
"I'm not sure what to do. I know we have to tell her though if we do, she'll want to go after him. I'm not sure that would be the safest option."
"Either you or I could go look for Rhydian. He's gotta be feeling the affect's as well."
"Would one of us be able to keep her at bay?" She asked raising an eyebrow taking a bite of food.
"I'm not sure." He replied humming for a moment. "We could send Shannon and Tom after him."
"We can't send them to a wild Wolfblood pack that they've never met before." Emma said gasping as she looked at her husband.
"It seems to be the only option we have. We can't bank on sending them a letter. So, either one of us goes or her friends do." He said sighing. "I don't like it either."
She looked at him and let out a breath. "I wish we didn't have to involve them."
"They are her pack. They are already involved love." He said gently as he took hold of her hand. "We don't have to tell them today. Let them enjoy Christmas we'll tell them tomorrow.
Emma looked at her husband and smiled softly squeezing his hand. "You're right."
The two smiled at each other and finished eating before moving to the living room after cleaning up the dishes.
They had the fire going as they cuddled on the couch reading a book. Sometime later Maddy came down the stairs wrapped up in her blanket.
"Hey." She said quietly as she walked over towards the couch sitting next to her parents.
"Hey yourself." Her dad said smiling at her. "Did you enjoy your breakfast?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, don't have a real big appetite this morning." She said grumbling slightly as she wrapped her blanket around her more.
"That's alright." He said softly kissing her head. "Do you feel up to opening presents?" He asked as he glanced towards the tree.
Maddy grumbled for a moment though her parents could hear the smile in her voice.
She sat up a little and nodded as she moved to grab the presents and started passing them out.
The three opened the presents smiling and talking as Maddy seemed to relax a little.
However, that was short lived as she let out a growl while her eyes shifted. "Maddy." Her mother said warningly and got a growl in return.
Her father started to get up making her growl at him. She pulled back and curled in on herself pressing her back into the wall.
"Oh dear." Emma said as she stood up taking Daniel's hand. "Don't make any sudden movements. We have to calm her down."
He nodded squeezing her hand gently. "We'll keep everything under control." He said as he looked to Maddy. "Maddy, you need to calm down. Close your eyes."
Maddy growled as she pushed herself more into the corner. Her eyes darted around the room looking for an exit.
Her mother showed her eyes as she crouched on the floor attempting to show that she was a friend. Maddy growled at her baring her fangs.
"She's gone feral." Daniel said softly. "We need to get her to the den. Can you distract her? I don't think we'll be able to get her out of this one. At least not soon."
"We have to try." Emma said pleadingly. "She's, our daughter."
"I know, and we will right now she feels trapped. She's not thinking rationally." He said as he slowly moved towards the kitchen. "You watch her, and I'll get something to lure her."
Emma looked up at him and nodded gently. "Alright. I'll keep her busy." She said before she looked back towards their daughter.
While Maddy's attention was on her mom her father made his way into the kitchen grabbing the meet out of the fridge. He ripped through the package dumping the meat in a bowl.
He heard the two shifting around the and hurried his movements. He got all the meat he could before heading outside.
Daniel opened the back door and the den as he started leaving small bits heading back towards the house. "Alright, Emma watch out." He said he walked back into the room.
She looked back at him and nodded as she slowly got up and moved out of his way. He kept his distance and tossed some meat towards her. "It's alright. Just follow the trail." He said softly.
Maddy looked at him and growled before she caught a whiff of the meat. She inched forward sniffing softly before grabbing the piece that was closest to her.
"There you are that's a good girl. Keep following the meat." He said as he backed out of the room.
She slowly started crawling after the meat eating it as if she was a starving wolf.
She might as well have been considering the last time she ate was the night before with Tom and Shannon. He tossed the bowl aside as Emma followed behind her.
Her parents slowly guided her into the den before shutting the door quickly. Daniel let out a breath and closed his eyes. "We'll keep her in there for a while until she calms down."
"I don't know how we're going to do this. The next full moon is just over a week away. We have to do something quickly."
"We will. It's late in the day already. We'll call Tom and Shannon tomorrow and formulate a plan. They should be able to get to Rhydian and get him back before the full moon."
"I hope you're right. We can't lose her, and they can't lose him." Emma said as she listened to their daughter pace around the den.
"We won't." He said gripping her shoulders. "We have to trust that Tom and Shannon can bring him back. Hopefully someone from his pack will help them get back."
She nodded running her fingers through her hair. "Alright. We'll keep her in there for a bit and check on her later. See if she's more coherent."
Daniel nodded and let out a breath as the two headed back into the house.
Shannon laughed softly at something that Tom said and smiled. "We should tell Maddy."
"We will. Have you heard from her today?" He asked humming as he shifted on his bed.
"No, I texted her this morning, but she hasn't responded." Shannon said as she sighed. "I hope she's alright. She's been really jumpy this last week."
"I'm sure she is. If something were truly wrong her parents would reach out. Wouldn't they?"
"They would." Shannon agreed as she looked up at the ceiling. "Do you really think Jimi has decided to change."
"I think so." He said nodding. "During practice he was different. I mean he still has his moments, but I think he's really trying."
"I can't believe Maddy told him about being a Wolfblood." Shannon said humming.
"I don't think she had much of a choice whatever's going on with her affects her ability to control that part of her. She did say she tried to get him to run."
"I know I just…it's weird." She said stifling a young as she rubbed her eyes.
"It's late, we should get some sleep. We can go check on Maddy tomorrow."
"You're right, we should sleep." She said humming as she rolled onto her side. "Are we going to fall asleep on the phone with each other."
"We can." Tom said humming softly. "Though we need to make sure our phones are charged."
"We can do that in the morning. We probably won't go anywhere until noon." She said chuckling a little as she yawned again.
He yawned in return as they stayed on the phone with each other murmuring softly as they both drifted off to sleep.
