Chapter 7 - Half-truths

Maddy let her wolf indulge, roaming through the eerily quiet wood with Rhydian at her side. Together they scampered and hurtled here, there, and everywhere like furry banshees so that only the wind had a prayer of catching them. At last they somersaulted headlong over a steep embankment and morphed back into their human selves, Maddy laughing and grinning ear to ear. Rhydian brushed the leaves from her face and tasted her, their kiss enfolding delicately as Maddy felt Rhydian's hands slip underneath the back of her fleece and tank top, caressing her bare skin.

Maddy was prepared to put him in his place, drunk as she was on his scent, his very touch. She was still an alpha female, and she had always felt this unspoken understanding between them about certain boundaries. In an odd way the inner wolf was sometimes wiser than the hormone-addled human, and Maddy and Rhydian's inner wolves had a tacit agreement when it came to intimacy. If and when sex did come, it would only come when they were both ready for it—both able to open themselves up to that ultimate vulnerability with eyes wide open. Their wolves knew it even if they did not. They weren't ready—not yet, and maybe not for a long while—and that was totally OK.

"Rhydian…" Maddy drew back, smirking at the boy she was more than addicted to and loving the sound of the name as it left her lips. "Rhydian…you have a leaf stuck above your ear that makes you look like a homeless elf." She giggled as Rhydian flung it away.

"Good job, smelly girl, way to ruin the moment. You and your wolfy sense of humor." Rhydian's blue eyes yellowed again, the dark iris flashing with impatience as he stroked the back of his hand along her cheek and finally, with feather-like softness, traced her lips with his fingers. "Do you know what I think about sometimes?"

Maddy unzipped the front of her fleece, feeling overheated from their dash through the wood. She shook her head, suddenly feeling shy at the intensity of his gaze.

"No…What?"

"I think about the moment I first started to fall in love with you."

"There was a single moment?" Maddy blushed, her eyes searching his for any sign of a cruel joke.

"Yes. Do you know why I remember it so well?"

Maddy glared at him. "You know I don't. Stop bottling it all up to tease and tantalize. Just tell me." The impatience and excitement in her voice seemed to spur a secretive smile from the wolfblood boy.

"You were explaining to Shannon and Tom why they couldn't shun me after my first day at school, after I'd destroyed the photography room wolfing out thanks to Jimi's hazing. You remember?"

Maddy brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Like I could ever forget."

"And then you said the words that made me start to fall in love with you, Maddy Smith."

Maddy frowned, searching her memory. Like a star player missing the shot at the final second, she came up empty.

"Mads, you said to me…You said—Rhydian's a part of my life now, and that's that. The expression on your face, the acceptance in your eyes…" Rhydian shook his head and grasped Maddy's hand, placing it over his heart. "From that point on you gutted all my defenses."

Rhydian's somber mood slid into a sheepish grin, his cheesy declaration making her giggle right along with him. Soon the two young wolfbloods had cuddled together again, looking up at the moon. Maddy felt Rhydian's chin nestled on top of her head, his broad shoulders and arms wrapping her up like a tiny, protective world all its own. But it couldn't last…especially when a new thought struck like a fatal bolt—the thought that made her whole body stiffen.

Jared.

"Mads, what's wrong?"

Maddy hastily got to her feet, thinking fast. How long had they been out here? Jared and his friends would wonder what happened to her! As her mind reeled a bit with the thought that she'd totally ditched a boy who'd been only kind to her, she also thought about her parents…about the need to find out what they knew about Dr. Whitewood. Too many things were swirling together, and at first she didn't know what to tell Rhydian.

Was it wise to tell your love-struck wolfblood boyfriend who'd traveled the length of an ocean and hundreds of miles of wilderness that you were dating someone else, even if it was just for show? Maddy considered the possibility of Rhydian's wolf going all homicidal overprotective, and a less than tiny part of her worried for Jared's safety.

But….

This isn't some stupid romance novel, Mads. You owe Rhydian the truth, the sooner the better.

"I need to get back to my friends at the lodge. They'll be worried, wondering what's happened to me."

Rhydian shrugged. "All right. Shall I meet you at your house then?"

"Rhydian, there's something I have to tell you." The male wolfbood's brow furrowed. She knew he could sense her unease. Wolfbloods were many things, but oblivious was not one of them.

"I made a good friend here, his name's Jared. He…he likes me. He wanted to date me." Maddy's heart stopped as Rhydian's hands blackened on the way to stretching into talons, his heart rate catapulting one way—up. "But we're friends, Rhydian, and that's all we are. He knows I don't see him as anything more, even if…" Even if he's all confidence and optimistic that he can win me over. Best that I don't mention that. Maddy hesitated, letting the half-truth stand. I've told Rhydian enough…he doesn't have to find out about the fake-dating arrangement.

Maddy would cancel her and Jared's little arrangement privately, and that would be that.

"Look, please don't ruin this for me? I don't want to burn my bridges here, even if we are returning to Stoneybridge. I want to keep Jared as a friend."

Rhydian growled, a half-human sound well on the way to becoming all-out wolf.

"Rhydian!" Maddy's hackles were up as she growled right back. The two wolfbloods squared off, snarling at each other as Maddy's gaze skewered him like a pair of knives. Gradually, painfully, the wolfblood boy backed down, muttering under his breath.

"You don't have to like him but you do have to be civil. You know how I feel about you. He's not a rival, Rhydian. Do a favor for both of us and listen to your human side on this one. Please?" Maddy's plaintive tone finally seemed to break the stubborn wall Rhydian had thrown up. The teenage boy shrugged and jerked his head to the side with a grunt.

"OK. Fine. I'll play nice. There. You happy?"

Maddy darted forward, sliding her hand up his jeans and fisting it in his shirt collar, yanking him forward for a kiss that left him light-headed and dizzy.

"Mmm-hmm…and when I'm happy, you're happy, right?"

Rhydian groaned the immortal sound that all males made in the throes of thwarted passion and wisely left it at that.

Maddy stepped back and began to prance away before suddenly swiveling back. "Oh, and one more thing. I've changed my mind about tonight. We're not going to tell my parents outright about Dr. Whitewood."

"We're not?"

The wolfblood girl shook her head, her brown hair rustling like silk. "No. You wait outside of scent range near the house and I'll come find you when I'm ready. I don't want my parents to know you're here. Not yet."

"Mads," Rhydian protested, "what are you going on about?"

"Shush. I have a plan."