Chapter 5 - Rhydian's Refusal

Rhydian's senses peaked to high alertness as Jeffries came into the living room where he, Tom, and Shan had been sitting on the couch chatting.

"She wants to see you, Rhydian." There was an unease to the history teacher's tone. Rhydian didn't like it. "Shannon, Tom, I think she's tuckered out for the day. Her wolf's a little on edge. Why don't you come back tomorrow?" Jeffries said it lightly, but Rhydian sensed the forcefulness behind his voice.

Shan and Tom mumbled a grudging 'okay'. Rhydian patted Tom on the shoulder as he slid past. Then, as Rhydian rushed through the family room and up the stairs, he couldn't help from noticing the way Ceri and Gerwyn stood so hyper-vigilant, watching him as he flew by. He burst into Maddy's bedroom, breathless despite the short distance.

Maddy had been standing, staring out the window. She whirled around with a little gasp.

"Geez, Rhydian, ya don't need to bust down the door," she said. He rushed to her side and enfolded her in his arms. He buried his nose in her hair, the scent of her reassuring him as he felt her heartbeat, chest to chest. Maddy was his mate, and if she was in danger he couldn't rest—not even for a moment.

"Mads, what's wrong? Jeffries looked even paler than his usual pasty-white self down there."

Maddy looked up at him with a disarming smile. "I asked you up here to give you good news, you big idiot. Now don't spoil the mood." Rhydian stepped back and scrutinized the veracity of her words. She sounded like she was telling the truth—but hidden just beneath the surface…

"Jeffries and your parents figured out what made me wolf-out so horribly today. With the upcoming change, us moving up to Inverness to go to uni, my wolf's sort of freaking out. My wolf's also got some unresolved issues to sort through, never properly mourning from everything…everything that's happened." They both knew she meant the death of her parents, but Maddy still had trouble saying it sometimes. Saying it sometimes just made it all too real. Most wounds did heal, but that didn't mean they wouldn't leave a scar.

Rhydian cupped Maddy's face and gave her a long, tender kiss. He felt her relax as he pressed her up against the window. The sunlight seemed to dance in her hair, creating threads of gold. Not that he could appreciate them. He was too busy relishing the softness of Maddy's lips, the calming scent of her as their lips joined, as he tasted her and she tasted him. When at last the two wolfblood teens pulled away from each other, there was hunger in their eyes.

Unspoken thoughts flew back and forth.

"Later tonight, after Jeffries is asleep, I'm sneaking by to see you," Rhydian said huskily. He saw Maddy shiver—a good kind of shiver. One of anticipation.

"You'll get no complaints here," she said. Her gaze seemed to caress his entire body, and it made the wolfblood boy self-conscious for just a moment. Yet he thrust the feeling aside to return to the thing he was far more worried about. Something far more important.

"So, what's this about your wolf freaking out? Where exactly is the 'good' news you had for me?" Rhydian asked.

"Your parents and Jeffries have figured out a way to help me heal and calm my wolf for good. I'll probably have to go away for a few days. I don't want to bore you with the details, but when I come back, I'll be as good as new."

Rhydian's eyes flared with concern. He cupped the girl's cheek and pressed his forehead gently to hers. "I know what you're doing, Mads. Stop it."

Maddy tried to look confused. She tried to pull away. "I don't know what you mean, Rhydian." Angry at her for playing dumb, the blue-eyed wolfblood carefully yet firmly threw his arm around her waist and tossed her onto the bed. He leapt on top of her with a playful, wolfy growl, but there was a deadly-serious note underneath. He pinned her wrists and brought his face close to hers, like a dominant alpha male wolf letting his female know he meant business.

Of course Maddy wasn't about to lie down and take it. Her delicate face scrunched up with a growl every bit as fierce. She was the true alpha, after all. She began struggling. "Rhydian! Get off of me."

"Not until you tell me the truth." As soon as she asked him to get off of her, though, his limbs relaxed. His hands still gripped her wrists, but there was no tightness in them. No force at all. If she'd wanted to, she could have easily broken free now and thrown him off. Instead she stilled because of the look in his eyes. Those crystal-blue eyes were filled with a worry so intense that there was actual pain there. That was the one thing Maddy couldn't handle seeing. Her heart skipped a beat as she let Rhydian keep her pinned to the bed.

With a sigh Rhydian leaned down, nuzzling the side of the girl's neck. "I know what you're doing. Please don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying," Maddy said weakly.

"Yes, you are. You're acting like this is no big deal, whatever it is my parents are planning, to help keep your wolf from going berserk, like it nearly did today—like I saw it nearly do today. I'm worried about you, Mads. Your wolf is totally out of control, and whatever 'solution' my parents have, it can't be as simple as you make it sound." His hands re-tightened around Maddy's wrists as he kissed her so softly on the forehead, on her eyelids, and then on her nose, before looking at her sternly. "Now tell me the truth, Maddy Smith. I'm your mate, and I think I deserve at least that much."

Maddy pretended to roll her eyes, trying to stall, to distract him, to lighten the mood—anything but admit the truth.

"And if I don't talk, what're you going to do? Keep me prisoner? Pinned like this to my bed?"

Rhydian nodded with a frown. "If I have to."

Maddy smiled sadly up at the boy she'd fallen in love with. The mate that her wolf was bound to as seamlessly as the double helix of a strand of DNA. "What if I don't want you to worry? What if I'm trying to spare you pain, Rhydian? Can't you just let me do that, because I care about you and I don't want you to have to fight my battles?"

Rhydian growled. He nipped at her ear and then trailed kisses up the side of her neck. Between each kiss, he ground out another word.

"You. Don't. Get. It. Do. You?" he sighed. "Your battles are my battles. That's what it means to love someone. You can't protect me from whatever it is you're going through, Mads, because you're a part of me. When something is wrong with you, then that means something is wrong with me, and I need to know about it."

The cute wolfblood girl sighed, feeling trapped, but rightfully so. She looked up into his eyes with this expression of surrender.

"OK, Rhydian. You win, all right? I give up. What do you want to know?" She felt a surge of fear, wondering how he would react. Would he let her enter the dangerous dream world of all wolfbloods because the risk was worth it? Or would he try to stop her? With her heart fluttering, she opened her mouth and told him the only thing she could, the one thing he absolutely demanded.

The truth.

A/N - Hey wolfbloods friends,

I hope you're enjoying this story. Please comment or offer a word of encouragement if you feel like it. I'm having fun with this concept of a wolfblood 'dream world'. This story will develop some things you don't normally see from a wolfblood fic while staying true to all the characters. Again, please comment or offer a suggestion if you want. Those are always priceless, and I mean it! :) :)