Chapter 9 - Rhydian's Greatest Fear

All of the sudden both wolfbloods woke up back in their tent, near Cedren's pack, with a very anxious Ceri and Gerwyn by their sides. After what they'd gone through, the normalcy of the human world made both teens almost sob with relief. Maddy and Rhydian sat up, panting as if they'd been running up the side of a mountain.

"Rhydian! Maddy!" Ceri gave Rhydian a crushing hug. Gerwyn stroked Maddy's hair.

"Welcome back, brave girl." Maddy's hand and arm throbbed. She drew her arm out from underneath the blanket only to see it streaked with actual blood and see actual puncture marks.

Rhydian's parents gasped.

"Maddy, what happened?" Ceri said. The shaman Cedren came rushing forward. His eyes smoldered with concern bordering on alarm.

"Let me tend to the cub's wounds. Leave us." He looked sternly at Ceri and Gerwyn both. When the hovering parents hesitated to leave their son and his mate, the shaman glared. "I said leave us!"

After Gerwyn and Ceri had left, Cedren turned around and let the wolfblood teens get dressed. Rhydian had to help Maddy on with her t-shirt so that she wouldn't get blood on it. Then Cedren dressed Maddy's wounds, using the pack healers' strongest ointments and salves. Only after he had finished wrapping up her arm and hand did he finally speak.

"This is very troubling," the ancient-looking wolfblood murmured. "A wound made in the dreamworld should never manifest in the human world. I must consult with the healers of the surrounding packs. But first, you both will tell me everything that happened."

Maddy and Rhydian shared an uneasy look. They told Cedren everything they could remember—even details they weren't sure were all that important. By the time they were done, both wolfblood teens felt completely wiped.

"May we go home now?" Maddy asked. Rhydian put his arm around her protectively. She could sense that he was still restless. His face had a kind of haunted look. Something else wasn't right, but the pretty brunette couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Cedren stood up. His hand combed through his voluminous beard as he paced, deep in thought. "Hmm. I suppose you can return to Stoneybridge. If I have need of you, though, I will send a summons. Your testimony may be required in front of the other healers. For now, go home, recover from your time in the eyethwyd."

He paused to stare at Maddy intently.

"How do you feel, she-wolf? Does your wolf feel the same as it did before you entered the dreamworld?"

Maddy looked at him with a confidence she'd never truly felt before. Her wolf and her human were completely in sync. It felt uncanny. It felt incredible—like she could dance on clouds and traipse on water. Despite the trauma of getting hurt while saving Rhydian, she'd never felt more at peace with herself. Like she could tackle anything life tossed her way.

"I feel…like my wolf and my human are working as one, Sir. That probably sounds dumb…"

"To the contrary, cub. It is exactly what we hoped for." Now Cedren's gaze slid to Rhydian, and that gaze went from satisfied to stormy.

"You were not as fortunate, young man. Your wolf faced its greatest fear…and was overcome by it. If your alpha hadn't been by your side, you might have stayed trapped in the dreamworld, lost in the eyethwyd…forever."

Rhydian's face turned into a mask of inwardly-aimed anger and disappointment. He looked away. But that was when Cedren reached out and patted Rhydian's shoulder with newfound warmth in his voice.

"Take heart, boy. Not every fear is conquered on the first try. Stay close to friends and loved ones. Lean on the support of your pack. Lick your wounds and analyze what happened out there. You will find the answers, if you look carefully enough."

"You really think so?" Rhydian said doubtfully.

Cedren's face turned grave, but he put on a hopeful front. "I know so, boy. After all, even if you did not succeed in overcoming your fear, you have already taken the most important step of all."

The old shaman turned and began to amble towards the exit.

"Wait." Rhydian said, surging to his feet with Maddy beside him. "What 'important step?' What do you mean?"

The wizened shaman glanced back at him with a grim smile. "You have identified your wolf's greatest fear. That is the key. Now you must attack that fear as you would attack any weakness."

After the shaman left, Maddy and Rhydian sat down on the pallets with the blankets to cushion their bottoms. There was a stretch of silence before Maddy nudged the blue-eyed wolfblood boy. "Is there anything..." She sighed and tried again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I couldn't handle the thought of losing you, Mads. When I saw the illusion of that creature killing you, I couldn't…I nearly lost my mind." Rhydian looked at her, his voice breaking. "How can I protect you, how can I even help you, when I can't even keep it together? I'm useless. No, worse than useless. I'm a liability!" She hated the self-loathing in his tone. She hated it so much.

Maddy pushed him to the ground, trying not to wince as pain shot through her hand and up her arm. She straddled him and leaned over him, making sure he would see the love in her eyes.

"Don't ever say that. You are not a liability. Rhydian Morris, I love you. Without you, one thing's for sure. I never would have made it this far. I never would have overcome the loss of my parents. Do you hear me? So stop saying the dumbest things ever." She leaned down further and pressed her lips to his. The petite wolfblood girl angled her jaw to deepen the kiss as her tongue slid into his mouth. Rhydian sighed, his rigid body finally relaxing. His hand cupped the back of her head as he voraciously returned her kiss. She moaned as his other hand slipped underneath the back of her shirt to stroke her skin. His arms slowly wound around her, yet he gently disengaged from their kiss way too soon.

"Mads, be careful. You're hurt, remember?"

"Oh, just keep your mouth shut and kiss me."

"It's kind of hard to properly do both," Rhydian pointed out. Maddy rolled her eyes, but she had to admit, it felt good having Rhydian acting enough like his normal self to crack a joke, even a bad one.

"Not that I wouldn't love to continue this, but I'm exhausted. Can we just take a nap?" Rhydian said sheepishly. The cute wolfblood girl nodded and cuddled up next to him, carefully lying on her uninjured side. Rhydian very gingerly put an arm around her and kissed her forehead. "I'm sure my parents will let us rest for a while before taking us back to Stoneybridge. Go to sleep, Mads. Let's have good dreams this time, yeah?"

"You too," she mumbled.

A final string of thoughts plagued Maddy just as sleep started to drape cobwebs in her head. Why was the dreamworld so dangerous? Rhydian's parents would never have sent us into the eyethwyd if they'd known what could happen. Even Cedren was shocked at my injury. Something here isn't right. And what about Rhydian? He's understandably rattled by what happened to us in the dreamworld after he failed to overcome his fear…but it's more than that. Is it that he won't forgive himself for hurting me in the dreamworld? Or is it something more? Is he hiding something?

A/N - Hey wolfblood friends,

Just like the characters of Wolfblood, we all have our fears—and sometimes we don't really want to acknowledge them, as if by acknowledging them we might give them extra power over us. Rhydian's a complex character because of his rough history in foster care. He has many fears, but as he's grown up having only himself to rely on, he had to wall off those fears rather than face them. How can Maddy and Rhydian's parents help him face his fears when the instincts he's grown up with tell him to do the opposite? That's one of the questions that should get answered in the next chapter or two. I hope you're enjoying the story. Any comments or feedback you want to offer would be amazing. Thanks :)