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Disclaimer: I do not own Wolfblood

Chapter 2 - Mysterious Developments

I wast sitting on my bed reading when a scent drifted under my nose. Dinner! I set down my book and moved quickly into the kitchen to see the pig laying on the table with four places set out around it. I picked up a slice of ham to nibble on before Rhydian arrived.

"Madeline! Leave some for Rhydian!" Mam shouted as I finished the slice of meat.

"Mam, I think he'll live," I stated gesturing to the seven plates of different types of meat lying in front of us.

"You're mother has gone to a lot of trouble for this," dad scolded, "after all, the 'steaks' are high," he joked lifting the steak he was cooking above his head. They both laughed like small children.

"Stop it, you silly 'sausage'" Mam replied with a grin. I rolled my eyes.

"Right seriously, you two better stop that," I warned

"Hey, I 'ham' stopping," Dad replied just to annoy me.

"That's it. I'm calling him. He's not coming," I declared, getting my phone out of my back pocket.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Oh, that'll be him," Dad moved to get the door before I could stop him.

I knocked on the door of the Smiths' house nervously. I had never met anyone of my kind before this and now I was going to be in a room of three at once! I was really nervous about meeting Maddy's parents as well. What if they didn't like me? I had had my hopes risen so much now that if I was kicked out I would be gutted. Just then the door opened, interrupting my train of thought.

"Rhydian, I'm Daniel, come on in," Maddy's father introduced himself. He turned and walked back into the house and I followed him gingerly.

"Pleased to, err, 'meat' you!," Daniel and Emma both laughed and Maddy caught my eyes and shook her head in desperation.

I looked across the table and caught Mam's eye and she gestured to Rhydian with her eyes. I looked and he was scoffing as much meat as possible, as quickly as possible. I raised my eyebrows and looked down quickly, smiling.

"Help yourself mate, have as much as you like," Dad said sarcastically. Then he used his fork to pick up a slice of ham and he flung it across the room past Rhydian.

I reached out and grabbed the flying pork before I had even realised that Daniel had thrown it. My reaction time was even quicker than I thought. I looked Maddy in the eyes and she raised her eyebrows, impressed. I looked down again.

"It's got to be cool, having a family you can be yourself around," I asked.

"Well you're more than welcome any time you want," Emma replied although I could tell that she was little reserved, "if you've got any questions about...anything. Just ask." She seemed more sincere this time.

I thought for a second then said,

"On the full moon do you change in the house? In here?"

"No, we've got a secure room in the cellar," Daniel replied.

"The cellar?"

I walked into the den looking around in amazement. Maddy was smiling proudly at me expression. It was obvious that this place was the pride and treasure of the Smith household.

It was modelled to look like the moor with a moon shining on the ceiling. The floor was covered in leaves and it smelt wild.

"You like it?" Daniel asked.

"We call it the den," Emma told me," it's got everything a wolf desires. And it's safe, for us and, well, for everyone else. It's all about responsibility."

"But don't you ever just want to...run free? Isn't that what being a Wolfblood's about?"

"No, being a Wolfblood's not just about giving in to our primal desires. It's about being a responsible part of a wider community," Emma almost scolded me.

"Yeah, we've got a rich heritage and culture. And we've got books here that you won't find in the school library! It's true that Rome was founded by the Wolfbloods Romulus and Remus and Genghis Khan's tribe weren't called The Wolves for nothing," I started to get interested in what Daniel was saying. How many of us were there? And how many famous people and event were Wolfbloods or Wolfblood related?

Suddenly Emma interrupted as if she thought that Daniel was going to tell us something that we shouldn't know.

"Yeah, but most of us agree it's better to tame our instincts."

Maddy piped up for the first time in the conversation,

"Most of us?"

"Yeah, I just meant tha..."

"No. You said most of us. You always told us that we all kept ourselves locked away!"

"Maybe we should..." Daniel asked Emma.

"She's not old enough," Emma whispered back.

"Old enough for what?" Maddy demanded.

"There are other Wolfbloods that don't lock themselves away. Aren't there?" I asked, full well knowing I had hit the nail on the head.

Maddy moved to stand beside me, on the defensive against her parents.

"Is that true?"

"We were going to tell you after you transformed..." Emma tried to get back in Maddy's favour.

"We didn't want to scare you," Daniel told her. If they were afraid is scaring Maddy what were they going to say to us next?!

"Scare us?!" Maddy exclaimed.

"There are other Wolfbloods who..." Emma looked to Daniel for support, "well, they don't quite share the same values as us."

"Wild Wolfbloods," Daniel helped.

"But they're very rare and most of us agree that's it's better to be a useful part of society instead of..."

"Instead of what?" Maddy almost shouted desperate to get the answer out of her parents.

"Instead of hating humans. And hating us. They're dangerous." Daniel admitted reluctantly.

"It really wasn't you in that photo," Maddy asked.

"I told you it wasn't," I replied, still indignant that she didn't believe me.

"Shannon and Tom are out there!" Maddy shouted, running out of the den. I followed, hurrying past Maddy's parents.

"What's wrong?" Daniel shouted after us.

Maddy went and rummaged around in her coat pocket. After a minute she pulled out a piece of paper and shoved it under Emma and Daniel's noses.

"Look! Shannon took it the other day. I thought it was Rhydian because I didn't know about wild Wolfbloods."

Daniel sighed, "where did they go?"

"To the woods. Here..." I replied, being completely unhelpful.

"Yeah, but where? Where's here?"

"I can't explain, but I can find it," I knew it was wrong but I was kind of looking forwards to the thrill of the chase.

"No, you two stay here," that showed what Emma thought of my enthusiasm.

"We're coming with you," Maddy insisted.

"No, you're staying right here," Emma was being far too overprotective of her cub, " if there's a wild Wolfblood out there, we'll sniff it out."

She had a point though. Maddy was still a cub and I felt that it was my duty as a wolf to look after her, even though she wasn't my responsibility. I decided to throw caution to the wind and persuade Maddy to follow them. I could protect her when we were out there anyway, I would keep her away from any fights or make her stay with Tom and Shannon.

"This is ridiculous, I know where they are," I started

"Mam and Dad know what they're doing," I knew this was going to be a fight. She was so stubborn.

"In their car? If that wolf's out there, he's using his senses, he's going to hunt down Tom and Shannon. We can get there first!" I saw the indecision in her eyes.

"You're right," Maddy sighed, " but no wolfing out. Shannon's got her camera."

Maddy turned and ran and I followed, straining to catch up with her.

I followed my nose as far as I could before I slowed and allowed Rhydian to take the lead. He was running at full pelt and I was keeping up easily. I smiled with delight even though the the circumstances. That was definitely something I would remember for later conversations. We carried on running until I caught the scent of frightened human. They were so scared that it was no wonder the Wildblood was near. Any predator would be able to smell them from miles. I concentrated on the smell and realised I could smell Tom but not Shannon. She was obviously so used to beast hinting that she didn't get scared anymore. I wasn't surprised. With her intelligence, no wonder she was able to overcome her instincts. Suddenly they came into view through the dark misty forest.

"Are you ok?" I shouted

"We would be if people stopped jumping out at us!" Tom accentuated the last part and i wondered who else had been jumping out at them. Then I saw Jimi, Sam and Liam standing behind them.

"What are you doing here?" I asked accusingly.

"What are you doing here?" Shannon asked," I thought you had dinner with your parents?"

"You had dinner with Rhydian?" Tom assumed. I rolled my eyes.

"On a date? Oooh," Jimi teased.

"Shut up," I glared at him, " he's my cousin."

Suddenly there was a sound.

"Guys, guys!" Shannon got our attention.

"What was that?" You could hear the fear in Tom's voice again.

"It's the monster," Shannon was sure of herself again. We had quickly moved from the subject of teenage dates to beast hunting and Shannon was in her comfort zone again. She was taking photos and looking at the camera screen, trying to see if she had caught the beast. I turned to Rhydian but he had turned around and left whilst no one was looking. Had he heard me quickly denying that we were on a date? I hadn't meant it like that, I just thought...

"No, that's the monster!" Jimi shouted, turning around.

"Everybody get behind me. Mads! Mads!" Tom shouted and if it hadn't been at a moment like this I would have been struck at how sweet it was that he was trying to protect me. But I didn't need protecting.

I smelt something that was like Rhydian but far more wild. It smelt like freedom but also security and safety. I then heard Rhydian's wolf in front of me and I caught up with his plan.

"Run!" I screamed at the rest of them, to get them away if there was going to be a wolf fight.

I made eye contact with Rhydian and then followed. I could tell that Tom was in pain but I had to ignore it.

"Give me the camera!" I demanded

"What?" Shannon exclaimed, forgetting Tom. I had to think of a reason.

"The camera! The flash blinds the monster!" I heard another howl, but this time I recognised the message. They were preparing to fight. I was panicking now.

"Just give me it! Stay with Tom," I didn't want her following me. Shannon handed it over and I ran off not bothering to control my speed in front of them. I had to stop the Wildblood before it hurt Rhydian.

I was snarling at the Wildblood when Maddy turned up. I glanced over and saw that she had Managed to get Shannon's camera as well as getting rid of the others. She was a little genius that girl. The other wolf used this moment of distraction to his advantage. He jumped and knocked me over.

"Rhydian!" Maddy screamed in a warning that was too late, then, "leave him alone!" Not to me this time but to the other wolf. He was stalking towards me hen she said this but he turned his head in time to see Maddy's eyes change. He started walking towards her and she growled at him bravely. I ran round and stood next to her, still in wolf form. I growled to distract him from Maddy and then Maddy used the camera to flash in his eyes. He whimpered, confused by the sudden lights, turned, and ran away. I flopped down onto the ground in relief. Thank god nothing had happened to Maddy, I would never forgive myself if it had and neither would her parents.

I clicked through the photos on the camera, deleting the ones that were too obvious.

"Look... I'm sorry I didn't believe you," I told Rhydian. He was leaning against the tree next to me, covered in mud and sweat.

"I don't blame you," he answered, " we didn't even know about wild Wolfbloods."

"No"

"What's that?" He asked looking at the camera.

"It's something"

"You can't tell its a wolf"

"We've got to leave something for Shannon," I said looking up at him.

"Yeah, anyway, that's my best side," he said with a smirk on his face. I smiled.

"Did Shannon and Tom quiz you much about our supposed date?"

"Nah, they forgot it when you started snarling at them"

"How did you know that was me?" Rhydian raised an eyebrow.

I blushed; I couldn't tell him that I had recognised his scent. I had only seen him in wolf form for a few minutes, there was no way I could have memorised it in that long. Unless...no. This couldn't be happening. Mam and Dad had always warned me to tell them straight off when I met someone who's scent I just seemed to know. It meant that I... That we...

"I guessed," I kicked myself, that was a rubbish excuse. He smirked but didn't say anything more about it.

"Where are the others?"

"Tom hurt his ankle, he's with Shannon. You know Jimi - every man for himself"

"He's such a wuss"

"Yeah," I said still looking at the camera, "yeah he is!"

A/N: Thank you for reading if you get this far and once again, I would be almost as excited as I was when I found out there was to be a series five if you reviewed.

Thank you