Disclaimer: I do not own Wolfblood.

Episode Three, Part 1 - "The Pack"

When Rhydian woke up the next morning, the light was streaming in through the spare bedroom's blue curtains, giving the room a slight turquoise tint.

He lay sleepily on his back for a few minutes, trying to adjust to the light and the different surroundings. He had slept well, but it was weird not having Maddy in the bed next to him; for the past few weeks in Canada she had been there by his side as he slept, because there was no other place for him to sleep, and it had become something he was used to.

Eventually he dragged himself out of his new bed, knowing he would have to sort a few things out today. The summer holiday had passed quickly and less than a week remained before school started again. Rhydian was planning on going back to Bradlington High to take his A-Levels alongside Shannon (Tom was going to a nearby college) and he had to find out what Maddy wanted to do, as well as look for a way to make money.

And the final – and possibly trickiest – things he needed to do…were to find Jana, and find his parents.

Rhydian went to the bathroom first, only to discover that the door was locked.

"Maddy?" He questioned.

"You're awake," he heard a familiar voice from behind the door. "Finally!"

"What are you doing?"

"Having a bath, what are you doing?"

Chuckling, Rhydian leaned against the door frame with his hand. "Having a nice bath?"

"It's amazing," Maddy grinned, although Rhydian couldn't see it, and tipped her head back on to the wall behind her. "Do you know if there's any food in the house?"

Rhydian thought for a moment before answering. "I don't know. I'll go check."

When he got downstairs in to the empty and slightly cold kitchen, he found an old box of cereal in the cupboard, a bag of self raising flour and some mouldy bread in the bread bin. Great.

He wasn't really sure what he'd been expecting; after all, this house had been empty for a while now (he wasn't really sure how long for).

A few minutes later, Maddy came down the stairs. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she was just wearing her fluffy dressing gown and some socks.

"Sleep well?" He asked.

She yawned and scratched her head. "Sort of. You?"

"Same."

"Find any food?"

Rhydian shook his head. "Not really. There's some stale cereal…but no milk. That's about it."

"Oh, great," Maddy wrinkled her nose. "Sounds wonderful," sarcasm was dripping from her words. "We can't afford a shop at the moment. We might have to go hunting."

After hunting for the majority of their meals during all those months in Canada, Maddy had been looking forward to some proper food. But they couldn't afford to do a shop until they sorted out their finances. They had her parent's savings, sure, but there wasn't much of it and they needed to save it for real emergencies.

Rhydian nodded. "We might have to," he shrugged. "So…fancy some dry, stale cereal for breakfast?"

She was about to decline, but then her stomach growled loudly and she looked down at it incredulously. She hadn't eaten since last night at 8pm on their train journey home. It was 10am now.

"Sounds like your stomach's saying yes to that, Mads." Rhydian smirked and headed over to the cabinet to get a bowl for her.

"Don't we have any meat? Like, proper meat?"

"Nope. Mum and Jana must have eaten it all before they left."

"Where are they, anyway?" Maddy asked as she sat down at the table.

Rhydian handed her the bowl of cereal along with a spoon, put the kettle on and then sat down opposite her. He shrugged. "I don't know. I'm planning on asking Shannon and Tom."

"Oh, they're coming over in a bit. I called 'em this morning."

"Awesome," Rhydian grinned. "Did they sound excited?"

"I only spoke to Shan, but she was more excited than I've ever heard her, so…"

Laughing, he stood up and grabbed some mugs. "Tea?"

Maddy sighed happily. It'd been far too long since she'd had a good cup of tea. "Please."

An hour later, Maddy had gotten dressed in to a fresh pair of clothes. In Canada she'd only had a couple outfits to wear, but now that she was back at home she had her whole wardrobe to choose from.

Rhydian got dressed too, but he didn't have any clothes apart from the ones he'd worn to Canada. So instead he had found one of Dan's old T-shirts and worn that; it didn't fit him perfectly, but it would have to do.

The doorbell rang just as Maddy jumped down the last step in to the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks and looked at Rhydian, a slightly nervous but excited look on her face. Her stomach did a little flip and she smiled at her boyfriend, giving him a quick kiss before running to the front door.

When she opened it, the sight of her two best friends had her frozen in her tracks again. For a moment, Maddy looked them all over, taking in everything; their familiar faces, excited smiles, bright eyes and matured features.

The three of them stared at each other for a while.

Maddy had been expecting herself to start squealing excitedly as she opened the door.
She had been expecting masses of hugs and jumping up and down and grinning and more squealing.

But everything remained silent for a good minute or so as they just stared at each other. Maddy felt tears stinging in the backs of her eyes and her lip began to quiver slightly.

It had been far, far too long since she had seen these two. Her two best friends who had been there for her for as long as she could remember.

How had she managed this long without them?

Their faces were so painfully familiar; it was almost like a dream, the fact that they were right in front of her right now, so close she could literally reach out and touch them.

The first tear fell on to Maddy's cheek, and Shannon smiled sadly.

And then, before saying anything at all, they threw themselves at each other and hugged tightly in a big group hug.

Tears were pricking at all of their eyes; a few had escaped from Shannon's as well as Maddy's and Tom was having to swallow his.
Rhydian watched fondly from behind them, a bittersweet smile tugging on his lips.

"We've missed you so much," Shannon whispered, burying her head further in to Maddy's shoulder.

Maddy inhaled her best friends' familiar scents and felt more tears escape her eyes. She had wanted to see them for so long – pining for them, wanting to remember what it felt like to be together – and now that they were here, it was all pretty unbelievable.

"Rhydian, get over here, man," Tom said, his voice thick with threatening tears as he opened his arms for Rhydian.

Grinning, Rhydian walked forward and put his arm around Tom's shoulder and his other around Maddy's waist. He leaned in and kissed the side of Maddy's face before grinning and hugging his friends tighter.

The four of them hugged for a while longer. And when they finally came apart, both of the girls had tears on their faces and they could tell that the boys were trying to keep their tears in.

They stepped in to the kitchen.

"I can't believe you're here!" Shannon said happily, her familiar grin more prominent on her face now.

"I can't believe we are either," Maddy smiled fondly up at her best friend and took a hold of her hand.

"Are you staying? For good?"

Maddy nodded and looked up at Rhydian, squeezing his hand affectionately. "We are."

Squealing excitedly, Shannon leaned forward and hugged Maddy again, meaning that Rhydian and Maddy's hands were no longer together.

Maddy hugged back and grinned over Shannon's shoulder. She was bouncing up and down excitedly, and this was when the excited squeals and happy laughs began; they were overjoyed beyond belief.

Tom and Rhydian watched them, grins on their faces.

"When did you get back?" Tom asked Rhydian as the girls hugged each other more.

"Late last night. About 10pm, I think."

Tom nodded. "How was Canada?"

"Weird…but good. They had this house right next to the mountains which meant that every night we could just run free if we wanted to. That was cool."

He nodded again and then grinned at Rhydian, patting him on the back. "We missed you. Didn't think we were going to see you so soon."

"I didn't either," he looked over to his girlfriend and Shannon who were now making tea together in the kitchen. Tom and Rhydian were standing by the sofas next to the kitchen. "…But Maddy was really missing home a lot, so we decided it would be best for her to come home."

"Without her parents though?" Tom leaned in closer to Rhydian and lowered his voice, obviously so that Maddy couldn't hear. Rhydian had given them the heads up that Maddy was anxious about being here without her parents.

Rhydian shrugged. "It's what's best for her. It's weird and unconventional, being here without her parents, and it's going to be tough, but…we're gonna make it work. It was what she needed, you know?"

Tom nodded, leaning away from Rhydian again. "I get it. Well, for the record, we are glad you came back."

Tom and Shannon stayed for most of the day. They left at about 3pm, after having spent the day catching Maddy up with every single thing that Rhydian hadn't already told her. (Rhydian had made a point to tell them of the fact that Mr. Jeffries and Liam being in on the secret was something he still hadn't told Maddy). The four friends were picking up right where they left off, as if no time had been spent apart.

The hugs they gave each other before the two left were quite long, as if none of them were quite ready to leave yet.

They had spent the day sitting around the table, Shannon and Maddy on one side and Tom and Rhydian on the other. The talking never stopped and the time went so fast.

About an hour after Shannon and Tom left, Maddy and Rhydian decided to go for a run in the woods to let of some steam in the warm summer evening air.

The whole time, Rhydian was grinning and laughing because it had been far too long since he'd run through these woods with Maddy. Her scent was filling his nose, her hair was whipping around as she ran slightly ahead of him, and he just couldn't stop laughing as she laughed too. Everything about her was intoxicating. It felt so good to be with her again; so good to be with someone who not only understood being a Wolfblood, but someone who understood him on a different level.
Maddy had always just got everything Rhydian was, is and ever will be. She'd never judged him for his past, or the way he lashed out sometimes, or the way he did things before thinking. She had always just taken things the way they were with him and loved every part of him; even the parts that weren't that easy to deal with.

She wasn't just someone.

She was his Alpha, and he was never letting her go again.

After an hour of running at top speed, twirling through and climbing up the trees together, the couple finally stopped by a tree, totally out of breath. Their faces were indescribably joyful.

"Let's stop for a minute," Maddy said, almost panting for air as she settled on the floor against the tree.

Rhydian nodded and sat next to her, his shoulder brushing hers as his head rested on the bark of the tree behind him.

"Maddy, you're a little genius, you know that?" He tilted his head to look at her and she frowned in confusion.

"…What prompted that?" She drawled.

He reached down and linked his fingers in between hers. "I was thinking…we should go on a date. Somewhere nice…"

Maddy smirked and looked up at him. "Oh, I see what you're doing here…," and then she grinned playfully before continuing in a slightly mimicking tone, "are you asking me on a date?"

Rhydian grinned too. "So what d'you say? Finally have that first date that got very rudely cancelled?"

Maddy's playful grin faded in to a soft smile. They were looking each other in the eyes.

She nodded slowly. "I'd love to."

"I would say we won't go to Bernie's, but it's not even there anymore…"

"What? Why?"

Rhydian grinned. "You've missed a lot, Miss Smith."

Maddy grinned too and leaned in to kiss him softly.

A first date. Finally.

"Jana and Ceri?" Shannon questioned on the night before Maddy and Rhydian's date.

Shannon, Tom, Maddy and Rhydian were all sitting around the dining table in Maddy's house, a couple of empty takeaway pizza boxes strewn over one side of the table.

"Yeah," Rhydian said, sitting back lazily in his chair. He was so full; he was beginning to feel a food coma coming on. "Do you know what happened to them?"

"Yeah," Shannon replied lightly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course we do. Jana took a job at Segolia on a trial basis."

"Wow, really?" Maddy asked. She was leaning back in her seat too as she sat next to Rhydian.

Shannon nodded. "Yep. Victoria was so impressed with her talents that she decided to let Jana come to Segolia on her own terms. At first she was uncomfortable with the job offer, but when Victoria said it was no strings attached, she couldn't turn it down."

Tom nodded too and continued for her, "And they provided a house for her, Ceri, and your dad to live in. Just by the woods, about a mile from here."

"Your dad?" Maddy questioned incredulously.

Rhydian turned to Maddy, a sheepish smile on his face. "Oh, yeah…kinda forgot to tell you about that one."

"How did you forget that!? You have to tell me everything!"

"I will, later," he chuckled fondly and turned his attention forward again.

"How have we not smelled them here before now, though?" Maddy asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I guess you just haven't passed near enough to her house," Tom shrugged.

Rhydian slowly sat up again and leaned his elbows on the table, his hands coming up to just in front of his lips. His brow was furrowed thoughtfully and he wasn't looking directly at anyone.

"I'm just worried about social services," he finally said. "What are they going to do when they find out Maddy and I are living here on our own?"

"You're seventeen now, Rhydian; technically you can live independently." Shannon pointed out.

"I guess. But I'm just worried. Authorities are weird like that."

Maddy sat up too then and put her hand on Rhydian's thigh. "We'll be OK," she said softly, a gentle smile forming on her lips. "We just need to find jobs. Pay for the bills, you know. And food."

Rhydian nodded, turning his head to face her. "Yeah. We do."

"How about the Kafe?" Shannon suggested.

"The what?" Maddy asked.

Shannon, Tom and Rhydian all smirked in unison before Shannon explained. "The Kafe. It's where Bernie's used to be."

"What kind of a name is 'The Kafe'?"

"The kind Katrina would make up,"

"Katrina!?"

"Yeah, she owns the Kafe now. Her, Kara and Kay all work there."

Maddy let out a low whistle in surprise and stared at her best friend incredulously. "I won't believe it until I see it."

"Well, you will see it," Rhydian cut in. "That's where we're going tomorrow for our date."

Maddy couldn't help but let out a smile. "Really?"

Rhydian nodded, and Shannon grinned at the two of them. "Awe, you guys are so cute. We've missed you being all romantic."

Maddy rolled her eyes and grinned at her best friend. "Shut up."

"Night, Mads," Rhydian said softly, pushing the door to Maddy's room open. It was 10.30pm; Shannon and Tom had gone home about an hour ago, leaving Maddy to have a bath before bed. He had told her all about his dad and what had happened with Segolia a while back; Maddy was shocked to hear that he'd met his dad but she was also incredibly happy for him. As she'd watched him explain what Gerwyn was like, she could see a glint of happiness in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

He stepped in to her room, wearing just grey sweatpants, his hair tousled slightly.

Maddy was standing in the dim light of her room in front of the full length mirror, wearing her PJs—loose shorts and a vest top. She was brushing her hair.

Maddy turned to look at him when he took a few steps in. And then she smiled, walking over to him after putting the hairbrush down.

"Night, Rhydian." She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him softly.

It was just one kiss and when Rhydian pulled away, he rested his forehead on hers, both of their eyes still closed. His arms came around her waist and he rested his hands on her lower back.

Maddy could feel each of his fingers on her back through the thin fabric of her top, and it made her shiver slightly under his touch. He really could drive her crazy.

"We're going to see your mum tomorrow, right?" Maddy asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

There was a beat of silence as they stood together, just breathing.

"Love you." Rhydian said quietly.

"Love you too." She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, bringing him in to a hug.

Rhydian was making the most of having her close like this. Every second they spent together was another second that increased his desire for her. He needed her; he needed her more than he'd ever known.

He gently pulled her body closer to his, as close as he could manage. He just needed her closer. Always closer.

A few minutes later, Maddy pulled away, kissing him quickly before resting her forehead on his again.

"Kissing before the first date, huh?" Rhydian quipped.

Maddy let out a breathy chuckle. She kept her eyes closed. "What kind of people are we?"

Rhydian grinned too and brought his lips down to kiss her cheek softly. "See you in the morning."

She nodded. "Night."

A/N: Thank you for your reviews on the last chapter!

I just want to clear a few things up from some reviews I received.

This story will have a running plotline eventually; in fact it starts next episode, I believe. Although the story is set out in "episodes", there won't be a plot line every "episode" like on the show because the chapters would end up being too long and far too tedious to read/write. So just bear with me whilst I set the groundwork; I figured you guys would like to read some happy stuff and reunions and Maddian moments before the real plot line begins. That's the way this story is going to work.

Hope you liked this chapter. Please let me know what you think! Constructive criticism only please :)

Love :* xxx

Next episode of The Ancient Grudge: "Frowning curiously, Jana set her cup of water down on the coffee table and went to the door. When she pulled it open, her facial expression changed from a frown to a look of complete and utter surprise."