Disclaimer: I do not own Wolfblood.

Episode Five, Part 1 - "Morwal"

Rhydian woke up the next morning at 7am. Things had been relatively quiet in the house, but he could hear Maddy's parents moving around quietly downstairs in the kitchen.
So he'd gone downstairs to talk to them, and together they had decided that Maddy wouldn't go to school that day. Her head had been so cloudy after finding out the news about her family; it wouldn't have been a good idea to go in to school and face all the curious eyes, nosy questions and stuffy classrooms.

Now it was 7.30am, and Rhydian decided to leave Maddy be for a while now in case she was still sleeping. Instead he went for a shower.
It was full moon day, and Rhydian was hyped because of that fact but also worried for Maddy. What kind of a full moon would it be when Maddy was so heartbroken about what had happened to her family?

Half an hour later, Mrs. Smith and Mr. Smith were downstairs, Emma just about to take a mug of tea up to her daughter when she heard a door slam upstairs.

At first she thought it might have been Rhydian – she knew Maddy wasn't going to school today – but then a familiar scent filled her nose.

Maddy came down a few seconds later, dressed in her school uniform. Uncharacteristically, she had some makeup around her eyes, and her hair was pulled back at the sides.

Her parents eyed her strangely when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"What?" Maddy questioned coldly.

Emma shared a glance with Dan before looking back to Maddy. "Nothing, it's just…we thought you were going to stay home from school today. You know, so you could get over the shock."

"I'm fine."

"You're not going to school today, Mads. Sorry, but it's just not a good idea. Things are too tough right now."

"I'm going to school. I haven't had a normal life in ages. You can't stop us."

Dan frowned. "Maddy, we're just trying to help…"

"Well you're not helping!" Maddy exclaimed, grabbing an apple and picking up her school bag. Her eyes suddenly started turning their familiar yellow colour, and her parents weren't really sure why. "I'm fine. I'm not going to let a stupid wolfblood fight stop me from living me life."

Both of her parents were frowning at her now. They'd never seen Maddy like this before. Her eyes were wild and had turned yellow at even the slightest feeling of anger, her hair and makeup were totally different to normal, and she was even feistier than usual and was practically demanding that she went to school. Like she was trying to take control.

"Maddy, maybe stay home just for today and then go in tomorrow, how's that?" Dan tried to reason with his daughter. It didn't work.

She turned to him and glared, a small growl escaping from the back of her throat before she turned on her heel and ran out the front door.

Seconds later, Rhydian came downstairs. He was dressed in his uniform and a frown was etched on to his features.

"What just happened?" He asked. "Where's Maddy?"

Emma gave him a wary look. She was chewing her bottom lip. "She's not herself this morning," she started hesitantly, "she's just gone in to school—"

"What?" Rhydian cut her off, his frown intensifying. "I thought we agreed she wasn't going in?"

"Well, we tried to stop her just now, but she wouldn't give in. Her eyes were turning yellow and she just wasn't acting herself. I just wanted to ask you to look out for her today. You know, at school…"

"Of course. Always."

"Thanks, Rhydian. Hopefully she'll be fine, but call us if you need us."

Before Emma could say anything else, Rhydian had turned on his heel and run out of the front door after grabbing his bag.

Emma turned to Dan, a slightly worried look still in her eyes.

"You think she'll be okay?" Dan asked.

"Rhydian's on it," Emma shrugged, wrapping her arms around Dan's waist, "he'll keep her safe."

But she was still worried. And Dan knew that.

Maddy was running through the woods at full speed. She could feel the tingling in her hands and feet as the exhilaration reached an all time high, and it was like nothing she'd ever felt before. Jet black veins were beginning to appear on her hands and she laughed to herself. She felt free. Wild.

All of a sudden, Rhydian caught the scent of his girlfriend in his nostrils and it was getting closer. But it wasn't her usual scent; she smelled different in a really weird way. He could still identify that it was Maddy – he could identify her scent any day – but it was tainted with something different; something more intense. Something he'd only ever smelled once before.…

Before he knew it, she'd appeared at his side and was grinning ecstatically, her eyes glowing an extreme yellow. It was the polar opposite of the way he'd last seen her last night; lying on her bed, tears streaming down her face, her skin pale and brown eyes sunken.

"Rhydian!" Maddy grinned now, jumping on his back straight away.

"Maddy?" Rhydian was extremely confused. What had gotten in to her?

"Come on then…let's go to school!" She hit his arm with her hand as if she was riding a horse, and he couldn't help but let out a little chuckle.

Bending down a little, he put her back down on the floor and then turned to face her. "We're not going anywhere until you do something about those eyes. And those veins."

"What about 'em?"

"People can't see you like that at school, Mads."

All of a sudden, Maddy seemed to explode right before him. Her mood shifted from hyper and playful to angry and serious. "You're trying to stop us from going to school too, aren't ya!?"

Rhydian frowned. "What? No, I—"

"You can't stop me! I'm going to school! This is my pack, and I do what I want!" Pushing past him, she started walking towards school again but he grabbed her hand to pull her back.

"Maddy, wait. I'm not trying—"

"Just let us go! I'm going to school like a normal person."

And before his eyes, she was gone.

It took a few moments for it all to sink in.

The eyes glowing at the slightest heightened emotion. The veins surging under her skin. The need to control everything. The need to feel in power. The sudden and unpredictable change from Maddy to this…wolf who was demanding that she does what she wants. The change in her scent.

He'd seen it (and smelled it) all before. Back when Jana lost her pack, she'd turned in to someone – something – else, her anger and inner wolf getting the better of her. For Jana, it hadn't even been her wolf. It was something totally different.

A Morwal.

Maddy had the Morwal in her.

The Morwal happened when a wolfblood felt extreme pain or loss about something on the event of a full moon. For Jana it was when her pack abandoned her; that was her ultimate pain. And for Maddy, clearly her great pain was losing her family the way she did. She'd been consumed by the emotion of grief so much so that she turned in to something else.

"Morwal," Rhydian murmured to himself before quickly following her. He couldn't leave her on her own today; it was too risky. He'd have to try and calm her down somehow; try to get her to find herself again.

"Hey Mads," Shannon greeted Maddy tentatively as she walked through the playground. She wasn't expecting Maddy to come to school today.

"Hey, Shan." Maddy was grinning like she'd just won the lottery, and Shannon was immediately confused.

She eyed her best friend warily. "How you doing…?" She drawled.

"I'm fine," Maddy shrugged nonchalantly, her smile fading in to a serious line. "Absolutely fine. Ready for school? I know I am." And then she stalked off towards the school's entrance, leaving Shannon standing on her own, thoroughly confused.

Emma had called Shannon and Tom last night to tell them what had happened, and then this morning as well so as to give Shannon a heads up about Maddy not being in school. But now she was here, acting very peculiar, and Shannon wasn't really sure what to do or what to make of it.

She spotted Rhydian running across the field towards her and waited patiently. His brow was furrowed and his face was serious.

"Morwal," he said, out of breath, when he reached her.

She gave him a weird look. "Hello to you too."

"No," he grumbled impatiently. "It's Maddy. She's got the Morwal in her. It's not her wolf.… Remember what happened to Jana, the day after she lost her pack? On the full moon?"

Shannon's face straightened out in realisation, her eyes growing wide. "Maddy? Morwal?"

Rhydian nodded, glancing around the playground ominously. "She's pretty torn up about her family, and I guess this is her ultimate pain. She told me last night that they were her only family left besides her parents. She grew up with them, Shan. And now they've gone."

"Poor Maddy," Shannon breathed. "What can we do to stop this?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. We can only keep an eye out for her. Try not to let her eyes turn or her veins show, that kind of thing. Try to keep her as calm as possible. We don't want a repeat of Jana…"

Shannon nodded seriously. "I'll keep an eye out. You go find her."

"Where did she go?"

"In to the school."

"I'll follow her scent."

Within minutes Rhydian was running through the school, following the cloud of scent that wasn't as pure as usual; tainted with something else, something that wasn't Maddy. He didn't like where this was going.

"Maddy!" He called when he finally saw her, standing at her locker, eating a piece of bacon. He frowned. "Where did you get that?"

"Rhydian!" Maddy grinned and pulled him in by his collar, kissing him roughly. It caught him off guard and he had to pull away to catch his breath. Straight away, she leaned back in. This wasn't Maddy. And he wasn't so keen on kissing her when it wasn't even her.

"Shall we go to registration?" Rhydian smiled nervously, taking her hand and leading her towards the double doors.

"I want more bacon."

"You can't have bacon now, Mads. Where did you even get that?"

She shrugged. "Jimi had some."

"Why?"

"Said he had breakfast on the way to school, or something."

Rhydian shook his head slowly, incredulous. "Okay then."

Maddy's Morwal was becoming increasingly harder to control as the day progressed. In Biology, someone had bumped her shoulder as they walked past by accident and she'd started to growl, veins and wolf teeth coming out in a flash. Rhydian noticed the change in eye colour right away and had to get her to excuse herself to the toilets to calm down.

Not to mention the curious eyes and questions coming from all the people that had stayed at school to complete A-levels. Every time someone asked something a little too nosy, Maddy would jolt towards them and bare her teeth, growls escaping from her throat. Rhydian was on edge all day, trying to keep her safe.

In History, someone started talking about the history of ancient feuds and how they can lead people to do some awful things such as kidnap or kill people, and Maddy very nearly lost it. Even more so than in Biology.
Her breathing had become heavier, she'd started letting out small growls, and Rhydian noticed the black veins begin to surface under her skin.

He'd moved closer and put his hands over hers to stop anyone from seeing the veins, and when he touched her, she flinched. She flinched right back and looked at him for a moment as if she had no idea who he was, her eyes glowing yellow.
Just like Rhydian had had to do with Jana a few months ago, he put his hand on the back of Maddy's neck and pulled her face in to his chest. It was lucky that she didn't protest and when she'd pulled away, her eyes and skin back to normal again, she had seemed to snap back in to reality.

Her eyes drifted downwards and she shook her head. "Sorry. I don't know what's got in to us."

Rhydian knew.

Rhydian knew exactly what had gotten in to her, but he didn't think that now was the time to explain it to her. When he tried to do that for Jana, it had only made things worse. So instead, he gave her a slightly sad smile and held her hands tighter.

At lunch time, all seemed calm until Mr. Jeffries came in.

Maddy was sitting next to Rhydian, their arms brushing together slightly as they ate. Shannon was still getting her lunch.
Mr. Jeffries came straight to their table and he crouched down next to where Rhydian was sitting.

"Just wanted to check everything was okay. I saw Maddy get a bit worked up in History and wanted to…you know…check she's alright. I don't think anyone saw. I know it must be hard, settling in after all that time away…"

Rhydian smiled slightly and started answering, but Maddy had heard her form tutor loud and clear and she snapped her head around quickly.

"I'm fine, Mr. Jeffries. Why wouldn't I be?" Maddy snapped.

Mr. Jeffries eyed her warily and then looked back to Rhydian, who gave him a slow nod and a look that said 'just leave it'. "Okay, just…as long as everyone's alright." And then he started walking off, and Maddy's eyes shot to Rhydian.

"What did he mean by 'no one saw'? No one saw what?" She demanded, grabbing his arm and holding it tight; not in a romantic way, more of an 'I'm really angry at you so don't even think about trying to get out of this' kind of way.

"Nothing, I…I think he just meant that no one realised something was wrong." Rhydian was beginning to regret not telling her about Mr. Jeffries (and Liam) sooner. He'd been scared of her reaction, but now that she was Morwal? Her reaction would be worse than ever.

Maddy narrowed her eyes. "We both know that's not the truth, Rhydian. I can hear your heartbeat, remember? I know when to spot a liar; you taught me that yourself!"

"What's going on?" Shannon asked when she made it to their table.

Maddy decided to answer for Rhydian. "Mr. Jeffries just came along and asked if I was okay in History and told us that 'no one saw'. But Rhydian hasn't told us what he was on about!"

Shannon spoke before her brain gave her permission. She looked at Rhydian warily. "You haven't told her?"

Maddy's eyes shot to her best friend. "Told me what?"

"Maddy, calm down, I'll…I'll tell you the truth, OK?" Rhydian took a hold of Maddy's hand and she turned back to him, her eyes narrowed.

"Go on then."

"Not here. I'll tell you later."

"Now, Rhydian."

Impatiently, Rhydian sighed and slammed his spare fist on the table. "Alright! Fine! Mr. Jeffries knows about us, okay? He knows. And…and so does Liam."

Maddy felt the anger surge through her veins as this information sunk in. Mr. Jeffries…knew about her secret? And Liam? Liam, of all people! How had this happened? Why did they betray the secret? And why didn't Rhydian tell her that Jeffries and Liam knew?
She felt like she'd been lied to, stabbed in the back and completely betrayed.

This wasn't her.

"What?" Maddy growled through gritted teeth, the familiar black veins beginning to surface on her hands. Again. "Why didn't you tell me!?"

"I'm sorry, Mads, I…we didn't think it was something you needed to know."

"Oh yeah? Well that's not exactly up to you to decide, is it!? I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Maddy was coming across as being upset by this – and deep down she was – but right now, the sadness seemed to be overtaken by a feeling of anger. She just felt so out of control, so outraged, by the fact that her teacher now knew her biggest secret and her own boyfriend didn't care to tell her this vital piece of information.

Her blood was rushing through her veins now and she felt the tingling begin. It was unbearable; nothing like anything she'd ever felt before. Normally she felt in control, but right now she didn't even feel like herself. It was such a simple thing to get upset about – something that wouldn't usually bother her this much – but she didn't feel in control.

The anger took over her, and to be honest, she didn't even care anymore. All she wanted was revenge. Domination.

Low and quiet growls were escaping her throat now. Her teeth were bared.

"Maddy, calm down," Shannon's voice came up softly from the opposite side of the table.

"NO!" Maddy exclaimed, catching the attention of quite a few people in the lunch hall. "I will not calm down! I can't believe you didn't tell us, Rhydian! You betrayed me!"

"That's not you talking, Maddy. It's the Morwal." Rhydian said lowly through gritted teeth.

Maddy stood up from her seat, half noticing the crash of the chair as she pushed it to the floor, and Rhydian watched her. Instantly, he noticed the change in her eyes and the thin, black lines gradually appearing up around her neck. "I have no idea what that means, but I don't care what you call it, I—"

But then Rhydian stood up too and begrudgingly grabbed her by the shirt, pulling her in to his chest so that no one saw the veins, and the eyes, and now the teeth, too.

"Let me go!" She wriggled and squirmed and hit him, trying to get away, but when nothing worked she decided to just yell at him from where she was.

"You are unbelievable, Rhydian! You need to stop pretending like you care about us when all you care about is yourself! I should've known you were keeping such a big secret from us. You're a liar. That's all you've ever been!"

And then, she tore her body away from his and ran at full speed out the door to the lunch hall. Everyone watched her until she was out of sight, and then all eyes turned to Rhydian.

"Nothing to see here," Shannon stood up behind Rhydian and took him by the shoulders, pushing him towards the door where Maddy had previously ran. They stopped just inside the hallway, letting the door close behind them.

Rhydian was frowning intensely, his jaw clenched and his eyebrows brought together.

"Since when was Maddy so sensitive!?" He exclaimed, but he already knew the answer.

"It's the Morwal," Shannon reminded him softly, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "She can't help it."

Rhydian was staring down at the ground, his fists clenched and his mind whirling around. He didn't know what to do; he didn't know how to control this.

For a moment he thought back over the time when this had been Jana; when she had turned at the slightest feeling of anger or betrayal and started going all-wolf.

He'd followed Jana then. That had helped.

"I have to go after her," Rhydian finally concluded, lifting his eyes up to meet his friend.

Shannon frowned. "What? No, not on your own; not when she's in that state and that angry at you. Maybe you should let her cool off a bit."

"No. She's dangerous; it's not her wolf. She could hurt someone," and then he looked at the floor and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. And when he looked up again, his eyes looked bloodshot and concerned. "…She could hurt herself." He started for the door to the car park but Shannon stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Rhydian, please…"

"Look," Rhydian started, giving her the gentlest look he could. "I know you're just trying to help; but Maddy's had to calm me down when I've nearly lost it so many times. Now it's my turn to do the same for her."

He was looking at Shannon so seriously, so sincerely, that she couldn't help but nod and let him go. He loved Maddy more than anything, and as it was his natural instinct to protect her, she couldn't keep him here.

"Good luck." Shannon said before he charged down the hallway and out the doors.

A/N: And the plot thickens, as they say. :P

Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter! I love you guys and reading back on all these reviews, faves and follows just makes me so happy. I never thought this many people would be in to this story and it makes me so happy that you guys like reading this story as much as I'm absolutely loving writing it. Thank you!

Hope you liked this chapter and that it didn't disappoint. Let me know what you thought in a review! :)

Love :* xxx

PS: Just in response to a question from a guest reviewer; I would never normally give any spoilers but in this case I will, so... no, Maddy will not be finding out she's pregnant in a few chapters of this story. I have a whole plot line ready and that's not in the plan as of yet :)