Chapter 3

"I know there are birds in these woods. I heard them chirping away this morning. But now that I've go my camera out, they've all flown away," Shannon remarked, frustrated. It was the second day of the Yellowstone trip, and Shannon was determined to get some good photographs of their vacation.

"Maybe its us," Rhydian suggested, "To them, Maddy and I probably smell scary."

Maddy could tell he was planning something. He was trying to sound casual, but he couldn't hide the mischievous look in his eyes that usually came when he was trying to get away with breaking the rules at school.

"The olfactory systems on small birds is shockingly underdeveloped - they can barely smell thier food, let alone predators."

Of course Shannon would know that.

"We'll maybe we sound scary," Rhydian countered.

"Don't wolves usually go for bigger prey?"

"Yeah, but I'm getting pretty hungry," Maddy jumped in, "Maybe they taste like chicken."

"Gross!" said Shannon, and even Rhydian pulled a face.

"Only jokin'..."

"I'm starting to think you're right. Would you two mind if I spent a couple hours hiking by myself?" Shannon asked, hesitantly.

"Not at all," Rhydian replied, almost too eagerly.

After they were out of earshot, Maddy asked Rhydian, "What was that all about?"

"I don't know what you mean," he replied, trying to sound innocent.

"I'm not buying that. You're up to something."

"Nothing gets past you."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me?"

"You'll have to catch me first." And with that, he took off running further into the woods.

Laughing, Maddy followed.

He finally slowed down when he reached a meadow. Maddy saw that as an opportunity, so she sped up and caught him in a bear hug, attempting unsuccessfully to tackle her much taller boyfriend. She gave up and gave him a quick kiss instead.

"This is why I don't play American football," she said.

"Most women don't," he replied.

"True. So what were you going to tell me?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to spend the afternoon with my girlfriend," Rhydian remarked, pulling a picnic blanket out of his pack.

"Oh, you're so sweet!"

"Don't be so quick to say that. Its not a very fancy meal."

He pulled out Gatorade, ham and cheese sandwiches, two apples and some teriaki beef jerky.

"I dunno about that. Jerky is literally the best thing about this country."

"Was 'til you moved here."

"Why Rhydian Morris! You like me more than beef jerky? That is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me!"

He snorted, and she threw grass at him, laughing.

This led to a tickle fight and a fair amount of kissing. But it was kissing of the sort that you can't take seriously, as one or both of the participants was likely to start laughing again at any moment.

Eventually, the couple ate their lunch, then they packed up their garbage and lay on the picnic blanket, watching the clouds go by.

After awhile, Rhydian sat up and said, "Maddy, there's something I need to ask you about."

"Alright, what is it? You seem so serious all of a sudden."

"Well, I've been thinking about moving into the dorms when school starts."

"But why?"

"Your parents have been very kind to me, to let me tag along with your family when we were in Canada, moving around so often, but now that we're settled, I don't want to impose."

"That's rubbish. They don't mind."

"No, Maddy, you don't mind."

"Have they said anything to you?"

"No, but they don't have to. And with my dad paying my tuition, we'll he's already offered to pay for me to stay in the dorms."

"But what about our early morning runs? And where will you go for the full moon?"

"It's only twenty minutes away. I'll come back loads. And we'll be going to the same school."

"Yeah but - no, we're on vacation. Let's enjoy it. We'll worry about this when we get back." Maddy transformed into a wolf and ran into the woods.

Author's note:

Gerwin (sp?) got a nice fat check from Segolia, as compensation for all the crap they put him through. They also gave some money to all the wolfbloods Alex Kincaid used the serum on, including Rhydian and Jana. And Shannon and Tom too. The younger beneficiaries of this have been encouraged to save their money until they're older.

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