Helping the Wolves (Madison Joshi and the Wolves series- Book 2)

|41| Madison

The first thing that Maddy noticed was that it was dark everywhere. Contrary, to the faerie realm which was bright for nearly all the day, it looked to be near midnight in the normal world. They were standing in front of the washroom of the Cubbon Park.

"Ah! Now I understand," Alexa said.

Maddy turned to her to find that she was busy staring at the sky. "What?" Maddy asked.

"I understand why Xander went all Alphahole. It is nearly full moon. There is only four days left. That and the fact that he was surrounded by enemies was not a good combination."

Maddy's jaw dropped. "It is nearly full moon?" she spluttered. They had spent only five days in Faerie Realm but according to the position of the moon, nearly two weeks had passed in the normal world. Maddy remembered how Lila had told her that time worked differently in the library. Was it possible that the same thing happened in the Faerie Realm?

They were supposed to rescue Leia by the full moon, right? If Maddy recalled correctly, they were supposed to return by the time it was full moon. And apparently there were only four days left for them to rescue Leia and they hardly knew anything about Krithika.

"There are only four days left," Jeremy confirmed.

Maddy grit her teeth. Tatiana definitely knew about the time difference. Yet, she hadn't told them about it and kept each round of the competition in different days even though they could have been done with in one day itself.

"How are we going to find her within four days?" Maddy asked worriedly.

"Dad gave clear orders that we should only find out where Leia is being kept. He will send another team of werewolves to rescue her," Xander said.

"But by then it might be too late!"

"Sorry princess. It is a direct order from our Alpha. We can't go against it."

Maddy gagged at the nickname that Xander called her. Looked like Xander was back to his normal self.

Maddy turned to Jeremy. Surely, he would want to help but Jeremy only gave a sad smile. "I am helpless. I physically cannot go against my Alpha's orders just like how the Beta was helpless during the battle."

"Fine," Maddy said. If they weren't able to go get Leia back, she would go alone. She wasn't part of the pack so she wouldn't be bound by the Alpha's orders. But first they needed to find out where Krithika was keeping Leia.

Suddenly, Maddy realized something. "The Park only opens in the morning! We can't get out of here before that."

They could try to escape, but that might lead to trouble with the authorities. They collectively decided to stay in the park until it opened.

Maddy didn't even try to sleep. There was no place where she could lie down and sleep. Besides, she had rested enough in the Faerie Realm on Xander's insistence. She didn't feel even remotely sleepy. The others on the other hand, were drowsy.

"You guys can sleep. I will keep watch," Maddy said as she eyed a half asleep Xander.

"But you'll call us the moment you sense any sort of danger," Xander said.

Maddy nods her head solemnly. "Yeah. Even if the said danger is just a stray dog."

Xander groaned. "You know what I mean."

"Actually, I don't," Maddy said grinning as she quoted herself.

Xander grumbled something about stupid humans while Alexa and Jeremy watched their exchange with amusement. Alexa even managed to sneak in a wink while Xander wasn't looking. Maddy just pretended as though she hadn't seen anything.

"But where are we going to sleep?" Jeremy asked as he looked around the park.

Alexa shrugged. "I suppose we could shift and then sleep. That will be easier and much more comfortable. If that is okay with Maddy, of course."

"You get better sleep when you are in your wolf form?" Maddy asked curiously.

She had never thought of it that way. Maddy knew that contrary to all the story books, when werewolves shifted, both their wolf and human parts of themselves controlled their actions and reactions. It was only when strong emotions were evoked that the wolf took control. She had learnt it only a few weeks ago. Well, few days ago because to Maddy, she was still going by the time in Faerie Realm.

"Not better sleep but it will definitely be more comfortable to sleep on grass if we are in our wolf form. The fur and everything helps a lot," Jeremy explained.

"When we are done with all this adventure, we all are going to sit down and have an interrogation session. There is so much I need to learn."

The three of them shifted effortlessly. Maddy knelt down so that she was at a similar height. Staring at the three wolves, Maddy couldn't stop herself from asking. "So, hypothetically, if I threw a ball and asked you to fetch it, would you fetch it? Nod if yes and growl if no."

The three wolves seemed to judge her before Alexa and Jeremy nodded while Xander growled while nodding.

"I told you to do want one of them," Maddy said as she frowned at Xander.

Once again, Xander growled and nodded.

Maddy rolled her eyes. Clearly, Xander was as annoying and stubborn in his wolf form as he was in his human form.

What Xander did next surprised the hell out of Maddy. He just jumped at her and started licking her chin. Now Maddy had seen many weird things in her life, but that incident topped all other weird moments. Being licked in the chin by a wolf which is also a human wasn't something you experienced every day.

Maddy's immediate reaction was to push him away as she furiously wiped at her chin. "Gross," she commented. She had seen videos of wolves doing something to humans who they trusted in YouTube videos, but actually experiencing it was completely different. This supposedly showed that the wolf trusted her but Maddy would rather not have Xander lick her face like that.

But that didn't seem to faze Xander as he put his paws on Maddy's shoulders and proceeded to lick her cheek. "Fine," Maddy grumbled.

This seemed to be an invitation to the others because in the next moment, Alexa and Jeremy were on top of her, nudging her with their snouts. Maddy couldn't help but squeal. Imagine hugging a huge and extremely cuddly teddy bear and multiply that feeling by hundred. That was the only way Maddy could possibly describe how she was feeling at that moment.

"I thought you were feeling sleepy," Maddy said once she was done hugging those giant fluffballs.

Xander immediately took the lead and started running towards the grass on the right side of the main pathway. Alexa and Jeremy followed him and Maddy followed all of them. Xander stopped and started stamping on the grass in that area. Jeremy and Alexa also started doing the same. Maddy watched them with fascination.

Once the grass was comfortable enough for them to settle down, Xander circled the area before laying down. Once again, Jeremy and Alexa followed him and lay down. In less than a minute, the three of them were asleep.