Wolf Girl (Book 2)

Chapter 4: Rhydian

Rhydian's POV

After a sleepless night worrying about everything, I'm exhausted when I get up. I'm so nervous about seeing Jana and Carys, I'm worried that this thing with Ava is going to cause tension between Carys and me again, and then that'll cause tension between Jana and me. I can't lose my best friend.

When I first met Carys, I was skeptical about her. I played it off like I was just worried about Jana, which I was a little bit, but it was also because I felt some sort of connection to her. Not in the way I've always been drawn to Maddy, I don't have a crush on her or anything. I love Maddy. But I just feel like I have to protect her. She doesn't need my protection of course, but I can't help my instincts. I fought it at first, which is partly the reason that I treated her so horribly before. Those instincts freaked me out. I was as bad as Alric, and that's saying something. 

I've been wondering if she and Jana have been getting on in the wild. Jana has a phone with her, but of course, there's no signal out there so we've had no communication with them. I hope it's been okay for her. I hope Mum and Dad treated her well, I know Mum would but I'm not sure about Dad. He can be a little bit awkward at times. As for the rest of the pack, I just don't know. At least she and Jana have each other.

Her father betrayed them by leaving to become tame. Having been in the wild before, I know they don't take stuff like that lightly. I was sent to the Kronock for days just for having a stupid gossip magazine, and it wasn't even mine, I was hiding it for Jana. But I was partly to blame, I'm the one who took her to the human world. It worked out in the end, I got to come home and Jana found a whole new way of life with us, I wonder if she's missing it.

Whenever I think about those days, I realize how much of a bad influence I've been, and I don't want to be like that anymore. I don't mean I want to be a leader or an Alpha, but at the very least I can set an example. 

"Hey," Maddy creeps in, "You should get back before Mrs. Vaughan notices you're gone," she says, giving me a light kiss on the forehead, "I'm off to go and meet Shan."

"Do you have to go now? We've got hours until Jana and Carys arrive," I say.

"Shannon's making me do coursework with her before we get everything ready to meet them at the bus stop. Actually, you have coursework due in too, maybe you should come with us?"

Maddy's never been the type to push me to study, she just wants me to come so I won't be sitting around stressed all day.

"Nah, I'm more of a leave-it-until-the-last-minute kind of guy."

"That's called procrastination."

We head out of the house together, going our separate ways after sharing a quick kiss. Maddy and Shan are going to get some party poppers and make a welcome home sign to hold up when Carys and Jana get off the bus. Maddy can be soft sometimes too, though to be fair it was Tom's idea. We're going to hide so we can jump out and surprise them. They'll probably be able to smell us a mile away but it's the thought that counts.

As I walk home, I find myself getting more and more uneasy. I can't stop worrying about Carys and this Ava situation. I know she's already met Ava, but it must have been a shock, it was for me. I just feel strange. I'm all anxious and jumpy. It's sort of how I feel when I'm worried about Mum, Dad, or Bryn. Like something bad has happened. I'm sure they're fine. If anything has happened, Jana and Carys would tell me.

I sneak back into the house while everybody's still asleep, apart from Ollie, who's sat in the living room watching TV. I try to sneak past him, but he's got ears like a Wolfblood.

"Where've you been?" He asks, sounding like Mrs Vaughan when I get home past curfew, "At your girlfriends?"

"You'll understand when you're older Ollie," I laugh, "Do me a favour and don't tell Mrs Vaughn?" He nods and turns back to the TV.

I go up to my room and climb into my bed, I finally manage to fall asleep and find myself in a blissful dream. Me, Mum, Dad, and Bryn all live in a big house, one of those posh ones up on the hill. We have a forest for a garden, plenty of open space to roam, and everyone's happy. Maddy is there too of course. Jana, Carys, Tom, and Shannon come over and we sit and talk about normal, uncomplicated things. We go for runs through the mountains, even Ava joins us. It all feels so real in my head. Everything is perfect, but then it all goes dark.

Suddenly, a pack of dark-furred wolves burst through the windows. They land on broken glass but it doesn't phase them as they start approaching us slowly, and then suddenly they forward, ripping everyone I love to shreds. The biggest of the wolves edges closer to me, and just when it pounces, I wake up in a sweaty panic, unable to shake the image of its sharp teeth from my mind. I've had this dream before, way more than once. 

How often do you have to have a bad dream for it to be considered a recurring nightmare? Because I'm pretty sure that's what this is. Due to stress or whatever. I told Maddy about it the first few times, but it started happening more and more, so I just gave up on telling her. She borrowed this dream book from Shan, it said that the wolves could represent all the different emotions I'm feeling. I guess it sort of makes sense, if I believed in all of that hippy-dippy stuff.

I managed to get a few more hours of sleep before being woken up by Maddy calling me at midday, "Have you been sleeping all day?" She asks, and I respond with a grunt, "Come on, I'm outside, we're going for a run."

I'm still exhausted, but I'd rather be exhausted with Maddy than lie around and keep having nightmares. 

Maddy's wearing her green jumper, the cable knit one that I love; I sort of wish I had one of my own sometimes. I walk over to give her a kiss when she dodges me and giggles, running off into the woods, and I follow. She runs so much faster than me, but to be fair I had a pretty sleepless night. When she notices I'm struggling to keep up, she stops and waits for me.

"Let's take a breather," she says, taking my hand and leading me over to the river where we sit for a moment, "You're still so tense."

"Yeah, just instincts acting up," I tell her, "I can't help feeling like something's wrong. Other than my surprise sister," I scoff, still in disbelief that Mum lied to me for so long. 

"Like what?" Maddy asks, stroking my back.

"Maybe with Mum or Dad. I don't know, I think maybe this whole thing is just taking its toll and my instincts are all off-kilter. I'm sure everyone's fine. It's starting to pass a little bit, but last night and this morning, everything was just weird. You know how you get those instincts when something's happened to me or your parents? That's how it felt."

"You're right, it's probably just because of Ava. It's normal to be worried about your family when a bomb like this has just dropped," she pulls me closer and rests her head in the crook of my neck, "Everything will work out, it always does," she smiles and leans up to kiss me.

We lie back and stare up at the trees swaying above us in the wind for an hour or so. The leaves are full of colour and it's beautiful. I love spring. I love all of the seasons, the way they take turns showing off their beauty.

It reminds me of when I was in the wild with Mum, and Jana and I would lie around in the sunlight admiring the trees and the leaves. I've missed her.