Wolf Girl (Book 3)

Chapter 2: Rhydian

Rhydian's POV

Bryn wakes me up at the crack of dawn, "Mum says get out of bed," he says flatly, and runs downstairs.

Surprisingly, his impressive persuasion skills aren't what gets me up, it's the smell of bacon coming from the kitchen. I sluggishly stand up and traipse out to the landing.

Carys is standing in her doorway yawning, "You too eh?" She says.

I didn't mind Bryn waking us up every morning while we were in school, but it's the holidays, we should be able to have a lie-in. But Bryn is like an old man in a kid's body. 'The early bird catches the worm,' has become his catchphrase.

Mum has acquired some pretty decent cooking skills since she's been living in the human world, she only works 4 days a week so I'm guessing this is what she does on her days off. She's laid out a feast of breakfast; bacon, sausages, beans, tomatoes, hash browns, black pudding and all the different types of eggs possible.

"Wow, mum, there's going to be meat for us in the wild, no need to fill us up," Carys says as the rest of us dig in.

"Oh, I guess you're not hungry then," she teases Carys and takes her plate away, but bacon is no joke to a Wolfblood.

"I mean, uh, thank you, I'm starving," she pulls the plate back, breathing in the incredible aroma surrounding us.

"I could get used to this every day," Bryn says, scarfing down his food.

We finish the entire feast in about 5 minutes flat. Growing up in care, I always dreamt of things like this. Normal stuff. Like eating meals around the table with my family, going on holidays together, and fighting with brothers and sisters. I love that Carys has gotten used to calling them mum and dad, it really makes us feel like a proper family.

The doorbell rings and I get up, "That'll be Maddy and Jana."

"Maddy?" Mum says.

"Yeah, she's coming with us," I say as I head towards the front door.

"Why?" Bryn asks.

"Uh, because she's my girlfriend," I laugh it off.

"Are you sure it's wise she comes Rhydian? I don't know how the pack will react to a tame at the ceremony," Mum says.

"Mum, we're all tame now, and anyway, Carys is bringing Jana."

"That's different, Alric is Jana's dad," my annoying sister chimes in, "Just saying."

"Well, Maddy's my girlfriend and a part of our pack. She's coming."

I can't be bothered getting into an argument with Carys, even though I kind of like arguing with her because it winds her up and I always win. I guess it's a big brother thing.

I walk out of the kitchen to let Maddy and Jana in. Jana awkwardly greets me and continues on into the kitchen. Maddy looks at me.

She knows right away something's up, "Why don't they want me to come?"

Sometimes I forget how good a Wolfblood's hearing is.

"They're just being weird, but it doesn't matter, you're coming," I kiss her and wrap my arms around her, that's when I notice the huge backpack on her back, almost as big as she is. I can't help but laugh.

"What?" She gently pushes me.

"You don't know much about living wild, do you?" I shut the door behind her, and we go up to my room.

She immediately starts going through my clothes and packing a bag for me.

"Mads, I wanted you to come so you can get the experience of living wild. Carys is bringing her pills and her phone in case she needs to call her doctor but the rest of us aren't bringing anything. Well, Jana wants to bring toilet roll. If it was up to her, she'd bring the whole bathroom. You don't need all of that junk."

"Well I don't want to be all dirty and gross and stuff," sometimes she can be such a girl.

"Everyone out there stinks. I wouldn't worry about a little bit of BO," I kiss her again, "Besides you're already in need of a shower, Smelly Girl."

"Shut up," she pushes me back and I fall on my bed, then we both realise that this is the last time we'll be alone for over a week...

And then Bryn decides it's the perfect time to walk in without knocking.

"Why are you fighting?"

To be fair, if I was a kid and saw two people in this position, I'd think the same thing. Maddy quickly gets off of me and sits up.

"We're just practising, you know, in case anyone challenges us when we're out in the wild." I'm still good at lying. It's pretty easy to lie to Bryn.

"So, Bryn, are you excited to go and visit the wild pack?" Maddy asks, changing the subject.

"Are you joking? No, no I'm not," he says with a poker face and walks out of the room. He still hasn't mastered the fine art of sarcasm. As soon as the door shuts, Maddy and I burst into fits of laughter.

Once we're ready to go, and I've convinced Maddy to leave her gigantic bag behind, we head off for the wild. It's not a long walk because the pack are closer to us at the moment, so we get there within a few hours.

Immediately the pack start to get excited that their leaders are back, along with three heirs and a former Alpha. They start crowding around us.

"Back!" I hear a familiar voice thundering.

The pack makes a path, and Alric emerges from the crowd and approaches Jana.

"You've made the right decision to return Jana, now you can be my heir again," he embraces her.

Jana rolls her eyes when he's not looking, "Dad, I'm not staying. We've been over this. I'm only here to see take your rightful place as Alpha again."

He shoots a look at me, and then at Carys, "Which one is it this time? Which one is forcing you to be tame?" He walks right up to Carys.

They've made amends, but everyone knows she's still afraid of him. I step in front of her, it's clear that Jana's too oblivious to see that if Alric had his way he'd swallow us whole.

"It's Jana's choice, don't start this again," I say in his face. Jana holds Carys' hand and pulls her away from him, mum and dad growl at Alric.

"I am to be Alpha again, yes?" He asks them, still with a raised voice, making sure the whole pack can hear.

"Not if you continue this way, Alric," Dad steps up to Alric, "Jana is tame now, she is not a part of this pack anymore and she will not be your heir unless she chooses to."

"I knew he'd be like this," Jana says to Carys.

"She is my daughter," he growls back at dad and pushes past him, "Jana, you belong in the wild as long as you are an Alpha or an heir."

"I am neither," she says taking Carys' hand, "At least not for this pack."

Alric is clearly resisting the urge to lash out, he turns away in anger and goes to the den. We all instantly relax now that he's gone.

"You can't let him become Alpha when he's still acting like that," I say to my parents. I take Maddy's hand.

"He'll get over it," Jana says, "I know he's my father, and by blood, I'm going to be his heir again, but there's nothing he can say or do that will bring me back to the wild. I know where I belong, and sooner or later he's going to have to face that," she concludes.

She's saying all the right things, but she seems unsure, and so does Carys.

"Let us discuss it," Mum says as she and dad start to walk to the far side of camp, "Carys, don't forget your medicine," she shouts.

As badly as Alric treated me when I lived wild, he does make a good Alpha, people fall in line behind him and he really does want what's best for the pack. I don't blame him for wanting Jana to be his successor, she's a born leader. I just don't think it's a good idea if he's gonna go mad with power again. Mending his relationship with Jana is what got him granted Enouwian. Now that he's messing it up again, he's just asking to be exiled.

The rest of us sit by the river while Bryn runs off to see with Gwyn and Cadwr. It's been a long time since he's seen them. He's a year or two older than them so they'll follow him around and he can pretend he's in charge. It's not exactly a normal friendship, but it's good for him to spend time with kids closer to his age.