𝑷𝑨𝑷𝑬𝑹 𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺 • 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧. 𝐦 (wolfblood)

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐱

The day was slowly brightening up, and by the time lunch rolled around, the canteen was bright with the daylight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Their maths teacher had let them finish ten minutes early as a reward for the class doing so well in their last assessments, (this reward may not seem like much, but it was gladly accepted by the students) and so Lia and Maddy were able to claim a good table in the back corner, next to one of the large windows whilst Rhydian and Jana joined the small queue for hot food. 

Lia placed her bag on the bench beside her, pulling out a box of pastries she had packed earlier that morning and her book. She was currently reading a thriller which was, at times, a little tricky to understand, so she was reading it slowly. Opposite her, Maddy pulled out a messily wrapped sandwich, a notebook, and some stationary. She opened the notebook quite aggressively, causing Lia to pause mid-bite and raise an eyebrow at her sister. Maddy felt her stare and looked up, rolling her eyes at her expression, "What? I need to get planning for my campaign."

The redhead nodded as she swallowed a piece of croissant, "I know, I was just wondering what that notebook did to hurt you."

She received a deadpan look. Lia pressed her lips together before breathing out a small sigh, "Why are you doing this Mads?"

"You know why!"

"Look, Jana isn't trying to replace you as alpha or whatever you might be thinking – it's a school campaign! It's all good fun." Lia tried to sway her sister's view on the situation; without much luck. The bored, partially annoyed look on Maddy's face was scaring her a little now. Lia tried again, "You have to remember, until a couple of weeks ago, Jana's destiny was to be a pack leader – she was raised to be a pack leader. I honestly believe that this is just her way of gaining back some of that promised authority. This transition can't be easy for her. This is just her way of dealing with that denial of leadership."

Maddy contemplated her sister's words for a few moments, her eyes scanning the blank, lined page in front of her. She lifted her head, looking like she was about to respond when an approaching figure caught both their eyes. They turned their heads toward the person, only to look away with a heavy heart when they saw that the person was Shannon. The girl stood there with her lunch tray, clearly hoping or expecting to sit with them. Her intentions for coming over in the first place became clear when she said, "I've had some ideas for your campaign."

Lia dropped her pastry into her box, rubbing her temples with one hand. Shannon picked up on this movement and frowned a little, but her attention was soon turned back to Maddy when she spoke up, "You want to do something for us?" Shannon looked at the brunette hopefully, only to be immediately disheartened, "You can delete them. All of them."

"I would if I thought it would make any difference," Shannon said with a sigh. Lia's head snapped up, "This isn't your decision to make, Shan. Like it or not, what you have on that laptop could end us all."

And she wasn't being dramatic either. It was true. If Shannon's 'project' fell into the hands of the police it was game over for wolfbloods all around the globe. The lives of millions would be transformed, and not for the better. Lia had often thought about all of the different realities for her species if the secret ever got out. How could she not think about this? The secret, whilst sacred, could be exposed at any time, anywhere. Purposefully or not. All it took was the misjudgement of one wolfblood and that was it. If wolfbloods weren't hunted down, they would be restricted in their livelihoods and prevented from living like a normal person, or they would be restrained, hidden from human society and forced to live like animals. Any of that was realistic and could become her reality if someone found Shannon's data. The result would be... apocalyptic. She could barely even think about it.