Hunters, Hunted (Wolfblood Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Rhydian

When we reach the top of this hill I’m using Eolas to find Maddy whatever Jana says.

            It’s been three days since we left the wild pack’s territory back in Wales and Jana hasn’t allowed us more than a few moments rest in all that time. Sure, we’ve made good progress because of it and have even hunted pretty well along the way, but I’m sick of her treating me like she’s superior. I guess she’s got used to being an alpha and taking control of every little thing, and forgotten that I’m not one of her pack members. She’s been resisting any of my attempts to use Eolas and search for Maddy, always insisting we move faster and faster towards Stoneybridge; I want to believe that it’s just because she’s worried about her pack, but a voice is nagging me with the idea that it’s because she doesn’t like the idea of Maddy and I together.

            One thing I can’t deny, however, is that I’m very glad to have her with me, for numerous reasons. I have missed her, it’s just been supressed by my missing Mads, and she’s keeping both of us fed as well as heading in the right direction. Besides, her being here is proof that there’s every possibility that Maddy’s somewhere out here, too, on her way home. I can but hope.

            With what feels like the very last of my strength I crest the top of the hill, shoulders sore under my rucksack straps and legs quaking beneath them. We’re in a grassy field, slightly greyed by the onset of winter, with a classic British hedgerow along its edge and a style to my right. Bracken-covered moors start a few fields away, and far beyond them I can see the tumbling leaden sea, virtually the same colour as the sky.

            I sink to the ground, fingers splayed, and breathe in that landscape, slowly and carefully. That breath sweeps away my worries and replaces them with a wonderful awareness of Mother Nature, the thing I love most about Eolas. I’m just settling into the feeling of it, when Jana grabs my wrist.

            “Rhydian, I’ve told you, we don’t have time for this.” I don’t move and she doesn’t let go, so I grit my teeth and say,

            “I need to find Maddy.” She crouches down next to me – without letting go of my wrist – and puts her other hand on the side of my face. I shift uncomfortably.

            “Look,” she says more gently, “I get that she’s your friend and part of your pack and she’s important to you. But isn’t saving our entire race more important to you right now?” No.

            I find myself snapping, “Jana, I love her. She’s my mate. What could be more important than that?”

            For about a second a mixture of surprise, hurt and confusion flashes across Jana’s face before it is covered again by a more blank expression. Her hands drop off of me.

            “Oh,” she says.

            It’s an awful moment when I realise that Maddy can’t have told Jana about us. There could be many reasons for it, of course, but the ones that worry me are that Mads just doesn’t feel it matters enough to tell anyone, or wants to move on from it.

            You still have to find her. I know that's true. So when Jana says, "Go on then." I settle back into the grass and lift my eyes to the steely sky and focus my thoughts on Maddy - then I'm flying across the landscape, swooping over fences and between trees and leaping the waves just as if I'm the wind. The sense that I'm getting close to her brings a smile to my lips because this means that she wasn't caught. She's free. And that means I can get to her.