Wolf Girl (Book 3)

Chapter 8: Rhydian

Rhydian's POV

Maddy and my parents are the only ones who came out of this unharmed. Jana's neck is purple with bruising, Carys' too, but at least she got her medicine back. As for me, I have a sprained wrist. But our injuries will heal with the next rise of the full moon, the same can't be said for Bryn.

When Ingrid thought that Carys had dobbed her in, she followed the cubs down to the river, slashed Gwyn and Cadwr, grabbed Bryn while they weren't looking, and left him for dead in a cave.

We were all really lucky that Tove and Beca are scared of my parents. As soon as they arrived with the pack yesterday, they stopped fighting and we managed to pull Ingrid off of Carys before she did any permanent damage.

    It was terrifying, I thought she was dead. And suddenly we were back in that hospital room watching her bleed out. Jana managed to wake her eventually, but she was a mess. She won't stop blaming herself. This whole time we all thought she was getting bad again, and now she might actually be.

    Bryn's too sick for us to take him home yet so we're stuck out in the wild. And there's going to be a sort of trial, a hearing, and Carys wanted to make sure Ingrid, Beca and Tove wouldn't get away with what they did. Alric is now officially Alpha again, everyone's okay with that. There was supposed to be a big ceremony followed by a feast, but no one was in the mood to celebrate.

    Maddy grabs my hand, taking me by surprise, "The hearing's about to start, you still want to go? Because we don't have to, I'm sure your parents will tell us about it after."

We walk back towards camp, "Yeah, I think we should. We need to be there to support Carys, she might have to talk about what happened, like testify to Alric and the Elders. He might want us to speak too, the more we can do to help, the better," I kiss her and put my arm around her. "I'm sorry about our fight, I didn't mean what I said."

    "It's okay, you were upset, I understand."

    Everyone gathers in the centre of camp, anxiously waiting. I think back to the time I was the one being sentenced, I was only at the Kronock for a couple of hours before mum came and let me go, but I know how awful it is. They could even be exiled, and I've been a lone wolf before, it's just as bad. But it's hard to feel sorry for the people who nearly killed my brother and sister.

    The pack are all riled up waiting for the hearing to start. Maddy and I stand at the back with Carys and Jana. Bryn is sleeping in the tent with one of the pack healers looking after him. Mum and dad are crouched at the front. Everyone is chanting and cheering away as Alric walks over with Aran. Aran has Beca and Tove by the collars of their shirts, their arms are tied behind their backs with thickly woven vines. He kicks them to the ground. The crowd of bloodthirsty Wolfbloods cheer again, but we just stand and watch them as they try to keep what little dignity they have left.

    Alric brings everyone to silence, "No need to explain why you're here. You've both admitted to your crimes. You both have been revoked of the privilege to defend yourselves."

    The pack starts shouting again, things like 'Exile' and 'Kronock' and one or two people even shouted 'Kill'. The old Alric might have wanted to kill them too, but he's better than that now. He silences everyone again and begins pacing back and forth, thinking very carefully about how to deal with them.

I know what he's thinking; they're strong and loyal, and they could be useful in the future, but does he want to keep Wolfbloods around that might turn on their own pack? Carys nestles her head into Jana and she takes my hand. When Alric looks at her, she squeezes my hand. She's terrified of the tiny chance he might let them off with a warning, but at the same time, I know she doesn't want any harm to come to anyone.