In Our Blood

Chapter Sixteen

There were a lot of "maybe"s surrounding Beca's actions at present.

 Maybe she had lied about going up to her room to do her homework. Maybe she had lied when she said she wouldn't be eating dinner because she felt sick. Maybe she wasn't actually at home. And, yes, her personal favorite: maybe she happened to be standing outside of Bernie's and listening in to Rhydian's conversation with his "mother".

"Why now?" Rhydian's voice sounded desperate and a part of Beca wished she could get rid of the woman who was causing him so much distress.

"I could sense your first transformation," the voice of the woman drifted through the brick wall that separated Beca from the two Wolfbloods. Her voice sounded strange, as if she wasn't sure of what she was saying when she spoke. Although, Beca was only thinking of how creepy it was for a mother to sense their child, who was thousands of miles away.

"How did you find me?" Rhydian spoke again.

The woman mumbled something in a foreign language that Beca didn't understand before translating. "A true Wolfblood will always find its kin. Your friends, they've corrupted you. Made you tame, like them."

A growl involuntarily escaped Beca's throat at the insult, but she quickly pulled it back. She stood up straight and made her way around the corner so she could enter the small café.

The bell ringed as she entered and her eyes quickly found Rhydian and a rough-looking woman sitting across from him. She hated the resemblance she saw between the two, but she ignored the thought when Rhydian spotted her. He looked like he knew exactly what she had been doing, but she decided to act like an innocent person.

Beca walked up to the counter and ordered herself a drink, casually leaning back on the counter to get a better look at Rhydian's "mother" when Bernie went off to make it. She had black hair and the same round face as Rhydian, but her eyes were a deep dark brown.

The woman looked up and made direct eye contact, a look of remembrance shadowing her features. "Rebecca?"

Beca's eyes darkened and her fists clenched tightly around the edge of the counter, her teeth baring instinctually. "How do you know my name?" She all but growled out.

The tense atmosphere was causing the Wildblood to become aggressive. "You're the one who's tamed my boy." Darkened veins ran up the woman's arms. "You and that Maddy girl."

Beca scoffed, straightening up and walking slowly over to the table the two were sat at. "Yeah. Because that wasn't caused by you leaving him."

The woman jumped up, eyes blazing yellow and teeth bared. She let out a loud growl and tried to lunge for Beca, but Rhydian was quickly there to stop her.

"Mum, not here!" He shouted, quickly grabbing the Wildblood by the arm and leading her out of the café. Beca completely neglected her ordered drink to race after them, but she was met by a harsh glare by Rhydian.

"What happened to making the decision myself?" He snapped.

Beca was taken aback. "I was just trying to help. She was—"

"Whatever," Rhydian dismissed, walking off to the woods beyond the small village and disappearing.

And she was left to think that maybe she shouldn't have done what she did. Maybe she should have let Rhydian handle this on her own.

Beca had successfully avoided Rhydian the next morning. At least, that's what she told Maddy, Tom, and Shannon as they settled into their seats in English, Maddy next to Shannon while Tom leaned across the aisle from his table with Jimi. Truthfully, he was making it quite easy to avoid him... considering he was avoiding her by all means necessary.