In Our Blood

Chapter Four

        That morning had been a dreadful start to an even worse day. Beca woke up by Maddy shaking her violently. Apparently she had been screaming in her sleep about something, but Beca couldn't remember her dream for the life of her. Then Emma managed to get the information about Rhydian out of them, and now she wanted to invite the boy around for dinner tonight.
        While they both protested, Emma wouldn't take no for an answer. Maddy took the task of letting Rhydian know he was invited while Beca kept zoning out in class, the task of remembering what had made her scream keeping her occupied. She wasn't one to scare easily, and she didn't usually forget dreams that woke her up.
        "Miss Smith," a voice called from right next to Beca, but she made no move to answer it. She was sitting at her desk in her maths class, drumming her fingers on her desk. After a few moments of silence, the voice spoke again. "Rebecca."
        The use of her full name snapped her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see her teacher with an angry expression on his face. "Um, yes, sir?"
        Sarcasm was dripping from his tone when he spoke next. "As much as I love your enthusiasm for my class, Miss Smith, the bell rang five minutes ago."
        Beca's eyes widened and she quickly muttered her apologies before standing up and throwing her bag over her shoulder. She met a familiar pair of blue eyes outside of the classroom. Rhydian was leaning against the white wall with an amused smirk on his lips.
        "Rebecca?" He said with the smirk very evident in his voice. She rolled her eyes and sped up her pace, not in the mood to talk with the boy following her. He showed up beside her, matching her long strides. "Where are you going?"
        Beca fought the urge to roll her eyes once again and sighed. "I'm starting to see why Maddy wanted you gone," she spat, taking a quick turn and heading into the left hallway to get to her locker.
        He kept following, but his voice seemed more sorrowful when he spoke next. "I'm guessing she's told you her memory card theory?"
        Beca reached her locker and pulled out her key quickly, raising an eyebrow at Rhydian as she did so. Then her gaze drifted to the flyer taped on the window across from them. Lost Memory Card! If Found, Return To Shannon Kelly. She sighed and shoved her head in her locker with a groan. "Shannon, you idiot," she muttered to no one in particular.
        "So I gave it back, okay? Problem solved," Rhydian huffed, shoving his hands into his pockets.
        Beca shot him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"
        A look of realization covered his face. "Oh, right, you weren't in English this morning. Shannon got a picture of one of us and she went to go get proof of it on her memory card, but I took it so she wouldn't expose us all. Where were you, anyway?"
        A blank look covered her face as she pulled out a science book and put it into her backpack. She turned to Rhydian and glanced around the emptying hallway briefly, before hardening her glare on him. "I was running. But I swear, if you tell Maddy, I will kick your hide back to Wales."
        The Welsh comment didn't even seem to register in Rhydian's mind as a smile settled itself on his lips.
        "What?"
        "I have something against you now," he said.
        "Yeah, well, you're the only one of us that can transform, so Shann's picture had to have been you. Therefore, your information is useless."
        His face fell. "What is it with you two?" He said through a clenched jaw. "It wasn't me. I'm not stupid, I wouldn't be out there while your camera-crazy friend is."
        "She's not crazy," Beca snapped back.
        "Yeah?" He pushed. "Then why don't you go tell her the truth? Tell her how right she's been this whole time? She's standing right over there," he said tauntingly, pointing over where Shannon was talking with Maddy and Tom. Maddy glanced up wearily and met Beca's eyes, but the fact just made the young Wolfblood angrier, knowing her friend had been eavesdropping.
        She didn't bother coming up with another blow to anger Rhydian. Her breathing was getting heavy and her blood felt warm, and when she glanced down at her wrists, she saw her veins darkening. She looked back up at the boy and shot him one more glare before turning tail and running out of the hallway, and eventually the school.
        She felt a hand on her wrist by the time she was in the schoolyard and whipped around, a growl rumbling low in her throat when she saw Rhydian. He opened his mouth to apologize, but she cut him off.
        "Stop!" She yelled, not caring if anyone else heard. "Stop playing the 'I'm all alone' card! You're not the only one who's lost your family."
        "Rebec-"
        "No one calls me Rebecca," she growled before walking off again.

        Beca sat on her bed, staring down at a picture of she and her parents just a week before they died. She was dressed in a pair of overalls and had mud smeared on her face while her mother was trying to clean her up in a way-too-frilly-for-owning-a-child pink dress. Her father's black hair had fallen into his blue eyes while he was in the middle of saying something to her mother. From what Beca remembered, he was trying to stop her from cleaning up their child.

        A droplet of water appeared on the glossy paper and reached up to brush away the previously unnoticed tears.
        She sighed and glanced over at the clock. She came home after she had left school, receiving a disapproving glance from Emma when she turned up. It was now six and Maddy was back. Beca could hear the discussion of Rhydian coming over, which made her blood boil. She had withheld the want to punch him by running home, but Emma would not let her run out of the house with the temper she'd had lately.
        "Beca, supper!" Maddy's voice echoed up the stairs.
        Sighing, she shoved the picture under her pillow and stood up, making her way down the stairs. She ignored the gazes of the Wolfbloods around her as she sat down at the table, confusing Maddy and her parents. She hoped her eyes weren't red from the few tears she had spilled.
        Rhydian had, of course, chosen the seat beside her and began to dig into the hog roast while Beca picked at her food slowly. If food brought family together, it brought those two even further apart. The air grew more tense every time his elbow bumped into hers. Finally it ended and Emma and Daniel took Rhydian down to the den to give him an adequate tour.
        "Mam, no," Maddy said, trying to keep them from embarrassing her.
        Beca didn't get up from the table with the rest of them, sighing and putting her head on the table once they were gone. She just wanted to go back in time and take back what she had said to Rhydian about her family. Now he knew something about her that she hadn't even admitted to anyone else--she missed her parents. She may not have said that, but the fact wasn't too hard to deduce from her statement.
        Maddy's voice rose from the basement, catching her attention. "No, you said most of us! You've always told us to keep ourselves locked away!"
        "Maybe we should," Daniel said as Beca made her way towards the stairs.
        "She's not old enough yet."
        "Old enough for what?" Beca said once she was in the doorway of the den. Daniel and Emma snapped their heads in her direction, now realizing that they couldn't hide this from the two any longer.
        "There are other Wolfbloods that don't lock themselves away, aren't there?" Maddy said, looking hurt.
        "We were going to tell you once you transformed."
        "We didn't want to scare you," Emma added.
        "Scare us?" Beca said, confused at why a Wolfblood running free would be frightening.
        "There are Wolfbloods out there who... well, don't share the same values as us. Wild Wolfbloods."
        Daniel nodded. "They don't believe that human interaction is worth the risk, and they hate us for it."
        "Wait, but that means that the wolf in the picture was..." Maddy trailed off as she looked to Rhydian.
        He rolled his eyes in return. "I told you it wasn't me!"
        Beca ignored him, as she was getting accustomed to doing, and looked at Maddy. "Tom and Shann are out there."
        "What? Where?" Emma asked.
        "In the woods," Beca explained. "Shann took a picture of her 'monster' and we thought it was Rhydian, because we didn't know about wild Wolfbloods!"
        "Okay, you two stay here--" Daniel started, knowing that the girls would try and save their friends.
        "No!" Maddy said, following her parents as they walked up the stairs. Beca was right beside her while Rhydian dragged behind slightly.
        Emma turned around to face them with a stern expression whilst putting on her coat. "If there's a wild Wolfblood out there, we'll sniff it out."
        Without another word, the two adults left and drove off, leaving Beca shaking her head. "We know where they are. This is ridiculous."
        "Mam and Dad know what they're doing," Maddy said, though she looked nervous herself.
        "In their car?" Rhydian asked. "If that Wolfblood is out there, he'll be using his senses to track down Tom and Shannon."
        Though she hated to admit it, Beca and Rhydian were actually agreeing on something. "We'll get there faster, Mads."
        Maddy sighed in defeat and started towards the door. "Fine, but no wolfing out."
        Beca wasn't sure if that was aimed towards her recent bursts of anger or Rhydian's ability to actually turn into a wolf, but she didn't care about it enough to question. She cared about making sure her friends didn't get maimed and killed, even if it meant letting them find out her secret.