In Our Blood

Chapter Five

        After racing through the woods, Maddy broke through the trees, scaring Tom and Shann. Jimi and his minions were there as well, from what Beca could sniff out as she walked forward to reveal herself.
        "What are you doing here?" Shannon asked Maddy as she eyed Beca warily. "I thought you had dinner with your parents?"
        Rhydian had appeared next to Beca, making Tom raise an eyebrow. "You had dinner with Rhydian?"
        "Together?" Beca asked, amused, but her comment wasn't heard over Maddy's insistance of him being her cousin.
        "Guys..." Liam, one of Jimi's friends, said.
        Tom listened for a second and they all heard the echoing snap of a branch. "What was that?"
        "The monster!" Shannon said, pulling out her camera.
        "Everyone get behind me," Maddy insisted, blocking the group of humans from the sound of growling. Beca couldn't help but think of how stupid the three of them were to think they could take a rogue wolf on their own, but when the whole group scattered at the sight of glowing eyes, her instincts took over.
        Maddy saw before following and quickly pushed Beca into the trees to hide her friend's glowing eyes.
        Beca looked up and caught the scent of the trespassing Wolfblood, a growl erupting from her throat as she glared at mass of fur stalking up to her.
        She leaned down with her teeth bared and veins blackened. She was ready to jump on the figure when a warm hand placed itself on her forearm, yanking her backwards. She turned to growl at her attacker, but paused when she saw Rhydian with his eyes glowing a dangerous yellow.
        "Get out of here," he said through his deep breaths of trying to hold his wolf back.
        Beca shook her head. "He's trespassing, Rhydian. He tried to kill my friends!"
        His grip on her arm tightened. "What are you gonna do, Beca? You can't transform yet, you'll just get hurt." When Beca's only response was to glare back over at the wolf that was slowly losing distance on them, he pushed her back into the shadows after muttering. "Stay here."
        The wolf inside of her wasn't going to let her stand back, but she paused when she focused back to see two wolves circling one another. She hadn't seen Rhydian as a wolf before, and she was slightly surprised with his build. The only wolves she'd ever seen to compare his to were Emma and Daniel's, and now this rogue's--who was now attacking him.
        "Rhydian!" Maddy's voice stopped Beca from jumping in to try and help. Maddy's eyes flashed yellow as she glared at the rogue. "Leave him alone!"
        Her shouting grabbed its attention and it bared its fangs, beginning to slink over to her. She held up Shann's camera and took a round of pictures, the flash scaring the wild Wolfblood. It turned away and ran off, in the direction of the end of the Smith's territory. 
        Rhydian shifted back and stood up, gripping his side in pain. Beca and Maddy helped him walk over to a tree before he slumped against it, sliding down the bark. Maddy sat beside him and Beca took up the spot beside her as she pulled out the camera.
        "Sorry I didn't believe you," Maddy muttered, guiltily looking through the pictures. "We didn't even know about wild Wolfbloods.
        Beca leaned over to get a better look at the pictures. "You can't even tell that's a wolf," she scoffed.
        Maddy shrugged. "We've gotta leave something for Shann."
        "Yeah," Rhydian agreed. "Anyway, that's my best side," he said, glancing at the barely distinguishable picture of him in wolf form.
        The three sighed as they realized they ought to get up and find the others. After getting a hilarious picture of Jimi and his minions screaming, they met Maddy's parents at the van. Each received an equally harsh glare from Emma and Daniel, though no words were said as Tom and Shannon were with them. Beca felt guilty when she noticed the glares Rhydian kept receiving from her guardians, as if they thought he was the reason they were out there.
        When they got back to the house, they gathered in the corner of the living room, where the computer was tucked away. Shannon was scrolling through the pictures, becoming increasingly annoyed at the lack of credible evidence that anything had been out there that night. Maddy kept trying to point out what the three of them could easily see was a Wolfblood, but Shann refused to see it.
        Beca got tired of seeing her friend become agitated, so she grabbed Rhydian's arm and pulled him out of human earshot. He stood there, expectant as she tried to figure out how to put what she was thinking into words.
        "Uh... thanks," she said after a good minute of silence. "For not letting me go after him tonight."
        Rhydian looked surprised. "Oh, yeah. No problem. I wasn't going to let you get torn apart."
        Beca rolled her eyes at him, playfully shoving him. "You have so much faith in me," she said sarcastically, earning a slight chuckle from him. Neither of them noticed Emma and Daniel take an interest in their conversation. Maddy was still too interested in cheering up her friend and keeping Tom from saying anything too rude about Shann's "monster".
        He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at her again. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I just--" He seemed at a loss for words and let out a sigh. "I've never had a reason to not block everyone out of my life before. I don't know, just... sorry."
        "Friends?" Beca managed to bring herself to say, holding out her hand. Rhydian just looked at it with a goofy smile before shaking it.
        "Friends."
        

(I know this was a shorter part than usual, but I wanted to take this time to make a little note. This isn't an "I'm abandoning my other Wolfblood story to write this one" sort of thing. It's more of an "I got way too much inspiration to write this story that it overpowered my inspiration for my other one for a little bit." I apologize is you like the other one better, I promise it will be continued and it will definitely have another chapter by the end of the week. Promise!)