Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 2: Mystery Breeds Distrust

Maddy ran home the whole way through the woods, slightly happier that the awkward circumstances were at least providing her with a new friend. She picked up her speed as she remembered that she was promised a treat from her mother, upon her return home from school.

She slowed down to a relaxed jog as her family's property came into view and she practically skipped through her family's personal vegetable garden and into the kitchen. Daniel was reading a newspaper at the kitchen table, while Emma was placing already cooled chocolate chip cookies into the cookie jar for later consumption.

Maddy grabbed the nearest cookie towards her and took a bite, before mumbling a thank you towards her mother.

"I believe there was a thank you somewhere in there," Emma said amusedly, gesturing Maddy to take a seat at the table.

"How was your day sweetheart?" Daniel questioned her, putting his paper down and taking a swig of tea from his mug.

"Good," Maddy said, after struggling to swallow the giant bite of cookie she'd just taken and took a gulp of milk to wash it down from the freshly poured glass, by Emma.

"How did the rest of your day go with Rhydian?" Emma asked, sitting down at the table grabbing a cookie for herself.

"Better. He's not so bad as I thought he was. Though he'll definitely need to come up with a plan for changing in the future. Those were his pawprints that Shannon discovered on the moors last night," Maddy said.

"Did Shannon realize that they are wolfblood prints?" Daniel questioned seriously, leaning forward to better gauge his daughter's reaction. Maddy shook her head negatively.

"No. The print was too muddy to be clear enough to establish it beyond a dog. All the results pointed to a hound dog. Shannon was very disappointed," Maddy replied before polishing off the rest of her treat.

"Better that she be disappoint then keep searching," Daniel said trying to go for a sweet himself and getting his hand batted away by Emma.

"Not now. You'll ruin your dinner," Emma scolded Daniel, before addressing Maddy, "Please tell Rhydian tomorrow that he needs to come over for dinner so we may come up with a solution for his next change."

"I will, but you should know that Shannon won't stop searching for her monster on the moors. At least she's not certain if it's a wolfblood or what," Maddy said, sneaking two cookies and tossing one to her father, which was intercepted by her mother who ate it herself. They all laughed and continued on with their dinner preparations.

/

The next day, Maddy was happy to find out from Shannon that the photography club was going to survive, but not as pleased when she realised it was all due to the K's joining to support their ambitions of becoming models and creating their own portfolio. Maddy hated that the survival of her beloved photography club rested on such a double-edged sword.

Throughout the week, Maddy avoided the K's whenever they were in the photography club, but she soon found it was slightly more tolerable when Rhydian was there diffusing the situation, though he was nothing more than an honorary member of the club.

It wasn't until the end of the week that Maddy felt her wolf edging ever closer to the surface, which was brought to the edge when Jimi came in on Thursday morning, waving a London newspaper around with the more recent news of the clashes between wolfbloods and anti-wolfblood supporters.

"What's going to be next? Vampires living in Buckingham palace?" Jimi questioned as he dropped the newspaper on top of the book Maddy was reading on her desk.

Maddy knocked it off her desk and gave Jimi and annoyed look with a raised eyebrow. Liam quickly picked it up and handed it to Jimi, who was unrelenting in his staring contest with Maddy. He playfully hit her in the head with the newspaper, but was stopped by Rhydian's hand. The two males sized each other up and Jimi relented, before continuing with his conversation.

"I wonder if there are any wolfbloods in Stoneybridge?" Jimi asked their form class, who'd all stopped their conversations to watch the exchange.

"Doubt it. Nothing cool ever happens here," Kara said instantly rejecting the idea as they class collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

"What about my monster on the moors? What if that is one of those wild wolfbloods that they've been talking about on the news?" Shannon argued, to a near deaf class, who were uninterested in her rants.

"That is nothing more than a figment of your imagination," Jimi taunted Shannon, who looked at her books in shame.

Mr. Jeffries came into the classroom a moment later, starting roll call, but Maddy couldn't help but feel sympathy for her best friend, who'd once again been put down in front of the entire class.

/

Maddy spent the rest of class tuning Jeffries in and out, until she realized near the end that Jeffries was waving to get her attention.

"Yes sir, sorry sir," Maddy quickly apologized realizing that she'd missed everything. Jeffries shook his head in disappointment.

"Maddy, I expected better of you. You and Jimi are being paired for the history project presentation on Northumbria. I hope you perform better during your presentation then you are now," Jeffries lamented as he continued pairing her classmates off.

Maddy could feel anger and rage coming off around the people around her. What confused her was the rage coming from Tom and Rhydian, in full force and agitation. Only Jimi was angry, which she noticed disappeared the second she looked at him.

/

It wasn't until Maddy was sitting with Shannon, Tom, and Rhydian during dinner break in the cafeteria that Jimi approached her to talk about their project.

"So I think we should get started on our project tonight. How about you come over to my house after school?" Jimi suggested, growing annoyed when Maddy shook her head.

"I can't tonight. I'm having this big dinner with me parents and Rhydian's coming over too," Maddy said, to which Jimi responded with more than just annoyance.

"I"m not going to get a bad mark on this project just because you'd rather spend time with Leek Boy!" Rhydian, who up until this point had refused to acknowledge the exchange in favour of sketching, threw down his pencil and stood up. Maddy stood up as well and put a hand on both of their chests to keep them separated.

"How about we work on the project all weekend? I'll come over first thing in the morning?" Maddy compromised.

"And during study period today as well," Jimi threw back at her quickly, enjoying the way Rhydian's jaw tensed. Reluctantly, Maddy nodded and Jimi smirked in victory.

"See you at study period," Maddy said shoving Jimi away slightly, her hand still on Rhydian's chest stopping him from moving forward. Something both Jimi and Rhydian noted, the former with a slow smile glancing down at Maddy's hand, only to raise his gaze at his rival, a solitary golden eyebrow going up. Reluctantly Jimi nodded, but not before sneering at Rhydian and shoving past him, knocking Maddy's hand from his chest, to walk over to where his mates sat on the opposite side of the cafeteria.

"You shouldn't let him rile you up like that," Maddy chided Rhydian after they'd both sat down.

"Ya, he's given us all names at one time or another," Shannon agreed with Maddy as she finished the last bite of her cookie. Rhydian shook his head in disagreement.

"It's not because he calls me Leek Boy. Nevermind. You wouldn't get it," Rhydian said putting away his sketchbook in his bag and grabbing his tray to throw away.

Rhydian heard Maddy and Shannon move onto another topic and Tom get up and follow behind him. They both threw away their trash and walked outside to the commons area to enjoy the remainder of the sun.

"It's cause he likes Maddy isn't it?" Tom asked Rhydian quietly.

"It's kind of funny that she doesn't know, but I just really don't like the way he treats her and teases her is all," Rhydian explained shrugging his shoulders.

"Do you like her?" Tom asked, surprising Rhydian as shown by his eyebrows rising on his face and small smile on his lips.

"It's hard not to like Maddy," Rhydian responded before giving Tom a knowing look. Tom nodded and the two of them grabbed a basketball and played in the courtyard until final bell rang.

/

The rest of the day dragged on in a slow and punishing pace and Maddy regretted to agreeing to Jimi's demand that they start on their project during study period. Jimi spent the majority of the study period joking around with Liam and Sam, who in turn played pranks on Shannon. Maddy frowned at their childishness and regretted the waste of her time. Shannon gave as good as she got, which resulted in them all being given detention, much to Maddy's chagrin.

Once the teacher returned to her seat, resuming grading papers, Maddy leaned over and flicked Jimi in the ear, which resulted in him whipping his head up and flashing his eyes in annoyance.

"Oi! What was that for?" Jimi asked angrily as he rubbed his now sore ear.

"Either you start helping me with our project on Northumbria or I go to Jeffries and tell him that I did it all meself," Maddy growled back. Cowed by the short girl's aggression Jimi apologized and diligently worked with her for the rest of the study period.

Maddy was pleased with the progress that they had made on their project when the bell rang for their last class that she offered a smile and thanks to which he replied, "See you in detention."

Maddy groaned at the reminder and was surprised by his arm wrapping around her shoulders.

"Don't worry Smith. I'm sure it won't make you too late for your "special" dinner with Leek Boy," Jimi teased as Rhydian, who was walking in front of them talking to Tom about something, tensed visibly and looked backwards to see Jimi's satisfaction all over his face and Maddy annoyed one.

/

Maddy bounced her knee up and down waiting for detention to be over. Much to her chagrin, Jimi had muscled his way past Shannon and stole the remaining seat at Maddy's desk so that she was stuck with him for detention. Shannon gave her a sympathetic smile as she herself was forced to sit next to her nemesis as Sam found a way to wiggle out of his detention until Monday.

Maddy tried to finish her reading for English Lit, but found her head turning consistently out the window to the basketball court, where she knew Rhydian and Tom were playing as they waited for the two girls.

"Oi! Why do you keep looking out the window?" Jimi whispered to her as Mrs. Parish scowled, while grading science exams.

"Just lookin'," Maddy whispered as she shrugged and forced her head to go back to her reading.

"Looking for Leek Boy?" Jimi whispered back, Maddy catching the hint of annoyance in his voice.

"No. I just prefer to be outside," Maddy shot back quickly. Jimi looked like he was considering her words, when Mrs. Parish let them go and Maddy quickly leapt out of her seat, book and bag in hand and practically ran out of the classroom.

/

Once outside, Maddy leapt in front of the game of one-on-one that Rhydian and Tom were playing and stole the basketball to make it into the other hoop. Seamlessly, Rhydian and Tom teamed up against Maddy to try and steal the ball back.

"I'm so ready for the weekend," Shannon said walking over to them. Liam, Sam, and Jimi lagging behind her talking amongst themselves.

"Right! We should have a movie night! Anyone up for cheesy nachos?" Maddy agreed making another basket, which had Rhydian chasing her around the courtyard.

"I'm down," Tom agreed putting his arm around Shannon and shaking his head at Rhydian and Maddy's antics.

"How's Saturday?" Shannon asked everyone. Before Maddy could answer, Jimi, followed by Sam and Liam, interrupted, "I don't think you'll have any time on Saturday or Sunday for that matter. I plan on keeping you busy all weekend-"

Maddy stopped running around and her mouth hung open in shock at Jimi's insinuation, which was exactly the reaction he wanted by the smirk on his face. Everyone was tense and Maddy heard Rhydian's knuckled crack behind her. She didn't have to turn around to notice that he'd probably was trying to cover up his wolfblood veined hands.

"-Working on our project," Jimi finished his statement, to which the group all seemed to audibly relax.

"It's not going to take all weekend. Let's meet at Shannon's on Sunday afternoon," Maddy suggested to which, Tom, Shannon, and Rhydian agreed.

"Are we invited to this-" Jimi started in, but Maddy quickly interrupted him, "No. You're not."

Jimi stalked out of the courtyard, followed by Sam and Liam and Maddy quickly diffused the situation, by linking her arm through Shannon's, starting the walk towards town, where they would all go their separate ways home.

"I don't know about you, but I'm excited for Sunday night. We should watch something really scary," Maddy said.

"But not super scary. I don't want to have nightmares again," Shannon whined as Tom and Rhydian caught up to the two girls on either side.

"Oh no! It has to be scary Shannon! Last time you and Maddy made me watch that romantic comedy and I demand a manly scary film. Back me up on this Rhydian!" Tom demanded and he and Shannon continued to argue with each other the entire way into town.

/

Maddy and Rhydian separated from Tom and Shannon once they hit the center of town and continued walking towards Maddy's family home. Once they hit the woods, they shared a mischievous look before breaking into a run. They playfully ran through the forest together, sometimes racing and at other times yipping at each other. They continued until they reach the outskirts of Maddy's property and encountered her father who was just finishing the day's work in the field.

"Well don't you pups look happy? Good day at school?" Daniel asked wiping his hands on a clothe.

"Eh. Just glad it's over," Maddy shrugged before jumping on Rhydian's back playfully.

"Oi you two! Go get washed up! Supper will be ready soon," Emma called out from the doorway of the house.

After the family meal, Emma and Daniel spoke in quiet tones in the farthest part of the wolf den with Rhydian as Maddy was made to do the dishes, which she quickly sussed out was a tactic to prevent her pup ears from listening in.

Maddy quickly gave up on trying to listen in and was distracted by the vibrations of her mobile phone. Jimi's name flashed on her phone as it kept ringing. Maddy was tempted to ignore it, but sighed as she decided to do the right thing.

"Hello Jimi."

"Heya Mads. Listen I was wondering if we could change plans and study at yours tomorrow. My parents are renovating and I think it'll be too noisy for us to work on the project," Jimi said.

"Ya that's fine. Meet at my place around 10." Jimi groaned over the phone.

"So early in the morning? Couldn't we meet later?"

"Do you want finish this project or not?" Maddy shot back as she heard the sounds of her parents and Rhydian returning from the den.

"Fine. See you in the morning," Jimi grunted before he hung up the phone. Maddy rolled her eyes as she ended the call and returned to her dishes.

"Everything alright?" Daniel questioned her, as he poured more tea into his mug.

"Ya. Jimi wants to work on our project here instead tomorrow. His parents are renovating," Maddy explained.

"You going to be ok here alone tomorrow? Your father and I have to drive into the city for the farmer's market," Emma asked.

"Of course. It's just Jimi," Maddy shrugged off the question, not noticing the annoyed look on Rhydian's face.

"You know he likes you right?" Rhydian asked as Maddy snorted rinsing off a dish.

"The only person Jimi likes is the one he sees in the mirror everyday."

"Maddy I'm being serious. I don't think it's right you guys being alone. I could stay-" Maddy cut Rhydian off with a slam of a mug in the sink.

"I've known Jimi since we were infants. He's not a threat. I've known him longer than I've known you," Maddy fired back, which resulted in both hers and Rhydian's eyes flashing yellow.

"Alright you two. That's enough for tonight," Emma spoke, letting a thread of her Alpha go through her voice. Rhydian backed off, recognizing Emma's authority and his eyes returned back to their normal blue-green hue.

"Suit yourself," Rhydian spat off before leaving the Smith's house.

"Well you could've handled that better," Daniel commented to Maddy, who just sulked as she returned to her dishes. Looking out from the window Maddy watched Rhydian's slowly retreating back and she hated to admit it, but she agreed with her father.

/

All during the following day, Maddy cursed herself a thousand times over for not taking Rhydian up on his offer to come over. Jimi was insufferable the entire day and she found herself praising every god and goddess in the heavens once they'd finally finished the project.

"Thank the gods that's done," Maddy proclaimed as she stretched from her chair at the kitchen table.

"We're definitely going to get a good mark on this project," Jimi commented as he started to put away all his things and Maddy nodded in agreement.

"Do you want to grab dinner at Bernie's with me?" Jimi asked surprising Maddy.

"What? Now?" Jimi nodded.

"I feel like we deserve to treat ourselves after all this work we put in," Jimi said as Maddy considered his words. Her stomach growled loudly in the silence of the room.

"I guess a burger couldn't hurt," Maddy agreed.

/

An hour later, found Maddy and Jimi eating at Bernie's and being joined by Shannon and Liam, who'd been camped out at Bernie's all day working on their project, which according to Shannon was going to be a complete and utter disaster.

"What is your obsession with pickles Liam? And they weren't invented in Wales!" Shannon and Liam continued their argument over their own burgers.

"I'm glad for once that Liam's not my partner," Jimi said leaning into to whisper Maddy's ear. His breath tickled her ear making her slightly smile. She turned her head and whispered back.

"Don't fancy doing a project on the Welsh discovery of pickles and watching Jefferies hand you both your arses?"

Maddy and Jimi shared a muffled giggle, when movement near the doorway of Bernie's caught her eye. Rhydian and Tom stood in the doorway.

Tom quickly walked to the counter placing his order, but Rhydian took a moment to look between Maddy and Jimi, the latter having not realized that Rhydian had entered the premises.

"How's everyone's projects coming so far?" Tom asked after ordering his food and walking over to the table.

"I'm so glad you asked, because you see it turns out that pickles-" Shannon cut off Liam's answer by gritting through her teeth, "Don't even think about it Liam. We are not doing a project on bloody pickles."

Properly chastised Liam shut his mouth, wisely and sensing his friend needed a lifeline, Jimi started a conversation with Liam and Tom about football.

Rhydian joined the table after placing his order, sitting across from Maddy and to her surprise Jimi for once made no comment.

The conversation changed as the meal continued to the subject of current politics and eventually onto wolfbloods. Surprisingly Liam was as curious and interested in the subject of wolfbloods as Shannon and the two continued to debate with some interjections from Jimi. Maddy felt her wolfblood start to run think and she focused on her breathing to make sure to keep herself in control. Maddy glanced up and saw that Rhydian was not sharing her lack of control and was cooly regarding the debate going on at the table.

"I just don't understand why everyone is so afraid of the idea of wolfbloods. They've honestly been existing for as long as humans and they're not interested in world domination. What's the big deal?" Liam said.

"Are you daft? If there's nothing to be afraid of, then why have they been in hiding this whole time?" Jimi questioned and subtly rested his arm along the back of Maddy's chair, earning himself a blue-eyed glare from Rhydian.

"They could have the cure for cancer in their blood. Their abilities to heal and all the other things that we don't even know about them could be the cure to so many medical problems. The potential is unlimited," Shannon said with her natural excitement.

"Think of how they could be weaponized and used in battle. No one would want to come up against a wolfblood," Liam jumped in and Maddy saw Rhydian tense for the first time since the conversation started.

"Ya cause that's what the world needs more of, weapons to kill each other with," Maddy scoffed.

"Don't tell me you're actually siding with these wolfbloods," Jimi accused.

"No. I'm not siding with anyone. I'm just saying we don't need anymore reasons for people to kill each other," Maddy rebutted.

"But that's the thing. Wolfbloods aren't people. So why does it matter?" Liam said and the entire table stilled, even Jimi. After that everyone made their excuses to wrap up for the evening.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Jimi offered as they all walked outside of Bernie's. Rhydian had already headed back home for curfew and Maddy liked the idea of some time to herself.

"No thanks. I can make it on me own," Maddy declined before waving goodbye and starting the four mile hike home.

/

Unexpectedly Rhydian never showed for movie night on Sunday night and responded only to Tom's text messages saying he wasn't up to it.

As the night went on, Maddy found herself thinking of Rhydian and how distant he'd become since she'd been assigned Jimi as a partner for the project. She listened to the dark voice inside her that gleefully celebrated that perhaps this meant the betrothal would be off and Rhydian would go back into the wild, leaving her alone.

/

The next day, found Maddy and Jimi making their presentation first and earning an A, much to her relief and Jimi's celebration. They'd just finished when Rhydian came into class looking, with a dark mood and darker look on his face to match it.

"Ah Mr. Morris. Thank you for finally dain us with your presence. You've just missed Maddy and Jimi's A-plus presentation. Take your seat, please," Jefferies snarked as he picked up the class roster to change Rhydian's absence to a tardy.

"Wonder why Leek Boy was so late," Jimi whispered to Maddy as they picked up their things.

"Just when I was thinking you're not so bad you go and ruin it by making fun of one of my friends," Maddy whispered back. Jimi gave her a jaunty smirk in return.

"Last time I checked, Leek Boy wasn't acting very much like a friend to you and your gang of misfits."

Maddy rolled her eyes, ignoring the comment even though she felt a heavy stone settle in her stomach at his words. Jimi walked behind her back to their seats across the aisle from each other.

As they waited for the next group to get their presentation ready, Jimi leaned over and whispered in Maddy's direction, "You're not so bad to work with either."

Maddy rolled her eyes again, but a smile lingered on her lips.

As the next group began their presentation, a note found it's way in front of Maddy. Moving it under the desk Maddy read, We need to talk. Go for a run?

Maddy knew that the note was from Rhydian and glanced up to find him staring at her waiting for an answer. She nodded her head in acceptance and tried not to let the excitement bubbling in her stomach to overflow.

/

During their morning break, without speaking Maddy and Rhydian broke out into a run into the woods surrounding the school, leaving behind the shocked face of Jimi at their behavior and the bemused expressions of Shannon and Tom who knew how much Maddy and now Rhydian loved to run in the woods.

For half of the break they ran around the woods, whooping and chasing each other around, getting all the nervous energy out of their system, before finally settling down beside a tree to gaze up at the sky. Rhydian was the first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry I've been such a pain this week. I think the wolf has been controlling me more since we're so close to the full moon," Rhydian apologized.

Maddy knew from what her parents spoke of wolfblood nature that the wolf was particularly strong inside of them the closer the full moon came. A battle she herself would find herself fighting once she'd had her first turn.

"I get it. As much as I can."

"It's not easy. Watching you with Jimi. Being constantly reminded that we aren't going to have normal life and a lot of our life has already been decided for us," Rhydian continued.

"Jimi's not a threat Rhydian. I've known him all me life. He's just a classmate," Maddy said quietly even though she knew she wasn't being completely honest about Jimi's changed actions of late.

"You're right he's not a threat. He's not a wolfblood," Rhydian agreed.

"Let's just move on ya? Life's too short to brood this much all the time," Maddy said before standing up and brushing the leaves off her uniform and out of her hair.

"Race you back," Maddy exclaimed, before pushing Rhydian into a soft pile of leaves face first and running off back to the school. Maddy giggled as she heard him curse lowly before getting up and running after her.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! Please continue to do so, let me know what you think and if I should continue.