Leac.

Maddy arrived at her house after school ended, Rhydian following her into the living room where they sit across from me. The give me questioning looks and Mr. And Mrs. Smith leave the room.

"Why do you run?" Maddy asks softly. I sigh.

"Tom's human. He can't know about our lives... It's too dangerous as it is with this life, but if my parents decide to hunt me down? It could be so much more..." I explain to them.

"Well, he... We will protect him. You both deserve to be happy." Rhydian hesitates in his speaking. "Forget your parents."

"I can't Rhydian. At least your soulmate has both loving parents, and I'm sure you did too... I don't want to put Tom through the pain of my parents hunting me down." I tell them, hugging myself.

"Okay, subject change." Maddy jokes, trying to lighten the mood, seeing my discomfort. "Are your brothers coming?"

"Yes... Uncle J said that we will talk more about it when I go home... Probably by this time Sunday(it's Friday at this point) Jackson and Parker will arrive at the airport." I tell them with a small smile.

"That's good. I'm happy for you." Maddy smiles too. "Oh! Shannon said it was alright with her if you joined us. She says she wants to get to know you." Maddy says before sneezing.

"That's probably a side effect of the Dark Moon." I tell her, feeling her forehead as Rhydian says his goodbyes and leaves the house. "Are you sure you want to go? Maybe you should stay home."

"I have to go. This is the only normal I have left. Plus, Shannon has this theory that I'm a werewolf." She sneezes.

"Really?" I ask her, and then for the next hour I help her pack her things, while she tells me what's happened since Shannon has started with the theory she's a werewolf from a fire accident.

"God, I hate fires, although if I am actually able to watch them without freaking out, I find beauty in the colors and motions of it." I tell her as we walk to Shannon's house, Maddy sneezing sometimes. "Is this her house? It looks... Homey..."

"Yeah." She nods before knocking on the door, Shannon opens it.

"My family have officially left the building." Shannon says with a smile.

"Let the sleepover begin." I joke, trying my best to ignore the smell that surrounds Shannon.

"Okay, this is going to sound really lame, but can you remember when we were 7 and we used to make those friendship bracelets? Well, I found the kit, and, I thought we could make some bracelets while we talk." Maddy holds up a small bracelet kit. "What's going on?"

"Don't get mad, but I thought we might spend the night on the moors." Shannon says as she grabs jackets, blankets and needed supplies.

"What?" I ask in surprise, knowing there were wild wolfbloods out there.

"What do you mean? Why?" Maddy asks after me.

"The beast is back, Maddy." Shannon tells us. "Or I think I know where I can find it, sort of find it." Shannon adds on as she continues grabbing stuff.

"Let's just say I think I know where it might be." Maddy starts.

"How do you know it's back? I mean, if it actually is?" I ask, trying to keep this rhetorical.

"Pets have gone missing, farm animals have been attacked." Shannon says.

"Since when?" I ask, standing by Maddy as we watch Shannon.

"Since a few days ago." She says, grabbing more things to put in the bags. "This is our best chance to see it, Maddy, and I've worked out its movements."

"But if it's alive, and attacking animals, what makes you think it's safe for us? Look what happened last time, Shan." Maddy says, trying to convince Shannon not to do this.

"Have you even thought about this?" I ask her.

"Yes, I have." She says bluntly. "And I thought if we just stuck together, and looked out for each other. You know, that's what friends are supposed to do."

"I thought you wanted to talk." Maddy says in disbelief.

"We are talking."

"Look, I'm sorry, I just wanted a proper sleepover, you know? Bracelets, cheesy nachos, even cheesier movies." Maddy tries again to convince her friend.

"It's out there, right now." Shannon says determinedly.

"Look, I know how important this is to you." I start.

"You have no idea." She snaps at me. "Everyone thinks I'm the town weirdo."

"No, they don't." Maddy says, but I can tell Shannon's upset, more so than someone would be if it wasn't true.

"Yes, they do." Shannon turns on Maddy this time before sighing. "Look. My parents took me to see a doctor, and they've talked about medication. I've got to see a psychiatrist."

"What? Why?" I ask in disbelief. And I thought my parents were bad? Hers are pretty much calling her crazy to her face.

"Because of what I said about you." Shannon says in defeat. "Look, I need to know if there's something out there. I need to know that I'm not going completely crazy."

"No, Shan, you're not, you're really not." Maddy says, thinking this over.

"Then don't patronize me." She fires. "I told my mom you were a Werewolf, give me one good reason why that makes me sane."

"Because..." Maddy hesitates, so I jump in for her.

"Because the beast is real, and we're going to find it." I tell her with a gentle smile. Maddy nods in agreement.

"Tonight." Maddy adds, causing Shannon to smile softly. There's a knock at the door.

"Oh! That can't be them already, can it? Look, you both won't tell the boys about the psychiatrist, will you?" Shannon asks, checking the time.

"'Course not." Maddy assures her. Shannon looks at me.

"Our little secret, yeah?" I hug her softly and shortly before she answers the door.

"Hey." I hear Tom greet at the door, sounding like he has grocery bags.

"You're early." Shannon says.

"Nice to see you too." Tom jokes. "I'm cooking." He says, walking inside and putting the bags on the table in the kitchen. "Remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Shannon says absentmindedly.

"Notice anything different about me?" Tom asks.

"No." Shannon says, looking at him hesitantly.

"New jacket, from Manchester. Dad brought it down. Cool, eh?" He asks.

"It's totally impractical, you're going to have to change." Shannon says bewildered at her friend's choice of fashion.

"What? Why?" Tom asks, bewildered by her vagueness.

"Because you're going to freeze. I'll find you something else to wear." Shannon leaves the kitchen while I lead Maddy into it, her sneezing more.

"Okay..." Tom hesitates before seeing me and Maddy.

"Ah-choo!" Maddy sneezes once more.

"What's wrong with Shannon?" Time asks me as I lean Maddy against a counter, then looking through the bags he brought.

"We're going beast hunting tonight." I tell him vaguely, looking at all the meat. I smile hungrily before feeling Maddy pinch my arm.

"What? No way! I'm tired of being out in the dark and cold." Tom complains.

"Tom, she needs this." Maddy tells him.

"Yeah, and I need to chill in front of the TV, that was the plan, Mads." Tom tells the sick WolfBlood.

"This is more important." I tell him, causing him to look at me.

"Why? What's happened?" He asks me worriedly.

"She just really needs one now, ok?" Maddy says, wiping her nose with a tissue.

"She needs to know we're on her side." I tell him, grabbing the meats from the bags.

"Fine." He gives in. "I'm eating before we go."

"How many are you cooking for?" Maddy asks bewildered, seeing the amount of meat.

"I wasn't too sure how much to get, so, I got one kilo each." He explains, helping to take the meat from the bags out.

"Didn't you see that this was far too much?" She asks as she helps too.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to seem like an idiot in front of the butcher, so I asked for a meat feast For 12." Tom says nervously.

"Good job, I'm starving." I say, biting back a growl from my chest at the sight of so much meat.

"Uh Better take off my new jacket, then, eh?" He says to Maddy and I.

"Yeah." She says, not noticing his new jacket.

"It is a nice jacket, Tom." I tell him, glancing at it before finishing with putting the meat on the table.

"Tom, you know we've been friends, like, forever? It feels like forever." Maddy starts.

"Yeah." He says, taking the jacket off.

"But, seriously, we are true friends?" She asks, and I catch onto what she's doing.

"Yeah, course." Tom nods, not knowing where this was going. I decide to go out of the room and help Shannon by folding blankets up.

I ignore their conversation as I fold up blankets before heading to Shannon to help find Tom a jacket from the closets. We find one for him and I take it to him while Shannon answers the door for Rhydian.

"Tom, I've found you a jacket." I hand the jacket to him as he pulls an apron on.

"You're early, too." Shannon tells Rhydian before letting him in.

"Is that bad?" He asks before seeing Shannon look him up and down. "What?"

"Just checking." Shannon says. "Boots?" She asks me and Maddy.

"Boots." Me and Maddy reply in unison. Maddy walks closer to Rhydian while I help Tom cook, listening to the two whisper.

"You didn't smell or sense anything?" She asks him.

"No." He shakes his head.

"Neither did we." Maddy says for the two of us.

"So, she's wrong." Rhydian says, causing me to migrate closer to them as I see Tom need my help now.

"Maybe not." I tell them both.

"Maybe it's smart." Maddy tells us both. As we sit on the couch and Rhydian puts the boots, Shannon had given him, on.

"Are you three coming?" Shannon asks as she pokes her head into the room.

"Just trying to get these boots on." Rhydian smiles at her an she leaves, making him face us again.

"So, let's say it is the wild Wolfblood." Maddy begins.

"So, it lives on the moors, sometimes comes foraging in your territory, and can mask its own scent." I supply some ideas.

"How does seeing it help with Shannon?" Rhydian asks, confused.

"Her family thinks she's crazy." I tell him quietly.

"I mean seriously crazy, Shan's starting to wonder if they are right." Maddy says.

"She needs to know it's real." I add.

"And we're going to help her, even if it means one of us transforming to do it." Maddy finishes, getting up as Rhydian finishes tying the boots.

"What?" Rhydian exclaims.

"Maddy! Rhydian! Leac!" Shannon calls.

"Coming." I call back, and Maddy sneezes again.

"Ah-choo."

"Okay." Rhydian starts, seeing the map as Maddy wipes her nose.

"Right." Shannon looks away from Maddy and down at the map, using a marker. "This is us." She points to where her house is before drawing 'X's' for the known missing animal locations. "And according to newspapers, the Parkers Lost two sheep three days ago. Howdale lost a ram just last week. And we've got High Field and Barfield That both lost animals last night. And then we have Wilson Booboo, and Hermione. So, if we just join the dots together..." Shannon says this as she shows us.

"It's circling the village." I say loud enough for them to hear.

"Exactly." Shannon smiles at me.

"And it's clearly not feeding in the same place twice, so, we need to be somewhere around here." I point to where there's a gap between two 'X's'

"Ah-choo." Maddy sneezes once more. 'This might get worse if she's outside with us...'

"I don't think Maddy ought to be going out with a cold like this." Rhydian voices my thoughts.

"I'll be fine, Rhydian." Maddy argues.

"You don't know that." Rhydian fires.

"Uh, it doesn't matter." Maddy sighs, wiping her nose again.

"It does matter." Tom says.

"Maybe the boys are right." Shannon says.

"They're not right." Maddy exclaims, standing straighter. "I'm coming with you."addy storms out of the room.

"I'll grab a word with her." Shannon says, but Rhydian stops her.

"She's clearly made her mind up. I'll tell her I'm sorry." Rhydian says, leaving. Shannon rummages underneath the kitchen sink, taking out a tin box with bottles inside it.

"Shan?" Tom asks, watching her with me.

"I'm looking for a cold cure." She announces.

"Has Maddy spoken to you about me?" Tom asks, and I take that as my que to leave. I walk into the room with Rhydian and Maddy.

"I think I should go..." I tell them.

"What if it is out there? What if it attacks us again?" Rhydian asks us both.

"We defend ourselves." Maddy says, arms crossed.

"What? As wolves? In front of our friends?" Rhydian asks shocked.

"Well, maybe it's time they found out. I'm having stress dreams." Maddy says frustratedly.

"Now, who's the crazy one?" Rhydian asks.

"I can't keep lying to them, Rhydian, Leac. Look what it's done to Shannon." Maddy says angrily.

"You'll feel like 10 times worse when they broadcast the news to the rest of the world." I tell her, I understood where she was coming from, Tom is my soulmate, I feel he should know, but it's too dangerous. For both him and my kind.

"They wouldn't do that." Maddy defends.

"How do you know that? What if they can't handle it? What if you fall out with them?" Rhydian asks.

"I'll take that risk." She says.

"But this isn't just about you, Maddy." I tell her, irritated.

"It's about all of us, Leac, me, your mom and dad, all Wolfbloods." Rhydian says, upset.

"And my friends will understand that." Maddy defends again.

"Don't use friendship as an excuse." I tell her angrily.

"This is about you feeling guilty." Rhydian says just as angrily as me, and pretty soon, Maddy.

"It's about me living truthfully for once." Maddy says back.

"You can't for a reason." Rhydian says angrily.

"Why have the Wolfbloods kept themselves hidden for so many years? Even the wild ones? It's because human beings wiped most of us out, or is your dad lying about all that?" I growl angrily. I choke back the growl when Shannon walks in.

"Am I interrupting something?" She asks as she holds a little mint tin can, inside is some weird smelling pills.

"No, course not." Maddy says hurriedly, glaring at me.

"Right. Well, this is the only cold remedy I could find. It's one of my mom's homeopathic remedies." She explains as I grab my things, shaken up by the scent of the pills.

"What? You mean one of those new age, unscientific things you don't believe in?" Maddy asks.

"Yep. It's basically sugar pills covered in plant extracts. They sort of just make you think yourself better." She takes one out. "Right, open." She tosses it into Maddy's open mouth. "Right, if that doesn't work, pop on another one. They can't do any harm."

"You can't tell them, Mads. This is my secret, too." Rhydian says quietly.

"Sorry, Rhydian, but I can't live like this anymore."

"I'll leave you guys. I can't deal with this tonight. I'll check in with you guys later." I tell them, leaving in a rush, hurrying through the kitchen, but Tom and Shannon stop me.

"Leac? Where are you going?" Tom asks curiously.

"I... I can't stay, I should really go." I keep my head down, hair curtaining my face as I feel my eyes shift from the scent of the pills, and the smell of meat on Tom.

"What? But the burgers aren't done yet!" Tom says hurriedly.

"I-I'm sorry!" I push past Shannon, and run from the house, running to the woods and shifting to my wolf.

This is twice as long as usual, but I think I'll be trying to make it to 2000 words.