Wolf Girl (Book 1)

Chapter 8: Jana

Jana's POV

I wake up to the sunrise, the light shines through the sheer curtains. I reach out to Carys, but she isn't at my side. I walk out to the living room where Rhydian is asleep. Maddy and her mum are at the kitchen table while her dad is cleaning away Geraint's blood with an old rag. Tom and Shannon are here too.

The mood is low, inevitably.

"Where's Carys?" I ask, looking around for a sign of her.

"She's not back yet? I thought she'd be with you," Rhydian wakes up, rubbing his eyes. Everyone looks at him with the same confusion I'm feeling.

"Back from where, Rhydian?" I approach him, trying not to get angry.

He stands up with his mouth open just staring at me, a guilty look in his eye.

"Rhydian?" Maddy comes over to us, crossing her arms.

"We went back to the camp last night, to meet Alric and Aran." Maddy swats him on the arm. "Ow, I'm sorry. It was stupid, I know. But she said she would meet me back here."

"So, where the hell is she now? Why didn't she come back with you?" I can't bear the thought of her being all alone in the woods, she could be hurt, or Kincaid could have found her.

"She was following a scent. We found this," he pulls a serum pen out of his pocket.

"Why didn't you tell us last night?" Maddy snatches the pen from him, "She could be anywhere by now, Rhydian."

"She's not our problem Mads; she's making a mess of everything! Besides, she's not a cub, she can take care of herself," he tries to defend himself.

"You idiot!" I yell, "If that happened to your dad-"

"It did happen to my dad! And my mum, and your pack," he comes up close to me, pointing his finger in my face, "They're the ones we should be worrying about, not some random girl you just met!"

I shove him backwards and Tom has to pull me away.

"Both of you just stop it," Shannon steps between us. "Just- everyone, calm down."

Maddy makes Rhydian look in her eyes, and he takes a breath, "I'm sorry Jana. I don't have anything against her, but I have to put my pack first."

I shake my head and scoff, "Wow, you sound like my father. What happened to the Rhydian who cared about everyone? All Wolfbloods? We are your pack. That includes Carys and her father."

He shakes his head, trying to maintain the idea that he's done nothing wrong. Yes, Carys is not a cub and she can make her own decisions, but with everything going on, he shouldn't have let her go alone. At the very least he should have woken me up last night and told me.

"You left us, remember?" I seethe, "Which makes this my territory, I'm the Alpha here. You go by my rules."

He bows his head and takes a step away from me, that's the closest he'll ever come to submitting to anyone, "I'm sorry."

I turn away from him, and address everyone, "We've got a week until the next full moon, the wild pack and Carys and her dad are as safe as they can be until then. You said the serum that they used will wear off, which means we have time, just not a lot of it. We're all going out there, we're going to find her and the others. This time no one gets left behind. Get your stuff, we leave now."

No one argues with me, everyone grabs their coats and backpacks and we leave together. I walk with Shannon ahead of everyone else. I'm too angry to even look at Rhydian right now, and I can't stop thinking about the hell that Carys must be going through. If she's lucky enough to not have been captured, she's still out in the woods on her own. Carys is one of the bravest and cleverest people I've ever met, but she's tame, and there's no telling what she could run into out there. Her brains and courage might not be enough to keep her alive. Still, I try to keep faith that she's found a way to survive because hope is all I have.