Wolfblood

Send in the Dog

Maddy staggered through the lounge towards where her boyfriend was sitting, trying to shake off the three Ks who were chatting him up again. Maddy flopped down next to Rhydian, not caring about the glares she received as she cuddled into him.

"I think someone needs to go home." Rhydian muttered.

"I'm honestly not that drunk." Maddy slurred, clutching her glass of champagne even more tightly.

"Not you, Maddy; I mean them." Rhydian pointed to where Jimi, Sam and Liam were sitting on the sofa yelling inappropriate phrases at the top of their lungs.

"Believe it or not, that's not easy when you're drunk." Maddy said. "My first drunk word was 'Hic'.

"That's not actually a word, that's just a hiccup." Rhydian held Maddy closer and kissed the top of her head. Or at least that's what he meant to do. In reality, he recoiled at the smell of alcohol. Just then, there was a crash as Tom fell off the makeshift stage where he'd set up the music and the lights.

"Yeah, I got the hiccups when I stood up too quick afterwards. Why did Shan have to invite half the kids in the school to her eighteenth birthday party anyway?" Maddy growled.

"She just invited a few people." Rhydian told her. "Most of them asked to bring a few friends and then it ended up with a packed house that no one could move around in. Everyone brought their own alcohol supply as well."

"I for one am glad about that." Maddy slurred, clutching her glass even tighter before looking down as the top of it dropped to the floor and shattered, spilling champagne everywhere. As Maddy looked at her hand clutching the broken stem of the glass, she saw red seeping out from between her fingers. Fragments of the glass had punched through her palm like needles through a piece of cloth.

"Oh, Jesus Christ; we need to go, now!" Rhydian shouted, jumping up and then staggering slightly from the level of alcohol he'd consumed himself. As he regained his balance, a thought occurred to him. Quickly, he raced into the kitchen looking for Shannon. He ran in to see her backed up against the fridge.

"Look, Shan; I throw up my hands, I shouldn't have dumped you the way I did." Harry slurred. "I'm really, really sorry and I want us to get back together."

"Harry, back off." Shannon warned.

"Don't be like that, Shan." Harry reached forward and tried to grab the front of her cardigan. Without warning, Rhydian surged forward and slammed his fist into the side of Harry's temple. He dropped like a sack of potatoes as Rhydian pulled Shannon away from him.

"You just can't win with drunken people." Rhydian slurred. "Listen, Shan; Maddy's cut her hand. Have you got some tweezers and a bandage? I can't take her home covered in blood."

"Okay, I'll get the first aid kit." Shannon said, struggling for balance herself. "You grab some tissue and try to stop the bleeding." Shannon hauled herself up the stairs while Rhydian grabbed the roll of kitchen towel and went back into the lounge. He sat next to Maddy and ripped off the first three squares before gently wrapping her hand in them. Maddy flinched a little at the pain, but the alcohol meant that it barely registered.

"Just relax back and let me sort this out." Rhydian whispered soothingly to her. Just then, there was a crash as Shannon went tumbling down the stairs holding a see-through turquoise box. Those who weren't completely inebriated saw the first aid kit in her hands and followed her into the lounge to see what the crisis was. Shannon marched over and promptly turfed Jimi, Sam and Liam off the sofa.

"Rhydian, bring her over here." Rhydian picked Maddy up bridal style and carried her over before sitting her down on the sofa so that her injured left hand was resting on the arm of the sofa.

"How steady are your hands?" Rhydian asked Shannon.

"Probably not as steady as yours are." Shannon replied, handing him the tweezers. Rhydian swore under his breath as he poised them above the open wounds. It was a tense few minutes as Rhydian worked to get all the small pieces of glass from her hand.

"I love you, Rhydian." Maddy mumbled drunkenly. "You're really cute and you're my hero."

"Let's give the happy couple a big round of applause." Jimi hiccupped, before Shannon slapped him across the face to try and sober him up a bit.

"God, he's annoying!" she muttered.

"Wow, she's cute when she's angry." Jimi slurred before passing out. Shannon looked over to see Rhydian bandaging Maddy's hand up. Once he'd finished, they went to stand up only to see her slide sideways. Rhydian caught her just as he realised she'd passed out.

"She's totally gone." Rhydian muttered.

"Come on, Tom and I will help you get her home." Shannon said, trying to get up just as she realised that Tom was also out for the count. "Oh, for god's sake; right, let's just do it together." Rhydian and Shannon hoisted Maddy up so that they each had one of her arms draped over the back of their necks. Between them, they were able to get her out of the house once one of the other guests had worked out how the door opened. They carried Maddy down the road, the cool night air helping to sober them.

"How can someone who's four-foot-tiny be so heavy?" Rhydian muttered.

"Hey, we did get a little drunk." Shannon said, gesturing to Maddy. "Get it? She's little and she's drunk." Shannon would normally have been all over Rhydian like ugly on an ape for making fun of Maddy's height, so this was a true testament to how utterly wasted she was.

It was only as they neared Maddy's house that they realised they were being followed. Then Shannon remembered. There was a house about halfway between her place and Maddy's that had what could only be described as 'Satan's cat' living there. You had to lock eyes with it as you went past, or it would stalk you like Slenderman until it caught you and scratched you to oblivion. Shannon looked around to see a flash of white fur as Slendercat vanished behind a tree to avoid being detected.

"Rhydian, we're being hunted." Shannon whispered

"What do you mean?" Rhydian asked. Black veins raced up his arms as he got ready to fight to protect his mate.

"The cat from hell is stalking us. We didn't lock eyes with it when we went past." Just at that moment, the cat in question broke cover and ran straight towards them. Rhydian spun around suddenly, his eyes burning yellow. He opened his fanged mouth and let out a roar. Maddy's house was the only one for a couple of miles at this point, so he didn't have to worry about being heard. The cat from hell saw the terrifying picture in front of it and seemed to turn an even brighter shade of white. It turned around and ran for its life. While there were no houses for at least two miles in either direction, Rhydian and Shannon decided to get a bit of a move on in case anyone heard.

The pair arrived at Maddy's home just as Emma was at the door.

"What the hell happened to my daughter?" Emma raged, her eyes turning yellow.

"She just had too much to drink." Rhydian told her. Everyone brought alcohol to the party and I couldn't keep her off the champagne."

"Get her inside and up to bed." Emma instructed. You two can stay the night as well; I don't want your parents seeing you like this."

"I need to get back and send everyone home." Shannon said.

"I'd best not go back to the Vaughns in this state." Rhydian muttered. "I'll put Maddy to bed. If you need any help getting everyone out of the house, Shan; all you have to do is text me."

"Thanks, Rhydian." Shannon said before giving him a hug."

"Do you need a lift back home, Shan?" Emma asked.

"Thanks, Emma; that would be great." The two of them headed to the car while Rhydian hauled Maddy into the house and up the stairs. Once he was up there, he took Maddy over to her bed and laid her down. Her party dress had blood and champagne stains on it, so he had to carefully unzip it at the back and ease it off her before laying the duvet over her. Once she was in bed and asleep, Rhydian kicked his shoes off, climbed on top of the duvet she slept under and kissed his alpha gently on the forehead before falling asleep next to her, wrapping her securely in her arms as he did so.

Line Break!

"What the hell, Rhydian!" Rhydian was jolted awake to the sun streaming through the curtains and a very grouchy Maddy sitting up in bed next to him.

"What is it?" He asked drowsily. Clearly, this gorilla with a sore head was what Maddy became when she had a hangover.

"Why in god's name is my party dress on the floor and I'm just here in my underwear?"

"Your party dress reeked of blood and alcohol. No way was I letting that get on your skin any more than it was." Rhydian growled, desperately wanting to go back to sleep. Having too much of a hangover to be either caring or modest, Maddy got straight out of bed and stood over Rhydian, not caring about how little she was wearing.

"Hurry up and get out of bed. I need to change the sheets!" she demanded.

"How about you go and put something on that's less revealing than your underwear and just let me wake up in my own time?" Rhydian was the sort of person who slept like the dead after drinking and only became grouchy when he was disturbed.

"Don't make me send in the dog, Rhydian Morris." Maddy warned. Rhydian rolled over to look at her with a confused expression on his face.

"You don't have a damn dog… Maddy, where are you?" As Rhydian looked around, he couldn't see Maddy anywhere. Just then, a brown and grey wolf launched its self through the air and landed on the bed. Immediately, it started clawing at the sheets and licking his face, trying to prize him out of the bed. Rhydian jumped up from the bed, just as the wolf turned around. He felt the wolf's sharp canines sink into his backside and cried out in pain. Maddy changed back from wolf form, and looked down to find him rolling on the floor in a state of total agony.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Maddy quickly apologised.

"Jesus, Maddy; I knew you were angry with me, but is there really no sense of when enough is enough?" Tears leaked from Rhydian's eyes as blood leaked through the back of his jeans.

"Okay, I'd better have a look, just to see how bad it is." Maddy said.

"No, I think you've done enough damage today." Rhydian muttered, as he picked himself up. The damage actually wasn't that bad, and he was able to limp downstairs when he smelled bacon. As soon as he entered the kitchen, Emma put a plate with three bacon sandwiches on the table. Rhydian sat down, before crying out as he touched the seat.

"What the hell happened to you?" Dan asked. Rhydian pointed to the floor above, where he knew Maddy was upstairs getting dressed.

"She sent in the dog."

End!

Author's Note: I really hope everyone enjoyed this story. It's yet another one I came up with a couple of days ago and wanted to write down. As always, please review, whether you loved it or hated it. Any constructive criticism is appreciated, as are any typo alerts and other feedback. I really love hearing what people think of the stories I write.

I'm currently working on Trouble in Paradise 6 and then I'll finish off the Best Date Ever trilogy. Some of you also asked me to continue Forbidden, so I'll definitely look into that. Don't worry; I'm not ignoring people when they ask me to continue with oneshots, I just need to finish what I'm working on first and do things in order. Otherwise I get into one hell of a mess and I'm working on five things at once.