Town or City |Wolfblood|

CHAPTER XXIII: Stoneybridge

"Remind me why you decided to grow your hair out longer?" Liana asked, as she opened the door swiftly to let Rick into the house, as he had a new bruise on the side of his face as she sighed at the sight. "Rick, what happened?" She asked and he lifted his shoulders in a small shrug, as she shuts the door.

"My foster parents think that I'm sneaking out constantly, so they made an effort to convince me to never do it again." Rick muttered and she looked at him and she inclined her head a bit as they both walked toward the stairs, and Rick looked around a bit at their upstairs of the Smith house. "Am I even allowed to be in here?" He asked and she shrugged.

"Your bruises will heal when the moon rises, as you already know. But did you have any other injury, visible or not?" Liana asked as she had a med kit in her hands and he winced a little as she looked at him. "Rib cage?" She asked and he nodded a little, and she was looking for noticeable damage.

"I don't bite." Rick noted as she seemed to be awkwardly avoiding him, which he had a pretty good guess that it had to be because he was in her space. "Well, not until the moon rises anyways." He said and she smiled a bit at the terrible "full moon" joke.

"Not scared of you. I'm sensing something amiss about tonight. But I don't know what is amiss exactly and I don't like that." Liana admitted and Rick raised his eyebrows at her, when he was confused at "amiss" being used too many times in a statement. "What is the word that you Americans use to define something being wrong?" She asked and Rick chuckled a little.

"Something is "off" about tonight? Is that what you mean?" Rick asked and she was looking at him, right before a moment later she was nodding and he smiled. "You found those bandages yet?" He asked with a partially teasing tone and she held them up, as she was handing them over.

"You all right to do them yourself?" It was a hesitantly spoken question and Rick grumbled in pain.

"If you're comfortable, could you help?" Rick asked and Liana nodded a little, as she took the bandages and he lifted up his shirt, that so she could help him wrap up his ribs.

Liana was stunned into silence at the amount of scars and bruises that look to have been caused by burns and she looked up at him, as Rick nodded a bit and she hesitantly moved her fingers to one of the bigger ones. "My uncle decided to attack me with a cigarette lighter, since he knew that I was scared of fire. I ended up having a bunch of oil poured on me on the middle school prank day and he had the perfect fuel for the fire. It didn't get very far, luckily for me and the house around us." Rick murmured and she drew her hand back away silently at the story, with the scent that he was able to pick up as sorrow for him as she walked to put the bandages away.

"Did you just accept me into your pack because you felt sorry for me then?" Rick asked as he let his shirt cover the bandages away.

"No. We brought into the pack because we didn't want a wolfblood feeling alone on our territory again, as I once did." Liana said and she looked at the veins on the back of her hands as they had started to show up. "Time to go into the den." She noted as she walked out of her room and waited.

They both joined the Smiths in the Den and Liana leaned against the wall, still not feeling comfortable with the way that they were a family and she still felt like the outsider, even after so many years of staying with them as both a foster child and being adopted by them.

Liana shut her eyes as she waited for the moon to rise and she felt the transformation happen swiftly and it felt as familiar to her as breathing. She opened her eyes and she tipped her head back with a deep howl, as she playfully pounced onto Rick with a barking laugh and he yelped, as they were all suddenly stopping with the fun and games.

Liana growled menacingly and so did Rick, as they attempted to get out of the cellar along with Maddy and her parents, as they could smell other wolfbloods, unfriendly ones. Liana yelped in shock when she saw that a wolf had jumped into the den with them.

Liana bared her fangs with the beginnings of a snarl, until Rick blocked her way and barked at her quickly. Liana poked her head out around Rick and she barked at Rhydian, once she realized that it was actually him. Liana touched noses with her brother briefly, right before all of the air went out of her lungs and she felt like she had been squashed.

Liana growled and she managed to turn her head around to see that Shannon was lying on top of her from where she had fallen. Liana growled savagely at her and Shannon got off of her real quickly at the sound, as Liana got back up onto her paws and she shook out her fur.

Rick nudged her in the side with his nose gently to get her attention and he let out a low rumble from in his throat that translated roughly to "you okay," and she headbutted him in response as she snarled at the door above them with a low and menacing growl.

Liana stood up in the morning and she was seething at the scent of the wild wolfbloods. "I recognize two of those scents. They smell like Natalia." She said and they all looked at her in a shocked way. "Which means that Rhydian has just brought the twin Betas from the Wild Pack, directly to our door." She snapped and Rhydian flinched at her sharp tone that she used to say the words and she growled, as she left the cellar.