When I brought her upstairs I let her stay in her wolf form and began to fill the bathtub up with warm water and added a few bubbles. I scooped the small wolf up and she let out a warning growl, but stopped and began whimpering when seeing the water.
I sat her down and let her muddy paws sit in the water. Dirt and grime immediately started to swarm off her and I scooped some water up with a cup and began dumping it over the puppy. I was careful not to let it get in her eyes and she stayed whining and shaking and was obviously not found of baths.
I grabbed some soap and put a tiny bit in my hand and began lathering up her white fur. She growled again at me, but I had started to realize that she never had any intentions on actually snapping at me. She was just stubborn.
I picked up the cup and filled it with water and started to rinse the suds from her fur. When all the dirt was gone I scooped the wet puppy up and sat her down on the bath mat. She waisted no time in shaking the remaining water from herself and managed to get me wet in the process.
I pulled down a towel and threw it over the pup and scooped her up to start drying her off. I sat the pup down on the bed and I watched as she tried to unroll herself from the towel and started biting at it. I went to grab it off of her but she held down one end in her tiny jaws and when I went to pull she pulled back and growled. I pulled again a little harder this time and it turned into a full blown tug of war.
She thrashed her little head around with the towel still in her mouth and growled playfully as she tried to snatch the towel back from me. I chuckled and started to yank the towel back to entice her more. It worked because she used everything she could to pull the towel back from me and single rip was heard and the small pup fell back on the bed with a small piece of the towel still in her mouth.
"You are a feisty little thing you know that?" I asked.
She cocked her head to the side when I said this, but still held the ripped fabric in her mouth. I decided not to try and take it and risk another tug of war and walked away from the bed and into my closet. I pulled out a plain black t shirt and came back and tossed it on the bed.
"Okay it's time to shift back. Put this on and I'll be waiting outside for you."
I watched as the puppy dropped the towel that was in her mouth and move towards the shirt. She sniffed at it a minute and I watched her tail wag once when smelling it.
I backed out of the room and closed the door to give her privacy. I stayed right next to the door though and when I finally heard the sound of tiny bones popping I knew she had figured it out. After another minute I didn't hear anything and I knocked on the door to let her know I was coming in.
I walked in and found the small girl standing by the foot of the bed. The shirt I gave her was ridiculously big and draped all the way down to the floor on her. All you could see were tiny hands and a big bushy head full of blonde curls that were still semi wet.
"Sorry it doesn't fit. I'll get you your own clothes soon."
She looked at me and then back down at the huge t shirt she had on.
"What are they for?"
She tugged on the shirt a minute and looked back up at me for an answer. I was still stunned that she had even spoke and I shook my head from being off guard.
"To cover ourselves. When your a wolf your fur covers you and when your not you wear clothes."
She scrunched her face up at my explanation and started to look around my room curiously. I sat back down on my bed and watched as she moved one wobbly leg in front of the other and started inspecting my things and sniffing at anything that seemed to interest her.
I watched her with an amused look. It was funny seeing someone so curious over stuff that was completely ordinary even the alarm clock seemed to intrigue her as she furrowed her brows as the glowing red numbers.
She eventually looked to my dresser and shakily walked to it to see what else she could find. Her eyes went to the picture frame that sat on top and she leaned forward towards it and started smelling it like everything else. After another minute she got the courage to pick the picture up and examined it closer.
It was a picture of my parents holding me when I was just a toddler. My black hair stuck up every which way and instead of an ugly scar I had a perfectly smoothed face with two matching blue eyes. She turned around and looked at me and then back at the picture and her eyebrows furrowed together like she still didn't understand.
"That's my parents and that small fat thing they're holding is me."
She narrowed her eyes at the picture and brought it closer to her face. She shot a look back at me and then back at the picture again to try and make the connection. She still looked confused though and started to bite her bottom lip.
"What are...parents?" She finally asked without looking up from the picture.
Hearing her say that made my stomach sink a little, but I tried not to let it show on my face as I tried to think of a way to explain.
"Come here." I said and held my hand out to her.
She looked up from the picture, but stayed holding it as she moved a shaky foot forward and when she was close enough she grabbed my thumb and I helped her up to sit next to me on the bed. First I pointed to my mother. Her eyes were happy and smiling and her long black hair was straight and down her back.
"That's my mother. She used to cook the best food for me and everyone always wanted to get a taste of her cooking. She was nice to everyone she met and didn't have a mean bone in her body."
I pointed to my father next. His dark brown hair was cut short and had a little bit of stubble on his face. I resembled him a lot now that I was older, besides the scar.
"That is my father. He was Alpha before me and was the strongest person I knew. He was tough on me and tried to teach me to be a good leader, but..I didn't appreciate his lessons until he was gone."
The girl stayed silent and held the picture frame in her hands as she stared at my parents faces.
"Parents who love each other have babies." I explained awkwardly before pointing to myself in the picture.
"They take care of you and teach you everything you need to know about life. They love you unconditionally."
Her eyes stayed fixed on the picture and I wondered what she was thinking about in her little head. I wanted to ask if she knew her parents, but I wanted her to feel comfortable enough to tell me about it when she was ready.
"The dog catcher."
She said it barley loud enough to be heard and I watched her tiny knuckles turn white from her gripping the picture frame tighter.
"What can you remember about him ?" I asked trying to lightly push her.
I watched her shift those mismatched eyes around the room nervously for a minute and she concentrated hard as small little wrinkles formed on her forehead. After another minute she closed her eyes and squeezed them shut tight as if it could help her retrace her memories.
"It's dark and cold." she whispered after another minute of sitting silent with her eyes closed. I watched her body shudder and her skinny little legs that dangled down were covered in goosebumps.
I watched her sniff the air and I arched an eyebrow up when seeing it.
"Something's dead." she whispered and I watched her nose scrunch up and face twist in disgust as if she could really smell it.
Suddenly she took in a sharp breath and her body began vibrating and her small lip puffed out. She let out a small whimper and I could hear her heartbeat start racing.
"He's coming for me." She breathed
"Stupid mutt. Stupid mutt." she started mumbling those two words to herself over and over. A small green fire started on the floor and soon she started chanting the words louder and the flames started to grow.
I put my hands on her small shoulders and shook her a little rough.
"Shh calm down it's okay, it's okay Emerald."
Her eyes shot open and her one green eye was glowing brightly. She blinked and then it was back to its normal color and the fire immediately vanished. I slowly took the picture frame from her small hands and sat it down next to me on the bed.
Her chest was heaving and her pulse was racing and she started to take in fast breathes trying to calm down from the adrenaline rush. Her eyes began to gloss over and when I realized she was fixing to cry I could feel Zeb become distressed.
'Do something!'
I felt just as vulnerable as she looked and was physically sick thinking about whatever I had just made her relive. I wrapped one arm around her small back and pulled her closer to me. At first her body stiffened and I wrapped my other arm around her and brought her to my lap and tried to do my best to hug her.
She stayed stiff as a board at first and tried to push herself away from me, but I rocked her slightly and just kept trying to push the guilty feeling I had down deep.
She had been stubborn and keeping me from doing my job as Alpha and I had every intention on finding out as much as I could from her even if it meant intimidating her. In this moment though, none of those things seemed to matter.
It felt wrong suddenly to have thought so negatively towards a child that I assumed was a spy. Even if she still was, it was clear to me now that she was innocent. Innocent in any wrong that she had ever committed. She was forced into whatever relationship she had with Scout and was obviously terrified of him.
I looked down suddenly realizing I had been lost in thought and still rocking her. She had relaxed and her soft snores were the only sounds in the room. I let out a breath of relief and gently started to move her off me and under the covers of the bed. She immediately curled up into a small ball pulling her legs up close to her under the giant shirt I gave her.
I stayed with her for a few more minutes to make sure she wasn't going to stir awake and when her breathes stayed even I snuck away and closed the door slowly behind me. I walked downstairs and got on one of the large leather sofas. I snagged a blanket that had been folded over near the end and tried to fall asleep.
I tossed back and forth for a while. I couldn't get my brain to shut off and was still thinking about the kid. I wasn't sure now if I wanted to continue to ask about Scout or anything else that could make her feel like that again. It was like I had just caused her that fear even though it was really him.
It only made me want to find him more.