While her tiny bones started cracking and popping I motioned for the kids to come closer to me so I could lay out some ground rules.
"Okay now listen she's a little scared of strangers, so don't crowd her. Wait for her to come to you and try to make her feel welcomed."
They all nodded their little heads and then several of them started hurling questions at me.
"What's her name?"
"How come she has her wolf already ?"
"Yeah! That's not fair!"
"Why does she have blood on her?"
All of a sudden I felt very thankful that Emerald wasn't a little chatter box. I put my hands up to try and tell them to calm down and one of the little girls let out a gasp and all the children turned towards the woods to see what was wrong.
Emerald had poked her head out from behind the tree and her tiny face was covered in blood from the rabbit still. I cursed at myself under my breath and quickly walked to her and took the end of my shirt and wiped her face clean. She tried to snatch her head back from me, but I held her chin still so I could get all the red stains off.
When I finished she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand and gave me a sour look. I chuckled and motioned my head towards the group of kids who were watching.
"Be nice, they all want to meet you."
She peaked out from behind the tree again and studied the kids before looking back at me. She was still unsure and I held my hand out to her and we slowly walked closer to them. She stood a little bit behind me, but eventually poked her head out from behind my legs and some of the kids gasped again when they could see her eyes.
Henry took a couple steps closer and Emerald hid behind me again when he did.
"Hi! I'm Henry what's your name?"
The small girl slowly poked her head out again and I moved to the side and pushed her closer to him with my hand on her back. She looked at him up and down curiously and then leaned in a little to smell him. She put up her small finger and poked her chest at him.
"Emerald."
I was relieved that she didn't say mutt like last time and Henry smiled wide at her. Soon all the children started walking up and began telling her their names. A girl with dark hair braided into two pigtails smiled shyly at her and started playing with the ends of her hair.
"I like your eyes how did you get them to do that?" She asked.
Emerald looked up at me and I wasn't sure if she understood what the girl meant. She looked back at the girl that was the same height as her and pointed to her chest and repeated her name.
"Emerald."
The girl giggled at her and then pointed to her teeth.
"Wanna see me loose tooth?" She asked nicely and Emerald cocked her eyebrow up at her. Kacey opened her mouth and started to wiggle one of her bottom teeth with her finger to show her.
Emerald's eyes went wide in amazement and she took a step closer to Kacey and cocked her head to the side to get a better look. Kacey stopped and smiled proudly to Emerald.
"Do you want to play with me?" She asked, but Emerald only looked back at me with a confused look on her face.
I took a step closer and crouched down next to the two small girls.
"Kacey, she might not understand. She's never played with other kids before".
A few of the kids let out another shocked gasp and Kacey looked at Emerald and gave her a sad look.
"It's okay I can teach her!"
The little girl went to reach out for Emerald's hand and this only made her take a step back to keep from being touched.
"It's okay Emerald you can trust her." I said encouragingly.
The little girl tried again and this time she was able to grab her hand and started pulling her away from me and to the other kids. Emerald looked back at me with wide eyes, but I nodded my head and shooed her to go along with them.
Soon all the kids crowded around her and started to all talk at once to her and asking her questions. She would look back and forth between all the kids trying to keep up with what they were saying and I could hear her heartbeat pace up. She was shaking a little.
Henry tapped his hand on Kacey and then yelled out for everyone to hear.
"Kacey's it!"
Right on que all the kids swarmed away from Emerald and Kacey. I heard Kacey whisper something to Emerald and then race away from her too as she tried to tag someone else. Emerald watched intently as Kacey ran behind another little girl and tagged her.
"Zoe's it!" She yelled out and soon the other girl started racing to try and tag someone else.
Emerald stayed where she was as she watched Zoe run over and tag a little boy with red hair and freckles.
"Joey's it!" She yelled and the boy looked around to see who he could tag next. His eyes landed on Emerald and he started running towards her.
Her eyes widened at him and when he was close enough he gently touched her shoulder and then ran past her.
"Emerald's it!" He yelled and all the kids turned back to watch her.
She looked over at me still feeling unsure and I gave her a small smile. She looked around at all the kids and took her time to try and decide what she was going to do next. I saw her ball her small hands up and then moved one foot in-front of the other towards Kacey.
Kacey started zooming fast away from her and Emerald tried to move her legs faster. She had to keep stopping to catch her balance, but after a minute she started to get the hang of it and soon enough she was full on running behind Kacey.
I stood up from the ground and smiled so big when watching her. She quickly caught up to Kacey and tagged the back of her shoulder. She stopped and looked around at the other kids looking proud of herself.
"Kacey's it" she said softly and when Kacey turned back to tag Emerald again she took off like a little bullet.
The game continued, but nobody was able to catch up to Emerald and tag her again. I knew it was because she already had her wolf and that she would always be a little bit ahead of her peers until they got theirs.
I stayed in the field for another hour watching the kids play. Emerald kept a big grin on her face and to my surprise she never looked around to see if I was still there. I thought about leaving them alone and figured she'd be okay, but the thought of little green flames flashed in my mind and I decided against it.
After a while though kids began to get calls from their parents to come home and eat breakfast. One by one a kid would leave the game and wave goodbye to Emerald before taking off towards their home.
When it was just Kacey and Emerald left I decided it was time for us to head back too and whistled loudly to get the two girls attention. They started walking side by side together and Kacey was steadily talking to Emerald. She never said anything back, but I could tell she was trying hard to listen to the girl.
Kacey's parents could be seen walking together to meet us and when we were close enough Emerald stopped walking.
"It's okay it's just my mom and dad." Kacey said and ran to meet them.
Emerald walked up next to me, but watched the man bend down and scoop Kacey up into his arms. They both walked closer to us and Emerald went to hide behind my legs again.
"Good morning Alpha" Brad said and nodded his head to me.
"Good morning" I said back and Kacey's mom tried to sneak a peak at the small girl that was hiding behind me.
"Who's this?" She said and kept a friendly smile on her face.
"That's Emerald she's my new friend!" Kacey said proudly and wrapped her arms around her dad's neck.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Emerald." she said to the small girl and Emerald slowly poked her head around to look at her.
The woman crouched down to her level and kept a smile on.
"What pretty eyes you have."
Emerald walked around from behind me and leaned closer to the woman and sniffed the air around her. She looked between her and the man that was holding Kacey and then looked up to me.
"Parents?" She asked with her eyebrows furrowed together.
I nodded my head to her and she looked back at the woman who was crouched down in front of her. The woman looked down at the huge t shirt she was wearing and then stood up and gave a quick glance to her husband. They seemed to be linking each other and when the woman turned back to Emerald she smiled again.
"Kacey has a lot of clothes and I'm sure she wouldn't mind sharing".
Emerald cocked her head to the side at the woman and Kacey started to giggle.
"Daddy, Emerald already has her wolf when am I going to get mine?"
Brad's eyes widened in shock and shot me a look. I didn't say anything back, but I mind linked him to confirm that she did indeed have her wolf.
"Uh, well sweetie you probably won't get yours till your older".
"Everyone is different though hunny. Don't worry you'll get yours soon enough." the woman said to her daughter before smiling back at Emerald.
"I hope we get to see more of you Emerald and I'll be sure to give Alpha August some clothes for you."
The woman stood up and they both nodded to me before walking away. Kacey looked back at Emerald from over her dad's shoulder and waved goodbye. Emerald slowly put her hand up and mimicked her waving and stayed watching the small family until they were out of sight.
"You were very brave today Emerald, i'm proud of you." I placed my large hand over her shoulder and she looked away from the direction of the family and up at me.
We started walking back towards the houses and I chuckled when I heard the small grumbles coming from her stomach.