The Arrangement |1|

Chapter Six

   Emerson was hoping that the rushing of children would scare Madeline away and make her terminate this arrangement.

   He was wrong.

   Instead of doing what he believed she would do, Madeline just kneeled on the ground and opened her arms to them. They all rushed to her, babbling and pulling and touching. Their high-pitched voices made his head hurt.

   But she didn't seem to mind. She didn't shove them away as they pulled on her blonde hair. She didn't yell at them to stop talking. Instead, she gently pulled their hands away from her hair when they pulled too hard and she softly responded to their questions.

   Emerson trailed behind as the pups all but dragged her into the daycare.

   He leaned against the wall, watching, as they kept pulling her in all different directions, trying to make her play with them, showing her their terrible crayon pictures.

   He didn't understand how she could stand it. Not after having her mate ripped away and the chance to have children, gone. He could barely stand looking at them. His pups were supposed to be among them, running around and making horrible finger paintings. But they're not because Abigail is dead and Emerson was left alone, without a mate and childless.

   But Madeline pushed through it. She went around, playing with each pup, looking at their pictures and praising them, and then painting along with them. She didn't seem to care that her pale skirt and white button up got paint splatters on it.

   He would've thought that she was truly happy if he hadn't seen that sad, longing glint in her eyes. One had to really look, to see, that glint. One had to have one similar in their own eyes to recognize it.

   And then all the children demanded that she read them a story. Only it didn't just stop with one, they shoved books after books into her hands. Madeline would only laugh softly and begin reading the next. The pups took turns sitting her lap and would cry when it was time to get off and let another sit on her.

   They stayed until the last of the children had left with their parents. He didn't mind this, however, because it allowed him to get a closer look at Madeline. See how she worked, how she moved around. How she interacted with the children and then the parents that came to pick them up. He stood in the back and watched and waited.

   What he learned was that his father was correct in the matter of how she has Luna traits. She was motherly with the pups. She looked after them and took a sharp pencil out of the hands of the little boy running with it.

   She spoke kindly and softly, but firmly. She had a loving hand. It was clear that she cared.

   But that didn't mean that she was right for that pack. she could be too soft and easy to push around and manipulate. She could still fall apart the moment something bad happens. There are many things that could prove that she is not fit for Luna. Today meant nothing. It did not decide that she was right for the role.

   When the last of the pups were gone, and he had said goodbye to Edna, he began the track back to the Pack House. Emerson didn't bother to check to see if Madeline was following and he didn't slow his fast pace.

   He walked up the steps to the House and headed in the direction of the food. He normally didn't eat with his pack, rather eating in his office or in his Wing. But they had guests and he had to dine with them or who knows what his father would try and do.

   He stopped before entering the dining area. He turned to look at a disheveled Madeline. "Dinner starts in fifteen. Your things have been taken to the Alpha Wing. Go freshen up. Don't be late." That was all he said before walking past the doors and into the dining room.