<b>Chapter </b>190
<b>“</b><b>I’m </b>going to hold them out for you to <b>step </b>into. You need to pay attention to getting your feet in the correct hole because <b>I’m </b>not going to watch. <b>I’m </b>going to close my <b>eyes </b>and look away while you <b>step </b>in. Then you need to pull them up and let me know when you’re finished. <b>It’s </b>not <b>eptable </b>for me to <b>be </b>in here while you dress.<b>” </b>
She nods her head but her <b>eyes </b>are sad and confused.
“I’m sorry <b>sweet </b>pea. I don’t expect you to understand. The truth is<b>, </b>when the rumors get out, I’m not allowed to be around the pups. This is a very scary situation for me because <b>I’ve </b>never had an alpha leave <b>his </b>own child with me when he’s aware of the rumors. I feel like he’s setting me up to fail.”
<b>“</b>Fail at what?<b>” </b>
She asks <b>as </b><b>I </b>repeat the <b>process </b>for getting her leggings on.
“I don’t know. What I do know is my failure results in getting punished.”
“But you’re a big wolf. Big wolves don’t get spanked.”
“Do you know where your shoes are?”
She runs to her closet and pulls out a pair of sneakers.
“Bring them over and I’ll help tie them<b>.</b>“.
She joyfully jogs over to the bed now that the awkwardness of getting her bottoms on is past us.
“I’m not certain of the discipline practices here but I assure you, the alpha of the pack, your father, can and likely has spanked full grown wolves. It’s just not something he’s going to talk about with you as it is a private punishment between him and the wolf who’s done wrong.”
“You’re so nice<b>. </b>Why would you get punished?”
“I wish I knew. It feels like no matter where I go I mess up and I’m either in the hospital or getting tied down to the alpha’s desk.”
Her eyes snap up quickly, looking deep into my own.
“I’m sorry, Madilyn. That’s not something you should ever hear.”
<b>I </b>speak quietly <b>as </b><b>I </b>start to stand. She pushes hard into my abdomen. I wince hard with a soft whine <b>as </b>I fall back onto her bed.
“You’re not bad, Cole. They are. Daddy’s different.”
“I’m <b>sorry </b>sweet pea. I wish I could truly believe that. He has been the nicest of all the alpha’s I’ve met but I’ve barely been here three days<b>. </b>A lot can happen once things start to rx.”
I stand again but a lot slower this time, surprised at how much pain such a little push could create.
<b>“</b><b>I’m </b><b>sorry</b><b>. </b>I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I walk back over with a brush, spray bottle of detangler and four bands to do her hair with.
“You <b>can’t </b>hurt me when I already <b>am</b><b>. </b>Climb up on the bed so <b>I </b>can do your hair.”
She scrambles <b>up </b>onto her bed without hesitation as I sit down behind her.
“Where <b>do </b><b>you </b>normally get breakfast from around here<b>? </b>I <b>noticed </b>that <b>the </b>dining room was <b>empty</b>.”
“We only have dinner there during the <b>week</b>. <b>The </b>bus <b>stops </b>right outside the banquet hall <b>so </b>all the school aged kids get breakfast there before leaving. Only <b>the </b>dining hall is <b>open </b>on the weekends and that’s only when we <b>have </b>warriors living here<b>.</b><b>” </b>
P
“So you have breakfast, lunch and dinner at the pack house on the weekend. Sort of. It’s not the same as dinner. Maddie and I have breakfast with mommy and sometimes daddy if he’s not too busy, Lunch is usually with nanny or mommy but dinner is usually big. Anyone staying in the pack housees to
dinner.”
“I guess that means I’m supposed toe to dinner tonight.”
I speak with a bit more contempt towards the idea than I intended.
“Do you know where the banquet hall is? How long do they serve breakfast?”
“I think the banquet hall goes until nine. The families with kids going to school are the ones that get to eat first but after that anyone cane until nine. Lunch is smaller at the banquet hall but starts at twelve and ends at two. Dinner here is at six.”
To my surprise, she sat well through the creation of double ponytails situated high on each side of her head which I gave both a cute braid to.
“Check it out.”
I encourage pointing her towards the mirror. She grins from ear to ear loving the simple hair style I gave her for the day. I start walking towards her, holding out my hand.
“Shall we go find some breakfast?”
“Yes, yes, yes.” She squeals as she jumps.
“Okay sweetheart, you lead the way. Let’s go find the banquet hall.”
The Son of Red Fang