A love unspoken

Chapter Two

‘Olivia!’ Roared Leo in exasperation as yet again he had taken a mouthful of coffee with a spoonful of salt.

‘What did she do this time?’ Carmen asked, entering the room from the kitchen, carefully drying her hands, her amusement evident in her eyes.

‘Salt’ Leo moaned, grabbing a glass of juice off the table to try and wash away the taste.

Standing up he sniffed deeply before striding over to the floor length curtains, yanking the open to reveal the twenty five year old mahogany haired beauty who had her hands over her mouth trying to stifle her giggles.

Fixing her with a stern look Leo said ‘how many times are you going to trick your poor father?’

Smiling brightly, Olivia flung herself into her father’s arms ‘how many more times are you going to fall for it daddy?’

Grumbling, he muttered, ‘at least this time it wasn’t frog spawn in my boots, took me days to get rid of that slimy feeling around my toes.’

Looking at her watch, Olivia let out a yelp as she kissed Leo’s cheek swiftly. Yelling goodbye to her mother and running for the door, pulling it open and disappearing from view leaving her half amused, half exasperated father in her wake.

Racing down the path from their home, Olivia sprinted across the square and in through the double doors of the school, skidding to a halt at the door to the classroom. Taking a brief moment to smooth down her clothes, she pushed to door open and entered to building.

‘Late again Olivia?’ came Hazel’s amused tone, ‘what did you do to my poor Beta this time?’

Smiling Cheekily, Olivia dropped herself into her chair by Hazel’s side, ‘salt in the sugar bowl, I got up late so had to fall back on an old favourite’ she replied.

Shaking her head laughing, Hazel muttered, ‘you torture that poor warrior.’

Laughing Olivia scoffed, ‘he started it! Pie in my bed Luna! A full lemon meringue pie!’

‘You were nine Liv!’ Hazel chuckled rolling her eyes, ‘one of you will have to concede at some point’.

‘Won’t be me’ Olivia promised, ‘i’ve just got to keep my eye out for his retaliation, he’s lucky it was just salt! He put purple hair dye in my shampoo, two weeks I had to walk around with bright purple hair’ she pouted before her grin broke through again.

Standing up, Olivia grabbed an armful of exercise books and a handful of pens, walking up and down the rows, she placed one of each on to the desks that faced toward the teacher.

Soon enough, the chatter of young voices and stamping of feet reached their ears as the door opened and a group of children aged ten to twelve barged in, making their way to their seats.

After a few moments, Hazel cleared her throat loudly causing each child to quickly take their seat and wait silently, attention on the two adults at the front.

‘Good morning children’ Hazel called out clearly with a smile.

‘Good morning Luna’ the children chanted back in unison.

‘Good morning Children’ Olivia then said happily.

‘Good morning Olivia’ the children replied before they settled down to work.

At break time, Olivia stood at the window watching as the children ran around outside, squealing and laughing. Suddenly Jackson, a dark haired boy of twelve snuck up behind an eleven year old girl, her long silvery blond hair tied up in two plaits, and pulled one causing her to grab at the back of her head as she yelped in pain.

‘Looks like Jackson is picking on Florence again’ Olivia sighed turning to Hazel who was at her desk marking work. ‘Would you like me to talk to your grandson or would you like too?’ she asked.

Hazel shook her head as she stood up, indicating for the she wolf to look back at the children where another young girl, identical to Jackson, had barged forward through the crowd that had gathered around the teary girl and her tormentor. She was angrily jabbing her finger into her twin brothers chest as she yelled at him.

‘Leave my friend alone Jack or I swear I will tell ma that you have been being mean’ she threatened as Jackson’s face paled.

‘You wouldn’t! Harriet!’Jackson pleaded desperately as the young girl eyed him stubbornly, her hand on her hip.

A tall muscular boy named Logan, Jackson’s best friend, walked u to the group and started to try and defuse the situation between the siblings.

‘Poor Jackson’ Hazel murmured amused, ‘we are pretty sure that Florence is his mate, he doesn’t want anyone else near her but is still at the stage where girls are icky. He wants her attention but doesn’t know how to get it.’

Watching as Harriett linked her arm through that of the tearful girl, pulling her away from the two boys with a final daggered look at her brother before turning her back on them. The adults smiled at the look of longing that crossed Jackson’s face as he watched Florence leave, a look mirrored by his best friend who’s eyes were glued to Harriet’s back.

‘I think Florence is going to make a fine Luna one day’ Hazel mused as she made her way back to her desk, ‘and Harriet is going to be one formidable Beta’s wife.’

Sitting down next to her, Olivia rubbed her eyes, ‘I still can’t believe that Jason handed his title over to his sister’ she said.

Hazel shrugged, ‘the plan was always that the pack would relocate to the castle forest so the Jason could lead without incurring the wrath of his home, but my grandson Vaughn was a force to be reckoned with and Jason didn’t feel that he an Vallance could dedicate the time needed to the pack. Also, our people are settled here’ she added with a smile, ‘not that they would have complained about moving for their Alpha if they needed too, but I think it worked out as it should, Halle is a strong Alpha and her mate Brent is a strong, caring, pillar of dependence that calms her impulsive nature.’

How can both the Alpha’s children have possibly found their mates already and I haven’t even gotten a sniff of mine’ Olivia moaned in frustration.

Arching her eyebrow, Hazel fixed the younger woman with a steely gaze, ‘maybe it is time that you went out to look for him Liv’ she suggested.

Sighing deeply, the young she wolf met the previous Luna’s gaze, ‘Uh, I would but you know daddy’ she protested as she deepened her voice in imitation of him, ‘Olivia, we don’t know why your old pack was attacked, if whoever did it finds out that you survived, they may come back for you. As long as you are within the boundary of the pack you will be safe’ she growled before rolling her eyes as Hazel laughed.

‘Leo is just over protective, you are his gift from the Goddess and he loves you with his whole heart, but you are also twenty five years old, you can make your own choices’ the Luna said soothingly.

‘I love him too, and ma too, they took me in when I had nowhere else to go and raised me as their own, even their wolves accepted me as their pup which we all know doesn’t happen often. I owe them everything Luna, I fel bad for wanting to put myself in danger, risking all that they have done to keep me safe, for the selfish reason of finding my mate’ Olivia replied sadly.

There conversation was interrupted by the return of the children from the playground, Harriet still with her arm slung possessively through Florence’s, a rather forlorn looking Jackson traipsing in behind them.

The rest of the school day passed quickly and soon the children were shouting their goodbye’s as the ran out of the room and back to their homes. After helping to tidy up the classroom, Olivia waved to Hazel and set off back home. Stepping through the front door warily, she kicked off her shoes by the door and inched into the living room to be greeted with the sight of her mother setting the table.

‘Hey ma’ she called out as Carmen straightened up, he face beaming widely as she abandoned her chore and hurried over for a hug.

‘He pudding, how was work today?’ she asked

‘It was good, seems we have a couple of future mates in the class’ Olivia laughed as she returned the hug.

‘Is that my pain in the ass daughter I hear?’ came the gruff voice of Leo as he stepped out of the Kitchen where he was cooking dinner, wiping his hands on a cloth before striding over to hug Olivia who giggled into his shoulder.

‘Sorry dad’ she said trying to look chagrined, ‘I would have come up with something much better if I hadn’t have been late for work’ she added as she scurried off to the kitchen chuckling, leaving Leo growling, half annoyed, half amused behind her.

Walking over to the stove, she gave the pot a quick stir before lifting the wooden spoon to her lips and taking a small sip, groaning in satisfaction as the hot liquid slid down her throat.

Walking in behind her, Leo grabbed the spoon out of her hand, ‘Hey! No tasting before it is on the plate’ he grumbled as Olivia grinned.

‘But Dad, your cooking is sooo good I can’t help but want to sample it’ she replied as Leo shooed her away and began to ladle the pasta and sauce onto the three plates already on the side waiting.

Picking up two he nodded at the third for Olivia to pick up, before leading the way back into the living room and placing them on the table so they could eat.