“Race my wolf?” Olive asked as she hurried after him. He was walking too fast and she was even eating. Why was he in such a hurry?
“Surprised? Or you don’t have a wolf?”
“Of course I do. She’s a pretty one,” Olive boasted and they entered the elevator together.
“How pretty?”
“You’ll see,” she shrugged and popped the last bit of sandwich in her mouth.
“What about you? I bet you don’t have a wolf,” she teased him and he chuckled.
“You are right, I don’t have a wolf,” he said and she laughed, thinking he was joking. The rest of the elevator ride was in silence but, blissful silence. It wasn’t like the other silence on the first day of their stroll, which Olive had found suffocating. This one was quite comfortable for her. Was she finally loving the presence of her mate, whether he spoke or not?
When the elevator dinged open downstairs, Wayne’s hand took hers in his and helped her out. She was surprised he only held her hand as they were walking out. Was he trying to put up a show or what?
“It’s so you won’t feel lonely while walking with your mate in public,” he stated as if he had heard her thinking.
“How did you know that was what I was thinking about?”
“Aye-ya-yai! You ask too many questions,” he teased and drew her closer to himself. She pouted but didn’t ask any more questions.
As they walked through the receiving hall of the castle towards the main doors, all eyes were on them. Different officials were going about and the guards who were all dressed in black suits accompanied some of them or just stood guard at their various posts.
But everyone saw the Alpha wearing matching outfits with a woman, and holding her tenderly. Some of the officials had heard the rumours but were yet to confirm. To some extent, this scene confirmed their doubts about the Alpha finding his mate. But since he already found her, why didn’t he announce it to the parliament yet? What was Alpha Knight waiting for?
“Why were they all staring?” Olive mumbled under her breath as they stepped out through the doors.
“Their Luna is pretty,” Wayne said casually and she smiled. They entered the car without the guards rushing after them today. Wayne drove off quite faster than he did the last time they were out.
“Where are we going?” she asked again.
“Why do you ask too many questions, Olive?”
“So I won’t get into trouble.”
“Can you get into trouble with me?”
“Of course, I can. You have so many enemies. What if we get attacked?”
“My pack is safe for me, Olive. Stop being so scared.”
“Hey, I’m not being scared!”
“Yes, you are. Now sit still before you make me lose control of the wheel.”
Olive rolled her eyes and sat back against the seat. Few minutes later and they reached a rocky mountain side. They stepped out and Olive inhaled the smooth, clean air. Big and small rocks were littered all around the hills and there were mountains far in the distance.
Tall and short plants grew from the ground and gave it a meadow like appearance. Olive could hear water falling in the distance too. It was a sight to behold for nature lovers.
“I didn’t know Balendin had such a pretty scenery here,” Olive marveled.
“This is just one of them. We’ve got numerous sights to behold,” Wayne said much to Olive’s delight.
“I love it. Are we going to race immediately?” she asked as she looked all around, loving the idea of jumping in between boulders of rocks and playing hide and seek.
“Would you like us to race immediately? Or would you prefer a tour around first? There are lots of places to see, baby,” he said soothingly and she pinned her lips together. He called her baby again.
“Why are you calling me baby now? This is the second time today,” she said sheepishly.
“Weren’t you the one who said you wanted us to be something specific?” he asked and brought his face closer to hers. She was a tall one, but he was taller.
“I… yes. I wanted that,” she stuttered.
“You are my mate and girlfriend now. So is it wrong if I call you baby?”
Olive could sense Wayne was trying to rouse her emotions. She rolled her eyes and grabbed his manly hands then played with his fingers.
“Then what should I call you? Should I call you baby too?” she asked while looking lovingly into his eyes.
“Baby?” he scoffed. “That’s too childish.”
“Sweetheart?”
“Too long.”
“Sweetie?”
“Too cute for me.”
“Darling. My love. Baby boo. Delicious pumpkin pie. My cutie pie mate. My handsomely bad Alpha,” she cooed and began to blow him kisses. Wayne saw all her cute gestures and he started to laugh heartily again. She was such a cutie. He hugged her to his chest.
“Call me whatever you want to call me, okay?” he whispered into her ear and smoothed her hair.
She lifted her face to look at him in the eye.
“Baby?” she called.
“Yes,” he answered. She laughed and playfully hit him on his chest.
“Come on, let’s tour first. Then we’d race each other,” he took her hand and walked forward with her. They began to climb and Olive looked around.
Butterflies flew and perched on the flowers which were amongst the rocks. Birds also flew about. There were no big trees in the area. Just little tall plants. Alpha Knight took her to the biggest and highest rock closest to them. He lifted her on it and climbed up too.
“This place is so high. I can literally see everything,” she said and her voice echoed.
“It’s not even that high.”
“But has a clear view,” she counteracted and huffed at him. She began to move around on the rock and spread her arms. Wayne stood still with his arms crossed as he watched her acting like a six year old on the beach.
He was supposed to be angry at it. Because normally, he hated childish behavior and indisciplined attitude. Reason why he hardly got along with Vanessa, his sister. She was always the carefree one. Too nonchalant and never took their Alpha lessons seriously. That’s why she ended up not being able to lift a punch against any enemy.
But here he was, loving the way Olive squealed at butterflies, plucked plants and waved her hands in the air. She moved to the edge of the round rock and squatted down to pluck a yellow flower that somehow found a way to grow on a small patch of dirt there.
“Olive, be careful,” he warned calmly because she was crouched down in a way that could be dangerous. She could easily slip and fall.
Olive heard his warning and smiled then looked back at him while still squatting.
“Don’t worry. I won’t fall,” she said. She lifted herself and was going to stand straight when a bee buzzed right into her face. She screamed, lost balance and slipped down.
“Olive!” Wayne screamed as he saw her fall. She fell to the ground and because it was a steep ground, she kept tumbling down. Her groans filled Wayne’s ears and he jumped down from the rock and ran after her. She tumbled and hit her face against a pointed edge of a rock and blood got stained on it.
Wayne’s eyes widened in horror and before he knew it, he shifted into his wolf and ran on all fours. Olive tried to dig her claws into the ground and hold herself but the slippery grass didn’t let her. She was getting injured but was still tumbling down uncontrollably.
Wayne caught up with her and grabbed her in his limbs. They both tumbled down but he was now cushioning her protectively. They finally reached the leveled ground and halted. Wayne didn’t release her just yet, they stayed there like that.
“Wayne,” her calm voice spoke. She tried looking at him but he pinned her down.
“Stay…” she heard a very protective, deep and monstrous growl so she stayed still, not able to glance at the terrifying creature that just spoke.