Returning Home

Chapter 22 - Cover up and Stay Safe.

POV - Felix

As we left stats Liv went off to meet her dad and Mark took me to his car. It was a big Toyota Hilux and it was very nice. "This is us" Mark said opening the passenger door "hop on in" he smiled at me.

"Thank you" I said climbing into the passenger seat.

The ride was quiet as I directed him to the house. Despite it being a long walk it was only about 10 minutes drive which gave us plenty of time to get to work and maybe have some food, the stuff Philip and Lilly had cooked since I had ended up forgetting it this morning.

When he pulled up he looked shocked "This is awesome" he said looking down at me

"Yeah it's my friends Amelia's. Shes Alpha born of the pack so she does pretty well for herself" I laughed as I unlocked the door ushering him in. "It'll be a long evening so I thought we could have some food if you're hungry" I walked in and he followed behind slowly taking everything in.

We got to the kitchen and I pulled out a stool doing a weird bow thing while pointing at it. What the f**k? He just laughed taking a seat and smiling at me. "I could eat" he said simply.

I walked around the kitchen reheating the pasta in the microwave and serving it into bowls "My friends are chefs and they cooked this up. My only skill is microwaving so it works well" we both laughed and had light conversation as we ate our meal and long after.

I looked at the time and saw it was 3pm "Oh s**t I've gotta go get changed one second"

"No worries I gotta get my safety gear out of the ute I'll be right back" he smiled at me as I ran off like a headless chicken. I put on my shitty old clothes, steel cap boots, hivis and out my safety glasses in my pocket as I grabbed my hardhat running back down into the kitchen.

He was waiting there watching me and his face suddenly dropped. "You have a mate?" he asked with worry in his tone.

Oh fuck... I had been wearing turtle necks since Amelia and I went shopping to avoid this very question... f**k. He deserved to know though if he too felt anything from our possible bond, which I now suspected he did... Probably not for long. "I ahh. Kinda... He marked me obviously but then he wanted to... i meant still wants to reject me... But I ahh ran away from it... Thank you for reminding me though I am just going to quickly change. Only a few people know about the situation it's kinda complicated..."

"Okay" he said flatly... I didn't want to f**k this up... but I kinda already did. and I don't even know what this is...

i went back up and got changed and then we walked to work in silence.

We walked through the forest heading south untill I could see the mill in the distance. It looked a bit run down but the buzz of machinery made it clear it was still in operation. At the forest end of the large structure were un milled logs. They still had their bard but had been debranched already.

These were being loaded into the machine with a small digger with a grabby type attachment. I am sure there is a more accurate name for this but I will learn it later. once they are on the machine debarks, and cuts them up finally smoothing out the finish creating so new 2 by 4s which were being stacked on pallets and loaded into trucks.

the off cuts were flying everywhere creating piles of wood dust and bark / chips.

With that I put on my safety gear walking toward to office at the front of the lot. Liv was already in there and signaled for me and mark to come over and stand by her.

"Hows it going??" she asked

"good" Mark said bluntly turning away

I just smiled and she nodded.

A large burly man walked in. He looked half shifted with the amount of dark brown hair he had sprouting form his whole body. but he looked soft and it was clear he was a teddy bear. He had the same Hazel eyes Liv had and looked at her with care. His look hardened a bit as he looked at the rest of us.

"that's my dad" Liv whispered. Of course it was.

"Hello. My name is Graeme and I run the mill. Today I will be taking you all for a tour and setting you up in pairs." Liv motioned between me and her and he looked between us and nodded. I am so greatful that I would be with someone familiar. "This is a seriously dangerous place. Always be wearing safety gear if an accident happens and you were not following the rules the hospital bills will not be covered so keep that in mind. We will start out the back where the team grades the logs and then move through the machines. We will cover felling in about a month but for now you will become familiar on this end working in the office and on the mill." he nodded moving over to the whiteboard "Alright safety briefing and then we hit the site"

much as I suspected by the look he gave us after Livs signal her and I were paired up. Mark was put with a girl who was fairly plain but he was clearly flirting with her looking over and giving me a dirty glare every once and a while. Maybe he was also an asshole and the Goddess just wanted me to suffer.

We did the whole tour and I couldn't wait to be doing the gradings. it was right up my alley. The Logs come in de branched and stacked and then you inspect them by climbing all over them and spray painting them based on the amount of knots and such that were coming out. The knots are caused by the branches. I was already learning so much on the ground.

When we got to the loading area where the finished product was being sent off Graeme asked "Any Questions" and no one said anything.

I had been wondering about the waste since I arrived as there was a lot of it so I decided to ask...

"What about the waste from the milling? what happens to that?" i had a surprising amount of confidence in my voice. I was really finding my feet.

"It gets collected and sold for mulch. It's used in gardens or further ground up to make MDF or similar products which don't require new logs" he nodded and smiled glad about my interest and Liv bumped my shoulder

"What a stupid question" a familiar voice screeched as Dee and Kate rounded the office standing behind us. Kate had said it but Dee was nodding and laughing as she held her hand.

Graeme nodded and beared is neck as a sign of respect "Beta, future Luna" he said with respect I didn't think the deserved. "We weren't expecting you today we are just taking around the students"

"Yes yes. We know that's why you couldn't be here to give us our deserved greeting" Dee seethed. goddess she is an entitled little b***h. "And we are familiar with Felix. It is such a shame your business it to be tainted with such a useless girl" I lowered my gaze feeling embarrassment creep onto my face.

They had never been so outright with their hate but their titles must have given them some confidence. I turned back to Graeme who gave me a look of sorry but they are in charge before he said "Okay well I guess everyone is dismissed"

Liv quickly rushed up to him and whispered something and he nodded. She grabbed my hand pulling me away "I remember you saying you lived near by. Maybe I can come back to yours dad said hed pick me up later" not trusting my voice I nodded and we started our walk. "Mark are you coming too?" she asked and he grumbled something walking behind us staring daggers at my step family.

"I mean that's where my car is so yeah" he broke his stare and followed behind keeping his distance from me like I had something catchy... My heart ached. Again and again...

I wish there was some sort of safety gear for my feelings.