CH 68
Harmony
She was out walking with Melody and Anya. It was a little on the brisk side now, but she’d not
yet taken her coat off, so it wasn’t too bad. “Where are we going?” she asked curiously as they
walked round the side of the apartment building. They’d walked out the front door and along
the building.
“There’s a nice walking trail through the forest behind that complex, which takes about 25
minutes, and goes right past the training grounds and comes back to the apartment. It’s a
loop trail that starts and finishes at the same place pretty much.”
“We thought you’d like to get a bit of a look around,” Anya smiled at her. “Garrett, we see, is
monopolising all your time and not really giving you space to wander about.”
“So we thought we’d spring you from his clutches.” Melody chuckled, “This relationship is new
to him, and he’s…”
“Clingy.” Harmony chuckled softly. They all chuckled.
“The path got cleared this morning by the gardeners. It’s a fully marked trail, so don’t worry
about us getting lost, we won’t.” Melody smiled at her.
They walked at a casual stroll, and stepped onto the path. It was raised off the ground and
some parts of it had stairs to walk up and there were a few sections with bridges to go over
the frozen creeks. She imagined it would be nice to walk along in the warmer months.
They all chatted casually about many things, and she found out that Melody was pregnant. Melody smiled at her. “We’ll have our babies together. Our children will grow up just like Wyatt and the boys did. That will be good for the next generation taking over Owens Corporation.”
“What?” Harmony frowned at her a little confused.
“Oh, sorry. I guess Garrett hasn’t mentioned that to you yet. That he’ll be looking for his firstborn to step up and take over when he retires in 25 or 30 years.”
“No,” Harmony shook her head. She’d also not even thought that far ahead, was kind of living in the moment. “What if he or she doesn’t want that, to follow in Garrett’s footsteps?”
Both Melody and Anya chuckled. “They will,”
“It’s tradition,” Melody elaborated, “with big corporations like the Owens run, it’s a long way off
in the future, don’t worry about it now.”
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CH 68
*8 Point
She just nodded 25 or 30 years was a long way off. She’d be in her fifties by then. Shook it off,
though she’d likely have to discuss that with Garrett later. It seemed he was making plans for
their child without telling her.
She wanted her child to grow up and be able to do as it wanted to, study what it was
interested in, not be tied to the plans of its father, and the running of the family business if
they didn’t want to, though that thought struck ‘family business‘ and she could see why
Garrett would want that for their child. Likely always thought that way, so just didn’t bring it
up, was all.
She’d not thought to ask Garrett himself if he’d wanted to take over his family’s business, but
he had and, from what she’d read at the age of 28, he’d been in charge for 10 years now, and
he seemed quite happy to be there as the head of the company.
It was a nice company, and it was run well, with, from what she could tell, not only a family
vibe, but employee wellness and happiness at the forefront. If it stayed that way, it was likely
that their son or daughter would probably want to step up and run the family business, and
why wouldn’t they?
It would be their inheritance, she supposed, something they kind of naturally expected to
receive if they wanted it, that was. She let it go. What did it matter right this minute? Everyone was happy in the company and here in the community she doubted any child of Garrett’s
would decline it.
Likely to take after him a lot. She smiled. If they had a boy, he would be handsome and strong
like his father, and would likely be trained up by Garrett himself, after getting whatever
university degree he or she needed.
She came to a halt at the sight of a very large animal crossing their path, just a few meters away. It had come out of the forest on their right, and she realised as she looked at it, that it
had to be Huntley, Garrett’s pet wolf.
It was a very large black wolf, and he turned his head to look at them. It was the biggest wolf
she had ever seen.
“It’s alright, Harmony.” Melody touched her arm. “That’s Huntley, he belongs to Garrett.”
“I’ve heard about him,” she nodded, though her heart was racing at the sheer size of him, and a
little bit of fear crept into her as the wolf stopped and stared at her. His bright green eyes were
on her.
“He won’t hurt you,” Anya stated, “He’s quite friendly, just a bit on the large and imposing side
is all.”
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CH 68
+8 Points
Anya was not wrong about that, and she watched as Melody walked over to Huntley and patted him on the side. “Hey Huntley.” She talked to him, and then she stepped back towards Come Huntley.” Melody called to the wolf, and it actually followed her as she walked back.
Harmony took a step back away from him instinctively and the wolf stopped instantly, sat himself down in front of her and looked at her, tilted its head to one side and then a soft rumbling sound came from him.
“Awe look at that.” Anya murmured. “He’s purring for you, he must like you.”
“Purring?” Harmony questioned; did wolves purr?
“Mm, that’s what we call the noise he makes when he’s happy,” Melody told her. “You can pat
him, he won’t bite, seems he likes you already… You’ll see him a fair bit and get used to the
size of him. He doesn’t look too scary now, does he?”
Harmony stood there and thought about that. Did he look scary to her? No not really, he was
just big, and it was instinctual to be afraid of such large creatures, especially when she knew
this one was still part wild. Even though Garrett had told her about his size, she guessed right
this minute, she’d not really believed his wolf would be this big.
She took a breath in and pulled herself together, took a tentative step towards him. She had to
be calm, and she could see that neither Melody nor Anya were afraid of him. She held her
hand out to him the way one would when meeting a dog for the first time, to let them smell
you.
Huntley smelled her hand and licked the tips of her fingers after a moment, and she reached
out to actually pat him, and he didn’t shy away, let her, and she smiled as she pat the giant
beast before her. “His fur is so soft.” She murmured. She’d not expected it to be.
She ran her hand over his head and to his ear and around it and gave it a bit of a scratch, and he leaned into it, and she chuckled softly. “Not so scary, just big huh.”
He stood up to his full height and stepped closer to her. It kind of made her hand run down over his neck, and then his head ran up along her arm, kind of like he was smooching her, she thought with a smile. He was sweet, and then he was walking around her, which allowed her hand to run all the way along him and down over his tail.
Big was an understatement. He was massive, she thought. Longer than both her arms outstretched, he wound himself all the way around her, and she could hear him smelling her. He came back to stand in front of her once more. Then there was that rumbling noise coming
from him again.
”
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CH 68
+8 Point!
She smiled right at him, and he suddenly licked her right up the neck and side of her face,
which made both Melody and Anya chuckle, and then he was gone, off into the forest once
more. She laughed herself, as she wiped her neck and face on the sleeve of her coat. “That
was weird.”
“He likes you.” Melody chuckled.
“Agreed,” Anya snorted. “I’ve never seen him lick anyone before. Make sure you tell Garrett
you’ve met him. He’ll have lots of questions, because he wasn’t with you.”
“I will,” she nodded. “Though I had thought I would meet him when I was with Garrett.”
“Huntley roams at will,” Melody stated with a shrug, “Come on, we’re nearly at the training
ground,” and they all walked on.
The training ground was large and though it was covered in snow, she could see that there were many obstacles out there. “That is some training ground,” she murmured.
Melody nodded, “Wait until the snow melts, and you get a real good look at it. It’s massive and some parts you can’t see right now. But it’s lots of fun, and we get to stand and yell from the sidelines at the boys, when they are actively challenging each other to see who’s the best.”
“Garrett tells me he holds the record,” Harmony stated as they moved on once more.
“He currently does,” Anya agreed. “But that can depend on the day. I’ve seen both Wyatt and Scott hold the record. Scott’s always in the top three, and likes to get in and give the boys a
good challenge.”
That surprised her a bit, considering how old Scott was. “He must be very fit for his age.” She
nodded.
“Oh, yeah, he is. Still works out from what I heard.” Anya nodded.
“I’ve seen Deidre win it once or twice. That was funny to have her best the boys.” Melody
chuckled.
“Really?” Harmony shook her head.
“Mm, it’s not always about speed and strength, and challenges go on fitness levels, so you only compete against those in your own training group. But anyone can come out here and practice,” Melody told her.
“The mud runs are the best challenges. Those happen after a good solid rainfall, or Garrett opts to soak the course completely. Some of the sections are like knee–deep mud pits and that’s where you see some of them, like Garrett and the boys get beat. Big and heavy and if
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CH 68
they fall down.”
“Or get shoved down.” Anya snorted.
“It can be tough for them to get up, whereas the lighter of us get up much quicker.” Melody nodded.
Anya was chuckling now. “The last mud run, I beat Ryan because I shoved him over. It’s a bit
like warfare out there, and wrestling about, to win, kind of just happens.” She snorted. “Got me
a s******g for being naughty afterwards.”
Harmony chuckled, “Kind of cheating though.”
“Hey, you’ve seen him, almost as big as Garrett. I’m tiny like you. Sometimes shoving one over in the mud is the only way to win.” She laughed. “It’s all in good fun though.”
She could only smile. “Sounds like an interesting event, and you all love it.”
“We do. You’ll love it too, when you can get in and do it yourself.” Anya nodded. “I recall my first mud run. I tripped and went splat in the first mud pit, was covered head to toe in mud, and
everyone thought it was funny. I didn’t know it was going to be knee–deep, and kind of got
stuck, and had to be hauled up and out of it, freaking hilarious, even to me.”
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