Protected

Planning Room

It took most of the day to move Riley and I in to the Pack House. Most of it was spent on clothes and food.

I was sitting in an armchair in the library, reading a book about old families in our town. Riley came running into the library and threw herself down in a chair next to me.

"What's up, Riles?" I said, closing my book. I waited for her to catch her breath.

"I want to call a meeting in the den so we can talk about the wedding, but you know I don't like yelling, and you have to yell to call a meeting, so-"

"MEETING IN THE DEN!" I screamed.

Three quiet okays came from different parts of the house. Riley laughed, and we ran down the stairs to the den. Lucas and Josh were on the couch, and Zay came down the other staircase moments later. They all looked up at me expectantly.

"Oh, no, this is Riley's meeting, she just didn't want to yell," I said, sitting down next to Lucas.

They switched their expectant looks from me to Riley.

"Okay, what are we doing about the wedding?" Riley asked, "I think we should plan it together."

"We were just talking about that," Josh said, "We can turn the storage room into a wedding room."

"That would be amazing!" Riley cried. "But we need to know how much money we have to spend."

I saw Lucas, Zay, and Josh exchange glances, but I didn't think anything of it. 

"You can have my college savings," I said, "That's, like, four thousand dollars."

"Maya! I can't take your college money! You're going to go to Yale, for art!" she cried.

I shook my head, "At the rate I'm going, I have to get a full scholarship. Otherwise I can't pay tuition. So, I won't need the money either way."

"Absolutely not," Riley said.

Lucas stood up.

"We actually have an announcement to make, involving the wedding," he said. I looked up at him curiously.

"The Pack is... how do you put it... filthy rich," Zay snorted, "We've been collecting money and passing it through the Pack for generations, so there's a lot of it, and there's always more coming. We are giving you guys... drum roll please..." Zay and Josh beat their hands enthusiastically on the couch, "forty thousand dollars to your wedding!"

"But- I- you- forty-" but Riley couldn't get a full sentence out because she burst into hysterical happy tears and threw her arms around Lucas. Lucas looked bewildered, and he pat her back awkwardly, but he let her cry into his shirt. Riley finally pulled away and went to Farkle, still sobbing. Farkle hugged her tightly, beaming, and mouthed Thank you over Riley's shoulder to Lucas.

Lucas fell back onto the couch next to me and put his arm around me. I immediately nestled to his side.

"That was amazing, Lucas. I can't believe you did that for her," I said.

He shrugged, "She's family. Soon, she's going to be my sister-in-law."

I looked up at him, curious.

"Werewolves in the same pack are considered brothers, since they share so much wolf blood," he explained.

I nodded.

A few minutes later, Josh and Zay led us up to the storage room and threw the door open. The boxes were all cleared out, and there were six desks with chairs close together on one wall: planning desks. There was a closet in the corner that I hadn't noticed when the room was full of boxes.

"The desks are for each of us, and the closet is where you can put the wedding dress, so you have a safe place to put it, and Farkle also won't be able to see it," Josh said.

This sent Riley into more fits of crying.

"Let the wedding planning commence!" Zay yelled.