Protector | Sequel to Protected

Loving It

Hours later, after I had taken a nap and fed the babies, and played twenty levels of Angry Birds, and watched two episodes of Once Upon a Time, and read the entirety of the first Harry Potter book, and wrote a list of reasons why blue is the best color, and wrote a song about clouds, and played an impromptu game of Punch Buggy with Lucas, and watched cars out the window until I counted 100 red cars, and sung a complete Charlotte Lawrence playlist at the top of my lungs, we drove down a stretch of dirt road and saw a sign that said Welcome to West Virginia; Wild and Wonderful. Shortly after, we saw a sign that welcomed us to Green Bank, West Virginia.

"Is this the town?" I asked.

Lucas smiled.

"It is!" I sat up so fast that Velvet yowled indignantly and jumped off my lap into the backseat.

Green Bank was really, really pretty. There was lush green grass, I could see a clump of trees in the forest, and the occasional house or cluster of buildings would crop up.

"This is it!" I said, hoisting Velvet up to see out the window, "Our new home!"

My phone rang. It was Riley. I picked up and listened to Riley's increasingly excited tone of voice as she talked about how great it was.

"It's just like Taylorsville!" she said.

"I know!" I replied, "So much... green."

"Isn't it amazing?" she said.

"So far, so good," I said, "What does Farkle think?"

"He says it's really pretty, and the composition of the soil is good for farming, and- Farkle, I can't pronounce that word. Sorry, he went all scientific on me."

I laughed and looked back out the window. There was a silo, and a water tower, just like the one we had seen when we first got to Taylorsville.

"It's amazing, Maya," she said.

"Yeah, it really is," I agreed.

Just then, I got a call from Zay.

"I gotta go, Riles," I said.

"Okay, see you in a few minutes!" she said.

"See you then!" I hung up and answered Zay.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

"Loving it so far," I replied promptly.

"Good," he said, "You're going to love what's next even more."

"What is it? What's the surprise?" I asked.

"It's-"

"Don't tell her!" Lucas said loudly into the phone.

I smacked his arm, and I could hear Zay laughing.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Sorry, can't tell. Alpha's orders," he said.

"Zay!" I complained.

"Sorry, Maya, gotta go, Josh says hi, see you in a few!" 

"Wait!" But he had already hung up.

"Are you mad at me?" Lucas asked, pouting.

"Never," I said, kissing his roughly. He grabbed my face and kissed me harder, but then pulled back.

"Driving," he said breathlessly. I huffed and crossed my arms.

"Who cares about a car wreck if I'm making out with you when I die," I mumbled.

Lucas heard me and burst out laughing. I smiled a little through my annoyance.

We pulled onto another gravel road that lead to a network of small, neat houses.

"Our neighborhood?" I asked.

Suddenly, I noticed a bunch of people running out to meet us. Different skin tones and hair colors and heights. Who were they? Lucas stopped the car.

"Actually," Lucas said, "That's our family."