Chapter 2

Arielle

By the time Tori and I had been planning for an hour, we had already doubled the original budget.

By the time we had been planning for two hours, we had completely forgotten what the original budget was.

And by the time we had been planning for three hours, I was fairly certain we had crossed the line from extravagant party into financially irresponsible extravaganza.

I stared at the list in front of me.

“Tori.”

“Yes?”

“Do we really need live musicians?”

She looked at me as though I had just suggested we serve everyone stale bread and water.

“Of course we do.”

“Why?”

“Because a playlist is ordinary.”

I frowned.

“This isn’t a royal wedding.”

“No,” she agreed. “It’s an Alpha’s pack party.”

I stared at her.

She stared back.

I slowly nodded.

“Good point.”

She grinned.

“Exactly.”

I added the musicians to the list.

“And what about the fireworks?”

“Absolutely.”

“It’s not even a special occasion.”

“It’s a pack party.”

“Right.”

“Fireworks are practically mandatory.”

I sighed and wrote them down.

“What about the ice sculpture?”

“Which one?”

I looked up.

“There’s more than one?”

Tori smiled innocently.

“I was thinking an Alpha wolf for the entrance and a Moon Goddess for the centre of the ballroom.”

I stared at her.

“Tori…”

“What?”

“You’ve been waiting your entire life for someone to give you an unlimited party budget, haven’t you?”

She burst out laughing.

“Maybe.”

I shook my head, laughing along with her.

There was something ridiculously enjoyable about spending someone else’s money.

Especially when that someone was Joss and he had specifically told us that money was no object.

We moved on to the next page.

“And we need flowers,” Tori announced.

“Definitely.”

“Lots of them.”

“How many is lots?”

She picked up her pen.

“I don’t know. Enough that people wonder whether they’ve accidentally walked into a botanical garden.”

I laughed.

“You’re terrible.”

“And you’re encouraging me.”

“I know.”

We continued planning.

Flowers.

Decorations.

A massive dance floor.

Live musicians.

Fireworks.

An enormous banquet.

An open dessert station.

A chocolate fountain.

Several different cakes.

And, because apparently we had completely lost our minds, a champagne fountain.

I sat back and looked at the growing list.

“This is going to be enormous.”

Tori smiled proudly.

“That’s the idea.”

“Joss is going to have a heart attack when he sees the bill.”

“He told us to spend whatever we wanted.”

“He did.”

“Then technically this is his fault.”

I laughed.

“You know what? I think you’re right.”

We were still laughing when the door to the office opened.

Joss walked in.

He stopped.

His eyes moved from me to Tori.

Then to the mountain of papers covering the desk.

Then back to us.

“What have you two been doing?”

“Planning,” I answered innocently.

Joss raised an eyebrow.

“That doesn’t look like planning.”

“It is.”

“It looks like you’ve been planning to bankrupt me.”

Tori gasped dramatically.

“Joss! How could you say such a thing?”

He stared at her.

“You’ve got three pages of flowers.”

“Flowers are important.”

“There are four pages of food.”

“Food is also important.

“And why, he asked slowly, picking up another piece of paper, “do we apparently need a chocolate fountain?”

I smiled.

“Because people like chocolate.”

He looked at me.

I smiled wider.

He sighed.

“Of course they do.”

I leaned back in my chair.

“You said money was no object.”

“I did.”

“You told us to make it a party nobody would ever forget.”

“I did.”

“So what’s the problem?”

He looked between Tori and me.

“There is no problem.”

I grinned.

“Good.”

He shook his head.

“I should have known better.”

“You should have.”

Joss laughed before walking around the desk.

“Oh, there’s one more thing I forgot to mention.”

I looked up at him.

“What?”

“I’ve invited the Alpha of the Golden Fern Pack.”

I blinked.

“The Alpha?”

“Yes.”

“To the party?”

“Yes, Arielle. That’s generally what an invitation means.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Very funny.”

“I try.”

He smiled before continuing.

“He’ll be bringing a few members of his pack with him.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“It should be,” Joss replied. “I’ve been wanting to strengthen our relationship with Golden Fern for a while. This will give us a chance to spend some time together outside of official pack business.”

I nodded.

“Then we definitely need to make sure everything is perfect.”

Joss’s eyes immediately went to the enormous pile of paperwork.

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

Tori leaned toward me.

“Don’t worry. We’ll make it even more impressive.”

Joss looked alarmed.

“Even more?”

I nodded seriously.

“Of course.”

He pointed at us.

“No.”

I blinked.

“No?”

“No more spending.”

I looked at Tori.

Tori looked at me.

Then we both looked back at Joss.

“But—”

“No.”

“The fireworks—”

“Already paid for.”

“The ice sculptures—”

“Already ordered.”

“The musicians—”

“Already booked.”

I slowly smiled.

Joss narrowed his eyes.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“That smile means something.”

“It means absolutely nothing.”

He didn’t look convinced.

Before he could question me further, the door opened again.

Sam walked in.

He was Joss’s Beta and Tori’s mate, and judging by the expression on his face, he had already heard enough to know that something dangerous was happening to the pack’s finances.

He looked at the paperwork covering the desk.

Then he looked at Joss.

“Should I ask?”

“No,” Joss replied immediately.

Sam nodded.

“Good. I don’t want to know.”

Tori frowned.

“Excuse me?”

Sam walked farther into the room.

“I’ve just come from the pack accountant.”

My stomach dropped.

“Oh?”

He nodded.

“He asked me if the Alpha had recently discovered a secret treasure chest.”

I covered my mouth to stop myself laughing.

Tori looked offended.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sam pointed at the paperwork.

“I think he was trying to work out why the party budget appears to have developed a personal vendetta against the pack’s bank account.”

Joss burst out laughing.

I couldn’t help it.

I laughed too.

Tori folded her arms.

“You men simply don’t understand the importance of making an event memorable.”

Sam nodded solemnly.

“Oh, I understand perfectly.”

“Good.”

“You’re spending money like it’s going out of fashion.”

Tori glared at him.

“It’s not our money.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up.

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”

Joss laughed again.

I pointed at Sam.

“Joss told us money was no object.”

Sam looked at Joss.

“You actually said that?”

Joss nodded.

“I did.”

Sam shook his head.

“Alpha, with all due respect, that’s the sort of sentence you should never say in front of these two.”

Tori smiled sweetly.

“Why?”

“Because they heard money is no object and translated it into please spend every last coin we own.”

I laughed.

“We haven’t spent every last coin.”

Sam looked at the paperwork.

“Yet.”

Tori picked up a sheet of paper.

“Would you like to see the plans?”

“No.”

“You haven’t even looked.”

“I don’t need to.”

“You might like the chocolate fountain.”

Sam paused.

“A chocolate fountain?”

“Yes.”

He looked at Joss.

“Why don’t I have a chocolate fountain?”

Joss shrugged.

“Apparently everyone needs chocolate.”

Sam nodded thoughtfully.

“I can’t argue with that.”

Tori smiled triumphantly.

“See?”

“But I’m still not paying for it.”

Joss looked at him.

“It’s already paid for.”

Sam’s eyes widened.

“How much?”

Joss opened his mouth.

Then stopped.

He looked at me.

I looked at Tori.

Tori suddenly became very interested in her paperwork.

Sam’s expression changed.

“Oh, that’s not good.”

I laughed.

“It’s fine.”

“That’s what people say immediately before revealing a terrifying number.”

I couldn’t help laughing harder.

Joss shook his head.

“I’ve decided I’m not asking.”

“Probably wise,” Sam replied.

He walked over to Tori and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Come on. We should leave before these two decide the pack needs a helicopter.”

Tori looked thoughtful.

I raised an eyebrow.

“Actually…”

“No!” Sam said immediately.

Everyone burst out laughing.

For the next several minutes, the office was filled with laughter and teasing.

It was exactly the kind of afternoon I loved.

Simple.

Happy.

Perfect.

I looked around at the people I loved and felt that familiar warmth fill my chest.

My mate.

My friends.

My pack.

Everything I had ever wanted was right here.

And as I laughed with them, I couldn’t imagine anything changing.

I couldn’t imagine that somewhere beyond the borders of our pack, someone was already on their way to our party.

Someone who would change my life forever.

Someone I had never met.

Someone who would make me question everything I thought I knew about my perfect life.