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“No, why can’t we just do it our way? Isn’t this about us?”
“It’s not just about you. It’s about the image of—“
“Why can’t it be both?” Gillian said as he rose from his seat. All heads turned to him.
“Son, you know there are expectations about how we present to the other packs,” Mrs. Quinn said.
“Yes, but perhaps we’re looking at the image we want to display from the wrong angle.”
“What do you mean?” Kelly asked, looking as frustrated as the rest and grasping for a solution.
“Well, we need to present an image that Crescent Moon Pack is a great pack with wealth and prestige with happy and loyal pack members. Maya and Celeste don’t want to spend money to superficially present this picture because, more than any of us here, they know what it’s like not to have any of that. So why can’t we combine those two sentiments?”
“How?” I asked, curious myself.
“Well, they don’t want things to be wasted so limit the waste while still creating a beautiful ceremony. Take advantage of the significance of the full moon.”
“What does the full moon have to do with anything?” Celeste asked, sitting in the middle of the long table now, her attention focused on Gillian.
“It’s the harvest moon. Use that as your theme. Make your centerpieces cornucopias with food harvested around this season. Buy local to help out small businesses. You can donate the fresh vegetables to a food bank. They are always in need of vegetables and fruits. Use the children to pick wildflowers and other seasonal things found in the forest and surrounding areas as part of the decorations. We have a lot of decorations we use for the usual harvest moon celebrations considering we always have guests looking for their mates around this time. You can upcycle them into new decorations and then buy only whatever you need after you've exhausted all of those options. Celeste and Maya take a lot of time out of their days to spend with the kids running around the pack house. Why don’t you buy a bunch of stuffed animals to use as part of the centerpieces? Have the plushies holding the wildflowers the kids gather instead of just dumping them into shiny vases. You can have the kids take one home at the end of the night or donate them to the pack orphanage. God knows I would have been over the moon to get one when I was a child there. It will show what kind of Luna we have. One that will care for her pack and their happiness above anything else.” He shrugged.
“You were in the orphanage?” Celeste asked. “But then…” She turned to Mrs. Quinn and Kelly.
“My parents died in a rogue attack when I was three. I was in the orphanage for another four years before Markus and I met and became friends. Mom saw me running around with him at the pack house, and a few months later, she and Dad adopted me.” He finished and looked at his mom with so much love that Maya started sniffling. Danny walked over to her and held her.
“That’s an amazing idea,” Celeste said, excited for the first time about her ceremony. She turned to Mrs. Quinn. “Would that be okay? We can spend all the money you want on centerpieces that can be gifted to the orphanage. We can set up a gift table next to the alpha tables and have them interact with the little ones. Maybe even have alphas or lungs give them the gifts on our behalf.”
“Yes, I think that will work just fine. Kelly and I will spend some time today getting some mood boards and prices ready for what we'll need. With the amount of ingredients we’ll be ordering, we can probably get some discounts if we buy directly from farms,” she said. I could already see the gears running a mile a minute in her head.
“Any discount we get, be sure to use that difference for more gifts and perhaps we can sneak some of that food to the girls we haven’t been able to rescue?” I suggested.
“You don’t have to worry about that. It’s covered,” Gillian mentioned.
“What do you mean ‘It’s covered’?” I asked.
“While Celeste was in the hospital, I managed to strike up a few conversations with the pack doctor. He mentioned that he usually snuck checkups on the girls and some medicine when he was able to afford it. It was always out of pocket as Alpha Geoff wouldn’t let him use pack supplies. We exchanged numbers before we left, and I’ve kept in contact. I send him money every week and he’s been sneaking vitamins and food to the girls. Alpha Geoff tried to beat him when he found out, but as it appears to be coming out of his pocket and Dr. Castle’s their only doctor, the alpha stopped bothering him about doing it.”
“Why didn’t I know about this?” I asked.
“I didn’t see the need. I’m not using pack funds, so they didn’t need to be in the expense reports.”
“You’ve been using your personal funds?” I asked incredulously, and he shrugged it off.
“I was just trying to hel—” Gillian grunted when Maya and Celeste sandwiched him between the two of them. As much as I was tempted to growl that Celeste was touching another man, the truth was, I was tempted to join them and even Atlas respected what was happening.
“Use pack funds from now on,” I said, trying not to laugh at the distressed look on his face. “These girls are part of our pack already, as far as I’m concerned, even if not officially.”
‘This is why we chose you to be beta despite the ones that disagreed,‘Atlas mind-linked him. ‘You and Otto are better wolves than all the assholes that thought they deserved the role based on their family status.’
‘Thank you, Atlas, that means a lot,’Gillian said. Then, on a mind-link with me and Danny, he pleaded,‘Can you guys peel your mates off me? I am going to pass out if I don’t get a breath in, and they are squishing my lungs.’
Danny and I laughed, and we grabbed our mates, who were pretty much blubbering on his shirt.
“Well, I think that’s a good plan then, and it makes everyone happy?” I asked, happy when all four girls nodded in agreement.
Kelly suddenly stood up. “We can shop for dresses now that we know what the theme is!” Celeste groaned and everyone laughed. We all knew how much she hated shopping.
Chapter twenty-six
