Promptly at 4:45 PM, families
started to arrive at The Manor House to begin the ten minute walk to the Sacred
Ceremonial Grounds located on the original homestead plot of the Rossi family
when they emigrated from Italy
The Whitmer, Poffenberger and
Costello families arrived within minutes of each other and as soon as the young
ones were out of the SUV’s they ran up to each other, bumped fists and started
talking as if finishing a conversation they had been in the middle of. The adults smiled as they heard fragments of
their conversations. “Vin said…” “Well,
Dom said…” “Ant said…” as they talked about the training session and afternoon
adventure.
“Have you noticed a change in
the way the boys are treating their sisters?” asked Joel.
“Now that you mention it,
yeah we have. Cal and Brady used to
treat Brooke like she had cooties,” said Harold of his four year old
daughter. “When they got home today they
let her pick a cartoon to watch and I about fell over.”
“Look at how they are acting
now,” said Barry as the adults looked at their offspring. The boys were holding their sisters hands and
pulling them along to keep up with the other children, offering words of
encouragement and being patient with their much smaller strides. The little girls were smiling and basking in
their brothers’ attention and talking nonstop.
“We were hoping Haden and
Hunter didn’t kill Hope with how rough they are with her, now they are holding
her hands and helping her walk,” said Jerry of his four year old daughter.
Joel said, “Our young ones
haven’t stopped talking about Anthony and how he looked after them on the
training session.”
“Well, if they are going to
emulate anybody, they picked good role models,” said Larry. “A future Alpha, his mate and top
commanders.”
“Did you see the way they
greeted each other with fist pumps? It’s
adorable,” said Barry’s wife, Diane.
The Clan, Anthony and the
Moretti’s were sitting around the edge of the clearing talking when the young
ones got there. Reggie Costello
immediately went over, the rest of the youngsters following him; he was on a
mission and needed to talk to Vin. The
boys greeted each other with a mixture of fist pumps and head nods, while the
girls hugged each other.
“Your family is called the
Clan, but does that include Ant, Angelo, Alberto and Gabby? Do you call yourself something else when they
are with you?” Reggie Costello asked while the boys waited for their sisters to
sit in somebody’s lap. As soon as they
were settled they went and sat near them.
“Well, we’ve never talked
about it,” Vin answered as he leaned back against a tree positioning Hope
between his outstretched legs, his wolf instantly on guard to protect the
little one. “We were always called the
Clan, even before Anthony and Alberto made their declarations. Do you know what the word ‘Clan’ means?”
“Not really,” said
Reggie. “I figured it was just a name
you were given.”
“Clan means family or children
depending on who you talk to,” said Dominic settling Jackie in his lap as he
scented the air for any threat to the young one. “In a way Anthony and Alberto are now part of
the Clan, because they will be mates with our sisters. Angelo and Gabby would be included because
they are Alberto’s family. So, I guess
it would be up to them if they wanted to be part of the Clan.”
Alberto, Angelo and Anthony
shrugged their shoulders and looked at each other while Gabby furtively glanced
at Sal before shrugging her shoulders.
Angelo said, “Doesn’t matter to us.
Does this mean we get hazed and have membership cards?” The older ones laughed, while the young ones
looked confused.
“Don’t mind Angelo, he was
trying to be funny and failed miserably,” said Damian as Toni leaned back into
his chest, his arms curled protectively around her. “I would have said, does this mean we get to
learn super secret handshakes and get a decoder ring?” The young ones started laughing, and Damian
looked at Angelo with a superior smile, while Angelo leaned back and mouthed
‘fuck you’.
“Apparently your sense of
humor needs to grow up and stop watching cartoons,” said Anthony. While everybody laughed, he scanned the
surrounding area as he placed Abigail protectively between his bent knees.
“Well, we talked it over and
we want a name too,” said Troy Costello as the young ones nodded their
heads.
“Okay, what did you have in
mind?” said Lorenzo as he sat cross-legged with Brooke leaning against his
chest. She was whispering to him, and
asking him if he liked her new shoes which were light pink with little flowers
embroidered on the top. He lifted her
foot into his hand and noticed how little it was, it was barely bigger then his
palm. He felt his wolf come forth intent
on protecting the little one at all costs.
“Something similar to the
Clan, so when people hear it, they think of us,” said Reggie as he leaned back
in the same manner as Vin.
“Well, let’s hear some of the
names you came up with,” said Sal as he glanced around the group, his gaze
rested momentarily on Gabby, with the sun peeking through the treetops her
shoulder length curly auburn hair glinted with gold highlights.
The little girls got into the
spirit of things and said “Puppies” “Unicorns” the boys said names like
“Yankees” “Orioles” “Cowboys” “Ninjas”.
“You should think of names
that have something to do with all of you,” said Paulo quietly as he lifted his
head from his laptop, busy working on a new website design for Roberto’s
Restaurant.
“Paulo’s right,” said Michael
of his twin. “The crew of you needs to
decide on something that fits all of you, not just the boys or girls.”
Anthony looked up and said,
“That’s it, how about the Crew?”
“What does it mean?” asked
Alec as he mimicked Anthony’s posture and expression.
“A Crew is a group of people
who do things together, like sail on a boat, or fly a plane,” said Maria as she
leaned into Alberto’s side.
“I like it,” said Reggie, “I
think we should vote on it.” The
twenty-five members of the newly named Crew nodded their heads and the girls
enthusiastically clapped their hands.
Years later when the Crew was mentioned, Pack members would shake their
heads, smile and wonder what they had done this time.
Sophia, Anthony, Gianni and
Marcus went to get something to drink and Abigail decided to stay with Vin and
her cousin Hope. Joel and his wife
Veronica came over and said, “We want to thank you for the attention you’ve
paid to our young ones.”
Sophia said, “It was our
pleasure Mr. and Mrs. Whitmer. Do you
mind if we do it again, maybe make it a regular thing once or twice a month?”
“As far as taking them out
with you, just let us know when you want them and we’ll arrange it,” said
Joel.
“Do you want them to eat with
us tonight?” asked Anthony. Veronica
said, “You really wouldn’t mind? I can’t
remember the last time we were able to have a grown up conversation around
dinner, it’ll be almost like it was when we were dating. Thank you again.”
Anthony looked over at the
Crew’s parents as the Whitmer’s rejoined them and imagined himself, Sophia,
Alberto and Maria years from now with little ones. He looked at his intended and his heart
started racing as he thought, ‘Damn, I really love her.’ He pulled Sophia into his side and deeply
scented her, growling low in his throat.
She pulled back and looked into his deep brown eyes and whispered to
him, “I can’t wait until we have young ones; I want little boys who look just
like you.”
“I want a little girl who
looks just like you,” whispered Anthony, “with curly black hair and emerald
eyes. You have the most beautiful eyes,
they remind me of the field behind our house, and it is an endless sea of
sparkling green in the spring when the sun shines on it right after the
rain. Your eyes sparkle like that when
you laugh and I love looking into them, they calm me down while exciting me at
the same time.”
Sophia blushed and said, “I can’t wait until we are able to
kiss. When I’m alone, I wonder what it
will feel like.” Anthony answered
with a husky growl, “Arachide, you’re
killing me here. The thought of kissing
you and holding you brings me to my knees, this year cannot move quickly enough
for me.”
“Come on you two, enough of
the lovey-dovey stuff, we’re going to be eating soon. You’re making me nauseous and I really don’t
want to vomit beforehand,” said Gianni as he lightly punched Anthony’s
shoulder.
They went back to the others
and Anthony told the Crew they would be eating together, and had to behave so
they would be allowed to do it again. The
young ones nodded their heads and told him they would behave.
At 5:30, Carlo said to Frank,
Joe, Matt and Phillip through the bond, “The
Millers are almost here. Go and meet
them near the trail and I will get the Pack ready for the introduction. Wait until I call for you to bring them out,
I want to get the rest of the detail ready.”
The men looked at their Alpha and nodded their heads.
The men headed down the trail
and met the Millers about a quarter mile from the Ceremonial Grounds. Introductions were made and the girls smiled
shyly at the men, their anxiety apparent in their eyes and the men could scent
it in the air. Frank smiled and hoping
to ease the anxiety said, “We’ve been looking forward to meeting all of
you. You’ll be meeting my daughter
Sophia, and Joe’s daughter Maria, they are both 15 and I hope you become
friends.”
Matt and Phillip told the
girls they were in charge of their security detail and asked Todd and Holly if
the security detail could take the girls out to dinner one evening during the
week to get to know them better. Their
easy going attitude relaxed the girls and soon they were smiling at both
men.
Brianna asked with a bright
smile, “What kind of restaurant would we go to?
We’ve never been to a real restaurant before. On our drive here Daddy let us eat fast food;
it was the first time we had that so we ate at a McDonalds, Burger King, Taco
Bell and Long John Silvers. It was good
but greasy and gave Papa Mike gas.” The
men laughed at her candid reply and Papa Mike laughed harder then anybody.
“We’ve never been to a Mall
either, could we go there too?” asked Kelly with a questioning looks. “I want to wander around and see what all the
fuss is about and what exactly teenagers do there for hours.”
“And the movies, we’ve never
been to a movie theater either,” said Fallon excitedly. “I’d like popcorn, real movie theater
popcorn. OOH and Juju Beans whatever
they are, in the movies we watched they always order popcorn and Juju Beans.”
“Can we go to a game?” asked
Caitlin, the excitement evident in her eyes.
“I want hot dogs, nachos and soft pretzels. Oh, and one of the ushers to throw peanuts at
me like we see on TV. It has to be
baseball though; we hate the Redskins since we’re all diehard Cowboys fans,
Daddy made sure of that, and I just don’t like the Ravens.” As Frank and Joe looked at him with raised
eyebrows, Todd lifted the sleeve of his shirt to proudly display his star
tattoo and Papa Mike displayed a matching one.
“I want to go to an ice cream
place, like Baskin Robbins or Dairy Queen.
We’ve only ever had chocolate or vanilla and I want to try every flavor
they have. You’ll probably have to roll
me out,” said Erin as everyone laughed.
“Could we go to an amusement
park? I want to go on a roller coaster
or that tower drop, though I’ll probably get sick. I got sick in the car and Papa Mike had to
pull over,” said Shannon as she blushed. “Though in my defense it was the first time
we had been in a car on a highway and I was all the way in the back plus Papa
Mike had gas and that didn’t help.”
Everybody was laughing by this time and Papa Mike was leaning up against
a tree he was laughing so hard.
“Can we eat Chinese food? I’d
like to learn to eat with chopsticks,” said Aislin as she tilted her head lost
in thought, “and I have no idea what to order, what exactly is Moo Goo Pan? And
does it always come in those little white containers?”
“I know it sounds weird, but
I’d like to go to a grocery store,” said Maeve as her sisters started
laughing. “What??? The only cereal we’ve ever had is Cheerios
and Corn Flakes; I’d like to pick out my own cereal. And Pop Tarts, I want Pop Tarts.”
“Can we go putt-putt golfing
and race those little cars?” asked Fiona with a big smile on her face. “You’ll have to show us how; none of us have
ever driven anything before and Daddy said he’s never going to teach us to
drive. I’m not exactly sure what ‘menace
to society’ means but that’s what Daddy said we would be.” Standing behind his daughters Todd vehemently
shook his head no and had a grimace on his face, but when his daughters turned
to look at him, he was smiling.
“I’d like to tour Washington , DC
“Basically we’ve never been
anywhere or done anything. The only
thing we know about life is through the TV, but we want to experience it for
real now. I can only remember leaving
the Pack grounds twice before we left to come here, so even riding in a car is
a novel experience,” said Brianna as she looked at Matt and Phillip
sheepishly.
Matt looked into the girl’s
eyes and said, “What I want you to do tomorrow morning is make a list of the
things you want to do and we will go down the list and get them done, ok? No matter how silly your sisters may think it
is. If it is important to you, then it
is important to us.”
“As long as it’s okay with
your parents and grandparents,” Phillip added as he smiled at the girls. “In fact, they may want to come with us on
some of our outings. Though I will warn
you, we won’t get everything done in one day.”
Without trying and without being aware of it, Matt and Phillip had won
their hearts by not being overbearing or making them feel like naïve young
girls, they had listened to what the girls had to say and treated them like
adults.
Alpha Carlo stood in the
middle of the clearing and called for silence and everyone immediately stopped
what they were doing and gathered in front of him in a semi-circle at the edge
of the clearing.
“My fellow Pack members, we
have many reasons to celebrate and be thankful.
Fifty years ago, a treaty was signed ending the Were War, bringing a
resolution to the years of conflict and peace has since reigned over our
Nation. We also celebrate the continued
success of our Pack, a successful training session by our youngsters with new
bonds forming, declarations have been made, youngsters will experience their
first shift and we wait anxiously for the arrival of little ones within the
next few weeks that will ensure the continuation of our Pack into the future.”
“We are also celebrating the
arrival of a new family, one unlike any of us has seen before. It is my hope they will find peace and
happiness within our Pack and I know we will do our best to make them feel
welcome,” Alpha Carlo said.
“Tragic circumstances have brought them here, which
will NEVER be tolerated within our Pack.
They came to us for protection and a desire to be free of the immorality
and corruption in their previous Pack which included the rape and subjugation
of unmated females and isolation and intimidation of families. Their parents and grandparents mercifully got
their children out before this happened to them, but there are many unfortunate
females still living this nightmare and the Alpha Council has been notified and
are handling the situation,” Alpha
Carlo continued through the bond to the adults.
As he glanced around the
clearing, he noticed the men had their fists clenched and the tension had
ratcheted up several degrees. The women
had concern and indignation on their faces and some were also clenching their
fists. He emitted a calm feeling through
the bond and saw the tension ease out of everyone’s posture.
“Many of you have been
wondering about the new security detail and the increased security at school
but after I introduce the new family, I’m sure you will understand why all the
precautions have been put into place,” said Alpha Carlo with a smile. “Frank, Joe, Matt and Phil please bring out
the newest members of South
Mountain
“South Mountain Pack, may I
introduce Todd and Holly Miller and their ten daughters; Brianna, Morgan,
Caitlin, Erin, Kelly, Aislin, Fallon, Shannon, Fiona and Maeve. Also joining the Pack are Todd’s parents,
Nana Ellen and Papa Mike,” said Alpha Carlo as the Millers stepped into the
clearing.
There was stunned silence
from everyone. Their security detail
gathered in a loose semi-circle behind the Millers, and Frank, Joe and Carlo
waited to see the reaction from the assembled young males.
Nothing.
Absolutely Nothing.
There was interest, plenty of
interest and curiosity, but no one spoke.
The assembled Pack members were looking around curiously as if sensing
something was about to happen, the tension was so thick in the air even the
young ones could sense it and moved closer to their parents. The silence and stillness hung in the air for
minutes that seemed to drag on forever.
The Miller family stood
still, as if afraid to move, their eyes scanning the crowd and then Carlo,
Frank and Joe noticed it…Brianna and Morgan were focused on two
individuals. Carlo, Frank and Joe swung
their heads to see who they were looking at.
Vincent tilted his head back
and took a deep breath, the smell of cinnamon rolls inflaming his senses. His eyes dilated as he pushed Salvatore,
Alberto, Anthony and Gianni out of his way causing the Clan and the Crew to
topple over like bowling pins. He
sprinted across the clearing breathing deeply, growling loudly and hollered
“MINE” as he raced towards the Miller girls.
Dominic had his eyes closed,
the scent of gingerbread completely overwhelming him, his hands clenching and
unclenching. He opened his eyes and his
pupils were completely dilated as he emitted a loud growl. Anthony rolled Sophia and several of the
young ones out of the way as Dominic jumped over the remaining pile and
sprinted behind his twin also loudly hollering “MINE”.
Carlo said to the assembled
men around the Miller girls, “Don’t get in their way, you can’t come between
them when they feel the mating pull.
Just make sure the girls aren’t hurt.”
The rest of the Miller girls stepped to the side to get out of the way
of the two large incoming males, who resembled out of control freight trains.
Brianna took one look at
Vincent charging towards her, her silver grey eyes huge in her face; she turned
around and started running back down the trail.
“Don’t run,” shouted her father and Alpha Carlo, but Brianna didn’t
listen to them. Vincent grinned and his
wolf howled in delight, their mate wanted to play and he wouldn’t disappoint
her. He took off down the trail after
her and Todd pursued them moments later followed by half of the security
detail.
Morgan stood still as Dominic
raced towards her, bracing herself for the expected impact. Instead of slowing down, he lowered his
shoulder, arms enclosing her waist and flung her over his shoulder knocking the
air out of her as he sprinted into the woods.
The remaining members of the security detail took off after them.
Frank looked at Joe and said,
“You go after Dominic, I’ll go after Vincent.
Papa Mike, you stay here with the rest of the girls.”
The remaining members of the
Clan got to their feet and made sure the Crew was okay. The little girls were giggling about Vinnie
and Dommie acting silly as their brothers helped brush the dirt and grass off
their clothes. Once they made sure their
intendeds were okay, Anthony and Alberto glanced at each other and started
laughing so hard that Anthony was holding his side and Alberto was gasping for
breath.
“It’s about time they found
their intendeds, maybe now they’ll give us a break,” said Anthony as he continued
to laugh. “I hope their mates cause them
as much pain and suffering as ours do.”
“I hope they’ll be as
miserable as we are,” gasped Alberto as the rest of the male members of the
Clan started laughing not just at Alberto and Anthony, but at the looks on
Maria and Sophia’s faces.
“Miserable? Miserable Alberto Moretti??? I’ll show you miserable…you…you...” shouted
Maria as she waved her hands in the air so upset she was unable to continue.
“Pain and suffering Anthony
Rossi??? You haven’t BEGUN to see pain
and suffering yet,” said Sophia with her eyes narrowed and hands on her hips.
Before either Anthony or
Alberto could say anything, Sophia said, “Come on girls.” The girls headed across the clearing with
Paulo, Michael and Lorenzo laughing behind them. The last thing they heard was Sophia
muttering, “Pain and suffering my ass…” and Maria saying, “Miserable son of a…”
Anthony and Alberto were
scowling as they watched Maria and Sophia head across the clearing towards the
Millers. Both boys moved quickly to
follow them with the howls of laughter from the Clan echoing in their ears.
Morgan finally got her breath
back and started hitting Dominic on the back.
He continued to ignore her, the only sign that he noticed was his
increased grip on her legs. She wasn’t
scared because she knew Matt and Mr. Carlucci weren’t far behind them and after
several moments she said, “Hey, tall dark and devastatingly handsome, are you
going to put me down sometime? Or are
you going to give me a tour of the woods?
I can’t see much of the scenery except for your ass, though I will admit
you have a really nice ass. Can you at
least tell me your name?”
Dominic finally saw what he
was looking for and ran to the edge of the creek bed and sat Morgan gently on a
boulder as he stood between her legs making sure there was plenty of distance
between their bodies. He looked deep
into her silver grey eyes hollering, “MINE” as he leaned down to deeply scent
her neck and started pulling her black hair out of her braid to run his hands
through it.
“Stop doing that to my hair,
it took Brianna a long time to braid it,” Morgan said as she swatted at his
hands and pushed on his shoulders. “I
know I’m yours, I knew as soon as we walked into the clearing. But you still haven’t told me your name.”
“Dominic Carlucci, I’m 18,
6’3”, 230 lbs, Senior in high school, I have six brothers, Vincent, Gianni,
Marcus, Enzo, Gino and Salvatore and one sister Sophia, my favorite color is
green, I have a Ford F-150, play football, basketball and baseball, I’m going
to the University of Maryland next year to study Architecture to help with our
family company, Carlucci Construction, my mother and father are Rose and Frank,
my favorite foods are steak, baked potatoes and broccoli, my favorite dessert
is banana cream pie, I drink sweet tea with lemon, hate carrots, my favorite
movie is ‘Rounders’, I’m Italian, my twin Vincent was chasing your sister, I
like to bowl, go swimming, I’m at the top of my training class, I can’t seem to
shut up, I know I’m rambling but you smell so damn good, like gingerbread and
it smells so good to me, what’s odd is I never liked gingerbread until now and
now I cant get enough of it, what else do you need to know except that I want
to kiss you, I will always protect you, give you everything I possibly can and
making you happy is my goal in life.”
“Whoa, slow down big
boy. Did you really mean that you want
to protect me and make me happy? You’re
not going to force me to do things I’m not ready for?” Morgan asked as she
looked deep into his emerald green eyes, her hands on his shoulders still
holding him away from her.
Dominic gazed back into her
fear filled silver eyes and took a step back, stating firmly, “I would never do
anything you are uncomfortable with, to cause you pain or to hurt you in anyway
would be like ripping out my own heart.
Zenzero, keeping you safe and happy became the number one goal in my
life as soon as I realized you were my mate.
Nothing I do in my life will be more important to me, and it will only
increase when we have little ones. The
safety and welfare of my family will ALWAYS be the priority in my life.”
Dominic tilted his head and
scented his Uncle Joe and the detail standing on the other side of the tree
line. “Could you please give us a couple of minutes, Morgan and I are
talking. She is scared and I am trying
to reassure her that I would never hurt her,” he said to his Uncle.
Joe closed his eyes before
answering, “Dominic, remember what Alpha
Carlo said. She was never raped, but
friends of hers were and I’m not sure of everything she saw, so take it easy
and reassure her. Her wolf will sense
she is safe with you, but you have to give it time.”
Morgan looked at him with
tear filled eyes, swallowing nervously before saying in a whisper, “Can we go
slowly, like really slow? I’m really
scared and I would like to go out on a couple of dates to get to know you. Maybe then we’ll have our first kiss, but I
want to do things at my pace, there are things I’m just not ready to do.”
“Anything you want, I will
do. We will go as slow or as fast as you
like, the only thing I ask is you tell me if you are uncomfortable, scared or I
do something you don’t like. I will be
honest with you, sometimes my need to be with you will overwhelm me, but as
soon as you tell me to stop, I will,” Dominic cupped her face in his hands as
he watched the fear slowly leave her eyes to be replaced with happiness.
“Now, I would like to scent
you again and I think your wolf would like to scent me also. Are you okay with that?” he asked
softly. She glanced away before shyly
nodding her head.
Dominic reached out and held
her hands as he slowly moved towards her, searching her eyes for any hesitation
or doubt. They stared into each others
eyes and when he sensed she felt comfortable he brought her hands up and placed
them on his shoulders. He placed his
hands on her waist and looked into her eyes when he heard her sharp intake of
breath. He didn’t move his hands, just
continued to let them rest lightly on her waist as he stared into her eyes, a
gentle smile on his face. She sighed
deeply and nervously nodded her head; he leaned forward and scented her deeply,
growling low in his throat as he felt her tentatively scenting him.
Morgan inhaled deeply several
times, cedar, he smelled like cedar and it was overwhelming her. Her wolf was prancing back and forth in
delight; she knew their mate would protect them and their little ones. “I think you held me upside down too long,
I’m getting dizzy.”
Dominic started to laugh and
said, “That’s from scenting me so deeply, you’re hyperventilating and that’s
why you’re dizzy Zenzero. It’s okay,
just take slow deep breaths instead of quick ones, I’m not going anywhere
without you by my side.”
“What was that name you
called me Zen something?” asked Morgan as she continued to scent his neck,
following Dominic’s advice. Her hands
started running up and down his muscular arms causing him to growl deep in his
throat.
“Zenzero, actually it should
be Pan di Zenzero which means gingerbread, but I shortened it to Zenzero which
means ginger,” he answered keeping his hands on her waist to maintain the
distance between them as she was trying to pull him closer.
“You’ve got to stop that, you
have no idea the effect you are having on me and I’m trying not to lose
control. Zenzero if you don’t stop, then
that first kiss is gonna happen, and I’m trying to do things at YOUR pace, but
you are making it very difficult,” said Dominic as he tried to reason with her
and even though it went against every instinct he had he was pushing away from
her.
“I can’t seem to stop
myself. I want to get closer to you and
I’m not sure why, I don’t even know you,” said Morgan continuing to run her
hands up and down his arms.
“That’s exactly why we have
to stop, it’s the mating pull you are feeling,” said Dominic with a groan as
Morgan ran her hands through his hair.
“When we have our first kiss, I want it to be because you want me as
much as I want you, and I don’t want you to have any regrets.”
Dominic said in a deep husky
growl, “My Uncle Joe and your detail are waiting for us behind those
trees. We’ll make plans for our first
date when we get back to the clearing and if you’d like, we can double date with
Brianna and Vin. Go out to dinner,
movies or bowling, whatever you want.”
He gently lifted her off the boulder and waited until she was able to
stand before he let go of her.
Joe and the security detail
were standing there with their arms folded across their chests as Dom and
Morgan came through the trees towards the trail. Joe stared at his nephew with his eyebrow
raised and even though Dom knew he was probably in trouble for running off with
his intended, he looked at his Uncle and smiled.
“Are the two of you okay?”
asked Joe quietly. Dominic and Morgan
quickly nodded and Joe continued, “Good, they are waiting for you at the
clearing. Dom, if I were you, I’d wipe
that smile off your face before you meet your intendeds father.”
As they walked away, Joe put
his hand on Dominic’s shoulder and gently squeezed letting his nephew know that
everything would be okay. Dominic looked
at his Uncle and thanked Luna for the two strong male influences in his life;
he knew that no matter what happened his Dad and Uncle Joe would be standing behind
him.
***
Vincent kept his mate in
sight, allowing her to keep running before his wolf tired of the game. He ran to her side, grabbed her waist and
twisted in midair to land on his back taking the brunt of the fall. “MINE” he hollered as he scented her neck and
hair.
“Dumb ass, I know I’m yours,
I knew before you did,” said Brianna.
“Do you have any idea how ginormous you are? Did you have to charge at me like that, you
scared the bejeesus out of me? You
couldn’t just walk over and introduce yourself?
What is your name anyway? Or do I
keep calling you Dumb Ass?”
“Vincent Carlucci, my parents
are Frank and Rose Carlucci,” he said as he continued to scent her neck,
running his hands up and down her back.
“Cinnamon rolls, that’s what you smell like, I love cinnamon rolls, when
my mom makes them, she makes five batches at once because I can’t stop eating
them, when we go to the mall I always buy a couple cause they are so good, I
shouldn’t be holding you like this, I don’t even know how old you are but right
now I don’t care, I just can’t let you go and I know I should, you smell so
good and I just can’t think of anything but holding you in my arms, I know I
shouldn’t, I’m glad the rest of the Clan isn’t here especially Damian because
he would just laugh at me because I can’t seem to stop rambling, I don’t know
how to stop, now I know what Ant and Alberto are going through, those poor
bastards, I probably shouldn’t have cursed in front of you...”
“Vincent, Daddy is coming and
I’m not comfortable with him seeing me lying on top of you like this. I don’t know if I’m ready to be lying on top
of you like this, it’s making me feel weird and my head is spinning,” said
Brianna, interrupting Vincent as she struggled to get out of his arms. Vin immediately let her go and helped her to
stand then he sat down on a tree stump and pulled her between his outstretched
legs being careful to leave plenty of room so their bodies weren’t
touching.
“I’m sorry for making you
uncomfortable Cannella; can I hold you and scent you? My wolf is pacing back and forth from chasing
you and I think that will calm him down,” said Vincent as he put his hand under
her chin so he could look into her eyes.
Brianna looked into his
emerald green eyes before shyly lowering her gaze, she hesitated a few seconds
before she stepped back into his arms and whispered, “What is that name you
called me?” While Vincent was scenting
her, she was breathing in his pine scent and it was making her dizzy and
flushed at the same time, without her realizing it, her arms moved around his
neck pulling him closer and he placed his hands on her hips, holding her
lightly.
“Cannella means cinnamon,”
answered Vincent with a smile on his face as he scented her response to being
near him. “I want to kiss you so bad
right now, but I know you aren’t ready, so we will wait until the right time
and only you will decide that.”
He scented the air and then
lowered his head until their foreheads were touching, “For our first date, we
will go out whenever you want and do what you want. We can double date with Morgan and Dominic,
and of course we’ll have chaperones with us.
Now I need you to step back so we can calm down before our fathers get
here, I don’t think either of us wants them to see us like this.”
“What do you mean, what are
we doing?” said Brianna leaning in to scent his neck as her fingers moved to
play with the hair at the nape of his neck sending shivers down his spine, and
he wasn’t positive but he would swear she licked his neck.
“Oh, fuck it. Don’t stop Cannella, don’t ever stop,” moaned
Vincent as he pulled her in closer to him, holding her head with his right hand
as his left hand remained on her hip. He
tilted his head so she could scent him deeper, his eyes flashing amber with
streaks of emerald as he struggled for control.
“Vincent…do you think it’s
time for that kiss now?” she shyly whispered as she continued to bury her head
in his neck.
Without saying a word,
Vincent cupped her face between his two hands and slowly lowered his head
looking deep into her silver eyes before they closed. He tilted her head and lightly brushed his
lips over hers increasing the pressure when he felt no resistance. Gently nibbling on her lower lip he slipped
his tongue into the warm moist heat of her mouth when he felt her sigh. She stiffened in his arms for a second before
letting out a low whimper and hesitantly touched his tongue with her own. Vincent growled deep in his throat and
lowered his left hand to her waist and pulled her closer, his right hand buried
in her hair as he deepened the kiss.
Brianna was lost in a swirl
of confusing emotions and sensations, she couldn’t seem to gather her thoughts
except for one, and that was to get closer to Vincent. She was running her right hand through his
hair and her left hand was running up and down his back and shoulders feeling
his muscles ripple as he moved.
Neither of them noticed the
men arriving and Todd loudly cleared his throat, then cleared it again louder a
second time. The security detail started
laughing quietly as Todd said, “BRIANNA.”
This still got no response so Todd put his fingers in his mouth and
whistled loudly.
Brianna jumped out of
Vincent’s arms and said, “Oh Daddy, Mr. Carlucci we were just… uhmm…
talking...uhmm…Vincent was telling me he likes cinnamon rolls…” As she noticed all the men standing there her
face flushed scarlet in color.
Todd looked at his daughter
and said with just a hint of sarcasm, “Talking about cinnamon rolls, huh? Apparently Vincent really likes cinnamon
rolls.”
Frank looked at his son and
said, “Yeah, we could see how engrossed in conversation the two of you
were.” Vincent looked at his father as
he also blushed scarlet but he had a smile on his face as he pulled Brianna towards
him again. She turned around and swatted
at his hands mouthing “Stop” to him while she giggled.
Todd turned towards Frank and
said, “So, is he yours or Joe’s? And the
other boy that was running across the clearing is obviously his twin.”
Frank sighed loudly and said,
“They’re mine, my oldest set of boys and they’re 18. This one is Vincent obviously and the other
one is Dominic. Please tell me the girls
are at least 16.”
“They’re 17 and will turn 18
in June,” said Todd with a smile as he looked at Frank.
Both men looked at Brianna
and Vincent who were staring into each others eyes and Frank said, “Okay you
two, let’s head on back to the clearing.
Your Uncle Joe is bringing Dominic and Morgan back, your brother decided
to go for a run with Morgan over his shoulder.”
“I was hoping my daughters
would find mates when we moved here, but I didn’t think it would be this
quick. It’s going to get interesting,
isn’t it?” said Todd as everybody started walking up the trail, Brianna and Vincent
holding hands and stealing glances at each other.
“You have no idea,” said
Frank as he started to laugh. “How much
do your girls know about the dating rules?
Vincent and Dominic know them, but after meeting your daughters I think
they forgot everything. I’d be surprised
if they remembered their names.”
“I can’t really say anything,
when I realized Holly was my mate it was at a picnic at The Lodge,” said Todd
with a faraway look in his eyes and a smile on his face. “I knew her my entire life and all of a
sudden it was like I had to make her mine.
I ran towards her and knocked her father and the Alpha into the fountain
in the courtyard, just barreled right through them. I got into so much trouble for that, but when
I kissed her for the first time, it was worth it.”
“I know exactly what you
mean, our parents are best friends with Rose and Annie’s parents so they were
constantly around and Joe and I barely tolerated them. Then one day at school it changed,” said
Frank with a smile on his face. “We were
in the cafeteria and Rose was with friends studying and John Benedetto bent
towards her to look at her notes and I completely lost it. I went into a jealous rage, picking him up
and throwing him across the table knocking lunch trays and books
everywhere. Rose started screaming and I
tackled her to the ground. It took
Carlo, Joe and five other guys to get me off her and we’ve been inseparable
since. A week later Joe felt the pull
for Annie, but I’ll let him tell you that story.”
“So, this is identical twins
falling for identical twins, just like you and Joe? In our previous Pack, only the girls were
born as twins, all of them identical, the boys were all single births,”
remarked Todd.
“In our Pack, it’s a
mix. Every family has several males and
then once a female is born, the births stop and no one can figure out why. The only consistency is when a female is
born, she has a male twin. The only
exception I can think of is Gabby, she was a single birth. Oh, and Angelica, but she was stillborn,”
said Frank as Todd looked at him with a questioning look on his face.
Frank continued in a whisper,
“Gina was in an accident when she was almost full term and had an
emergency C-section, but Angelica didn’t survive. It was a very dark time for our Pack and we
do not talk about it. Even with all the
births in our Pack, no one will use that name out of respect for the Alpha’s.”
Both men remained silent
after that, lost in their thoughts as they entered the clearing. Frank noticed Joe introducing Dominic to the
older Millers while Rose, Annie, Carlo and Gina stood there smiling. Frank motioned for Vincent and Brianna to
follow them as they headed in that direction, his eyes scanned his other
children as they stood talking with the Miller girls, he noted Anthony and Alberto
standing behind the girls with their arms crossed over their chests and scowls
on their faces.
More introductions were made,
both Vincent and Dominic apologizing to Todd and Holly for their inappropriate
behavior and felt relief when Todd smiled at them saying, “It’s okay, just
don’t let it happen again. Treat my
daughters with respect and I won’t have to hurt either of you.” “Yes sir,” both boys replied as they took in
Todd’s 6’4”, 240 pound frame.
“Go ahead and join the
others,” said Frank as he smiled at his oldest sons. “We need some time to talk things over. See if you can find out what’s going on with
Anthony and Alberto and clear it up.”
“Yes sir,” both boys said as they held out their hands for their
intendeds.
As they approached the group
of youngsters Hope squealed, “Vinnie,” as she launched herself at him. He let go of Brianna’s hand to pick her up as
she said, “You was bad, you knockeded me down and gots my new dwess dirty. Dommie was bad too, but he pwomised Jackie
extwa ice cweam. Antny said its cause
you found your gurlfwiend, so do I get extwa ice cweam too?”
Vin started laughing and
said, “Would you like to meet Brianna?
I’m sure she would like to meet you, and yes you can have extra ice
cream as long as you eat your dinner and drink your milk.” Hope laid her head on his shoulder as she
smiled shyly at Brianna as she whispered to him, “She’s pwetty, like my dolly.”
The Miller girls were having
problems remembering who belonged to which families, so Anthony suggested the
families stand together. Everyone broke
into their respective families but when it got to the Carlucci’s, they were
still confused because they looked almost identical.
Gabby smiled and said, “Try
and remember this and it’ll help. Mr.
C’s youngsters have curly hair, dimples on the right side of their face and are
right handed; Mr. JC’s youngsters have straight hair, dimples on the left side
of their face and are left handed, they’re like mirror twins.” The Miller girls were swiveling their heads back
and forth between the two families.
Damian started singing,
“Still, they’re cousins, identical cousins and you’ll find, they laugh alike,
they walk alike, at times they even talk alike.” His family started cracking up laughing while
the Miller girls looked at him like he had lost his mind.
“Oh, come on,” he said while
he grinned. “The Patty Duke show. You’ve
never heard of it? It’s a cinematic
masterpiece….Oh never mind.”
“I’m hungwy Vinnie,”
whispered Hope. Vin looked around and
saw the buffet was set up and said, “Okay older ones get your young ones and
let’s head over and get some food. We’ll
talk while we eat and everyone can get to know each other.”
All of the youngsters got in
line and loaded their plates before making their way back over to their spot in
the clearing. Maria and Sophia got
blankets from their cabin so the older girls would have a place to sit and be
more comfortable. The boys leaned up
against trees with the little girls leaning up against them and chattering
nonstop. Across the clearing, the
parents kept a close eye on their youngsters.
“I forgot how much little girls talked,” said Vin as Anthony opened the bond to include
Alberto and Angelo in addition to the Carlucci boys. “Are
they ever going to stop? What is up with
Brooke and her shoes, she’s been talking about them all day. Hope’s lisp is adorable, but I don’t
understand half of what she says and Jackie, Toni, and Abigail talk just to
hear themselves I think.”
“Did you see how little Brooke’s feet are? I’m not
sure how she can stand up, they’re so little.
She just got new kicks and wants to show them off, so give her a break
dude,” said Lorenzo as he held Brooke
upside down by her ankle so the boys could see how little her foot was. She squealed in delight with a big smile on
her little face and then launched into a whole new discussion about her shoes,
causing the boys to groan even as they were smiling.
“Okay, now that we got the pleasantries out of the
way; Ant and Alberto, what the fuck is up with the two of you? Whatever it is, Dad wants it taken care of
before the ceremony,” said Dom as he
glanced at them. Vin and Dom listened as
Anthony explained what was said and the girls reaction.
“So, have you tried talking to them?” asked Vin as he opened Hope and Hyatt’s cartons of
milk. Hyatt insisted he could hold his,
so he held Hope’s while she drank.
Neither twin was eating much, they were too excited and talking too
much, so every time they opened their mouth to talk, Vin popped a bite of food
in. Lorenzo saw what he was doing and
followed his example with Eddie and Brooke, feeding them like little
birds.
“You know them Vin, they won’t listen to us when they
are this mad. We figured we’d let them
cool down a little and then straighten it out,” said Anthony as he wiped Abigail’s face. Vin nodded his head in agreement and then
said, “Okay, but take care of it after
dinner.”
“Sophia, what are the boys
doing with the young ones?” questioned Maeve as the older girls stopped eating
and talking as they looked over at the boys.
“It’s what they do,” stated
Sophia with a shrug. “You notice how
each little girl has picked out one of the boys? We’re taught when we’re young if our fathers
aren’t around to position ourselves with a dominant male for protection. The little ones, like Hope and Brooke are
especially vulnerable because they haven’t begun training yet.”
“They willingly do it? The men in our old Pack would never feed or
take care of the young, except for their own and some not even then, they would
consider it beneath them. As far as
protection, they never did anything to protect us, the only ones that did was
Daddy, Papa Mike, Papa Conall and Uncle Nick,” said Morgan as she watched
Dominic cut Jackie’s hot dog into smaller pieces. Anthony, Vin and Dom looked at each other
noting what she inadvertently said of having never been protected by her
previous Pack.
Dominic smiled at his
intended and said, “We feel it’s an honor they are comfortable around us and
their parents trust us enough to protect their young. As far as being ‘beneath’ us, nothing is
further from the truth. All children
must be protected, but especially the girls, without them our Pack would cease
to exist.”
“Plus, it shows our intendeds
we would make good fathers, it shows we can feed and protect them, its part of
the natural nurturing instincts of males,” said Anthony as the older girls
looked at him with their mouths open in surprise. “What?
Did you think the only thing we thought of was sports and fighting each
other?”
“We are very sensitive,
gentle, kind, caring souls. It hurts my
feelings to think any of you would think otherwise,” Damian said as he
pretended to wipe tears from his eyes.
There was stunned silence
from the Miller girls as they glanced at each other unsure of what to say or
do.
“You’re full of crap is what
you are Damian Carlucci,” laughed Gabby as she threw her napkin at him. He lunged for her ankle and pulled her
towards him, throwing her shoe at Angelo, he began to tickle her foot. She was giggling but asking him to stop
between giggles as Angelo looked on and told her, “You call people crap, you
gotta pay the price, little sis.”
“LEAVE HER BE DAMIAN,”
demanded Sal, surprising everyone, but most of all himself. “I mean…she asked you to stop, so leave her
be.” Damian let go of her foot and
apologized as Gabby blushed at finding herself the center of attention.
“It’s okay Damian, nothing
you haven’t done before,” murmured Gabby as she got her shoe from Angelo. She rejoined the girls on the blanket who had
started talking about the upcoming first day of school and training classes.
“Sal, is there something you need to talk about? You are way too young to be feeling a mating
pull, so what’s up?” asked Vin,
Anthony had never closed the bond so all the males heard the question.
“Nothing, Damian was being rough with her and she’s so
little and delicate. I don’t even like
her, its just that she’s so, oh forget it… Why can’t I say something without
everyone making a big fucking deal out of it?” he belligerently asked as he glared at his
brother. “I mean she’s not even usually nice, she’s a spoiled brat and….”
Sal stopped talking as he
heard Alberto and Angelo growling low in their throats as they stared him
down. “Listen up, that’s my fucking sister you’re talking about, nobody and I
mean NOBODY talks about her like that,” snapped Angelo.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just
that… oh never mind… nobody would understand anyway… but I like Gabby, just not
in that way,” stammered Sal. “I mean
she’s cute, beautiful even, her hair smells nice and it shimmers in the
sunlight, and she’s got eyes like liquid chocolate with little streaks of green
that sparkle when she laughs, and her freckles are kinda cute, but I’ve never,
well you know…looked at her that much…or never really noticed her as a
girl…just leave me the fuck alone guys, okay?... She’s cute okay, but she’s old, and I really
don’t find her attractive, so drop it.”
The boys stared at him in
astonishment and then Paulo astounded everyone again by saying, “For someone who doesn’t look at her much,
you sure noticed a hell of a lot. Gabby
was my partner in Chem Lab last year and I never noticed she had freckles or
shimmering hair. Hell, I barely noticed
she had brown eyes, let alone they were like liquid chocolate with streaks of
green, whatever the fuck that means. I’m
glad you weren’t really looking at her or never really noticed her as a girl,
I’d hate to hear what you noticed then.”
Gabby was putting her shoe on
when she felt somebody staring at her; she looked up and saw the older boys
staring at her intently, except for Sal who was holding his head in his
hands. “What? What is wrong with all of you? Why are you staring at me? Do I have food on me, or is my hair messed
up? What?????”
Damian replied laughing,
“Nothing Gabs, we noticed how grown up you got over the summer while you were
in Italy
As he finished talking, he
glanced over to see Sal’s reaction and wasn’t disappointed; his hands were
clenching and unclenching. He caught
Vin’s eye and jerked his head so Vin could see his reaction too. He was too young to feel the mating pull, but
Sal was certainly feeling something for Gabby.
“Oh, I’m going to have fun with this,” he thought as a huge smile broke
over his face.
After dinner, Doc came over
to Damian and Maria and said it was time to remove their casts. They followed him to the small cabin set up
as a clinic, since it wasn’t unusual for injuries to occur during the Pack run
or with the young ones running around.
He removed both casts and said they could shift as it would help in the
healing process, but he didn’t want them doing more then walking or a slow
run.
Hope had climbed back onto
Vin’s lap curled up and was half asleep; he looked at his intended and held his
hand out to her. Brianna smiled at him
and came over, leaning into his side and they talked quietly so they didn’t
disturb the little one.
Dominic watched his intended
as she talked with Sophia and Gabby about school, dance classes and things
girls did that he didn’t understand.
Jackie was lying on his chest, fighting sleep as he was gently rubbing
her back. When Morgan noticed him
watching her, she smiled shyly and got up and came to sit next to him and
whispered, “Okay big boy, have you thought about our first date? How are you going to impress me? Where are we going and what are we going to
do?”
Dominic laughed quietly and
whispered, “We will do whatever you want, whenever you want. You tell me what kind of food you want and
what you want to do afterwards, we can go bowling, roller skating, the movies
or we can take a drive through the mountains.
Whatever you want to do, I will make it happen.” She giggled and said she would like to go eat
at a real Pizza place and then go bowling.
They sat quietly talking and made plans with Brianna and Vincent for the
next weekend.
After Maria came back to the
clearing, Alberto went and sat near her.
She ignored him at first then leaned into his side and he scented her
neck deeply. He said, “I missed you Gattina,
I don’t like it when we argue. I didn’t
mean any disrespect to you, but to be honest I am miserable.” When she stiffened against him, he continued,
“Let me finish, please. I’m miserable
because I want to hold you and kiss you and I am unable to. I’m miserable because I want to be with you
all the time and I can’t. That’s why I
am miserable.”
“Oh, Alberto,” Maria sighed
as she snuggled against his side. He put
his arm around her shoulder holding her tightly as he scented her deeply he
thought, “Three years, three years, I can handle that and then she’ll never
leave my side.”
“Sophia, can I talk to you please?” said Anthony as he looked at her as she sat on the
blanket with the older girls. She rolled
her eyes and looked away before getting up and sitting next to him, but not
touching him. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier, it came out wrong. The pain and suffering I was referring to is
mine and has nothing to do with you being my intended, well that’s not right
either. Damn, I can’t seem to say
anything right.”
“I think I know what you’re talking about, you are
used to being with girls and doing things with them and you can’t with me. It’s because I’m so young, isn’t it? You regret feeling the mating pull for me,
don’t you?” Sophia said her voice
trembling as she agitatedly plucked blades of grass. “I
don’t want to think of you going out and doing those things with other girls
Anthony, the thought of you being with somebody else makes me sick to my
stomach.”
“Arachide, being with you means everything to me, you
are my life and I cannot picture a future without you by my side. Yes, I am frustrated because I can think of
nothing else but kissing you and holding you,” Anthony stated firmly as he reached over and put his
fingers under her chin so she could look at him. “I’m
not going to lie to you and tell you I haven’t been with other girls, but I want you to know I will never be
unfaithful to you, you are mine and I am yours.”
Sophia smiled shyly at
Anthony and leaned into his side, tilting her head so he could scent her. Anthony took full advantage and pulled her as
close to him as he could while he buried his hand into her curly black
hair. He growled low in her ear and
whispered, “I could stay like this all night.”
Gabby and the Miller girls
continued to talk quietly about nothing and everything, just like teenage girls
normally do. The Millers were fascinated
with her stories of Pack life, dance classes, school, bowling, training,
parties and had endless questions to ask.
Gabby was very patient and never made them feel bad about their not
knowing about things she took for granted.
She noticed the boys watching and listening to them, so she included
them in the conversation and soon everyone was laughing and joking.
***
Across the clearing, Frank
watched the youngsters as they walked back from the food line and said, “Well,
it looks like everyone is getting along.
Why don’t we get some food and get to know each other better, since
we’re going to be in-laws. Matt and
Phillip, you’re going to join us, aren’t you?”
“We don’t want to intrude
Frank,” said Matthew. “Nonsense,” said
Alpha Carlo. “You two are as involved in
this as anybody, plus we enjoy your company.”
With pleased smiles on their faces, Matt and Phil followed the
Carlucci’s, Rossi’s, Moretti’s and Millers.
After everyone was settled at
the picnic tables, Carlo said, “Aldo has got a lot of work ahead of him
shifting the bunk arrangements now.”
Everyone started laughing, except for the Millers who looked perplexed. Frank quickly explained to them about the safe
room at the school and how the bunk assignments were done. With Vin and Dom making declarations for
Brianna and Morgan, those arrangements had to be redone for the third
time.
“You have a safe room at the
school? It’s got to be huge,” said Papa
Mike. Joe nodded his head as he quietly
talked the schematics over with him and told him he would be at the school
tomorrow and would personally go over the plans with him.
“We also need you to become
familiar with our territory. Our main
base of operations is Washington County , but we also control Frederick ,
Allegany and Garrett
Counties
“The safe houses look like
normal cabins and vacation homes, but are constructed with safety in mind, even
more then our homes. We figured if we
had to seek the protection of these homes, then we had to amp up the security,”
said Frank with a smile at Papa Mike.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what did you do in the Pack?”
“Before I was forced into
retirement by Charles, I was in charge of maintenance,” said Papa Mike. “I had my own electrical business for 25
years and Charles forced me to sell it last year and the Pack kept the
money. What the little bastard didn’t
realize was Ellen and I had been hiding money for two years prior, and even
after the sale we didn’t tell him the full price I got for the company. The new owner and I worked out a deal on the
back end, we listed a price on the sale papers, but he also paid me in cash
that wasn’t shown.”
As Frank, Joe and Carlo
looked on in astonishment, Todd started laughing and said, “We told you we
planned on escaping for three years, we wouldn’t have gotten far without
money. How did you think we paid for the
house? That reminds me, we need to take
the rental cars back and buy new cars.”
“I never even thought of it,”
said Carlo with a grimace. “I should
have asked if you needed help getting here.
For that I apologize, I have no excuse for my lapse, I just never
thought about it.”
“Alpha Carlo, don’t let
yourself be upset. When we asked to join
the Pack that was one of the first things you asked,” said Phillip. “Everyone knows how much you care for your
Pack members.”
“Thank you Phillip. I do need an assistant, I cannot let details
like this slip through again,” Carlo stated as he looked at his mate, who was
nodding her head.
“We’ll introduce you to
Vinnie, he owns Pinelli Ford which is where everyone gets their cars,” said
Matt.
“Papa Mike, would you be
interested in doing electrical work for us?
We have been relying on subcontractors, but would really like to start
our own subdivision, so would you like to head the department? Or if you want to restart your business, then
you would be one of our subcontractors.
You would naturally have to get licensed first, but that shouldn’t be a
problem,” said Frank as Joe nodded.
“I’m too old to run my own
company, but I would definitely be interested in heading the department. There shouldn’t be any problems with
transferring my license, I ran my business for 25 years and never had any complaints
registered with the state,” stated Papa Mike proudly.
“What are you going to do
Todd? You’re an environmental engineer,
right? When we first talked you said you
got transferred here, but was that part of the cover?” asked Alpha Carlo.
“Since the budget cuts, a lot
of analysis is done by subcontractors for the EPA and that’s what I do. They send me test results and I run the
analysis on them and put reports together, so I work from home,” said Todd. “It’ll be helpful once Holly and mom get the
coffee shop up and running. I’ll be able
to help them and the girls will also be working in it.”
“Speaking of which, there are
a couple of vacancies in town that Holly and Nana Ellen should look at. Most of the businesses in town are Pack run
and everyone will be thrilled to help out in anyway they can,” said Gina.
“We’ll do the build-out at no
charge since you’ll be family. You pay
for the materials at cost and we’ll do any construction needed. Our boys work for us during the summer, even
Maria and Sophia help out when needed.
Don’t let their size fool you, Sophia handles a nail gun like a pro and
Maria is wicked with a table saw,” said Joe with a nod from Frank.
“We’ll have everyone over for
dinner as payment,” said Todd with a smile of gratitude on his face. When he saw everyone laughing he said,
“What?”
“You have obviously never
seen our boys eat. It would probably be
cheaper for you to pay them an hourly wage then to feed them dinner,” said
Joe. The Millers looked across the clearing
and saw the boys had several plates in front of them all piled high.
“When we have cookouts for
our two families, we make at least 60 hamburgers and 50 hotdogs to start and
often have to cook more. That’s not even
mentioning potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans, 5 dozen deviled eggs and
at least 3 cakes for dessert,” said Annie with a laugh at the look on Holly’s
face.
“Nana and I helped in the
Packs kitchen, she made desserts and I made the breads but I can’t remember any
of the young men eating like that,” laughed Holly. “We always dreamed of opening our own
business, we are scared yet excited. We
have to think of a good name though, something sweet yet sassy.”
“You should talk to our son
Paulo; he designs, maintains and services the websites for the Packs members
businesses. He can design a website for
online ordering, showing daily specials or whatever you want,” said Joe. “He makes enough money doing it that he buys
his own equipment now, the only thing I had to do was build a room to house it
all.”
“I would like to volunteer my
services to be a taste tester for any desserts,” said Rose with a smile. “Hey, I was going to say that,” said Annie as
everyone laughed.
“Once you get your business
running, I’d like to sell the desserts in my restaurant. My staff hates making cannoli, cheesecake,
Tiramisu and Panna Cotta. We can buy
them wholesale or do like Fred Dawson and I do, every week he gives me three
gallons of gelato and I give him antipasto and six pizzas. We’ll talk about the details later, but either
way, we’ll put up a sign with your store logo and information so people will
know where the desserts come from,” said Carmelo with a smile.
“You would do that for
us? Even if you bought them wholesale?”
asked Holly with a look of disbelief on her face.
“Of course, you are Pack and
we support each other. I’ll even call my
restaurant supply salesperson and make sure he takes care of your account. I keep telling Carlo that is something the
Pack should get involved in, with the number of Pack members who own
restaurants plus we could even sell to neighboring Packs,” said Carmelo as he
glanced at Carlo. “It would be good
income for the Pack.”
“I’ll have my new assistant
look into that this week,” said Carlo with a smile as he sent a message through
the bond for Marco and Anna to join them.
“New assistant? You’re seriously going to get one, I think
that’s great. Who is it?” asked
Rita.
“Well, they are coming
now. We haven’t asked them yet, but we
will as soon as they get here,” said Carlo with a smile as Marco and Anna
joined them.
“Good evening Alpha Carlo and
Madame Gina,” said Marco. “Mr. and Mrs.
C, Mr. and Mrs. JC, Matt and Phil.”
Carlo got up and introduced the Millers and Marco said, “Welcome to the
Pack Mr. and Mrs. Miller and Nana Ellen and Papa Mike.”
“Marco, we keep telling you
to call us by our names,” said Frank with a smile as he slapped Marco on the
shoulder almost causing him to spill his drink.
“Yes sir, but its hard to
break old habits,” said Marco as he glanced at his parents.
“The reason I called for you
is we would like to offer you positions as my assistant and Gina’s
secretary. Marco, you would be in charge
of briefings for the Council, scheduling my appointments, helping with training
schedules, requests from other Packs to visit our territory, the duties would
vary daily depending on what needed to be done,” said Alpha Carlo.
“Anna, you would be
responsible for helping me coordinate activities for the Pack. The Winter Festival, Full Moon Ceremonies,
school activities, birthday cards for the youngsters, like Carlo said it would
depend on what needed to be accomplished,” Gina said as she smiled at Anna.
“There would be a salary,
plus you could move into the caretaker’s cottage on the grounds of The Manor
House. It has all the security upgrades
and it will be closer to us if we needed you in a hurry,” stated Alpha
Carlo.
“Thank you for this
opportunity, of course we will accept.
How soon would we start, and when could we move in?” asked Marco in a
rush as he grabbed Anna’s hand. He
looked at his parents who were smiling and his Dad was puffed up with
pride.
“Monday morning at 9:00 AM
and you can move into the cottage tomorrow if you’d like. We’ll meet you there tomorrow after breakfast
to show it to you, there is already basic furniture there, but you’ll need
kitchen stuff and linens,” said Alpha Carlo.
They ran over and embraced Carmelo and Rita and were halfway across the
clearing towards Anna’s parents before they hurriedly returned and thanked the
Alpha’s and asked to be excused. Carlo
smiled at their enthusiasm and gave them their leave.
“Well, that’s done. I’m actually looking forward to having Marco
as my assistant; it will relieve a lot of the day to day burdens off my
shoulders. I’m glad I thought of it,” he
said with a smirk as Gina hit him on the arm and Frank and Joe roared with
laughter.
“Frank and Joe, one thing
I’ve been wondering about. Where are
your parents? I was really looking forward to meeting them,” said Papa
Mike.
“They are in Italy Europe on behalf of the Council, fostering goodwill and
Pack relations. They’ll be very happy to hear Vincent and Dominic have found
their mates, they were ecstatic hearing about Maria and Sophia. They’ll be back for the Winter Festival, they
wouldn’t miss their granddaughters dancing recital.”
“Enough chit chat,” said
Carlo with a determined look on his face as every one looked at him. “We need the answer to a serious question…Do
you play poker?”
The talk at the table soon
turned to general things about Pack life, training sessions, football, school
and what activities there were in the area.
They made plans to meet at Frank’s house for a cookout Sunday evening to
go over the dating rules.
Todd looked across the
clearing at the youngsters and said, “I meant to ask earlier, but why are they
paired up like they are? Is it because
they are related?”
Joe smiled at him and said,
“No, yesterday we broke them into teams, an older family with a younger one
which allowed them to develop a bond. You’ll notice when their parents aren’t
around the young ones will go to the older ones. In the upcoming years they will look to them
for guidance, protection and security and in a couple of years, they will
become the mentors and the cycle will continue.”
“Will my daughters get paired
with a family?” asked Todd.
“We won’t do anything until
they get tested for placement,” said Carlo.
“But they will probably be paired up with Frank and Joe’s family.”
Carlo noticed dusk was
steadily approaching and the Ceremony would be starting soon but before he
could say anything his phone rang. Carlo
jerked his head towards his cabin and Frank, Joe, Todd, Papa Mike, Carmelo,
Matt and Phil headed that way.
As soon as they were in his
cabin, Carlo answered the phone, “Rossi Here.”
“Carlo, Roberts here. We are at our destination, all three Alphas’,
their top Beta’s, men and medical personnel are here. In total, we number almost one thousand. There has been a steady stream of visitors
arriving but as of yet no action for us to move on. We have the Ceremonial grounds under constant
video and audio observation, as are The Lodge and outbuildings. Is Todd or his father there? We have some questions for them,” stated
Alpha Council President Roberts.
“Both my father and I are
here, sir,” answered Todd.
“What time does the Ceremony
start, where is the mate rut held and are the girls held at a location until
they are brought out?” demanded the President.
“Sir, the Ceremony starts one
hour after dusk, the mate rut is held in front of the Altar and the girls are
locked in The Lodge’s basement. Sir, the
reason the rut is held in front of the Altar is they reward some of the unmated
males with the virginity of the newly presented girls. Charles believes staining the Altar with
their virginal blood will bring good luck to the Pack,” said Papa Mike. “When we were discussing this that’s one
detail we forgot to mention. I didn’t
even think of it until now. So focus on
the Altar, that’s where the girls will be brought.”
“Raping virgins on the Sacred
Altar??? Those fucking bastards…” raged
President Roberts. They listened as he
informed those in the room of what Papa Mike had said and even over the phone
they could sense the tension in the room.
“We also need to know if they have any weapons on the property.”
“No sir, Charles was afraid
of guns. He was afraid someone would
take control of the Pack,” said Todd glancing at his father he said, “Dad, can
you think of anything else? I feel like
we are forgetting something important.”
There was silence for several
moments before his Dad hollered, “The young ones. President Roberts, we mentioned the young
ones were sequestered during the Ceremony, but we never told you where. They are held in the sub-basement under
guard, down in the old dungeons which had been closed for years but Charles had
them reopened. I’ve never been down
there, but I do know where the door is located; it’s in the kitchen pantry
located behind a shelving unit. Ellen
saw it open one day as she grabbed a bag of flour and it must have tripped the
latch, so check the shelving unit on the left hand side, third shelf for the
latch.”
President Roberts called his
SD over and informed him of the location of the young ones and how to access
the hidden door. “Thank you both for the
information, is there anything else you can remember? Maybe ask your mates.”
Papa Mike and Todd hurriedly
sent requests asking for any information.
Holly’s voice trembled as she said, “Todd, remember the code word we set
up with my family before we left.”
Todd in his rush started
rambling, “President Roberts, before we left we promised Sage we would come
back and get them before her daughters turned 18. If we weren’t there in person, we would send
somebody and use the word ‘Prostasia’, it means protect or protection in
Greek. Use that word and Holly’s family
will help you. Her father and mother are
Conall and Maureen Donnelly and her sister is Sage and her mate is Nicodemus
Spanos, they have six daughters, Ophelia, Despina, Isadora, Lysandra, Calliope
and Pandora. Since they can’t shift, all
the girls will be in the sub-basement.”
“Thank you for the
information, it will come in extremely helpful.
I have assigned the SD to be responsible for the young ones and he has
Alpha King and his men with him; they will be well taken care of Todd. Is there anything else we need to know? If not, I must get off the phone,” stated
President Roberts.
Everyone looked at each other
shaking their heads. “Nothing we can
think of,” said Alpha Carlo. “Okay, I
will notify you after this is finished,” said Roberts right before he hung up.
As they stepped out of the
cabin the men glanced across the clearing where their youngsters were. As the sound of their laughter reached them
genuine smiles graced their faces as they watched their youngsters
interact.
Todd said, “May Luna protect
the innocent and may the guilty burn for eternity.” The men nodded in agreement before walking
over to join their mates.
***
At dusk, Carlo strode to the
center of the clearing and asked the families to come together for the start of
the Ceremony. The boys walked the little
ones across the clearing to their parents and families grouped together as
everyone stood silently.
He took a deep breath as he
looked around the clearing and then in a deep firm voice he said, “Tonight we
honor for the first time our Pack members who perished during the Were
War. The loss has always been too great
and our emotions too raw for us to do this but we feel it is time for them to
be recognized, honored and celebrated as we mark the 50th
Anniversary of the signing of the treaty that ended such a dark time not only
for our Pack, but the entire Were community.”
“Almost sixty years ago rogue wolves were
roaming free across the country, leaving destruction and unrest in their
wake. Females as young as 14 were being kidnapped, raped and unwillingly
mated to these rogues, those who refused were murdered and the family members
who tried to protect them were killed,” stated Alpha Carlo, sending some of
his words through the bond to those over 14, as there were things the young
ones and little ones didn’t need to know and wouldn’t understand.
“Before the Alpha Council was
formed, Packs were isolated and fearful of letting outsiders know of problems
and issues they were dealing with, they felt it would make them appear weak and
ready for a takeover by rival Packs. If
they had let it be known what was happening, the outcome would certainly have
been different. These rogue wolves
continued gaining in strength and numbers until they reached over several
hundred in number. They spread out, infiltrating Packs and then other members of their
organization would come in, killing anyone who stood in their way before
kidnapping the females they wanted.”
“Their reign of terror
continued unabated for years until they made their way to the East Coast. The Packs on the East Coast were more organized,
but we were still caught unawares believing we were safe from harm. Over the years the rogues had changed their
ways, they had gotten more organized and more deceitful. They would approach Packs pretending to be
from other Packs to form business alliances thus worming their way in. They knew information about us, about our
business practices and their demeanor didn’t raise any flags until it was too
late.”
“The day after their arrival, thirty-six of our females gathered
together to celebrate a birthday. What
should have been a joyous gathering of family and friends soon dissolved into
terror as the rogues descended on this peaceful household. They slaughtered the six males present,
including eleven year old Dante Bellucci who died protecting his sister Antonia. Before we could reach the home, our females
were beaten unconscious, bound and kidnapped.
We immediately called our allies
who came rushing to our aid, but by the time they were located, it was too
late.” Carlo stopped speaking for
several moments, his hands clenching and unclenching as he got his emotions
under control, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“We found the rogue’s hideout, an abandoned resort in
the Pocono Mountains and fought our way inside,
killing those who tried to stop us. The
scene we found was absolutely heartbreaking, one of total carnage and
devastation. Their bodies were almost
unrecognizable because of the bruises, cuts, broken limbs, mutilation and
torture they had been put through, but that was not the worst of what they had
suffered. All of them had been
repeatedly raped, even twelve year old Mae Green who was found in the
protective embrace of her sister, Julia,” said Carlo his voice trembling with emotion and his face wet with
tears.
“In the midst of this, there was one small ray of
hope; one of the girls was still alive.
Though her body was broken beyond repair, her spirit refused to give up
displaying the tenacity and stubbornness she was known for. Knowing the girls were going to be killed,
the rogues talked freely in front of them and before she died, Sophia Carlucci
wanted to make sure she passed that vital information on. Using her last few breaths she told her
father and her Alpha everything she heard.
Not only that, but she projected images of the heroism displayed by the
girls in their defense of each other.
Only when she was finished, did she die cradled in her fathers loving
arms, still holding her sister Leonora’s hand,” Carlo looked at his Pack, their tears glistening in
the flickering light from the bonfire.
The Carlucci family stood side by side with tears flowing freely down
their faces, they were proud yet humbled by the courage displayed by their
ancestor.
“Without her strength and
courage we would not have known who was really behind the attacks. Her revelations stunned the Were community
and shook us to the core of our foundation.
The rogues weren’t really rogues, but Beta’s, Delta’s and Omega’s who
were following orders from their Alpha’s.
These were the true traitors, they were the leaders of some of the most
powerful Packs in the country and their motivation was greed, pure and simple
greed for money, land and power. They
were telling them which Packs to attack so they could go in and further
decimate them and steal their lands and businesses.”
“We banded together with our
sworn allies and lost many Pack members as we fought nonstop for the next
several years to avenge the atrocities done to our females and to eradicate the
plague of traitors. By the time the fighting
was done, thousands of Were’s had been killed or injured. Whole Packs had been decimated and the Were
way of life was in danger of being exposed which is why the Alpha Council was
formed.”
“The first item the Council
dealt with was to bring a swift and final judgement to all involved; no matter
how small a part they played and then they disbanded the Packs responsible for
this atrocity. Their finances were
frozen with the majority going to fund the Council, the rest going into a
general fund that would be dispersed to the remaining Packs. New laws were set up that each Pack must
conform to and each state was broken down into four Packs with the land
redistributed among them. Each Pack was
given one representative, the Alpha, who has an equal vote to moderate
disputes. Once all of this was set up
the treaty was signed by each Alpha thus ending the Were War.” Alpha Carlo paused, as he motioned Frank and
Joe to join him.
“The signing of the treaty
may have ended the Were War, but that doesn’t mean we have forgotten. Frank, Joe and I instituted policies for our
protection that go above and beyond what is mandated by Council and go further
then what my father initiated. Nothing
is more important then our safety as evidenced by our training sessions, home
and business security measures and the general preparedness we display in our
everyday lives,” stated Alpha Carlo as he stood with his arms crossed over his
chest, his posture mimicked by Frank and Joe who stood on each side of him.
“Other Packs have grown
complacent over the years, depending on the Alpha Council for protection and I
think that is a mistake, we cannot and we will not ever let it happen to us
again. We will never let our guard
down,” Alpha Carlo firmly stated as he shook hands with Frank and Joe before
they went to rejoin their families.
Carlo drew a deep fortifying
breath and said, “Phillip, could you come here please.”
Phillip stepped forward
holding one stem of each of the flowers already in the arrangement sitting on
the Altar. He cleared his throat before
nervously looking at the assembled Pack members and felt love and a feeling of
calm wash over him from his mate.
He put his shoulders back and
said in a clear voice, “Throughout the years flowers have come to symbolize
different emotions and feelings. The
arrangement we have tonight shows the love and respect we feel for our fallen
Pack members and shows even fifty years later, their sacrifice is not forgotten
and we will always remember their devotion to their family, friends and
Pack.”
Phillip moved towards the
arrangement and as he placed each stem he said,
“Oak leaves representing
their strength,
Edelweiss representing their
daring and noble courage,
Rosemary representing their
loyalty,
White Carnations representing
their faithfulness,
Daisies representing their
gentleness and innocence,
Red Roses representing their
love for each other,
Gladioli representing their
strength of character,
Baby’s Breath representing
their pureness of heart,
Iris’ representing their
faith, wisdom and valor,
Finally we have
Forget-Me-Not’s which mean remember me forever.”
Carlo stepped forward and
embraced Phillip, thanking him and Matt for bringing the flower arrangement,
something no one else had thought of.
Silence filled the night air
as Carlo quietly moved towards the side of the Altar, motioning for Gina and
Anthony to join him. He looked over the
assembled Pack members and said quietly, “You have listened to the history of
the Were War, we have honored our fallen with flowers, now is the time for the
Roll Call of those we lost and honor today.
May their names live forever in our hearts and minds and may they find
eternal peace knowing our Pack continues because of them.”
“Each family will step
forward and recite the family member they lost and light a candle on the Altar
in their memory. At the end of the
evening Phillip will melt the individual candles to form one candle uniting
them forever. It will be placed in our
Archive room along with a brass plaque engraved with all of the names, so a
hundred years from now they will be remembered, celebrated and honored.”
One by one each family
stepped forward and recited family members long dead but never forgotten. Carlo recited the names of the whole families
who were killed.
Heidi Anderson
Carmella, Aldo, Giuseppe
Balducci
Antonia, Dante and Sergio
Bellucci
Arabella and Stefano
Benedetto
Jennifer and Joel Burns
Sophia, Leonora, Vincenzo,
Marco, Rinaldo and Santino Carlucci
Joan and Edwin Carter
Isabella and Alfonso Costello
Christina and Christopher
Dawson
Melissa and George Fauble
Isabella, Michael and Paul
Giovanni
Ellen and Doug Grimm
Mae and Julia Green
Carol, Louise, Leo and Ronald
Hammond
Lisa and Josh Holder
Amy Jones
Stephanie and Marshall Knight
Michael and Shawn Lowery
Victoria Martin
David, Edward and Scott
Mendez
Martha and Jeff Mills
Octavia, Edmondo and Giorgio
Moretti
Frederico Pinelli
Betty, Cindy and Mark
Poffenberger
Susan and David Quinn
Hazel, Mary, George and Paul
Reeder
Lucrezia, Raphael and
Giancarlo Rossi
Donatella, Roberto and Bruno
Sabatini
Daryl Shiffler
Bernadette and Damon
Warrenfeltz
Gloria, Ian, Matthew Webber
MaryBeth, Ellen, Harry and
Paul Whitmer
Elaine and Gary Zimmerman
“Eighty-one members were
lost, but now I call forth those who joined our Pack in the last 50 years,”
said Carlo as he waited for those families to step forward. “Your family members will be added so future
generations will know and remember their names to honor and grieve them, just
as we will remember and share your grief now.”
Sue and Phillip Chang
Cecilia Fleming
Maeve, Broderick and Colin
Miller
Harold and Gerald Moeller
Suzanne and Fred Washburn
“In our darkest times and in
our greatest moments of joy one thing has never changed, we have always stood
together, side by side. Our enemies may
have separated us, but they didn’t divide us.
They may have beaten us, but they never conquered us. They may have hurt us, but they never
destroyed us. We are South Mountain Pack
and as long as one of us lives, our Spirit will go on.”
Silence descended on the
clearing as Alpha Carlo tilted his head back and let out a mournful howl, the
rest of the Pack joining in. The sound
echoed over the floor of the valley before traveling up the mountains and
lifting up to the sky.
Carlo stepped into the
clearing before the Altar, his voice once more the forceful firm voice of a
born Alpha, “We will now honor our fallen by going on a Pack run. Throughout the years, a Pack run has always
symbolized the cohesive bonds of a Pack as new shifters learn the joys of
becoming one with your Wolf, families run through the woods together; we
experience the thrill of the hunt and the simple joy of being with the Pack.”
Families headed to their
cabins as young ones were placed with a security detail as guards patrolled the
perimeter of the Ceremonial Grounds. New
shifters and their families headed to the private clearing, anxiety evident in
their posture and words. Frank and Joe
had granted Anthony and Alberto permission to stay with their intendeds,
knowing their daughters would be comforted with their presence.
Each family moved to a
separate area of the clearing, except for the Carlucci’s who stayed
together. Their brothers, cousins and
intendeds faced outward holding up fabric forming two interlocking circles with
Sal, Victor and their fathers in one and Sophia, Maria and their mothers in the
other. Sophia and Maria stood together
holding hands as they listened to their mothers.
“Tonight you will become one
with your wolf,” said Rose quietly. “She
has always been a part of you, but tonight she will come forth for the first
time.”
“She has always guided and
protected you, but after tonight you will have the added protection of her
physical form. You will notice your
sense of hearing, sight and smell is even more advanced then before. She will use these to make sure you stay safe
and you must listen to her for she will always be on guard,” added Annie.
Rose looked towards the night
sky and said, “It is time for us to meet her, go ahead and disrobe.” Sophia and Maria embraced before stepping
apart, disrobing swiftly as their mothers did the same.
Frank and Joe looked at their
youngest sons and Frank said, “You heard your mothers, the only difference is
hopefully your wolves will be male.”
Everyone started laughing, breaking the tension that was threatening to
overwhelm them.
Hearing their laughter, the
Millers glanced over at them. “They are
a strong family, Luna has done well for our granddaughters,” said Nana Ellen.
“Plus, they’re really cute
too,” Erin sighed as the rest of her sisters
giggled. “Look at them, every one is
tall, dark and handsome with piercing green eyes framed by long curly lashes
not to mention that lopsided grin that makes your toes curl.”
“We won’t discuss their
muscles and how broad their shoulders are,” added Caitlin.
“Do the two of you need to
tell us something?” whispered Holly.
“No Momma, it’s not time,”
whispered Erin . “They don’t realize it yet.”
“They aren’t ready but that doesn’t
mean we can’t push them a little,” added Caitlin with a devious smile.
Looking up into the night
sky, Kelly and Aislin stepped apart letting each others hands go as Holly
encouraged them to hurry up and disrobe as she did the same.
Frank said quietly, “Close
your eyes and let the night air fill your lungs. Feel your wolf coming forward and embrace
it.”
“Arachide, I cannot wait
until I see your wolf. She will be as
beautiful as you,” said Anthony quietly.
“Gattina, let your wolf guide
you during your change, relax and let her take control,” whispered
Alberto. “I will be waiting to meet
her.”
The moon crested over the
trees illuminating the clearing and as the light hit the youngsters it
shimmered across their bodies. They felt
a powerful energy envelop their bodies as something awakened deep inside of
them, remembering their parents words they relaxed and let the feeling wash
over them. Giving in to the urge they
got on their hands and knees, their bodies trembling as their wolves took control.
Searing pain lasted only
seconds as they heard popping sounds as their bones realigned, they looked down
at their hands and saw claws taking the place of fingernails as their paws
started to form. They felt a rippling
sensation under their skin, like ants crawling on them as fur started sprouting
on their forearms and lower legs before racing over their bodies. Their faces elongated and there was a slight
coppery taste of blood as their canines dropped and the last change they felt
was their tails forming and elongating.
Only seconds passed but it changed their lives forever.
Four chocolate wolves stood
in the protective circles of Carlucci’s, Anthony and Albert. They were identical in coloration right down
to their paws; two had a cream colored right paw while two had a cream colored
left paw, just like their fathers and brothers.
They stood still as if afraid to move, the feeling of being on four legs
instead of two making them unsure and afraid.
Their parents shifted and rubbed against them to offer comfort then
moved aside as the fabric was lowered so the rest of the family could welcome
their loved ones wolf.
The Millers turned around and
looked at the two wolves sitting and staring at each other. Their fur was light grey in color, tipped in
varying shades of black and dark grey just like Holly while their eyes retained
the silvery grey color of their father.
They glanced at their family
but kept coming back to stare at each other, then leaned in and rubbed against
each other, comforted by the scent of their twin as Holly walked around them
rubbing against them to offer comfort.
Todd dropped to his knees to allow them to scent his neck and said, “My
beautiful girls, you look just like your Momma.”
The two smaller chocolate
wolves looked at their intendeds and whimpered quietly as they immediately came
forward and dropped to their knees in front of them.
“Arachide, your wolf is
magnificent just like I knew she would be,” whispered Anthony, as Sophia
scented his neck he growled low in his throat and his hands ran up and down the
fur on her neck and shoulders.
“Gattina, your wolf takes my
breath away she is so beautiful,” whispered Alberto as he looked deep into his
Maria’s eyes which were amber with streaks of emerald green, he ran his hands
through the fur on her neck and hearing her whimper he tilted his neck so she
could scent him.
Kelly and Aislin struggled to
their feet and took tentative steps towards Nana Ellen who was offering
encouragement to them. Papa Mike looked
at his son and both of their chests puffed with pride seeing the two newest
wolves to join their family. “That’s it,
get used to walking on all fours. Let it
come through your body naturally, you were born to be one with your wolf, let
her guide you,” whispered Nana Ellen and within minutes both girls were walking
easily around their family.
Victor took a tentative step
towards his eldest brothers as Lorenzo and Damian offered quiet
encouragement. Sal looked at his cousins
attempt to walk and took a step towards Vin and Dom stumbling as he did,
instantly he felt Gianni’s hands on his shoulders steadying him. “Take it slow and get your balance,”
instructed Vin to both boys. “Since you
haven’t hit your true growth spurt, your paws are huge for your bodies and
you’ll have to lift them up more then normal.
Don’t worry its natural and something we all went through.”
Both boys looked at their
paws, which were the size of salad plates.
They glanced at each other then glanced at their sisters noting how
small they were. They felt their mothers
rubbing against them, and they looked over at their sisters to see their
fathers doing the same. A strange sound
escaped from both of them, similar to a chuckle as they noticed their sister’s
backs were barely higher then their father’s bellies.
Seeing their reactions to
their sister’s size, Damian said, “They are kinda small, aren’t they? Rather like overgrown poodles, we’ll have to
be careful not to step on them and squash them.
I can’t wait to see Maria next to Alberto that should be good for a
laugh.” The boys started laughing as both Sophia and Maria growled at him.
Sophia and Maria stood
unsteadily as Anthony and Alberto encouraged them to take their first steps,
which were slow and uneven. As they
gained confidence their next steps were more confident and within minutes they
were walking around their brothers and cousins.
Victor and Sal were still
having problems with their oversize paws, when they thought they were doing
okay, they would forget to lift their paws the extra inch or two they needed
and they would stumble. Maria and Sophia
seeing the problems they were having walked over and bumped them causing the
boys to fall over and the older boys started laughing. Sal said, “I’m
going to get you Sophia, as soon as I learn to walk, you’re going to regret
it.”
Sophia said, “You have to catch me first.” She started running across the clearing and
managed four steps before she started to fall but before she hit the ground
Anthony was there to catch her. “Arachide,
before you taunt your brother you’d better learn how to run,” he said as he
started to laugh.
Joe said, “Okay boys go to the cabin and shift, its
time for our wolves to meet. Don’t
forget to take our clothes.”
Sophia and Maria watched with
interest as Kelly and Aislin slowly walked around the clearing and joined them.
With their mothers at their sides they increased their speed each circle. Sal and Victor followed and every time they
stumbled their fathers were there with a gentle nudge or a muzzle to help them
maintain their balance, on the fifth circle they were in a gentle run not
realizing their fathers weren’t at their sides.
“Okay Maria, that’s enough. Remember Doc said for you not to run hard,
and I don’t want you to strain your arm,” insisted Joe. “You can keep walking, but no more running
and no jumping.”
The twelve boys returned to
the clearing in a gentle run. Ten
chocolate wolves, one auburn wolf and one pure black wolf stood proud in the
middle of the clearing. The auburn wolf
was the biggest overall, but the black wolf radiated power. As they stood there, Sal and Victor walked
over and joined them.
The black wolf strode forward
separating himself from the rest. “Arachide, come here my wolf is waiting to
meet you,” commanded Anthony in the full Alpha-heir voice and demeanor that
his wolf demanded.
Sophia slowly approached
Anthony, only when she was directly in front of him did he relax his pose. He leaned down to scent her neck before
walking around rubbing along both sides marking her with his scent. Even though he wasn’t fully grown yet, he was
only slightly smaller then her father and her head didn’t reach his
shoulders. Instead of being intimidated
by his size, she felt comforted and whimpered quietly as she said, “What is the matter Anthony, why did you
talk to me like that?”
“I am the Alpha-heir and you are my intended mate, the
future Madame Alpha,” said Anthony in
a firm forceful tone. “I must show my
dominance over all wolves except for my parents and you’re in a strange
position. It’s a balance between my
wolves need to show dominance and my need to protect and cherish you.”
“What you are saying is when you give me a command, I
should obey you? Even if I don’t want
to?” said Sophia with a twinkle in
her eye.
“Yes, when we are in front of others. Always when
there is danger,” said Anthony
firmly, then his tone changed as he said huskily, “When it is just the two of us, then we will talk about it. I’m sure you will be able to think of ways to
get me to change my mind.” He leaned
forward and growled low in her ear.
“Anthony!! Daddy is right there watching us,” squealed Sophia as she moved back to look into his
amber eyes.
“We aren’t doing anything wrong. I’m letting my intended know she has power
over me and I will do anything to make her happy,” stated Anthony.
“I already know that Aletta, I can tell by the way you
look at me,” said Sophia as she
rubbed against his side.
“Lug nut, out of all the names you could call me, you
choose Lug nut?” said Anthony as he
started to laugh.
“Ooh look, Maria is walking up to Alberto,” said Sophia as she turned to stand by Anthony’s
side. “Where did the Millers go? The
only ones here are Kelly, Aislin, Nana Ellen and Papa Mike and the younger
girls.”
“They probably went to change. Damn, look at the two of them, their size difference
is even more obvious now,” said
Anthony as he started to laugh. He
looked over at the Clan and saw their heads thrown back and a chortling sound
coming from them.
Maria was walking across the
clearing after her Mom and Dad checked her arm/front leg to make sure there
wasn’t any swelling or pain. Alberto met
her halfway and leaned down to scent her neck, his neck horizontal to the ground. He walked around her to transfer his scent,
but their size difference prevented him being satisfied with the result. Huffing he sat down so she could rub against
him and once he was satisfied she carried his scent he stood back up and
towered over her. He bent his head to
scent her neck and instead knocked her over, much to her brothers and cousins
delight. “I’m sorry Gattina, I forget sometimes how big I am,” said Alberto.
Maria got up and hit his
shoulder with her head trying to knock him over, Alberto didn’t budge but Maria
was once again knocked over. Embarrassed
she sat down and hung her head whimpering quietly as Alberto walked over and
lay next to her so she could lean against him and look down on him.
The Millers entered the
clearing and Vin and Dom ambled over to meet their mates. Both of the silver grey wolves’ heads came to
their shoulders as they leaned in to scent their necks and then rubbed along
their sides to transfer their scents.
When they were satisfied they playfully nudged their mates.
Brianna tilted her head and
ran her muzzle along Vincent’s causing him to growl low in his throat. Morgan seeing what her twin had done looked
at Dominic before shyly lowering her head, he lay next to her letting her set
the pace and she slowly ran her muzzle along his causing him to growl and sit
up startling Morgan.
Brianna leaned in as if to
scent Vin’s neck and instead nipped his ear and took off running across the
clearing. While Dom was distracted,
Morgan did the same taking off in the opposite direction. Both boys looked at each other before taking
off after their mates, enjoying the chase.
“Okay everyone, its time for the Pack run. Damian and Papa Mike will stay with Maria and
the younger Millers. Alberto are you
going on the run or staying with Maria?”
asked Joe.
“I’ll go on the first part of the run then I’ll come
back and stay with Maria,” said
Alberto. As Maria got up he noticed she
was favoring her front paw, he looked down and noticed it was slightly
swollen. “Shit. Mr. JC, can you come here
and look at Maria’s leg, it looks swollen.”
“It’s fine Daddy, just sore,” Maria insisted.
Joe and Annie came over and Annie said, “I think Doc should look at it, it’s swollen and you’re having problems
putting weight on it. I don’t think you
should walk to the cabin either.”
“I’ll get her clothes and Mom’s,” said Lorenzo and after receiving a nod from his
father he took off for the cabin. Once
inside he shifted, dressed and gathered the clothes he needed. He told Doc about the injury before running
back to the clearing. Nana Ellen, Papa
Mike and the younger Miller girls held up the fabric for Maria and her mother
to shift.
Once she shifted back, the
injury to her arm was obvious; it was already starting to bruise and was
swollen. “Why didn’t you say something
Gattina?” asked Alberto.
“I was having fun and it was
only a little sore. I didn’t want
everybody to worry,” answered Maria.
Annie said, “Joe you stay
with Victor for his first run; Damian, Alberto and I will see to Maria. I’m pretty sure Doc is going to reapply the
cast.”
Joe came up to his mate and
rubbed against her legs saying to her, “Okay,
but after the kids are settled, you and I are going for a stroll.”
She looked at him and raised
her eyebrow saying, “I’m older and wiser
now Giuseppe, I’m not going to fall for that line like I did when I was 18…Let’s
go for a stroll so we can talk…and I fell right into your nefarious plans, my
two minute man.”
Joe threw his head back
growling loudly as he remembered that night, two days after her 18th
birthday. He wasn’t planning on mating
with her that evening but when she ran saying, “You can’t catch me…,” his wolf
would not be denied any longer. When he
caught her they started kissing and couldn’t get enough of each other as their
hands caressed places that were forbidden days earlier. In her haste to feel his chest she tore the
buttons off his shirt and in less then a minute he had her undressed and two
minutes later his claiming howl as he climaxed deep inside her reverberated
throughout the valley. He had proven
over and over in the following weeks that he could last more then two minutes,
but she still teased him about the first time.
“I’ll show you what I can do in
two minutes my love,” Joe said huskily.
“Go and run with our youngest son. If you’re a good boy maybe I’ll take that
stroll with you,” said Annie as she
scratched behind his ears. “But no howling, it would mortify our
youngsters.”
The families walked back to
the large clearing where the rest of the wolves were waiting to start the
run. As soon as they saw the newest
wolves, welcoming yips were heard and the Alpha’s scented them before going
down the widest trail with the newest shifters in the back closely monitored by
their parents.
Doc Sullivan motioned for Maria
and Annie to join him and his wife in the Medical Cabin while Alberto and
Damian shifted and dressed. As soon as
Damian joined them, the Millers went to the bonfire and were introduced to
everyone they hadn’t met by Damian who surprisingly was on his best
behavior. He knew Vin and Dom would be
mad if he teased the Miller girls so he played the role of big brother,
watching over them. Almost an hour
later, Maria, Annie and Alberto joined them with Maria’s arm once again in a
cast.
The Pack ran through the
woods for an hour before heading back to the clearing. The second part of the run would continue
after a twenty minute break allowing the security details to change shifts and
parents to check on their young ones.
Sophia, Kelly and Aislin decided to stay at the bonfire because they
were tired and Frank made sure Damian, Nana Ellen and Papa Mike were aware they
were staying.
Anthony was torn between his
desire to stay with Sophia and his wolf’s need to hunt and run with the
Pack. Maria after talking with Sophia
made the decision for him asking, “Anthony, could you please take Alberto on
the run. He missed the first part and I
know he wanted to go.” Looking at his
intended and seeing her nod, he agreed.
Over an hour and a half later
the successful hunting party returned, dragging three deer behind them. The deer would be cooked slowly in the coals
of the bonfire during the night and would be part of the breakfast feast.
It was after midnight and the
bonfire was still going strong, the older ones were sitting around talking and
the younger Millers went to the cabin with Nana Ellen to sleep. There was a chill in the air and Vin and Dom
gave Brianna and Morgan their football hoodies to wear and Sophia and Maria got
up to get sweatshirts out of their cabin for the rest of the girls.
Laughter broke out across the
clearing as Maria stepped out of the cabin.
She had put on Alberto’s sweatshirt and it came down to her knees and
the sleeves were so long they completely covered her hands. Sophia’s was a little better, Anthony’s
sweatshirt came to mid-thigh and the sleeves were at the end of her
fingers.
They passed out old
sweatshirts to the girls and as Maria was handing one to Gabby, Sal shook his
head at her and took his hoodie off and gave it to her. “It’s already warm,” he said and winked at
her causing Gabby to blush.
“Marking your territory?” asked Anthony opening the bond to include the
boys.
“Fuck no, she looked cold and mine was already warm,” said Sal with a smirk as he leaned back on his elbows
and felt an odd sense of satisfaction at seeing ‘Carlucci’ emblazoned on the
back of the sweatshirt Gabby was wearing.
Seeing the look on his face
Victor said, “I think it’s seeing her in
your sweatshirt and knowing she carries your scent.”
“Nah, just being a gentleman like we were taught. Talking about marking your territory, do you
see where your names are on our sisters?” said Sal. The boys looked at
Sophia and Maria and started laughing.
‘Moretti’ was written right across the bottom of Maria’s backside and
‘Rossi’ was written in the middle of Sophia’s.
“I like that, its perfect,” said Alberto. “Anybody checking out Maria will see she is
mine instantly.” “Same here,” said
Anthony leaning over to fist pump Alberto.
Sensing movement behind them,
the boys noticed Annie and Rose exiting their cabin in their wolf form then
trotting over to Frank and Joe rubbing against their legs before running into
the woods. Frank and Joe looked at each
other with astonishment on their faces for several moments before throwing
their beers on the ground and racing to the cabin. In less then a minute two large chocolate
wolves raced out of the cabin, stopping at the edge of the woods and howled
loudly before racing after their mates.
The boys looked at each other
before breaking out in laughter. “Okay, that was embarrassing,” said Gino
with a smile on his face. “What was in Moms mouth?”
“Her hat, and I don’t even want to think about what
they are doing with it,” said Marcus
as the boys dissolved in laughter, the girls looked at them and Kelly said,
“What’s so funny?”
“We were talking about
football,” said Damian smoothly. “Since
there aren’t any young ones around to impress you with our nurturing abilities
we reverted back to our Neanderthal ways and are talking about sports, next we
are going to start fighting.”
As everyone started laughing,
Gabby said, “I told you earlier you were full of crap Damian and you haven’t
changed my opinion.” He lunged towards
her and she giggled as she fell against Sal who took the opportunity to scent
her neck. His wolf sat up with a puzzled
look before lying back down, his head tilted to the side.
“Did you just scent Gabby?” asked Michael as the boys turned to look at Sal as
the girls continued to talk about dance class and the Winter Festival.
“Not on purpose, she fell against me,” said Sal with a smile on his face. “But
damn she smells really good, like coconut cream pie and its making me hungry.” This caused all the boys except for Angelo
and Alberto to start laughing again.
“Damn it, you’re only 15 and I can’t beat the shit out
of you…yet,” growled Angelo which
caused the boys to laugh even harder.
The boys listened to the girls’ conversation for several minutes before
they heard a howl followed by another a minute later. They glanced at each other and grinned but
didn’t say anything; they knew what those particular howls meant and who made
them.
“Oh my, I hope they are okay,
they sounded like they were in pain,” said Aislin and the boys started laughing;
the girls looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
“Uhmm, how do I say this
delicately…they aren’t in pain…they are really having a good time,” said Damian
with a wicked grin. “And they reached
a….ugh…”
“Satisfying conclusion,”
Lorenzo added helpfully with a smirk on his face.
“You mean they…out there…Oh
my…” said Erin as a blush came over her face.
“Oh my indeed,” Damian said
laughing. The girls looked at each other
as they blushed, then one by one they started laughing as hard as the
boys. They had just stopped laughing
when two large chocolate wolves and two small light grey and white wolves came
out of the woods.
“That was your parents????”
whispered Caitlin.
“Yep, embarrassing isn’t it?”
whispered Lorenzo with another smirk.
Everyone was silent as the
two sets of wolves walked across the clearing.
As the boys saw Rose’s hat in Franks mouth they struggled not to laugh
and the girls were fascinated with the night sky as the Carlucci parents passed
them. Once they were inside the cabin
the youngsters started laughing so hard they were gasping for breath.
Minutes later Frank and Joe
exited the cabin and strolled over to the youngsters who were smiling and
laughing quietly. Joe said, “I see
everybody is having a good time.”
Damian looked up with an
innocent expression on his face and said, “Some more then others Dad and Uncle
Frank.”
At his remark the youngsters
burst out laughing again and Gabby said, “Stop… I’m gonna pee my pants…” which
caused them to laugh even harder.
Frank and Joe looked at each
other with bewildered expressions as Damian waved his hand saying, “Go just
go.” Shrugging their shoulders the two
men walked towards the Pavilion area where the Poker game was being set
up.
Joe looked at his brother and
said, “What the fuck was that about?”
Frank shook his head and said, “I have no idea, he’s your son. I told you not to let him watch Barney, it warped his mind.”
“But he looked so cute
walking around with that stuffed…” Joe stopped walking suddenly and said, “Do
you think they heard us?”
Frank started laughing and
said, “With that loud ass howl of yours, probably. Now it’s starting to make sense.”
“Me? You were just as loud, big brother,” Joe
answered with a not so gentle punch on his arm.
“Only because my wolf was
competitive, to show he lasted longer,” said Frank as the two of them grinned
at each other. Standing outside of the
pavilion, they weren’t the owners of one of the largest construction companies
in Maryland with the welfare of hundreds of men and women dependent on them,
they weren’t in charge of Pack security, didn’t have the responsibilities of
mates and youngsters, they were just two brothers sharing a joke.
An hour later, Gina, Rose,
Annie, Rita and Holly were walking from the Rossi’s cabin after spending time
talking and getting to know each other.
When they got to the bonfire Annie quietly said, “Don’t wake them up;
let me get the camera.”
The girls were asleep under
blankets curled around each other and the boys were asleep around them
enclosing them in a protective circle.
The mothers looked at each
other and smiled. Annie returned with
the camera and took several pictures and said, “Should we wake them up or leave
them here?”
“Well, I’m not ready to go to
sleep yet,” said Gina. “We’ll finish our
wine sitting in the chairs on the other side of the bonfire.”
“Your sons met my daughters
tonight and I can’t believe how protective they are of them already,” said
Holly as she glanced at the youngsters.
“I know other Packs think
we’re paranoid and too protective but if we relaxed and something happened, the
men would never forgive themselves,” said Gina.
“You notice how the boys are surrounding the girls? I pity whoever tries to get by them. They may be young, but they’re trained to
protect first, ask questions later.”
“Don’t let the girls fool you
either. Every one of them has taken self
defense and full combat classes since they were 6. I’ve seen Sophia and Maria work together to
flip Vin on his ass and pin him,” said Rose with a smile.
“Co-ed training is always a
highlight and the gym is packed with spectators. They train separately, but every two months
Frank and Joe bring the groups together so the girls can train against the
boys. They are extremely serious about
it, none of the boys want to get their ass whipped by the girls and the girls
are out for blood, literally,” said Annie.
“Last time, little Jackie
Costello flipped her brother so hard she almost broke his arm and had to be
pulled off of him, kicking and screaming for him to get up and fight like a
man,” said Rose as she started laughing.
“Isn’t she six years old?”
asked Holly with a look of astonishment on her face.
“Yes, and we’re not talking
about her twin either, this was Reggie, her ten year old brother. My favorite part is when the girls team up
against the boys. Frank and Joe teach
them how to fight by themselves, in pairs, in groups, same ages and different
ages. They want them to realize they
have to be smart about when to fight and how to fight effectively. As they are taught…timing is everything,”
said Gina.
“Last month, Sophia, Maria,
Mary Benedetto, Emily Reeder and Toni Costello brought down Carmelo using
teamwork. My favorite move was when Toni
snuck up behind him and got on all fours behind his knees and Mary and Emily
swung Sophia and Maria in a power kick right into his abdomen and he fell over
Toni,” laughed Rita. “He was sore for
days afterwards but of course he wouldn’t admit it.”
“My girls weren’t taught anything
but basic skills and then five years ago even that stopped,” said Holly. “Todd used to take our girls and my nieces
out into the woods and teach them though, but we kept it hidden from
everybody.”
“I don’t want to be nosy, but
what exactly happened in your old Pack.
Carlo, Frank and Joe have hinted at things but that’s all we know,” said
Rose quietly as she reached out and held Holly’s hand.
Holly took a deep breath and
proceeded to tell of the events of the last five years, going into detail that the
men hadn’t been privy to yet. At first
she was hesitant but the longer she talked the better she felt at getting the
details out, to share her pain and feelings of helplessness with the other
women. When she finished talking almost
3 hours later, all the women were holding hands and crying quietly. No one spoke; they just sat there, five
women, more importantly five mothers knowing they would do anything and face
anything to protect their children. If
other Packs were afraid of fighting their men, they had no idea of the fury
they would face when they went against the women.
At 4 AM the final table was
set and there were six players left, Frank, Joe, Carlo, Aldo, Fred Dawson and
Thomas Bellucci. Vinnie called a fifteen
minute break; after a quick check with their mates, they grabbed a beer and got
up to stretch their legs.
“Hey Barry, did you know Todd
and Papa Mike are Cowboys fans?” asked Frank.
Barry looked at Todd and
said, “Weren’t sure if you like the ‘Boys or that other team in Texas
Todd and Papa Mike rolled
their shirt sleeves displaying identical tattoos. Todd started laughing and said, “When I met
your young ones earlier, I figured you were a ‘Boys fan. Dad and I kept going over the names in our head
before we realized why they were familiar.”
The talk revolved around sports
for the rest of the break time until Vinnie called for everyone to return to
the table. Play continued hard and heavy
for the next two hours, Aldo was the first knocked out followed by Tom Bellucci
then Carlo was knocked out by Fred’s three Sevens beating his pair of Aces.
Matt and Phil were watching
the players and being tutored on the sidelines by Carmelo. They had been watching tournaments on TV for
the last two years since they joined the Pack but didn’t feel confident enough
to join any of the tournaments yet.
Carmelo sensing their lack of confidence suggested they get together to
play with chips to give them some practice time. They both readily agreed and Carmelo said he
would arrange it.
After another hour, Frank was
knocked out by Joe getting a flush on the river card. Vinnie suggested another break before the
showdown started. Joe got up and drank
the orange juice Carlo had waiting for him and he and Frank walked Joe away
from the assembled men to talk to him quietly.
Matt asked Carmelo, “How much
money do they have in front of them?”
Carmelo quickly counted out
the chips in his head and said, “I think Joe has about $30,000 and Fred about
$22,000, give or take a couple thousand.
Things are going to get serious now, don’t forget it’s a Winner Takes it
All tournament, second place gets nothing.
When they come back Vinnie will ask for quiet.”
When play resumed, the hands
went quick, both men winning and losing until their chip stacks were almost
equal, with Joe’s being slightly bigger.
On the tenth hand dealt, Joe had a King/Ace and Fred had a Jack/King.
The flop was a Seven, Ten and
a King. Fred bet $3,000 and Joe stared
at Fred for several moments before he matched.
The turn was a Four. Fred bet $5,000 and Joe again stared at Fred
and matched but didn’t raise even though he was tempted to.
The river was a King. Fred bet $7,000 and Joe sat staring at the
cards then Fred for several moments and then said quietly, “All in.” A collective gasp was heard from the spectators
as Fred sat and stared at Joe. Several
minutes went by, Fred playing with the chips in front of him and continued to
stare at Joe. Finally he pushed his pile
of chips to the center of the table as he said, “Call.”
Both men flipped their cards
at the same time, Joe saw his Kicker was higher and let out a huge sigh and
closed his eyes. He reached across the
table and shook Fred’s hand and sat back in his chair. He continued to sit as he wasn’t sure his
legs would be able to hold him but Frank reached down and pulled him to his
feet engulfing him in a massive hug.
Frank pulled back and looked into his brothers eyes and said, “I knew
you could do it,” before hugging him again.
As soon as Frank released him Carlo hugged him and said, “New York
Vinnie got everyone’s
attention as he started to pass out celebratory drinks, “Due to the hour we
finished, Mitchell and I figured a Limoncello Sunrise would be a perfect drink. As is customary, the winner of our tournament
will give the toast.”
Joe stood tall with Frank on
one side and Carlo on the other and said, “I would like to thank everyone who
donated their money to me and I’m sure Annie won’t have a hard time figuring
how to spend it.” As the men started
laughing he continued, “Actually, Annie, Rose and Gina had it spent before I
won it. You will also share in the
winnings by not having to put up with us for a week while the six of us take a
vacation to New York
Joel hollered, “If that’s
what it takes to get rid of the three of you for a week, we’ll start a
collection every month.” The men laughed
as Frank and Carlo grinned.
Jerry added, “Giving you $500
for a week of peace and quiet is well worth the money.” Hoots and hollers accompanied his statement
as Frank, Joe and Carlo looked at each other before breaking out in laughter.
Joe lifted his glass high and
said, “Puo la vita essere pieni di gioia e di amore. I nostri bambini possono essere sicuro e
spero che in dieci anni di essere circondato da nipoti piu bella come me. Salute.”
As most of the men started laughing he raised his hand.
“For those who don’t
understand Italian and especially my poor Italian, loosely translated, it
means… May our lives be filled with joy and love. May our children be safe and I hope in ten
years to be surrounded by grandchildren as good looking as I am. Salute.”
The men stood and raised their glasses and answered, “Salute.”
After several more drinks,
the men went in search of their families.
As they approached the glowing embers of the bonfire, they found the
women asleep still holding hands. They
glanced over and saw their youngsters and started to laugh which woke the
women. Motioning for the women to keep
quiet, Carlo pointed at the youngsters and Annie reached into her pocket and
took several pictures of a sleeping Alberto with his head on Anthony’s
chest.
Carlo said, “Leave ‘em
be. Mitchell’s crew should have the
buffet set up soon.” The men settled on
the ground near their mates and told them the results of the Poker tournament,
the women talking excitedly as Carlo’s phone rang.
Glancing around at the men,
he answered and put it on speaker, “Rossi here.”
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