As the women walked into the
kitchen still holding hands, they felt the eyes of their mates fall upon
them. Each man had glanced at their
mate and smiled as they walked into the room, then scowled as they saw they had
been crying.
“What’s wrong?” “Are you
hurt?” “What happened” flew across the room at them, who had said what
statement was lost as they talked at once.
The men immediately came to their mates and pulled them into their broad
chests, scenting their necks and hair to ascertain they were indeed
alright.
“Carlo, we are fine,” said
Gina. “Talking about the mating pull and
seeing how grown up the girls had become brought up memories of Angelica. We were talking about her and sharing my
memories.”
Carlo pulled her into his
chest even tighter and said, “I love you so much my dear mate and I’m glad you
were able to share your memories with your two closest friends. I think of our darling Angelica often too,
maybe we could talk about her together, you’ve never been able to before. I would like that my love.”
Anthony walked over to his
parents and hugged them both, “I’d like that also mom. I was too young to understand what happened,
but if you are ready to talk, I’d like to be included.”
Gina looked at both men in
her life; their faces looked so much alike that except for the difference in
age, they could have been twins. Carlo
was still taller and broader then Anthony, being 6’6” to Anthony’s 6’3”, but
Anthony was only 17 and not done growing yet, when he reached his full height
and weight thought Gina, he would be even bigger then Carlo.
“I would like that,” said
Gina quietly, “maybe it is time for the three of us to talk of her. Right now though is the time for other things. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Just then Anthony turned
towards the hallway and lifted his nose and scented the air, “Sophia,” he said
softly, but everyone heard him.
“Oh, he has it bad,” joked Damian.
Anthony waited at the doorway
for Sophia and Maria to come into the kitchen.
He held his hand out to her and waited for her to come to him, and then
he gently pulled Sophia into his side and scented her neck and hair. After he reassured himself that she was fine
after their separation, they walked towards the furthest bench in the kitchen
so they could talk quietly. He got her
settled comfortably before he sat down next to her and put his arm around her
shoulder leaning in to whisper in her ear and scent her neck and hair
again.
“The first thing I need to do
is apologize for acting like a pompous ass, excuse me for cussing, but that’s
exactly what I was,” said Anthony with true remorse in his voice. “I was going to declare myself after I spoke
with my parents, and Mr. and Mrs. C and of course you, Sophia. But when Scott held your hand, I couldn’t
help myself; I’ve never felt like that before, and again, I want to apologize
if I scared you. I never want you to be
scared of me; I would never hurt you or cause you any pain. Please believe me Sophia.”
Sophia pulled away from
Anthony gently and looked into his deep brown eyes and said, “I know you would
never hurt me Anthony. You didn’t scare
me, in fact I thought it was kinda cute, and Maria thought it was hot.”
All of the people assembled
in the kitchen were eavesdropping though they were trying to be subtle about
it. When Anthony had called himself a
pompous ass, there were numerous chuckles, but when Sophia made the statement
about Maria, all eyes shifted to Maria and she said, “What? It is hot, scorching
hot.” Which brought out numerous eye
rolls from her brothers and cousins and from her father, “Young lady, we’ll
have a talk later.”
The men were hungry again
even though they had finished all the leftovers from the party. Rose, Annie and Gina proceeded to get bread
and lunch meat and the needed condiments out of the fridge and set up an
assembly line to make sandwiches for them as the men talked about the upcoming
football season at South Mountain High, all the while still trying to eavesdrop
on Anthony and Sophia.
Anthony asked Sophia if she
was hungry and if she wanted him to get her a sandwich, she shook her head no.
“When did you discover I was
your mate?” Sophia asked quietly.
“As I held you when we fell
into the pool, to protect you I had my arms around you and my nose buried in
your neck. One scent of you and I knew
you would be mine forever. I didn’t want
to let you out of my arms, all I wanted was to keep holding you forever, but I
knew I couldn’t,” replied Anthony just as quietly, though with the exceptional
Were hearing everyone had, they heard every word.
The adults looked at each
other and smiled, Maria sighed and most of the boys rolled their eyes and some
made gagging noises.
“Your dad gave me permission
to start driving you to practice in the mornings and then to school. My dad is going to buy me a new truck
tomorrow so we can all fit, since it will be me, you and two of your brothers,
and I should be getting it Monday afternoon.
What’s your favorite color? Or
maybe I should get emerald green to match your eyes,” teased Anthony.
“My favorite color is pink,
specifically pink with white polka dots,” answered Sophia with a giggle.
“Babe, I’d do almost anything
to make you happy, but I’m not riding around in a pink truck with white polka
dots. I’ll see if I can get a black one
with gray interior, that way you can put some accessories on your side and it’ll
match. Is that okay?” replied
Anthony. Sophia nodded her head and
giggled quietly.
Anthony and Sophia sat quietly
as he continued to hold her close to him as he scented her neck while Sophia
continued to giggle. He simply could not
get enough of his intended mates smell, it was intoxicating to him.
“Your son is smooth, really
smooth Carlo. I know he didn’t learn that
from you, so it must come from Gina’s side of the family,” said Joe with a
laugh.
“I’ve got moves you haven’t
even thought of Joe. You need to pay
more attention and learn from the two masters apparently,” replied Carlo and
everyone laughed.
Frank looked at the clock and
saw it was almost 2 AM so he called a halt to the evening’s festivities. All three families had a lot to do the next
day; everybody was getting the kids ready for the start of football and
cheerleader practice on Monday morning.
Anthony reminded Gianni and Marcus they would be picking him up Monday
morning, and they agreed on a time.
Carlo looked at Frank and Joe
and said through the bond, “We need to
finish our earlier discussion about the Millers and the other issues that were
brought up. With Todd and Holly having
ten daughters and no other protectors, we’re going to have to figure out a
protection detail for them, plus increase security at the school. I want the two of you to come up with a list
of possible protectors for the girls, remember no unmated males. Can you both be free Wednesday afternoon
about 2 PM? I want you to contact the
head of the security at school and have all his people there so we can talk to
them and also do an on-site inspection of the new security systems that were
installed. In the meantime, I’m going to
call Todd and find out how his girls were protected in their current pack.”
Both men looked at their
Alpha and replied, “Yes Alpha, it will be
done.”
“I remembered that I won’t be
able to see you tomorrow since I have to work, but I’ll call you when I get
home. I got your number from Gianni and
programmed it into my cell already.
Sweet dreams, my Sophia,” said Anthony at the front door, as he held her
to his side and scented her neck and hair one last time before he left.
On the way home, Carlo said
to his son, “You know what you have to do Monday morning, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir,” said Anthony. “I must apologize to Scott; he had no idea
Sophia was mine and was just flirting with her like he normally does to all the
girls.”
“Since it was done in front
of your football team, then the apology must be done in front of the football
team. Remember as the Alpha-heir, you
lead by example,” said Carlo firmly.
“Yes, Sir,” said Anthony. “I will do it as soon as we are assembled so
the matter is cleared up immediately.”
The rest of the short ride home was completed in silence, as all three
Rossi’s thought of the events that transpired that night.
As excited as Sophia was, as
soon as her and Maria got into bed, they fell asleep immediately. Sophia dreamt of Anthony and Maria was
wondering who her mate was and how soon he would find her, she hoped it would
be soon and also that it was her secret crush that Sophia didn’t even know
about.
Sunday was busy for both
Carlucci families. The men made sure the
boys had their gear for football practice and after realizing that most of them
had outgrown their equipment since last year, Frank talked to Joe and scheduled
a trip to Robertson’s Sporting Goods store.
After purchasing cleats, running shoes, shorts, t-shirts, socks and
assorted other paraphernalia the boys had to have, the men were grateful they
had good jobs. Franks bill came to
$3,200 and Joe’s came to $2,900. It was
a good day for JR, the owner of the sporting good store, who was also a Pack
member.
They met their wives and
daughters for lunch, also at a Pack member’s restaurant, then proceeded to go
grocery shopping at Rossi’s Grocery. All
Pack members supported Pack businesses whenever possible, and the Carlucci’s
believed in this, often traveling to other Packs if they couldn’t find what
they needed locally. This benefitted
them in several ways; they supported other Packs businesses and they in turn
returned the favor plus they also managed to become friendly with other
neighboring Pack members and picked up bits of gossip here and there which gave
them a better idea of what was going on in the other Packs other then what
filtered through in official channels.
Rose referred to it as ‘shopping with a spy’.
Rose and Annie had already
gone grocery shopping for their families’ weekly needs. This trip would be for lunches and snacks for
the boys and the girls during practice.
It was decided between Rose and Annie that with all twelve boys attending
football practice and the two girls attending cheerleader practice, that it
would be easier for them to take turns every other week making lunch, just like
they switch off working at the Construction office and bringing in lunch to
whomever is working.
Frank, Joe and the boys
couldn’t understand why Sophia was so dressed up to go grocery shopping, but
the women knew. They understood Sophia
was hoping to see Anthony while he was working.
Rose looked at her daughter and thought she looked adorable, she was
dressed in white shorts and had a pink with white polka dot shirt with a white
tank underneath and had KEDS with pink and silver shoelaces. Her long curly black hair was held back with
a simple pink headband and her jewelry consisted of small platinum hoop
earrings and several pink Swarovski beaded bracelets, all purchased from a Pack
jewelry store in the territory next to theirs.
As they entered Rossi’s
Grocery, Rose noticed Sophia was distracted and she told her quietly, “Let him
come to you, he is at work and you don’t want to get him into trouble, do
you?” Sophia shook her head no, and
proceeded to follow her mother and Aunt Annie who both grabbed carts to gather
the week’s groceries for the youngsters.
They first went to the drink
aisle and loaded one cart with Gatorade and water then topped that cart off
with twenty loaves of bread. Rose
figured she would need at least four loaves of bread for sandwiches every day. They then went to the baking aisle to pick
out cake and brownie mixes for snacks, as she figured she would bake at least
two cakes and one tray of brownies per day for snacks. Suddenly, there was a loud commotion at the
end of the aisle and all of the Carlucci’s started smiling as they scented who
was coming around the corner.
“Anthony” “Sophia” both said
at the same time. Anthony came running
down the aisle and skidded to a stop in front of Sophia, and he pulled her into
his side and scented her neck and hair.
“I didn’t know you were
coming into the store today, but I’m glad you did, I won’t be able to call you
tonight like I promised, I forgot I have some training classes this evening
when I get off work, and they won’t end until after 10 and by the time I get
home it’ll be too late to call you, but we’ll still ride to practice together
in the morning and you can sit next to me during the mandatory policy meeting
and then we can have lunch together and your dad invited me over for dinner
tomorrow so I’ll come to your house right after practice, so I’ll take a shower
at school and clean up before I come over and Dad and I already picked out my
new truck at Vinnie’s before I came into work and it’s a beauty, black with
grey interior just like I promised so if you put some pink stuff in there it’ll
match, he’s picking it up tomorrow and then dropping it off at practice so I’ll
have it with me and maybe after dinner we could go for a ride, you, Gianni and
Marcus and I can go to Fred’s and get some ice cream, or we could go to the
auto parts store and you can pick out some pink stuff you’d like to put into
the truck or we could go to the mall and you could do some shopping, and I’ll
even hold your pocketbook if you want, then maybe if we aren’t too tired we
could watch a movie, or do whatever you want,” rambled Anthony in a rush.
“I hope when I meet my mate,
I don’t start acting like a simpleton,” said Dominic.
“Who would have known that
Ant, our cool calm collected friend would turn into a raging moron?” said
Gianni with a laugh. “Did anybody even
understand that? Did he even take a
breath during all that?”
Sophia looked at Anthony,
this was the longest conversation they had ever had and she hadn’t even said a
word yet. “That sounds wonderful
Anthony, but tomorrow is Monday, Maria and I have dance class every Monday from
6 PM to 8 PM. I would like it if you
could go with us though, the boys generally sit in the observation room and
watch us, and then maybe we could go to Fred’s afterwards.”
“Dance class? Where the hell is this class, who is in it?
What do you wear to this class? What do
you mean the boys sit and watch you?
What boys? Is Scott going to be there?” asked Anthony with jealousy
raging in his voice, he stepped back from Sophia to look into her face with his
hands clenched tightly at his sides at the thought of Scott being near his
mate.
“The boy was doing so well
and then he just blew it,” said Joe to Frank in a whisper that was heard by
all.
“Anthony, I’ve had dance
classes since I was three years old. I
am NOT going to stop my classes just because you are my intended mate. As far as clothes go, I wear a black leotard
with pink tights and a pink tulle overskirt.
Yes, there will be boys there, there have to be boys there since the
dance class is made of underage females just like Maria and I. Yes, Scott will be there, his younger sister
is in the class. Any other questions, you
jealous ass?” said Sophia belligerently with her hands on her hips. “If you can’t accept the fact I have other
things in my life beside you, and try to remember you only came into my life
yesterday, then you better start praying to Luna to find you a new mate,
because this one isn’t going to put up with your attitude. Come on Maria, let’s go, I need to get away
from this overbearing Jackass!” She
grabbed Maria’s hand and both girls flounced off down the aisle, with Paulo and
Michael following them.
“Jealous much?” asked Vincent
while he tried to hold in his laughter and failing miserably.
“Damn Ant, you’ve been mated
for less then a day and you’ve already had an argument with your intended. I wonder if that’s a record,” said Sal
laughing.
“What have I done? Why can’t I control my temper when I think of
other boys around her? One day, one day and
all I’ve done is show her is that I’m an idiot who can’t complete a sentence
and what an overwhelming jealous jackass I am.
And we have three years of this to go through? I’ll drive us both insane by that time,”
Anthony said forlornly as he slumped down against the metal shelving holding
his head in his hands.
Rose looked at Frank and said
through their bond, “While you take care
of this, Annie and I will finish up with our shopping. Anthony doesn’t need us, he needs you right
now.” Frank nodded his agreement at
her.
Frank asked Carlo through the
bond, “Carlo, are you in the store? Your son is having a meltdown in aisle eight;
he lost it when Sophia mentioned her dance class.”
Carlo responded, “I’ll be right down, damn that didn’t take
long, did it?” On his way to his son, Carlo contacted Joe through the bond
and asked him to fill him in on what happened.
Frank walked over to Anthony
and put his hand on his shoulder. “Well
Anthony, that conversation could have gone better. Don’t you think? Remember what we said in the basement, take a
step back and a deep breath before you say or do anything. Do you think Sophia would have invited you to
her dance class if she was interested in Scott?
Maybe next time tone down the jealousy and overbearing jealous jackass
attitude a little.”
“Just think Ant, you haven’t
even watched her cheer in front of hundreds of people shaking her pom-poms,
just wait until that happens,” said Damian with a laugh.
“Damian, you’re not helping
here. If you can’t help your friend out,
I suggest you go with your mom and Aunt Rose and finish getting the groceries,”
said Frank.
Carlo came around the corner
arriving in time to hear Anthony say, “Damn it, how am I going to get through
that? Thanks Damian, now I have mental
images of hundreds of people staring at my girl and her pom-poms watching her
bounce up and down and whatever the hell it is that cheerleaders do, like I’m
not in enough misery.”
“Anytime I can help out,”
said Damian still laughing then turned serious.
“Dude, you have got to get your shit together. This is a girl you’ve
known your entire life, granted you never really paid attention to her, but
still. You know how she was raised and
what values and morals she has. Do you
honestly think she would be interested in other guys now that you are intended
mates?”
“He’s right Ant, get your
shit together. Our dads explained it to
us last night, you know how possessive you are going to be, but you’ve got to
remember to stop and think before you act.
Acting like a gigantic ass is not going to win you any points with
Sophia,” said Enzo who had moved to sit on the floor near Anthony.
“Scott has been a friend of
ours almost since we were born Ant. Once he becomes aware of the fact you are
mates, do you honestly think he would try something with Sophia? He knows once mates are chosen, they are
mates for life and nothing can break the bond, except death,” said Marcus who
also moved closer to Anthony.
“I know, but she’s mine. I don’t want anybody else looking at her or
being around her,” said Anthony and then a hopeful look came into his eyes.
“Maybe I can convince her to quit cheerleading and dance class.”
“That’s bullshit and you know
it Anthony,” said Vincent forcefully.
“She has worked hard for years at dance and to make the cheerleading
squad and is proud of herself because of it.
And you want her to give it all up just to make you feel better? Do you think that would make Sophia happy to
sit at home while all her friends and family are out enjoying themselves? I don’t think so, it would make Sophia
miserable and you know it.”
“Would you give up football,
basketball or baseball if Sophia asked you?
Don’t forget she will be sitting in the stands watching other girls look
at you and talk about you. Now
personally I don’t see your appeal, compared to me you’re nothing special,” said
Gianni with a smile.
“So what you’ve got to do is
man up, get your head out of your ass, and be proud of Sophia and support
her. Trying to control her is just going
to make both of you miserable,” said Dominic. “And Dude, you’re driving us nuts with all
this whining!”
“So, what is your master plan
now, since acting like an idiot, a jealous jackass and an overbearing oaf
doesn’t seem to be working,” asked Gino with a laugh.
“I know, I know I was wrong
and I may have overreacted,” said Anthony finally looking up at the assembled
group of men.
“May have overreacted? Dude, you were off the chart insane,” said
Victor laughing.
“Was I really that bad?”
asked Anthony, and received nods that yes, he was indeed that bad. “Is Sophia okay, she’s not crying is
she? Mr. C, can you check on her
please. I tried talking to her through
the bond but she has blocked me.”
Frank looked at him and
nodded, he opened the bond to include Joe and Carlo and asked Michael since he
didn’t want to disturb Sophia, “Is Sophia
okay? I know if you needed us, you would
have called, but Anthony wanted me to check.”
“The girls are in the magazine aisle, looking at
romance books and having a discussion if the male models on the cover are
hotter then Anthony or not. Since Paulo
and I have no opinion as to Anthony’s supposed hotness we haven’t been included
in the discussion, but they are giggling, so yeah, she’s okay,” replied Michael.
“In fact, as soon as they walked
around the corner, both girls started giggling saying, ‘he’s so cute when he
gets jealous’, ‘did you see the expression on his face when I called him an
overbearing Jackass’, ‘his eyes were blazing fire he was so jealous’. So Uncle Frank, I think everything is fine
with Sophia.”
Frank replied to Anthony diplomatically,
“Sophia is fine, the girls are having a private discussion right now, but she
doesn’t seem that upset.” Joe and Carlo
turned around so Anthony couldn’t see their faces as they looked at each other
and started laughing silently. Oh, the
drama of teenage love.
“So what do I do now?”
questioned Anthony with a pleading look on his face.
“Apologizing is always a good
place to start, and flowers. Every sappy
romance movie the girls have made us watch always show the guy bringing
flowers. Sophia likes daisies, so give
her some tomorrow morning,” said Sal.
“You might want to get her a
card, though I don’t think Hallmark makes, ‘I’m sorry I’m such an overbearing
jealous jackass’ cards but you might want to look just in case,” said Damian
laughing.
“I wouldn’t call her, send
her a text. She probably won’t answer if
you call anyway,” said Victor with a shrug.
“Don’t tell her you won’t do
it again, because you know damn well you will.
Tell her you’ll try to keep your jealousy under control and you’re proud
of her and want her to keep up her activities,” suggested Lorenzo. “Maybe you could find some activities the two
of you could do together. I can picture
you in a pair of tights and a leotard.”
“Don’t forget the pink skirt
thing,” added Gianni laughing hysterically.
“Fuck you both,” said Anthony
laughing for the first time that afternoon.
Carlo, Frank and Joe stood
back letting the boys handle the situation and they seemed to be doing a really
good job. Carlo asked them, “Did either of you realize your boys were so
smart, while mine seems to have lost his mind?”
“I think they’re used to dealing with their sisters
Carlo, Anthony hasn’t been around girls like our boys have. Being around them for Pack functions and
training classes isn’t the same, plus he’s got the mating pull he has to deal
with too. We’ll have to wait and see how
our boys act when they feel the pull, they may be worse then Anthony,” said Joe to Frank and Carlo.
“Anthony, are you okay
now? Do you need to talk anymore?” asked
Carlo to his son.
“I’m fine Dad; just let some
unfounded jealousy get the better of me again.
I do need to get some flowers from the florist to give Sophia in the
morning. I’ll send her the text
now. Could you guys help me with
it? Right now, I’d probably say
something else that is stupid,” asked Anthony.
The boys huddled around Ant
and composed a text to Sophia that said “Sorry acted like an idiot again. Try
better in future. Love to take you to dance class. Forgive me?”
Sophia replied, “Maybe. See you tomorrow morning.”
Just then, Frank heard from
Rose, “We’re done shopping, checked out
and everything and all of us, including the girls are waiting by the cars. How is everything going with Anthony?”
“He’s fine, got some good advice from the boys, will
see you in a few moments, Do I want to know how much you spent?” replied Frank.
“No, it was a good thing you weren’t at the checkout,
but we ended up with four carts full of groceries. The boys eat like bottomless pits,” answered Rose.
“Alright boys, time to head
on out, the rest of the Clan is waiting by the cars. Anthony, thanks for the entertainment, we
needed a good laugh,” said Frank.
The boys said their goodbyes
using the traditional teenage fist pumps, saying they would see each other
tomorrow at football practice. Anthony
left and finished his work in the stock room and Carlo was thankful he wasn’t a
teenager again feeling the mating pull.
On the way to training
Anthony stopped by South Mountain Florist to pick up some daisies for
Sophia. Matthew and Phillip were
ecstatic to see him when he came through the door, the news of his declaration
already starting to flow through the Pack.
Anthony explained he needed a bouquet of daisies to give Sophia since
they had gotten into a slight disagreement, which made both men laugh and they
told him they would open an account for him and he could call in orders in the
future. Anthony figured with his
temperament it would be a good idea.
Matthew and Phillip were new
to the Pack, joining two years ago when their old Pack asked them to leave upon
discovering they were gay and a couple. Matthew
and Phillip both wondered where they would go and what they could do when
Matthew had a sudden thought, and made one phone call to Alpha Rossi. Alpha Rossi stated they would be welcome into
the Pack and asked only three questions, ‘Are you safe, can you get your
belongings out safely and do you need help?’ They had been welcomed into the
pack, and upon learning of Phillips floral design skill, Alpha Rossi had set up
their floral business and the Pack fully supported them, both personally and
professionally.
Monday morning went well for
Anthony for once. He gave Sophia her
bouquet of daisies as soon as he got into Gianni’s truck and she accepted them
with a smile and a giggle. He felt
content to hold her and scent her neck and hair feeling the less he said the
better, so he let her talk about cheerleading, dance class and made appropriate
noises. Meanwhile his thoughts were in
turmoil with the thought of all of those people looking at his girl when she
was cheerleading on the sidelines; maybe he could have Doc give him a valium or
something to calm him down the day of the game, but since he played right after
the Junior Varsity, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea, maybe if he stared at
Sophia ignoring everybody else it wouldn’t bother him. Yeah, that’s what he would do, stare at
Sophia, he wouldn’t mind that.
As soon as the football
players and cheerleaders were assembled for the mandatory policy meeting,
Anthony asked the Coach if he could say something quickly.
Anthony said, “I want to make
the announcement personally to everybody that Sophia and I are intended mates,
as we felt the mating pull the evening of Sophia and Sal’s birthday party. While this doesn’t excuse my behavior Scott,
I want to apologize for acting towards you the way I did. I had wanted to make my declaration after I
spoke with my parents, Sophia and her parents, but unfortunately circumstances
happened that made me turn into a raging nutcase. I hope you accept my apology and we can move
past it.”
Scott said, “Dude, all you
had to do was tell me and I would have backed off, I wouldn’t come between two
people like others would.”
After the meeting was over,
the cheerleaders came running over to Sophia, the boys couldn’t understand a
thing that was said, all they heard was giggling and squeals. They assumed they were happy, but with girls,
they couldn’t be sure.
During lunch Alpha Carlo and
Madame Gina came by and dropped off Anthony’s new truck. After practice Anthony went to the Carlucci’s
for dinner then dance class with Sophia, Gianni and Marcus. Maria showed up shortly with Lorenzo and
Damian, all five boys sat together talking quietly. Anthony was mesmerized watching Sophia
dance, he couldn’t believe how beautiful and graceful she was and he was
thankful she was his. Glancing around
the observation room, he noticed Scott watching Sophia several times, but when
Anthony would catch his eye, he would glance away. He mentioned this to the Carlucci’s through
the bond; they said they would keep an eye on the situation and for Anthony to
take a deep breath, and calm down since he didn’t want to upset Sophia again
which Anthony agreed with.
One
of their discussions centered on the start of the school year at South Mountain
High School, specifically the football team and how they would do against other
Pack teams, also the regular schools in their conference. Out of a ten-game schedule, eight were
against fellow Pack high schools in the surrounding territories in Maryland , Pennsylvania , Virginia , and West
Virginia
Each Pack high school adhered
to the curriculums put forth by the State in which they were chartered. They were regulated by the County and State
Boards of Education and the representatives were scheduled to come at the end
of the week to perform their final inspections giving the certification for the
upcoming school year. Carlo wanted to
make sure they received the ‘Triple A’ rating they had received for the last
several years. They had received new
guidelines for updates and over the summer, Carlucci Construction had updated
the kitchen and sprinkler systems. Both
had already received final approval from the building inspectors and Aldo, head
of security and maintenance had all the accompanying paperwork. Carlucci Construction also performed the
security updates that would never be seen by the County and State
representatives and Carlo wanted to check these out before the start of the
school year, since nothing was more important to him then Pack safety,
especially where the youngsters were concerned.
On Wednesday afternoon, Carlo
met Frank and Joe at The School House to meet with the security detail assigned
to the school. They looked at the
updates Triple C had done to the school and Carlo was amazed that you could not
tell looking at the building that the windows had been retro-fitted with
bullet-proof glass and all the doors were now solid steel painted to look like
wood. The windows also had steel doors
that would drop over them from a hidden recess if the alarm was sounded. They checked over the electrical, telephone,
air and water systems, all of which had been upgraded which the main operating
systems were located behind two solid steel doors with a ten-digit computerized
locking mechanism. The next thing they
checked was the safe room, which would protect the youngsters in case of an
emergency.
The safe room was located
behind the old boiler in the basement; as soon as the alarm was pulled the
boiler would swing out of the way exposing the solid steel door fronted by
brickwork. The door separated at the
mortar seams and when it was closed, you could not see where the seams started
or finished. After passing through this
doorway you were faced with a solid steel door that ran from floor to ceiling
and slid into a pocket with the access panel hidden into the brick work in the
wall which was also a ten-digit computerized locking mechanism. The safe room was actually multiple rooms; the
main rec room, a kitchen and dining area, and two sleeping quarters. The sleeping quarters also had solid steel
doors in case the outer door had been breached.
The main rec room was filled with couches, chairs, desks, tables and
several TV’s with gaming systems and there were several large shelving units
filled with games and books. Once they
verified the doors were functioning properly, the supplies were checked to make
sure there was enough food and water for all hundred sixty student plus
teachers. A note was made to increase
the amount of supplies from a two week to a three week supply, just in case.
“On the first day of school,
I want to make sure a safety drill is performed. We need to make sure every student and
teacher is in this room in less than two minutes,” stated Carlo. “We’ll keep performing the drill daily until
the time objective is reached. I’ll be
here the first week of classes to make sure the new students are getting used
to the school environment, since all of our youngsters are home schooled until
they reach high school age. Questions?”
“No Alpha, we’ll make sure
the teachers inform the students and give them proper protocols as soon as they
arrive in the classrooms Monday morning,” replied Aldo, the head of school
security.
“Have the bunk assignments
been made yet? Remember they need to be
done so when the students come into the safe room they go straight to their
assigned bunk so an accurate head count can be done. Also, remember we decided last year the
sleeping quarters would not be divided by sex.
We found separating the brothers from their sisters caused the boys
extreme stress since they could not be near their sisters to protect them if
needed. The announcement will be made
later, but Anthony has felt the mating pull for Sophia, so he will need to be
put near her and her family. I haven’t
heard of any other declarations, but with the new school year starting, we may
have more. Once that happens, we will
adjust the bunk assignments as needed and you will give out the new assignment
then. Any questions Aldo?” asked Alpha
Rossi. Aldo was furiously writing in his
notebook and shook his head no.
“Have you had any problems we
need to be made aware of, any security issues with the new updates?” Joe
asked.
“As I mentioned to you
before, we had an issue with the steel doors coming down over the windows if
the power had been turned off. We
followed your directive to re-route the power needed to a dedicated generator
and that solved the problem,” said Aldo. “The generator, like all the generators we
use, is not gas-powered, but powered by battery, and we ordered the extra
batteries as you requested Frank.”
Carlo, Frank and Joe nodded their approval.
“You currently have a staff
of ten, correct Aldo?” questioned Frank.
“We’ll need to increase your staff by at least five; the reasoning will
be explained later, but start getting some candidates ready for Joe and me to
interview. Remember only mated males, if
the candidates are unmated females, that is fine.”
“Yes sir, I have a list of
applications in my office that have passed the initial screenings, I’ll email
the files to you,” replied Aldo.
“Thanks Aldo, you and your
staff have done a good job. Are there
any issues or concerns any of you want to bring up? If not, Frank, Joe and I are going to leave,
we have other issues to discuss,” said Alpha Carlo and patted Aldo on the back and
shook hands with the rest of the security detail.
The three friends walked down
to the stadium area to watch the remaining two hours of football practice,
noting the number of other fathers already there. Nodding their hellos, they proceeded to the far
end of the bleachers to have some privacy.
“First, I want to say how
pleased I am with the updates you did at the school. Frank, it must be your paranoid personality
that makes you think of things nobody else does, and Joe it must be your
psychopathic personality that helps and encourages him. I remember my Grandfather telling me when I
took over as Alpha that the two of you would be perfect as my top security
people since you were both psychotic. I
think you have both proven him right,” said Carlo with a laugh.
“I think we will take that as
a compliment Carlo,” Frank said laughing at his friend. “I’m glad you approve of all the updates that
were done. I wanted to ask if we could
list the update project with before and after pictures on our website. Paulo can add them if it is okay with you.”
“Go right ahead, you should
be proud of your work. Damn, did you see
the hit Anthony just plowed Scott with?
I thought they got that little business straightened out,” said Carlo.
“According to our boys,
Anthony apologized in front of the youngsters and Scott accepted, but our boys
think there is more going on with Scott.
Anthony noticed him looking at Sophia at dance class, and mentioned it
to the boys, they have also noticed Scott is being a bit more attentive to
Sophia then he should be,” said Joe.
“Vincent said if it continues he would have a talk with him, as the
oldest boy. He wants Anthony to stay
away from Scott as much as possible, especially in front of Sophia.”
“Good idea, I know Anthony could
take care of the issue, but having Vincent talk to Scott lets him know the Clan
is also keeping an eye on the situation.
Plus, with my sons hot temper lately, he doesn’t need Sophia mad at him
again, though I’m not sure if she was mad or not,” Carlo said as all three men
laughed.
“Now on to the Millers, have
you come up with suitable protectors for their girls? You may want to include paired mates that
either haven’t had children yet, or ones whose children are already grown. I still cannot believe they have ten
daughters. I don’t know how you do it
with your large families. I only have
one son, and he has apparently lost his mind.
Did I tell you after you left the store on Sunday he went back to the
stock room and unpacked five boxes of diapers and put them in the freezer unit? Then he unpacked cartons of canned vegetables
and put them on the shelves in the refrigeration unit? I ended up having one of the stock boys
follow him around and basically undo everything he had done,” said Carlo looking
at Frank and Joe as all three broke out into laughter.
“Anyway, back to the
Millers. I talked with Todd and he said
his daughters had no protection other than each other. They have an
old-fashioned Pack apparently, though the land is split up into different
registered owners, they still live in one house, so there was never an issue
except when they left Pack land, which they hardly did since they didn’t have
enough men available for protection. The
youngsters also didn’t attend an outside high school; their local Board of
Education approved home schooling for the youngsters. So, the girls will really be subject to a lot
of changes when they relocate here,” said Carlo.
“Apparently the situation is
even worse then what was said at the meeting.
Todd made sure when we spoke he was on a public phone away from his
Pack, he is worried about the safety of the Pack as the Alpha is aging and
there is no firm Heir Apparent. He said
in the last few months a new family has moved in from a neighboring pack and he
doesn’t feel comfortable with some of the comments they have made or the
behavior that has been exhibited.
Apparently it is a large family with six sons and he said the sons have
gone over the line in words and actions.
But nothing they could be penalized by, just suggestive behaviors,” said
Carlo with a shake of his head.
“He wants his family out, and
he wants them out quickly. Instead of
bringing them out for the Full Moon Ceremony as visitors, they are going to be
moving here that weekend, whether we are ready for them or not, but I know this
Pack and know we will be ready for them,” said Carlo with conviction.
“What can we do to help
him? I don’t even know the Millers, but
as the father of a young lady, I can certainly appreciate his concern,” said
Joe.
“Would you be able to go to
the old Damiani home and take pictures of it?
I’ll email them to him as soon as I get them, along with the specs of
the house and land; I think it’s around a hundred acres. I think the house would be perfect for the
Millers, though it may not have enough bedrooms, I believe it only has six, but
it may be perfect for them while they either build a new one or find another
house in the area. The good thing is, it’s in move-in condition with all the
security upgrades, remember the Pack bought it when the Damiani’s moved into
their condo two months ago. Plus, its
right between your two homes, having twelve boys around will either make Todd
feel better or terrify him,” said Carlo laughing while Joe and Frank joined in.
Finished with their
conversation, they sat and watched the boys practice and discussed the upcoming
football season as fathers do nationwide every year. The pride was evident on their faces as they
watched their sons enjoy the bonding experience that could only come from
tackling your best friend to the ground and pounding them into the dirt, then
trash talking to each other like only teenage boys can. Damn, they missed playing football.
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