I would like to thank hcsd1719 for his help in editing
and offering encouragement, Spiridon for helping me with the Greek translation
and mythology and Tammy for keeping me from going off the rails. Again, there are no actual sex scenes, since
the main characters are underage. All italics indicate communication through
the mental bond.
The complete list of Pack members is on the blog, but
if anyone would like an excel spreadsheet of the ‘cheat sheet’ of Pack members,
please send me an email and I would be happy to provide one for you. I would
like to thank mrtdust1 for his invaluable help in putting the cheat sheet on an
excel spread sheet that can be added to as details are revealed.
Please remember to vote and comment, I appreciate all
comments and feedback. Thank you.
“I’VE GOT FILES, EMAILS, EXCEL SPREAD SHEETS, RECORDS
OF BANK TRANSACTIONS, WE’VE GOT FUCKING EVERYTHING,” Paulo shouted.
The men glanced at the monitor and saw him pumping his arms in the air
and jumping up and down, as the youngsters stared at him like he had lost his
mind.
Dante looked at Carlo with
concern as he said, “What is happening?”
“He cracked it, he fucking
cracked it,” Carlo said with a grin as he ran out of the study with Frank and
Joe a step behind. It took Dante and the
others several seconds to realize what Carlo was talking about and a proud
smile covered Annie’s face as they raced out of the room after them. They found Paulo still jumping up and down
before Carlo engulfed him in a hug, “I knew you could do it, your father says
you’re a fucking genius and he’s right.
I’m so proud of you.”
“I need a printer, it’ll be
easier if we had hard copies to tie things together,” Paulo said with a
smile.
“Let’s go to the study, we have
a printer and another computer in there if you need it,” Todd said as Paulo
grabbed his laptop and ran down the hall.
“I’m printing the emails
first. They’re not addressed to real
names, but to code names; I’ll see if there’s a master list of who they belong
to,” said Paulo as his fingers flew over the keyboard and a minute later, the
printer came to life as document after document spilled out. “I’ll start a program for IP addresses to see
where they’re originating from and we can use that if we need to get their real
names.”
“Don’t take time to read
them; we’ll do that after we’ve sorted them into folders for each code
name. As we open the files we’ll label
each document, make copies and put them in each corresponding file,” Carlo said
before turning to Todd. “You have
folders or highlighters?” Todd shook his
head and Carlo said, “The youngsters are still out, I’ll have them get some on
the way back from Fred’s.”
Todd added, “Paulo only
brought one pack of paper when he set the printer up, so you’d better have them
bring paper too.”
Paulo looked at his dad,
“It’d be a lot easier if we were in my office.
I have printers, paper, folders, plus twelve large monitors so we can
see what’s in the files easier. Not to
mention a computer that makes this laptop look like a kids toy.”
Joe nodded, “Let’s go. Who’s coming?” Everyone nodded and they were halfway to
their cars before Joe said, “Wait a minute, we forgot the youngsters.”
“Some uncles we are,” Matt
said with a laugh. “The first exciting
thing that happens and we forget our nieces.”
Todd whistled loudly and
hollered, “MILLERS LOAD UP NOW.” Within
seconds, the girls were running out of the house, Brianna and Morgan dragging
Vin and Dom who were asking what the hell was going on.
“I don’t know, but Daddy said
to load up now,” said Brianna as she dragged Vin off the porch. “He always says when he hollers like that
whatever we’re doing we’re to stop and load up.”
“We’re going to Uncle Joe’s,
Paulo needs to be in his office and…just get in the vehicle, we’ll tell you on
the way,” said Frank as he opened the door and motioned them in. There was a scramble as everyone piled into
two vehicles.
As they pulled out of the
driveway to begin the less than five minute drive to Joe’s, Vin asked, “Uhmm
Dad, why are we packed in two cars like sardines?”
Frank turned around from the
front seat of Matt’s SUV and began to laugh as he said, “Damned if I know, I
guess it just seemed easier.”
Dom snorted and said, “Having
thirteen people jammed in here and fourteen in the other is easy? Maybe for you, you’re sitting up front.”
“Not really… I have your
mother on my lap,” Frank responded and grunted seconds later when Rose hit him
in the stomach with her elbow.
“I’ll have you know Francesco
Carlucci that I only weigh six pounds more than I did when you made your
declaration for me. And that is after
gifting you with eight little ones within four years,” Rose said in a voice
laced with steel.
“You’d better not even open
your mouth Giuseppe Carlucci. If you do,
it’ll be the last thing you utter this evening,” warned Annie from her seat on
his lap.
Joe scented his mate’s neck
and said, “Why would I ever complain that you’re close to me? Twenty three years you’ve been mine and I
want you as much today as I did back then.”
Feeling her relax and lean into his chest he added, “Even if you are beginning
to get a middle age spread… there’s just more to love.” As Annie hit Joe in the stomach with her
elbow and the back of her head connected with his forehead, his pain filled
grunts and groans filled the interior of Matt’s SUV.
“You just couldn’t help
yourself, could you? And I even warned
you to keep your mouth shut,” Annie said with a growl. “Let’s see how much you like getting to know
your left hand again, because you’re not touching me for a while.”
Hearing the girls giggle, Joe
said in a teasing tone, “Sweetheart, you know I love everything about you. I was just teasing …now take that back, you
know you can’t go more than a day without me.”
Annie got even angrier if
possible, “Girls, this is a good example of ‘How not to take any shit from your
mate’, especially if he’s a Carlucci.
They’ll tease you, aggravate the absolute hell out of you, irritate you
to no end and get on your last nerve.
You can’t let them get away with anything, you need to put them in their
place constantly or their egos will get out of control.”
Joe cleared his throat, “That
may be true, but we’ll also treat you like a lady, cater to your every whim, do
whatever you tell us to do, protect you until our dying breath and love you
like you’re the most precious thing in the world.”
“You’re lucky we’re home,”
Annie retorted angrily as she opened the door and got out. “Another minute of your bullshit and I
would’ve hit you again.” She turned on
her heel and opened the door for everyone as Paulo immediately headed towards
the new addition where his office was located.
“Give me a sec,” he said,
powering up computers, monitors, printers, and several odd looking pieces of
equipment. As Todd walked into the
L-shaped room he was in awe of the setup Paulo had. On the short right wall there were kitchen
cabinets, upper and lower, with a small fridge under the countertop and a
microwave on top. On the back wall were
two windows with blue plaid curtains and between them was a dry erase board
with a table and four chairs underneath.
The left wall had two deep oak shelving units; one containing printers
and other electronic equipment, the other with electronics that had been torn
apart. Between them was a smaller window
with a workbench underneath with more electronic equipment torn apart and
scattered around. On the last wall, in
the alcove of the ‘L’, sat a curved desk with twelve extra large screens
mounted to metal brackets that could be swiveled.
“Dad, can you get me
something to drink and a snack, I’m hungry.”
Joe put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and got a Coke which he poured
into an insulated cup that said, ‘Is it plugged in and turned on?’ As Paulo sat down he said, “Supplies are in
the cabinets, manila folders and notepads in the upper cabinets, highlighters
and Sharpies in the second drawer from the right, pens in the first. There’s colored paper in the bottom, fill
printer 1 with green for financials, 2 with blue for spread sheets, 3 with pink
for files and 4 with white for emails, leave 5 white for any copies you need to
make.” The men hurried to follow his
instructions. “I’ll print the rest and
also a set for each of you. I’m going to
open the financials.”
“Let’s organize ourselves,”
Frank said as he saw how many emails there were. “The Italians will sort them into
alphabetical piles. Papa Mike, they’ll
give you any emails addressed to several names, you’ll make a copy for each
name, highlight it, and then they’ll get sorted. I’ll handle A-D, Joe E-H, Carlo I-L, Todd
M-P, Phil Q-T, and Matt U-Z. When we’re
putting them in the folders, earliest emails go on the top.” The men nodded and got the necessary
supplies.
The women walked in carrying trays
of beverages and snacks and after placing them on the countertop Gina said, “Is
there anything we can do?”
“We’re sorting the emails,”
Carlo replied pointing to the files.
“Once that’s done, I’ll call you and we’ll read them, then we’ll go
through the files so we have a better understanding of the players. Can you tell the youngsters what’s going
on? We left in such a hurry they’re
probably wondering.”
Gina nodded, “Let us know
when you need us.”
Carlo nodded and turned to
Frank and Joe, “I’m contacting the other Level 4’s. There’s too much to tell them over the bond,
I’d rather they read it directly.” They
nodded and sent a message to their mates to expect more company. “Paulo, we’ll need six more sets of
emails.”
*****
Erin was looking at the display cases at Fred’s in
amazement. Her entire life the only ice
cream she’d been allowed had been vanilla and chocolate but since they moved
here she had tried strawberry and rocky road.
What was displayed in front of her was beyond anything she could have
imagined and she had no idea what to choose.
Then her eyes lit up even further when she saw the menu board with the
list of toppings for sundaes…who knew they had this many.
Lorenzo saw her conflict and
whispered, “Go sit, I’ll order.” He
pointed to a table in the corner and as she walked away her hand slipped out of
his, immediately feeling the loss he was tempted to call her back. Feeling more confused than ever, he
shook his head to clear his thoughts
before he explained to Amy what he wanted; hiding her smile, she said it’d be
ready in a couple of minutes. Uneasy
about leaving her alone even if she was within his sight, he hurried to the
table and sat next to her draping his arm possessively over the back of her
chair as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Seeing her shiver in the cool room, he took
his hoodie off and handed it to her, and put his arm over her chair again.
She put it on and smiled
shyly before saying, “Thank you.” He
watched as she closed her eyes and pulled the neck of the hoodie to her nose
before rubbing it against her cheek.
Knowing she was scenting it, he growled low in his throat and closed his
eyes as his wolf started to pace back and forth, throwing his head in the
air. For some strange reason, this felt
right to him but he wasn’t sure why.
The others sat down with huge
sundaes and talked excitedly about the games before stopping as Amy and Fred
set two trays in front of Erin and Lorenzo.
There were small cups with two scoops of each flavor of ice cream and in
medium bowls there was sauces - hot fudge, butterscotch, caramel, marshmallow,
strawberry and peach; and toppings - chocolate shavings, sprinkles, peanuts,
brownie bites, Reese’s pieces, M & M’s, crumbled Oreo’s, vanilla wafers and
whipped cream.
“I knew you couldn’t decide,
so I got a sampler and next time we come you can order what you like,” Lorenzo
said with an uncertain smile. Erin burst into tears and he frowned and said in a biting
tone, “You don’t like it? Fuck it. Even when I try to do something nice, you
fucking cry. I can’t win with you.” He
pushed his chair back and stood, hands fisted at his side as he said, “I’ll
wait outside.”
He strode out the door, anger
apparent in every step and there was silence at the table before Gianni said
quietly, “I know Lorenzo can be an ass, but he’s trying Erin. I don’t see what he did wrong but maybe I’m
missing something.”
“He didn’t… do anything
wrong… I’m such… an idiot… but it was… so sweet that he… did that…and I
messed…everything up again…by crying…,” Erin
said between sobs and hiccups. “Get
him…tell him… I loved it…and I’m sorry.”
She got up and ran to the bathroom, followed by the other girls.
“Well, do we get him now or
do we eat first?” Damian asked as he ate his apple pie sundae. The boys looked at him and he said,
“What?? Its ice cream for fucks sake,
it’ll melt and if it melts it turns into milk soup and then what’s the point?”
Anthony grinned and got up,
“I’ll get him.” He didn’t see Lorenzo
near the vehicles so he scented the air and followed that around the side of
the building to see him hitting his head against the wall. “Let’s talk.”
Lorenzo stared at him before
sliding down the wall to a crouching position and sighed, “What did I do to
make her cry now Ant? I’m trying, really
trying here, so tell me what the fuck I did.”
Anthony leaned against the
wall and said in a calm tone, “She didn’t cry because she was upset or mad
Lorenzo. She was crying because she was
happy.” Seeing his look of disbelief, Ant
told him what happened after he left.
Lorenzo was silent for a
couple of minutes and his head hung down as he whispered, “What the hell is the
matter with me Ant? I know I’m a moody
bastard, but lately I’ve been all over the place, going from happy to ready to
rip somebody’s head off in the blink of an eye.
My wolf isn’t much better either; he’s either rolling around on his back
or snarling and pacing back and forth.”
Anthony looked at the
tortured expression on his face and debated what to tell him, “You have to
follow what your instincts and your wolf are telling you my friend. Why don’t we go for a run after we drop Erin
and Caitlin off? Maybe that’ll help get
you in touch with your wolf.”
“Maybe I just need to get
laid, it’s been weeks,” Lorenzo said with a sigh. “After we drop the girls off maybe Gianni,
Marcus, Damian and I could go out.”
Anthony shook his head,
knowing Lorenzo would hate himself for doing that after he realized Erin was his mate.
“Let’s go for a run instead, your wolf needs it.”
Lorenzo nodded, “You’re
probably right, the thought of some strange piece of tail is getting my wolf
agitated, which is confusing me even more.
You know how we’ve been taught to keep a balance between our two halves
and not let one totally rule the other?”
He leaned his head back staring at the darkened sky and took a deep
breath. “I’m just so on edge and I don’t
understand why. I feel like my wolf is
going to break out any minute and I keep pushing him back but it’s getting
harder and harder to control him and I’m scared of what he’s going to do Ant.”
“I get like that when I’m
around Sophia,” Anthony said as he ran his hands through his hair. “Dad said it’s because my wolf wants out to
claim what’s his.” He looked at Lorenzo
hoping he would take the hint; he wanted to tell him Erin
was his mate but knew he couldn’t. He
wasn’t sure why but his dad had told them their wolf would let them know who
their mate was when they were ready and nobody was to interfere, they had to
figure it out on their own.
“Yeah, but you two are
intendeds. Erin and I…hell, I don’t even
think we’re friends,” muttered Lorenzo as Ant stared at him wondering if there
was anybody in the world as hard-headed and dense as Lorenzo and realized
Damian was just as bad. They stayed
quiet letting the sounds of the nearby woods soothe them for almost five
minutes before they scented Alberto coming around the corner.
“You guys okay? Ant, I brought your sundae and Lorenzo,
here’s the one Erin made for you,” he said as
he handed them to the boys.
Lorenzo looked at his sundae
and smiled, it had everything he liked; mint chocolate chip ice cream, brownie
bites, hot fudge, marshmallow and whipped cream. “She made this for me? How’d she know what I liked?”
“Sometimes you’re really
stupid,” Alberto said with a sigh.
“She’s with your family dumbass, so how the fuck do ya think she found
out?” A sheepish smile crossed Lorenzo’s
face as he began to eat. “Go inside; Erin’s having a blast trying everything. You did good Carlucci; don’t blow it by being
stubborn.”
Lorenzo began to smirk, “I
did, didn’t I? Come on; I need more
brownies.” Ant and Alberto rolled their
eyes as they noticed his cocky arrogant swagger present once again as he walked
around the side of the building. As soon
as he stepped inside the door he noticed Erin
was laughing and talking to Victor and his eyes narrowed as he noticed his
brother was in his seat and he let out a growl.
Victor paled, “I’m only
helping with flavor combinations.
Honest.”
Lorenzo said in a cool even
tone, “Get the fuck out of my seat.”
Victor jumped up and moved quickly to his seat between Maria and
Angelo. Lorenzo calmly sat down and
glanced at the trays asking quietly, “You like it?”
“Thank you, it’s the best thing
ever,” she answered, excitement filling her sparkling grey eyes. “You’re so sweet to do this and I’m sorry I
started to cry but it surprised me and I was so happy, I just kinda got all
jumbled inside.”
Lorenzo put his arm over the
back of her chair and whispered, “I may be a lot of things shortcake, but I’m
definitely not sweet.” He leaned back
and raked her with his eyes and let out a growl, “Now you on the other hand,
are pretty fuckin sweet.” He started to
laugh as a blush covered her face. “Come
on; let’s finish this before the others eat your ice cream.”
*****
Carmelo, Vinnie and Ed along
with their Italian cousins arrived within minutes of each other and Annie
brought them straight to Paulo’s office.
As Carlo updated them, Paulo shouted, “ALPHA CARLO… I found the money…
600 fucking mil… I’m printing the statement.
What do you want me to do?”
“Can you empty the account
without them knowing where the money went?” Carlo asked as he moved across the
room to stand behind Paulo.
Paulo grinned and they
watched screen after screen appear on the monitors. “Done.
I left the initial deposit, they probably have a hard copy, but all
subsequent transactions have been wiped.
When someone tries to access the account, a trace program’ll send an
alert to us. I kept a 20% finders fee
and for the balance, set up an account to look like a long-standing one, with
deposits and withdrawals going back ten years.
Papers will be ready to send to President Roberts tomorrow; they’ll
verify the authenticity of the account as well as his password so he can access
it.”
Carlo nodded, “What did you
do with the 120 mil?”
“Deposited it into the
account I set up for our escape, figured it would be the best use for the
money,” Paulo said with a shrug as Carlo nodded in approval.
“Apparently not all
Carlucci’s are as stupid as we thought,” said Dante with a smile as he glanced
at Frank, Joe, Ric and Rocco.
In unison all four said,
“Fuck you Dante.”
“Look at last week’s
deposits,” Paulo said pointing to the screens. “There was a 4 mil deposit on
Saturday and a 20 mil deposit on Tuesday. I’m going to run a trace to see where
they originated.” Ten minutes later he
shouted, “GOT IT.”
“The Bank of Stirling,” Dante
said as gasps were heard and he quickly told everyone else what his Archivist
found out. Paulo turned back to the
computer letting the sounds of the men talking become background music as he
looked at the financials and made a note to look into the de Moray family.
*****
Ant and Alberto pulled in the
Millers driveway and after Erin unlocked the
door and disabled the alarm everyone entered the house laughing and talking
excitedly before she reset the alarm. As
they walked down the hall they saw Todd’s empty study and quieted down noting
the silence surrounding them. Hearing
sounds coming from the back of the house, they moved towards the family room
and stopped at the scene in front of them; the room was empty but the TV was
on, textbooks were lying opened on the floor, drinks and snacks were on the
table, and laptops were running. Gianni
looked around and said excitedly, “I’ve seen this on TV… I think they were
abducted by aliens. Damn, that’d be so
cool and we missed it.”
“Fuck that. I don’t want to get probed. And what the hell is up with that? If aliens are so intelligent why do they keep
probing people?” Damian asked waving his arms around before he started to
laugh.
The youngsters stared at him
and Ant said, “You’re seriously disturbed Carlucci. Our families are missing, and you’re on a
rant about getting probed?”
“I’m imagining the ass
whoopin E.T. is gonna get when he tries that on Alpha Carlo, Dad or Uncle
Frank,” said Damian as he began to laugh harder
“Fuck that, could you imagine
the beating Madame Gina, Mom or Aunt Annie would inflict on them? Those aliens would leave and never come
back,” said Gianni as he began to laugh and was soon followed by the other
boys.
“If you bunch of idiots are
done laughing, we need to go to Uncle Joe’s,” said Sophia with a long suffering
sigh.
“Why do we have to go there?”
asked Lorenzo with a frown.
She sighed loudly again,
“Cause I asked Daddy where they were, you idiot. You didn’t ask?” He shrugged and she rolled her eyes.
Erin looked at Lorenzo with a grin as she whispered, “I’m
glad you’re good looking, because you’re really not that smart, are you?”
“You think I’m good looking?”
he asked with a smirk as Erin blushed.
“Face it bro, she only thinks
you’re good looking because you’re my twin, and we all know I’m the best
looking Carlucci,” Damian said with a big grin as Caitlin rolled her eyes. “And in case you missed it, she said you’re
not that smart.”
“Leave her alone,” growled
Lorenzo as he pulled Erin to his side. “And what do you mean I’m not smart? I have a 3.96 GPA.”
“Okay, you’re smart, but you
have no common sense,” Erin said with a
giggle. “As soon as I saw the empty
room, I contacted Daddy.”
“I did too,” said Maria with
a shrug. “Daddy wants us to bring his
and Uncle Frank’s SUVs over to the house.”
Anthony was quiet before he
looked at everyone, “Paulo cracked the code and they need to talk to us.” The youngsters cleaned up before walking
outside. Ant told everybody which
vehicles to get in since they had the extra vehicles plus Lorenzo’s truck and
minutes later they were pulling in front of Joe’s garage.
Annie looked at the
youngsters as they walked into the kitchen and said, “Those aren’t the outfits
you left in boys, what happened?”
Vin and Dom turned from the
fridge and saw the guilt in the boys’ eyes.
Vin stared at them and said in a menacing voice eerily similar to his
Dad’s, “Did we or did we not tell you to behave yourselves?” The boys glanced at each other before
lowering their eyes to avoid looking at the two oldest Carlucci’s. “Are you going to tell us what happened? Or do we have to beat it out of you?”
“I’d pay money to see that
since you two can’t take all of them at once,” Sophia said with a smirk before
looking at her intended and raking him with her eyes. She turned to her oldest brothers and their
resemblance was uncanny as they glared at each other, “And I know the two of
you combined can’t take Anthony, he’s too big and strong.” Ant’s eyes flickered amber and he let out a
low growl as he and his wolf reveled in the fact their mate was acknowledging
their superior strength.
“Last time we sparred, Sophia
and I took your ass down. Remember?” Maria asked with a wicked half
smile that mirrored the one on Damian’s face and muffled laughter was heard
from the boys before a glare from Vin quieted them.
“You got lucky Pipsqueak,”
retorted Vin with a frown. “I told Dad
and Uncle Joe it’s not right to spar against you two. We’re supposed to protect you for fucks sake,
not try and hurt you… and good try with the distraction, but it didn’t work. Somebody better start talking NOW.” The youngsters were quiet and Vin turned to
the weakest links – Erin and Caitlin and stared until they started to squirm.
“We had ice cream,” Erin blurted out unable to stand the pressure.
“We got to the movies late,”
added Caitlin as she blushed.
Vin’s smile was triumphant,
“Why did you get ice cream? Why were you
late? Why are the boys in different
clothes? And where are Pat and Bob?”
Sophia rolled her eyes, “Stop
the inquisition Dad. We were late
because Gabby joined us, the boys changed because Lorenzo spilt his snacks, we
left the movie because there was too much fighting, Pat and Bob went home
because the date was over and it was early so we decided to get ice cream. Satisfied?”
“No,” Vin and Dom answered as
they crossed their arms over their chests.
“Well too bad, because I’m
done talking about it,” Sophia said with a shrug as the older women put their
heads down to hide their grins. “All you
need to know is we had a first date none of us will ever forget.” The youngsters looked at each other and burst
out laughing while Vin and Dom scowled.
“Boys, leave them be,”
admonished Rose with a smile.
“No, they’re hiding something
and I’m going to find out what the fuck it is,” Dom said with a mutinous expression
as he looked at his mother.
“We’re handling the
situation,” Frank said with a frown as he walked into the kitchen and the
younger boys paled. He saw the smiles on
the girl’s faces and said in a gentle tone, “How was the date?”
“It was wonderful Daddy, we
had a good time, it was the perfect first date,” Sophia said as she gave him a
hug. The girls smiled and nodded in
agreement.
“That’s all that matters,”
Frank said with a smile before looking at the boys and narrowing his eyes. “The rest will be taken care of at the lake.”
“Sorry guys,”
Lorenzo said as Anthony opened the bond.
“I’ll talk with Uncle Frank and Dad
later and tell them it was my fault.”
“We’re all to blame,” Marcus responded with a sigh. “We
knew you were acting like an ass and kept annoying you. Though the fight was fun, we need to do that
more often; it was a good way to let off some steam.”
“Just not when we’re on a date with our intendeds,” Alberto said as his smile was replaced with a frown
as he saw a flash of pain cross Maria’s face and her family turned their
attention to her. He noticed her swollen
fingers and growled low in his throat as he scooped her in his arms and set her
in the recliner. Hollering for Annie to
bring ice and her meds, he gently placed a pillow under her casted arm to
elevate it. “Why didn’t you let me know
your arm was hurting Gattina?”
She sighed and leaned into
his chest as he knelt next to the recliner, “It’s okay. I think I might have just overdone it a
little.”
Joe ran down the hallway
snapping at Annie, “I knew it was a bad idea for her to go to the game and then
on a date. It was too much too soon, she
should be resting.” He glared at Alberto
until he moved and knelt down to examine his daughters arm, frowning when he
saw the swelling and slight bruising.
“Calm down Joe,” said Annie
with a frown. “She’s fifteen, not
two. If something is bothering her, she
can tell us.”
Seeing his concern, Maria
closed her eyes wondering how to tell him how badly it hurt and that it had been
aching for a month, even before she broke it the first time. Several minutes went by as she thought it
over and decided to ask Doctor Parr when she saw him; she opened her eyes and
asked quietly, “Daddy, can I have my meds?
It’s sore and I promise I’ll rest and let it heal.”
Joe took the juice out of
Rose’s hands and Annie gave her the pain meds.
“Do you want to stay here, or do you want me to carry you upstairs?”
“Stay here Daddy, it feels
better if it’s propped up and I don’t move much,” she said snuggling against
her Dad as he stroked her hair. As she
began to relax her eyes snapped open when she felt somebody slip off her shoes
and saw Damian putting on her favorite fuzzy socks, Gianni with a cup of hot
chocolate, Sal with her favorite snack - sliced apples with honey and Lorenzo
holding a pillow.
“I’ll lay down with her and
help her relax,” Sophia said softly as she kicked off her heels. The boys moved out of her way as she snuggled
next to her cousin before Victor covered them with the blanket from her bed.
Vin scowled at the boys,
“This is what I’m talking about. Did you
pay attention to her and make sure she was okay? Or where you too busy focusing on yourselves
and whatever the hell you were doing?”
He turned to Alberto and narrowed his eyes, “And you’re supposed to be
her mate and…”
“Hold the fuck up Vin. I know you’re not implying I neglected my
mate and caused her harm. I would never
do anything to hurt her and you fucking know that,” Alberto said in a near roar
as he stepped aggressively towards his friend and they heard the men running
down the hall. “And what the fuck do you
mean ‘supposed’ to be her mate? She IS
my mate.”
Carlo, Carmelo, Frank and Joe
stepped between them and Joe looked at his nephew, “Vincent, you know better
than to accuse a male of hurting their mate.
I know Alberto would never hurt my daughter.”
“Thank you Poppa Joe. You know she means everything to me, without
her I have nothing,” Alberto said with a frown as he looked at his father in
law.
“You have a funny way of
showing it,” Dom said before he turned to his brothers and cousins. “And the bunch of you are worse, he’s only
cared about her for a few weeks. She’s
your fucking family, I expect...”
“Stop talking about me like
I’m not here,” Maria interrupted with a sigh.
“The boys didn’t do anything wrong, it’s my fault for not taking my
medicine but I didn’t want to because it makes me sleepy.” She looked at Alberto and smiled, “I wanted
this date to be perfect and it was.”
Vin snorted, “Perfect my
ass. It sounds like a fucking disaster,
you were ignored by your mate, I can tell Erin
was crying because her eyes are red and Mom said Anthony ruined another one of
Sophia’s dresses.” He turned to Caitlin,
“And what happened to you? What’s your
part in this so called perfect date?”
Not knowing what to say she buried her face in Damian’s chest.
“Vin, I’m warning you you’d
better leave Caitlin alone. She’s not
used to you and your overbearing bossy manner,” growled Damian as his arms
encircled her. “She’s sweet and gentle
and doesn’t deserve this from you…so leave her the fuck alone.” He continued to glare at his cousin as his
wolf started to prowl back and forth, angry because the female in his arms was
upset and he didn’t like it.
“Enough, I’m not sure why
you’re acting like a dick, but I don’t appreciate it. You know we’d never do anything to hurt our
intendeds,” said Anthony in a firm tone.
Opening the bond to Vin and Dom he continued, “Look at your cousins and you’ll see what I’m talking about.” They
swung their heads to see Lorenzo holding Erin
tightly to his side and Damian holding Caitlin while he whispered to her. “They
don’t realize they’re mates, but they and they’re wolves are extremely
protective of the girls. They’re ready
to strike out and they’re gonna come hard because their wolves are gonna feel
the two of you are threatening their mates.”
A smile crossed Vin’s face as
he said, “I thought that’s what the
problem was with Lorenzo, but I didn’t realize Damian and Caitlin were mates. What happened this evening?” Ant told him about the date and Vin nodded, “Yep, they’re definitely mates. I wonder how long it’ll take him to realize?”
“From the looks of it, it won’t be long,” Dom said with a smile as Lorenzo began to run his hand
up and down Erin’s arm in a reassuring
gesture.
Seeing things calming down,
Frank said, “Boys get refreshments, we’ve got a couple things to do then we’ll
talk with everyone.” They nodded before
heading into the kitchen, coming back with drinks, chips, cookies, cheese and
crackers. They began to talk in low
murmurs as the adults headed back to Paulo’s office.
“Why did Anthony wait so long
to diffuse the situation?” asked Todd as he picked up his papers. “And what the hell happened tonight?”
“Think back to when you were
a teenager. Those feelings of having to
prove you’re becoming a man, finding your place in Pack hierarchy mixed in with
out of control hormones,” Carmelo began with a smile. “So when an argument breaks out there’s a lot
of posturing, and heated emotions rising to the surface especially when it
involves the Carlucci’s, my boys and
Anthony.”
“When Anthony and The Clan
argue it’s like an explosion and you try to avoid the fallout,” Vinnie said as
Paulo quietly laughed. “Its worse when
they’re arguing with somebody else, then it’s the thirteen of them against
whoever they’re having a problem with.
Well, with Alberto’s declaration, it’s fifteen now.”
“No matter how upset we get
with each other, we stand together against everyone else,” Paulo said as he
looked at Todd and Papa Mike before he smiled.
“If you think our tempers are bad, Sophia and Maria are worse; they
scare the fuck out of us. They got a
full dose of the Vitti temper from our moms and when they get mad it’s not an
explosion it’s a nuclear blast.”
“Unfortunately, I have to
agree,” Frank said with a grin. “When
our mates are in a snit, Joe and I head to the barn and work on our cars or
contact Carlo or Carmelo and hide out with them somewhere.”
Joe snorted and said, “Wait
until you meet our in-laws and you’ll understand why they act that way. Ray is a hard formidable man with no sense of
humor and taught Rose and Annie to fight like men. Their mother looks sweet but she’d as soon
tell you to fuck off as say hello and she taught them not to take any shit from
anybody. That combined with the Vitti
temper is a bad combination.”
“The Vitti’s in Italy
are just as bad,” Dante said with a serious expression giving Luc a side
glance. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t
help the smile that crossed his face as he saw Luc scowling. “They are hot-headed and the smallest insult
will make them lash out without thought of the consequences...” Luc’s phone interrupted Dante and he began
to scowl as a familiar song played as the ring tone.
A smile crossed Luc’s face
before he replaced it with a scowl, “Gentlemen, excuse me, I have a business
call I need to deal with. Joe, I will
use your study.” Without waiting for a
reply he turned on his heel and exited the room.
Dante narrowed his eyes and
waited several moments before saying in a firm tone, “Put Joe’s study on the
monitor.” Paulo hesitated for a moment
before the six screens on the left were filled with Luc’s image as he sat on
the sofa.
The men gathered around and
Joe said in a low tone, “Click the audio on.”
Paulo swallowed noisily and
said, “Ugh, you think we should do that Dad?
It’s an awful invasion of privacy.”
“Of course we should,” Dante
said with an evil smile. “The bastard
has been hiding his mate from us and I want to find out why…and to confirm my
suspicion as to who it is.” Joe nodded
to the door and Frank quickly closed it, knowing their mates would throw a fit
if they knew what was going on.
“If any of the women come in,
kill everything,” Joe said quietly and Paulo nodded. Excited whispers could be heard as Paulo
clicked the audio on and in the reflection of the monitors he could see the
gleeful expressions on their faces.
“I miss you, Il mio amore (my love)… We are leaving Wednesday,
but I am unsure of the time… I would love for you to meet us at the airport
even if I cannot hold you or kiss you… I think of that day in the meadow too…
(his voice was low and raspy) Lying there and holding you while we kissed for
the first time, knowing I am the only man that will ever kiss you that way (he
growled and ran his hand through his hair)… You have to stop talking like that,
you have no idea what you do to me (he groaned and threw his head back)… The
day after we get back tell your parents you are meeting a friend for lunch and
we can be together… He has no idea, none of them do… I know you want to tell
everyone but I explained that I want to wait until you are older and I am
financially secure… Yes, I know I have millions in the bank, but that is family
money, not money I earned … There is a difference… I want to prove to your
father that I will be able to provide for you and the family we will have… Yes,
I agree with you … No, he is your father and I will be held to higher standards
because I am his only daughters mate… There will be some who believe I am with
you because you are the Alpha’s daughter…”
“Son of a bitch, I knew it,”
Dante hissed as everyone turned to him with their mouths open. “I knew something was up with him and
Catarina has been very evasive and sneaky for the last month.” He took several deep calming breaths as the
beer bottle in his hand shattered spraying beer and glass over those around
him.
They turned back to Luc, “I
know they do not matter and I do not have to prove myself to you, but I have to
prove myself to your father not to mention your brothers… Yes, graduating a
year early from University with a degree in Finance counts… Being here has
helped with my English; it is still very stiff and formal. I am picking up local colloquialisms from
Anthony and my cousins along with a more colorful vocabulary… (he started to
laugh) No, I will not tell you the curse words I have learned…I love hearing
your laugh and wish I was there with you…Only a couple more days and then you
will be in my arms again…You never told me why you are awake so early… (he got
up and paced, agitation apparent in every step) There had better not be any
males around you, you are MINE…”
“Where the fuck is she going
at 4:30 in the morning?” Dante asked with a scowl.
“Who is going?... Stay with
your family and Nonna… For fuck’s sake, you know I trust you, it is everyone
else I do not trust … (laughs) Yes, that is one of the phrases I learned…I
should go, they are waiting… I told them it was business… Have a good time at
the Festival of Terracina… I love you with all my heart Dolcezza and I cannot
wait until you are in my arms again.”
They watched as Luc put his cell in his pocket before throwing himself
down on the sofa with a smile on his face.
“Dante, what are you going to
do?” asked Carlo as everyone turned to him.
An evil grin crossed Dante’s
face, “Torture the little bastard of course.”
Matching grins came over the men’s faces as he explained his plan.
“You guys are really cruel,”
Paulo said as he shook his head. “I
can’t believe you’re going to do that to Luc.”
Joe smiled and said, “Are you
going to say anything?”
“Hell no. I just want it on record that I was against
this… for when Mom and Aunt Rose find out and the shit hits the fan,” Paulo said
with a laugh before turning back to his keyboard. The men watched as Luc got up and they
quickly went back to filing as Paulo killed the video feed and Frank opened the
door.
Luc couldn’t keep the smile
off his face as he walked into the kitchen and got a beer out of the
fridge. After taking a long pull he
noticed the women staring at him with knowing smiles as Gina said quietly, “How
is Catarina?”
“Excuse me?” he murmured as
he began to flush and he could feel sweat starting to bead on his forehead.
“I had an interesting chat
with Calinda earlier,” Gina answered with a smile.
Luc took a calming breath,
“What did my Madame Alpha say? I hope
everyone is well, Nonna didn’t say anything was wrong when I spoke to her.”
“Everyone is fine, but you
know that, don’t you?” Gina replied and watched Luc begin to squirm. “She received a call from a specialty shop in
Rome, that her
special order was ready. She couldn’t
remember ordering anything but sent someone to get it and was surprised when
she opened the package.”
Luc chugged the rest of his
beer and got another, drinking half of that before he said in a calm controlled
voice, “Was it a surprise present Alpha Dante ordered for her birthday? He will be upset if she saw it beforehand.”
“No, as a matter of fact it
was something Catarina ordered,” murmured Gina as she began to smirk. Seeing the perplexed look on his face, she
leaned forward, “It was personalized stationary… with the name Catarina Vitti
on it.” Luc’s bottle slammed down onto
the counter as he began to choke on the beer he just drank. She smiled broadly, “Relax. She hasn’t told Dante… yet.”
He let out a deep sigh and
looked down at his shoes, “I should be getting back to the room; they will
wonder where I am.” The sounds of the
women’s laughter stopped him as he walked down the hallway and he took several
deep breaths to compose himself before he walked into Paulo’s office.
“Hey Mom, what was all that
about?” asked Anthony as the youngsters stopped talking to hear the answer.
“Nothing, just talking to
Luc,” replied Gina.
“Come on Mom, it sounded like
more than that,” Anthony said in a wheedling tone as the youngsters started to
laugh.
Gina stared at her son and
the other boys, “If I was you, I’d be more concerned with the talk you’re going
to have at the lake.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the boys said
as they quieted down and Lorenzo said quietly, “We are so fucked.”
“We’re beyond fucked,” added
Gianni with a sigh.
“If there’s a place beyond
fucked, that’s where we are,” Marcus said as he leaned back on the sofa as the
boys nodded in agreement.
“We’re so far beyond fucked,
we’re gonna need a homing pigeon because I don’t even think the best damn GPS
on the market can find a way to save our sorry asses,” Damian said with a smirk
as the youngsters laughed.
“Watch your language,”
admonished Annie with a glare at the boys.
“I know you’ve corrupted Sophia and Maria and Luna only knows how you
talk to each other over the bond, but be respectful around the Miller girls.”
Holly started to laugh quietly
and said in a whisper, “I will say your boys have a way with words. I’ve never heard ‘fuck’ used in so many ways
before.”
Rose grimaced, “We don’t even
pay attention anymore. The only time we
notice is when Sophia or Maria drop the F bomb.” The women looked at the boys who were arguing
which TV cop show was the best. The
Millers sat quietly as the argument got louder and louder as Sophia, Maria and
Gabby joined in.
“All of you are wrong,” Kelly
said as she began to blush. The room
quieted down as she continued, “It’s got to be ‘NCIS’.”
“I wouldn’t mind getting
arrested by DiNozzo if it meant he frisked me…” Erin
stopped as Lorenzo growled loudly startling her.
He stared at her possessively
and snapped, “No one is gonna get close enough to frisk you…EVER.” Erin smiled
shyly as he continued to growl before pulling her closer to his side and
draping his arm over her shoulders.
“It’s because it has Mark
Harmon in it. He’s the best looking man
I’ve ever seen,” Caitlin said with a deep sigh as Damian began to growl.
“He’s a hundred fifty fuckin
years old,” muttered Damian with a scowl as the other boys grinned at his
obvious jealousy.
“He’s timeless,” Caitlin
answered with another sigh. “He’s got
the elegance of Cary Grant, the ruggedness of John Wayne, the comedic genius of
Bob Hope, a smoldering bad boy vibe like James Dean tempered with a sense of
right and wrong like James Stewart. In
other words…he’s perfect.”
“Perfect my fucking ass,”
muttered Damian as he continued to scowl before saying in an angry voice,
“Let’s watch a movie.” As he put the
movie in the DVD player Sal dimmed the lights and the music from ‘Jaws’ began
playing.
“Is it scary?” asked Maeve as
she burrowed closer to her twin.
“Kinda, I’m here if you get
scared,” Enzo answered as he moved to the floor near her feet, Gino moved to
sit near Fiona and the two young girls visibly relaxed; taking their cue, the
boys moved closer to their charges. Vin
and Dom took advantage of the darkened room and pulled Brianna and Morgan in
between their outstretched legs, settling them against their chests as they
watched the movie.
In Paulo’s office, no one had
spoken and the tension was mounting minute by minute, finally after ten minutes
Dante said, “Was there a problem with RI?”
Luc lowered his eyes, “No
Sir, I thought it was business but it was personal.” The men began to talk about the game and the
Meet ‘n Mingle.
Ed shrugged, “Beatrice hasn’t
found her mate yet and she turned eighteen last month. I’m worried, but she says he’ll find her when
he’s ready.”
“I’m sure she’s right and his
wolf isn’t ready but I’ll talk to Gina, she’s pretty good about these things,”
Carlo said in a concerned tone. “Dante,
I know you’re worried Cat hasn’t found her mate yet either and I have an idea. Why don’t you have a Meet ‘n Mingle at The
Castle, one Pack at a time? If she
doesn’t find her mate in an Italian Pack, expand it to Europe.”
Luc began flexing his hands
as Dante said with a shrug, “I am in no hurry for her to find her mate. She will probably end up with someone who
gets on my fucking nerves and is a pain in my ass. You know the type I am talking about, an
arrogant little bastard who has shit for brains and no sense of decorum.”
Todd nodded, “I know exactly
what you’re saying. I was worried about
my girls finding mates in our old Pack.”
He turned to Frank and smiled, “Except for the fact Vin and Dom can’t
stop slobbering on my daughters, I’m happy.”
Frank grimaced, “I’m not
looking forward to that.”
“With Anthony being a blood
born Alpha, he’ll feel stronger emotions than the other boys and his wolf will
want to claim her before anyone else has a chance,” Carlo said in a quiet
voice. “I remember when I made my
declaration for Gina. Those eleven
months were the longest eleven months in my life. Anthony has three years to wait and I don’t
know how he’s going to do it.”
“The same goes for Alberto,”
Carmelo said with a sigh. “I had to wait
six months for Rita and it drove me insane.”
“This is why I do not want my
daughter to find her mate. All the
problems you are having, I would rather not deal with,” Dante said with a
shudder. “I am thinking of sending her
to Vitorchiano until she turns twenty one.”
He had to turn away from Luc to hide his smile as he heard the younger
man gasp. “The estate is four hours
away, extremely remote and the population in the nearby town is less than
4,000. Naturally, I would provide guards
with families but I would make sure there was an absence of any hormone fueled
male Were around her and will tell her guards not to allow any visitors, even
family friends.”
Luc visibly paled and Ric
coughed to hide his laughter before saying, “I think that’s a great idea, you
can’t be too careful with her. Who knows
what any perspective suitor would do to get close to her and of course your
business.”
“I wouldn’t trust any male
that said he was her mate,” added Rocco with a scowl. “She is extremely beautiful but naïve and
could be taken advantage of by someone unscrupulous.” Luc began taking deep angry breaths, his
hands fisted at his sides and the men put their heads down so he wouldn’t
notice their smiles.
“Exactly my point,” said
Dante with a frown that was at odds with the gleam in his eyes. “Screw it, I am going to call Cal and tell her to send
Cat tomorrow.”
Luc’s eyes began to shift to
amber and he turned to Dante and said in a snarl, “You are not sending my mate
away. SHE IS MINE.”
The men stared as Dante said
in a hard demanding tone, “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. She is mine.
You are not taking her away from me,” Luc snapped as his eyes continued
to flick to amber.
Dante stared at the younger
man and Luc didn’t back down, after several minutes Dante smiled and said, “It
is about time you admitted it, you little bastard. I was wondering when you would make your
declaration.”
“You… you knew?” Luc asked as
he looked around the room and saw the smiles on the men’s faces.
“I suspected when you started
to act strangely towards each other and it was made worse with your reluctance
to join the Meet ‘n Mingle,” Dante said with a shrug. “But it was the phone call, with my daughter’s
favorite song as the ringtone that confirmed it… that and listening to your
conversation.”
“I should have remembered the
security system and gone outside,” Luc said with a frown. He looked down at the floor and asked
quietly, “Are you upset with the mate Luna picked for your daughter?”
Dante closed his eyes as
images of Luc’s father, Emilio, flashed through his mind and though years had
passed and their retribution had been swift, it had done nothing to dull the
pain. The images wouldn’t stop and Dante
closed his eyes even tighter as he savored each and every one of them; he, Ric,
Rocco and Emilio, the four of them always together as they grew from little
ones to men with families of their own.
Opening his eyes he looked at Luc and the resemblance between father and
son had unsettled him since Emilio’s death but now it put him at ease.
“Your father was one of my
best friends and I loved him like he was my brother. He would be as happy as I am for this
declaration,” Dante said in a choked voice before embracing his future son in
law. Leaning back, but not letting go of
Luc he said, “We heard what you said about having to prove yourself… you are
the son of Emilio and Serafina Vitti but you are your own man. You have more than proven your own worth and
I am honored for you to be a member of my family.”
The men congratulated him
with Ric and Rocco being the last. “Even
though Emilio was our Uncle, we were raised as brothers since he was only a
year older,” Ric said as he began to tear up.
“Losing him was like losing a piece of myself.”
“We know we’ve been hard on
you, but we treated you the same as our own sons and expected a lot from
you. Though we never told you, you’ve
made us proud,” Rocco said with a frown.
“Now this doesn’t mean we’ll be easier on you because deep down you’re
still a little arrogant bastard… but we do love you.”
“And if you tell anybody,
we’ll beat the hell out of you,” added Ric with a smile.
Luc smirked and said in an
arrogant condescending tone, “It would take the two of you to beat me. You know I am younger and stronger thus I am
superior.”
“And this is why we argue,”
said Ric as he began to frown.
Dante stepped between the three
men, “Enough. Let us finish sorting
these papers so we can get started on the files.”
An hour later they finished
and Joe said, “After listening to Luc, I have an idea. We should make a weeks worth of recordings of
The School House, our homes and businesses.
We’d need to sync up the TV, radio and lights too.”
Carlo began to smile, “I get
it. When Aldo lets us know it’s close to
the time, we send the youngsters, women and The Elders to the safe room and
play the recordings as if they were still doing their normal routines.”
“I can set that up using the
security systems,” Paulo said as he opened a desk drawer pulling out a
notebook. “I’ll work on that next
month. I’ve got several things going on,
the tracking devices which Sal’s helping with and Damian’s working on the
schedule to install the security updates linking the cell phones. I put him in charge because he’s good talking
to people and he’s gonna go with me.” He
began to laugh, “For most of the installs, we’re having dinner or dessert with
them.”
Joe smiled and shook his
head, “That boy is a menace.”
“Like father, like son.” Joe scowled as Carlo continued, “Let’s call
the women.” Joe handed out paper to
write questions or details to be talked about later. Minutes later they were reading over 400
emails, starting with the oldest and Carlo and Gina were the first to get to
the most recent ones. “SON OF A BITCH,”
he roared and shifted into his black wolf throwing his head back howling
angrily, the sound reverberating through the house and the ‘danger’ scent was
released into the air. They heard the
sound of running and Carlo ran down the hallway followed by the others to see
the boys with the girls slung over their shoulders racing down the basement
stairs heading to the safe room.
“I’ve got the door,” Victor
shouted as the boys never slowed down and as the door to the safe room opened
they were running through it. Setting
the girls gently on the bunks, Alberto made sure Maria’s arm was propped up as
Vin locked the house down and Dom powered up the monitors.
“What’s going on?” Anthony
asked as he made sure all the girls were there.
Before anyone could answer, Carlo in wolf form went to each girl,
starting with the youngest Millers, scenting them to make sure they were okay and
to calm them down. The last one was
Sophia and after scenting her he licked her on the forehead in an affectionate
gesture a father would do to soothe his young.
She laughed and he chuffed in answer before going into the back room to
change into clothes he kept there.
“What’s going on?” Anthony
repeated to the adults.
“We’ve been reading the
emails,” Gina answered and saw Dante was still carrying his copies and motioned
for him to give them to her. “Last week,
an email was sent to ‘The MasterMind’ confirming a second payment had been sent
with delivery within eighteen months.
The rest of the email….” She
stopped and looked at her son before looking at Sophia and Maria, “states they
now want both Carlucci’s as well as the rest of the girls and are offering 20
million dollars for their delivery.”
The boys immediately formed a
protective barrier in front of the girls, the men began to fist their hands and
their eyes turned amber as they fought off their shift. Rose and Annie rolled their necks and took
deep breaths like their father had taught them to calm down and Holly hugged
Nana Ellen.
“The next email from ‘The
MasterMind’ agrees to the terms and promises delivery of the Millers before
June, and the rest of the girls by December, 2004,” Gina finished quietly as
her eyes flickered between her soft brown and amber. She looked at Todd and Holly, “Brianna and
Morgan turn eighteen in June.”
Carlo walked into the room,
“Until we read through and understand the emails, files and whatever the fuck
is on that hard-drive, everything’s on hold.
We’ll cancel the boys training tomorrow, and have another Pack
meeting.” His eyes fell on the girls and
he said in a voice full of anger, “They’ll never get close to you.”
Maeve smiled and said in a
low voice filled with confidence, “Remember when we were in the car and I told
you I wasn’t scared anymore? I’m still
not scared because I know you and my Pack will protect me.”
“Always,” Carlo answered as
he smiled back. He looked to the boys
and said with a gleam in his eye, “I see whatever happened earlier didn’t
interfere with your response time in getting the girls to safety.”
“No, Sir,” the boys responded
as they put their heads down, shuffled their feet and furtively glanced at each
other.
“What’d I miss?” Paulo asked as he took in the guilty expressions on the younger
boys. Lorenzo explained what happened
and the girls laughed quietly and the adults stared as Paulo’s eyebrows shot
up, his mouth fell open and his eyes got wide.
“Damn, I’m almost sorry I stayed
home.”
“Great poker face Doyle Brunson,” muttered Damian as he coughed to hide his
laughter. “It’s a good thing you didn’t come, this way you aren’t in trouble like
us. Congrats on cracking the code, I
knew you could do it little brother.”
Paulo blushed and shoved his
hands in his pockets, “It was a
complicated code, but I’m upset with myself it took me so long.”
“You cracked it before the IT Department from the
Alpha Council,” Anthony said with a
shrug. “They’ve had it way longer than you.”
“They don’t have my little brothers mad skills,” said Lorenzo proudly as Carlo told everyone to go
back upstairs. Four hours later, the
youngsters had fallen asleep in the family room and the adults were still
sorting the files and financials. The
amount of folders was overwhelming and they soon had to move some out to the
kitchen where they covered the countertop and table.
“Alpha Carlo,” Paulo said
excitedly as the adults gathered around.
“We found the source of their income or at least one of them. It’s labeled ‘Trucking’, that’s slang for
transporting drugs. I’ll print
everything, but it shows who they bought the drugs from including price and
amounts; maps showing the routes they used for transport from the Mexican
border through their territory; who they sold the drugs to including price and
when it was sold; payment to the Pack members who participated. Hold on.”
They watched as the deposit record for the bank in the Cayman’s appeared
on the six right hand screens, “If you notice, there was a corresponding
deposit made into the bank several days later.”
“President Roberts said there
were a number of men that disappeared every Monday and didn’t come back until
late Tuesday,” Carlo said as Paulo confirmed the dates. He turned to Todd, “What’s the terrain like?”
“It’s a mountainous region,
sparsely populated with few major highways,” Todd responded as Papa Mike
nodded. “It’s patrolled by DEA, local
and state police due to smuggling and illegal immigration. I can’t see them transporting this amount of
drugs in a vehicle without getting caught.
And why would they need that many men if they had a truck?”
“They wouldn’t use trucks, at
least not to transport the drugs through their territory,” Paulo said in a
quiet voice. “The logical thing would be
for a couple men to meet the supplier and make the deal then go to a safe house
where the rest of the men were waiting.
Once there, all the men except one would shift into their wolves and
he’d strap the drugs to their back.
While they ran he’d be on nearby roads checking for patrols, anything
unusual or to provide a distraction if necessary. Once they reached their destination, he’d
unstrap the drugs and they’d shift back to get ready for their buyer.” The adults were staring at him in astonishment
and Paulo shrugged, “If you think about it, it’s pretty fuckin brilliant. If the truck gets stopped, the dogs they use
would never alert to the drugs because it would be masked by the scent of
wolves and it’d scare the hell out of them.
Plus, they’re looking for vehicles, not wolves. Who in their right mind would think a bunch
of Werewolves would be transporting drugs on their back through the mountains?”
Ed quietly said in a tone he
used in the interrogation room, “How the hell would you know all of that?”
Paulo had a wicked grin on
his face, “I’m a Carlucci, and it’s natural for us to look at things from a
skewered perspective and think of ways to circumvent them or prevent
them.” He turned back to his computer
while he laughed softly.
“Luna help us all, they’re
getting more and more like Frank and Joe everyday,” muttered Vinnie as he
looked at his Godson.
Frank, Joe, Annie and Rose
looked at each other with pride in their eyes as Carlo said, “And that is why
our Pack is strong and will stay strong.
The Rossi’s are the brains and brawn, while the Carlucci’s are
overprotective, paranoid, psychotic and let’s be honest… they’re just downright
fucking scary.”
“We’ll take that as a
compliment,” Frank said with a grin.
“Ed, see what you can send to the DEA with as little details about Davis
Pack as possible. I’m sure they’ll be
happy at least one supplier has been shutdown.”
“The DEA’ll be happy but
Charles’ supplies and buyers won’t,” Ed replied. “Paulo, do a search of the Were registry and
see if any of them are on there.”
“Already done, none of them
are,” Paulo said pointing to the bottom left monitor. “Since they’re not part of the threat and are
human, I’ll have their addresses, phone numbers, last 1040’s, bank, driving and
phone records, criminal background check and anything else I can dig up in a
couple of days.”
“I’m not even going to ask
how you access official Government databases,” Ed said as he shook his head
before looking at Joe. “I’ll try and
give you a warning when the warrant for his arrest comes past my desk from the
cyber crimes unit.”
Paulo threw back his head and
laughed, “Don’t worry about that Mr. G, I’ll know about it before you will …
but if they ever detect me in their system and they run a trace it’ll bring
them to Langley, VA then move onto other sites in DC.”
“The CIA?” Ed asked before he
burst out laughing.
Paulo shrugged, “They should
buy their software from RI instead of developing their own. What I’ve designed and licensed to RI is way
beyond what they use.” He turned back to
his keyboard as Joe smiled at Ed.
Carlo glanced at the clock
and saw it was 4 AM, “Most of us have been up almost twenty-four hours and if
we don’t get some sleep, we’ll have trouble focusing. We’ll meet here at noon.” He turned to Carmelo and said, “Leave your
youngsters here, no sense waking them up.”
Carmelo nodded and he, Ed, Vinnie and the Italians left after Frank
disabled the security system. Rose and
Annie quickly stacked the folders in order and Joe locked them in the safe in
his study.
“You’re welcome to stay,” Joe
said with a yawn. “With the youngsters
sleeping down here, all the bedrooms are empty.”
“We’ll stay, my wolf is on
edge and we don’t want to be far from the girls,” Carlo said with a frown
before taking in the placement of the furniture and he began to smile. The sofas and recliners were pushed to the
back of the room and the girls were asleep on them while the boys were covering
the floor in front of them. He looked at
his son and was surprised to see his eyes open.
Anthony, Vin, Dom, Alberto,
Lorenzo and Damian silently got up and walked into the kitchen. “Go to sleep, we’ve got things here,” Anthony
said quietly but in a firm tone. “It’s
going to be a long day and you need some rest.”
Dante nodded, “We’ll go to
the carriage house.” He grabbed the key
off the wall and Ric, Rocco and Luc followed him into the backyard.
Carlo nodded and said, “Wake
me if you need me.” Frank and Joe made
sure the house was secure before the adults went upstairs.
The boys waited until their
parents were gone before Ant asked, “How bad is it?”
“Bad. Really bad,” Paulo motioned with his head
towards his office and once there he quietly told them everything they had
found and that only half of the files on the hard drive had been opened, plus
he still had to open the hard drives on the other computers. Yawning widely he said, “Oh, and Luc has a
mate, it’s Cat. I thought Alpha Dante
was going to blow a gasket, but he’s cool with it. I’ve got to get some sleep, I’m beat.” They followed him back down the hall and Vin
shut the lights off except for the bathroom so the Miller girls wouldn’t get
scared.
Three hours later the girls
woke and their movements and whispers woke the boys. Telling them quietly their parents were
asleep upstairs, Vin outlined their plans for the morning and the Millers eyes
were filled with excitement. Sophia and
Maria brought the girls into the downstairs bathroom, giving them clothes from
the laundry room and toothbrushes to clean up.
Thirty minutes later, the boys finished cooking breakfast and called the
girls into the kitchen. Warming trays of
sausage patties, bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, biscuits and pancakes were
set on the breakfast bar and Vin said, “Grab a plate and eat.”
“Oh, this is good. Did you guys cook it?” Kelly asked as she ate
hash browns mixed with onions, green and red peppers and chopped bacon.
“No, it’s takeout,” muttered
Gianni sarcastically as he rolled his eyes before he began to smirk. “You know damn well we cooked since you
watched us.”
“I meant I can’t believe you
all cooked because it’s really good,” she said before she began to blush.
“That hurts, really hurts,”
he replied as he clutched at his heart.
“A simple ‘Thank you for
slaving for hours and hours for making me breakfast’, would have been
sufficient and appreciated,” Damian said with a smile as he took a piece of
bacon off Caitlin’s plate.
“Hours and hours? How do you figure?” Caitlin asked as she
watched Erin snatch a biscuit off Lorenzo’s
plate as he growled at her.
“We had to gather the eggs,
slaughter the pig, grind the wheat into flour, churn the butter, milk the cow,
harvest the potatoes, onions and peppers, tap a tree for syrup, chop the wood,”
Damian said with an exaggerated sigh as the boys began to laugh. “I’m exhausted, so you all will have to do
the dishes.”
Gabby smirked and walked to
the trashcan pulling a wrapper out and holding it for everyone to see, “So
which one of you is Bob Evans?”
“He’s our third cousin twice
removed, great guy but a bit of a pig when he eats,” Damian said as he shoved a
whole pancake in his mouth.
“I smell food,” Paulo said
sleepily as he walked into the kitchen and stretched. The youngsters were quiet as he walked to the
breakfast bar with his eyes cracked open and got a huge plate of food. He went to sit down and heard a squeak and
his eyes flew open, “I’m sorry Shannon, that’s
where I usually sit.”
“It’s okay, let me move
over,” she said with a smile as the youngsters slid over to make room for
him.
After they finished eating,
Dom said, “While you do the dishes, we’ll get cleaned up. DO NOT go outside.” The girls nodded and ten minutes later the
boys joined them dressed in basketball shorts and t-shirts. “Okay, Vin, Ant, Lorenzo, Damian and I’ll
check out the backyard.” Paulo turned
the alarm off, and they watched the guards slide back into the walls and the
girls hurried to finish the dishes.
“How is your arm this
morning?” Alberto asked as he sat next to Maria at the table. “Are you sure you’re up to what Vin has
planned?”
“I’m fine,” she responded as
she snuggled into his side. “Sophia told
me to use a sling so it won’t get as swollen and sore. Could you help me put it on?” She handed him a sling Michael had used years
ago when he dislocated his shoulder. She
smiled as she felt Alberto’s fingers tremble as they moved her hair out of the
way before moving down her back to straighten the strap and fabric. “That feels good when you touch me like
that,” she whispered and heard his loud gulp.
“You’re killing me Gattina,”
Alberto whispered hoarsely.
“Alberto, anytime you’re done
perving on my sister, we’re ready,” Lorenzo said with a scowl as Alberto jumped
and almost fell off the bench much to the delight of the girls who started to
laugh.
“The yard’s clear,” Vin said
as he turned to his cousin. “Maria, I
want you to rest on the patio or the loungers.
Make sure you bring something to support your arm, something to drink,
and did you take your medicine?”
“Yes Dad,” she replied in a
huff. “I also made the potty.”
Vin burst out laughing and
leaned down, kissing her on the forehead, “Okay smartass, you know I’m just
worried.” Alberto growled and moved her
gently into his side and scented her as she caressed his arm to reassure
him.
When they were outside Ant
said, “Angelo and Victor, patrol the woods in wolf form.” They ran to the pool house and when they came
out Victor play bowed nipping at Angelo’s paw and ran towards the tree line as
Angelo watched for a few seconds before taking off in pursuit. “Sal, Alberto keep an eye on the front and
side yard.” They nodded and headed to
the corners of the house.
Ant told the girls to leave
their shoes on the patio and to follow him down to the yard. Sophia and Gabby lead the warm-ups and the
boys made adjustments to their charges movements. “Okay, we’re going to work on offense then
defense.” The two girls demonstrated
while the boys continued to make adjustments, always being positive and
offering encouragement. “Now comes the
fun part.” He instructed the twins to
pair up and moved them so they had a good view of Sophia and Gabby. “You’re going to start lightly sparring. Using the moves we’ve shown you, the older
twin will use offense while the younger uses defense. Follow what Sophia and Gabs are doing. They’ll show you how it’s done, and then you
do it until you’re proficient with it.” The
boys stood behind them adjusting their arms, shoulders and body placement until
the girls were comfortable then they stepped away to watch.
“You’re doing well, we’ll
take a break and then switch up,” Anthony motioned to the patio and the boys
brought out pitchers of sweet tea and water and the girls eagerly sat down in
the shade to rest.
Fiona asked quietly, “Anthony,
how are we doing?”
“You’re doing really well,”
he said as he filled Sophia’s glass with more sweet tea. “I don’t know how much you know of Were
culture, but the young inherit their father’s skill. Your father’s a Level 4, so you inherently
have a natural aptitude; we just have to refine your skills.”
“If we inherit our father’s
fighting ability, what do we inherit from our mothers?” asked Aislin before she
began to blush.
Maria and Sophia smiled as
Gabby said, “Luckily, their intellect.
The women are the brains behind the men’s brawn.” The girls high-fived while the boys rolled
their eyes, snorted or let out sighs.
“Will our fighting skills get
as good as Sophia and Maria?” Fallon asked as she smiled shyly at them.
“I doubt you’d want to be like
them because they’re highly abnormal,” Damian said with a straight face as
Sophia and Maria glared at him. “They’re
short scary little bundles of trouble who use scare tactics and intimidation
and if that doesn’t work then they get sneaky.
It’s an embarrassment to the rest of us Carlucci’s who would never think
of doing anything like that.”
Sophia took several deep
breaths before saying, “5 – 4 – 3 …,” Damian got up and began running through
the yard with Sophia several steps behind him.
“Catch him and kick his ass
Sophia,” Maria yelled as the others began cheering her on while the Millers
looked on in confusion.
“What’s going on?” asked Erin as she looked at Lorenzo who was laughing.
“Think about what he
said. Who’s sneakier than Damian or scarier
than Vin or Dom when they get mad?” he replied as he turned to look at her.
“Then who’s the intimidating
one?” she asked with a frown.
“Lorenzo,” the rest of the
Carlucci’s said with a laugh. They
continued to watch the chase, with Sophia losing ground until she fell with a
cry. Ant moved to get her but Vin
reached to stop him. They saw Damian
stop and move towards her, his face etched with concern and when he was within an
arm length, she sprang up and flipped him on his back before she let out a war
cry and did an elbow drop knocking the air out of his lungs. She rolled to her feet and stood over him
triumphantly and said, “Now that was
sneaky. Just like you and the others
taught us.”
Damian was laughing as he got
to his feet and started chasing her and within a couple steps he caught her and
swung her on his shoulder. “You need to
work on your follow though little cousin to make sure your opponent stays
down,” he said in an ominous tone as he ran straight towards the pool and dove
in.
“Well, that’s one way to cool
down,” said Brianna with a smile.
“You think so?” said Vin as
Brianna’s eyes got wide and she took off running. He growled before running after her and her
sisters started to giggle until they noticed the grins on the Carlucci boys and
they started to run laughing loudly.
“What the hell is going on? All I hear is laughing,” Victor asked as they turned around at the edge of the
woods near the road.
“We’ll take a look when we get closer,” Angelo replied as he looked at the much smaller wolf
as he ran in a loping motion. “You’re running better and it’ll be easier
when you grow into those paws.”
Victor laughed, “Yeah, they’re huge. Can I ask something?” Seeing Angelo nod he continued, “You didn’t mind getting stuck with me doing
patrols?”
“I don’t consider it getting stuck with you. It’s actually a relief, I’m not sure if you
realize it but your family can be a little intense at times,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re
more quiet, like me and it’s nice to be with somebody who doesn’t feel the need
to talk all the time.”
“Yeah, my family is a bit overwhelming,” Victor agreed.
“I’m surprised they didn’t argue
with Ant about letting me go on patrol.
I’m fifteen and a good fighter, but I don’t think they’ll ever see me as
anything other than a baby Carlucci.”
Angelo stopped running, “If they didn’t believe in your abilities,
you wouldn’t be here; you just need a little more experience and
confidence. The experience will come in
time, the confidence you have to build yourself.”
“And how do I do that?” Victor asked as he stared up at the older boy.
“Come on,”
he started to run again, the smaller wolf beside him. “You’re
young and you’ve got a lot of growing to do, physically and emotionally. As far as your family, they’ll always see you
and Sal as baby Carlucci’s.” Hearing
Victor chuff, he continued, “That’s
because you are. No matter how tall you
become, how strong you are or how old you get, you’ll always be their younger
brother and cousin and they’ll always look out for you.”
“I guess. Uncle
Frank calls Dad ‘baby brother’ and Dad doesn’t mind, in fact he seems to like
it,” he said as the two continued to
run, Angelo shortening his much larger strides to accommodate Victors smaller
size.
Hearing squeals of laughter,
they looked through the trees to see the girls getting tossed into the pool
followed by the boys jumping in behind them.
“What the fuck kind of training is
that? They’re having fun while we’re in
the woods?” Victor asked angrily as he turned to Angelo.
“They’re letting off steam and letting the girls cool
down. Remember when you first started to
train? It’s hard work and the Millers
aren’t used to it,” Angelo said in a
calm tone. “If you notice, Alberto and Sal are standing watch at the corner of the
house. Come on, we have a job to do Squirt.”
“Squirt? I’ll
get you for that,” Victor said with a
laugh as he chased after Angelo who lengthened his strides a little so Victor
had to run faster to catch up.
After five minutes Ant said,
“Everyone should be cooled down, let’s go.”
There were good natured grumbles but they got out and moved to the next
part of the exercise and the girls were exhibiting increased confidence and
becoming more fluid in their movements.
“Now, the older twin is going to throw an offensive move but the younger
one won’t know what it is and they’ll have to counter it. The boys’ll tell you why your counter worked
or didn’t work.”
The sound of slaps, hits,
grunts and groans filled the yard and Ant said, “This is your first practice,
you don’t have to hit hard enough to hurt your sister.” Ant had them switch and when he saw the girls
were tiring he called a break and the boys to return from their patrols; Angelo
and Victor changed into shorts and dove into the pool to cool off and Vin and
Dom went to the garage and came back with a wooden box and a ‘strike’
mannequin.
“You all did really well, and
will get better with practice. Our next
lesson involves restraints. The first
thing we’ll work with is handcuffs; putting them on and taking them off,” Dom
said with a smile as Vin handed each Miller girl a pair. “Chances are if you’re restrained, your
hands’ll be behind your back, so you’ll have to get out of them without being
able to see what you’re doing. I want
you to look at them, feel them, and learn where the keyhole is by touch. You’ll learn to recognize the sound of the
clicks and how it feels when the mechanism unlocks.”
“In the false bottom that’ll
be in each of our bags there’ll be a key, but we’ll also teach you how to use
everyday items to pick the lock; like barrettes, forks, pens and those of you
that can shift, your claw,” Damian said with a grin.
“We’ll demo on the mannequin
and you’ll be using the cuffs on your protectors and then yourselves,” Ant said. “You’ll use the key and be able to see what
you’re doing until you’re comfortable, and then we’ll make it harder. Pair up and sit on the ground across from
your partner.” There was excited chatter
as the Millers examined the cuffs and the boys showed them how they locked and
unlocked.
Ant waited several minutes
before he spoke, “Handcuffs are made of stainless steel, carbon steel or
aluminum, but the ones we use for prisoners are made of silver. Does anybody know why silver is harmful to
us?” The Millers shrugged as he
continued, “It attacks our bodies in many ways.
It attacks platelets which interfere in our healing process by not
letting blood clots form over our wounds until we’re lying in a pool of our own
blood as we slowly bleed out. We develop
hypoxia, which is a decrease in the amount of oxygen being carried by red blood
cells which saps our strength, we become light-headed and begin to gasp for air
as we slowly suffocate. It burns our
skin, starting with a first degree burn similar to sunburn; it progresses to a
second degree burn which evolves into a festering painful wound which oozes
blood and pus that triggers an immune response which the platelets aren’t able
to handle. From there it develops into a
third degree burn which is entirely through the skin, leaving a gaping wound
revealing blood, pus, tissue, muscle and bone …”
“Ant, I don’t think you need
to be so graphic,” Damian said as he began to laugh at the horrified
expressions on the Millers faces.
“Silver is bad, really bad, so stay away from it, unless you want Ant to
continue with the lecture.” The Millers hurriedly shook their heads as they
looked at Ant like he had three heads.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m used to
Poppa Frank and Mr. JC tell the young boys and they like the uhmm gory
details,” Ant said as he blushed.
Sophia was grinning as she
said, “Daddy tells the girls how silver interferes with our body’s functions
without the goriness and to make sure we handle it with gloves and wash up when
we come in contact with it.”
“Lock the cuffs on your
partner and use the key,” Ant said with a sheepish look. When the girls were comfortable with this
Sophia and Gabby put blindfolds on them.
Ant said quietly, “Your sense of sight is gone so you need to use your
other senses. Listen to the sounds of
the clicks, feel the cuffs with your hands, use your taste buds and enhanced
sense of smell to monitor your surroundings.
Are there others around you, are they human or Were? What does the air smell and taste like? All of that will come into play if you are
taken somewhere. It doesn’t do any good
to escape while your captor is in the room or you have no clue what your next
step is.”
“Your wolf, even those who
haven’t shifted, will come to the surface to protect and defend you. Let her, because her senses are more
enhanced,” added Dom in a calm voice.
“You’re doing really well. Take
your blindfolds off and we’ll show you how to use other things to pick the
lock.” Ant got several bags out of the
box and told the girls to take one and pass it on. Each boy showed the girls how to use the
items and when they got upset, they talked to them quietly. Sophia and Gabby brought them drinks, Maria
was asleep in a chair while the Moretti’s and two youngest Carlucci’s continued
to stand at the edge of the patio watching the yard.
“This time use the
blindfold.” Ant walked around offering
encouragement and when each had successfully picked the locks he smiled. “Now, your partner is going to put the cuffs on
you in front, you’ll use the key and the other items and then we’ll do the same
thing but with the blindfolds. The last
part of the exercise, the cuffs’ll be behind you, and we’ll add some
variations.” The girls quickly mastered
picking the locks with the cuffs in front, with and without the
blindfolds. The boys put the cuffs
behind them, handing them the keys and other items, this proved a little more
difficult but they quickly mastered it again.
“Here is where we’re adding
variety,” Anthony said with a smile.
“You’ll be cuffed from behind and you’ll unlock your twins cuffs.” The girls nodded and moved close to their
twins and the boys put the cuffs on, within a minute all the girls were
free. “Good job, now we’ll use the other
tools… but with blindfolds on.”
The boys scented the adults
coming downstairs and when they were in the kitchen waved to them to come
outside. “There’d better be a good
fuckin reason why my daughters are blindfolded and handcuffed,” Todd said in a
snarl.
“Oh Daddy, we’re really good
at escaping…watch me,” Kelly said excitedly as she used a fork prong to open
Aislin’s cuffs and then hers before taking her blindfold off in under twenty
seconds much to her fathers astonishment.
“She’s a natural,” Anthony
said with a smile. “They’re all really
good, but Kelly has an aptitude for picking locks.”
“Have you tried door locks
yet?” asked Frank with a smile.
“We haven’t gotten that
far. We worked on offensive and defense
strategies earlier. I’d say the girls
were ready for the second age group now,” Vin said as he looked at his intended
and grinned. “And we haven’t gotten to
Striker yet.”
“Who or what is a Striker?”
Brianna asked with a frown.
Anthony walked over to the
mannequin and said, “This is Striker. We
use him for more uhmm ‘personal’ training.”
“The Italians are sleeping,
and breakfast is in the oven,” Dom said with a smile. “While you’re eating, we’ll take a
break.” Seeing the grins on the boys
faces, the girls laughed and took off running, jumping into the pool with the
boys diving in immediately afterwards.
Their hollering woke Maria
and Joe sat down next to her, “How are you feeling Sweetie? Is the swelling down?”
“It’s okay, using the sling
really helped,” she said as she snuggled into his chest. “I took my pain pill and its making me
sleepy.” Joe put his arm around her as
she snuggled even deeper as she struggled to stay awake.
“Do you have any idea how
much noise you make?” Dante asked as he walked out of the carriage house,
followed by Ric, Rocco and Luc, all of them with scowls on their faces. “We have been awake for hours listening to
you. I need a pot of coffee. And I mean a pot, not a cup; just give me the
whole carafe.”
“Sorry old man, we forgot how
you old fogies need your sleep, and get cranky when you don’t get it,” Anthony
said with a smirk. “I guess old man
isn’t the right name anymore… it’ll be Gramps soon.” A slow smile spread across his face as Dante
frowned and Luc paled.
“Stop tormenting your
cousin,” Carlo said with a laugh. “Sorry
about that, you know Anthony was only teasing.”
“I know, but I am still
getting used to the fact my daughter has a mate…,” he turned and stared at Luc
with narrowed eyes. “And it is him.”
“Papa, are we going to go
through this again? You said were fine,
now you are not. You are giving me the
whiplash,” Luc said with a scowl.
“Papa?” Carlo questioned with
a smile as Dante rolled his eyes.
“Congratulations Luc,”
squealed Rose and Annie as they came running outside and hugged him. “Frank said you told everyone you and Cat
were mates, but he wouldn’t tell us how it happened.”
Frank and Joe began to squirm
and a malicious smile crossed Luc’s face, “That is easy, they listened in on my
private conversation with Catarina, and then they tricked me into revealing it
when I had no intention in doing so.”
Rose and Annie gasped as they
turned to their mates who gave sheepish grins before bolting to the tree
line. “You’d better run, because when we
catch you…” Annie stopped as she turned to her guests and continued, “If you
would excuse us, we need to teach some grown men some manners.”
Maria said excitedly, “Kick
his ass Mommy.” Rose and Annie smiled
before running towards the tree line as the youngsters watched with wide eyes.
“I told them Mom and Aunt
Rose would have a fit,” Paulo said with a laugh as he explained what
happened.
Gina walked out on the patio,
“Yes, it’s wonderful… I wish we could be there… send lots of pictures… give the
youngsters our love.” She hung up her
phone and smiled at Dante and Luc. “Calinda
is planning an engagement party on Friday to celebrate. She said she’s keeping it small… a thousand
people, plus the Pack.” Dante choked on
his coffee and Carlo slapped him on the back as he began to laugh.
Luc paled and a panicked look
came over his face as he began to hyperventilate, “I… I… don’t have… a
ring… If it’s… an official…
announcement, I… I… must get her an… engagement ring. What…what… am I going to do?”
“You’re leaving Wednesday,
there’s plenty of time to buy a ring,” Gina said in a gentle voice as she
patted his hand and Carlo started to growl.
She shot him an annoyed look and continued to talk in a soothing voice,
“Call your Pack’s jewelers and tell them what you want and they’ll have a
selection ready.”
Dante sighed, “She likes
sapphires. Last year, we went to select
a necklace for Calinda and Cat was looking at the engagement rings. There was one in particular; a 5-carat round
diamond with alternating sapphires and diamonds on the band. It was actually quite beautiful. If I remember, it was around 220,000
Euro.” Seeing the look on Gina’s face he
said, “About $300,000 American.”
Luc pulled out his phone
before walking into the house. Two
feminine howls were heard and Carlo said, “Sounds like Rose and Annie caught
them.” They continued to talk about Luc
and Cat while they ate and five minutes later two male howls were heard, “And
that I believe is Frank and Joe catching them.”
Damian fell to his knees on
the pool deck and said in a tortured voice as he grabbed his hair, “Why? Why must they torture me? I think they want me to go to therapy, as if
growing up in this family isn’t dysfunctional enough.”
“Could you tone it down Drama
Queen? The auditions for the spring play
are months away,” Vin said with a laugh.
Damian dove into the pool and
surfaced behind Caitlin startling her; as he stood he scented her hair and
began to frown. Wrinkling his nose he
whispered, “I don’t like that the water dilutes your scent Zucca. I don’t like it… don’t like it at all.” When she turned to respond, he was on the
other side of the pool and she wondered if she had imagined it, but he was
staring at her with a possessive glint in his eyes. “Hey Vin, what are we doing this year? It doesn’t matter, because I am so getting
the lead this year,” he said as he began to smile.
“How the fuck am I supposed
to know?” Vin said as he lifted Brianna onto the deck and then sat next to
her. “You know Ant?”
“No clue, Mom hasn’t said
anything yet. I wonder if we’ll even
have it,” Ant said as he watched the Carlucci parents walk out of the woods
holding hands. “We’d better get out, so
we can find out what’s going on.” The
boys headed into the pool house, while Sophia led the girls into the
house.
She stopped in the laundry
room and got t-shirts before going to Maria’s room, “Get undressed, I’ll put
our clothes in the washer and they’ll be ready in no time.” When she returned she handed out towels,
shampoo and Ivory Soap from the linen closet.
“Brianna and Morgan, you’ll shower here, Vin and Dom would have a fit if
you were in another males bedroom.
Shannon and Fallon, you’ll use Paulo and Michael’s; Kelly and Aislin,
Aunt Annie’s and Uncle Joe’s; Fiona and Maeve, the guest room; Erin and Caitlin,
Lorenzo and Damian’s. Gabby and I’ll use
Victors.”
When the boys joined the
adults on the patio, Carlo looked at Paulo and said, “You’ve been with the
youngsters all morning?”
“Yes Sir. Did you want me working instead?” Paulo asked
with concern.
“No, I meant to tell you last
night to take a break,” Carlo said in a reassuring tone as Paulo began to
relax. “I often forget how young you are
because of your abilities, but I want you to remind me if we are putting too
much pressure on you.”
Paulo blushed knowing
everyone was looking at him, “Yes Sir, I’ll let you know. Did you remember I’ll be starting college
this week?”
“Yes, and I wanted to talk to
you and your parents. Last year, your
mom and Aunt Rose drove because you were underage, this year you were supposed
to drive by yourself. I want to have
somebody with you so you aren’t alone.
I’m not sure who knows of your special ability and I fear some may try
to use that to their advantage by gaining control of you,” Carlo said as he sat
up. “Or worse.”
The Carlucci’s began to growl
and Joe said in an angry voice, “You’re being polite Carlo, and that’s not like
you. What you’re trying to say is you
think somebody would kidnap or kill my son.”
Carlo nodded, “Yes, he’s one
of our greatest assets, and if somebody is trying to weaken us, he’s one of the
ways to do it. Like we are protecting
the girls, we must protect him. I’m
surprised we didn’t think of this before.”
“I know I’m quiet and all,
but I can fight as well as anybody,” Paulo said with anger. “And I don’t want anybody to take away my
protection detail either; I’m perfectly capable of protecting Shannon.”
“We’re not questioning your
abilities, you are a strong fighter. But
when you attend college, you will
have somebody with you. Hood College
is twenty-five miles away, too far for the bond to work and if something
happens and you managed to contact us, it would take us over thirty minutes to
get there,” Carlo said in a calm but firm voice. “I’m not willing to take any chances with
your safety.”
Annie asked before Joe could,
“Who do you have in mind? If my son is
in danger, they’d better be able to protect him.”
“Austin and Boyd Sabatini,”
Carlo said with shrug. “They’re
graduates of the Police
Academy and Level 1’s but
you know Roman’s a Level 3. They’re
working at The School House this will be an extension of those duties.”
Joe looked at Annie, Frank
and Rose who nodded, before saying, “They’re good strong fighters, responsible
too. I’m okay with that.”
“Do I get a say in this?”
Paulo asked with a frown.
“No,” Joe, Annie, Frank and
Rose said in unison.
Paulo threw his hands in the
air, “Whatever. But they better not be
overbearing and obnoxious. I’m sixteen,
not some young one that they can boss around.”
“I’ll make sure they listen
to you and stay as inconspicuous as possible,” Carlo said in a reassuring voice
while Paulo continued to frown.
“Excuse me, I have something
I need to do,” Annie said after getting the request from Sophia. Putting the clothes in a basket, she brought
them upstairs, and knocked on Maria’s door before she entered. After the girls got dressed, she looked at
Erin and Caitlin, “I can’t believe how clueless my boys are. I think we should help them out a little,
don’t you? Follow me.” The girls smiled and nodded before following
her down the hall. “That bed is
Lorenzo’s the other’s Damian’s. Lie down
on their beds; make sure your scent is on both sides of their pillows, and all
over the sheets and comforters. What
else can we do to torture those stupid boys?”
She looked around the room, “Ooh, use their brushes and open the dresser
drawers and run your hands through their clothes, do the closet too. Don’t forget their towels in the bathroom,
Lorenzo’s is dark blue, Damian’s is medium blue.”
“Aunt Annie, that’s mean,” Sophia
said as she began to laugh.
Annie smiled broadly,
“Nothing they don’t deserve. Those boys
are as clueless as their father was, that’s why I had to help him along too,
but that’s a story for another time. We’d
better get downstairs, Alpha Carlo is waiting.”
The girls hurried up and finished and followed her downstairs.
“I’ve been thinking Carlo,”
Frank said as he took a sip of sweet tea.
“You said you wanted to have a Pack meeting tonight. I think it’d be better to have it tomorrow,
after you talk with Alpha Tristan and Savannah. We’d have a better grasp of what their plans
are, and it’ll give us more time to go over the files so we don’t miss
anything. We haven’t even got close to
figuring this thing out.”
Carlo looked at Gina who
nodded, “You’re right. I’d like to bring
in Reeder; he’d be helpful since he works with Homeland Security. Anyone else?”
“Brad and have Vinnie bring
his father,” added Joe. He turned to the
Millers, “Brad is the Assistant Chief of Police in Hagerstown and Mr. P retired from the CIA, he
teaches the Pack’s Electronic Surveillance course.”
“Aldo, so you can get his
impression as he reads the emails and other documents,” Annie said as Joe
nodded. “He can use my study; Isabelle
says it helps if he has a quiet environment and a Vanilla scented candle to
center him.” Carlo nodded and sent a
message to the men from last night as well as the men they just discussed to
come over at 2 PM.
“What do you want us to do
Dad?” asked Vin as he moved closer to Brianna.
“Finish the girl’s
lessons. I’d like to relax before my
brain explodes,” Frank said as he looked at Carlo who nodded.
Ant had the girls put their
shoes on and they moved below the patio.
“This is Striker; we use him to teach the same offensive and defensive move,
which is a strike to the uhmm…” He
blushed as he looked at the girls and his hands moved around wildly as he
searched for the right words. “Below the
uhmm… waistal area.”
“Waistal? What is that?
What are you talking about?” Caitlin asked with a frown. Anthony blushed even more as the Carlucci’s
and Moretti’s laughed.
“He’s talking about the bits
‘n pieces, the twig and berries, the bat and the balls, the frank ‘n beans, the
Drill and bits, the No-No spot and the Family Jewels,” Damian said with a grin
before throwing his head back and laughing loudly.
“Oh, you mean the gonadalls?”
Erin asked as Lorenzo started to grin.
“Gonadalls? They’re gonads, but yeah there… and please
I’m begging, stop with the names,” Ant sighed before rubbing his hands over his
face. “Like I was saying, the eyes and
that area are the most vulnerable places on a man. You can use your foot, knee, or fist to hit
him there and combined with striking at his eyes it’ll incapacitate him. Victor’ll demonstrate on Striker and then
you’ll try.”
“Why me?” Victor whined as
the girls began to giggle.
“Because it’ll be fun,” Ant
answered with a smile. Victor rolled his
eyes and walked slowly, dragging his feet up to Striker before weakly kneeing
him and turning to Ant with a pleading look in his eyes.
“For the love of Luna, move
out of my way,” Sophia said as she shoved Victor before pacing back and
forth. “It doesn’t do any good to put
your captor down until the right opportunity presents itself. Be aware of what’s going on around you; does
the same person check on you, what time does that happen, when he comes is the
door locked or unlocked, is he armed and can you hear or scent anyone
else. Once you have all that
information, you can make a more informed decision and remember you’ll only get
one chance for surprise and you can’t hesitate.” She stopped pacing and turned to stare at the
Millers, “When you strike, you strike hard and make sure they stay down.” They nodded and Sophia turned to face
Striker.
“When you’re within striking
distance, kick as hard as you can,” she said with a vengeful gleam in her eye
as she kicked and Striker bounced backwards as the boys groaned. “Normally, a man won’t fall over backwards,
he’ll bend forwards, that’s where you bring your knee up and hit him in the
nose or eyes and bring your hands together and hit him behind the neck, similar
to the move I used on Beatrice. I held
back, but if you’re escaping, you hit with everything you have.”
“With the knee, make sure
your foot is firmly planted to get the most leverage and power. After you knee them, do the same follow
through.” She demonstrated and then
knelt in front of Striker, “Don’t think because you’re on your knees that
you’re powerless. Hit him with your fist
with all the power in your arm and shoulder, and when they’re bending forward,
bring your elbow up and crack him in the face or use your fist. Now line up and we’ll practice on
Striker.”
“Will we get to practice on
the boys?” Erin asked with a devious smile as
she glanced at Lorenzo before hitting Striker viciously with her foot.
“Oh hell no” “Fuck no” “Are
you kidding?” “NO” were heard from the boys as they reflexively leaned forward
and cringed.
The adults were laughing at
the disappointed looks on the girls faces and Carlo’s voice was full of pride
as he said, “She’s a good teacher, she’ll make an excellent Madame Alpha.”
Frank smiled, “She helps
train the young ones. Even before the
declaration they looked up to her, now they hang on her every word. They’re starting to call her Miss Sophia,
signifying their respect for their future Madame Alpha.”
Annie looked at the clock,
“While you work on the files, Rose and I need to get groceries. It’s our week for meals and the fridge is
practically empty.”
Joe nodded, “Take Gianni,
Marcus, Victor and Angelo.”
“We’ve got to go home,” Holly
said with a sigh. “The girls have
homework, and we’ve got a million things to do including laundry.” She looked at Todd, “I know you and Dad want
to stay, so I’ll ask Vin and Dom to go with us.”
“Ask Lorenzo and Damian too,
it’ll give you extra protection at the house,” Annie looked at Holly and the
two women shared a knowing smile.
Todd nodded, “That’ll make me
feel better. Make sure the girls stay
inside and the alarms on. We’ll take you
home, and then come back.”
“We’ll go with you to escort
the Millers, my car’s still there then we’ll go home and get cleaned up,” Gina
said as Carlo nodded.
Frank whistled drawing the
youngster’s attention and they ran to the patio where he told them the
plans. Ten minutes later, the Millers
were on the way to their house, with Matt, Phil, Todd, Papa Mike, Dante, Carlo,
Gina and the four Carlucci boys as their escorts. “I’ve got my list,” Annie said fifteen
minutes later as she stepped onto the patio and Joe and Frank walked their
mates to Annie’s SUV.
“Keep the bond open,” Frank
whispered as he scented his mate. “Do
you need more than those four with you?”
“We’ll be fine,” Rose
answered with a giggle as he bit her ear.
Frank sighed as she moved out of his arms and got into the passenger
seat.
Joe bumped his brother’s
shoulder as they watched Annie pull out of the driveway, “They’ll be fine. It’s only fifteen minutes away; they have
four of the boys with them and more members of the Pack working at the store.”
“I know, but my wolf doesn’t
like the fact his mate is going without us,” Frank answered with a frown. “I can feel your wolf on edge too.”
Joe shrugged, “He’s been like
that since Maria’s surgery. I can feel
him whimpering when we sense her pain, he doesn’t like the fact she’s
hurt.”
“When’s her next
appointment?” Frank asked with a frown.
“Dr. Parr said she should do
follow-ups with Doc and we have one next week,” he glanced around the
yard. “I’m worried she’s not healing like she should be. Doc said it was a freak injury and the bone
hadn’t fully healed, but I have this feeling like there’s more, and my wolf
senses it too.”
“Have you talked to Doc or Annie about it? You know our wolves have better senses than
we do,” Frank said as he stared at
the concern in his brother’s eyes.
“I haven’t talked to Doc, and Annie said I was being
overprotective,” Joe said with a
sigh. “But I can’t ignore my wolf, he knows something isn’t right.”
“Do you need me to be there?” Frank asked as they walked around the house.
Joe laughed, “I’m a big boy, I can handle it on my own.”
“No matter how big you are, you’ll always be my baby
brother and I’ll be here for you,”
Frank said as he threw his arm around Joe’s shoulder.
“I love you too, even if you’re arrogant,
condescending, annoying, and a pain in my ass,” Joe said with a grin as they walked onto the
patio. “We’re going to get cleaned up
before we start. Do you have
homework? If not, you can start
lunch.” The youngsters nodded and went
to check what was on the menu.
“I finished my homework, if
you get me something to eat I’ll get started,” Paulo said before heading to his
office. Twenty minutes later Joe was
bringing two sandwiches, with chips and a drink and sat them down on the
desk.
“Thanks Dad,” Paulo said
absentmindedly before turning to the screen.
“Oh fuck, look at this.” The men
immediately turned and saw what alarmed Paulo.
It was a list of the girls from SMP under the age of twenty-one; their
birthdates, activities they did, fathers rank, and approximate net worth of
each family. The most alarming to the
men were the pictures that had been taken throughout the territory.
“How the fuck did they get
pictures?” Frank asked angrily as his eyes turned amber. “That’s me and Sophia at the Mall, I never
sensed anything.”
“Blow that one up,” Joe said
with a scowl pointing to a picture of Maria.
“That’s taken in the store where I bought Annie’s digital camera. Afterwards, we went to Carmelo’s…” He pointed
at another pic, “And had lunch.”
“What about Carmelo’s?” Carlo
asked as he walked in followed by the other men. Frank explained what Paulo found and Carlo
said in a voice full of anger, “It couldn’t have been a Were, you would’ve
scented him. Right now finding out about
the threat to the girls is the number one priority… the drugs, finances, all
that shit can wait. I want you to find
out who took those fucking pictures.”
Paulo nodded and a minute
later he said, “Got the date from your credit card, it was the beginning of
May. Now I can go into Carmelo’s
security system.” Moments later they
were watching video from inside the restaurant.
“These pictures were taken in
May? All the info we have says the
contract to take the girls didn’t originate until last week. So why would they be under surveillance?”
Carlo asked as he turned to the other men.
“We’ve got to look into the rest of the files, to see what other
information applies to our Pack.”
“I can do a word search of
the files,” Paulo said with a shrug.
“I’ll start with ‘SMP’, ‘Rossi’, ‘Millers’, and then do ‘Carlucci’. I’ll
start while you watch the video.”
There was silence in the room
and then Joe shouted, “We’re walking in the restaurant now. From the angle, look at people across from
us.” Paulo slowed the video and they
watched as a couple came in and sat in the area Joe specified. The woman placed her pocketbook on the table
and they watched her angle it towards each girl, then at Gabby before hanging
it from her chair.
Paulo said, “I’m running
their pics through the DMV.” They
watched the couple eat, then the woman walked towards the Carlucci’s moving her
pocketbook back and forth before going into the restroom, and the man paid
using a credit card. “On it.” Paulo checked the time stamp on the tape
against the register and said, “Simon Ashbrook of Ashbrook Investigations in Frederick.” Screen after screen came up in the bottom
corner and Paulo printed out his DMV record, bank financials for the last ten
years, mortgage records of his house and business, Army service record and
employment records from the Maryland State Police (MDSP).
“What’s going on?” Gina asked
as she came in and Carlo filled her in.
“We need to talk to Brad,
something’s not right,” Frank said looking up from the paper he was
holding. “He was with the State Police
for ten years, his reviews were high in the beginning but at the end he was
barely passing. He was brought before
the disciplinary board for brutality and conduct unbecoming an officer and placed
on suspension and his employment ended shortly after. It makes you wonder if he left on his own or
was encouraged to quit.”
“The woman is Raquel
Ashbrook,” Paulo said with a grin.
“They’ve been married two years and she worked for the Montgomery County
Sheriff’s Department until 2000 when she was fired for tampering with evidence
in a drug investigation. They formed
Ashbrook Investigations two years ago but their income doesn’t justify their
lifestyle. Their 1040’s say they’re
making $100k between the two of them, but their mortgage is almost $5k/month,
plus they’re leasing two luxury cars for $2k and that’s not even counting their
other living expenses.”
“Brad, what do you know about Simon Ashbrook?” Carlo asked opening the link to his Pack members in
the room and Dante who told the Italians.
“I worked with him when we had cross jurisdictional
cases. He was a good cop but that
changed when he started dating this cop from Montgomery County. He started calling in, coming in late,
missing calls while he was on patrol, roughed up a couple of suspects and his
attitude went to shit,” Brad answered
as he walked out of his office to grab a cup of coffee. “After
he was suspended he quit without notice and applied here. The Chief wanted to hire him, over my objections,
but he popped positive for The Trifecta; marijuana, cocaine and meth.”
Carlo sighed, “Was there ever talk he was involved in the
drug trade?”
“I’d heard rumors that Internal Affairs was ready to
start an investigation and he quit before they could. The cases we worked on together involved drug
trafficking and distribution so he knew the players. What’s going on?” Brad asked with a sigh, as he walked back towards his
office.
“We’ll fill you in when you get here. Bring anything you have on him in your
unofficial files,” Carlo said with a
frown.
“Yes Alpha, I’ll be there when I get off at 6. Let me know if you need anything else,” Brad said as Carlo closed the bond. He sat down thinking of the bright future
that had been wasted as he reached for the phone to call his contact in the
MDSP and Frederick County Sheriff’s Dept and Frederick Police Dept before he
went through his own personal files he kept in a locked desk drawer.
“Alpha Carlo, I checked and
his name is on the list of people who bought drugs from Davis Pack,” Paulo said
and then stopped and drew a shaky breath before saying quietly. “There’s more… I finished looking at the
file. They had plans on different ways
to kidnap the girls, including pros and cons of each. The School House, Dance class, the Mall,
bowling alley, they also had plans on several locations at the same time and
the most disturbing…” He took another
deep breath, “Was to wait for one of the girls to have a birthday party and
attack. They felt that would have the
highest rate of success because we’d be traumatized by our history. That’s why they had their birthdates and
things the girls did.”
“It is starting to come
together with the link to Davis Pack,” Dante said with a frown. “It does not surprise me that they are
involved in human trafficking and kidnapping, those are money making ventures
for the drug cartels.” He ran his hands
over his face, “That would explain why they have each family’s net worth listed. But the question remains, why your Pack and
not another?”
“We’re one of the oldest and
wealthiest Packs in the country, SMI’s holdings are a matter of public record
as well as the fact that most Pack members have their own businesses,” Gina
stopped and turned to Carlo. “With our
history, what wouldn’t we give to get our girls back if they were kidnapped?”
The men were lost in their
thoughts and minutes passed before Carlo whispered, “There’s nothing I wouldn’t
give … I’d give them everything I owned…and if they asked it of me, I would
give my life.” The men quietly nodded in
agreement and Gina had tears in her eyes as she hugged her mate.
“They know they are your
weakness, taking in account the Pack’s history and the fact so few have been
born,” Dante said with a frown. “We need
to finish looking at the files to determine what else they know.”
Gina nodded, “While you work
on that, I’m going to organize everything according to date and time so it’ll
be easier for us to see what happened and when.”
“Is that why we stopped to
get supplies?” Carlo asked with a smile.
“Yes, and to replenish
Paulo’s supplies,” Gina said with a smile as Paulo grinned. “Anthony
could you and the boys get the packages out of my SUV?”
“Yes Mommy,”
he replied and minutes later they carried in boxes of manila folders, plastic
file holders, green hanging folders, four cases of white paper, and a case each
of pink, blue, green and yellow. “Damn
Mom, you buy out the store?”
“Don’t start with me Anthony;
I got your credit card bill yesterday.
Do you really want to compare expenses?” Gina said as she raised her
eyebrow.
Anthony looked at his father
who turned to him with a questioning look, “Ugh no. What do you need us to do?”
“Label the boxes 1999 to 2003; use a hanging file
for each month. Sort these into the date
they were sent,” Gina said as she handed Anthony the stack of emails and
financial records. “I’ll make copies of
the other papers and bring them to you.”
The boys nodded and took the supplies needed into the kitchen. Ten minutes later, Sal, Victor and Sophia
brought in sandwiches, drinks and chips and the adults murmured their thanks as
they continued to read, sort and make copies.
Paulo exhaled loudly and
turned to his Alpha’s. “I’ve found
something doing the search for ‘Rossi’ and you’re not going to like it.” Everyone quickly looked to the monitors. “It’s a file on Ant. There’s pictures of him, newspaper articles,
your families net worth, his trust fund, pictures of his old car.”
Carlo asked in a quiet voice,
“What does HWNS mean on the file name?”
Paulo whispered, “Heir with
no Spare; that was the title on the first page.” He heard Gina gasp and felt her pain over the
Alpha bond and seconds later Anthony and the youngsters were running down the
hallway.
“Are you okay Mommy?” Anthony
asked as he hugged her.
“I’m fine, a little
overwhelmed by everything,” she said as Carlo motioned for Paulo to change what
was on the monitors but it was too late.
“Why are there pictures of me
up there?” he asked as his parents looked at each other before Gina began to
cry quietly. An anguished growl tore
from Carlo as he moved to his mate and son engulfing them in his arms. Frank and Joe motioned for everyone to leave
the room to give them privacy.
“Is Gina okay?”
Rose asked her voice full of concern.
Frank told her what was going on and he could tell Joe was talking to
Annie and both told their mates to let the Pack members at Rossi’s Grocery know
Gina was okay and Carlo would talk to them later. The house phone and their cell phones started
to ring with concerned Pack members who were unable to contact their Alpha’s or
Anthony.
“Paulo, send an email that
the Rossi’s are okay and Carlo will talk to them later. Dante, could you send the same message to
your Pack members?” Frank asked as he ran his hands through his hair. He turned to the front door and said, “The
others are here.” Joe nodded and went to
the door and a minute later Ed, Carmelo, Vinnie, Mr. P, Aldo, Reeder and the
Italians hurried onto the porch.
“How’s Gina?” Vinnie asked as
the others waited anxiously for the answer.
“She’s okay, her Carlo and
Anthony are in Paulo’s office and need some privacy,” Joe quietly said and
waited while the men relayed the information to their families. “Let’s go to my study.”
Paulo stayed in the kitchen
with the youngsters while the men went into Joe’s study and Vinnie said, “Dad
read my set of emails, and Ed and Carmelo gave Aldo and Reeder theirs. So they’re up to date on them.” Frank and Joe told them everything they had
discovered that day and they listened in stunned silence.
“Ashbrook was in the
restaurant Friday night when Vin and Dom brought Brianna and Morgan, and
Saturday night for the quadruple First Date,” Carmelo said angrily. “I spoke to the bastard on Saturday, asked
him what he was doing because I hadn’t seen him in a while and he said he was
working a job. I was nice to him and
that fucker was spying on my Gabriella.”
“Aldo, Carlo would like you
to use Annie’s study to focus on the emails and files to see if you get any feelings
about them. She has it set up with a
candle, do you need anything else?” Joe asked as he looked around his study.
“I’d like somebody to write
down what I say,” Aldo said quietly before motioning to his cousin
Stephano. “I’d take him, but he talks
too much and we wouldn’t be able to understand what he writes.”
Stephano threw his hands up
as he gestured wildly, “I must do the talk to practice the English, I wish not
to be a stiff board.”
“If you shut up and listened
you’d learn more than talking nonstop,” Aldo said rolling his eyes at his young
cousin. “And you really can’t do
anything about being stiff with that stick up your ass.”
He turned to Dante, “What is
this stick he keeps up my ass?”
“I will explain it to you
later,” Dante answered as the men began to laugh.
“I’ll go with Aldo,” Vinnie
said and Aldo nodded. They got up and
followed Joe to Annie’s study. Aldo lit
the candle before lying down and Joe handed Vinnie pen and paper before quietly
closing the door and walking into the kitchen to check on the youngsters. He stood watching the boys and Gabby sorting
and filing, and Sophia, Victor and Sal doing homework at the table.
“Something you need Poppa
Joe?” Alberto asked quietly as he saw Joe look at Maria who was asleep in the family
room.
Joe shook his head and felt
his wolf prowling back and forth; he didn’t like his mate being away from him,
his youngsters at someone else’s home and the fact his daughter was
hurting. “Since everything’s been cancelled
for tonight, I’d like to go on a run in wolf form. With everything going on, he’s on edge and I
think it’ll help settle him down. Well
settle us all down.”
The boys nodded and Alberto
looked at his intended. “If Maria’s up
to it, she can ride on my back. It’ll do
her good to get out and be included with the family. She’s been feeling left out of things and
smothered at the same time. She’s upset because she feels like she’s a pain in
the ass. You know with the family having
to stay at Mr. C’s house, Mrs. C having to do an extra work, having to ask Parr
Ridge for a favor, and basically putting everybody’s schedule out of
whack.”
“I didn’t think about
that. That’s my fault… I want to protect
her and guess I’m overdoing it,” Joe quietly said before swinging his head to look
at Alberto. “How do you know all that?”
“I do more than hold and
scent her. We talk about everything, nothing is off limits or out of bounds
for us,” Alberto said with a sly smile.
“You’re just like me when I
was your age. Pops told me I’d get payback
for what I did when I was young, I guess this is it,” Joe muttered with a
frown.
“Oh come on Poppa Joe, I’m
not that bad, am I?” Alberto asked with a smile. Joe narrowed his eyes and walked out without
answering him. Once he was out of sight
he let a smile cross his face as he heard Alberto begin to laugh.
The men continued to talk in
the study until Carlo said, “Everyone can
come back now. We need to finish this.”
As they passed through the
kitchen Michael said, “Mom and Aunt Rose are on the way back. Don’t worry about bringing in the groceries,
we’ll do it.” Frank and Joe nodded and
followed the others to Paulo’s office.
Carlo looked at the men as
they walked in the room, “I’ll assume Frank and Joe updated you about Ashbrook
spying on our Pack. We need to come up
with a plan to take this fucking bastard out of the equation.”
Mr. P glanced at his Alpha
and said, “We don’t know how much information he’s been given about the Pack
and who and what we are. We should send
an email from Davis Pack telling him to hide-out for several weeks and then
follow him.”
“What is the point?” Dante
asked as Carlo began to smile.
“We need information only he
can give. By having him away from his
house, it’ll give us the advantage and we could interrogate him
thoroughly. I know some drug cocktails
we could use and he’d never even realize he’d been drugged, it’ll all seem like
a dream,” Mr. P said as he rubbed his hands together.
“As soon as he leaves we’ll
go in and search his house and access his computer to see what else he’s been
up to,” Frank said with a smile.
“Oooh, a field trip, I like
that,” Paulo said with a grin.
“After we interrogate him and
get all the information we need, what do we do then?” Ed asked as he looked at
Carlo.
“We have Brad work with the
MDSP and the Frederick County Sheriff’s Department to launch an investigation
about drug trafficking. He’ll say a
confidential informant implicated Ashbrook.
They’ll start an investigation but our men will keep a close eye on
everything,” Carlo said in a cold voice.
“According to Alpha Council law, he has not caused us any harm, so we
must proceed with the human court of law.”
“And if he did harm us?”
Reeder asked as he narrowed his eyes.
Frank and Joe looked at each
other before turning to Carlo who then looked at Gina and Anthony who nodded
their heads. Carlo stood up to his full
height, his eyes flashing amber as he said, “We protect the Pack and family
above all else.”
The men nodded and as one
said, “Yes, Alpha.”
“If everyone will excuse me,
I need to talk to my intended,” Anthony said as he nodded to the men before
leaving the room. He walked into the
kitchen and smiled as he watched her argue with Sal and Victor over their math
homework. “Arachide, can I talk to you
outside?”
She smiled at him and walked
onto the patio. “Are you okay? I know you said you were, but are you really
okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said before
turning to her with a determined look.
“I want to talk about having a protection detail for you. I don’t want you to go anywhere without at
least four men guarding you at all times.
Maybe more than four.”
“Paulo told us about the
girls, but he also said you’re a target too,” Sophia whispered as she looked at
her hands. “I know you want to protect
me, what you need to realize is I also want to protect you. You’re my intended mate, the future father of
my little ones, the man I’ll spend the rest of my life with and if anybody
tries to hurt you…,” her voice trailed off and she took a deep breath before
raising her head until she was looking into his eyes. “I’ll rip their fucking heads off.”
Anthony growled, his eyes
flickering between brown and amber as his wolf paced back and forth knowing
their intended would be a powerful mate and Madame Alpha. “You would do that for me?”
An almost feral look crossed
her face, “I’m a Carlucci and a Vitti, we protect what’s ours… and you Anthony
Rossi… are mine.”
“And you Sophia Carlucci are
mine,” he responded before pulling her tightly against his side and scenting her
deeply.
“I hate to break up the
little romantic thingie you got going on, but Mom and Aunt Annie just pulled
up. We got groceries to haul,” Sal said
with a laugh as Ant reluctantly let Sophia go.
Thirty minutes later, the
groceries were put away and Annie and Rose sat at the table with a cold
drink. “We started the gravy with the
meatballs and sausage for dinner,” Sophia said as she pointed to four 15-qt
stockpots on the stove. “We were going
to start the lasagna but we didn’t have the ricotta or mozzarella.”
Rose nodded, “While you make
the lasagna, we’re going to find out what’s going on. Make three trays instead of two since we have
company for dinner.”
Three hours later Sophia said
to her mom, “It’s ready.” After Rose told everyone there were sighs of
relief as they were ready for a break.
Trays of lasagna, meatballs, sweet and hot Italian sausage, garlic
bread, Italian bread and a large Antipasto were on the breakfast bar. After getting their food, the youngsters sat
at the kitchen table while the adults went to sit on the patio.
“How is it going Aldo?” Carlo
asked quietly as he and Vinnie joined them.
“Good, we’re almost
done. Vinnie has notes of what I’ve said
and my impressions. I’d rather not talk
about it until we’re finished if that’s okay Carlo,” he responded as he rubbed
his hands over his face.
Carlo nodded and said, “Eat
and take as long of a break as you need.”
Aldo nodded and sat down with his plate as he began to quietly talk with
Ed.
Several minutes went by as
the adults were talking quietly when they heard Carlo say, “Carmelo, any news
from Marco?”
“Yeah, where is your new
assistant? I thought he’d be here,” Mr.
P asked as he looked between Carmelo and Carlo.
“No news yet,” Carmelo
answered with a sigh before he turned to Mr. P.
“Anna went into heat yesterday afternoon. It was unexpected; it’s only been four months
since the last one. Rita and Lilly are
providing meals and beside me, the only male Marco will allow near The Cottage
is Thomas.” He turned to Todd and Papa
Mike, “In case you don’t remember Lilly and Thomas are Anna’s parents.”
“I can’t wait for a
grandchild,” Gina, Annie and Rose said as Carlo, Frank, Joe and Todd began to
choke. Minutes passed as they coughed
and sputtered before shouts of “It
better not happen for at least five years” “Not this again, I can’t take it”
“It better not be anytime soon” “Are you trying to fucking kill me?” were
heard. As one they turned to the kitchen
and glared at the youngsters who were laughing.
Ant and Alberto held their
hands up in surrender and Sophia said, “Relax Daddy. Maria and I already decided we’re going to
take summer sessions so we can graduate early and then we’ll have little ones.”
“Change the subject before I
blow a gasket,” Frank said as he continued to glare at Anthony who had a wicked
grin on his face.
Carlo nodded, “I’d like to
have the Parr Ridge game here instead of going there. We can invite Tristan and Rain to talk with Savannah on neutral
ground.” The adults nodded and Carlo
said, “I’ll call them tonight and set everything up.”
Gina said, “I’ll set the
luncheon menu with Mitchell’s catering.
There’s plenty of time for them to order supplies.” She turned to Rose and Annie and smiled, “I
have some ideas for the Meet ‘n Mingle.”
The adults talked about what needed to be done for Friday’s game
including the extra security needed.
*****
At the Millers Holly said,
“Dinners ready.”
Lorenzo got up from the
coffee table where he was helping the girls with their Italian homework and said,
“What are we having?”
“Stuffed pork chops, mashed
potatoes and broccoli casserole,” Holly said with a smile. “We made you three pork chops each.”
“And dessert?” Damian replied
as he got up from where he was laying on the floor pretending to watch TV but
was instead staring at Caitlin.
“We’re trying new pie
recipes, so we have peach, apple crumb, blueberry and cherry with vanilla ice
cream,” Nana Ellen said with a smile as the boys groaned.
“I’m starving since we didn’t eat much lunch,”
Damian replied as he ate a large spoonful of mashed potatoes covered with
gravy.
“You had three hamburgers and
four hot dogs, that was more than Fiona and Maeve ate put together,” Caitlin
said with a frown.
“And I’m bigger than Fiona
and Maeve put together,” he retorted as he winked at the youngest Millers who
smiled at him. “They’re what, eighty
pounds each? I’m over 200 pounds of
finely chiseled muscle. I’m a perfect
male specimen”
Lorenzo looked at him and
narrowed his eyes, “I swear to Luna if you rip your shirt off I’ll stab you
with my fork.”
“And we’ll hold you down
while he stabs you,” Vin said as Dom nodded.
Damian shook his head and
looked at the Millers before sighing loudly, “They’re jealous. You can hear it in their voices and see it in
their eyes every time they look at me. I
can’t help it if I’m the best looking one and have the best physique. It’s a curse I tell you…a curse. A lesser man wouldn’t be able to deal with
it.”
As the others began to laugh,
Maeve smiled and waved her fork at him, “I like your attitude and even though
you like being the center of attention you never do or say anything to hurt
anyone; you love your family and Pack unconditionally; you’re friends with
everyone because you don’t like the thought of people not liking you; you like
making people laugh even if it means they’re laughing at you… but you also have
a scary side.” She stopped and tilted
her head, “You’re fiercely protective and I think out of all the Carlucci’s,
you’re the one to watch out for in a fight.”
Damian’s was holding his fork
halfway to his mouth and he put it down as he stared at her, “How do you know
all that?”
“I can see it swirling around
you. I’ve never seen such a mix of red,
yellow, green and blue before, such beautiful colors,” she said before she
started to eat her pork chop. The boys
continued to stare while the Millers ate.
“Momma, I forgot to tell you we have to buy a gift for Miss Anna and Mr.
Marco.”
Holly nodded, “What kind of
gift?”
“They’re going to have a
little one. She had sparkly diamonds
around her,” she said as she giggled.
“Mr. Carmelo is going to be the happiest one out of all of them, but he
won’t let anybody know that.” She looked
at Lorenzo who was frowning, “You have some slightly darker colors that tend to
dim your brighter ones because you’re mad a lot, but you’re mad at yourself
because you don’t understand. You want
somebody to love you for who you are as an individual, not as part of your
family. But you love your family and
would do anything for them.”
“I don’t understand Maeve,
can you explain?” Vin asked in a quiet voice.
She looked at her mother who
had concern in her eyes as she said, “Maeve sees colors or Auras around people
and translates it into emotions and feelings.
Todd researched it and we think it’s because Fiona and Maeve had
pneumonia when they were born and Maeve almost died several times. She was also born with the amniotic sac over
her face; it’s called a Venetian Veil or Caul and is very rare. In folklore, those born that way are very
sensitive and often have second sight.”
The Carlucci’s looked at each
other and Lorenzo said in a gentle voice, “So you can see the good and bad in
people?”
She shuddered delicately, “I
can see when people are bad; they’re dark, very dark and I don’t like it. It gives me chills and makes me sad.”
The boys looked at each other
again and Dom leaned forward and held her hand gently, “Maeve, I want you to
think hard and answer as honestly as you can.
When we were at SP, did you see any dark auras around anybody? Or have you seen them around anybody since
you came here?”
She shook her head, “Nope…
well, I don’t like Victoria;
hers were muted colors full of jealousy and greed. Daddy always told me to let him know if I
ever saw any and he told me not to tell…”
She looked at her mom and her eyes teared up, “Mommy, it was okay to
tell them, right? Daddy’s not going to
be mad?”
Holly hugged her, “It’s okay
Sweetie, they’re family and won’t hurt you.”
She pulled back to look in her eyes, “Look at their colors, what do you
see?”
She looked at the four boys
who were smiling at her, “Light and bright colors mixed in with gold for
protection. Just like Uncle Matt and
Uncle Phil.”
Damian smirked, “I bet I have
the prettiest colors.” Maeve began to
giggle and it was so innocent and joyful the others joined in though they
weren’t sure why.
Vin looked at the other boys,
“We’ve got to tell Alpha Carlo, Dad and
Uncle Joe about Maeve; she’d be in terrible danger if somebody found out about
this.” They quickly agreed and Vin
relayed what they found out.
“Let’s finish dinner, then we
can get started on the desserts,” Nana Ellen said as she smiled at her youngest
granddaughter. The boys made up for lost
time and minutes later there wasn’t any food left on the table.
“We’ll do the dishes while
Lorenzo helps the girls finish their homework,” Vin said as he began stacking
plates.
*****
“Todd, I’d like to talk to
you and Papa Mike in Joe’s study.
Everyone please finish dinner.”
He motioned for Dante, Frank and Joe to follow. As they walked through the kitchen he saw
Sophia laughing and calmness washed over him.
The men sat and Todd said
quietly, “Holly told me and I was wondering when you were going to say
something. Let me explain our decision
not to tell you.” He drew a shaky
breath, “Maeve was around six months old when she began to shy away from some
of the Pack members. We didn’t
understand until she was older and could explain what she was seeing and
feeling. I researched it and as soon as
we understood the gift she was blessed with we decided for her safety that we’d
hide it from everybody. Not because we
were ashamed but we didn’t want them to ostracize her or use her, especially
after Charles took over.”
“When Charles gave the
Command that we weren’t allowed to use the bond, we used signals if she saw
somebody bad; she’d tilt her head and scratch her left shoulder. We had to change it because there were so
many bad people her shoulder was raw,” Papa Mike said with a sigh. “When we got here, she saw only bright colors
and we talked about it, and decided if she saw something bad then we’d tell
you.”
“They went through hell the
last five years and we’d do anything to protect them. I’m sorry Alpha Carlo,” Todd said as he bared
his neck.
Carlo nodded accepting his
submission, “I understand the need to protect them since I’ve begun to feel
that way about Sophia.” Frank looked at
him and smiled. “But the only way we can
protect your family is if we are open and honest with each other. We’d never use her for anything devious or
put her in any danger, but I would like if she continues what you told her to
do… to let you know if she sees anything bad.
If that’s agreeable with you.”
Todd nodded, “She said she’d
like to talk to someone to find out more about her gift. Is that something she’d be able to do?”
“If that’s what she wants,
that’s what she’ll get. You may want her
to talk to Aldo so she knows there are others with gifts and she’s not alone,”
Carlo answered.
Todd grinned, “She likes Aldo
because he has good colors.”
Joe leaned forward, “Is there
anything else we need to know?”
“Fiona sees dead people,”
Todd said with a blank expression.
Carlo, Frank, Joe and Dante sat in stunned silence before Todd and Papa
Mike began to laugh. “I’m only
kidding. None of the other girls have
any special gifts.” The four men joined
in the laughter, all of the tension they had felt that day easing away.
As their laughter died down
Carlo sighed, “Damn, I needed that. My
wolf wants to break out and take Ashbrook’s head for placing the youngsters in
danger. I’m not sure how I’m going to
restrain him when we’re interrogating Ashbrook.”
“We need to talk about that,”
Frank said with a frown. The others
nodded and went back to the patio and Frank turned to Mr. P, “Who do you want
with you when you’re interrogating Ashbrook?”
“The Elders,” he replied with
a determined look. “Paulo’ll set up a
video and we’ll keep the bond open so you can give us any questions we hadn’t
thought of. Under no circumstances
should Carlo or any of the Beta’s be there.
This can never be traced back to the Pack, if anything goes bad The
Elders can disappear.”
“Agreed,” the men said as
Carlo nodded.
Vinnie looked at his father
who had a big smile on his face, “Dad, why do I get the impression you’re
enjoying the thought of interrogating him?”
“Retirement sucks. This is the most excitement I’ve had in
years,” Mr. P said with a disgusted shrug.
“Look son, I love your mother more than anything in the world but if I have
to sit through another one of her Garden Club meetings or Bridge Clubs my wolf
and I are going to run out and play in traffic to put us out of our
misery.” The adults began to laugh and
Mr. P joined in, all of them stopping abruptly as Mr. P said, “Brad’s here.”
*****
“Vin said to give you a
quarter pie each, so by the time we finish you’ll have eaten a whole pie, is
that too much?” Nana Ellen asked as she began to cut the first peach pie into
twelve pieces for her, Holly and the girls.
“We can eat a whole pie with
no problem,” Damian said with a smile as the girls stared at him. “What?
Dinner was like an hour ago.”
After they were done each
pie, Nana Ellen and Holly filled out forms as to texture, taste, appearance and
what they liked and didn’t like. The
girls didn’t have any suggestions since the only desserts they’d ever had were
made by their mom and Nana Ellen, but the boys offered theirs; more cinnamon in
the apple pie, thicken the juice in the peach and blueberry and to sweeten the
cherry pie.
“Don’t get us wrong, these
were the best pies we’ve ever had,” Lorenzo said as he sat back. “I think it’s because the fruit here is
different than what you’re used to. It’s
the soil; it’s a combination of clay, sand and silt. Washington
County is famous for its
corn, cantaloupes and fruit.”
Nana Ellen nodded, “We hadn’t
thought about that. We bought the fruit
from the farmers market in town. We’ll
have to make adjustments.”
“We’ll be your taste testers
anytime,” Vin said as he rubbed his stomach.
“I don’t know if we can
afford to feed you,” Holly said with a laugh.
*****
“Here’s all the information
on Ashbrook from my confidential files and my contacts,” Brad said handing a
folder to Carlo. “Since he started his
business, he’s had several complaints lodged with the Police and licensing
department for unsavory business practices.
He’s currently under investigation by both.”
Before Carlo replied, Paulo
said, “Got something. A list of Pack
owned buildings including plans since they’re a matter of public record, but
they don’t include the safe rooms since they were built in secret. The safe houses aren’t on there.”
“We’ll have to consider them
compromised,” Carlo said with a frown.
“I wouldn’t write them off,”
Frank said. “They’re set up with
identities that aren’t traceable back to us. We only go to check supplies, and
they have alarms around the house and perimeter. If anybody came on the properties we’d
know. Let’s see if Ashbrook has any info
on them.” Joe nodded in agreement.
“I’ll put it on my list of
things to inquire about,” Mr. P said with a smile.
Three hours later Carlo saw
the fatigue in Aldo’s eyes, “Are you okay?”
He nodded, “Just overwhelmed
by all the emotions; from the emails and the anger and frustration from everybody
here.”
Carlo ran his hands over his
face, “My brain’s fried. All the files
have been opened and everything’s printed but it’s getting jumbled inside my
head and I can’t make sense of anything.”
“Why don’t we call it a night
and meet here tomorrow?” Frank asked as he rolled his neck. “Aldo and Brad, I know you have work, but can
everyone else make it?” The men nodded
and made plans to meet at 9 AM.
“That’ll give me time to
write my notes and drop them off in the morning,” Aldo said looking at the
papers in his hands. After gathering the
files, Joe placed them in the safe and Frank and Joe walked the men outside.
“I’ll send your boys home
before they clear out the fridge,” Todd said with a smile. Frank and Joe laughed and watched the men
pull out of the driveway.
“What a fucking mess,” Frank
whispered to Joe. “When do you think we should tell Dad and Pops what’s going on?”
Joe sighed, “We’ll hold out as long as possible.”
Frank began to laugh quietly,
“Coward.”
“Fucking A.
Pops is gonna blow a gasket bigger than when he found me sneaking out of
Annie’s room,” Joe said with a smile
before he turned to Frank and glared. “I still can’t believe you didn’t get caught
that afternoon.”
“Because I jumped out Rose’s window and ran like I was
being chased by Hell Hounds, which describes Pops perfectly,” Frank said as Joe hit him on the shoulder. “I
think Pops loved it when he caught us doing something wrong.”
The brothers looked at each
other and laughed as they said together, “Not that we’ve ever done anything
wrong.”
“Obviously you’re
sleep-deprived not to mention delusional if you think you’ve never done
anything wrong,” Rose said as they stepped into the kitchen and looked at her
in confusion. “Didn’t you realize you
were speaking out loud?”
Frank grinned, “No, but we
stand by our statement. Ready for a
run? The boys’ll meet us in the
woods.” They nodded; the men stripped
and shifted outside, and the women in the pool house. Maria climbed on Alberto’s back and they set
off. “The
boys are coming.” Carlo nodded and
continued to lead while Frank gave a low howl for them to follow. An hour later, Carlo led them back to the
house, the women going into the pool house and the men shifted and dressed
outside.
“We really needed that,” Carlo
said as he stretched. “I feel so much
better and my wolf is settling down.
Before we go, I’d like to update the youngsters. They’ve had insights and suggestions that’ve
proven valuable so far.”
“Let’s get drinks and go to
the basement,” Annie said deactivating the alarm and opening the patio
door. As the adults told them everything
they had discovered, the youngsters listened intently and the boys began to
growl quietly.
Vin and Dom looked at the
girls and Dom said, “What are your plans to increase security around the
girls?”
“Mr. P brought up something
we hadn’t thought of, which is using The Elders. Most would love to get out of their houses
and feel useful again,” Carlo said with a smile. “So, he’s going to work up a schedule.”
“I don’t understand what
these Prophecies mean,” Sophia said as she looked at Anthony, then her father.
“We are not entirely sure
either or how many of them there are. We assumed they were part of a legend
that had been passed down with the rest of the story lost to time. Looking at them with a fresh eye, we are
positive they are about the two of you,” Dante said with a shrug before turning
to Anthony. “There is something I have
been wondering about; since you are not related to Ric, Rocco or Luc, you
should not be able to use the bond to talk to them. I would like you to try.”
Anthony smiled, “I think ‘Gramps’ should be Dante’s new
name.”
The men burst out laughing
and Ric said, “We can hear him.”
“He should not be able to do
that even when he shifts,” Dante said as Carlo paled. “Carlo, can you talk to those not in your
Pack or related to you? I am unable
to.” Both tried using the bond and weren’t
able to.
“I’d like to try it on Friday
when Parr Ridge, Tristan and Rain come over.
I’d also like you to try and talk to Paulo tomorrow when he’s at
college. Ten miles is the most we can
use the bond, but I’d like to see if you can go farther than that,” Carlo said
as Anthony shrugged. “During the battle,
it’ll be extremely helpful knowing you can talk to the other wolves to
coordinate the attacks.”
“There’s something I’d like
to know,” Frank said as he leaned back and looked at Anthony. “During training, how much strength and speed
are you using?”
“About a quarter to half,
sometimes a little more,” Anthony replied as the others gasped. “When I’m weight training by myself, I use my
full strength. I’ve had to get creative
because the weights I have aren’t enough.
For resistance, I’ve been putting the John Deere in neutral and pushing
it; for strengthening, I’ve been getting under it and benching it. When I
started I could only get it about an inch off the ground, now I can get it
about a foot and do two sets of twelve reps.
I also do a modified squat lift; I put my hands under the axles and use
my legs to lift.”
“You’ve been bench pressing
the tractor?” Carlo asked as he began to laugh.
“The lawn tractor Dad, not
the farm tractor; I’m not the fucking Hulk,” Anthony said with a laugh before
shrugging. “I can lift the bed of my
truck but not the front yet. I’ll do
some lifts with Angelo on my shoulders to show you.”
“This I gotta see. If you drop him, Angelo’s fat ass is gonna
flatten you and leave a huge fucking hole in the concrete floor,” Damian said
with a laugh.
“Carlucci, I outweigh you by
130 pounds and my ass is still
smaller than yours,” Angelo retorted as everyone laughed. “Let’s do this.” They stood and Angelo stiffened as Ant lifted
him over his head and held him for a minute before he lowered him to his
shoulders and began doing squat lifts.
After twenty reps he placed Angelo back on the ground and rolled his
neck, barely breathing hard.
“I can show you more, I’d
probably need two people for the weight,” Ant said as the others stared in
astonishment.
“Me. Me.
Pick me,” Damian said as he jumped up and down.
“Both of you sit,” Carlo said
with a laugh before turning to the other boys.
“How many of you have been holding back in training?”
“We haven’t held back, but we
haven’t been challenged either, except when we’re sparring with Ant,” Vin said
as Dom nodded. “We were looking forward
to being reassessed and planned on moving up at least one age group or more.”
Frank and Joe nodded as Carlo
said, “We’ll get the assessments done this week, even if we have to call a
special session. Anthony, we’ll test
your strength this week and buy whatever you need.”
“What about us Daddy?” Sophia
asked with a frown. “Maria and I are in
the highest group and can beat all of them.
Are we going to train with the boys?”
“NO,” Ant and Alberto shouted
at the same time as the girls rolled their eyes.
“I don’t see why not,” Sophia
said as she turned to her intended. “We
practice with our family all the time.
You’ve never seen us really fight.”
Frank smile was filled with
pride as he said, “They’re both really good.
I’d pit them against any of the boys in the 15 – 16 group, and if they
work together they can take any of the older boys and some of the men.”
Ant and Alberto started to
object and Joe raised his hand to quiet them, “What you forget is Rose and
Annie’s father was a Level 5 so our youngsters have Level 5 blood running
through both sides of their family.”
“I don’t want my mate to get
hurt,” Ant said with a frown. “She’s too
gentle to be sparring with bigger boys.”
“Come on Poppa Joe, you know
what those training sessions are like, how crude we get and the language we
use,” Alberto said as he looked at his intended. “Like Ant said, I don’t want her around that;
she’s too delicate, sweet and caring.”
“Let me tell you a little
secret about your oh so sweet gentle delicate mates…,” Damian said with a
wicked grin. “These two belch, snort,
curse, fight, and spit far worse than any boy.
We won’t even get into how they fart, it’s…” He stopped as Sophia launched herself at him
and Maria swung her arm around hitting him on the side of the head with her
cast as the youngsters cheered them on.
Frank jumped up and pulled
Sophia off Damian, “Come on my little Hellion, let’s get you home.” She continued to swing her arms and legs as
Damian laughed and hollered, “OWWW” at the same time.
“I’m taking the cost of
Maria’s cast and office visit out of your allowance,” Joe said as he examined
the large crack in the cast.
“It was worth it to see the
looks on their faces,” he responded with a laugh. “While you’re there, ask Doc why they’re
abnormally short.”
“Let me at him Daddy, let me
at him,” Sophia said with a snarl as she continued to struggle in Frank’s
grasp.
As Damian continued to laugh
his uncle said with a smile, “One of these days, I’m going to let her beat your
ass.” Damian gave his cousin his best
crooked half grin and she narrowed her eyes before starting to laugh.
“I think that’s a good way to
end this day,” Carlo said with a grin as he got up. “I’ll see the youngsters settled at The
School House then I’ll come here. Dante,
Gina you ready? Anthony, when you get
back to The Manor House, I’d like to talk with you.” Anthony nodded and followed his intended
upstairs to the kitchen.
Frank and Joe walked the
Rossi’s outside and Carlo said, “I’ll send those emails when I get home like we
discussed.” He grinned at Frank, “Send
my son home; he’s been a pain in your side long enough.”
“I’d say a little lower and
more posterior,” Frank added as they laughed before the Rossi’s got in their
SUV and pulled out of the driveway.
“You staying or going home?”
Joe asked as they walked into the house.
“Going home, unless you and
your wolf want us to stay,” Frank replied as he turned to look at Joe.
Joe shook his head, “We’ll be
fine; the youngsters need to get back in their normal routines.” He looked at the kitchen clock and said,
“Gabby and Angelo, it was a pleasure and you’re welcome anytime…. Alberto go
the hell home.”
Maria squealed, “Daddy…”
Alberto was laughing as he
said, “He’s right Gattina, it’s late and we have school tomorrow.” He turned to Joe and said, “Can I go
tomorrow?”
“We’ll call Doc in the
morning, and you can go as long as you don’t miss your other commitments,” Joe
said before he sighed.
Anthony looked at Frank with
a smirk, “I know; you don’t have to say anything... it’s time for me to go too.” He pulled Sophia into his side and scented
her before he got his Go Bag and waited for Alberto to finish saying goodbye to
Maria before he followed the Moretti’s, Sal, Joe and Frank outside.
“We’ll follow him home,”
Alberto said quietly as Frank and Joe nodded.
“Carlucci, haven’t you spent
enough time with my sister? I figured
you’d be as tired of her as I am,” Angelo said in a teasing tone before he
grunted as Gabby walked by and elbowed him in the stomach as Sal laughed.
“Call me later,” Sal
whispered as he opened the back passenger door and Gabby slid in. She nodded and seeing everyone staring at
them, she squeezed his hand as he handed over her Go Bag before closing the
door. He walked over to his Dad and
uncle and watched the two cars pull out of the driveway.
“Come on Romeo, let’s get
ready,” Frank said with a grin as he put his arm over his sons shoulders. Ten minutes later, they pulled into the driveway
and he sighed loudly as he opened the door, “Damn, I’m glad to be home. Get ready for bed, you have school, football
practice then the Pack meeting tomorrow, dance class is cancelled. Damn, I need to call Jerry and tell him we
won’t be in tomorrow.”
“We’ll make sure the house is
secure,” Dom said as Frank nodded as he pulled out his phone and walked into
his study.
“Make sure your bags are
ready for tomorrow; your clothes are in the laundry room,” Rose said as she sat
at the table and looked around the kitchen.
Fifteen minutes later, Sophia
was in bed ready to turn out the light when she heard a knock on her door. Sighing loudly she said, “What do you want?”
“Coming in,”
Vin answered and her brothers walked in.
They sprawled around her room, but their attention was focused entirely
on her. “We want to talk to you and Maria, Lorenzo is your group ready?”
“Yeah, we’re here with Maria. How the fuck are we going to have a serious
convo when she’s in Little Mermaid PJ’s?” Lorenzo asked with a scowl as he looked around his baby sister’s room
at all the pictures of Alberto.
Enzo closed the door as Dom
said, “We know Alberto and Ant talked to
you already, but they’re not around 24/7.”
“We don’t want to hear that you’ll be fine and
nothings going to happen. We’re your
fucking brothers, we’ll always worry about you, there’s no stopping that,” Lorenzo said angrily as the boys nodded.
“We talked about how your over protectiveness would
kick into high gear,” Maria said with
a shrug. “We know our safety is your main concern and we’ll do whatever you say;
like we’ve been taught and we’ve always done.”
“Good. So I
don’t have to remind you of horror movie cliché’s; like the girl running
through the forest in high heels who twists her ankle, or knows there’s a
killer on the loose and sneaks out of the house to meet her boyfriend, or
answers the door to some guy in a hockey mask,” Damian said as everyone began to laugh.
“What the hell does that have to do with this?” asked Gianni.
“Because they didn’t listen. Isn’t that what we’re talking about?” Damian retorted.
“In every horror movie the
Sheriff, the over protective father or some whacko warns the teenagers not to
go in the woods, the haunted house, perform a séance or that there’s a killer
on the loose and they ignore him and everybody but the plucky heroine gets
killed and she ends up killing the killer, but you know he’s not really dead
because they have sequels.”
“You’re making me dizzy,” Gino said as he lay down on Sophia’s bed.
“Ignore them,”
Vin said as he moved to lean against Sophia’s dresser. “We’re
going to be even more protective than usual and we don’t want to get into
arguments with you about your safety. If
we tell you ‘No’, we mean it and can talk about it later, but we expect you to
listen. Everything we do is to keep you
safe.”
“We know; we’ve been taught since we were born that
we’re to listen to you and not argue,”
Sophia said before stopping and looking at each of her brothers. “And
we’d never put you in danger by being stubborn.”
“You do whatever we want; shopping, bowling, skating
and know you’d rather do something else, but you always try to make us happy,” Maria added as she smiled at her brothers. “You’re
the best brothers and cousins.”
Damian threw himself on Maria’s
bed causing her to bounce and she was laughing as he said, “Naturally, I’m the best out of all of us.”
“Fuck off Damian,” the boys said in unison as the girls laughed.
Seeing his sister yawn,
Lorenzo said, “Let’s get some sleep,
we’ll talk later.” He came over and
kissed Maria on the forehead followed by the rest of her brothers. After they left, she shut her light and fell
asleep immediately.
“Okay baby sister, get some
sleep,” Vin said as he kissed her forehead and Sophia smiled as the rest of her
brothers kissed her goodnight and left.
She sat for a moment wondering what Dad was talking to Anthony about
before she reached up and shut her light and within minutes she was asleep.
*****
“Let’s go in my office,”
Carlo said as he led Anthony and Gina down the hall. Dante went upstairs since he knew Carlo and
Gina wanted privacy and he wanted to talk to his mate about the party before
she invited half of Italy.
“We want to talk about your
responsibility as Alpha if anything happens.
I had Paulo put the info you’ll need on this flash drive,” Carlo said as
handed it to Anthony. “It contains
banking info, including access codes and account numbers for the Rossi family
as well as SMP. Most people assume the
majority of our holdings are in Real Estate because that’s what we allow them
to think.”
“For every dollar we’ve
invested there, we’ve invested ten in corporations we’ve set up around the
world using false identities, each with corresponding bank accounts,” Gina
added as she held her mates hand. “Paulo
knows this and he’s been instructed to transfer the money to a special account
if things go bad.”
“The total is around $900
million and with that money you need to provide for the Pack, that is always
your first responsibility. Their needs
come before your own…” Carlo stopped as he looked at his son.
“I know Dad, that’s one of
the first lessons you taught me,” Anthony said quietly as he looked at his
parents. “I remember everything you and
Mom taught me and I’ll do my best to live up to the responsibility that comes
with being a Rossi Alpha. I promise I
will never let you or Mom down.”
Carlo swallowed the lump in
his throat as he said, “You have no idea how proud we are of the man you’ve
become and my only regret is my parents never lived to see you.” His gaze swung to a picture on the wall and
he smiled, “The day you were born was the proudest day of your
Great-grandfathers life. I understand
now why his health was failing, and I think he held on as long as he did
because he wanted to hold you before he passed.
To know the Rossi line would continue.”
Anthony’s gaze followed his
fathers and looked at the black and white picture taken shortly after his
birth; his Great-grandmother was standing behind her mate leaning over his
shoulder as he held Anthony, both had broad smiles on their faces and it looked
like Anthony’s hand was reaching out to grab his Great-grandfathers
finger. “I wish I would have known
them,” Anthony said quietly.
“He spent every minute with
you that he could,” Gina said quietly as her eyes teared up. “I’d find the two of you in the family room,
and even as weak as he had gotten, I knew you were safe in his arms. He’d tell you stories about your Grandparents
and you’d stare at him like you understood every word, even though you were
only a couple of months old.”
“The day he died, you were
inconsolable and cried for hours until you wore yourself out and slept. The only thing that comforted you was when we
placed Gianni, Marcus, Lorenzo and Damian in your crib and the five of you
curled up together,” Gina said as she looked at another picture on the
wall.
“They’ve always been there
for me,” Anthony said with a smile.
“Like their fathers have been
there for me,” Carlo responded with an answering smile. “The Carlucci’s will be your greatest
resource when you become Alpha and their ties to you will be even greater since
Sophia will be your mate and Madame Alpha.
They’ve stood by our side for over two thousand years and by the grace of
Luna we hope that will continue for another two thousand years.” Carlo stopped talking and reached across the
table to hold his sons hand, “According to the Prophecies, you and Sophia are
destined for greatness. With that comes
great responsibility and I know the two of you can handle them; Luna would not
have bestowed them on you if you couldn’t.”
Gina reached for Anthony’s
other hand, “Even knowing that, don’t let it define your life and who you
are. Enjoy life before those
responsibilities are thrust upon you.
Afterwards, you’ll need to balance them with family and friends; they’ll
keep you grounded and give you the break you need.”
Anthony shrugged before
yawning, “I understand, but I’m still not convinced they’re about us. I don’t see anything special about me, other
than the fact I’m a little stronger and can talk to others through the bond.”
“We’ll talk about that as we
get more information,” Gina said. “It’s
late, is there anything you want to talk about Anthony?”
“Sophia wants to know when
you’re going to teach her about her position.
She didn’t want to ask because of everything going on,” he said with a
grin.
Gina replied with a smile,
“Starting this week, she’s going to be given a list of duties I’d like her to
start helping me with. The youngster’s
birthdays, some schedules… nothing too hard but things she needs to learn.”
He nodded, “She’ll like that,
she likes being around the little ones.”
He walked over and kissed his parents goodnight before walking
upstairs. Carlo looked at Gina who
nodded and he got up and poured two glasses of whiskey before sitting next to
her as they were both lost in their thoughts of their son’s future.
*****
“I can’t find the boys. Sal’s not in his room and neither are Enzo
and Gino,” Rose said as she came out of Sal’s room and went to check Vin and
Dom’s room.
Frank shrugged, “They were
extremely upset finding out about the threat to Sophia, and I bet they’re with
her.”
Rose stopped abruptly and ran
to the end of the hall flinging open the door as Frank looked over her
shoulder. Sophia was in the middle of
her bed, between Enzo and Gino; Vin and Dom were on the floor at the foot of
the bed; Gianni and Marcus were on the sides of the bed on the floor and Sal
was in the bean bag chair.
Vin and Dom sat up and Vin
said quietly, “We couldn’t sleep because our wolves were on edge and wanted to
be near Sophia so we came in here.”
Frank nodded and said
quietly, “How are Brianna and Morgan?”
“They’re fine. Matt and Phil are staying there, the house is
locked down and they have their phones to call if they need us,” Dom said as he
held up the phone in his hand. “Paulo
setup a link so if their alarm goes off it’ll notify us.”
“Good, now try and get some
sleep,” Frank said as he closed the door.
“Have you checked your
youngsters?”
“We’re getting ready to go upstairs now,” Joe replied as he ran up the stairs followed by
Annie. “What’s going on?”
“Check Maria’s room, I bet they’re in there. Our boys are in Sophia’s room, they said
their wolves were on edge and wouldn’t settle down,” Frank said as he began to undress. “Get
some sleep baby brother; 4:30’ll be here soon.”
*****
“Damn, I can’t believe I’m
out here again, it’s still dark,” Carlo said with a frown. “I think we should do this at a more
reasonable hour, say 10 AM.”
“Carlo, you say the same
thing every morning,” Frank said with a laugh.
“Get your ass in gear, we’re running to the Millers first.” Carlo groaned as he led the way across the
field. Matt, Phil, Todd and Papa Mike
were waiting in the backyard as the Carlucci’s, Moretti’s and Rossi’s appeared
out of the tree line.
Todd turned to the house, “Make sure you keep the guards down and the
bond open. We’ll be back in an hour or
so.”
“Okay, the girls are still sleeping,” Holly said as she went into his study and turned on
the monitors watching as the men disappeared into the tree line on the other
side of the yard.
“I’m out… of shape,” Todd
gasped, his hands on his knees, as they finished their run in his
backyard. “Are you… sure that was… only
ten… miles?”
“Actually it was twelve,” Joe
said with a laugh.
“I need one… of those… Life
Alerts,” Papa Mike gasped as he collapsed.
“I’ve fallen… and there’s… no way in hell… I’m getting… back up… Leave me here… so I… can die… in peace.”
Frank grinned, “Don’t forget
today’s your first day at Triple C.”
“Fuck me… sideways,” Papa
Mike groaned as Vin and Dom helped him up and began to walk him towards the
house. They heard the guards sliding
back and the patio door opening as Nana Ellen came out.
“I told you not to overdo it,
you old coot. Bring him inside boys and
set him on the sofa,” she said as she tried not to laugh.
Frank glanced at his watch,
“We’ve got to get going. We’ll see you
at 9.” Vin and Dom came out of the house
and joined the others as they ran back to Joe’s. “Boys get your bags and get ready for
school. I’ll go back and wait for Sophia
to get ready and bring her over; she’s still asleep so it’ll be around 7.”
“Do you want us to stay here
or go with you?” asked Ric.
“You can stay here, I have
clothes for you to change into and it’ll give you a chance to relax before we
start at 9,” Joe said as Frank nodded.
*****
“Hurry up, you got five
minutes before you have to leave for the Millers,” Annie said as the youngsters
quickly finished eating.
“Dad and Gus are pulling up
with Gabby now,” Angelo said to Sal who hurriedly brought his plate to the sink
before going to the front door.
As they stepped into the
kitchen Gabby and Carmelo could barely contain their excitement, “I just heard
from Marco… I’m gonna be a grandfather.”
Gabby began jumping up and down as he continued, “He noticed the change
in her scent when she woke up ten minutes ago.”
Alberto and Angelo shouted excitedly and hugged their Dad and Gabby as
congratulations rang out from everyone.
Vin, Dom, Lorenzo and Damian
looked at each other remembering what Maeve had said last night. Vin looked at his Dad and Uncle, “There’s one thing about Maeve I forgot to
tell you yesterday. She told her mom
they had to buy a baby gift for Anna and mentioned something about diamonds
around her.”
“Anna was in the safe room with the others Saturday,
so Maeve wouldn’t have had contact with her and none of us talked about her
being in heat in front of the girls,” Frank
said as he looked at Joe. “We’ll have to talk to Todd about it and see
exactly what she sees in these Aura’s.”
“Maria, remember your
appointment is at noon so we’ll pick you and Alberto up at 11:45. Since you won’t be there for lunch, we’ll
stop at the Diner and eat there before we bring you back to school,” Annie
hollered as the youngsters put their dishes in the sink and got their backpacks
before running out the door. After the
door closed, she sat down and sighed loudly, “Finally, some peace and
quiet.” Joe grinned and brought her a
plate with scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns and two biscuits on it. The men piled their plates and joined her at
the table.
“Marco will be spending the
day with Anna while she comes down off the heat. So he won’t be at the meeting tonight,”
Carmelo said as he smiled. “Have you
heard from anybody about the email Carlo sent?”
“Half the men called me and
the other half called Joe. Aldo expects
the parents to be dropping in more than usual.
It’s only natural because their wolves are on edge because of the
threat,” Frank said with a shrug. “Mr. P
sent Elders to the U of MD apartment complex and more will be at the girls
dance class, training sessions, stationed on the roads and woods around The
School House.”
Ric nodded, “It’s perfect cover. Who would suspect a bunch of old men to be
part of a protection detail?”
Joe and Frank laughed as
Carmelo said, “Don’t let them hear you say that. They’ll beat the hell out of you.
“Carlo and Dante should be
here in twenty minutes so let’s get everything setup,” Frank said as he looked
at the clock. As they were walking down
the hall to Paulo’s office he said to Rose, “Let
me know when you get to the office.”
“I’m here and lining up the day,” she replied. “We’re going to be busy, I have to get the
proposal ready for the shopping center in Cumberland, Jerry’s checking on the
Miller’s permits, Joel has an estimate for a remodel, Barry’s overseeing the
Hospital and Larry the addition, plus we have ten crews doing remodel work.”
“I know my love,” Frank said with a sigh. “Things will get back to normal, at least
for a while, and we have our weekend at the lake coming up. Keep the bond open and let me know if you
need me.”
*****
Sophia turned on the faucet
in the girl’s restroom so the boys wouldn’t hear and whispered, “When are you
going to start our plan?”
“Now, we didn’t want to make
them suspicious earlier,” Erin whispered back
with a smile as she pointed to her backpack.
“You sure it’s gonna work?”
“It always does in Mommy’s
romance novels,” Sophia replied as the girls began to laugh. Erin and Caitlin took deep breaths as the
girls straightened their uniforms and Gabby helped fix their light makeup.
“What is the matter with you two? You’ve been like fucking zombies all
morning,” Anthony said to Lorenzo and
Damian as they waited in the hallway.
“Neither of us slept.
I swear I could smell Erin in bed with
me and the more I moved the stronger the smell got,” Lorenzo said with a frown. “It
drove me fucking crazy. Even after
taking my shower, I can still smell her on my skin.”
“It’s like I was surrounded by Caitlin. I woke up at 3 and realized I’d shifted into
my wolf and was rolling around on the sheets like a cat in fucking catnip,” Damian said with a shrug before glancing at his
brother and a grin came over his face. “I looked at Lorenzo and he was dry humping
his bed like he was possessed.”
“I WAS NOT,” Lorenzo shouted
as he slugged his brother in the arm as the boys were doubled over in laughter.
“What weren’t you doing?” Erin asked softly as she walked by, dragging her nails
across his hand before going to stand in line.
He followed; standing close behind her he breathed in her strawberry
scent as she picked up a tray and went down the line getting her food. His focus was entirely on her, it was as if
he was on autopilot as he put the plates handed to him on his tray without
realizing what he was doing until they got to the desserts. Erin
squeezed his hand and whispered, “I brought dessert today.” He stared into her grey eyes and swallowed
nervously as she went to their table. As
he went to sit across from her she said quietly, “You should sit next to me so
we can share.” He walked around the
table sitting close by her side as she smiled and he felt his heart start to
beat harder.
“What did you bring me?”
Damian asked as he walked to the table with Caitlin and pushed against her
shoulder almost knocking the tray out of her hands.
“Damian, I swear you don’t
realize I’m a girl sometimes the way you push me around,” Caitlin said as she
set her tray on the table and sat down.
“Of course I know you’re a
girl. You’re short, I’m tall; you’re
soft and gushy, I’m hard and muscular; you’re kinda cute, I’m devastatingly
handsome,” he said with a smirk as he sat next to her and shoved half his
hamburger in his mouth.
“I have manners, you don’t,”
she added as she took a small bite of hers.
He took a large drink of milk
and burped loudly before he whispered, “You forgot one Zucca, you fill out your
uniform differently than I do.” When he
saw her blush he smiled before grabbing some of the tater tots off her
plate. The youngsters talked quietly as
they ate; the boys about the football game against Parr Ridge and the girls
about their training class on Wednesday.
Without saying anything the girls gave their plates to the boys and they
finished them before Damian said excitedly, “Okay, what do you have for
dessert? I can’t wait any longer.”
Caitlin pulled a container
out of her backpack and opened the lid and Damian inhaled deeply as she said,
“I made you iced pumpkin cookies. Mommy
says they’ll be better with fresh pumpkin, but I think you’ll like them.”
Erin pulled a similar container out and turned to Lorenzo,
“I made you Strawberry Cream Cookies.
Maria said you liked Strawberry shortcake, and I thought you might like
these.” Lorenzo closed his eyes and
breathed deeply as the strawberry scent seemed to surround him.
“We brought cookies to thank
you for helping us yesterday,” Brianna said as her sisters reached into their
backpacks. “We have chocolate chip, lemon
frosted sugar cookies, raspberry filled shortbread, and snickerdoodles.” The boys smiled and murmured ‘Thanks’ as the
girls passed the cookies around the table.
Anthony turned to Sophia
expectantly and she shrugged, “I got nothing.
If you’re a good boy I’ll make you cookies later this week.”
“I’m always good Arachide,” he said with a smirk as Sophia rolled her eyes.
“I got less than nothing,”
Gabby said to Sal who began to laugh.
“By the time we got home last night I was exhausted, so you’re lucky I’m
even here.”
After they finished the boys
stared hungrily at the containers in front of Lorenzo and Damian. Seeing the looks they were getting, Lorenzo
and Damian began to growl. The girls grinned
and Erin leaned in and whispered in Lorenzo’s
ear, “May I have another?” He turned his
head and inhaled sharply as he realized how close she was to him and his eyes
dropped down to her lips. A minute went
by and he saw her lips move but he didn’t hear a word of what she was
saying.
“Huh?” was the only coherent
thought he managed to get out as he continued to stare at her mouth. He saw her lips moving again and still
couldn’t concentrate enough to understand as his face became flushed, his heart
started beating faster and he could feel his forehead start to bead up with
sweat.
“For fucks sake Lorenzo,
she’s asked you three times for another cookie,” Michael said as he burst out
laughing.
“What??? Oh… oh yeah, sure,” he responded as he tore
his gaze away from her mouth. He picked
out one of the larger ones and handed it to her and watched as she brought it
slowly to her mouth before taking a bite.
“Mmmm,” she moaned in a low
voice as Lorenzo felt his heart beat even faster. He went to eat the cookie he was holding and
heard the others laughing as he realized he had crushed it into a ball and
strawberry jam was oozing between his fingers.
“Fuck. I’ll be right back,” he said as he went to
the restroom.
“Damian, turn this way a
sec,” whispered Caitlin as he sighed before turning towards her. “You have a little bit of icing right
here.” She reached up and gently swiped
the tip of her index finger across the corner of his bottom lip and his eyes
were wide as she darted her tongue out and licked it off her finger. “Ooh, that’s good.”
“Huh?” he said as she leaned
towards him, placing her left hand gently on his arm as she reached with her
right to get another cookie.
“The icing… we put vanilla,
nutmeg and cinnamon in, so it’s sweet yet spicy,” she said with a smile. “Don’t you think everything’s better that
way?”
He mumbled quickly, “I gotta
check on Lorenzo.” Without saying
anything else he got up and ran to the restroom.
Vin looked at the girls and
asked quietly, “What the hell was that about?”
The girls shrugged and put their heads down to hide their grins.
Damian saw Lorenzo had his
head under the faucet and his hands were gripping the edges of the sink and
said, “That looks like a good idea.
Caitlin’s going to make my head explode if I don’t cool down.”
*****
Doc examined the crack in
Maria’s cast and said, “I’m afraid to ask.”
“I cracked it hitting Damian
upside the head,” Maria said with a laugh.
He grinned, “Knowing Damian,
he deserved it. Let’s get an X-ray of
your forearm; I want to make sure nothing was dislodged.” Fifteen minutes later he came back into her
room and said, “Everything looks good on the X-ray. Try and keep it elevated to decrease the swelling
and the bruising is probably a result of the swelling and the rigidity of the
cast. I talked to Dr. Parr and he said
we don’t have to apply a plaster cast, a rigid brace should be okay.” He walked to the cabinet and got a small arm
brace down and showed Maria how to apply it.
“Keep it snug, but not overly tight.
If you notice swelling, then loosen the Velcro.”
Maria nodded and practiced
applying it and tightening and loosening the Velcro. “It feels really good, not as heavy as the
other. Should I still use the sling?”
Doc nodded, “It’ll take
pressure off your muscles and ligaments.
To prevent you from losing muscle tone, I want you to do isometric
exercises.”
Joe nodded, “I’ll show you
some and we’ll set up a schedule so if you have swelling and bruising we can
deal with it. Anything else Doc?”
“Nothing. Let me know if you have any more problems and
your appointment with Dr. Parr to get the plates removed is October 15th,” he
said as he made notes in her chart. “He
was going to do it earlier, but he has a medical conference to go to and he
said an extra couple of weeks won’t make a difference. So, the plates will be in eight weeks instead
of six.”
“Thanks Doc,” Annie said as
she watched Alberto help Maria put the sling back on as Joe glared at him.
*****
Almost an hour and a half
later the ringing of Dante’s phone disturbed the silence as the adults gathered
in Paulo’s study to read the emails and files to make sure they hadn’t missed
anything while Carlo and Dante went over Aldo’s notes. “It is Nick, my Archivist,” he said looking
at the display. “Rossi here…” He motioned for pen and paper and Joe quickly
handed them to him. “Let me repeat it, ‘In quatuor angulis octo numero reperies. Oportet omnes
ad voluntatem Luna quibusdam’… Where did you find it?... And the Guardian line of Moray?... Keep looking, there has to be more
information on them…Yes, I will send all the information we have found so
everyone knows… Thank you, and call me anytime you have more information.” He hung up and sighed loudly.
“What is it
Dante?” Carlo asked as he sat at the table with him.
“My Latin is rusty, but loosely translated it means, ‘In the four corners, you will find a quantity of eight. All must be found to understand the will of Luna’. Nick found it in the Vatican Archives, in the private Papal Library.” Dante saw the confused looks on their faces. “There have been 264 Popes, did you not think some of them could have been Were’s? Second and third sons placed in the ultimate position of influence and power all with one goal in mind, to enhance their family and Pack’s status and wealth. Popes governed the land, held the fate of thousands of people in their hands and Emperors, Kings and Queens bowed down to them.”
“Damn, I never thought of it
that way,” Frank said as he sat down.
“Getting back to what Nick
found, we believe it is The Key to The Prophecies,” they gathered around as
Dante continued. “Let us look at it bit
by bit. ‘In the four corners’, that is a
reference to the world; ‘You will find a quantity of eight’, we have found two
so that means there are six more; ‘All must be found to understand the will of
Luna’ that is self explanatory.”
Carlo threw his hands up in
the air, “Well that clears things up.
How the hell are we going to find out where the other six are from?”
Dante sighed, “These
Prophecies maybe a thousand years old, so which countries were in positions of
power to have been granted Prophecies from Luna?”
“Greece has to be one of them. They’ve been the center of civilization for
thousands of years,” said Todd with a thoughtful look. “My brother in law is Greek; I could call and
see if he knows anything about this.”
Carlo nodded and Todd got his phone out as the others quietly sat
thinking of which countries may have Prophecies. “Nick, I don’t have time for the details but
do you know anything about a Greek Prophecy about a Warrior or Luna?... Call
back or better yet send an email as soon as you can… I’ll tell Holly … Take care.” He hung up and said, “He doesn’t know of any
but he’s going to call his father’s family in Greece.”
“Besides Italy and France,
I think England
has to be one of them,” said Joe as he wrote them on the board above the table.
“Germany?” Frank asked as Carlo and
Dante shrugged.
“Maybe Russia,” added Gina as she leaned
against the counter.
“How about Spain or Portugal?” Annie asked with a sigh.
“It could be China, Japan,
Egypt,
or a dozen others depending on when they were written. We are not even sure if the others listed are
correct,” Dante frowned. “On our way
home we will stop in England
to visit my family, I will talk to my cousin and find out what he knows. If I call him, he will not say
anything.”
“While you finish the emails
and files, Annie and I’ll try and narrow the list down,” Gina said as the men
nodded. They walked down the hall to
Annie’s study so they could do some research on her computer.
An hour later, Todd checked
his email and said, “I got an email from Nick.”
He opened it and printed it out as Carlo called Gina and Annie back.
‘Ανακήρυξη από το Μαντείο των
Δελφών’
Το Μαντείο των Δελφών
διακήρυξε στη Θεά Σελήνη, “Σε χιλιάδες χρόνια μία μεγάλη σύγκρουση θα
πέσει πάνω στα παιδιά σoυ που θα χαθούν πάνω σε λευκά εδάφη τα οποία δεν θα τα
καλύψει η ροή του κακού.” Η Θεά
θέσπισε πως ένας γιος και μια κόρη θα γεννηθούν από δύο ισχυρές οικογένειες υπό
την επίβλεψη των Μοιρών, όταν αυτές κρίνουν αναγκαίο. Προορίζονται να είναι
ταίρια, αυτός θα είναι προικισμένος με τη σοφία, τη δύναμη, την πειθαρχία και
την αφοσίωση εκείνων που ήρθαν πριν από αυτόν. Eκείνη θα είναι προικισμένη με
συμπόνια, δύναμη, πίστη και απεριόριστη αγάπη για αυτόν. Διότι μόνο αυτός όταν ο λύκος
εξαπολυθεί θα μπορέσει να σταματήσει τη ροή του κακού, και μόνο εκείνη θα είναι
αυτή που θα μπορέσει να τον φέρει πίσω.
‘Proclamation from the Oracle
of Delphi’
The Oracle of Delphi
proclaimed to the Goddess Selene, ‘In thousands of years great strife will be
thrust upon your children who will perish on grounds of white that does not
cover the flow of evil.’ The Goddess
decreed a son and daughter from two powerful families would be born upon the
will of the Moirai when they deemed necessary.
Destined to be mates, he would be gifted with the wisdom, strength,
discipline and loyalty of those who came before; she would be gifted with
compassion, strength, loyalty and love for him that knew no bounds. For only he once the wolf was unleashed would
stop the flow of evil, and only she would be the one to bring him back.
At the bottom of the page was
a note:
For millennia we prayed to
the Goddess Selene that the Prophecy would never come to fruition. If the Moirai have ordered their births that
means great evil has pervaded our kind and the destined ones must be protected
for only they will be able to stop it.
We would be honored to assist in any way you deem necessary.
We anxiously wait to hear
from you,
Alexander Lykos, Alpha of
Lykaion Pack
The room was quiet until
Dante cleared his throat, “I know Alex from the European Council and he would
be a good man to have on our side. There
were three Packs in Greece
and in the last four hundred years they have been joined through matings to
become one. They are very strong and
their numbers are around 1,000.” He
turned to Carlo, “I can arrange to meet with him and discuss what has been
happening, if that is okay with you.”
Carlo looked to Gina who
nodded before he looked to Frank and Joe who also nodded, “Do whatever you
think is necessary, if we can get them on our side that will definitely tip the
odds in our favor.”
“Who are the Moirai and what
does ‘grounds of white that does not cover the flow of evil’ mean?” Vinnie
asked as he leaned against the counter.
“There were three of them,
Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. In Greek
mythology they are the deities of the Fates, and controlled mortal life from
birth to death. They were very powerful
and even the gods submitted to their will,” Dante answered as he studied the
Prophecy again. “I think ‘grounds of
white’ means snow, which would be in the timeline Aldo predicted. ‘That does not cover the flow of evil’ could
mean blood or tracks in the snow. I am
not entirely sure.”
Todd looked at the clock and
said, “We’ve got to go, school will be over in fifteen minutes and we’ve got to
pick up the girls.”
“Yes, I want to pick up
Emily,” George Reeder nodded in agreement.
“Mr. P has an Elder assigned to her, but she has a date with the
Balducci boy Friday night and wants to go to the Mall and she’s not going
without me.”
Gina smiled, “Which boy?”
“I have no clue if it’s
Thomas, Jonathon or Theodore. I doubt
it’s Rick, he’s only fifteen,” he said with a shrug as he turned to Todd. “Their sister Robin’s a sweetheart and the
same age as Kelly and Aislin.”
“They’ve mentioned her and
Emily,” Todd said with a smile. “They’ve
become friends with most of the girls and their phones are constantly ringing
from them calling and texting each other.”
“We’ll go with you and make
sure you get the girls home okay,” Carlo said as Dante gathered the papers he
wanted to take. “I’ll see everyone
tonight at 6.”
*****
The training center was full
as the entire Pack was present, even the students from U of MD were attending
the meeting. At the table Gina, Carlo,
Anthony and Sophia sat with Frank and Joe flanking the table. Paulo sat at another table with his laptop
and a large screen was on the back wall.
In the observation room, all those younger than fifteen were watching a
movie as they ate snacks. Joe stepped
forward and escorted Victoria
to the smaller training room and without asking she handed over her phone and
pocketbook before sitting in a chair facing the wall.
At exactly 6, Carlo stood, “I
call the Pack meeting to order. You have
read the emails and files I sent so I am asking you to hold all questions until
we are done presenting the information we’ve discovered this afternoon, Mr. P
will go over what the Elders have set in motion and we will finish with our
plans.”
Carlo nodded to Paulo and the
Greek Prophecy was displayed on the screen.
Carlo explained how it was discovered and that Dante was going to
contact the Alpha of Lykaion Pack. “To
remind everyone, the Lykaion Pack is the original Werewolf Pack. Many different versions exist as to their
origin… a man cursed by Zeus for feeding him human flesh; a man punished by
Hera for refusing her advances and the one we are taught involves Selene or
Luna. She had fallen in love with a
mortal and spurned Zeus. In his anger he
changed the man into a wolf, ‘He would roam the nights in beast form for the
rest of his unnatural life.’ Selene gave
her love the ability to change into a man during the day but he reverted to a
wolf at dusk, when Zeus found out he stripped her powers so she could no longer
take human form. Her love would bay at
the moon to let her know how he was doing since they could never be together
again. Many years down the road, Luna
fell in love with another and she created a female Were so her first love would
no longer be lonely and they gave birth to the lycanthrope. Through thousands of years, genetics,
mutations, and the ever vigilant presence of Luna to look after the offspring
of her first love we have evolved into what we are today. We can shift whenever we want, we appear
human all the time but our wolves are always present. We honor Luna and worship her on the Full
Moon to give thanks for all she has given us.”
Gina turned to Aldo and
asked, “Aldo, do you sense anything about Alpha Lykos that Dante needs to know
before he meets with him?”
Aldo held his mate’s hand and
bowed his head as minutes went by, “I sense sincerity and a willingness to help. No deception but he knows more than what he
told us… I’m getting split second images of eight people gathered around a fire
and staring as if in a trance. It may be
the original gathering when the Prophecies were given.” He raised his head, “I can try later to focus
on their dress to see if that will give us any clue as to where they came
from.”
Gina nodded, “While most of
our Pack is of Italian heritage, we have members from others; English, German,
Irish, and Chinese to name a few. If you
know of any legends, stories or anything similar please let us know. We have three Prophecies and need to find the
other five.” The Pack members nodded.
Carlo motioned Mr. P and his
father, Elder Arturo to come forward and outline their plans. “The Elders will provide extra security for
The School House, the apartment at U of MD and the detail for the girls and our
Alpha-heir… after all who would suspect a bunch of old men to be part of a
protection detail?” Elder Arturo asked as he glared at Ric, who grinned before
he bowed his head. “In one year’s time,
the Senior Elders will return from Greenland
to increase the patrols in the woods and roads around The School House and
where they are deemed necessary.”
He turned to the Alpha’s as
the Elders stood, “You believe we should be protected and sent to the safe
room…. but with all due respect Alpha Carlo and Madame Alpha Gina we
disagree. Those deemed necessary to help
young Enzo re-establish the Pack will go into the safe room, the rest of us
will stay and fight. The same fighting
blood that runs through your veins runs through ours and we will not be pushed
aside when our Pack is in danger.”
Carlo and Gina walked to
Elder Arturo’s side before looking at The Elders. “Are all of you in agreement with this?” Carlo
asked. As one they nodded and Carlo
sighed, “We would be honored to have you by our side, but the continuation of
the Pack if we fail is of upmost importance.
I’d like you to discuss with Gina and young Enzo who is going into the
safe room so they can prepare.”
“When the hell did I become
‘Young Enzo’?” Enzo asked in a whiny voice and quiet laughter filled the room.
Carlo smiled at Enzo before
turning to Elder Arturo, “Is there anything else?” He shook his head and the Pinelli’s returned
to their seats. Carlo motioned for Frank
and Joe, “Our Directors of Security will update you about Friday.”
“Directors of Security? I should have worn a badge,”
Frank said with a smile. “Does this mean
I get a raise too?”
“Figured I might as well as use your proper titles and
your share of the Pack’s profits are the largest, beside mine,” Carlo retorted as Joe smiled.
“Alpha Carlo received
confirmation from Parr Ridge Pack that the football game will be here on Friday
so Alpha Parr can meet with Alpha Legrand and Rain. We’ll have increased security and schedules
will be emailed,” Frank said as he looked around the room. “We’ve discussed the precautions for the
pregnant females and young ones and decided since we are trying to maintain as
normal an environment as possible it’s not necessary for them to be kept away.”
“Mr. P will be in charge of
those not attending the game, so notify him if he needs to make arrangements,”
Joe added as the Pack nodded.
Carlo looked into the stands
and smiled, “Emory, Doc’ll be ready if the little one decides he wants to join
us.” She buried her head in Duke’s neck
as the Pack began to laugh. He turned to
Carmelo and Rita, “And in six months we’ll have another reason to celebrate…
Anna and Marco are expecting.” The Pack cheered
and he waited for it to die down before he continued, “They’re not here;
understandably Marco is very protective of her and their little one and they’ll
remain in seclusion at The Cottage for another day or two.”
He took a deep breath and
said, “Let’s take a short break, there are refreshments in the back training
room and then we’ll get started on our plans.”
*****
“What is going on with you two?” Anthony asked as they once again waited for the girls
outside the restroom after lunch.
“Erin is driving me fucking nuts,” Lorenzo said as he leaned against the wall. “She
was showing me pics on her phone and wanted to know which outfits she should
bring to the lake since they’ve never gone on vacation. She’s going to have every guy at the lake staring
at her, she looked fucking gorgeous.”
“Caitlin was doing the same thing. I choked on my meatloaf when she showed me
the one of her in her swimsuit, I didn’t see it when we were at the mall,” Damian said with a frown. “They
shouldn’t be allowed outside in bathing suits, wearing shorts and a t-shirt
should be good enough... with a hoodie over them.”
“You two are fucking losing it. It doesn’t bother you when Maria and Sophia
are in their bathing suits and I’m sure Caitlin and Erin’s
aren’t that different,” Alberto said
before he smiled. “I know I like seeing Maria in her bathing suit.”
“Oh man, Sophia in her bathing suit,” Anthony closed his eyes and leaned against the wall
as Gianni and Marcus made gagging sounds.
“Dude, both of you are sick,” Damian said with a shudder. “I
still think it’s wrong that you scent my baby sister, I get weirded out every
time I see you doing it.”
Alberto smiled as the girls
came out of the restroom, “Wait eleven
months when I’m allowed to kiss her.
You’re going to need a crowbar to get our lips apart.”
Damian fell to his knees
grabbing his hair before falling onto his side and curling up in a fetal
position, “Call Doc, I think my brain
just exploded.”
“What’s the matter with him?”
Caitlin asked as she stared at Damian.
“He’s fine, just overjoyed at
the thought of me kissing my mate,” Alberto said with a smile as Maria blushed
and hid her face in his chest.
*****
“We ready?”
Sophia asked as she sat at the head table with Enzo and Gino on her right and
Paulo and Michael on her left. They
nodded and she stood up, “I call this meeting to order.” The youngsters stopped
talking and sat up straight to listen to their future Madame Alpha. “What we discuss here goes no further than
this room; I can’t give an Alpha command, but I am asking you to honor this for
the love of SMP and our families I know we have. Our continuation as a Pack depends on our
ability to keep our plans secret. ”
The youngsters bowed their
heads and said, “Yes, future Madame Alpha.”
She nodded and said, “At the
next meeting when The Elders who will be joining us in the safe room have been
selected we will talk about where we will go and how we will get there. What we do know is we cannot stay in North
America and we cannot go to Italy;
we’ll talk more about that as we gather more information.” She turned to Enzo and motioned for him to
stand, “I’m going to turn the meeting over to Enzo; he will be Head of
Operations and along with me will make the final decisions. Gino will be Director of procurement; Paulo
will be Director of finances and cyber security; and Michael will be Director
of security.”
“Why are they in charge? Why not some of us? My Dad is Assistant Chief of Police; I should
be in charge of security,” sixteen year old Ashton Knight said as he stood up
and his brother Cooper nodded in agreement.
Enzo began to answer but
Sophia responded in a commanding voice, “They are destined to be Level 5’s by
rite due to paternal and maternal blood lines and there is no one else who has
the necessary skills we need for the daunting task before us. That
is why Alpha Carlo and Madame Gina put them in charge.”
“I still say I should be in
charge, my family has been in law enforcement for decades,” Ash said as his
brother stood up next to him.
Enzo stood to his full height
of almost 6’. “Do you know how to obtain
passports, driver’s licenses, birth certificates, credit cards as well as other
forms of identification? Do you know how
to set up protection details? Do you
know how to set up security cameras and electronic surveillance? Do you know how to provide proper training
techniques to the youngsters?”
Ashton shrugged before
sighing and said, “No, but I…”
“We’ll teach you how to do
all that and more, until then… sit your ass down,” Enzo said as he raised his
eyebrow looking exactly like his father.
“I requested this first meeting without The Elders or women so we can
get ourselves organized into groups according to our strengths. In addition to the groups Sophia mentioned, there
are several others we need to form.”
He looked around the room and
said, “Gabriella Moretti, please stand.”
She stood and he said, “We need someone to be in charge of our
history. Madame Gina will provide access
to the Pack Archives and we need to make a list of items that are necessary for
our future generations to know the history of SMP. When the time comes, those items will need to
be gathered and placed in a safe area that will be determined later. Will you accept the Keeper of the Archives position?”
Gabby nodded, “I would be
honored.”
He smiled before looking
around the room, “Gary Pinelli, please stand.”
He stood and Enzo said, “We need someone to be in charge of vehicles to
get us from our territory to our destination.
They’ll need to be maintained in perfect working order, kept full at all
times, and cannot be traced back to the Pack or anybody associated with
it. Will you accept the Director of
Transportation position?”
Gary nodded, “I would be honored.”
Enzo nodded and looked around
the room, “Kevin Richards, please stand.”
He stood and Enzo said, “We need someone in charge of continuing our
education according to the standards our Alpha’s set for us. You will need to obtain the current
curriculum, textbooks and any other materials you deem necessary including
materials for the young ones. Will you
accept the Director of Education position?”
Kevin nodded, “I would be
honored.”
Enzo searched the room,
“Jason and Lila Burns, Cole and Angela Robertson, Harry and Emily Reeder, please
stand.” They stood and Enzo said, “We
need someone to be in charge of the young ones.
The women will help as much as possible, but they will be feeling the
loss of their mate so we need to do as much as possible to assist them. You need to organize the young ones into
groups to practice going through the tunnel so they aren’t scared, to quickly
get into the vehicles, to listen to instructions and most importantly for them
to be as quiet as possible. They will need
booster seats and car seats already placed in the get away vehicles; plus items
like formula, diapers, baby wipes, soft foods, snacks, and comforting things
like stuffed animals. All of this must
be in place when we make our escape so we don’t waste time. I’ve picked the six of you, but you need to
figure out who the Director of Young Ones is going to be. Do you accept this responsibility?”
All six nodded, “We would be
honored.”
Enzo paused before saying,
“Ashton Knight, please stand.” He stood
and Enzo stared at him before saying. “We
need someone to plan our escape route or routes. You will need to know these roads inside and
out; where the turns are, stop signs, stop lights, speed limits and speed
traps, the last thing we need if we’re escaping is to get stopped for
speeding. As I mentioned, you will need
a primary route, plus several alternate routes.
Do you accept the Director of Logistics position?
Ashton nodded, “I would be
honored.”
Sophia stood, “As you can see
these positions are closely related to each other and we’ll need to work
together to ensure everything flows smoothly.
Our success depends on this and as we move forward in our plans, other
positions may become necessary and we’ll fill those with the most qualified.” She looked at the clock, “We’ll take a break
to eat and for the Directors to assemble their teams. I want you to pick people who’ll be the best
at helping you, not just friends and family.
For example, Gary
I expect you to have Beatrice on your team, she had the highest scores on the
auto repair course the girls take. After
our break, Paulo will give us a financial accounting, and we’ll have an open
discussion.”
Forty minutes later, Sophia
called for the meeting to come to order.
The youngsters hurriedly cleaned up and sat in the bleachers. Paulo took a deep breath and stood, “With the
money from the Alpha’s and Davis Pack we have over $400 million to fund our
escape, find a new place to live, and provide for our Pack. This may seem like a lot, but depending on
where we go the cost of land and suitable housing will take a lot of it plus we
will have to buy vehicles and a thousand other things to start over
again.” He paused and said, “Not to
mention the money some governments will require to allow us to move
there.” He didn’t mention the Rossi
family money because that would be used at Anthony’s discretion.
“We need to find a country
that has a large undeveloped area, that we can buy hundreds, if not thousands
of acres so we can establish our compound.
It has to be remote enough that we won’t be easily detected yet
accessible enough that we have access to the supplies we need,” Enzo said with
a sigh. “We’ll have to become more
self-sufficient and learn to grow our food, harvest it, and can it so we can
have a suitable diet. Depending on where
we are, we can either hunt for meat or purchase it. Our way of life is going to totally change
and we need to prepare for it.”
*****
The airport in Hagerstown was quiet at 7 PM as Dante and the Italians
were preparing to fly to London. They had moved up their departure after Dante
called his cousin and was told he could meet with him from 11AM to 11:30
precisely, not a minute more. Having
grown up with his cousin from the age of thirteen when they started Eton together he knew how rigid he could be, the complete
opposite of Carlo but Dante was equally close to both of them.
The three Alpha’s stared at
each other and Carlo said quietly, “Thank you for coming to assist us
Dante. I don’t know what I would do
without you.”
Dante smiled and hugged him
whispering in his ear, “It is my greatest hope that we never have to find
out.” He stepped back and hugged Gina,
smiling when he heard Carlo growl, “Take care my cousins, we will be back in
three months but if you need us before then, we are only a phone call
away.”
Ric, Rocco and Luc hugged
Frank, Rose, Joe and Annie and Ric said quietly, “If you need us, call. Protect your youngsters my cousins, they are
a pain in the ass especially Damian, but they are definitely Carlucci’s.”
“And Vitti’s,” Luc added with
a smile as Frank and Joe rolled their eyes and their mates glared at them.
“Ten minutes,” Dante said and
the Italians finished saying goodbye to their families. Their attention was diverted as they heard
two vehicles quickly approaching and the men gathered around their Alpha’s and
mates to protect them.
“What the fuck?” Carlo
exclaimed as Amanda got out of the lead vehicle and walked toward them smiling
broadly.
“Good evening everyone,” she
said as several workers got out of the vehicles and opened the van doors
revealing styrofoam coolers.
“Compliments of the employees of Long John Silver’s of the Southeast
Region for you to enjoy on your flight home.
We have chicken planks, fried fish, clam strips, popcorn shrimp, fries,
hush puppies, cole slaw, corn on the cob and for dessert we have pineapple
cream cheese pie and chocolate cream pie.
We’ve also taken the liberty of including several 2-liters of A & W
Root beer and other Pepsi products.”
Dante was ecstatic and almost
jumping up and down in excitement, “Thank you so much Amanda, but how did you
know we were leaving?”
“Damian Carlucci, several
members of his family and Anthony Rossi came in and ordered this for you and
told us to include this note. When I
realized you were leaving, I contacted my Regional Manager and he wanted to
thank you for your patronage of our restaurants and for including us in the
reception. We filled the order as
specified by Mr. Carlucci, but didn’t charge him,” she said as the workers
smiled as she handed the note to him.
Dante read it before bursting
out in laughter, Carlo grabbed it out of his hand and read it out loud, “We
thought long and hard of a Thank you/Going away gift and couldn’t think of
anything you’d like more than another meal of chicken planks and all the
fixins. Try not to fight over the last
chicken plank or hush puppy when you’re at 30,000 feet, even though y’all are
old and weak and have nowhere near our skills, I doubt the plane could handle
it. The Clan.”
“That had to be written by Damian,
the little bastard,” Ric said with a laugh.
“Who else would thank and
insult us at the same time,” Rocco said with a laugh as Joe smiled proudly.
“Thank you for this Amanda,
we are going to enjoy this,” Dante said as he pulled out his wallet. “How many workers did it take to prepare
this?”
“Please Sir, that’s not
necessary. You’ve done enough and helped
some of us more than you know,” she said as she shook her head. At his confused look she continued, “With the
tips you’ve given us, you’ve paid for college tuition and books, car repairs
and payments, medicine, rent and given so many other things. Some of my staff work two jobs to make ends
meet and this was our thank you.”
Dante smiled, “Thank them for
me and since you won’t take a tip, how about you take your staff out to dinner
on me.” He handed her a roll of $100
bills and went to each employee and thanked them while they in turn thanked him
before they got in their vehicles and left.
His Pack members finished loading the plane and Ric pointed at his
watch. “I really have to go; I’ll see
everyone in three months.”
Carlo and Dante stared at
each other and whispered, “Dobbiamo proteggere la confezione e la famiglia
sopra ogni cosa.” With one last embrace,
Dante turned and walked to the plane without looking back.
*****
“Sleep any better?” Anthony asked as they waited for the girls to come out of the restroom
before lunch.
“Fuck no; I fell asleep in English class this
morning. Drooled all over my fucking
cardigan,” Lorenzo said as he pointed
to a wet spot.
“I fell asleep during breakfast, almost drowned in my
fucking oatmeal. I swear a raisin went
up my nose,” Damian said as he
inhaled deeply through his nose and moved his head around. “I can
feel it rolling around in my head.”
“That’s cause your head is empty dumbass,” Gianni said with a laugh.
The girls walked out of the
restroom talking quietly when Kelly shouted, “SPIDER.” The girls screamed and buried themselves in
their intendeds/protectors chest as the boys wrapped their arms around them
instinctively.
Angelo started to laugh and
said, “That’s not a spider, it’s a piece of dirt.” He turned to his sister and said, “When did
you get scared of spiders? Usually
you’re the one picking them up and putting them outside.”
Gabby glared at her brother,
“Shut up.” She turned to Sal who had his
arms around her and she whispered, “He’s right.
I wanted you to hold me.” He
swallowed noisily as she smiled at him and he tightened his hold on her.
Aldo who had seen and heard
everything cleared his throat, “Boys, let go of those girls. That’s a violation of the rules no matter the
provocation.”
“It’s time to move into the
cafeteria,” Principal Richards said as he walked into the hallway. The boys dropped their arms from around the
girls except Lorenzo who growled and pulled Erin
tighter to his chest and Damian who glared at him and pushed Caitlin behind
him.
“Lorenzo, you’ve got to let
go of me,” Erin whispered as she nuzzled his
neck.
“It’s okay Damian,” Caitlin
said quietly as she encircled Damian’s waist.
He turned and looked at her over his shoulder and seeing she was okay he
nodded.
Lorenzo loosened his grip on
Erin’s waist and leaned down to scent her as he whispered, “You’re driving me
crazy Erin and I don’t understand.”
She smiled and said, “I
brought you strawberry chocolate chip cookies for dessert today.” She moved out of his arms and he watched her
walk away before shaking his head and quickly catching up to her.
*****
“They’re doing much better
today,” Frank said to Todd as Vinnie and Carmelo led the girls in defensive
maneuvers. “The extra practices are
paying off.”
“I’ll tell you one thing, I
wish the boys had never taught them how to use handcuffs,” Todd said with a
frown as Frank and Joe turned to him.
“This morning I woke up handcuffed to the bed.” The men began to laugh and Todd grinned, “Go
ahead and laugh… I don’t mind doing that with my mate, but waking up alone is
definitely not as rewarding.” They began
to laugh harder drawing the attention of the girls who smiled and waved. “And I’m tired of the sneak attacks too. I can’t go anywhere in the house without one
of them jumping around the corner and launching themselves at me, especially
Fallon. She’s really getting into this.”
“We’re lucky, Sophia and
Maria practice on their brothers and cousins,” Frank said with a smile.
“I put one rule into effect
when we ran out of ice to put on my…” Todd stopped with a grimace before he
said quietly, “Gonadalls. No more groin
shots.”
“Yeah, we tell the girls not
to practice that move on the males. I guess Anthony forgot to tell your
daughters,” Joe said with a laugh.
“I’ll need to borrow some of
the boys to get the girls home. Matt and
Phil are leaving early to go to the Robertson’s for dinner,” Todd said with a
smile. “Matt’s excited cause Carol is
making apple fritters for dessert.”
“No problem, take as many as
you need,” Joe said with a laugh. They
grew quiet as practice was winding down and the lock disengaging drew their
attention to the door as the boys came in from football practice. “How was school?”
“Fuck Dad. Is there anything that happens you don’t know
about?” Lorenzo asked as he sighed loudly.
Joe turned to Lorenzo, “I
meant your Science test, but obviously something happened and you feel guilty
about it.”
Lorenzo looked to Damian who
shrugged, “We don’t feel guilty about anything; at least I don’t think we do
and I know for sure I don’t. And what
constitutes guilt anyway? Is it the fact
you did something wrong and feel bad, or that somebody else thinks you did
something wrong and they feel bad? Or
could it be the perception a wrongdoing may have occurred? But is it really a wrongdoing or just maybe
not the correct thing? And who is to
determine the correct thing? What’s right
for one person may be wrong for another…oh look, the girls are done.”
Frank and Joe walked to the
front of the room to give the girls exercises they wanted them to do at
home. “Did you buy any of that?” Joe asked.
“Fuck no. I’m
just glad the girls finished so I didn’t have to listen to him anymore,” Frank responded as he tried not to laugh.
Barry began to laugh quietly,
“Damian, you’re too much.”
“Thanks Barry. Anytime you need me to watch Toni let me
know, we have a blast together,” Damian said as he smiled widely before a
wicked gleam came in his eyes. “Everyone
says she reminds them of me when I was younger.” Barry paled as Damian burst out in laughter
and walked away.
*****
“How’d you sleep last night?” Anthony asked with a smile.
“Best dreams ever.
I dreamt of Maria all night,”
Alberto said with a smile.
“That’s just sick,” Victor said with disgust.
“What? I dreamt
we were on a picnic… with your family.
You’ve got to get your mind out of the gutter young one,” Alberto said with a laugh.
“He got you there Squirt,” Angelo said as Victor frowned at him.
“I slept really good last night. My wolf wasn’t restless at all, first time in
weeks he’s been that way,” Lorenzo
said.
“I slept like the dead, even Lorenzo’s snoring didn’t
wake me up,” Damian said with a
smile. “My wolf wasn’t pacing like he has been, which is surprising usually
he’s on edge before a game, and we play tomorrow.”
The girls walked out of the
restroom and Lorenzo moved to Erin’s side and
said quietly, “What did you bring me for dessert?”
She glanced at him out of the
corner of her eye, “We brought vanilla cake for everyone and I brought you
fresh strawberries to put on top.” She
grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the cafeteria, “Come on, I’m hungry.”
When they were done eating, Erin turned to Lorenzo and said, “Could you help me
practice my chokeholds? Mr. Vinnie said
I wasn’t using the right technique and told me to practice.” Lorenzo shrugged and Erin
stood behind him up against his back and put her arms on his shoulders rubbing
him lightly before moving them in front of him.
“This is where I have a problem,” she whispered in his ear. “Maybe you could hold me first.” She removed her arms and sat back down as
Lorenzo drew a shaky breath and stood.
“You ugh want to grab them
like this,” he said as he placed his arm around her neck which brought his face
against the back of her head. He started
inhaling her scent deeply and before he realized what he was doing he had moved
her head to the side and was scenting her neck and his wolf sat up and tilted
his head and began to pace back and forth.
The bell rang and he quickly stepped back falling on his ass as the
youngsters in the cafeteria began to laugh.
*****
“Any last minute issues we
need to deal with?” Frank asked as they began their morning run at 4:45,
fifteen minutes earlier than their usual time.
For the first time in weeks they were alone as everyone was getting
ready for the day.
“Vinnie, Hammond, Danny
Webber and I are meeting Tristan in Brunswick
at 8:30 to escort him and Rain. You,
Carmelo, Joel, Jerry, Fred, George, Roman and Ed will meet Parr Ridge at 8AM at
the Frederick
county line on 70; you’ll come down 340 to 67, they’ll have 42 vehicles. Carlo, Gina, the Beta’s and Delta’s will meet
us at The School House at 6 to start the sweep of the grounds and perform
security checks. The Elders will patrol
the woods and road in wolf form before during and after the game,” Joe said as
they neared the middle of their run.
Frank picked up the pace
after he looked at his watch, “The Whitmer’s are excited, this is their first
official act as Beta’s, not counting the reception. Joel asked two times last night what he had
to wear and how they should act. I told
them to wear suits.” Joe began to laugh
and Frank grinned, “I felt bad later and told them to wear the white polo’s
with SMHS on it, navy Dockers and work boots.”
“Okay, big brother let’s
finish this run strong, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Joe said as they
increased their pace finishing the ten mile run in 35 minutes. At 5:40 they were walking out of the pool
house towards Frank’s truck, anxious to get to The School House to make sure
the security measures were followed.
An hour later, Aldo got his
notebook out and for the tenth time that morning looked over his checklist
before joining Carlo, Frank and Joe, “The grounds are secure, every inch inside
the wall has been inspected.”
“We’ll start the inspection
of the woods at the edge of the Pyracantha, spacing the men 15’ apart and work
our way out 1,000’. Carlo, you go in the
control booth to let us know if we need to move the cameras,” Frank said as
Carlo nodded and ran towards the building along with Jeff Mendez.
“Frank’s team, it’s time for you to leave,” Carlo said twenty minutes later as he continued to
scan the monitors. “Joe, Rain called, they’re running a couple of minutes earlier, so get
your team and go ahead and leave.”
At 7:50 the men were done and
gathered in the parking lot and Carlo said, “Those of you who are bringing
their families, go get them. Gina and I
will help The Clan to escort the Miller girls, so no other escorts are needed.”
*****
“Come on, we’re gonna be
late,” Rose yelled to the youngsters as they ran out of Joe’s house. The youngsters threw their gym bags in the
bed of Paulo’s truck and got in their assigned vehicle. Minutes later they were pulling into the
Millers driveway and the front door opened as the Miller girls ran out.
Lorenzo jumped out of Annie’s
SUV and threw his hoodie at Erin, “Make sure
you wear this and keep it on no matter what.
I want you by my side, and by my side I mean no more than a foot away
from me, do you understand?”
“And good morning to you too
Grumpy,” Erin said with a smile. When he moved towards her she put her hand up
stopping him. “Not one step further, I
can put the hoodie on myself. Nana Ellen
just got done doing my hair and you are NOT going to wreck it like last time.” She put the hoodie on and she looked up at
him and asked in a sweet voice, “Satisfied?”
“No, your skirt is too
short,” he replied as he looked her up and down. When he heard her gasp, he smirked and walked
over to his family and stared at her.
“You know the drill,” Damian
said as he handed his hoodie to Caitlin.
After she put it on he walked around her and at the questioning look in
her eyes, he whispered, “You’re pretty but I’m prettier.” He went to stand next to his twin and when
she glared at him he gave her a crooked grin before he burst out laughing.
At the sound of vehicles
approaching the boys quickly moved in front of the girls and Vin was telling
them to get inside when they recognized Gina’s and Matt’s SUV’s. Vin and Dom quickly gave their intendeds one
last kiss before their father pulled up and the girls blushed as their younger
sisters started to giggle.
Papa Mike and Todd got out of
Matt’s SUV and Erin, Caitlin, Lorenzo, and Damian got in. Carlo motioned for Maeve, Fiona, Enzo, and
Gino to get in Gina’s SUV; Brianna, Morgan, Vin, and Dom got in Papa Mike’s
SUV; Fallon, Shannon, Paulo and Michael with Todd; Maria, Kelly, Aislin,
Alberto, Marcus and Gianni with Annie; Sophia, Gabby, Anthony, Salvatore,
Angelo and Victor with Rose. The talk in
the vehicles was light hearted and full of laughter as they discussed the
football game and their trip to the lake.
When they reached The School
House, Maeve surprised Carlo by holding his hand as they walked towards the gym
with Enzo a step behind them. He smiled
as she said, “I’ve been enjoying my cereal.
Every morning I open a box and we have a bowl.” He looked down at her and squeezed her hand
as she continued, “Daddy said if I wanted to talk to you about something, I
wasn’t supposed to be scared.”
“You can talk to me about anything, and you never have to be scared of me,” Carlo responded as his eyes
flickered amber as his wolf came to the surface to protect this little girl.
“I know you said you wouldn’t
use my special gift. But I don’t agree
with that,” Maeve pulled on his hand and they stopped walking and stared at
each other. “I’m part of this Pack and
if I can do anything to help figure out who the bad people are and help save my
Pack and my friends, then it’s my duty to help.
I know you want to protect me, but I want to help, please Alpha Carlo.”
“Maeve, I don’t want you to
get hurt. I couldn’t live with myself if
you got hurt,” Carlo said as his wolf growled at the thought of the little one
being hurt.
“Alpha Carlo, I won’t get
hurt, I promise. All I’d have to do is
tell you if I see any bad people, or people that aren’t what they seem,” she
said in a pleading voice. “I think Mr.
Aldo and I working together will help a lot.”
Carlo sighed and rubbed his
temple with his left hand, “Let me think about it and talk it over with your
family and Madame Gina. Right now, I
want you to have a good time at the game today and at the lake this weekend.”
She smiled and said, “I can
do that.” They were almost at the gym
when she said, “And thank you for
listening to me and not treating me like a young one.”
He turned to the young girl
at his side and he felt his heart clench as his wolf hung his head. He swallowed the lump in his throat and said,
“If my daughter had lived, I’d like to
think she would have been a friend of yours.”
Maeve squeezed his hand and
looked at her Madame Alpha, “I think you’ll
be surprised at everything that happens in the next year.”
Carlo wanted to ask her what
she meant but the ringing of his phone interrupted him, looking at the display
he saw it was Dante. “I have to go
Maeve, but make sure you stay with Enzo, the rest of the Carlucci’s or your
family.” She nodded as Enzo stepped to
her side and nodded at his Alpha.
“Rossi here…,” Carlo began
and Gina followed him down the hallway into the cafeteria so they could have
some privacy.
“Sorry it took so long to
tell you I arrived home safely. I had a
nice visit with Jarrod and he insisted I let you know he will be flying into DC
next week for previously scheduled business meetings. He would like to meet with you to catch up
since it has been forever since you have seen each other. It was almost prophetic that I stopped to see
him, since he is on his way to the US
after he finishes up business in Scotland,” Dante said in a slow
voice that was unlike his usual cadence.
“I understand perfectly
Dante. Tell Jarrod I’ll be available
anytime and he’s more than welcome to stay here if he needs peace and quiet
between meetings,” Carlo responded quietly.
“We can arrange transport between here and DC.”
“Calinda’s party preparations
are underway and there are hundreds of people here setting up. I cannot wait until I can sit back and relax
in my office without being disturbed,” Dante said in the same tone. “I will send the pictures Gina requested and
show them to Paulo, you know how close he and Luc are. I must go; Calinda needs my attention with
seating arrangements for unexpected guests who would like details on the
business climate in America. Take care my cousin.”
“Well, that was a strange
conversation,” Gina said as she sat back.
“Not really,” Carlo said with
a shrug. “Dante’s office has been
bugged; Jarrod wants to meet about The Prophecy and he’s going to Scotland to
follow up on the Millers; the pictures’ll have encrypted information in the
file, that’s why Paulo needs to see them; and he has unexpected guests who are
wondering why he spent so much time here.”
Gina stared at him as Carlo grinned, “When we spent time together, we
came up with our own shorthand because even though we’re both related to Dante,
he couldn’t open the bond enough for Jarrod and I to talk to each other. We could get words here and there, but not
enough for whole conversations.”
“We’re pulling up in five,” Joe said to Carlo.
“We’re ready,”
Carlo replied and motioned for Gina, Anthony and Sophia to walk with him to the
front of The School House. Several
minutes later, the three vehicles pulled into the visitor parking lot and Rain
got out of the drivers seat in the second vehicle and Tristan got out of the
passenger seat.
Tristan looked at The School
House and grounds before shaking hands with Carlo and Gina, nodding to Anthony
and Sophia. “I’ve always admired this
building. My father said it was a symbol
of the power and influence your Pack has.
Do you realize the majority of the Packs that headed out west passed
through your territory and your Pack welcomed them and helped them on their
travels? That’s a lot of favors owed to
you and your Pack, Carlo.”
Carlo nodded, “Welcome back
Tristan and you too Rain. We’ll discuss
all of that when Frank gets here with Parr Ridge Pack which should be in twenty
minutes or so. While we wait let’s get
something to drink.”
Rain smirked, “You don’t do
anything without Frank’s approval?”
Carlo noticed Sophia frown
and he winked at her before turning to Rain, “A good Alpha always listens to
his Level 5’s and those who are experts in the field being discussed. I thought you’d remember those lessons from
our sabbaticals … along with the beat-down’s Frank and Joe laid on your ass.”
“I can remind you right now,”
Joe said as he stood to his full height.
Rain rolled his eyes as
Tristan began to laugh, “While it’s entertaining to hear you put my cousin in
his place, I need lots of coffee.” He
turned to Gina, “If you could accompany me while they measure their di…” He stopped and grinned at Sophia, “Please
accept my apologies Miss Carlucci, we forget ourselves and revert back to
posturing and the bad manners we had when we were young.”
She smiled at him and bowed
her head, “I accept your apology Alpha Tristan and with twelve male teenagers
in my family, I know what you mean.”
Rain laughed, “If they’re
like their fathers, I feel sorry for you.”
“Frank and I were angels
compared to our boys,” Joe said with a laugh and gave Sophia a smile. “And our daughters aren’t much better.”
“There’s something I’d like
Anthony to try and I’ll explain later,” Carlo said as he held Gina’s hand as
they walked thru the gym into the cafeteria.
Tristan and Rain were quiet
as they got a cup of coffee and were walking towards the tables when Tristan
said, “As long as he doesn’t knock me on my ass.”
“You can’t handle a seventeen year old?” Anthony asked with a smirk.
“SON OF A BITCH,” hollered
Rain as both he and Tristan dropped their cups and stared at Anthony.
“How the hell is he able to
do that?” Tristan turned to Carlo in amazement.
“We’re pulling in now,” Frank said from the lead car.
“Everyone in the gym, Parr Ridge Pack is here,” Carlo relayed to his Pack. “Parr Ridge is here Tristan, we need to go
into the gym; I’ll explain everything later.”
Moments later, SMP was ready as Alpha Savannah Parr and her mate,
Monsieur Alpha Garner Powell led Parr Ridge Pack into the gym. The atmosphere was relaxed as both Packs were
long time allies and Carlo, Gina and Tristan stepped forward to shake hands
with Savannah
then her mate.
“How’s it going?” Savannah asked as she
nodded to Anthony and Sophia.
“We have a lot to discuss Savannah. I hope you’re not going to mind missing the
majority of the games,” Carlo replied before he stopped and looked at her. “It’s bad Savannah, worse than we thought.”
“You and your Beta’s deal
with Pack business while I take care of the rest of the Pack,” Garner said with
a frown. “Keep the bond open so I can
listen in.”
She looked at her Pack and to
where her youngsters stood with her father in law and said, “Don’t let them out of your sight.” He nodded and she said to Carlo, “Let’s get
the football game started then.”
“Boys, game starts in
fifteen,” he shouted and the JV boys went to their respective locker rooms
while the Packs moved towards the stadium.
“We’ll wait until the game starts then we’ll begin our discussion.”
Frank asked, “Alpha Savannah,
could we use your Level 1 Beta’s and Level 5 Delta’s to form a perimeter around
the football field while the rest of the Beta’s are in the cafeteria?” She nodded and JR moved the men in position
and the sounds of little girls screaming drew their attention as they heard
shouts of “Vinnie” “Anthony” “Dommie” “Damian” “Wenzo” as the Whitmer, Costello,
and Poffenberger families got out of their vehicles.
“Damian, you see what mommy
done?” Toni whispered in his ear after he picked her up. Her brothers turned around and he saw his
name and number on the back of their t-shirts.
“Daddy says you always wears the bestest players shirt, and we thinks
you’re the bestest. She made shirts for
the others after they saw ours.”
“Yes, I am the bestest,” he replied in an arrogant tone before he turned
towards the members of The Clan and gave them a superior smile.
“Fuck. If he
was unbearable before, he’s going to be even worse now,” Ant said as he began to laugh followed by the other
boys. Abby grinned at Anthony before she
whispered, “Our shirts are in our bags.
Mommy said to make sure it was alrights with you and Miss Sophia before
we putted them on.”
“I think that’d be
wonderful,” Sophia said with a smile.
Abby and her brothers smiled and got their shirts out of their bags and
quickly put them on.
“Do ya sees mah wibbons an da
matchin waces in mah shoes Wenzo?” Brooke asked as he picked her and Eddie
up. “We gots your shirts on too.”
“You look beautiful and ready
to watch the game,” he said as Eddie rolled his eyes and made a face at Brooke.
“I’s weady to cheers for ya
Vinnie, got mah pohms and mah speshul shirts,” Hope squealed as she waved her
pom poms in Hyatt’s face as Vin held them.
“Stop dat Hopes, Mommy says
you wasn sposed to do dat anymores,” Hyatt said with a frown as she stuck her
tongue out at him.
“Stop fighting or I’ll
separate you both,” Reggie Costello said with a frown as he stood beside
Alberto who looked at him and grinned.
“Dommie, you see my
shirt? We wore it special for you,”
Jackie asked as she turned around.
Dom grinned, “That’s the best
looking shirt I’ve ever seen.” She began
to giggle and he picked her up and she hugged him as Morgan smiled.
“Come on, let’s get you
settled on the bleachers,” Ant said as he picked Abby up and reached out to hold Sophia’s hand as they
walked to the SMP bleachers.
Five minutes later the teams
ran towards the field and the crowd started cheering. After warm-ups, the Captains, Paulo, Enzo and
Alonso went out for the coin toss and PR won and elected to receive. The adults watched Paulo lead his special
teams on the field, and when the receiver for PR caught the ball, Paulo knocked
him back to the 5 yard line. Tristan
turned to Joe and said, “He’s definitely your son.”
Joe puffed up with pride,
“He’s only sixteen and amazes me everyday.”
Carlo nodded and said, “Let’s
get started, we have a lot to go over.”
He led the way into the cafeteria and nodded to Vinnie and Carmelo who
had gotten the room ready. The Alpha’s
sat at the head table with Carlo between Tristan and Savannah with their Level 5’s standing behind
them. The Beta’s sat at the other tables according to rank, with PR on one side
and SMP on the other. Behind the Alpha’s
table and off to the right side was a giant screen.
After everyone was seated
Carlo said, “Late Saturday evening, we cracked the hard drive on Charles’ computer
and the information we found caused us to re-evaluate our security. Carmelo and Vinnie will hand out copies of
the emails we discovered, and we’ll wait until you’ve had time to read them
before we continue our discussion. We’ve
given each of you pens to write any questions you have and please, wait until
we’re done with the presentation to ask them.”
“Aldo, monitor their reactions to see if anyone is
hiding something,” Carlo said as he
opened the bond to include his men. He
watched Savannah
quickly read through the emails, then go back and read them slower as she made
notes.
He watched the men as they
finished and saw anger and fear cross their faces and Aldo relax. Ten minutes later the last man put his copies
down, Carlo pointed to a table Mitchell’s Catering had set up with refreshments
and said, “Let’s take a break, get something to drink then we’ll fill you in on
the rest of the information.” They heard
the sounds of the JV teams running into the locker rooms and he said, “We’re
ahead 20 – 7.” The SMP men grinned while
the PR men nodded, preoccupied with what they had read and were still trying to
comprehend.
When everyone was seated
Carlo stood and started the slideshow Paulo had prepared following the timeline
Gina had set up. The room was quiet as
they listened and made notes. When the
picture of Simon Ashbrook was displayed, Savannah
and several members of PR gasped and Tristan and Rain growled. Carlo hesitated before continuing and thirty
minutes later he was finished.
Carlo stopped and said, “I
suggest we take a break for lunch and the Meet ‘n Mingle then resume our
discussion afterwards.” Tristan and Savannah nodded and Carlo
asked quietly, “Before we leave, how do you know Ashbrook?”
Tristan frowned, “He tried to
access Hillside House about six months ago, said he was lost and looking for a
friend of his. I had Rain follow him and
he stayed in Front Royal for several days asking some of the locals about us,
but none of them would talk to him. We
may isolate ourselves, but we’ve been there 150 years and support their
businesses. We assumed it was somebody
interested in our land, we’ve had a lot of developers wanting to buy it.”
“He tried doing the same
thing to access Ridgeview,” Savannah
said in a voice laced with steel. “He
drove up to the gate and said he was looking for his friend’s house for a
birthday party. When the guard pressed
him, he said he must have made a mistake and left. Unfortunately, we didn’t follow him.”
“We didn’t find anything
about your Packs on Charles’ computer, but I’ll let you know if we find
anything on Simon’s. The other hard
drives only contained more information about their drug business and bank
accounts,” Carlo said as they nodded and followed the others to the football
field.
The three Alpha’s stood
behind the end zone and glanced at the scoreboard. There was a little more than a minute left
and the score was tied. PR had the ball
on their 30 and it was 1st and 10.
Paulo set his defense up, rushing the quarterback and as he scrambled
out of the pocket he threw off-balance to his wide receiver who was on the 10
yard line. Everyone held their breaths
as they waited for the ball to complete its arc and a gasp was heard as Alonso,
Aldo’s son, came out of nowhere and intercepted the ball before he was pushed
out of bounds. Cheers went up from SMP
and the offense scrambled out on the field.
Enzo looked at Sal and Victor
and said, “We’re running a down and out 30.
Victor will block, Sal you’re the receiver and make sure you get out of
bounds. Next play will be the same
thing, except Victor and Sal you’ll be blocking and Rick will be the
receiver.” The boys nodded and gave each
other fist pumps.
Victor and Sal lined up on
the right side and seconds before Enzo began the count, Victor noticed the
extra cornerback and motioned with his head to Sal who nodded. They zoned in, taking deep slow breaths and
at the end of the count they took off running; Victor strong arming their way
downfield as he ran a step ahead and to the left of Sal. Two steps away from his mark, Sal turned and
the ball fell into his hands and he heard the grunt from Enzo as he was
tackled. Seeing open field in front of
him, he continued to run and glanced left to see a cornerback running at them
on an angle. “Got him,” Victor shouted
as he sped up and met the cornerback with his left shoulder knocking both of
them down as Sal continued down field until he was knocked out of bounds on the
SMP 20.
“Great run little brother,”
Enzo said grabbing Sal’s face mask and head butting him. He glanced to the sidelines and said, “Cole,
you’re going to be the bootleg decoy.
Sal or Victor, get in the end zone and I’ll find you. The rest of you keep them off my ass, I don’t
feel like playing another quarter.” They
lined up as the clock ran down from 20 seconds and at the end of the count, the
boys took off. Sal was covered by three
defenders while Victor had one and he barreled through him going to the right
corner of the end zone as Enzo scrambled out of the pocket throwing the ball as
he was tackled. The ball was short of
its goal and Victor dove for it, catching it right before it hit the ground and
he was immediately tackled by four players from PR. The stadium was silent as they waited for the
ref to get the players off Victor and when he saw the ball tucked in Victor’s
stomach and covered by both hands he threw his arms in the air signaling a
touchdown. The fans from SMP started to
cheer as the players ran off the field as the clock wound down to zero.
“Good game,” Savannah said to Carlo as
they shook hands and watched as the boys ran towards the gym.
Sal stopped and looked in the
stands and waved to Gabby as she held up her sign with his name and number on
it. Victor and Alonso came up next to
him and Alonso whispered, “I know she’s yours, but you think you could fix me
up with one of her friends? Maybe we
could go on a double date.”
“I don’t want our first date
to be a mess like Sophia’s,” Sal whispered back as he watched Gabby walk
towards him. “I need to ask her out
first; we’re going to the lake this weekend and I’m trying to get my courage up
to ask her then.”
“You were fantastic. I can’t believe how fast and strong you are,”
she said as she squeezed his upper arm before trailing her fingers down to hold
his hand.
Sal swallowed loudly and
stammered out, “Yeah… I’m ugh… I mean… and then… we won…” He stopped talking and closed his eyes as
Gabby giggled.
“Hey Squirt, great catch at
the end,” Angelo said as he bumped Victor with his shoulder. He nodded to Sal and said, “He trying to talk
again?” Gabby and Sal glared at him as
he laughed.
“Yeah, and it’s pretty funny
listening to him,” Victor said as he grinned before he took off running with
Sal on his heels.
“Lunch will be ready in ten
minutes,” Gina announced as the Packs walked into the gym; the bleachers had
been pushed against the wall with long banquet tables in front of them, there
were rows of banquet tables with an aisle between them and off to the side was
a table for the Alpha’s. Even though
they were allies, the Packs still separated themselves, with SMP on one side
and PR on the other with the girls in a corner with the boys in front of
them.
“We need to use the
restroom,” Sophia said to Anthony and he nodded and moved away from the wall. She scowled and said, “You don’t have to
follow us, the door is like twenty feet away.”
He frowned and she said, “I’m serious Anthony. It’s right there. We don’t need an escort and I expect all of
you to stay here.” Several tense moments
went by before Anthony nodded and as the girls walked away their protector’s
agitation rose as they stared at them.
“I don’t like this,” Lorenzo growled as he watched Erin
walk away from him. “Look at those bastards from PR staring at her, fucking Harold and
Emerson and their little gang of fucking idiots.”
“Did you hear Caitlin and the other girls giggle as
they walked by those fucking morons?”
Damian said as he began to growl as the PR boys smiled at the girls. After the girls went into the restroom they
turned to The Clan and smirked. They
continued to stare at each other until the girl’s restroom door opened and
Sophia and the others came out giggling quietly, seconds later the older
Costello and Whitmer youngsters came out of the boy’s restroom.
As they walked by the PR boys
Harold said with a smile, “I know you’re Carlucci’s by looking at you, and I
already know Gabby…so these must be the Miller girls.” His smile turned into a smirk as he heard
growls coming from the males of The Clan as they began running towards them.
Before the girls could say
anything, The Crew stepped in front of them and stood in a V-formation crossing
their arms as ten year old Reggie said in a voice that was an exact imitation
of Vin, “You’d better back off buddy.”
The PR boys grinned as Harold
said, “And what are you going to do?”
Sophia put up her hand to
stop The Clan and said, “Let him handle
it.”
Reggie rolled his neck, like
he’d seen Ant do, and said in a flat tone, “We may be little but we’re trained
by Frank and Joe Carlucci. Don’t
underestimate us.”
Seeing the boys from SMP
ready to step in, Harold held up his hands and said, “Sorry little man, our
apologies to you and the ladies.”
Reggie nodded and without
taking his eyes off the older boys, he said, “Miss Sophia, take the girls to
your intended.” As they moved away, he
smirked and raised his eye brow like he had seen Lorenzo do. “I’ll be watching you,” he said quietly and
The Crew quickly left.
Ant hid his smile as the
young boys walked up to him and he said in a serious tone, “Thanks Reggie,
Mick, Troy,
Roger and Alec for watching out for them.”
He gave each of them fist pumps and they grinned, basking in their
hero’s praise. “Do you want to eat lunch
with us?”
The boys nodded and Mick
smiled revealing his missing front teeth.
Alberto began to laugh and said, “How’re you supposed to eat with no
teeth?”
“I gots teef,” he said with a
lisp as he grinned widely.
“Where are they? In your pocket?” Damian asked as he bumped
him with his hip and Mick started laughing as he was almost knocked over.
Joel and Jerry brought the
rest of The Crew over and said, “They want to know if it’s okay if they eat
lunch with you. I told them you may be
busy.”
Ant smiled, “We were just
getting ready to come and ask if they could join us. It’ll give you a chance for some adult
conversation.”
Gina stood at the front of
the gym and said, “Lunch is served, if our guests from PR would please start
and go down both sides of the table.” Savannah directed her Pack
and when they were done, SMP went up in the grouping order they had been given
by Joe. The last in line were Savannah, Carlo, Tristan
and their Level 5’s and they went to the table set up for them so they could
talk privately.
Savannah looked at Carlo and said quietly, “You haven’t once
mentioned Gabe’s reaction to this.”
Carlo sighed, “He’s talking
of stepping down before the next election.”
Tristan and Savannah
looked stunned as he continued, “He can’t believe all this has gone on under
his direction and he feels like he’s failed as our President. I told him to wait until all of this is over
before he decides anything.”
“I agree. We need strong leadership right now, and he’s
the one to bring us through this,” Tristan said as Savannah nodded.
“He directed an account be
opened with $100 mil in it for each of your Packs in case you need to
disappear,” Carlo said as he reached in his pocket and handed each of them a
slip of paper. “There’s the account
numbers and passwords.”
Tristan frowned, “Is this
money from the Alpha Council?”
“No, the account Davis Pack
had. They have no idea it exists, they
still haven’t cracked the code to any of the computers yet,” Carlo said with a
frown. “Like we discussed before, Gabe
isn’t sure who to trust so we gave him a complete listing of what was on the
hard-drives. When they do crack it if
something is missing he’ll know and it’ll narrow down the suspect list a
little.” He turned to Joe who pulled
flash-drives out of his pocket. “We made
each of you copies so you can go over them yourselves and see if we’ve missed
anything.” Tristan and Savannah nodded and put the hard drives in
their pockets.
“Why don’t we discuss the
training for PR while we’re here,” Frank said as he looked around the
table. “The other Beta’s don’t need to
be involved in the discussion and we have other things to talk about later.”
While the others talked Carlo
turned his attention to his son and smiled as he saw the boys feeding the
little ones. “What are you thinking?” he asked Gina as he caught her eye from
across the room.
“That it would be better for SP to send four people to
PR so they’re available to train them around their work and school
schedules. Having PR go to SP would be
too much of a disturbance and it would take too long to train the Pack. Frank and Joe can go or send some of our
Level 4’s to supplement the training,”
Gina said as she glanced at her watch.
Carlo nodded and relayed the information and everyone agreed with Gina’s
plan. Tristan made arrangements to leave
four of his Level 4’s at PR when they played football the following weekend.
Looking around he realized
his entire Pack was here including the youngsters from U of MD who had come
home for the football game, The Elders who were patrolling the woods, the men
in the security room and Mr. P in the safe room with Victoria. He smiled at the closeness and love that were
displayed. He watched as Vin held Hope’s
cup; Lorenzo fed Brooke and Eddie small bites of food; Toni sat on Damian’s lap
as he whispered in her ear and she laughed; Jackie point to something on Dom’s
plate and he gave it to her; Abby sitting between Anthony and Sophia; Marco and
Anna accepting congratulations on the news of their new addition; Jerome
laughing as Cynthia rubbed her expanding belly; Duke bringing Emory another
plate of food; the adults were laughing and talking. He felt the responsibility of everyone’s
safety and closed his eyes as he thought of the lives that may be lost.
“We will get through this together,” Gina said as she stared at him from where she sat
with Rose, Annie, the Millers and the Moretti’s. “Our
Pack looks to you for strength and guidance and you’ve never let them down. They know that you are doing everything you
can to protect them.”
“Have I told you lately how much I love you? And how glad I am that you are my mate?” Carlo asked as she began to smile.
“I know every time you look at me,” she said as she teared up and Rose and Annie reached
out to hold her hands. She talked
quietly to them and they smiled at Carlo as he grinned. She cleared her throat and stood up,
“Attention please.” The talking stopped
and everyone turned to her, “If the youngsters could please finish up, the Meet
‘n Mingle will start in ten minutes.
They will be served dessert in the cafeteria, for everyone else dessert
will be ready in fifteen minutes.” Joel,
Jerry, Larry, Barry and Harold came over and got the young ones while the boys
from both Packs scowled and the girls quickly fixed their hair and got ready.
Gina led the way into the cafeteria
where four tables were in the center of the room, Beta’s from both Packs stood
around the edge of the room while the three Alpha’s stood off to the side. “We have a sundae bar, popcorn, cake and
punch. We’d like for you to relax and
get to know each other. And girls if
you’re wearing hoodies or jackets please take them off.” She motioned to Aldo and music from the local
radio station began to play over the speakers.
She moved next to Carlo,
Tristan and Savannah
who looked at her and smiled. “This is so much better than a line where they
walk past each other,” Savannah
said as they watched the youngsters talk quietly as they got their snacks. “I’ve got to ask, why don’t you have tables
for them to sit down?”
“I wanted them to walk around
and talk to each other instead of sitting with their friends and brothers,”
Gina said with shrug. Several minutes
went by and she said in a disappointed tone, “So far it doesn’t seem to be
helping.”
Carlo watched as the boys
from PR introduced themselves to Erin and Caitlin as Lorenzo and Damian got
more and more agitated; they began to growl and their eyes started to flicker
between emerald and amber. “Frank, Joe keep an eye on Lorenzo and
Damian, something’s going on.”
Their actions drew the
attention of the Beta’s around the room and the tension was palpable as Emerson
and Harold, the seventeen year old twin sons of the Level 5 Beta came
over. After introducing themselves they
began to flirt, and when Emerson reached up to tweak the bow on Erin’s head and
Harold tucked a strand of hair behind Caitlin’s ear, Lorenzo and Damian began
to growl loudly and their eyes shifted to amber or as Damian described it
later, ‘We went Batshit Crazy’.
“MINE,” both boys shouted and
Lorenzo picked Emerson up by the throat and body slammed him on the sundae bar
table, breaking the table in half. The
contents flew through the air as bowls of ice cream, spoons, candy, whipped
topping, brownies, and other toppings, and assorted syrups rained down over
everyone. He let out a howl as he jumped
on top of him as he screamed, “HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER. SHE’S MINE YOU FUCKING BASTARD.”
Following his brothers lead,
Damian lifted Harold over his head before slamming him on the popcorn
table. As the table broke, bowls of
popcorn, melted butter, salt, and Old
Bay went flying through
the air adding to the chaos and mess. He
stood over him shouting, “THAT’S MY
MATE YOU TOUCHED YOU SON OF A BITCH.” He
threw back his head and howled loudly before jumping on top of Harold.
“OH FUCK,” shouted the men as
they ran to separate the four boys who were rolling on the floor trading
punches and moments later the tables with the cakes and punch were knocked
over. Gina and Savannah
began to laugh as Savannah wiped hot fudge off
Gina’s arm and Gina picked popcorn off Savannah’s
head. The men managed to separate the
boys and Lorenzo and Damian shrugged out of their grasp and moved to their
intendeds.
“MINE,” Damian shouted as he
picked up Caitlin and ran to the corner of the room where he set her down
gently and scented her neck.
“MINE,” Lorenzo shouted as he
picked Erin up and ran to the opposite
corner. Before he set her down, he
looked into her eyes and whispered, “Mine.”
She nodded and whispered, “Mine.”
He inhaled sharply and set her down as he stared at her lips, “You’ve
been driving me crazy for days, I can’t stop thinking of you, when I was in bed
it seemed like you were surrounding me, I could smell you on my skin, I lay
awake at night thinking of you, and when I did sleep all I dreamt of was you, I
couldn’t get you out of my mind, no wonder Ant and Alberto act like idiots, I
think I was the biggest fucking idiot not realizing you were my mate, you smell
so good like strawberry shortcake and I love strawberry shortcake and those
desserts you brought me this past week they made it even worse, every one had
strawberries in it and all I could think about was you…”
“Shut up and kiss me
Lorenzo,” she whispered so quietly he barely heard her. He looked into her eyes before glancing back
to her lips and he slowly brought his head down and kissed her gently. When he heard her whimper he growled loudly
and she wound her arms around his neck sighing deeply as he deepened the kiss. Responding to the pressure, she parted her
lips and he slid his tongue inside and when he felt her tentative response he
growled even louder.
Damian continued to scent
Caitlin and ran his lips along her jaw and when he heard her sigh he kissed her
gently before whispering, “You taste like Old Bay, Old Bay and pumpkin pie and
it’s killing me, you’re killing me, all I’ve thought about this past week has
been you, now I know why Ant and Alberto acted like fucking morons, and Vin and
Dom acted like possessive idiots, I laughed because they were rambling and now
I’m doing it and can’t stop, I can’t concentrate, I can’t sleep, I almost
drowned, during football practice I got my ass knocked out, its all because of
you, and I would do it again because you’re mine, mine and nobody else’s, you
smell so good, and taste even better, I love Old Bay and that’s what you taste
like.”
She giggled, “It’s all over
me.” He growled and kissed her again,
this time the kiss was different as there was no gentleness; it was completely
possessive in nature. He growled loudly
as he felt her shiver and put one hand on her waist and the other behind her
head as he brought her closer to him. He
ran his tongue along her bottom lip and when he felt her sigh he slipped his
tongue into her mouth and stroked it along her tongue until he felt her respond
and he began to growl louder.
The sounds of laughter slowly
brought the two couples out of the pull of the mating bond and they stopped
kissing. Erin and Caitlin looked into
the room and saw everyone staring at them and began to blush and Lorenzo and
Damian turned around and growled when they saw the males looking at their
intendeds.
Todd and Matt approached Erin and Todd asked is she was alright. Erin nodded
and Lorenzo said in an angry voice, “I will never hurt my mate.”
Todd nodded and said quietly,
“I understand that Lorenzo, but she’s still my daughter and I want to make sure
she’s okay.”
Papa Mike and Phil walked
slowly to Caitlin and Damian began to growl and said, “She’s covered in food
and she’s a mess, but she’s fine.”
Phil smiled, “Welcome to the
family.”
Carlo looked around the room
and began to laugh, “Let’s move to the gym and then everyone can get cleaned
up.” The youngsters followed their
Alpha’s into the gym and as the other Pack members saw them covered in food,
they began to laugh. Carlo moved to the
front of the gym and said, “We had two declarations; Lorenzo Carlucci for Erin
Miller and Damian Carlucci for Caitlin Miller.”
Cheers went up and Annie and Holly hugged before they ran to their
youngsters and hugged them.
“We’re so excited,” Maria
said as she ran over and hugged them as the rest of the girls squealed and
jumped up and down.
“Congrats,” Ant said with a
smile as he gave Lorenzo and Damian fist pumps.
“How did you figure it out?”
Damian told them what happened and the boys began to laugh and Ant said,
“Yeah, you definitely went batshit crazy.”
Other Pack members
congratulated them and they heard loud squeals as Toni grabbed Damian’s leg and
Brooke grabbed Lorenzo’s leg.
“Congraduwations Damian,” Toni said as he bent down and picked her up
and she laughed as she got frosting and caramel sauce on her face.
When Lorenzo picked up
Brooke, she was so excited she was bouncing in his arms, “You’s gots a
gurlfwriends Wenzo. Just likes da big
boys does, likes Antny, Berto, Vinnies and Dommies. Is yous and Daymian gonna have da babies now
like Mista Mawco and Miss Anna?” Lorenzo
and Damian paled and Erin and Caitlin blushed as Holly and Annie started
jumping up and down in excitement.
Carlo looked at Frank and Joe
and grinned, “I should’ve figured something like this was going to happen. You Carlucci’s can never do something easy.”
Joe smiled, “That’s almost
the same spot Frank made his declaration for Rose, and he knocked food
everywhere too. Maybe that’s our new
family tradition.”
“Better than how you made
your declaration for Annie,” Frank retorted and the three of them began
laughing so hard everyone stopped talking and stared at them which made them
laugh even harder.
As they began to quiet down,
Todd said, “I’ve got to hear this story.
The three of you keep hinting at it, but I really got to hear it.”
“It involves Annie running
and screaming in terror, Joe completely naked chasing her, Mr. Vitti chasing
him, Mr. C chasing him, our Pack, Tuckahoe Pack and a football game,” Carlo
said as he began to laugh again.
Joe scowled, “I wasn’t
completely naked.”
“I forgot that part,” Carlo
nodded before he laughed again. “Tell me
again why you had your cleats on but were otherwise completely naked.”
“Fuck if I know. She had me so damn confused the weeks before
my declaration I had no idea what I was doing,” Joe said with a grin and he
looked at his mate with a possessive gleam.
“Over Twenty-three years later, she still has the ability to make me
forget my name and she’s strong enough to knock me on my ass.”
Carlo smiled at his mate as
he watched her talk to the little ones, “We underestimate them sometimes. Their strength is what is going to hold this
Pack together.” He caught Savannah’s eye as she was
talking to her mate and pointed at his watch and she nodded. “VARSITY GAME STARTS IN FIFTEEN.”
“I’ll get you another
hoodie. Make sure you keep it on, and
stay with the others,” Lorenzo said as he pulled Erin
tight to his side. “I don’t want to
leave you now that I have you, I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’ll be fine Lorenzo; I
promise I’ll stay with the others. You
need to worry about the game. I’ll be
cheering for you,” she whispered as she tilted her head so he could scent her
deeper.
He looked at his younger
brothers and cousins, “You’d better keep her safe.” They nodded and he ran to the locker room.
“I want you to wear my other
jersey, my hoodie, my baseball hat, my sweatpants and my jacket,” Damian said
as he tilted Caitlin’s head to the side.
Caitlin began to laugh,
“Damian it’s 78 outside, it’s bad enough wearing the hoodie if I wore all that
other stuff, I’d pass out from the heat.
You have to go; all the others are getting ready.”
He looked at his family and
said, “You’d better make sure she stays safe.”
She rolled her eyes as he quickly kissed her on the forehead and ran to
the locker room.
As the Packs were walking to
the football field, alarms went off on the cell phones of Frank, Joe, Carlo and
Paulo. “IT’S THE TRACE ON THE
ACCOUNT. WATCH SHANNON,” Paulo shouted
to Michael as he sprinted back to the building.
*****
“LUNCH,” the lead guard
hollered as two other guards rolled in a large cart. As his tray was passed through the slotted
opening between the lead and silver bars, the guard glanced at the napkin and
Charles subtly nodded. Catching the eye
of his Second in Command, he glanced down letting him know he had received a
note. He moved to the corner of his cell
and ate slowly as he watched the other prisoner’s trade food items. After finishing he dropped the tray on the
ground and bent over blocking the view of the camera suspended in the corner
and quickly palmed the note. Placing
everything back on the tray he set it on the floor near the bars and sat down
on his cot with his back to the camera and read the note:
Master, the money is gone,
there’s only $100k left.
Charles threw his head back
and let out a blood-curdling howl before shifting into his beige speckled wolf.
*****
“GOT IT,” Paulo shouted as he
pointed to the screen on his laptop.
“The request for the account balance came from Alpha Council
Headquarters…” He stopped and stared at
his Alpha, “From the Security Division.”
*****************************************************************
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lykaion
http://www.wolvesandhumans.org/pdf-documents/Wolves%20in%20Greece%20article.pdf
http://www.reiki-for-holistic-health.com/auracolormeanings.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moirai
