South Mountain Pack Chapter
13
I would like to thank pixietammy71, allie, and
hcsd1719 for their help in editing and offering encouragement. 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.
Carlo picked the newspaper off
the counter and after removing it from the protective plastic sleeve he glanced
at it and muttered, “Fuck.” He threw the
newspaper to Dante who started to laugh as he read the banner headline,
“Italian Billionaire lands in Hagerstown.” The front page was filled with articles about
Dante, his personal life, his businesses, what he could possibly be doing in Washington County and there were several pictures
of him and then one of him and Carlo together.
“It’s a good thing I notified
the Council you were coming. If I
wouldn’t have told them, it would’ve looked like I was trying to hide it,” said
Carlo with a shrug as the phone rang.
“Rossi residence,” Gina
answered as she poured a cup of coffee.
“Yes, he is, May I ask who’s calling?….Certainly Governor Branch, hold
on a minute please.”
“Russell, how are you
doing?...Yes, he arrived Monday….No, he picked up a new Gulfstream and decided
to pay a visit…Yes, very last minute…Cocktail party to welcome him?…Oh, I’m
sure he would love that…I’ll have my PA Marco arrange it for Thursday at 8…Yes,
in Hagerstown…He’ll let your Chief of Staff know the details…Yes, we’ll arrange
for local businesses to do the catering to highlight local products…I’m sure Senator
Martin will be available…Good to talk to you too, see you Thursday…” Carlo hung
up the phone and almost immediately it rang again, he sighed and said, “The
madness has begun.”
For the next hour the phones
rang non-stop, both house lines in addition to Carlo’s cell phone often ringing
at once. Newspapers both local and
national, prominent business people across the state, and local, county, state
and federal government officials called.
Finally, Carlo had enough and sent a message to Clay Martin, “Clay, I need you to host a reception for
Dante on Thursday at 8PM, send out a press release so they’ll call your office
and stop calling me. We’ve been on the
phone for the last hour talking to every fucking government official that even
thinks they’re important. Have your
Chief of Staff contact Marco and Gina to coordinate a guest list; you know who
needs to be invited so there aren’t any hard feelings. I want Pack businesses to cater the event,
and make sure the bills come to me. Hold
on a sec, Dante wants something…”
“Long John Silvers, I want
them to cater some of the food,” said Dante with a grin. He got his wallet out of his pocket and
searched for a business card and handed it to Gina with a smile.
“For the love of….fine, we’ll
get them to cater,” said Carlo with a grimace as Gina was laughing. “Oh,
and use this opportunity to your advantage as much as you can, since your
re-election is next year. I want you to
include people that are going to be beneficial to your campaign, also invite
some people that normally get overlooked and will be thrilled to be invited but
keep the guest list to around 600.”
“Yes, Alpha and thank you,” said Clay. “I’ll have my Chief of Staff start a guest
list immediately and he’ll contact Marco and Gina at The Manor House in an
hour, is that okay?” Carlo asked
Gina and she looked at her schedule planner and the clock and nodded her head
as she contacted the Millers and told them to meet her at 1PM at Rossi’s
Grocery.
“Mom, where are my
Timberlands?” Anthony hollered from upstairs.
“And that’s my cue to bring
me back to reality,” muttered Gina setting her coffee cup down on the counter.
“Before you go and help our
son, remember President Roberts is coming Thursday for the official reception
from the Alpha Council. Schedule that
reception at 6 at the same venue but in a different room. There should only be around fifty of us
there, so we can use one of the larger conference rooms,” said Carlo
absentmindedly. “What am I telling you
this for? You know what to do; you
always know what to do.”
“A reception for the Alpha Council,
plus a reception for 600 people with a day and a half notice…sure Carlo no
problem at all,” Gina said as she rolled her eyes and then a sly smile crossed
her face. “After I’m done with all this,
I’ll give Vinnie a call and order that new SUV you promised me.”
Dante started laughing and asked,
“That is not quite fair, you get an SUV and he gets a helicopter?”
Seeing the look on Gina’s
face, Carlo grinned and said, “Shit, I forgot to tell you I was buying a
helicopter.”
Gina walked out of the kitchen
muttering, “I swear they don’t grow up, their toys just get more
expensive.” Carlo and Dante looked at
each other and burst out laughing.
*****
The sky was overcast and dark
grey clouds hung low over the mountain as Rose looked out the back windows of
the kitchen as she cleaned some of the dishes from breakfast. The Clan was getting ready to sit at the
table after loading their plates and Rose said in a loud voice to be heard over
their conversation, “It’s supposed to rain, make sure you bring your jackets,
and when you come home you’d better not track mud in my house.”
Michael started to laugh and
said, “Aunt Rose we learned our lesson five years ago when you made us scrub
the floors and we haven’t done it since.”
“Mom’s good at giving lessons
that involve us doing housework,” grumbled Vin.
“I heard that Vincent,” said
Rose as she smiled. “Madame Gina sent a
message that we’re not going to the safe room today and we’re going Friday
instead. We have enough food in the
fridge that I don’t have to worry about cooking this evening, so I’ll be in the
office after I stop in at the clinic to see Maria.”
“Have you heard from Mom and
Dad about how Maria is doing?” asked Lorenzo as everyone stopped eating to look
at Rose. “We didn’t want to bother them;
we weren’t sure how much sleep they got last night.”
“I talked to your Mom, Maria
slept through the night, Doc’s been in to see her and her vitals look good so
he’s going to cut back the medicine around noon so she can wake up,” Rose said
with a sigh of relief. “Depending on how
she responds she could be released later today.
They’ll bring her here so Annie can concentrate on taking care of her
while the rest of you also get taken care of.
So after practice, you have to go to your house and get what you need to
stay here a couple of days.”
Sophia looked at her mom with
a frown and said, “Momma, who’s going to take me to training if the boys have
football practice?”
“I will,” said Frank as he
walked into the room, followed by Ric, Rocco and Luc. All four of them were dressed in shorts and
t-shirts and their hair was wet from their recent shower in the pool house.
“You trying to get rid of
that spare tire before you get back to Italy?” Damian asked with a
smile. “It looks like your thighs are
kinda jiggly too; maybe we can look on EBay and get you a Thigh Master.” The Clan put their heads down as they
dissolved into laughter at the look on Ric’s face.
Ric glared at the youngsters
and said, “Frank, I swear to Luna I’m going to kill a couple of them before I
go back to Italy,
starting with Damian.”
“You’re welcome to try, but
don’t come crying to me when they whip your ass,” Frank responded with a laugh. “All of them are excellent fighters, with
their own individual strengths but Damian also adds sneakiness to it and brings
it to a whole new level.”
“Thank you Uncle Frank, I’ve
never felt so overjoyed to be called sneaky before,” said Damian happily.
Luc looked at the youngsters
gathered around the table in their school uniforms and said condescendingly, “They
look so cute dressed alike, like the Boobsy twins.”
The Clan looked at each other
and Dom exhaled slowly before saying, “Luc you’re a good looking guy, thank
Luna for that because you’ve got shit for brains. If you’re going to insult somebody get it
right, it’s the Bobbsey Twins.”
As everyone broke out in
laughter, Luc shrugged his shoulders and said, “At least you’ve admitted I’m
better looking than all of you.”
“I never said that,” said Dom
with a snort. “I said you were a good looking
guy, the kind of thing people say to be polite.” He hesitated for a split second, glancing at
Sophia out of the corner of his eye, “Like when Sophia asks ‘Do these pants
make my ass look fat?’ and we say no even though her ass looks like a billboard.”
Sophia gasped loudly as her
brothers and cousins started to laugh.
“What pants make my ass look like a billboard? Momma we’re going to have to get rid of all
my pants and buy new ones now.”
“Think about it Shortstuff, you’re
115 pounds, how big could your ass possibly be?” Vin asked as he continued to
laugh. “You must be really tired this
morning for Dom to be able to rattle your cage like that.”
“I don’t expect that from
him…from Damian yes…but not from Dom,” huffed Sophia as she glared at Dom.
“How did I get dragged into
this conversation?” Damian asked as he reached for the pancake syrup. “Have I ever done anything to you Squirt?”
“Don’t pay attention to him Smurfette,”
said Lorenzo with a smile. “He’s jealous
that somebody has a fatter ass than him.”
Sophia hissed as she stabbed
at her pancakes, “I don’t have a fat ass and I’m not short, I’m almost 5’5”
darnit. That’s normal height for a girl;
I can’t help it if the rest of you are abnormally large.”
“Ant calls you Peanut, so we
were trying to make you feel better since he isn’t here, Short-stack,” said
Gianni as he grabbed some bacon from Enzo’s plate.
“Daddy, tell them to stop
with the nicknames,” Sophia said with a sigh.
“And my nickname has nothing to do with my height you bunch of morons.”
“The next one that says
anything to her will be washing my truck this weekend,” said Frank with a scowl
as he looked around the table.
Rose walked in the kitchen
from the mud room and said, “Sophia, I put some old raincoats in the mudroom, I’m
not sure if the Miller girls have any or not.”
Noticing the silence she said, “What?”
“Aunt Rose, you have to wash
Uncle Frank’s truck this weekend,” said Victor as he began to laugh before
stopping abruptly at the look on his Uncle Frank’s face.
“That was meant for you guys,
not your Aunt Rose,” said Frank with a smile as he winked at Rose, who still
looked confused but shrugged it off as she made more coffee. “Carmelo’ll be with Angelo and Gabby this
morning since Alberto’s still at the Clinic and some of the fathers will be at
The School House, along with a small work crew from Triple C.” The youngsters nodded their heads and Frank
looked at Sophia as he said, “The women are going to be supervising some of the
training sessions today, but we’ll still be in the building.”
“Okay Daddy,” Sophia said
with a look of confusion. It wasn’t
unusual for the women to be involved in their training and she wondered why her
Dad told her, but she shrugged her shoulders and finished her pancakes.
Vin looked at the clock and
said, “They should be here in ten minutes, finish up everybody and let’s get
ready.”
“Where’s the newspaper?”
asked Frank as he looked at Rose.
“Excuse me, ‘Mr. Let me Get
up and Act like Everything is Normal’,
but I didn’t have time to get it from the end of the driveway,” said Rose in a
huff. “I had thirteen youngsters to get
up and feed, plus I already did two loads of laundry. If you want your newspaper, run to the end of
the driveway and get it your damn self.”
There was dead silence in the
room until muffled sounds of laughter could be heard from the youngsters. Frank eyes raked his mates slim figure as his
eyes flashed amber before he said hoarsely, “You know what you do to me when
you get all feisty, my love. How ‘bout
you and I take a run in the woods before I have to leave.” He leaned in and whispered, “Take your hat
too.”
Rose smiled as she pushed up
against his chest so she could get creamer out of the fridge, “No…me and my hat
are not running in the woods with you this morning, I have too much to do…maybe
later if you’re a good boy.”
“I’M NOT HEARING THIS, I’M
NOT HEARING THIS, I’M NOT HEARING THIS,” hollered Damian to drown out the
sounds of his Aunt and Uncle as he put his hands over his ears.
“You know how good I can be,
my love,” Frank replied with a smirk.
“Why, why must you do this to
us? Between the two of you and my
parents, we’re going to be traumatized for life. It’s a wonder none of us are in therapy,”
Damian grumbled as he lowered his hands as the other youngsters looked at each
other and started to laugh.
Frank grinned at his nephew
and said, “What’s the matter? We’re
showing you a normal, healthy happy relationship.”
“I mean seriously… you’re
parents… you shouldn’t be doing that…with each other…it’s just not right,”
Damian replied as he shuddered.
Frank started to laugh and
said, “I’ll remind you of that when you’re a parent.”
Before Damian could reply, Frank
said, “Anthony’s here.” He went to the
door letting him in and when Anthony sat down and started to scent Sophia, Damian
started complaining again.
“And now I have to watch my
best friend practically molest my cousin.
Will this morning never end?” he ranted before shoving a whole pancake
in his mouth.
“I am not molesting your
cousin,” Anthony said as he rolled his eyes.
“What I am doing is scenting my intended mate and I can tell she was
upset earlier.” He sat back and glared
at the boys around the table. “Who upset
her? And why?” Sophia grinned as her brothers and cousins
were suddenly interested in their plates and shoveled the food in as fast as
they could.
“No idea what you’re talking
about Ant,” said Gianni as he glanced at Sophia.
“Oh look, it’s time for us to
leave,” Vin announced loudly as the rest of the boys got up, putting their
plates in the sink before running to the mudroom.
“What did I miss, Arachide?”
Anthony whispered in her ear as he grabbed the last piece of bacon off her
plate and ate it.
Sophia giggled quietly and
whispered back, “Nothing I can’t handle.
Come on, we’re gonna be late.” As
they walked into the mudroom she glanced out the window and said, “The
Moretti’s are here.” Vin and Dom grabbed
the extra raincoats Rose had laid out, the youngsters hollered “See ya,” and went
out the door laughing as they ran through the light drizzle.
The Millers were already in
their vehicles waiting for them, and Vin and Dom hurriedly got out of Gianni’s
truck grabbing the extra coats and ran into the correct vehicles before the
caravan proceeded to The School House.
*****
Rose entered Maria’s room
with a large basket of food and Annie motioned to Joe and Alberto who were
sleeping in recliners at the foot of Maria’s bed. Rose nodded her head but before she got
halfway across the room, as if sensing another presence in the room and not
awake enough to realize it was his sister in law, Joe jumped up growling as he
bared his claws.
“And a good morning to you
too,” said Rose with a smile as she walked to Maria’s bedside. She smoothed the hair from Maria’s forehead and
kissed her. “You look tired, why don’t
you rest since Joe is awake,” she murmured to her sister who nodded her
head. “Eat something before you lay
down, I brought egg and bacon sandwiches, muffins and juice since I figured
you’d have coffee here.”
“I smell food,” said Alberto
groggily as he got up from the recliner and stretched. “How is she?
Last thing I remember is talking to Poppa Joe.”
“Doc’s been in, he’s taking
her off the meds around noon so she can wake up,” said Annie as she
yawned. “If everything goes okay, we can
take her home this evening.”
Joe’s attention was riveted
on Maria as she grimaced before settling back down. “Is that normal? I don’t want her in pain.” Seeing Annie nod her head before yawning
again, he said, “Finish your sandwich, then get some rest. Alberto and I’ll watch over her and we’ll
wake you if we need you.”
Rose settled Annie on Joe’s
recliner and before she could cover her with the blanket, she was already fast asleep. “She was up all night,” said Joe softly. “I tried getting her to sleep, but she wanted
to stay awake in case Maria needed her.”
“I’ve got everything ready to
bring Maria to my house when she’s discharged,” said Rose softly. “Annie’ll have enough on her hands taking
care of Maria, and this way it’ll be easier with meals, laundry and whatnot. I’m going to the office, but I’ll stop by
later and Rita said she’d bring lunch.”
Joe nodded as he gave her a hug before he sat down and started to stare
at his daughter again.
*****
The School House was full of
excited chatter during homeroom as the youngsters looked over their schedules
that had been placed on their desks. Vin
raised his hand and Mrs. Di Franco asked, “Yes, Vincent?”
“May we use the chalkboard to
work out a protection schedule?” She
nodded as Vin, Dom and Anthony walked to the chalkboard and made a grid with
the girls names along the left and the class periods on the top. “Okay, each girl write your schedule down and
what classroom it’s in, Sophia you put Maria’s up too.” Five minutes later, the girls were done and
returned to their seats and the boys looked at the schedule talking
quietly. They went over each block and
wrote down the boys name who was either in the class, or had a class nearby and
twenty minutes later, the schedule was worked out to Vin, Dom and Anthony’s
satisfaction.
“I want you to copy the whole
grid,” said Anthony as he looked over the group of youngsters. “You have to know where everybody is and who’s
protecting them, so we don’t waste critical time when it’s needed. Any questions?” The youngsters shook their heads as they
copied the schedule down and when they were finished they talked quietly until
the bell signaling first period rang.
“Hey Boss, how’s Maria?”
asked Joel as he met Frank in the visitor’s parking lot, as the first period
bell rang in the background.
“The operation went well, Doc
said she may come home today, Joe, Annie and Alberto are still at the Clinic
with her,” said Frank with a smile. “Thanks for the sandwich trays yesterday, we
really appreciated them.”
“You’re welcome Boss. Glad to hear about Maria, the young ones were
worried about her and made ‘Get Well’ cards,” Joel replied with a smile. “Anyway, I brought five men with me, and left
Larry in charge at the hospital. I stopped
at the office and the supplies you ordered are in my truck. The cameras still haven’t arrived but I
checked the delivery schedule and they should be here this afternoon.”
Frank nodded his head before
grabbing a box out of the back of Joel’s truck, “Let’s start by installing the
brackets in the safe room then we’ll do the basement door. We’re not going to install the brackets on
the doors in the public areas until closer to the time needed. We still have to maintain appearances for
when the Board of Ed visits; we don’t want it to look like we’re operating a
prison.”
Joel started to laugh and
said, “The youngsters may disagree, I know when I went here it felt like prison
some days.” Frank laughed nodding in
agreement and the men unloaded the supplies before walking to the front door
where they were met by Aldo who told them the rest of the men were in the
cafeteria. The men walked down the
hallway and set their boxes down before grabbing a cup of coffee.
“Aldo, I want Ric to go over
the security system in the main control room, and Rocco the one in the safe
room. Since they’re in charge of RI’s
security division, they may have some insights if we’re missing something,”
Frank said with a frown. Aldo nodded and
wrote in his ever present notebook. “The
rest of the men from Italy
will be in two groups, one to go over the safe room for weaknesses, the other will
follow the guards as they do their normal patrols. Aldo, instruct your men to do their normal
routines, this is to see what we’re missing, not a criticism of them.” Aldo nodded his head, he wasn’t worried; his
men were well trained and knew their jobs.
Anticipating what Frank wanted,
Aldo handed out pens and notebooks, “Write down anything you think we need to
work on or update. At the end of the day
please hand them in so we can go over the lists and see what needs improved.” The men nodded their heads and proceeded to
the areas directed by Frank.
Three hours later, the
youngsters were in the cafeteria eating lunch and immediately got quiet when
the men strolled in led by Carlo and Dante.
“Relax, we’re here to eat,” said Carlo with a smile as the youngsters laughed
nervously.
As Frank sat down, he
contacted his brother including Carlo, “How’s
Maria?”
“Same as when you asked an hour ago,” said Joe with a laugh. “Doc
stopped the medicine and she should be waking up soon. What’s going on?”
“Nothing much, I already told you what we were working
on,” said Frank. “Right now we’re having lunch
then we’re going to start installing the cameras. Why?
Do you need anything?”
“No, I was wondering what I was missing. Gina left
about five minutes ago, she was on her way to Rossi’s to meet the Miller’s and
she told me about the reception. It
depends on how Maria is doing if I’m able to go or how long I’m able to
stay. You may have to be there without
me to represent Triple C…,” said Joe
as he hesitated. “And make nice with Clay, since he’s the official host of the event.” As his statement was met with dead
silence from his brother he burst out laughing.
“Ahh, Fuck. Did
you have to tell him? I wanted it to be
a surprise,” said Carlo as he turned
his head to look at Frank and he burst out laughing. “You
should see his face Joe; it looks like his head is going to explode.”
“I can’t believe you left that fucking detail out and
that I have to be nice to Clay, that arrogant fucking bastard,” snapped Frank smashing the cookie he was holding into
crumbs as he glared at Carlo.
“Oh, he’s mad now Joe, he’s destroying defenseless
cookies,” Carlo said happily. “And
Joe, I’d like you to make an appearance, you don’t have to stay the whole night,
but there will be a lot of prominent people there and it’ll do Triple C good to
do the whole meet and mingle.”
“I was thinking the same thing. Frank isn’t the most pleasant of persons
under the best of conditions, and adding Clay to the mix won’t be good,” Joe admitted.
“Damnit, I’m fucking pleasant and easy to get along
with,” Frank thundered while Carlo
and Joe started to laugh.
“Come on Sunshine, we’ve got a lot of work to
finish. Joe, we’ll talk to you later,
let me know how Maria is doing and if you need anything,” said Carlo as he got up and brought his tray to the waiting
cafeteria worker. Glancing at his watch,
he noticed the youngsters still had thirty minutes for break and walked over to
the two tables with Anthony, Sophia and the rest of the youngsters.
“Hey Dad,” said Anthony with
a smile.
“We didn’t talk earlier, but I
expect you to be at the reception for Dante.
This is part of your Alpha training; you need to be comfortable in
social situations, especially when it involves business leaders, politicians
and members of government. Sophia, your
father and I talked it over and we feel it would be better for you to not be at
the reception due to your age and the amount of press coverage the reception is
receiving. There’ll be enough
speculation when it comes out the two of you are a couple, but we’ll try and
hold that off as long as possible,” said Carlo with a shrug as Frank
scowled. Sophia nodded her head, knowing
it was being done for her protection, but she didn’t like the fact Anthony was
going without her. Carlo looked at his
son and noting his size said, “After practice tonight, your mom will take you
to get a suit, I’m sure you’ve outgrown the ones you have.”
Dante smiled at Anthony and
said, “You can have one of my handmade Italian suits Anthony, we are the same
size and it should fit you perfectly.”
“Thanks Dante, Dad was going
to take me to Savile Row to get some custom made suits when I graduated,” said
Anthony as he got up and hugged Dante.
“Pfft, what do the English
know of mens fashions, unless you want to look like Prince Charles? If you want true fashion, you must come to Italy,” Dante
proclaimed proudly.
“Says the man who is half
English and was educated at Eton and Oxford,”
Carlo retorted with a smile as Dante glared at him. “And who speaks the Queen’s English in an
upper crust accent.”
Dante whispered in Carlo’s
ear, “Fuck you Carlo. Is that upper
crust enough for you?” Carlo burst our
laughing surprising everyone and seeing the other men had finished lunch, he
motioned with his head for them to follow him out of the cafeteria.
Anthony glanced at Sophia and
noticing her expression he leaned in and whispered, “I’d rather spend time with
you, but I have to do this Arachide.”
Sophia sighed loudly before
saying, “I know, but…”
“Hi Anthony, Daddy told me
you would be going to the reception,” said Victoria Martin flipping her long
blonde hair over her shoulder as she stole a glance at Sophia. “Since no children are allowed, I was
wondering if you would be my date.” There
was complete silence in the cafeteria as the youngsters watched the unfolding
drama. Damian leaned back with a smile
on his face as he thought, ‘Finally, something exciting was going to happen.’
Anthony scowled as he said in
a forceful tone, “Victoria,
you know I made my declaration for Sophia and it’s not right for you to ask me
on a date.”
“Did she…did she really call
me a child?” asked Sophia to no one in particular.
Damian nodded his head
enthusiastically and said, “Yes she did AND she asked your intended mate on a
date.”
“Damian, you’re not helping,”
whispered Lorenzo as he stared at his cousin.
“I know,” Damian replied with
a huge grin on his face as he leaned forward eager to hear every word.
Victoria shrugged her shoulders and looked Anthony over before
saying, “You’re not mated yet Anthony, things could change…”
“Victoria, I told you before I’m not
interested in you. I made my declaration and Sophia is my mate, that will never
change,” Anthony replied in a tone that brooked no arguments.
“I’m going to be a lady and
ignore what you said,” snapped Sophia standing up and taking several steps forward
bringing them face to face. “But listen up
you blonde bimbo, Anthony is mine and if you say anything more I’m gonna beat
your ass.”
“And if she doesn’t, then I
will,” said Gabby as she came to stand next to Sophia.
“Thanks Gabby, but I don’t
need any help and that goes for the rest of you too,” said Sophia as she stared
at her mate, brothers and cousins who looked back but didn’t agree with her. Knowing his brothers and cousins would be
paying attention to Sophia, Sal kept watch on Gabby.
Damian laughed and said,
“Ooh, it’s getting good now.” Lorenzo turned
to stare at him and Damian said, “What?
This is way better than pay per view and a whole lot cheaper. Damn…I wish I had some popcorn or chili
cheese fries.”
Victoria stepped back and said in a condescending tone, “Face
it Sophia, you know I’d be a much better mate for Anthony than you, after all I am a Senator’s daughter.” She paused and looked Sophia up and down
before saying nastily, “If I need to have shelves put in my walk-in closet,
I’ll call your family.”
“Oooh, now you’ve gone too
far,” Sophia hissed. “You can say
anything about me, but when you put down my family…”
“No, she will not say
anything she wants about you,” said Anthony in a commanding tone as he stood up
making Victoria
take a step back. “Apologize to your
future Madame Alpha NOW. I will not put
up with anybody disrespecting my mate; do I make myself clear Victoria?”
Victoria glared at Sophia before saying through clenched
teeth, “I apologize for saying in public that your family is low-class.” With that, she spun on her heel and walked
back to the table containing her older brothers, the Hammonds and the Mendez’s
who look mortified. It was obvious her
brothers, Clay, Jeff and Greg, were arguing with her through the family bond by
the looks on their faces and she turned to glare at Sophia who glared back.
After what was apparently
their final argument, Clay Jr. known as CJ, got up glaring at his sister who
crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.
He ignored her and walked over to The Clan, “Sophia and Anthony, I’d
like to apologize for my sister’s behavior, I wish I could say she wasn’t her
normal self, but we all know she’s a spoiled selfish bitch. I let Dad know what she said and how she
acted and she’s no longer going to the reception.” He ran his hand through his hair and let out
a deep sigh before continuing, “He also wanted me to tell you how deeply sorry
he is and to let you know we are ready for any sanctions you deem appropriate.”
Anthony stared at CJ and
turned to look at Victoria who continued to pout and he said, “Tell your father
to get her under control. It not only
looks bad for a Senator’s daughter to act the way she does, it reflects badly
on my father as Alpha. If your father
can’t control her, he will.”
“Thank you Anthony,” said CJ
before walking back to his sister and motioning with his head the Martin’s got
up and followed him out of the cafeteria.
Glancing around the cafeteria
and seeing most of the youngsters still staring at their table Anthony said,
“The show is over, finish your lunch.”
Sophia glanced at Anthony as
she sat down and said quietly, “Why didn’t he use the bond to apologize?”
“Public insult, public
apology,” Vin answered as he shrugged his shoulders. “After Victoria
made a spectacle of herself and in turn her family, her family had to offer
their apology in the same manner.”
“I think you should’ve let
Sophia take her, give her someone other than us to practice her skills on,”
said Damian with a disappointed look on his face. “Hell, I would’ve paid to see that…if
somebody would have brought me some popcorn, preferably hot buttered with a
little Old Bay on it…Damn, I love Old Bay, I wonder if Fred could make me some
Old Bay flavored ice cream.”
Anthony laughed before saying,
“What the hell’s the matter with you?
You’ve been antsy for days.” He smiled
as Sophia pushed her lunch plate in front of him.
“I’m bored. I haven’t been able to practice with the
football team, haven’t been able to train except for upper body work, wasn’t
able to go on the Pack run, wasn’t able to run drills with everyone and…” he
stopped and shrugged his shoulders. “My
wolf is restless for some reason.”
“Doc said you could start
running today, right?” asked Sal reaching onto Gabby’s plate and grabbing one
of her fries. She swatted his hand away
and giggled before giving him her plate to finish. Seeing what Gabby and Sophia
had done, Brianna and Morgan passed their plates to their intendeds. Kelly, Aislin and Caitlin looked at Marcus, Gianni
and Damian and they nodded their heads before grabbing the girls plates. Lorenzo could feel his agitation rising because
Erin didn’t offer her plate and thought, ‘Fuck
it, I didn’t want it anyway, but she still should have offered.’
“Yeah, I figured I’ll jog
around the sidelines while you all practice,” Damian said with a shrug as he ate
Caitlin’s food. “Tonight after dinner I’ll
shift into my wolf and go for a run around the backyard.”
Erin kept her face averted,
determined to follow Vin and Dom’s advice to ignore Lorenzo, but she could feel
him staring at her and it was making goose bumps rise on her arms. Finally he was paying attention to her, but
again it was for the wrong reason as she could feel his anger so without saying
anything she pushed her plate across the table towards him and felt him pull it
out of her hands. She glanced at him and
was surprised to see his eyes light up before he masked the emotion, as she put
her head down she felt a triumphant thrill run through her.
The boys nodded their heads
and Vin said, “We’ll run with you, it may settle your wolf down to run as a
Pack.” Damian thought about it for a
second and nodded his head, ever since they had watched the little ones on
Monday, his wolf had been restless and he couldn’t figure out why. He glanced at Caitlin and seeing her watching
him out of the corner of her eye, he winked at her and started to laugh quietly
when she blushed and looked away.
“Hurry up and finish, the
bell will be ringing soon,” said Anthony as he gathered his tray and Sophia’s
and brought them to the waiting cafeteria workers.
*****
Gina was in the cereal aisle
with Todd, Holly and Fiona while they watched Maeve walk slowly up and down the
aisle picking up boxes of cereal before checking them off her list and putting
them in the grocery cart. So far she had
thirty boxes of cereal and every flavor of Pop Tarts available.
“Daddy, I wish I would’ve
gone with the others to Uncle Phil’s shop,” whispered Fiona. “We’ve been here a half hour and all we’ve
seen is this aisle.”
“She’s almost done and you
know how much this means to her. She may
not want to go miniature golfing with you, but she’ll do it because you’re her
sister,” Todd whispered back. “Maybe if
you helped her, she’d get done faster.”
“You know I can hear you,”
said Maeve in a sing-song voice as she turned to look at her family. “I’m almost done Fi, I just need to get a
couple more.” She looked at her list,
pulled a couple more boxes off the shelf and said, “I’m done.”
Gina smiled and said, “You’ll
need some milk, so we’ll go to the dairy aisle last so your milk will stay
cold. Let’s go to the deli and we’ll
sample some of the food there, then I’ll show you the back of the store.”
An hour later, the tour was
done and Maeve was happily pushing her cart to the front of the store to check
out. Her father went to help unload the
cart and Maeve whispered, “Please, let me do this myself. I wanna know what the whole experience feels
like to be able to come here, pick out my own cereals and the whole checkout
thing, please.” Todd stepped back,
realizing how much this meant to her. “Do
you see what’s first on my list Daddy?
Apple Jacks, that’s the cereal you bought me for my birthday and he took
it away and wouldn’t let me have it.
Maybe when we get home you’ll have time for the two of us to sit down
and finally share it Daddy.”
Todd swallowed the lump in
his throat before hugging her tightly and said, “I’ll always have time for you
Cupcake.” He saw the expression on
Gina’s face and he said, including Holly, “She
was eight when it happened, I can’t believe she remembered. That’s when Charles took over and prohibited
us from celebrating birthdays. I thought
I could slip a box of cereal in but they caught me and because I broke the
rules, I was prevented from seeing them for a month.”
“What happened at your old Pack seems to have affected
your girls in ways we can’t even imagine,” Gina turned to look at Maeve who had a huge smile on her face as she was
carefully bagging her groceries. “Now is probably not the time, but what
happened to Morgan? She’s a lot more
timid than the rest of the girls.”
Todd glanced at Holly who
nodded her head, “She was fourteen, even
with all the restrictions that had been put in place she was full of life and
wanted to know everything that was going on.
During one of the ceremonies, she slipped away from where the youngsters
were being held because she thought the older girls had been invited to a party
and she was upset she had been excluded.”
Todd stopped and drew a shaky breath before continuing, “We found her hours later in the woods,
rocking back and forth in a fetal position.”
“She had seen her older friends being raped,” whispered Holly.
“She was so traumatized by what
she had seen and heard that she was non-responsive for weeks and it took us
months to reassure her she would be safe.
That’s when we started planning our escape; we had talked about it
before, but after that we knew we had to get our daughters to safety.”
Gina took a deep breath
before saying, “I can’t even imagine what
she went through. Let me talk to Doc,
she needs to talk with a counselor but we have to find one that is Pack
related, it would probably do all the girls good to talk with a counselor.” Todd and Holly nodded their heads knowing
their girls needed to talk to a professional, that some of the emotional scars
were buried deep.
“Miss, your total is $187.64,”
the cashier said with a smile as she watched Maeve carefully putting her bags
in the cart.
“Cupcake, here you go,” said
Todd handing money to Maeve so she could pay.
She carefully handed the money to the cashier and waited for the change
before handing it to Todd, clearly pleased her Dad let her pay without having
to ask him.
After they loaded the
groceries in their new SUV, Maeve surprised Gina by giving her a hug and said,
“Thank you Madame Gina that was the best day ever.”
“Your welcome Maeve, I truly
enjoyed spending time with you and getting to know you a little better,” said
Gina happily as she hugged her back.
“Now, let’s go and see the building so your family can hopefully start
their bakery.”
Ten minutes later they pulled
into the back parking lot of their future bakery. Gina unlocked the back door and within
minutes Papa Mike, Nana Ellen, Fallon and Shannon came over from Matt and Phil’s
shop. “Matt’s on a delivery and said
he’ll be here as soon as he can,” said Papa Mike. “Phil has to finish one final arrangement and
then one of his assistants will watch the store for him.”
“Since Joe’s at the Clinic
and Frank’s busy setting the cameras up, he’s sending Jerry to assess the
building,” said Todd as he looked over the first floor kitchen. “Dad, I want you to concentrate on what you
need to update the wiring.” Papa Mike
nodded and headed to the basement to look over the electric panel.
Hearing a truck Todd went to
the door to meet Jerry while his family went upstairs. After the men greeted each other, Todd
motioned for him to go upstairs, “We need to move the stairs, they’re facing
the front door and we need to move them so they’re in the kitchen, the floors
will need to be sanded and stained, we need to pull the wood paneling down and
paint and the counter that’s already there will need to be removed, we’ll buy
bakery display cases and have a smaller counter for the register.” Jerry was scribbling furiously in his notebook
and nodding his head.
“What about floor to ceiling display
cases behind the counter with a mix of angled and flat shelves? You could even have one refrigerated unit if
you need it,” Jerry said. “The top half
would be for the displays and the bottom half would be cabinets to hold boxes
and bags and it’ll help to keep the heat out of the front room.” Todd nodded his head as they entered the
front room were the women were. Everyone
watched as Jerry measured each room including ceiling height, checked the
floors and walls for level, jumped up and down in several spots, tapped on the
walls before going up in the attic and coming down several minutes later.
Nana Ellen was looking around
the room and said, “We can’t decide which room should be the baking room, the
kitchen and the cooling room.”
Jerry cleared his throat and
said, “From a construction point of view, this should be the room where the
ovens are, it’s the smallest. The back room
should be the kitchen since the plumbing is already hooked up, it’s the largest
room and you’d need the space for all the equipment and doing your baking
stuff. The middle room could be used for
either storage or your cool down room. None
of the walls are load bearing, it’s a full truss roof, so if you want to move
the walls to change the size of the rooms that shouldn’t be a problem either.”
Todd nodded and said, “That
makes sense, anything else?”
“The first floor might need
to have the ceiling braced, nothing feels spongy, but the equipment you’ll have
up here may put too much stress on the floor joists. The floor to ceiling display case we were
talking about could be built as load bearing units, but the Bosses would have
the final say on that. You’ll need a
plumber to add extra lines, but that shouldn’t be a problem, the water pressure
is good,” he stopped talking for several minutes as he made more notes. He pointed to the ceiling and said, “We’d put
an exhaust fan straight up through the attic to vent out the heat, blow
insulation into the walls to prevent the heat from bleeding through the
building and also put heat resistant panels around the room. The new stairwell you were talking about, I
would recommend a Half Landing Stairwell, seven treads up, a landing then seven
more treads. This’ll let you have more
room in the sales area.” He went down to
the first floor and everyone followed him, he was quiet as he measured the
rooms, wrote more notes and then went on the patio, walking around checking all
the boards and the railings. “Everything
seems sound out here, just needs power-washing.”
“How much is all this going
to cost,” asked Todd with a raised eyebrow.
Jerry laughed and said, “Nothing
for manpower. Supplies will be ordered
through Triple C to get the contractor’s discount and the Bosses’ll give you
those numbers. I’m here to make sure the
building is structurally sound and I need to check the basement.” He went downstairs and they could hear him
speaking to Papa Mike.
Todd stared at Holly and his
mother and said, “What do you think?”
They both nodded their heads and Todd turned to Gina and said, “We’ll
buy it.”
“Good,” said Gina with a big
smile. “SMI will hold the mortgage;
you’ll work out the terms and length of the loan with Antonia Benedetto; her
and John handle all the legal work for the Pack.”
“Everything looks good in the
basement. We’ll apply for the permits as
soon as the deed is transferred.
Concentrate on what equipment you need to buy, don’t worry about
cabinets, we’ll build them onsite to fit around the equipment. The countertops will be custom ordered once
everything is set,” said Jerry with a smile.
“I’ll email you the measurements for each room once I get my notes put
together so you can start a rough sketch of what you want each room to look
like. If you need any help with that,
Triple C has an Architect on retainer.”
He nodded his head and was out the door and on his phone before anybody
could say anything.
“Now all we need is a name,”
said Holly with a laugh.
“Don’t forget all the work to
get it open,” said Papa Mike as he joined them.
“Jerry told me it should take a couple of weeks, with Frank, Joe and
their boys doing the majority of the work in the evening and weekends.”
Gina started to laugh as she
said, “Carlo is good at tearing things down, building them not so much and
please keep him away from any power tools.”
The Millers started to laugh
along with Gina as Matt and Phil walked in the back door and Matt said, “What’s
so funny?”
Twenty minutes later, Maeve
and her Daddy were on the back patio, laid out on the table in front of them
were spoons, bowls, scissors and a carton of milk. “Are you ready Daddy?” Maeve asked with a
serious tone.
“Cupcake, I’ve been waiting
five years for this,” said Todd matching her tone. She smiled at him before slowly reaching for
the box of Apple Jacks and carefully sliding her finger under the cardboard to
open the box. She used the scissors to cut
the plastic bag on an angle and smiled at her Daddy before pouring cereal into
each of their bowls. She carefully
folded back the plastic and closed the lid before pouring milk into their bowls
and sitting down.
“You first Cupcake,” said
Todd motioning for her to take a spoonful.
She nodded her head and took
a deep breath before having her first spoonful, “Oh Daddy, this is the best
thing ever.”
“Yes it is Cupcake, yes it
is,” said Todd smiling, knowing she meant the cereal but he meant spending time
with her and making her happy.
*****
“Momma,” Maria whispered, her
voice was hoarse and she licked her parched lips. “I’m thirsty Momma and my arm hurts.”
“Here’s some ice chips,
Sweetheart,” said Annie quietly as Joe and Alberto quickly got up from their
chairs and came closer to the bed. “Doc
said you’d be thirsty and he wants you to suck on these so you don’t get
nauseous.” Annie spooned another
mouthful into her and said to Joe quietly, “Get Doc.” Joe nodded his head and went quickly down the
hall and returned minutes later with Doc.
“Hi Maria, how are you
feeling?” asked Doc as he picked up her chart and started writing down some
notes on it.
Maria slowly opened her eyes
and said, “I’m thirsty, my arm hurts really bad, my eyeballs feel like they
have grit in them, I have a headache...”
She glanced down and grimaced and said, “And who put me in this awful orange
shirt? It’s hideous and the color is
completely wrong for my complexion.”
Alberto started to laugh and
said, “It’s my shirt Gattina, you were restless and your mom thought you would
sleep better in my shirt.”
“Oh,” Maria said as she
blushed and then grimaced in pain as she moved her arm.
“Doc, what about the pain, is
it normal? I told you I don’t want her
in pain,” said Joe as he started to get angry again.
“Relax Joe it’s normal, I
took her off all the meds so she would wake up, now we can start controlling
it,” said Doc as he inserted some meds in her IV line. “I’ll give her a scrip for pain meds so you
can manage it at home. Dr. Parr is going
to call some colleagues in Switzerland
to find out how the titanium plates will affect her wolf if she shifts, so
until he finds out he doesn’t want her shifting.” He turned to Maria and said, “Is the pain
better?”
Maria slowly nodded before
closing her eyes and falling asleep with Alberto holding tightly to her hand. “She should wake up in a couple of hours and
I want to make sure she can hold food and drink down before she’s discharged,
so an hour after she eats she should be ready to go home.” Annie nodded her head while Joe continued to
stare at his daughter.
*****
“Buckle up, little one,” said
Frank as he drove towards the gates of The School House.
“Daddy, I’m not five, I know
to buckle up,” said Sophia with a sigh.
“How is Maria doing? Momma said
not to bother Aunt Annie or Uncle Joe.”
“I know how old you are but
as your father I’ll always look out for you.
Your cousin woke up and should be released from the hospital around 7,”
said Frank with a smile. “The Italians
are staying to finish up the cameras and then watch football practice. Since we’re alone, you have anything you want
to talk about?”
Sophia glanced at him out of
the corner of her eye and said, “Did Vin tell you what happened at lunch?”
“Yes, he did. Anthony handled it well, and you did too
until you lost your temper. You’re like
your mother, both of you are cool and calm but when you reach a certain point
it’s like a volcanic explosion,” said Frank as he turned to look at his
daughter. “As Madame Alpha, you need to
control that. You have to learn to hide
your emotions; you can’t let others see you get agitated, they can use that
against you and more importantly against your mate.”
Sophia nodded, she knew he
spoke the truth and said, “I know Daddy, but she just made me so mad. Calling me a child and asking Anthony to be
her date…right in front of everyone. The
nerve of her.”
“Vin said you threatened to
whip her ass,” said Frank as he tried not to smile. “You know if you threaten somebody, you’ve
got to be able to back it up.”
“Uhmm, yeah I did and Daddy you’ve
been teaching me combat skills since I could walk; there’s not a girl in this
Pack, ‘sides Maria that has a chance against me,” Sophia said with a grin. “Come to think about it, I could probably
square off against most of the boys too.
Face it Daddy, you raised a frigging bad-ass.”
Frank raised his hand and
they bumped fists, “Of course you’re a bad-ass, you’re a Carlucci, but I think
you’ve been spending too much time with Damian, you’re starting to sound like
him.” Father and daughter looked at each
other and laughed as they pulled into the parking lot of the training center.
Ten minutes later, Frank had
the girls divided into their skill groups, with the Miller girls in a separate
group as Matt and Phil led the warm-ups. After they were done, they sat on the mat awaiting
instructions and Frank sent the fifteen year olds into one of the enclosed
rooms where Rose and Rita were waiting.
“Girls, we need you to change
into your robes. We’re going to practice
shifting into your wolves while you’re on the run,” said Rose as she looked
around the room. “First we’re going to
practice extending your claws, then changing your nose and ears. Learning how to do this will help you control
the shift.”
“Close your eyes, take a deep
breath and concentrate on the index finger of your right hand, now picture your
claws extending, feel your wolf and let her help,” instructed Rita. “Concentrate girls, no giggling. Learning to shift on the run may save your
life or the life of someone you care about someday.”
Frank stood in front of the
girls and they immediately stopped talking.
“Line up girls, we’re going to practice maneuvers and then you’re going
to spar so we can see your strengths and weaknesses.” Frank pointed to the
Millers to take spots in the back. For
the next half hour they practiced defensive blocks and Vinnie, Carmelo, Matt
and Phil walked around the Millers adjusting their stance, shoulders, hips and
arms. Frank called Vinnie to lead the exercise while he went to talk to Todd,
“We’re not going to do assessments on the girls tonight, there’s no need since
they don’t have the skills the youngest girls do.” Frank pointed to Abby, Jackie and Toni and
Todd watched them before looking at his daughters and nodded in agreement.
Todd said quietly, “They
don’t know anything about fighting; the only thing they know is basic defensive
moves. And when I say basic, I mean
basic…like protecting their heads and kneeing somebody in the groin.”
“That’s okay within months
you won’t believe how much they’ll learn.
Let’s watch the young ones spar first,” said Frank as he motioned for
Vinnie and Carmelo to start with the youngest group which was compromised of six
to eight year olds.
After twenty minutes the
girls had mastered extending their claws, whether it was one finger or their
whole hand and could do it on command.
Laughter rang out as they saw themselves in the mirrored wall as their
noses and ears morphed into their wolves while the rest of their body remained
the same. “Concentrate,” said Rose
softly and the laughter died down. After
the girls had mastered this, Rose said, “Watch closely while I’m shifting, notice
how smooth I shift from my human form to my wolf.” Rose walked over to the side wall, removed
her robe and started to run, on the fifth step she started to transform and was
in her wolf form by the sixth. She
trotted over to her robe, shifted and put it back on.
“Line up along the wall and walk
across the room extending your claws,” said Rose. Within five steps most had tripped over their
own feet, bumped into the girl next to them or were unable to shift more then
one claw. “Concentrate girls, concentrate. Come back and do it again.” Thirty minutes later, the girls were able to
shift into their wolves on the run, they were stumbling when their wolves landed
but that would be solved with practice.
“That’s enough, get changed into your workout gear and we’ll join the
others.”
Almost an hour later the last
group was sparring, which was the seventeen and eighteen year olds plus
Sophia. Fiona looked at Frank and asked
in a disbelieving tone, “We’re going to learn to do that?” The girls eyes were wide as they watched Gabby
slam Jade Mendez to the mat flipping her onto her stomach, pulling both arms
behind her back until they crossed at the elbows.
Frank looked at her and said
in a firm tone, “Every one of you will learn to defend yourself against people
who mean to do you harm.” They looked at
him and nodded their heads before watching Gabby help Jade off the mat.
Vinnie and Carmelo talked
quietly before saying, “Sophia against Beatrice.”
“But…but...she’s a Senior and
is way bigger then Sophia,” said Brianna as she glanced at Frank.
“Your first lesson girls,
don’t let the size of your opponent intimidate you, there are always ways to
overcome their size,” Frank stated.
“Watch closely.” Their faces
showed their concern for their friend as they did as they were instructed.
Beatrice Giovanni who was
eighteen, 5’8” and 135 pounds, stepped forward and Sophia shook her hand as
they smiled at each other. They circled
around each other before starting to run at each other, at the last second
Sophia firmly planted her right foot as she brought her left knee up into
Beatrice’s stomach, followed by a left forearm to the back of her neck knocking
her onto the mat. Immediately following
her down, Sophia put her right knee in the middle of Beatrice’s shoulder blades
pinning her to the mat before placing her left arm around Beatrice’s throat and
her right hand on her forehead saying, “This is where I snap your neck.”
Sophia got up extending a
hand to Beatrice who said, “At least this time you didn’t break my nose.” The two girls looked at each other and
started to laugh.
Vinnie started to smile and
said, “Where did you learn that?”
“WWE…and playing golf with my
family,” Sophia stated with a smile and her Dad started to laugh. Vinnie had the girls line up again and asked
if they needed help on anything they learned before doing warm down exercises.
Frank quietly said to Todd, “Are
you ready for your assessment? I’d like
the girls to watch if you wouldn’t mind.”
“After watching the older
girls, I think some of them might be able to take me,” said Todd
seriously. “We didn’t do anything like
this. I was Fourth in Command and a
Level 4 Beta, but in this Pack I have no idea what I’d be.”
Matt said, “You do know who
you have to spar against, right?” Todd
shook his head and Matt said, “You get to spar with Frank since Joe isn’t here;
in our old Pack I was a Level 4 and tested as a Level 1 here.” He looked at his brother before he started to
laugh and was joined by the other men sitting on the bleachers.
“Oh, fuck,” said Todd quietly
as Frank turned to him with a raised brow.
“We’re done for the night,
but those who’d like to stay can watch Mr. Todd get his status level assessment
done,” said Frank loudly as he watched the girls eagerly run to the bleachers
to sit with their fathers. They heard
the door open and Carlo and the Italians came walking through and sat down.
Todd glanced around and
muttered, “Well that really takes the pressure off.” He drew a deep breath and moved to the center
of the mats where they shook hands. Both
men were almost evenly matched in height and weight but Frank was an inch
taller and had more muscle definition. They
circled around each other several times waiting for an opening and Frank
feinted right and when Todd reacted Frank quickly moved left grabbing Todd by
the arm and throwing him over his shoulder.
Todd twisted his body in mid-air landing in a crouch and said, “Nice throw.”
Frank smiled and said, “Not
one of my best, I wanted to see how you would counter it. Nice reflexes.” As Frank finished talking, Todd lunged at him
but Frank quickly sidestepped grabbing Todd by the left arm knocking him off
balance. Todd rolled across the floor
quickly getting to his feet and into a fighting stance. “Don’t just look at my face, look at how I
have my feet planted and watch how my knees flex.” Todd nodded and both men turned towards the
door when they heard it unlock.
“Fuck me sideways,” Todd
muttered as the football team entered the training area and moved quickly to
sit with their intendeds or sisters. “Is
the whole Pack coming?”
“Not that I know of, but I
wasn’t expecting the boys or the Italians to show up,” Frank said with a laugh
before a serious expression crossed his face.
“Show us what you got.” He
watched as Todd drew a deep breath and flexed his shoulders before they began
to circle each other. Frank lunged forward
grabbing Todd around his waist and Todd brought his knee up sharply into
Frank’s abdomen, Frank groaned but didn’t loosen his hold so Todd did it again
combining it with his interlocked hands coming down between Frank’s shoulder
blades. Frank responded by letting his
legs buckle, pushing his shoulder and full weight into Todd’s abdomen as he
fell back onto the mat. Frank rolled off
and walked around him as Todd was gasping for air while Frank was breathing
normally, “Nice combo move, next time plant your foot more firmly, you’ll get
more leverage that way and when you bring your arms down keep them straight to
get more force behind them.”
Todd rolled to his feet into
a fighting stance and watched Frank intently as everything Frank had told him
and all he had seen of the girls training swirled in his mind. When Frank lunged at him, Todd ducked low bringing
his left elbow straight up hitting Frank under the jaw and followed through
with his right fist to Frank’s jaw. There
were gasps in the training room as Frank’s head snapped to the left but Frank
recovered quickly and shifted his weight to his right foot as he kicked at
Todd’s midsection with his left. Todd
staggered back but grabbed Frank’s foot twisting it and both men fell to the
mat with Todd panting and Frank barely breathing hard. Frank quickly rolled to his feet and said,
“You have to have the stamina to finish off your opponent. We’ll be in a battle for our lives, for the
lives of our mates and youngsters and we are counting on you just like you are
counting on us.” Todd nodded and rolled
to his feet breathing hard but ready to fight.
“Do you have extra clothes
with you?” asked Frank and Todd nodded. “I
want you to come at me on the run and shift into your wolf. I’ve seen all I need to in your human form,
now I want to see what your wolf can do.
No lethal biting, a pin is considered jaws around the opponents neck.” Todd nodded in understanding and walked
quickly to the other side of the room, drew a deep breath and started running,
shifting into his dark grey almost black wolf within three strides.
Frank stood in place
observing Todd as he shifted and when he was ten steps away, he ran towards him
and shifted into his wolf jumping over Todd and grabbing his hind legs between
his front paws dragging Todd to the ground while he put his mouth on his back
leg. Todd responded by arching his back
and rolling left while pushing himself up getting out of Frank’s hold.
Todd could feel the agitation
arising from his wolf, so he let his wolf have a little more control but was
trying to temper the agitation as he knew that could lead to him being
careless. He feinted left then right and
when Frank moved he lunged at him, managing to pin him for a second before
Frank’s hind legs threw him off. “Nice feint, next time don’t hesitate follow
through immediately,” Frank said.
Todd nodded his head up and down realizing Frank was right, he had
hesitated.
Frank came at him and Todd
braced himself but Frank ducked under Todd and lunged up throwing him several
feet. Todd twisted in mid-air landing on
all four paws and immediately lunged at Frank managing to get his mouth around
Frank’s hind leg. The men disengaged without
any damage and started to circle again before Frank lunged at Todd and managed
to get his jaws around Todd’s throat and knock him to the ground. Both men disengaged and Frank double feinted
and Todd didn’t move keeping his focus on Frank’s forelegs like he had been
instructed, Frank said, “Much better, let
your wolf act on his primal instinct.
I’ve seen all I need to, let’s get changed.” The two wolves trotted towards the men’s
changing room and Frank nudged the door open with his nose, minutes later both
men came out hearing the whispers of those gathered in the training room.
“Let me introduce you to our
newest Level 4 Beta, Todd Miller,” said Frank as Todd exhaled deeply before
shaking Frank’s hand as the crowd clapped.
Frank quietly said, “You’re a strong fighter with good reflexes but you
need to polish your techniques and build up your endurance; weekly training
sessions, weight lifting and running will remedy that. I have confidence that after training you’ll
be a Level 5, you have tons of raw talent and it needs to be developed.”
Todd nodded and sighed deeply
in relief as his brothers came up and hugged him. “I was worried after watching the girls,”
said Todd with a big smile. “Frank said
I need to build up my endurance, so I’m going to start running. You two want to join me?” His brothers nodded and made plans to meet
early the next morning.
“So, do I have to get tested
too?” asked Papa Mike after walking over to Frank.
Frank smiled at him and said,
“No, in Werewolf culture, the young inherit the father’s abilities. Your son tested at a Level 4, so that’s what
you’ll be.” Seeing everyone standing
around talking, Frank said loudly, “Class is dismissed.”
Seeing Phil check his watch,
Todd said, “Why don’t you two go ahead and leave, you need to get ready for
your dinner with Carol and JR. There are
more then enough of their security detail to get us home, plus Vin and Dom are
here too.”
“We’ll make sure before we
go,” said Matt as he called the protection detail over. Ten minutes later Matt and Phil were on the
way home to shower and change before heading to Fred’s to get ice cream for
their dinner at the Robertson’s.
“Dad, Vin and I are going to
the Millers for dinner,” said Dom as he pulled Morgan closer to him.
Frank nodded and said,
“Remember Maria should be home at 7 and it’s a school night, don’t overstay
your welcome boys.”
“We’ll be home after dinner,”
said Vin as he smiled at his mate who smiled back. “We promised Damian we’d go running as a Pack
after dinner.” Within minutes everyone
was walking out the doors and Carmelo and Vinnie made sure the rooms were clear
before securing the building.
As soon as they reached his
truck, Anthony pulled Sophia close to his side and scented her deeply. “Anthony, everybody is looking,” she
whispered as Anthony removed her ponytail holder and ran his fingers through
her long curly hair.
“Let them, I want everybody
to know you’re mine,” he growled as he continued to scent her. “When you got jealous this afternoon and said
I was yours, you drove me and my wolf crazy.
Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
“Anthony, Daddy’s walking
over,” Sophia started to giggle quietly as Anthony slowly stood up but pulled
Sophia even tighter to his side.
“Vin said the boys were going
to run as a Pack after dinner and I’m assuming you’ll be there, so does that
mean you’re coming for dinner tonight?” asked Frank as he narrowed his eyes. “We need to work out the details for your
date.”
“Yes Sir, I’d love to come
over for dinner. Mom is busy getting
stuff together for the reception, so she told us to go out to eat; Dante wants
to go to Long Johns,” Anthony said as Frank threw his head back and started to
laugh.
Almost an hour and a half
later, the boys came out of the pool house in their wolf form and started a
slow jog around the back field of Frank’s house. “How’s
your leg?” Ant asked Damian who was in the lead to set the pace.
“Good, it doesn’t bother me at all, almost like it was
never broken,” Damian replied before
he started to laugh. “Ant, I hate to say this but your first date
is turning into a circus. Four girls and
twelve boys in total, it’s a total clusterfuck.”
“Thankfully our first date with Brianna and Morgan is
Friday,” said Dom with a laugh. “If it
was Saturday, that means four more guys in addition to Vin and I. Now that’s too much, especially when I want a
little privacy with my girl.”
“I know. I wanted this first date to be special for
Sophia. It was okay when we were double dating with Maria and Alberto, but
adding Caitlin and Erin to the mix…” Anthony stopped talking when he heard Lorenzo
growl. “But if this is what she wants, then that’s what she’ll get. I’ll do anything to make her happy.”
“She’s really got you whipped, doesn’t she?” asked Damian with a snort.
“Fuck off Damian, when you find your mate, you’ll know
what it feels like. Every emotion she
has I feel and when she’s happy it feels like my heart is going to burst. It starts to pound so hard when I see her I
feel like I’m having a heart attack or a stroke,” said Anthony as Vin and Dom agreed.
“Awww, that is so sweet,” Lorenzo said pretending to vomit.
“Are you sure you’re a wolf? Cause you sound like a cat hacking up a
furball and you acted like a baby kitty hissing when Uncle Frank told us the
protection detail for Erin’s date,” said Damian laughing as his twin bit at his tail.
“Fuck off Damian, I wasn’t hissing. I’ve told everyone what she does is her
business, it doesn’t bother me in the least,” Lorenzo said firmly as he tried to hide his agitation as he thought of
Erin going out with Bob. “The
only thing I’m looking forward to is dinner at Carmelo’s, the rest of the night
I could care less what happens.”
“I wonder if Gabby is going to be there,” said Sal as he slowed down his pace.
“Why the fuck would Gabby go on their date?” asked Dom misunderstanding what Sal meant. “Did
Dean finally get the courage to ask her out?”
“I meant at Carmelo’s, and what the fuck do you mean
Dean is going to ask her out?” Sal
growled loudly and stopped running as he stared at his brother. “He’d
better not ask her out.”
“You’re getting possessive baby brother. How are things going with the two of you? And let’s keep running, Damian’s wolf needs
it,” asked Vin turning towards Sal
who nodded and caught up to the rest of the boys.
“Good, I can talk to her without stammering and looking
like a complete idiot and did you see she gave me her food today at lunch?” Sal proudly asked as he threw his head back. “I know
my wolf likes to be around her and he’s starting to get possessive of her. So uhmm…do you think I should maybe ask her
out?”
“Yeah, but not this weekend we’ve already got enough
clowns attending this circus,” Damian
said as the boys started to laugh. “Seriously, we’re only taking three cars so
if we have anybody else with us, we’re going to look like a bunch of damn clowns
exiting one of those little cars, let’s not make it any worse.”
Victor shuddered and said, “Clowns scare me, those weird expressions
and that fake painted on mouth. I think
they’re all serial killers.”
“For fucks sake you’re a werewolf, if you see a clown
coming to attack you bite his big red nose,” replied Damian as the boys laughed.
“Just be careful he doesn’t kick
you with his big shoes or squirt you with the flower on his lapel.”
“Fuck off Damian,” said Victor in a huff causing the boys to laugh even more.
“I’m going to change my name to ‘Fuck off Damian,
cause that’s all I keep hearing,”
Damian said. “I like ‘Fuck off’ better then ‘Fat ass’ anyway.”
“How about ‘Shut the fuck up Damian’? You like that one better?” asked Dom with a low growl.
Damian tilted his head as if
deep in thought before saying, “Nah…too
wordy, I’ll stick with ‘Fuck off Damian’, it has a certain poetic ring to it.”
“Will the two of you shut the fuck up? I’m trying to have a conversation with my
baby brother,” Vin said and seeing Dom
and Damian push against each other and ignore him he shook his head and turned
to Sal, “I’m sure Angelo will be one of
your chaperones. Make sure you take one
of us to be a buffer, preferably Damian.
Angelo gets along with him and he can act his usual idiotic self and
help you out.”
“I’m not idiotic, I’m an observer of life and all it
has to offer,” Damian said calmly
before laughing. “I can’t help if the majority of things I observe are asinine.”
“That’s because it takes an ass to recognize something
asinine, and you’ve definitely got the ass for it, a big fat ass,” said Paulo as the boys started to laugh again.
“Ignore them Sal and listen to me. Why don’t you plan your date for the weekend
after we’re at the lake? You can ask her
out while we’re up there and it’ll give you two weeks to get to know her better
and be more relaxed around her,” Vin
said as he slowed down to run next to his youngest brother.
“I know her, I’ve known her my whole life,” Sal replied indignantly.
“There’s a difference in knowing her as Gabby, the
girl you grew up with and Gabby the girl who might be your mate,” said Anthony as his eyes scanned the field. “I knew
your sister my entire life too, but it’s completely different now. Do you know what flowers she likes? Her favorite color? The food she likes? What she wants to study in college? These are the things you need to know to make
her happy.”
“I guess I really don’t know her as well as I thought
I did. How am I supposed to find all
that stuff out?” muttered Sal. “Damn,
girls are complicated.”
“You have no idea,” said Lorenzo with a growl as everybody turned to stare at him. “Erin is driving me fucking crazy and she’s not even my
mate. Did you guys notice she’s ignoring
me? What the fuck did I do to her?”
“Do we really need to answer that?” asked Damian with surprise in his voice. “How
many times have you made her cry? Or
hollered at her? And I’m not even going
to mention you snotting on her.”
“Whatever. I’m
happy she’s ignoring me. On Saturday
night I’ll watch over her because I have to, not because I want to,” said Lorenzo in an agitated tone.
Victor asked quietly, “Do you think Bob’ll kiss her? She is sixteen.”
“HE’D BETTER NOT, IF HE SO MUCH AS TOUCHES HER I’LL
RIP HIS FUCKING ARMS OFF AND BEAT HIM TO DEATH WITH THEM,” roared Lorenzo as he growled and bared his teeth.
The boys were silent as they stopped
jogging and stared at Lorenzo who continued to growl. Damian shook his head and said, “Damn bro, calm the fuck down, you’re gonna
pop a vessel.”
Before anything else could be
said, they heard Frank, “They’re on their
way.” The boys headed to the pool
house to change and ten minutes later everyone was gathered on the front porch
as Joe pulled the SUV in front of the garage.
They watched the back door open and Alberto slid out holding Maria as if
she was a fragile piece of porcelain and would shatter any moment. Maria opened her eyes and smiled widely at
her family as Alberto walked past them and into the family room putting her
down gently in the recliner Rose had ready. He stepped to the side holding her right hand
as her brothers and cousins swarmed around her, kissing her and greeting her as
Sophia gently put a pillow under her arm and Damian covered her with a
blanket. They were laughing and talking
and Alberto suddenly felt out of place, looking around the room he saw Anthony
leaning against the wall and he gently let go of her hand as he went to stand
next to him.
“They make you feel like an
outsider sometimes, don’t they? But they
don’t mean anything by it, they act like one and think like one it’s the way
they were raised,” Anthony said softly as he gazed at Sophia who was sitting on
the recliner with Maria. “I’m actually
glad because I know when we have little ones, they’ll be part of something
greater than a sibling bond; they’ll have the entire Carlucci family at their
side to protect them.”
Alberto thought for a moment
before saying, “I hadn’t thought of it like that, but you’re right our little
ones will be part of something special…”
He stopped as he stared at Damian who threw his shirt off and was
flexing like he was in a body building competition while his family cheered and
jeered. He looked at Anthony and said,
“Even if it includes Damian.”
“People see only what he
wants them to see. He comes off as a
jokester and somebody who doesn’t care but he’s far from that,” Anthony said as
he smiled at one of his best friends. “He’s
very intense, a hellacious fighter and has a deep sense of loyalty to those he
cares about. If you look at their family
dynamic, you’ll see he’s the perfect counterpoint to Lorenzo’s brooding, Vin’s
forcefulness and Dom’s intensity; he balances them out just as they rein him
in. You need to get to know him as
Damian Carlucci the man, not just as Maria’s brother.”
“You’re right Ant; they play
off of each others strengths. I noticed
they each have their own niche in the family,” Alberto noted and then he looked
at Anthony. “The question is… where is
ours?”
Anthony smiled, “That my
friend is simple…we’re the mates of their beloved sisters and cousins. Our job is to make sure those two beautiful
women are happy or we’ll have to deal with twelve angry men.” They glanced at Joe who was staring at Maria
and then looked at Frank who snuck behind Damian and with a smooth move put him
in a fireman’s carry before lifting him over his head with his arms fully
extended. Anthony drew a deep breath
before saying “Not to mention their parents.”
“Daddy, is it time for my
meds?” Maria asked softly, her face showing a twinge of pain. Joe instantly sprang out of his chair and ran
into the kitchen returning with a large glass of orange juice, wheat thins and
one of the pain pills Doc had given them until they could get her prescription
filled.
“Here Sweetheart, Doc said
you should eat something when you take it,” said Joe as Maria nodded. Sophia held the juice and put the box of
wheat thins between them and when Maria put the pill in her mouth she carefully
handed the juice to her. “Lorenzo and
Damian your sisters prescription is on the counter, could you bring it to the
pharmacy and get it filled?”
“Maria, the pharmacy is right
near Fred’s, you want some ice cream?” asked Damian as they were leaving.
Sophia and Maria looked at
each other but before they could say anything, Lorenzo said, “Let me guess, one
strawberry milkshake and one chocolate?”
The two girls giggled and nodded as they snuggled next to each other,
holding hands. Within minutes they were
asleep and Rose turned off the lamps and moved the box of wheat thins as
everyone quietly left the room and went into the kitchen.
Frank looked at Joe and the
two brothers smiled at each other, “I guess we’re sleeping down here on the
couches tonight big brother. Doc did say
to keep her in a recliner so her arm wouldn’t jostle around.”
Frank nodded and said
quietly, “Carlo and Dante are here.” The
two brothers got up followed by Ric, Rocco and Luc and moments later the sound
of Frank’s study door being closed was heard.
“I’d like to stay with Maria
again tonight but I don’t think Poppa Joe can handle me spending the night
again. So, I’m going to head home, but
we’ll come over a little earlier in the morning that way I can see Maria before
I go to school,” said Alberto as he rubbed his hands over his face. “If that’s okay?”
“That’s fine Alberto, we’ve
all had a stressful two days,” said Annie as she yawned. “If anything happens I’ll call you and don’t
worry about Joe. He conveniently forgets
how he acted after he made his declaration and the trouble he got in when he
‘bent’ the rules.”
Alberto laughed softly and
said, “I’d like to hear some of those stories so I can remind him of them.”
“I’m going to head out too,
I’ll give you a ride so you don’t have to run,” said Ant. “I’ve got some studying to do for tomorrow
night. Dad had Marco put together a
dossier of some of the prominent people who are going to be there so I know who
they are.” The boys got up and walked
into the family room and scented their intendeds before quietly leaving the
room and heading to the front door. Vin and
Dom followed and walked them out to Anthony’s truck.
“I’d like to get an extra
training session before we get tested Sunday.
Ric, Rocco and Luc said they’d help,” Vin said as he gazed around the
yard. Ant and Alberto nodded as Vin
continued, “Dad said they’re going to test all the boys over fifteen, I was
thinking we’d approach them at school and ask if they’d like to join us.”
“Sounds good to me, your Dad
still do his ten mile run in the morning?” Ant asked as he leaned against his
truck.
“Yeah, we’re all going to
start running with him starting tomorrow, 5 AM sharp at the pool house. Normally it’s at Uncle Joe’s, but they’ll
start from here tomorrow,” said Dom as he sighed. Ant and Alberto nodded their heads and the
boys gave each other fist bumps before they left.
*****
“I like your study Frank, it
reminds me of the woods,” Dante said as he looked around the room. The rectangular shaped room had flat paneled
wainscoting painted Hunter Green with the wall above it painted Camel and the
wood trim was stained Tuscan Rose. In
the middle of the right wall was a fireplace flanked by two windows with hunter
green, camel and light beige plaid curtains, perpendicular to them were two
large brown leather Chesterfield sofas with a braided rug of hunter green and
camel on top of the Tuscan Rose stained hardwood floors, the coffee table was
made out of one of the original farmhouse interior doors and painted
camel. Bookcases stained Tuscan Rose lined
the back wall and on the left side of the room there was two brown leather
Chesterfield Club chairs in front of a massive desk.
Frank said proudly, “Rose
redecorated it for my fortieth birthday and she did a helluva job.” The men nodded and Ric, Rocco and Luc walked
over to look at the black and white pictures in Tuscan Rose stained frames that
lined the walls. As in Rose’s study,
pride of place over the mantle was a large picture of the entire family, but
this one had Frank and Joe’s parents as well as Rose and Annie’s.
“You know they stayed with us
during their trip to Italy?”
Dante said as he nodded towards the portrait before sitting down on the sofa
flanked by Ric and Rocco while Luc sat on the arm. “I believe they were going to Germany next.”
“Yeah, they love that old
castle,” Joe said as he sat on the other sofa on Carlo’s left while Frank took
his place on his right. “They call every
Sunday evening but they’re more interested in talking to the youngsters than us
anymore, even when they send packages they’re full of gifts for them.”
“Whiskey?” Frank asked to no
one in particular and the men nodded.
Frank went to the bookcase behind the Italians and grabbed the crystal
decanter and glasses and set it on the coffee table before pouring two fingers
in each glass.
Carlo cleared his throat and
said, “Let’s bring Joe up to date on what he missed.” The next fifteen minutes were spent updating
Joe and then Carlo turned to Frank and said, “Do you want to tell him about
Todd’s assessment?”
Frank took a long drink of
his whiskey, feeling the burn of the alcohol before he answered, “He’s strong,
really strong but he acts more on instinct than skill and he’s afraid to let
his wolf out, almost as if he’s afraid he won’t be able to control him.” Frank projected the fight to Carlo and Joe;
Carlo in turn sent it to Dante who sent it to the Italians. It was a different perspective than what they
had witnessed since this was from Frank’s point of view. There was silence as each man thought of what
they had seen and felt and Frank took another drink before he said, “I think he’s
a latent blood-born Alpha, he has that much power.”
Dante’s head snapped up and
he stared at Frank, “You think he is an Alpha?
More specifically a blood-born Alpha?”
Frank stared back, unafraid
to be staring an Alpha in the eye since their relationship went beyond the
hierarchy of Pack structure. “Yes, I
think he has Alpha blood flowing through him, even his wolf is dark grey with
black tips. The Alpha gene has been repressed,
probably for centuries but it’s there, it’s strong…” Frank hesitated before
looking around the room, “…and it’s waiting to be unleashed.”
Carlo’s brow was furrowed as
he said, “Are you sure? When we did the
background check on him, we found nothing unusual. His family had been in Davis Pack since their
formation over a hundred fifty years ago by a second son who wanted to travel
west.” At Dante’s questioning look Carlo
added, “The original Pack joined forces with another Pack and they’re now
called Killington Pack. South-Central Vermont, the area is famous for being a ski
resort.”
“I’m sure of it Carlo, there
were moments when he let himself go and the power radiating off him was
strong,” Frank got up and leaned against the Tuscan Rose stained mantle. “Maybe because it was latent or undeveloped,
but it wasn’t as strong as yours and it didn’t come anywhere near Anthony’s
power.”
The Italians swung their
heads to Carlo and his chest puffed with pride as he said, “I believe my son is
destined to be one of the most powerful Alpha’s that ever lived. He’s only seventeen and his power rivals my
own, yet he hasn’t even come into The Ascension of his Gifts.”
“The Prophecy…” Dante
whispered in a reverent tone as Ric, Rocco and Luc sat up straight and stared
at Carlo.
Carlo looked at Frank then
Joe and the three asked in unison, “What prophecy?”
“Americans,” Dante said in a
dismissive tone as he shook his head.
“When you moved here, everyone was so determined to start a new life
they forgot the old ways that had been passed down since the beginning of time.”
“Excuse the fuck out of me,”
said Carlo as his anger started to build.
“We’ve abided by the rules set down in 1777, all members of this Pack
are taught Rossi Pack history, everyone speaks Italian and we’ve never
forgotten who and what we are.”
“I am not talking about those
things,” Dante waved a dismissive hand at him before leaning forward to rest
his forearms on his knees. “I am talking
about a Prophecy, specifically the Prophecy of Il
Guerriero e la fanciulla.”
“The
Warrior and the Maiden?” questioned Frank as he turned to stare at Joe and
Carlo who shrugged their shoulders.
“Un figlio di una forte Alpha deve essere nato e dalla
volontà di Luna che si accoppiano con la figlia di un altrettanto forte
famiglia. Il suo accoppiamento darà vita ad una prima Ascensione dando origine
alla sua vera potenza
come uno dei più potenti per camminare sulla Terra. Egli diventerà il vero
leader nel suo genere e il sangue dei due unite porterà avanti una nuova era e
la pace finalmente si regola sulla terra,” Dante whispered. (A son to a strong Alpha shall be born and by
the will of Luna he will mate with a daughter of an equally strong family. His mating will bring forth an early
Ascension giving rise to his true power as one of the most powerful to walk the
Earth. He will become the true leader of
his kind and the blood of the two joined together will usher forth a new age
and peace will finally rule over the land.)
Carlo,
Frank and Joe stared at Dante waiting for him to continue and after several
moments Carlo threw his hands in the air and demanded, “That’s it? What makes you think it’s about Anthony and
Sophia?”
“What
were you expecting? It is a prophecy not
fucking ‘War and Peace’,” Dante said
with a smile as he leaned back. “But if
you think of it, in the entire history of our Packs, this is the first time a
Rossi has found a mate with a Carlucci.
Plus, they are both young to have found their mates; it has to be Luna’s
intervention. I have a theory about
Maria and Alberto too.” Dante sat back
and took a long drink of his whiskey before motioning for Frank to refill his
glass.
The
silence stretched out over several minutes until Joe couldn’t take it anymore
and said angrily, his eyes flickering between amber and green, “What the fuck
Dante? You can’t say something like that
and then stop talking.”
“I
was trying a small experiment to see if your temper is still as bad as when we
were teenagers…I think it has gotten worse,” Dante replied with a laugh. “I believe Maria found her mate early because
Sophia did; because the girls are so close her wolf wanted a mate too. Did you notice Maria’s scent being stronger
after Anthony’s declaration for Sophia?
It is just a theory, but I think Marias
wolf was secreting pheromones to attract her mate.”
Joe
and Frank stared at each other and Joe said, “Now that you mention it, when we
went into Carmelo’s that day, her scent was strong.” Joe was quiet for several moments before
saying, “So this is all Anthony’s fault?”
The men looked at each other and burst out laughing. The next several hours were spent formulating
more plans to increase the security of the Pack and discussing the best way to
contact the allies of SMP to confirm their allegiance.
*****
Rose
and Annie walked into the family room and put their hands over their mouth to
cover their laughter. Sophia and Maria
were still cuddled in the recliner, Joe was on one sofa and Frank the other but
it was the sight of the Carlucci boys that made them laugh. Sal and Victor were propped up in front of
the girls recliner and the rest of the boys were on the floor, so it looked
like wall to wall Carlucci’s.
“What
time is it Mom?” Vin asked with his eyes closed. “And don’t think you sneaked up on us either,
we heard you coming.”
Rose
said quietly, “Its 4:30, I’m surprised your father isn’t up.”
“I’ve
been up for fifteen minutes, but how was I supposed to get across the room with
your sons sprawled all over the floor?” Frank asked as he sat up putting his
feet on Gianni’s back. “Speaking of
which, why the hell are you all here?”
“Our
sisters are here,” Lorenzo answered from his position near the coffee
table.
Joe
sat up and said with a scowl, “You don’t think we could’ve protected them?”
Dom
sat up from his position near the wall as he looked at his father and uncle and
started to smile, “The seven of you went through ten bottles of whiskey, five
bottles of rum and six bottles of tequila. The others are passed out in the
study and when you came in here you started to snore the second you laid down.”
“Well,
when you put it that way…” Frank said as Joe looked at him and the two brothers
started to laugh before grabbing their heads. “We may have had a bit too much to drink, even
with our Were metabolism we may have overdone it.”
“Ya
think? You should see your study, it
looks like a scene from ‘Animal House’;
there’s bottles and food everywhere …” Damian said as his head popped up from
the side of the sofa. “And what the hell
did you do to Ric? He’s duct-taped to
the closet door.” Frank and Joe looked
at each other and started to laugh so hard they grabbed their sides and tears
were running down their faces.
Feeling
the glare of their mates, Frank and Joe stopped laughing and Frank said,
“What? It was Dante’s idea to duct tape
the first one to pass out to the door…”
Frank looked at his brother and sighed before saying, “I guess we’d
better go see what’s going on in the study.”
The boys quickly moved out of their way and tried to hide their smiles
from their mothers.
Rose
scowled and said, “I’ll start the coffee for you bunch of degenerates.”
Annie
followed her to the kitchen and said quietly, “Don’t give them a hard time Rose.
They’re under tremendous pressure and
needed to blow off some steam, so who cares if they had a little too much to
drink, they stayed in the house, and they even put the guards down.” She got quiet and watched the boys and Sophia
go upstairs to change. “They needed this
Rose, probably more than we realize.”
“I
know Annie, but I…” Rose sighed and finished making the coffee. “Damnit, I’m upset because I wasn’t
included…that we weren’t included. It’s
just like …Fuck it, I don’t know what I mean.”
“It
reminded you of when we were teenagers, didn’t it? When they would go out drinking and partying
with their friends, ignoring us and treating us like we were a pain in their
ass, right?” asked Annie with a shrewd glance.
“Let’s be real honest here for a minute, WE WERE A HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS,
always popping up where they were and forcing them to pay attention to us. We both wanted them to notice us so bad; we
didn’t care what we did to them or how we did it.” Annie stopped for a moment and Rose glanced
at her before she continued, “But let me ask you a question, since Frank made
his declaration for you, has he ever treated you like that again?” She didn’t wait for her sister to answer but walked
over to the fridge and looked at the breakfast menu.
Frank
and Joe walked into the study and stopped cold at the sight before them. Carlo was on one sofa, one hand in a bag of
Doritos and the other holding an empty bottle of Patron against his stomach. Dante was on the other sofa with an empty
bottle of Jack Daniels nestled in his right arm like he was cradling a baby
while his left held an empty tub of ice cream.
Luc was upside down in one of the club chairs with his feet on the seat
cushion and his torso on the ground, next to him was an empty bottle of Captain
Morgan and a half eaten sandwich. Rocco
was in the other club chair with both legs over the left arm, his torso on the
seat and his head hanging over the edge, an empty bottle of Patron was on the
seat next to him and a bag of M & M’s was scattered on the floor around him. The coffee table was littered with empty
bottles, half eaten sandwiches, empty tubs of ice cream and potato chip bags. But what got their attention was Ric,
duct-taped to the double doors of the closet; he was sound asleep and had an
upside down bag of Doritos on his head as a hat.
“I
smell Carlucci’s,” said Dante with his eyes closed. “Did you ever notice they smell alike, Carlo? It is a mix of self-righteousness and
smugness.”
“Don’t
forget the hints of bull-shit and over-inflated ego,” Carlo added with a smile,
opening his eyes to see Frank and Joe give him the middle finger as Dante
started to laugh. They heard moaning and
Carlo said, “What’s that?”
“That
was Ric, he’s still duct-taped to the door,” said Frank with a smile, Carlo and
Dante looked at each other and started laughing so hard they fell off the sofa
and laughter could be heard across the room from Rocco and Luc. Twenty minutes later, all seven of them
walked into the kitchen, looking remarkably cheerful and alert in basketball
shorts and t-shirts.
Seeing
his mate at the counter cutting apples, Frank walked over and slipped his arms
around her waist and felt her tense up before she relaxed against his
chest. “I’m sorry for getting a little drunk last night my love. Joe and I came upstairs to get you and Annie
to join us after we finished our meeting, but you were both sleeping; we decided
you needed your rest more.”
“I thought I was dreaming that you came
upstairs and covered me up,” Rose said with a smile.
“You know I’d rather be with you than
anybody else, but it was nice to spend some time with the guys,” Frank said as he nuzzled
her neck inhaling her scent. “To be honest we spent most of the night
talking about our mates, telling Luc how wonderful it will be once he finds
his. That’s one of the reasons Dante
brought him, he hasn’t found his mate in Rossi Pack and Dante thought he might
find her here or maybe one of our neighboring Packs.”
“Maybe he should stay with us for a
while then. He could visit each of the
Packs when we go for football games,” Rose said as Frank
groaned.
As
the youngsters came into the kitchen dressed in basketball shorts and t-shirts,
Damian asked with a smirk, “Hey Poppa Joe, you mind if we tag along?”
Joe
glared at him and said, “Should you be running in the woods with the uneven
terrain? More importantly do you think
you can keep up?”
“I
don’t think I’ll have a problem keeping up with a man old enough to almost be a
grandfather,” said Damian with a wicked smile as Joe continued to glare at
him. “Face it Old Man, you’re on the
decline of your prime and I’m approaching mine.” Muffled laughter could be heard before they
couldn’t hold it in anymore and loud laughter erupted in the kitchen.
Maria
knew even without seeing him that her father was about to lose his famous
temper and said, “Daddy, could you bring
me some juice and one of my pills?” Joe hurried to do as his daughter requested.
“Here
you go Sweetheart,” he said with a smile as he placed her juice on the end
table and put the pill in her hand. “Let
me get you something to snack on.” He
hurried back into the kitchen and got her some fruit and crackers, kissing her
on the forehead as he gave them to her.
“You need anything else before we go?”
“Daddy,
could you move the recliner against the other wall? That way I can still watch TV, but I can see
into the kitchen too,” Maria asked with a pleading look on her face. Before he could ask, Frank was in the room
and they lifted the recliner and moved it to where Maria wanted it, adjusting
it to her satisfaction.
“Everyone
ready? It’s bad enough I’m awake at this
hour, let’s get going before I change my mind and go back to sleep,” Carlo said
as he opened the back door and sniffed the air. “My son and the Moretti’s are approaching.” They went to the pool house waiting for the
rest of the group and after they dropped off their gym bags inside the door,
Frank and Joe led the way into the woods.
After
a mile Carmelo said, “Marco sends his regrets for not joining us, he and Anna
are swamped with preparations for the receptions, and I’m going to leave right
after the run. Gina wants us to make pizza-bites,
fried zucchini, baked ziti, mini-meatballs and mozzarella salad. I’ve called in some of the staff from two
other locations, as well as people to serve tonight. It’s going to be a long day.” Carlo nodded his head, he had spoken to Gina
already and she told him to stay away from the house and not to come home until
the afternoon.
They
had gone six miles at Frank and Joe’s regular speed and Sophia gasped, “Aletta
I’m getting tired, my legs feel like rubber.”
He
turned to look at her, she was breathing heavily and her face was flushed, “Push
yourself to go one more mile and then I’ll carry you.” She nodded as she took deep breaths and
pushed herself to keep up. At the seven
mile mark, Anthony, Gianni and Marcus stopped and Anthony crouched down for her
to climb on his back and as soon as she was secure, they started to run faster
to catch up. “You did an amazing job
Arachide, I know you could’ve run the whole ten miles but this pace is really
fast. If you keep at it you’ll soon be
able to run the whole thing without a problem.”
Fifteen
minutes later they came to the end of their run and Carlo quietly said, “Dante,
I’m going to have everyone sprint across the field and I want you to watch
Anthony. He’s been carrying Sophia the
last three miles, but I want you to see his speed.” Dante nodded and when they got to the edge of
the field Carlo said loudly, “Sprint to the pool house.” They took off running and Carlo beat Anthony
by a step followed closely by Dante, Frank, Joe, Carmelo, Vin and Dom. Ric and Rocco finished the same time as
Gianni, Marcus, Lorenzo and Damian, while Luc finished a step ahead of the rest
of the Carlucci’s and Alberto and Angelo.
Anthony
crouched down and Sophia slid off his back, he turned around making sure her
legs could support her and she shyly said, “Thank you Aletta.”
He
whispered to her, “I’ll always be there for you, Arachide.” Sophia’s face flushed even more and she started
to giggle before she turned around and walked gingerly to the house while
Anthony watched her the whole time.
“We’re
going to change it up a little; we’ve got thirty minutes until the boys have to
get ready for school. Let’s go into the
barn,” said Frank with a smile. They began
working on free weights and a little over an hour later they were in the
kitchen; the boys dressed in their uniforms and the men in clean shorts and
t-shirts. Alberto went to the family
room and greeted his intended who was waking up from her nap and he gently
picked her up bringing her into the kitchen so she could have breakfast.
Seeing
individual bowls of brown sugar, chopped apples, peaches, blueberries,
strawberries, walnuts, raisins and the pitcher of milk on the counter, Frank
started ladling out the oatmeal from the 15 quart stockpot on the stove to the youngsters
who helped themselves to the toppings before sitting down at the table. Alberto quietly asked Maria what she wanted
and brought her bowl to her before going back and getting his. Rose got the eggs, bacon and biscuits out of
the warming oven and placed them on the breakfast bar.
“We’ve
got to pick up Gabs, are you okay here, or do you want me to bring you back to
the recliner?” Alberto asked Maria as he poured her juice before leaning down
and scenting her neck.
“I’ll
stay here, Lorenzo’ll help me back after I eat his bacon,” she said with a
smile as Lorenzo started to growl at her as she picked a piece of bacon off his
plate.
Angelo
looked at Sal and quietly asked, “Would you like to come with us?” Sal smiled widely and got up quickly leading
Alberto and Angelo down the hall to the mudroom so he could get his backpack.
Fifteen
minutes later Vin looked at the clock and said, “Five minutes till we got to
go.” The youngsters nodded their heads hurrying
to clear their plates before getting up and putting them in the sink then
heading into the mudroom. Almost at
once, they came running back out and ran over to Maria giving her kisses on the
top of her head and saying “See ya” before running to the mudroom again.
“Momma,
could you help me get cleaned up, I feel grungy,” Maria asked quietly. Annie and Rose helped her upstairs; thirty
minutes later they were back and helped her into the recliner where she
promptly fell asleep. As they turned to
the kitchen they stopped in their tracks, Frank was loading the dishwasher and
Joe was washing the pots and pans while the other men were clearing the table.
“Sit
down and eat your breakfast,” said Frank with a scowl. “I made your oatmeal how you like it, and Joe
fixed Annie’s. There’s a plate in the
warming oven for both of you and Joe started a load of laundry already.”
“We’ll
be at The School House first and after we’re going to inspect the cells,” said
Joe. “We’ll be back to change before we
head to the airport to pick up President Roberts and we’ll need both SUV’s
since he has seven people with him.”
“You’ll
have to take my truck to the reception with Ric, Rocco and Luc,” said Frank as
he poured Rose some juice. “While you
were upstairs, Joel called and they’ll bring the little ones over at 5:30, and
the Millers will be here about the same time.
Papa Mike and Nana Ellen are going to the Council Reception, but will
come here right after. Barry, Larry and
Harold will drop off their little ones at 6:30 and will drive Annie to the main
reception then. Veronica wants you to
call her so she knows what to bring over for supper.” Rose nodded and continued to eat her oatmeal.
Carlo
glanced at his watch and said, “We’ve got to go.” He put his mug in the sink and the rest of
the men followed and were out the door moments later. When they arrived at The School House, Ed
Giovanni and George Reeder were on the roof with Aldo and Jeff and they went up
to see what they were doing.
“Gentlemen,”
Ed said in his best FBI voice. “I know
the use of guns isn’t something we would normally use in a battle, but I think
in this circumstance we should. The
rooftop would make a perfect snipers nest, we have a perfect 360 degree view of
the grounds and I think we should take advantage of it.”
“I
agree, I feel if they’re coming here to harm us, we need to employ every
resource we have,” said George with a shrug before turning to face Carlo. “I’ll have four sons who’ll be eighteen or
older, and the only reason Harry isn’t arguing with me to join the battle is he
knows if anything happens to the rest of us, he’ll be the only one left to help
his mom and Emily.”
“Both
my sons will be fighting alongside me and if we don’t make it… Harry has agreed
to help Teresa and Beatrice so they won’t be alone,” said Ed as he put his head
down. He stopped talking and took a deep
breath as he glanced over the manicured grounds before saying, “We’ve kept
current on everything else Carlo; our security measures, training techniques, everything
we do and have is state of the art. I
think if we don’t use firepower, it will put us at a huge disadvantage… our
lives and the lives of our families are dependent on us making the right
decisions.”
Carlo
turned to Frank and Joe and they nodded their heads. He turned back to Ed and George, taking a
deep breath and said, “What do you recommend?”
*****
At 5 PM, the men pulled into
the parking lot at the private hangars of Hagerstown Regional
Airport after passing
through a police barricade. There were
two men in each SUV, Frank/John Benedetto, Joe/Thomas Bellucci, Vinnie/George
Hammond, Ed/George Reeder. As each man
stepped out of the SUV’s, they automatically scanned and scented the area. They were dressed in business suits and
looked like they were ready to step into a boardroom on Wall Street rather than
on the tarmac at a small regional airport in Western
Maryland.
Frank glanced at his watch
and said, “Clay called the Airport Manager earlier and he was notified of the
arrival of VIP’s for the reception, so the area should be closed. Tom and John check each hangar and make sure
they’re empty, Vinnie and Hammond, check the terminal area. Ed, Reeder, Joe, you’re with me.” The men went to their assigned areas and the
four men walked to the edge of the parking lot where the Airport Manager was
waiting.
“Good evening Gentlemen, I’m
Bradley Grimm the Airport General Manager,” he said swallowing nervously as tried
to appear taller as the Carlucci brothers towered over his 5’9” height. He glanced at the other men with them and
realized that even though they were 6’1”, they also appeared small in
comparison.
“I’m Frank Carlucci and this
is my brother Joe, Senator Martin’s office told you to expect us,” Frank smiled
to get him to relax, but it seemed to have the opposite effect as he took an
involuntary step back. Frank motioned to
the two other men and said, “This is George Reeder from Homeland Security and
Ed Giovanni from the FBI.” Both men
showed their credentials and Mr. Grimm looked suitably impressed.
“The airport has been closed
to traffic since noon and has been swept for explosive devices as requested by
the State Department and Homeland Security,” Brad said with an uneven tremor in
his voice before clearing his throat. “The
first private plane is scheduled to land at 5:30, and we have twenty more
scheduled after that, plus four helicopters.
As you can see, we have Police Officers at each entrance and more in the
front parking lot who will provide the necessary escorts.”
Ed motioned with his head
towards the front parking lot which was filled with limousines and asked, “The
limo’s, have they been swept?”
“Yes Sir, they were checked
before they were allowed on the grounds.
Mr. Marco Moretti ordered fifty of them; Hagerstown doesn’t have that many, so they
had to be sent from DC, Frederick and Baltimore. I believe he ordered extra in case there were
last minute planes requesting permission to land, and only those on the invitation
list will be permitted to do so,” Brad answered as he exhaled slowly. “The State Department informed us the Italian
and British Ambassadors will be arriving by helicopter, and the State Police notified
us the Governor and Lieutenant Governor will be too. The people in the terminal and the ground
crews have been vetted by the FBI for clearance and the State Department has
people on hand to greet the parties from the Italian and British Embassies.”
George smiled as he said, “It
sounds like you have things under control.”
Brad relaxed slightly and
said, “We’ve never had anything like this before and I’ll be honest with you,
I’m a nervous wreck. I looked at the
names of the people arriving in the private jets and it reads like a who’s who
from the Fortune 500 list from Forbes.
Everyone is talking about this reception, and I received calls from
People Magazine, USA Today, The Washington Post, every major newspaper in the
country and even some international papers about who is arriving.” He glanced at the men in front of him and
said quickly, “I didn’t let them know who is arriving or when; I directed all
calls to Senator Martin’s office as instructed.” He turned around and pointed to the Italian
restaurant across the street and said, “We’re not allowing photographers on the
property, but they can see who is arriving from there. The owner is charging them $500 per vehicle
to park in his lot, making them buy dinner, but the best part is when they
broadcast they have to mention his restaurant and its location.”
The men laughed as Joe said,
“We’ve eaten there and he has good food.
It’ll be good advertising for him since they’ve only been open for a
couple of months.”
Frank’s phone rang and he
said, “Excuse me Gentlemen.” He walked
several feet away, “Frank Carlucci…Yes, Sir…ten minutes out…we’re ready Sir…” After
hanging up he walked back to the group and said, “They’re almost here.”
Joe nodded and turned to
Bradley saying, “Thank you for everything Bradley if you ever need us for
anything, here’s my card.” The men shook
hands and Bradley entered the terminal as the four men walked to the private
hangars.
“Everything has been checked
and is secure,” said Vinnie as the men continued to scan the area.
“Get ready and keep your
guard up,” Frank said quietly. They
watched the private plane approach and the men moved into formation, Frank and
Joe in the lead, flanked by Vinnie and Ed as Level 4’s and the rest fanning
alongside as Level 3’s. The men took a
deep breath as the plane landed and taxied down the runway to the private
hangar. The door opened slowly and the
stairs were lowered before five guards stepped out, scanning the area before
one re-entered the airplane. Moments
later he re-emerged followed by President Roberts, his mate Helen and two other
members of the Alpha Council and their mates, James and Amy Briggs from Castle
Mountain Pack, Montana and Hank and Michelle
Carter of Roan Mountain Pack, Tennessee.
President Roberts swept the
area with his steely gaze before motioning for everyone to stay where they were
and made his way alone over to the party from SMP. Frank and Joe stepped forward to meet him and
he tilted his head as he looked them over before extending his hand, “How are
two of my favorite Beta’s doing?”
Frank and Joe smiled as they
shook hands and Frank responded, “We are fine President Roberts, how are you
doing?”
“Fucking tired, still going
over all the shit from Davis, Carlsbad and Grant Packs,” he said
angrily. “I still don’t know everything
that was going on but we are getting closer to finding the answers.” He hesitated before saying quietly so only
they could hear, “I want to ride alone to the reception with the two of you,
there are things I want to talk about that I don’t want anybody else to know,
now smile and tell me how long it’s going to take to get to the reception.” Frank and Joe’s facial expressions didn’t
betray anything, before both of them smiled widely.
“Yes Sir, it should take twenty
minutes to arrive at the reception,” said Frank in a normal tone. Frank gave the keys to Joe and he walked over
to the men and quietly talked to them before they got in the SUV’s and pulled
them as close to the private plane as they could. The men got out, opened the back doors and
Frank escorted the Briggs’ and a guard to the first SUV with Ed and George; the
Carter’s and a guard to the second SUV with Tom and John; Helen Roberts and a
guard to the fourth SUV with Vinnie and George; and in the third SUV, President
Roberts would be with Frank and Joe, leaving two guards to stay with the plane
along with the pilots.
*****
At 5:20, the Whitmers pulled
in front of the Carlucci garage, within moments Vin, Dom, Gianni, Marcus, Lorenzo,
Damian, Enzo and Gino were out front scanning and scenting the area as they
walked to the SUV’s to help with the young ones.
“Vinnie,” squealed Hope from
her booster seat in the third row as her twin, Hayden covered his ears. Vin quickly unbuckled them and picked them
up, seeing Enzo carrying Abby into the house he followed, scanning the yard as
he said, “Get them in the house.” Gianni
picked up Holden, and Marcus escorted the rest of the young ones inside leaving
Dom, Lorenzo, Damian and Gino to carry their backpacks. Veronica and Christy followed them in the
house carrying casserole dishes.
Jerry and Joel looked at Dom
with concern on their faces and Joel said, “What’s the matter? We didn’t sense anything.”
Dom sighed, “Nothings going
on, other than our wolves are on edge with so many of the young ones going to
be here tonight, not to mention the Miller girls.”
“In total, there’s going to
be fifty-two of us here,” said Gino as he continued to scan the yard. “As soon as the second group gets here we’re
locking down the house, so if you come early, make sure you call.”
“So, you won’t need their
boosters?” asked Joel as he shut the backdoor.
“We aren’t planning on going
anywhere, but you’d better bring them in just in case,” said Dom with a
shrug. “There’s just too many of us, and
right now we’re too on edge to take them anywhere.” Jerry nodded and got the boosters out of his
SUV as Joel did the same.
“You two clean up alright,”
Damian said with a straight face that changed into a wicked smile, “But I’ve
got to be honest, your mates look friggin fantastic, the two of you certainly
married up.” He started to smirk as he
heard their growls and grabbed some backpacks before running into the house.
“That boy …” said Joel frowning
before he started to laugh.
“That’s his problem, he can
say or do anything and nobody ever gets mad at him, I don’t know how he does
it,” said Lorenzo with a shrug. “Let’s
get this stuff in the house.” They
walked into the kitchen with the backpacks and Alec told his brothers Alex and
Aaron, and cousins, Hayden, Hunter and Holden to bring the backpacks into the
family room with Abby, Hope and Hyatt who were talking with Maria. Within minutes, they all were quietly playing
on the floor and Hope and Abby were on the recliner with Maria whispering
quietly.
“He reminds me of Vin,” said Gino. “I can’t ever remember a time when Vin
wasn’t giving us orders.”
Dom gave a laugh as he
replied, “He’s only gotten worse as we’ve
gotten older.”
“What are you talking about? You’re just as bad,” muttered Marcus as Dom hit him in the back of the
head.
Rose walked into the kitchen
wearing the presents Luc had brought from Italy, an emerald green cocktail
dress and matching stilettos. It fit her
perfectly and had a strapless embroidered low-cut bodice and a ruched satin waist
before the bell shaped skirt flared out above the knee. Her hair flowed halfway down her back in
loose waves and she had on diamond earrings, bracelet and a necklace.
“Whoa…does Dad know you’re
wearing that?” asked Vin as he stared at his mother with his mouth open.
“You look beautiful Momma,”
said Sophia with a big smile on her face.
“Uncle Frank is gonna freakin
lose it when he sees you,” said Damian with a smirk before he started to frown,
“And I’m gonna miss it.”
“You look beautiful cousin,”
said Luc with a proud smile. “The
dresses I brought for you and Annie are right off the mannequins in the design room;
they haven’t even hit the runway in Milan. I had to make special arrangements to obtain
them for you.”
“Yeah right,” said Ric as he
rolled his eyes. “What did you have to
do? Make weekly payments with the
allowance Nonna gives you?”
Luc stood abruptly knocking
his chair over as he glared at Ric and said, “Questo
è tutto. Ho avuto abbastanza del
vostro atteggiamento e sminuire me è fottuto bastardo. Quando torniamo, dirò
Nonna e lasciare che il suo affare.” (That
is it. I have had enough of your
attitude and you belittling me you fucking bastard. When we get back home, I am going to tell
Nonna and let her deal with you.)
“You wouldn’t dare,” said Ric
as he glared back, though his voice had a tremor of fear in it.
“Try me,” responded Luc with
an evil smile as they continued to glare at each other before they heard their
cousins laughing at them.
“Enough, both of you,” said
Rose as she continued to laugh. “Come
on, Frank said the plane just landed and I don’t want us to be late and…I can’t
wait to see Frank’s reaction to my dress.”
“I can tell you what’s going
to happen. Dads gonna go ballistic,
especially when he sees your ugh uhmm…” Dom hesitated before cupping his own
chest and saying quietly, “Chestal area, all out in the open like that.”
“I’m seriously going to need
therapy after this,” said Damian with a shudder as he collapsed in a chair, his
head held in his hands. “Listening to
you talk about your mom’s ‘chestal area’ is enough to traumatize me for life.” He shuddered again and said, “I don’t think
there’s enough bleach in the world to get those words or the image of you
cupping your chest out of my head.”
Rose smiled at her nephew and
said, “You’ll be fine Damian, you’re a big boy and I’m sure you’ve seen and
done worse, especially if you take after your father and your uncle.”
Vin and Dom stood abruptly
and moved to the front door as Vin said loudly, “The Millers and their escorts are
here.”
Christy and Veronica pulled
Rose to the side and Ronnie quietly asked, “What do we do at the
reception? We’ve never been to an
official reception before since our mates were only promoted to Beta’s last
week.”
“There will be a receiving
line according to rank, Alpha Carlo will formally introduce the guests to each
Beta and their mates,” said Rose a she checked the contents of her
pocketbook. “President Roberts will most
likely congratulate your mates on their promotion and ask about your
youngsters. Then it’s like any normal
cocktail party, we socialize and the men gossip. It’s pretty boring actually.” She stopped talking as the Millers and their
escorts entered the kitchen. The Miller
girls seeing everyone in the family room headed in there and Rose said in a
loud voice, “Frank wants me to remind everyone not to mention anything that’s
going on with our Pack and to let them know immediately if they ask about
security or the girls.”
The adults nodded and went
into the family room to say goodbye to their youngsters before heading out the
door. Vin and Dom followed and the rest
of the Carlucci boys made sure all the doors and windows were locked before
setting the alarm. “Mom, the rest of the
adults left and we secured the house, we’re going to watch some movies,” said
Lorenzo as he knocked on the guest room door.
“Okay, the Moretti’s, Costello’s
and Poffenberger’s will be here at 6:30,” Annie said quietly as she styled her
hair.
“Okay Mom,” said Lorenzo as
he started to move away from the door before he stopped. “Hey Mom, can I ask you a question?”
Annie quickly put on a robe
and opened the door to see her oldest son standing there with a frown on his
face. “What’s the matter?”
“What does your dress look
like?” Lorenzo asked with a scowl on his face.
*****
Frank waited until they
pulled out of the Airport before saying, “President Roberts, do you mind if we
contact Alpha Carlo about this conversation?”
President Roberts rolled his
neck, “First of all, I’ve given you permission to call me Gabe when we’re
alone, and second please include Carlo, I don’t want to repeat anything once we
get to the reception.”
Frank nodded, “Carlo, Joe and I are alone with Gabe, he
wants to discuss some extremely sensitive matters with us, and he wanted you
included.”
“Okay, I’ll leave Gina here to organize last minute
details and I’ll go to a quiet room,”
he quickly responded. “Ask if he wants Dante or Carmelo included.”
Frank quickly asked Gabe and
said, “Include them both Carlo, we’ll
give you a few minutes to get ready.” He turned to his brother and said,
“Get the satellite phone and scrambler out of the glove box.”
“Gabe, all the vehicles were
swept for listening devices before we came to the airport, what we’re going to
turn on is a scrambler,” Joe said as he got the device and turned it on,
putting it on the dashboard. “If anybody
is following us and trying to listen in with a parabolic mic or something
similar, it’ll scramble the signals. The
satellite phone is connected to CNN’s satellite, but the signal is disguised as
a normal news feed so they’re not even aware of it, and all traces of it
disappear as soon as the call is finished.
It’s something my son Paulo designed.
”
“Your son did all of
this? How old is he?” asked Gabe as he
looked at Joe.
“Sixteen,” Joe said
proudly. “He’s an electronics and
computer genius.”
“If he ever wants a job with
the Alpha Council, give me a call,” Gabe said with a serious expression as Joe
glanced at him over his shoulder and he caught Frank’s eye in the rearview
mirror. “The first thing I want to say
is to the two of you, I’m not surprised you turned the Alpha positions down,
disappointed but not surprised. I think
the two of you would have been great Alpha’s, but I understand your loyalty to
Carlo and your Pack and admire you even more because of it.”
“Thank you Sir,” said Frank glancing
in the side view mirror as they changed lanes.
He was about to ask if they had found Alpha’s for the three Packs when he
heard the phone ring once before it was picked up, “You ready Carlo?”
“Yes, we’ll skip the
greetings til later. Gabe, tell me
what’s going on,” said Carlo as they heard shuffling in the background as they
were seated.
“We’re still trying to figure
everything that bastard Charles was up to, but we found something interesting Monday,”
said Gabe as he hesitated. “He had a
secret compartment in his closet and it contained $15 million in cash. There was also a ledger, documenting money
received but the amounts don’t match what was in the closet. The amounts in the ledger added up to almost
$8 million.”
Frank and Joe looked at each
other and whistled softly as Carlo said, “What did the entries in the ledger
say? And how far back did they go?”
“I made a copy of the ledger
and I’ll leave it here for you to go over,” Gabe replied. “It starts at the beginning of the year, so
we have no idea how many more there are.
But here is the disturbing part; the balance brought forward was over $50
million. We asked the Pack members and
they had no idea what was going on, but Conall, Holly’s father, said every
Monday morning thirty men would disappear and wouldn’t be seen again until
Tuesday afternoon or evening and on Wednesday morning an entry would be posted
in the ledger, ranging anywhere from $250,000 to $300,000. We also found a notebook that had a series of
numbers that we have no idea what they’re for; maybe bank accounts, a password
or some type of code.”
Gabe was quiet as he let the
information sink in before he continued, “On Tuesday we discovered a house he owned
in El Paso and the garage was filled with expensive cars, not Mercedes or Lexus
expensive either; it was filled with Ferrari’s, Porsches, and Lamborghini’s. The house is filled with artwork and
antiques…and we also found a secret dungeon.”
He stopped talking and looked out the windows drawing a deep breath, “It
was filled with bondage equipment, I’m not talking about a couple of restraints
and light BDSM equipment, I’m talking hardcore stuff, it looked like a torture
chamber. We had to look things up to see
what the hell they were; I’ve never seen anything like it before. And…”
He closed his eyes and swallowed loudly before continuing, “And…there
was blood everywhere.”
There was silence as Gabe ran
his hands through his hair and stared off into space before shaking his head
and continuing, “He had a ‘trophy room’, in it were three boxes, each labeled
with a name and we believe they were the girls who supposedly ran away from
Davis Pack, the names were the same. Every box had personal items, clothes, and
DVD’s where he recorded what he did to those poor girls. In some of the boxes, there were up to thirty
DVD’s, each labeled with the date and time.
The last DVD showed him killing them.”
He stopped talking as he saw Frank and Joe look at each other in horror
and he heard the growls over the speakerphone.
“Those girls were only teenagers…
they were innocent children, how could I have failed them? How could I have not known what was going
on?”
“That sick fucking bastard,”
Carlo said the anger radiating through the phone. “Gabe, you didn’t fail them. The ones in charge swore an oath to uphold the
laws of the Alpha Council and they chose not to, they are the ones who failed. You did the best you could by changing the
laws to protect the females, but there’s only so much you personally can do.”
“He is right Gabe,” said
Dante in a gentle voice. “You put the
laws into place, but you personally cannot enforce them until the injustice is
brought to your attention. Once that was
done you rectified the situation and have the guilty locked up. You must let go of the guilt and let your
Tribunal hand out justice.”
Gabe continued to look out
the windows and drew several calming breaths before saying, “We still haven’t
been able to crack the passwords on the computers and I’m afraid of what we are
going to find when we do.”
“I think we can help with that,”
said Carlo as Joe nodded his head. “Send
a copy of the hard drive to us and we’ll have Paulo do it. As a matter of fact, send a copy of all the
hard-drives to any computer you find.”
Frank looked at Gabe in the
rearview mirror and said, “We’re seven minutes away from the venue. Is there anything else we need to know?”
Gabe hesitated before saying,
“I have a feeling there are more Packs involved than just these three and I
think there is more going on.” He
stopped speaking and looked at Frank and Joe, “I’m not sure who I can trust…that’s
why I made these.” He pulled five flash
drives out of his suit pocket and handed them to Joe. “Your Pack is the only one I have complete
confidence in, you know the pain of loss and betrayal and I’m giving you these flash
drives with the utmost confidence that whatever is found on these you will tell
me.”
“Gabe, you know no matter
what happens we will stand beside you.
We’ll give you a full rundown on what we find and you can compare it to
what they tell you. If information is
withheld, then we’ve found another traitor.
We’ll give you a sat phone before you leave this evening, also a
wireless detector so you can sweep your office and living areas, if you feel
there are untrustworthy people around you then you can’t be too careful ” said
Carlo with a firm tone. He hesitated as
he said to Frank and Joe, “You’re there
with him, do you feel we should tell him what is going on?”
“Carlo, I don’t think he would ever do anything
against females knowing his history. I
believe he is one of the few we can absolutely trust,” said Joe as Frank agreed.
“Gabe, there are other things
going on and I’ll let Frank and Joe tell you about them, while we get ready for
your arrival,” Carlo said before hanging up. Joe proceeded to tell Gabe everything that was
going on and Gabe began to growl loudly.
“I fucking knew it, I could
feel the betrayal surrounding me,” he exclaimed angrily as he punched the seat.
“Gabe, you’ve got to get
yourself under control,” said Frank as he braked to pull into the parking
lot. “You’ve got a minute to put on a
happy face, there are television cameras everywhere.” Gabe nodded and took several calming breaths
as they pulled up to the canopy and Joe got out and opened the back door.
Gabe walked to the fourth SUV
and helped his mate out holding her hand tightly as she looked at him with
questions in her eyes. He smiled and
said, “Smile my dear, there are cameras
here. I told them everything and they
confirmed my suspicions that there is more going on.”
She nodded and started to
walk towards the doors, “Are you sure we
can trust them Gabe? I don’t know Carlo
or the rest of them as well as you.”
He didn’t hesitate before he
said, “Yes, if anything were to happen to
me, the only ones I would trust would be Carlo and his Pack…Dante too. Remember our escape plan and if you have the
slightest feeling you or the youngsters are in danger, I want you to put it
into effect immediately, don’t hesitate.”
She nodded as she heard one
of the TV reporters say, “…and the guests for The Reception of the Year have
started to arrive. The first couple is
Gabriel Roberts and his lovely wife Helen; he is the owner of Roberts Investment
Firm in New York. Behind him is James Briggs and his wife Amy,
they own Briggs Ranch one of the largest cattle ranches in Montana
and the third couple is Hank Carter and his wife Michelle who own Carters Distillery
in Tennessee …”
As the three couples went inside
Frank and Joe looked to the swarm of reporters and saw Marco and Anna. Marco excused himself and came over, glancing
around to make sure nobody was in hearing distance, “We’re giving the reporters
information about the guests, its nerve wracking as all fuck and I hope we
don’t mess up.”
Frank patted him on the back
saying quietly, “You’ll be fine, the most important thing to remember is to address
everyone as Mr., Mrs., Ms, not Alpha or Madame Alpha and to use ‘husband and
wife’ not mates. If you have any
questions, contact Mr. and Mrs. Rossi or Joe and I. You need help with anything before we go?”
“Nah, I got it,” said Marco
as he drew in a shaky breath. “I’d
better get over there and let them know who you are; they already have video of
Rose arriving.” Marco hurried over and
told the reporters who the men were as Ed and Reeder went into the building
since they didn’t want their pictures taken.
The men handed their keys to the Level 1 and 2 Delta’s that were
providing valet service as the reporters announced their arrival and the
cameras continued to roll.
When they got to the hall
outside the private conference room, they saw the men from the Alpha Council
standing outside and before Frank could ask, Gabe shrugged and said, “They
wanted to freshen up before meeting Dante.”
Five minutes later the women came out of the restroom and the men sighed
before escorting their mates in. Carlo,
Gina, Anthony and Dante stood inside the door waiting for them and the men from
SMP hurried to take their places in the receiving line. Frank noted his mate was there, but hadn’t
noticed what she was wearing as he was too busy scanning the room making sure
everything was okay and everyone was in their proper place.
Carlo stepped forward greeting
Gabe with a handshake then a hug and said quietly, “It’s good to see you again,
my old friend. Let’s get the formalities
over with then we can begin to relax, I’ll introduce you to Dante, my son
Anthony, Dante’s men and then my men.”
“After the week we’ve had I can’t
wait to relax preferably with a Whiskey Sour,” Gabe said with a frown, Carlo nodded
and started the introductions.
Dante knew what was expected
of him and responded in broken English with a thick Italian accent, “It was
wortha tha trip if only to meeta sucha lovely ladies.” He kissed the back of their hands and smiled
to himself as he heard their mates growl as they pulled them closer to their
sides. “Tha beauty of American women isa
something I always looka forwards to when I comea to visit my cousin.”
Gabe was staring at Dante and
started to laugh and said, “Why are you speaking like that? Last time we talked you didn’t have an
accent.”
“I do what is expected of
me,” Dante said with a wicked smile.
“People assume all Italians speak like that and I didn’t want to
disappoint your mates.”
Helen smiled and said,
“Either way, it is a pleasure to meet you Dante. I met your mate years ago when she was
modeling at New York Fashion Week and I worked for one of the event planners. She was lovely and gracious to everyone and
backstage was never quite the same after she retired.”
Knowing his mate’s fiery
temperament and explosive personality Dante smiled. “She is a handful my Calinda, and my daughter
Catarina takes after her,” Dante said with pride. “Thankfully my boys, Draco and Drago take
after me and have my easy temperament and disposition.”
Carlo stared at Dante before
putting his hand up to cover his mouth to hide his laughter and cleared his
throat before saying, “And here is my son, Anthony. He is currently a junior at South Mountain
High School and he plans
to attend U of MD to study Business. He
recently made his declaration for Sophia, Frank and Rose Carlucci’s daughter
and both of our families are extremely happy.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you
again President Roberts and Madame Helen,” said Anthony as he bowed his head
before shaking their hands. “Alpha
Briggs, Madame Alpha Briggs, Alpha Carter and Madame Alpha Carter, it is a
pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He
bowed before shaking their hands and smiling at them. As Alpha-Heir he was a tier below them in
Pack hierarchy and showed that by bowing, but as a future Alpha he could look
them in the eye without repercussions.
“Carlo, I can’t believe how
much he has grown since the last time I saw him,” said Helen as she stared at
Anthony. “Are you sure he’s only
seventeen?”
“Our boys grow big here at South Mountain,
I think he’ll end up bigger than I am,” replied Carlo with a smile before
moving down the line. The introductions to
the Italians went quickly since Dante told them to speak in broken English and to
pretend they didn’t fully understand. He
and Carlo had talked about this earlier and thought it would be a good
opportunity to have his men eavesdrop on the guests throughout the night. They started the introduction of the members
of SMP, “All of you know my Level 5 Beta and Second in Command Frank Carlucci
and his mate, Rose.”
“It’s a pleasure to have you
here this evening,” said Frank as both he and Rose bowed their heads. When they put their heads back up, their eyes
didn’t go any higher than the throat of the Alpha’s before them.
President Roberts and his
wife smiled and he said, “I know I’ve said this before, but I have no idea how
you and that brother of yours got so lucky with your mates.”
Rose laughed softly as she
said, “I remind him of that all the time President Roberts.”
Frank glanced at his mate and
did a double take when he saw what she had on, his eyes widening when he saw
the low neckline and how form fitting the dress was. “WHAT
THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE ON? DID THEY RUN
OUT OF FABRIC WHEN THEY MADE IT? TELL ME
YOU HAVE A JACKET OR SOMETHING THAT GOES WITH IT,” he thundered and in his
agitated state he sent it to Carlo, Gina, Anthony and the rest of his family. Carlo covered his mouth with his hand as he
tried to hide his laughter, Anthony was smirking, Gina was quietly laughing and
Joe was looking at the floor trying to hide his expression. At the Carlucci home, The Clan looked at each
other and started to laugh as Damian said, “I
knew he was going to lose it, and we missed it.”
Rose didn’t let any reaction
show to Frank’s shouting but couldn’t contain the grin when Gina said, “Don’t worry about him you look beautiful,
you should have seen Carlo’s reaction when he saw my dress.”
“You look beautiful too,” said Rose as she looked at Gina’s dress. The plum colored satin dress had matching rhinestones
along the top of the low cut criss-cross bodice, a fitted waist and a feathered
skirt that ended three inches above her knee.
“I notice Annie isn’t here, I
hope everything is well with your family,” said President Roberts with concern
in his voice after Carlo did the formal introductions.
Joe sighed before saying,
“Maria fell the other day and fractured both bones in her forearm and had to
have surgery. Annie is with her but will
be at the reception later. The boys are
doing fine and are staying home with her.”
Amy Briggs looked at Joe, her
eyes narrowed and her voice oddly calculating and cold, “I understand your
daughter had a declaration made too. Both
she and her cousin are fifteen; don’t you think they’re a little young?”
“Yes Madame Alpha Briggs,
Alberto Moretti, Carmelo’s son made the declaration,” said Joe as he bowed his
head. “Both Maria and Sophia and their intendeds
are very responsible and are following the dating rules carefully.” Anthony narrowed his eyes and Gina put her
hand on his forearm to calm him down, he took a deep breath wondering what this
was about. Amy nodded and looked Joe
over head to toe before turning to Frank and doing the same. Rose glanced at the Madame Alpha before
lowering her gaze, not liking the predatory gleam in the other women’s
eyes. Amy gave her a dismissive look and
the Alpha’s nodded their heads and moved to the next person in line, which was
Carmelo. Joe said to Frank and Carlo, “What the hell was that? And of all people, why would she care?”
“I don’t know, it is odd for them to be that young and
to have declarations made, but Anthony being an Alpha-Heir probably sped up the
process for him and what Dante said about Maria’s wolf wanting her mate made
sense,” said Frank as he glanced at
the Alpha’s. “But none of us knows the Briggs well and if I remember right, he
campaigned hard to get on the Council Advisory Board. Maybe we should have Paulo look into their
background.”
“Carlo, I want Paulo to look at those flash drives as
soon as possible, I’m going to have him come and get them after the first
reception instead of giving them to him tonight” said Joe as he sent the message to his son about the
flash drives and about doing a background check on the Briggs.
“I’m going to have Aldo try and sense what is going on. I agree with both of you that conversation
was odd, but if it was a fishing expedition for information, it was pretty
blatant and obvious...almost too obvious.
But something definitely doesn’t feel right” said Carlo as he continued to smile. Frank and Joe stared at Aldo who closed his
eyes and they saw his mate grab his hand as she helped to center his
thoughts. “I’m going to tell everyone not to let anybody know the older Miller
girls have found their mates. The more I
think of it, the more I think it will put them in danger. If whoever is after them realizes they have
found their mates, they may try and come after them knowing they will turn
eighteen in June and could possibly mate.”
Frank and Joe watched as the
Alpha’s approached the Millers. During
the rest of the Level 4 introductions Amy kept glancing towards Todd as if she
couldn’t wait to talk to him. “And here
are our newest Level 4 Beta’s, Todd Miller and his mate Holly, and his father
Mike and his mate Ellen,” said Carlo as they bowed their heads.
President Roberts said in a
firm voice as he shook Todd’s hand, “On behalf of the Alpha Council, I would
like to thank you for bringing the situation at your previous Pack to our
attention. It took a level of courage
most of us like to think we have, but most don’t.”
“Thank you President Roberts,
my only concern is for those girls who were brutalized beforehand. I wish I was able to speak up before, but I
hope you understand we were under Alpha Command and could not,” said Todd as he
bowed his head.
Amy narrowed her eyes as they
raked over Todd from head to toe and she said, “I understand you have ten
daughters, have any of them found their mates?”
Even though he had been
expecting the question, the bluntness stunned Todd and his eyes flew up to
stare into her green ones as he stammered, “No…No, Madame Alpha, none have
found their mates yet.”
She seemed lost for a second
as she stared back at him before she shook her head and her mate said in a
sincere tone, “Hopefully they will find good loving mates after everything they
have gone through.” The Millers nodded
their heads and the Alpha’s moved down the line, but Amy turned back and gave
Todd and his father an assessing glance before turning back to her mate.
The introductions for the
Level 3’s went well and they noticed Amy only asked questions concerning girls
who were under eighteen, and by the looks on the other Alpha’s faces they hadn’t
noticed anything unusual. The Level 2
introductions started with Aldo and as he shook their hands he felt nothing
strange until he felt Amy’s clammy hand and the feelings almost overwhelmed him. She looked him up and down as she said, “And
your daughter is how old?”
“She is thirteen, Madame
Alpha,” he said with his head bowed but glanced up to look into her eyes before
lowering his quickly. Amy nodded and the
Alpha Council continued down the line. “She’s definitely hiding something…
something she doesn’t want her husband to know… and she feels pressure,
enormous pressure… I feel greed, fear and anger but the anger is directed at
herself not us.”
“The information on the flash drives can wait; I think
we need to do the background check on the Briggs’ first. She’s here and we need to know her story and
why she is so interested in the girls,”
Joe said and Frank and Carlo agreed and he opened the bond to include the boys. “Paulo,
I know you were supposed to come get the flash drives, but we need you to start
the background check on the Briggs’. She’s
asking some really odd questions and something doesn’t feel right. Aldo said she’s hiding something from her
husband and he feels greed, fear and anger at herself. I don’t know what it means, but dig as deep
as you can.”
“Dad, I started it as soon as you mentioned it,” said Paulo as he sat in his Uncle Frank’s
office. “Their finances are totally fucked.
Up until a year ago, their ranch carried a small mortgage, enough to use
for tax purposes and they had a Triple A credit line. Eleven months ago, she took out a $2 mil line
of credit in her name only, using the ranch as collateral. She fell behind on payments but on Monday she
made a $300,000 payment bringing it current, but the balance with interest
comes to over $2.1 mil. Here’s the thing
Dad, the original line of credit was written by one of the Native American casinos
in Montana, but a line of credit that big would have to be approved by a
bank. I found which bank processed it
but the note was bought by a Cayman Islands bank on Wednesday. It’s one we looked into but decided against
because of their poor security and their questionable business practices. It’s not unusual for banks to buy loans, but
with everything going on, it looks suspicious.
Right now I’m running a program accessing their phone records and doing
a cross search of the numbers they’ve called or who have called them.”
Frank, Joe and Carlo were
quiet as they processed the information.
They were nearing the end of the receiving line and the Whitmer’s were
the last to be introduced.
“Congratulations on your promotions, I understand you work with Frank
and Joe at Triple C,” said President Roberts as he shook their hands. He turned his head towards Frank and Joe and
started to smile, “That must be difficult for you having to put up with them at
work too.”
Joel and Jerry smiled and
Joel said, “We’ve worked for them since we were sixteen President Roberts. It’s the only job we’ve ever had and one we
enjoy very much plus our wives work in the office with Mrs. C and Mrs. JC.”
“And how old are your
daughters?” Amy asked as her mate stared at her with a questioning look.
“My daughter is four and
Joel’s is six,” said Jerry without giving any other details. Amy nodded as if confirming information she
knew and she walked straight to the bar with her mate following close behind. Once the official receiving line was done,
everyone began mingling and Carlo, Frank, Joe and Carmelo closely observed
everything that was going on.
Annie walked into the kitchen
and said, “Sophia, could you zip up the last part for me? I couldn’t get it.”
The youngsters who were
watching TV and playing games turned around and Lorenzo said loudly, “That’s…that’s
not the dress you described to me. That…
that…is too low, too high and too tight Mom…it’s too much and too little at the
same time…Dad is gonna freak, heck I’m freaking and you’re not my mate…you’re a
mom and moms shouldn’t dress that way…”
“Well, I think you look
beautiful,” said Sophia as she raised the zipper and hooked the eye clasp. She looked her aunt over from head to toe
admiring the teal blue satin low-cut bodice with spaghetti straps, the tight
rhinestone encrusted waist and the chiffon hanky skirt which had an uneven
hemline ranging from four inches above her knee to three inches below which
drew the eye to her tan legs and teal stiletto’s. Her hair was pulled back in a loose chignon
and her only jewelry beside her wedding band was large diamond drop earrings.
“You look gorgeous Momma,”
said Maria as she smiled. “Maybe Sophia
and I can borrow those dresses for Homecoming.”
“Oh, that I have to see. I’d pay to see Ant’s and Alberto’s reaction
to the two of you in those dresses,” said Damian as he started laughing. “Mom, you’ve got to do me a big huge
ginormous favor, please please please open the bond so we can hear Dad’s
reaction when he sees you.”
Before Annie could respond
Lorenzo said, “The Costello’s and Poffenberger’s are here.” The Carlucci boys hurried outside, after what
their fathers had said to them they were even more anxious than before.
“Get them inside
quickly. We’ll tell you what’s going on
inside,” said Vin to the Costello’s and Poffenberger’s who nodded and within
minutes they were safely inside the house and Sal quickly locked and alarmed
the door.
“Wenzo, yous didn’t even say
hewwos to me,” complained Brooke as he carried her and her twin Eddie down the
hallway.
Eddie rolled his eyes and
said, “Stop acting like a babies Bwooke.”
“Both of you are acting like
babies and if you don’t stop, I’m going to put you in a time-out,” said Reggie
Costello in a voice much older then his ten years.
“Now HE is definitely acting like Vin,” said Damian as Vin glared at him. “He’s
like a miniature version of Vin, ol’ bossy boots himself.”
“I feel like a recording but shut the fuck up. If you don’t, I’ll put you in a time-out,
right after I whip your ass,” said
Vin as he put Cal and Brady on the sofa.
Damian snorted making Toni
and her twin, Don laugh as he carried them into the family room, “I’m only shutting up because I have nothing
else to say to you, Mr. Grouchy Pants.”
Vin watched as Dom put Jackie and her twin Wade next to Morgan and
looked at Brianna who was talking quietly to Hope and Hyatt. What surprised him was Lorenzo carrying
Brooke and Eddie to Erin and asking her to
watch them for a couple of minutes and then he saw Damian carry Toni and Don to
Caitlin and ask the same thing. The boys
went into the kitchen and quietly told the Costello’s and Poffenberger’s what
was going on at the reception and that as soon as the Moretti’s and Papa Mike
and Nana Ellen got there, they would lock the house down.
Annie glanced at the clock
and said, “We’ve got to get going. I
think we should take two vehicles instead of one like we originally planned. Let us know immediately if something isn’t
right.” The boys nodded and the adults
went into the family room and said goodbye to the young ones and Vin walked
them to the door making sure the door was locked and the alarm set. Before going into the kitchen to help his
brothers fix dinner he went into his Dad’s office and opened the hidden panel
in the wall, turning on the monitors he scanned the yard for anything unusual.
“See anything?” asked Paulo
as he worked on his uncles computer while his laptop was also on the desk. “I’m going to be in here working on stuff for
the Pack, but let me know if you need me.”
“Don’t worry about it, what
you’re doing is important for the safety and security of the Pack,” said Vin as
he looked at the monitor on his fathers desk, but things were moving so fast he
couldn’t make sense of it. “Let me know
if you need anything, we should have dinner ready soon.” Paulo nodded and Vin quietly left the room. When he walked into the kitchen he saw the
boys making a salad, stirring the venison chili in the crockpot, putting the
casseroles Veronica and Christy had brought into the oven and getting plastic
plates and utensils out of the pantry.
He was surprised with how quiet it was considering there were forty-nine
of them in the house and turned to the family room and saw everyone sitting
quietly while Sophia read Harry Potter
and the Order of the Phoenix. He
felt a surge of pride run through him as he watched her, she knew something was
going on but her main focus was in keeping the young ones happy and focused on
her calm attitude.
“She’s going to make a great
Madame Alpha, isn’t she?” asked Dom quietly as he stood beside his twin. “She’s a nurturer; it comes natural to her to
make others feel good. She also feels a
need to protect them and with those tremendous fighting skills she has, she’ll
be damn good at it.” Sophia looked up at
her two oldest brothers and smiled and kept reading until the boys announced
dinner was ready and they made sure the young ones and girls were fed before
they started to eat.
“We’re going to leave Alpha
Carlo,” said Papa Mike with a concerned look on his face. “Annie and the others should be getting here
soon and we want to get back to the youngsters.” Carlo had been expecting this, knowing the
Millers would be anxious with everything going on.
“That’s fine, let us know if
you need anything,” said Carlo as Papa Mike and Nana Ellen said their goodbyes
to everyone. Five minutes after they
left, Annie, the Costello’s and the Poffenberger’s entered the conference
room. The Costello’s and Poffenberger’s
felt out of place because this was an official Council Reception and they were
the only Delta’s there and the Whitmer’s and Rose coming over to talk to them
put them at ease.
Joe saw his mate as she
entered the room, and his jaw dropped as he saw what she was wearing, “WHAT THE … WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE ON ANNIE? IS THAT THE DRESS LUC BROUGHT FOR YOU? I’M GOING TO FUCKIN KILL HIM.” Frank started to laugh when Joe forgot he had
the bond open and projected to Frank, Carlo, Anthony, Carmelo and the boys. The boys looked at each other and started to
laugh while they finished eating dinner.
Annie stared into his eyes as
she walked up to him before twirling around, causing the skirt to float in the
air a little and she said, “You don’t like it?”
Joe looked her up and down
several times and swallowed loudly before saying, “I didn’t say I didn’t like
it, I love it…but I don’t like the thought of other men looking at you. You are mine.” He pulled her into his arms scenting her neck
deeply as he growled and whispered, “How long do we have to stay here? As much as I like you in this dress, I can’t
wait to get you out of it.”
“Cool down big boy, we’ll
have a bunch of youngsters to deal with when we get to the house, but maybe if
you’re a good boy, after everyone is gone I’ll take a stroll with you,” said
Annie with a giggle. Feeling him tighten
his hold on her, she whispered in a breathy voice, “I’ll even let you howl as
loud as you like…as many times as you like.”
Hearing his sharp intake of breath, she smiled and walked away from him,
making sure to sway her hips a bit more than normal.
The next ten minutes were
like any cocktail party or social gathering; gossip was exchanged, laughter was
heard, men bragged about their youngsters, women talked about their mates and
youngsters but Frank, Joe and Carmelo kept a close eye on Amy. They noticed she was drinking more than anyone
else, and she wasn’t drinking cocktails or wine like the other mates, she was
slugging back shots of whiskey, one after the other.
“Dad, Papa Mike and Nana Ellen are here. We finished dinner and we’re going in the
basement to watch movies,” said Vin
as he looked around and saw the boys were almost finished cleaning up.
“Okay, let us know what’s going on,” said Frank as he watched Amy and her mate leave the
conference room. Frank motioned for Joe
and Carmelo to follow them and they casually wandered out into the hallway.
“Have you found anybody to
take the Alpha position at Davis Pack?” asked Frank as he continued to scan the
room.
“Yes, Nic Spanos, Holly’s
brother in law,” replied Gabe. “With the
amount of men that were arrested, there’s only twenty left in the Pack and he
was the highest level. I’m going to
leave some security personnel there after we’re finished to train the Pack,
then we’ll continually check on them. We
still haven’t found someone for the Carlsbad
or Grant Packs, but I have confidence we’ll find someone soon.”
“We could hear parts of their conversation when they
were in the hall; he was asking her why she was asking those questions and what
was wrong with her. She burst into tears
then ran into the restroom,” Joe
said. “He didn’t follow her in; he’s leaning against the wall with his head
thrown back. If that was my mate and she
was upset, I would be in there with her, I wouldn’t care if it was the ladies
room.”
“There’s nothing that would keep me from my mate if
she was upset,” Frank said agreeing
with him.
Carlo looked at his
wristwatch and saw they had ten minutes until they had to move to the other
room and he said to Gabe, “I’m glad you decided to have an Official Reception,
we haven’t had one in a while.”
“I’d like to take credit for
it, but it wasn’t my idea,” said Gabe with a shrug. “I was going to send Hank and Michelle
because he wants to talk to the local farmers about buying their ‘Hearts of
Gold’ cantaloupes that Boonsboro is famous for.
He wants to start producing a melon liquor, similar to Midori. Amy found out and said she wanted to meet
Dante and it kind of snowballed from there.”
“Wait a minute; this whole
thing was her idea?” Carlo asked quietly.
“Gabe, didn’t you notice anything odd about that or her questions? She was pretty blatant in her questions about
the females. We started a background
check on her and we found out she has some serious gambling debts, over $2 mil
worth. She’s hiding something and we’re
going to find out what it is.”
Gabe’s head snapped around
and he stared at Carlo, “I didn’t even realize.
My mind is on overload with everything else going on that I don’t even
notice what is going on right in front of me anymore.” He stopped talking and ran his hands through
his hair and said, “Carlo, I’m not sure of anything anymore…I’m not even sure I
can trust my own judgement right now…But I want you to know I told Helen and my
youngsters if anything were to happen to me or if they felt threatened that
they are to come to you. You and your
Pack are the only ones I can fully trust.”
Carlo nodded and said, “We’ll
take care of them Gabe. When you’re on
the way to the airport, ask Joe for a phone for Helen too. If they’re on the run, they’ll need a phone
that’s not traceable.” They were both
silent and Carlo filled Frank, Joe and Carmelo on what he found out.
“Aldo didn’t sense anything and we didn’t think of it,
but what if having all of us here is a diversion for them to scope out the
territory and the houses?” Frank said
in a worried tone. “Briggs and Carter coming with Gabe forced us to have an official
reception since they’re on the Council Advisory Board. Think of it Carlo, all of the Beta’s are
here.”
“LOCK THE HOUSES DOWN IMMEDIATELY AND WATCH THE
MONITORS. KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR ANYTHING
SUSPICIOUS,” Carlo thundered over the
link to all Pack members. None of the
members of SMP who were in the room betrayed any emotion on their faces, but
the tension ratcheted up and Gabe looked at Carlo questioningly and Carlo
subtly shook his head. In homes across
the territory families ran to obey their Alpha and the Carlucci’s were no
exception. As soon as Vin and Dom heard
the word ‘Lock’ they were on their feet running to the emergency button, but
Paulo beat them to it by hitting ‘star000pound’ on his phone, the security
guards were sliding into position before they even got close to the
button.
“GET THEM TO THE SAFE ROOM,” shouted
Vin and Victor ran to the secret panel in the wall to punch in the security
code to open the door. Paulo shut the
computer down and grabbed his laptop as he ran to the basement, remembering to
lock and alarm the basement door. Within
a minute everyone was in the safe room, the Millers huddled in the corner with
Papa Mike and Nana Ellen in front of the girls while Sophia, Maria and the
young ones were sitting on the bunks waiting for instructions like they had
been taught.
Vin and Dom went to the bank
of ten monitors on the wall and powered them up, their eyes scanning the
screens as they came to life. Paulo
stood behind them and cleared his throat and his cousins moved out of his way
as he sat down and within moments the monitor screens split into ten frames
each. The boys saw The School House, the
training center, each of the Pack owned businesses, and the homes of the Pack
members flash on the screens. Paulo’s
hands flew over the keyboard as the images constantly changed as they scanned
them. Sophia motioned to the Millers to
sit on the bunks while everyone watched the monitors.
“Papa Mike and Nana Ellen,
why don’t you come over and watch what we’re doing,” said Vin without taking
his eyes off the monitors. “This way you
know what to do next time if you’re at your house.” The two older Millers walked over and stood
to the side and watched the boys.
The silence in the room was
shattered by the ringing of Maria’s cell phone and she hurriedly got it out of
her pocket hitting the answer button but before she could say anything, Alberto
was shouting, “ARE YOU OKAY? WHERE THE
FUCK ARE YOU? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING
ON?”
“Leone, I’m fine. Calm down, we’re in the safe room,” she
whispered in a soothing voice. “Paulo is
checking the security cameras and we don’t know what is going on, but I’m
fine.”
“I’m sorry I hollered
Gattina, but I was worried,” Alberto said in a low voice. “We’re almost at the house, we were on our
way there when Alpha Carlo put out the alert, so can you have Vin let us in,
we’re about five minutes away.”
Maria looked at Vin and he
looked at Paulo who quickly changed three monitors to observe the outside of
the house. Seeing nothing out of place
Paulo nodded his head and Vin said, “Tell him to stay in the car until the
front door opens.” Maria quickly relayed
the message and hung up, turning her attention to the monitors.
“Sophia, are you safe?
Where are you?” asked Anthony
in a worried tone as his eyes scanned the conference room.
“I’m in the safe room and the house is locked
down. Paulo and the others are looking
at the monitors now,” said Sophia in
a calm voice. “We’re fine, concentrate on what you’re doing, if I need you I’ll let
you know.”
Maria whispered quietly,
“Paulo is trying to see what’s going on outside and what caused Alpha Carlo to
order us on lock down. Since he handles
all the electronic security for the Pack, he’s checking the security cameras
and well…I’m not quite sure what all he’s doing, but he’s really good at
it.” The Millers turned their heads and
watched Paulo as he told the boys to keep an eye on the monitors while he dealt
with other things on his laptop.
“Keep the link open, and let me know what’s going on,” instructed Anthony as he talked to Madame Helen about
his plans for college.
“Boys, I know you’re following procedure and are
looking over the territory, is there anything unusual going on?” asked Joe as he talked with Alpha Carter about
football.
“Nothing unusual so far, I’ll let you know immediately
if something happens,” said Paulo,
his hands in constant motion. Several
moments went by and the screens on the monitors focused on the Carlucci home, “The
Moretti’s are pulling into the driveway, by the time you get to the front door,
the guard’ll be up, as soon as they’re in I’ll put it back down.” Vin, Dom, Lorenzo, Damian and Sal ran
upstairs and as they ran down the hallway, they saw the guard sliding
back. “It’s clear,” said Paulo as he focused his attention on the porch,
the front yard and the side yards. Vin
hurriedly unlocked the door and as soon as Alberto, Angelo and Gabby saw the
door open they ran towards it, one brother on each side of Gabby. When he saw the door shut and Vin lock it,
Paulo typed in the code and the guard slid silently into place.
Seeing Sal in the hallway
Gabby ran towards him, throwing her arms around his neck shocking him and his
arms hung at his sides before slowly coming up and encircling her waist. He buried his nose into her neck and closed
his eyes allowing her coconut cream pie scent to inflame his senses. He could feel his wolf sit at attention and
throw his head back as if ready to howl but then stop and tilt his head as if
unsure of what was going on and what to do.
He was concentrating so hard on the beautiful girl in his arms he wasn’t
quite aware of who was around them, but he felt the movement towards them and
he growled in a protective and possessive manner, holding Gabby even closer to
him and turning them so she was away from them.
“Relax bro, it’s me, we need
to get Gabby to the safe room,” said Vin softly. Sal reluctantly loosened his hold and turned
his head to see the other boys staring at him and he flushed bright red. He turned back to see Gabby looking at him
with wide eyes and a smile on her face before blushing even redder than he
was. Not quite willing to let go of her,
he picked her up throwing her over his shoulder. When he heard her giggle he couldn’t help the
smile that came over his face.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered
as his chest puffed up knowing he was protecting his…well he really wasn’t sure
what she was. All he knew was his wolf
was content with Gabby in his arms and he was proud knowing he was protecting her.
“I know you do,” she
whispered back watching the play of muscles across his back. Even though he was only two inches taller, he
was much broader and stronger than her and she felt safe in his arms. When they reached the safe room, he loosened
his hold and she slid down his chest and he inhaled sharply feeling even more
possessive of her. Gabby blushed and before
she had time to think about it, she kissed him on his cheek whispering, “My
protector.” She moved quickly out of his
arms and as he watched her walk to the bunk to sit with Sophia and Maria he
heard the little girls giggling while their brothers pretended to gag. Sal blushed and turned back towards the
monitors with a big smile on his face.
Alberto and Angelo were the
last to come into the safe room and Alberto immediately went to Maria and
picked her up cradling her in his arms as he scented her. “You know I can walk, right? Everybody keeps hauling me around like I’m a sack
of potatoes,” Maria whispered cuddling into his chest.
“But you’re an adorable sack
of potatoes Gattina,” he whispered and started laughing when she sighed.
“Vinnie, I’s needs to do the
potty,” said Hope with an eager look on her face as she looked around the safe
room.
“No you don’t, you went before
we left your house” said Alec as he scowled at her. “She thinks every time she’s in a new place
she has to use the terlet.”
“Terlet?” asked Vin with a
smile on his face.
Alec grinned at him and said,
“That’s what Daddy and Uncle Jerry calls it when they want to irritate Aunt
Christy. She says since Daddy and Uncle
Jerry are Beta’s now and her and Mommy are working at Triple C that we got to
improve ourselves. She wants us to call it
‘the facilities’, she thinks it sounds better.”
Vin tried not to laugh as he
said, “There’s nothing wrong with improving yourself, as long as you don’t put
others down while you’re doing it.”
“She told Daddy and Uncle
Jerry that we needs to start acting more like you all,” said Alec shrugging his
shoulders. “Daddy said ‘Luna forbid if
they act like Damian’. I’m not sure what
he meant because they started to laugh, but I don’t think its bad cause Damian
is cool.”
Damian grinned and said,
“Thanks little man, I think you’re cool too.”
Alec visibly brightened under the praise from one of his idols. “See
what I’m talking about, the bad ass image is starting to take root. Parents don’t want their young ones to act
like me. I’m becoming a legend,” he
said happily.
“They don’t want their young ones to act like you
because you’re an idiot, not because you’re a bad ass,” said Lorenzo as Damian glared at him.
“Shut the fuck up,” said Dom as he scanned the monitors.
“You know Dad and Uncle Joe will
want to know how we handled this and I don’t want to tell them the two of you
were arguing instead of doing what we’ve been trained to do. Get your asses in gear and take Gianni, Marcus,
Enzo and Gino and check the house.” The
boys ran upstairs and checked the house completely, starting with the
attic. Each room was visually checked
and swept for listening devices or cameras that weren’t part of their home
security system.
“We’ll get your backpacks but
we need everyone to stay quiet for a little while and I don’t want anybody to
leave this room,” said Vin as he looked at the young ones. Hope smiled at him
and made a zippering motion across her mouth causing him to laugh before he
turned back to the bank of monitors.
Twenty minutes later, Vin
said, “We can go back to the TV room, but we’ll leave the door to the safe room
open. I want everyone to stay together,
so no wandering around, okay?” Everyone
nodded and when they were back in Frank’s room he turned the TV on and said,
“WHAG is showing footage of the reception.”
They saw a reporter in the
foreground with Senator Martin, his mate Allison, Dante, Carlo, Gina and
Anthony in the background as they welcomed the guests and the camera moved from
the reporter to focus on Anthony. “We
have more information for the thousands of you interested…his name is Anthony
Rossi; he is seventeen and a junior at South Mountain
High School where he is
the wide receiver on the football team, a power forward on the basketball team
and third baseman on their baseball team.
He is the only child of Carlo and Gina Rossi, which makes him the sole
heir to the estimated $150 million Rossi fortune which includes the Rossi
Grocery Store franchise and South Mountain Industries, the largest property
group owners in Western Maryland,” the reporter said as the camera panned in
for a close-up of Anthony who was wearing a dark grey Armani suit, white shirt
and a light grey and black geometric patterned tie. All eyes in the room swung to Sophia who was staring
at her mate on the screen. “In response
to the thousands of phone calls and emails our station and numerous other
stations have received, we have gotten confirmation from an unnamed source ...sorry
ladies, but he has a girlfriend.”
Sophia sat up straight and
everyone glanced at her as she shouted, “WAIT A MINUTE…WHAT DOES SHE MEAN BY THOUSANDS
OF PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS ABOUT MY MATE?
BUNCH OF BRAZEN BIT…” She stopped
shouting when she realized there was young ones staring at her and threw
herself back against the sofa and crossed her arms with a furious look on her
face.
“Speculation is running rampant,
but the smart money is on Victoria Martin, daughter of Senator Clay Martin and
a fellow student at South Mountain High.
According to our source, Victoria and Anthony are childhood friends who
recently made the change in their relationship known to their families, who are
thrilled and are waiting until they are older before an official announcement
will be made. If this is true, a new
political and financial dynasty may have been born here in Western
Maryland,” the reporter said as the screen flashed pictures of the
Martin family at official functions along with pictures of the Rossi family.
The room was deadly quiet as
everyone waited for the explosion and seconds later Sophia stood and screamed
as only a fifteen year old girl can. It
was loud enough to shatter eardrums and everyone put their hands over their
ears until she finished. Anthony could
feel her agitation and said, “What’s the
matter? Are you okay? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? ANSWER ME DAMNIT.” When she didn’t answer, he opened the bond to
include her family and his parents and said, “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? IS
SOPHIA OKAY? IS SHE HURT? WHY IS SHE UPSET? SOMEONE BETTER FUCKING ANSWER ME NOW.”
Vin swallowed loudly before he said, “Uhmm… Anthony, the news reporter for WHAG
just announced Victoria as your girlfriend, she said it was confirmed through
an unnamed source. And…ugh Sophia isn’t
taking it well, she screamed so loud my ears are still ringing and she’s
gasping for air. I don’t think I’ve seen
her this mad since Gianni cut the head off her favorite baby doll and Dom ran
over it with his dirt bike.” Vin
realized he was rambling and shut up as he stared at his sister who was turning
a remarkable shade of red.
“Paulo, find out who this fucking unnamed source is
NOW. As soon as I find out who it is,
I’ll deal with them. Right now, I need
someone to make sure my mate is okay until I can get there,” said Anthony continuing to smile and shake
hands.
“Ant, she’s on the recliner with Maria and she’s
holding her,” said Lorenzo. “The
girls are telling her not to worry about it and Brooke and Hope are telling her
about their day. She’s starting to calm
down.”
He could still sense his
intendeds agitation and said in a calm soothing tone, “You mean everything to me and I don’t like it when you’re upset so
please calm down. You know you’re the
only one in my life Arachide, the only one I want.”
“You know you’re the only one in my life and the only
one I want too,” she replied and
started to smile when she heard him start to growl. “I’m fine;
now pay attention to what you’re supposed to be doing, Mr. Alpha-Heir.”
“I need more laptops,”
shouted Paulo from the safe room. Vin
and Dom went upstairs to get their laptops bringing them into the safe room
where Paulo was calmly eating a bowl of ice cream and snacking on
pretzels. He powered up one of the
laptops and two minutes later he shouted, “GOT IT.” He showed the screen to Vin and Dom who
looked at each other with their mouths open in disbelief. “Ant, Victoria made a call to
WHAG, actually she made two calls; one from the house phone and the other from
her cell phone. I’m not saying it’s her,
but she’s the only one from the Pack who contacted the station.”
“Thanks, I’ll deal with her later,” said Anthony as he looked at his father. “We’re
going to have to tell the reporter the truth; I will not let anyone think I am
dating Victoria. I will not disrespect my mate like that.”
“Frank and Anthony calm down, remember where we are,” said Carlo as he looked into the ballroom and saw
Frank staring at Clay with narrowed eyes.
As he shook hands with Savannah
he said in a low voice that even with her advanced hearing she barely heard, “Talk
to Frank.” He smiled and said in a
normal tone, “It’s good to see you again Savannah,
I’m glad you could make it on such short notice.”
“I was thrilled to be invited
Carlo,” said Savannah
with a smile. “I’m going to circulate
and we’ll catch up later.” As she
entered the ballroom, she made eye contact with Frank and glanced towards the
bar in the far corner and they casually made their way towards it. Unlike the other two bars in the room, this
one wasn’t crowded and Savannah
said, “Carlo said I needed to talk to you.”
Frank glanced around, and
seeing Amy looking at them he smiled and whispered, “Don’t let anybody know my
sons are mates with the Miller girls.
Also, be careful what you say around Amy Briggs, she’s one of those who
is betraying us. We need to talk
privately, there’s more but I don’t want to talk about it here.” She was well trained as an Alpha and an
attorney not to let her expressions betray her but it took all her self control
to maintain a neutral expression.
“I know Amy and I can’t
believe she’s betraying you. I know
she’s ambitious and wanted her husband to get the position on the Advisory
Board, but betrayal?” she asked as she glanced around the room, narrowing her
eyes when she saw Amy look away from them quickly. “She looks guilty about something.”
Frank nodded and looked over
the crowd, “Believe it Savannah. She has a gambling addiction and is desperate
for money, there’s no telling what she’ll do.
Carlo will call you tomorrow and make arrangements to talk in private.”
“Even though I’m friends with
Amy, I trust your judgement completely and if you tell me she is one of those
betraying us, and yes I said ‘us’, then I believe you,” she took a deep breath
and forced a smile on her face. “I don’t
want anyone to get suspicious if they see us talking too long, plus I’ve got to
pay my respects to Gabe and the others.”
Frank nodded and they went their separate ways.
“Mr. Rossi, all of the
expected guests have arrived Sir,” said Marco as he leaned in close to
Carlo. “The camera crews that are
outside would like the opportunity to come inside for additional video, if that
meets with your approval.”
“Certainly, have one of the
parking valets escort each crew and make sure they stay on the edge of the
ballroom and don’t disturb the guests,” he replied and then turned to Clay and
Gina saying, “Since Gina had the foresight to invite the Arboretum and
Historical Society members, I think now would be a good time to announce the
plans to add the fence to the schoolyard.
Clay can make a speech about wanting to preserve a historical feature in
his district and emphasize local craftsmanship.”
“Give me ten minutes and I’ll
have the speech ready,” said Clay as his Chief of Staff hurried off to a quiet
room to get it ready. “I’ll make sure to
mention all of the food this evening was locally produced to highlight our
district.”
Carlo nodded and said, “Let
me know when you’re ready.” He watched
as Clay walked away and then motioned for the WHAG reporter to come over. “I heard what you said about my son and Victoria
Martin. While Victoria Martin is a
lovely girl, she is not his girlfriend.
His girlfriend, whom I will not name due to her age, is a fifteen year
old who is a childhood friend of his and they have recently begun dating. Next time if you want to know any information
about me or my family, I expect you to ask me and not rely on unconfirmed
sources…Do I make myself clear?”
“Ye…Yes Sir,” Jessica Anders
stammered out. “I’m sorry if I caused
any problems, but she assured us she was reliable.”
Carlo shrugged and said, “I
know you are new to the station, so take this as your first lesson, if you want
to get the truth...simply ask. You’ll
find most people would rather have the correct information out there then
malicious rumors and gossip. And this
will be your second lesson…you need to apologize to my son on air. You put out false information and you must
own up to it and correct your mistake.”
She nodded and said quietly,
“Thank you Sir, I’ll make sure I apologize on air, but I’d also like to
apologize to him in person. And thank
you for the advice.”
“He’s right over there,” Carlo
like her attitude and smiled at her before motioning for Anthony to join
them. Even though she was human, in his
gut he felt like she would be important to the Pack. “This will be your third and final lesson … when
you meet someone get their business card.
Keep it in a file and write notes so when you talk to them, you can
say…I met you at blank, or I talked to you at blank. It will help personalize your professional
relationship with them. Cultivate these
relationships with care and remember to always report the truth. People have a long memory and you don’t want
to associate yourself with scandal, maintain your dignity and integrity and
you’ll go far. With that in mind, let me
be one of the first to give you their card and remember to call if you want to
know the truth about me or my family. Now, after you finish with my son, come and
find me and I’ll introduce you personally to some influential people and to
help you get your name out there, I’ll have Dante give you an exclusive
interview.”
“Sir, I don’t even know how
to say thank you for your wonderful advice and getting an exclusive interview
with Mr. Rossi? I don’t even…What do
I…,” Jessica started to stammer and turned to her cameraman who looked just as
stunned.
“Ms. Anders, you wished to
speak to me?” Anthony asked as he approached them.
“Oh yes, I’d like to
apologize for reporting the incorrect information about your girlfriend. I hope we can move past this,” Jessica said
as she tilted her head back and felt like a teenage girl as she tried not to
giggle.
“I understand how false
things get reported all the time Ms. Anders,” he said with a smile which caused
her to blush. “How about if you
interview me, and we can clear up the misunderstanding.”
She motioned to her cameraman
and he hurriedly turned the camera towards them and the light was almost
blinding as she began, “This is Jessie Anders and I have an exclusive interview
with a person many are calling ‘The most eligible bachelor in Maryland’, of course I am talking about
Anthony Rossi. Mr. Rossi, I’d like to
apologize for the erroneous report earlier linking you to Victoria Martin.”
“Good evening Ms. Anders. I would like to say on record that I am not
dating Victoria Martin, she is an acquaintance of my family, her brothers play
football with me and we socialize occasionally, but that’s as far as things
have ever gone with us. I am dating a
wonderful young lady who is fifteen and means the world to me,” Anthony said as
he smiled into the camera. “Due to her
age, I won’t identify her and I would ask the media to refrain from trying to
find out that information. Please
remember we are normal high school teenagers in Maryland
and not in Hollywood.”
“Thank you for clearing that
up for us and I hope you have a good evening,” said Jessie as the cameraman
turned the camera off. She looked over
to the crowd of reporters and saw the jealous looks on their faces and smiled
to herself.
At the Carlucci home, Sophia
was smiling as her family started to relax.
The older ones were discussing what movie to watch, while the young ones
and little ones had been put in the safe room as they fell asleep.
At the Martin home, Victoria stood up and
screamed as she threw her glass at the flat screen TV cracking it. “That fucking bitch…she always wins.”
“What did you do Victoria?” asked her
twin Greg in a worried tone. “You’d
better not have been involved in that mess.
Dad and Alpha Carlo will freak.”
“Will you shut the fuck up
and let me think,” she snarled as she paced back and forth. The Hammond and Mendez boys looked at each
other wishing they were anywhere else.
“Why did he have to deny it? He
should have just let it go like I thought he would and then he would realize I
was a much better mate than her. Even
that stupid fucking reporter realized what a good match we are.”
“Did you have anything to do with this?” Scott asked his twin sister Daisy.
She looked at Jade Mendez and
hung her head, “We told her not to do it,
but she wouldn’t listen. She said if we
didn’t help her, then she would tell the boys in the Pack awful things about
us. You know how vicious she can be and
we didn’t want our reputations to be ruined.”
“You honestly believed her shit? How could you be so fucking stupid?” Scott stood up and said, “We’re leaving. Victoria,
stay the fuck away from my sister and if I hear one word that you said anything
about her, you’ll regret it.”
“Oh, grow the fuck up
Scott. You think I give a flying fuck
about you or what you think you could do?” she sneered before turning her back
on him. “I am a Senator’s daughter, and her father builds fucking dog houses
for a living. I need to be his mate with all the money and power that goes along
with the position, she won’t know what to do with it…. THAT FUCKING BITCH, STEALING WHAT SHOULD BE
MINE.” She picked up a vase from the end
table and threw it at an antique mirror that had been in her family for generations;
seeing what she was about to do, Joel pushed his sister down into the sofa
cushions and covered her body to protect her as shards of broken mirror rained
down over them.
“YOU’VE LOST YOUR FUCKING
MIND,” screamed their older brother Jake as he rushed to his sister and brother
and seeing the cuts on his sisters legs and on his brothers arms and back, his
eyes turned amber. He picked up Jade and
snarled, “LOOK WHAT YOU DID, YOU FUCKING DELUSIONAL BITCH. STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER. OPEN UP THE FUCKING DOORS AND LET US OUT OF
HERE.”
Greg hurried down the hallway
and let the Hammonds and Mendez’s out of the house, continuing to apologize to
both families. On his return, he stood
at the door to the living room and watched his sister continue to pace back and
forth, and he said angrily, “Do you have any idea what Alpha Carlo is going to
do when he finds out? You have no idea
what you’ve done, do you?”
“Dad, the phone checks been finished, in the last two
months she’s received calls from ‘pay as you go’ phones. There’s no way to find out who made the
calls, but I traced the calls to a geographic location, that’s the best I can
do for now,” said Paulo as he sat
back in his uncle’s chair. “The calls originated in New
York…specifically upstate New
York, where the Alpha Council is located.”
His announcement was met with
stunned silence from Carlo, Frank and Joe.
“I’m trying to get more
information, and I kinda uhmm hacked into the Council’s network to find out who
was there on the days the calls were made to narrow things down. I’m also trying to access the Briggs’ emails
and am running a program with specific search words going through the emails of
those who work for the Council. It may
take a while; I didn’t realize how many people live at the Complex. One last thing, after I did the initial
search for who called the TV station, I checked the emails. Jade, Daisy and Victoria
sent emails to the station confirming Victoria’s
relationship with Anthony. I sent copies
of them to Alpha Carlo’s account.”
“Good job Paulo, let us know if you find anything
else,” said Carlo as he could feel
the rage building inside of him. He took
a deep breath and smiled as he talked to the Italian Ambassador about selling
more Italian goods in his grocery stores.
“Uhmm Dad, I have the programs running but do you
think I could watch the movie with everybody else? I’ll take my laptop with me,” Paulo said in a low tone.
Joe sighed and said, “I’m sorry Paulo, sometimes we forget you’re
a teenage boy and put too much pressure on you.
Go watch your movie; we can’t do anything tonight anyway except gather
information.”
“That’s alright Dad, I know my duty to the Pack,” said Paulo as he picked up his laptop and started
walking out of his Uncle Frank’s office making sure to close and lock the door
so no one could go in and disrupt his programs.
He walked into his uncle’s room in the basement and smiled at what he
saw, the three leather sofas had all been turned to face the screen. On the back sofa, Vin had Brianna on his lap
and was whispering in her ear as she giggled; Dom was leaning against the arm
of the sofa with Morgan between his legs, she was leaning back on his chest and
scenting his neck as he whispered quietly to her. On the second sofa was Sal who was holding
hands with Gabby then Angelo, Victor, Sophia, and Gianni and on the sofa in
front was the rest of the Miller girls.
Alberto was on the recliner with Maria, his right arm around her
shoulders while her left arm rested on a pillow and she was sound asleep, Papa
Mike was in the other recliner asleep and the rest of the Carlucci boys were
scattered around the floor. “What are we
watching?”
Damian turned from his
position on the floor and said with a wicked smile, “The girls said they’ve
never seen a scary movie…so we’re watching ‘The
Blair Witch Project’. We told them
it’s an urban legend from right here on South Mountain,
well the other side of it in Burkittsville.
They were worried about blood and guts so we swore they wouldn’t see
any.”
Paulo looked at the Miller
girls who were eagerly sitting on the front couch and his smile matched his
brothers, while the rest of the boys hid their smirks. The sound of the house phone rang out and Lorenzo
answered, “Carlucci residence…yeah, they’re sleeping…two minutes?...we’ll be
ready.” He hung up and said, “The
Whitmer’s, Costello’s and Poffenberger’s are two minutes out.” The boys quickly got up going into the safe
room and carried the young ones upstairs while Papa Mike and Nana Ellen carried
their backpacks.
Paulo unlocked the study door
and powered up the monitors, putting the spotlights on around the house and
changed the settings on the outlying cameras to infrared. “It’s clear, nothing around the house,
they’re pulling into the driveway now.
Don’t forget the booster seats in the mudroom.” Paulo waited until the vehicles pulled up in
front of the garage before sliding the guards back.
Vin and Dom walked out
carrying booster seats and as the men put them in the car Vin said, “We’re
going to do this one car at a time. Dom,
Lorenzo, Damian and I are going to shift into our wolves and patrol while the others
bring them out. We didn’t get to really
spend much time with them because of the lock down, so we’ll make arrangements
to take them out one weekend.” The men
nodded and their mates sat in their vehicles and ten minutes later the boys
were shifting back as they watched the taillights disappear from the
driveway.
“You boys mind if we stay up
here and watch TV instead of the movie?” asked Papa Mike when they were in the
kitchen. “We don’t want to miss our
shows.”
“No problem, we’ll leave the
basement and the TV room door open. Let
us know if you need anything,” said Vin with a smile as the Millers headed into
the family room. He heard the TV and
said quietly, “Alright guys, we’ve got a movie to watch and I can’t wait for my
mate to hold on to me when she gets scared.”
The boys looked at each other and started to laugh before running down
to the TV room.
“Hey Dad, how much longer do
you want me to stay?” Anthony asked as he stood with his father and Dante at
the Long John Silvers booth. Anthony watched
as Dante and a bunch of the Italians swarmed the server when a new batch came
out of the fryer and he shook his head as they started arguing like children
over who wanted them more. “Haven’t you
had enough of them yet Dante? You’ve
been here four days and three of those days you’ve eaten there.”
“I do not know what it is
about them; it is like a drug to me. I
have tried getting my cook to make them, but no matter what he does, they do not
taste right,” he replied as he eagerly reached for the last chicken plank on
the plate. He looked around before
saying quietly, “This is so good that Luna herself must have ordained it.”
Anthony started laughing so
hard he almost choked as he said, “You think Luna invented chicken planks from
Long Johns?”
“She works in mysterious ways,
my young cousin. How else do you explain
someone as ugly as you ending up with Sophia?
Or your father ending up with your mom?
Face it, they are much better looking then the two of you,” he replied before
smirking as he saw Frank, Joe, Ric and Rocco move within hearing distance. “All joking aside, be careful around that
family, the whole damn bunch of Carlucci’s are savages. They are uncivilized heathens who have to
rely on their brawn rather then their brains because they are generally stupid. I am not even sure how they manage to dress
themselves…but looking at those idiots over there, they obviously have no
fashion sense at all.”
Anthony saw the Carlucci men
tense up and could feel the anger radiating off of them, as upset as they were
about the comments about their family; the way to insult most true Italian men
was to insult their fashion sense. “I
know what you mean; we should’ve approved their choice of suits before we let
them leave the house, they’re an embarrassment to themselves and to us.”
Carlo glanced at Dante out of
the corner of his eye and had trouble hiding his smile as he said, “I agree
with you about the whole family being uncivilized and stupid. How the hell do they maintain such high
positions? The only thing I can think of
is they were lucky in their choice of mates; they’re the real brains behind the
brawn. Do you think because they are
twins, they only share one brain between the two of them? Maybe that would explain why they’re all so
stupid.”
Dante looked at Anthony and
Carlo, the twinkle in his eyes evident as he took a drink of whiskey. “I think you are right about the sharing of
the brains that would explain a lot. Why
they can not think for themselves, why they always have to look at each other
before answering a question and why they are all so hot-headed.” He stopped talking and took another drink of
whiskey before saying, “I think I am going to have to put outfits together for
them, like those Garanimal clothes they make for the children. This way when they get dressed in the
morning, they only have to match the animals; even as stupid as they are I
think they can do that.”
The Carlucci’s couldn’t take
anymore and turned around, their anger apparent in their stance and the
expression in their eyes only to be greeted by the three Rossi’s doubled over
in laughter. “I’m so glad the three of
you are having a laugh at our expense,” said Joe sarcastically as he took a
deep breath.
Frank looked at Anthony with
a wicked smile as he said, “I’ll be sure to remember what you said about my
family when you come over to spend time with my daughter. You know what I mean… with how stupid I am, I
may need to follow the rules to the letter instead of being accommodating.”
Anthony’s eyes went wide and
he stammered, “You…you know how much Sophia means to me…you can’t…I would
never…come on Mr. C.”
“Relax, I know you all were
joking, we need it after the night we’ve had,” said Frank as he looked around
the room which was still full. “Don’t
you think it’s time you called me something besides Mr. C? You are going to be my son-in-law.”
“I can do that,” Anthony
relaxed and smiled as he remembered what Alberto had told him of his
conversation with Joe and Joe’s reaction.
“What would you like me to call you?
It should be a name my little ones will be comfortable with too. So how bout Pops, Gramps, PapPap, PawPaw, Pappy?”
Frank could feel the blood
rushing from his head as he thought of Sophia having little ones. “Lit…lit… little ones??”
Anthony smirked as he said,
“Didn’t Sophia tell you? She wants to
have little ones as soon as possible.
I’ve always been taught to make my partner happy, so whatever she wants,
she’ll get.”
Frank was opening and closing
his mouth without saying a word for almost a minute, his eyes were glazed as he
tried to focus and he started to sway back and forth. Joe said, “I think he’s gonna pass out.” Though his voice was full of concern, there
was an underlying layer of laughter in it and he had a huge smile on his face.
Carlo snapped his fingers in
front of Frank’s eyes, “Frank, look at me.”
“Huh?” Frank replied as he
focused on Carlo.
Dante snorted as he said, “If
your brilliant comeback was ‘Huh’, then you failed miserably Frank. I cannot say I am surprised considering the
limited intellectual capacity present in your family, so I will instead commend
you on your ability to start breathing again.”
Frank took a deep breath and
rolled his shoulders before looking at Dante, “How about… fuck you Dante. Is that intelligent enough for you?”
“It will do old friend,” he
replied with a smile. “Carlo, let your
son go to his girl, the two of us have enough Rossi charm to entertain the
guests.”
Carlo nodded at Anthony who
smiled widely before hurrying out of the building. Grabbing his keys from one of the Level 1
Delta’s he ran across the parking lot and jumped into his truck. “Hey
Arachide, what are you doing?”
“We just started watching ‘The Blair Witch
Project’. I’ve seen it before, but I
wish you were here to hold me, it’s scary,” she replied in a low tone.
“Tell your family I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he replied with a groan as he glanced down and
checked his speed to make sure he wasn’t overdoing it.
“Gianni will be at the door to let you in, we’re
stopping the movie. They haven’t gotten
to the woods yet, they’re at the part where they’re talking to the two guys in
the creek,” she said with a giggle.
Less than ten minutes later
Anthony pulled in front of the garage and grabbed his ‘go bag’. Seeing Gianni at the door he ran inside and
straight to the mudroom where he changed into cargo shorts, a t-shirt and his
Timberlands while Gianni hung his suit up and put it in the hall closet for
him. Glancing into the family room, he
waved at Papa Mike and Nana Ellen before running down the steps to his
intended. Pulling her up from her seat
on the sofa he scented her deeply and looked at the second recliner and seeing
Enzo and Gino in it, he growled, “Get up.”
Seeing the look on his face they got out of it so quickly they almost
fell. Looking around the room, he pushed
each of the sofas about three feet to the right, with the youngsters still
sitting on them, and pushed the recliner towards the back so it wasn’t in front
of everyone. When he was satisfied that
he would have a little privacy with his mate, he held out his hand and she sat
down and he joined her.
The youngsters looked at each
other and Damian said, “So glad you could join us Ant and take the time to
rearrange the furniture. It’s a good
thing you never considered a job as an Interior Designer cause you suck at it,
the whole feng shui is off now.”
Anthony glared at him as the
youngsters started laughing, “I’m choosing to ignore you because I want to
spend time with my mate, so start the damn movie.” As soon as the lights went off he pulled
Sophia as close to his side as he could and scented her deeply. Not content with this, he moved her so she
was on her side with her head on his chest and his left arm around her
back. “That’s much better Arachide. I
thought of you all night and couldn’t wait to hold you.” Sophia giggled and snuggled even closer to
him causing Anthony to growl loudly.
Alberto whispered to Maria,
“Are you okay Gattina? Do you need your
pain medication or something to eat?”
She whispered, “I’m fine, I
like sitting here with you like this, we need to do this more often.” She glanced around the room and seeing her
family engrossed in the movie she whispered so low he had to bend his head to
hear her, “Especially when nobody is paying attention to us.” His low growl caused her to giggle and he
scooted down in the chair so he could have better access to scent her neck.
Vin had Brianna on his lap
and he undid her braid so he could run his fingers through her hair as he
scented her neck. “I’m trying to watch
the movie,” she whispered.
He put his hand under her
chin and turned her face towards him as he whispered, “Forget the movie, it
feels like I haven’t kissed you in years and I’m going crazy.” He looked deep into her eyes and noticed with
her pupils dilated there was only a small circle of grey around the edge,
hearing her gasp his eyes traveled lower to her lips which were slightly parted
and he took a deep breath before whispering, “Kiss me Canella, I can’t wait any
longer.”
She drew in a shaky breath
before closing her eyes and slowly leaning towards him; Vin couldn’t wait and
groaned loudly before pulling her head towards him crushing her mouth against
his. Their first kisses had been gentle
and tentative, but this kiss was the exact opposite, it was demanding and
possessive and Brianna felt like she was being consumed by the heat that was
suddenly engulfing her. She whimpered
and parted her lips allowing Vin to slip his tongue inside and unlike the
stories she had heard, there was no battle for dominance, Vin took total
control. He shifted so they were half
reclining on the sofa, him on his side and her on her back and deepened the
kiss even further, putting her left arm around his neck and laying his right hand
gently on her waist. When he felt her
tongue slide along his he growled low in his throat and was ecstatic when he
felt her shudder in response.
Dom was on the front edge of
the sofa leaning against the arm and Morgan was against the back of the sofa
with her head on his shoulder as she scented him. His head was tilted as far as it would go so
she could have total access to him, his left arm was around her shoulders and
his right arm was held tightly to his side so he wouldn’t overwhelm her. The conversation he had with Madame Gina
earlier played through his mind and he was determined to let Morgan do this at
her own pace and not scare her, but he couldn’t control the feral growl that
escaped him when she ran her hand over his chest. “Did…did that hurt you? I can stop but you said to…you said to do
whatever I wanted…” her voice trailed off and he saw the uncertainty in her
eyes.
He took a deep breath and
leaned forward a little and pulled his shirt over his head and threw it. “Do it again Zenzero, do it as much as you
like…fuck, do whatever you want to me,” he whispered quietly as he saw the
smile return to her face. She nodded but
instead of scenting his neck he felt her warm moist tongue licking his ear and
his breathing got deeper and when he felt her hands moving across his bare
chest he felt like he was going to explode.
Vin felt Brianna’s hand
running over his back and stopped kissing her long enough to pull his shirt off
and throw it before taking possession of her lips once more. When he felt her hands on his bare back and
her nails digging into his skin a loud growl reverberated throughout the room.
Hearing the Millers giggle, Damian
said, “Why are you all giggling? It’s
supposed to be a scary movie.” He turned
around and burst out laughing seeing Vin and Dom’s shirts hanging over Fiona’s
and Maeve’s faces. “Considering the
noises they’re making, you should be thankful it’s a shirt and not shorts.” The Miller girls flushed scarlet as the boys
laughed.
“I swear if I see a pair of
shorts come flying this way, I’m outta here,” Caitlin replied in a horrified
tone. “It’s bad enough having shirts
flying through the air.”
“You feel left out Pumpkin? Here,” Damian stood up and peeled his shirt
off and threw it at her, hitting her in the head. Caitlin pulled the shirt off and was ready to
throw it back at him when she saw him standing there and her eyes ran up and
down his hard toned chest.
Erin watched Lorenzo out of the corner of her eye and when
she saw him focus his attention on her, she turned her head and met his
stare. To her surprise he grinned and
sat up before pulling his shirt off and throwing it at her hitting her in the
chest. “Don’t want you to be left out
either, Shortcake,” he smirked at her before he started to laugh when he saw
her blush. He leaned back on his elbows
and watched as she ran her eyes up and down his chest and he felt his wolf
start pacing back and forth as he smelled her strawberry shortcake scent. Seeing the admiring look in her eyes, his
eyes flashed amber and he let out a low growl as she started to blush even
more.
“Settle down,” said Gianni as
he rolled his eyes. “Let’s watch the
damn movie and everyone be quiet.” The
timing was perfect as Vin and Dom let out moans followed by low growls and the
youngsters burst out laughing. “Alright
then… Damian put the volume up so we don’t have to hear them please.”
An hour later, the reception
was still going strong. Numerous
business deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars had been negotiated, new
business alliances had been formed, friendships had begun and old rivalries
were ignited.
Carlo glanced at his watch
and saw it was 11 PM, glancing at Frank and Joe he nodded and took a deep
breath before projecting to the Pack members over fifteen, “Victoria Martin, Daisy Hammond and Jade Mendez you are summoned to
appear before the Pack Tribunal at 8 AM at the Training Center. The charges that have been leveled against
you are: betraying the future Madame Alpha, betraying the Alpha-Heir and most
importantly betraying your Pack. All
Pack members over the age of fifteen are required to attend.”
