Chapter 17 - Teasers

Teaser #1:

Frank and Joe stared at their father in law and crossed their arms over their chests as the tension ratcheted up.  Steve narrowed his eyes and looked at his sons, “Are you going to say anything or are you going to stand there like two statues?”

Ray turned to Steve, “See, I told you they hadn’t changed, they still act like they’re teenagers called on the carpet for misbehaving and they’re still as stubborn and arrogant as ever.”

Steve continued to stare at his sons, “Keep the judgment to yourself Ray, my boys may have been wild when they were young but they’re responsible men.”

“I have yet to see any evidence of that,” Ray said with a snort.

Ant and Alberto looked at each other before slumping down on the couch, hoping to get out of eyesight of the adults.  “Dad, I hope you and mom are almost here.  Mr. V is going in for the kill on Poppa Frank and Mr. JC.”

Carlo sighed, “Oh fuck.  I’m pulling in front of the garage.”

“Daddy, there’s a lot going on you don’t know about,” Annie said in a calm voice as she sat at the table near her father.  “And none of it is Frank or Joe’s fault, they haven’t done anything wrong.” 

“Carlo’s here,” Frank said and he and Joe walked to the front door.

“If they haven’t done anything wrong, that would be a first,” Ray said as he glared at their backs. 

“Daddy, stop that.  You refuse to see they’re grown ass men and aren’t teenagers anymore… and even when they were teenagers they weren’t any worse than any other boys in the Pack,” Rose said with a frown.    

Ray slammed his fist on the table knocking the bowl of fruit over scattering it over the tabletop.  “THAT’S WHAT I’M SAYING… THEY WEREN’T ‘ANY OTHER BOYS’.  THEY WERE DESTINED TO BE LEVEL 5’S AND THEY ACTED LIKE HOODLUMS.”

“My sons may be a lot of things, but they’re not hoodlums Ray,” Mara said as she rolled her eyes.

Flanked by Frank and Joe, the Alpha’s walked into the kitchen and nodded to Ray, Bianca, Steven and Mara.  Carlo drew a calming breath before saying, “Welcome home… but I’m surprised to see you.  According to your schedule, you’re not due back until the Winter Festival.”

“Enzo called and left a message that they needed us, and it was bad.  We left as quickly as we could,” Steve said with a frown. 

“Why didn’t you call and ask him what he wanted?  Or call me or Joe to find out what was going on?” Frank asked with an identical frown.

Mara smacked Steve on the arm, “Didn’t Bianca and I say the same thing?” 

Steve rolled his eyes, “We weren’t sure how close things were being monitored and didn’t want to alert the wrong people we were returning.  When we arrived we were concerned with the empty houses until we saw on Rose’s calendar you were at the lake and we’ve been sitting here waiting on you to return.  Though why you’d be at the lake if things were so bad the youngsters were calling us has us dumbfounded.”  Ray nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, we knew you were returning today because the little ones have school tomorrow,” Mara added with a smile. 

“Mamaw, we’re not little ones.  I’m eighteen and have an intended,” Vin said with a smile as he walked into the kitchen and stood next to his father; the others filed in and did the same including Ant and Alberto who stood next to their intendeds.  Rose and Annie looked at their father before moving in front of their mates and Frank and Joe put their arms around them and kissed the top of their heads.

Carlo looked at the clock.  “It’s almost 8 and I know we’re hungry after the drive.”  The boys nodded slowly, the tension and anger radiating throughout the room for once overwhelming their need for food.  “Gina please order pizzas while I contact the Level 4’s and Mr. P to come over.  We’ll discuss everything while we eat.”  He continued to watch the staring contest between Frank, Joe, Ray and Steve.  Opening the bond to Frank and Joe he said, “If I knew these two were waiting on us, I would’ve stayed at the lake for another week.”

“You and me both,” Frank replied as Gina ordered fifty x-large pizzas, forty 2-liter bottles of soda, salad, chicken wings, fried mozzarella, fried zucchini and breadsticks.  He turned to the youngsters, “If your homework is done and everything is ready for tomorrow go watch TV until the food gets here.”  They hurried out of the room anxious to get away but still wanting to hear what was going on.    

Dom turned the TV on, adjusting the volume so it wouldn’t be obvious they were listening and Vin looked at his younger brother, “What the hell did you say to Pops and Papaw?  And why did you call them?”

“The rest of the Team was there, Mr. P said none of the Elders going into the safe room knew where we should go and Sophia said we knew two people who would.  So I called and said, ‘We need you.  We need both of you, it’s bad, real bad.’  I figured they’d call, not come,” he responded as Gino and Sophia nodded.

Paulo looked up, “I want to know what names they used to fly back.  I have their passports flagged and none of their names came up.”

Ant looked up from scenting Sophia, “Tell Dad.”  Paulo nodded and told his Alpha, his uncle and dad that he had flagged all the aliases they had been given and none had been used.

Carlo, Frank and Joe sat on the bench and Carlo narrowed his eyes, “What alias did you use to get here?  None of the passports you were given were used.”

Steve and Ray glanced at each other before Steve asked, “Who taught the three of you how to forge passports and use aliases?  Since we didn’t know what was going on we assumed our aliases had been compromised so we made new ones.” 

“We told the AC and European Council we were taking a week or two off to rest and booked suites at a resort in Lake Como, Italy.  We flew there, checked in under our correct names complete with passports and gave orders we weren’t to be disturbed and left hours later,” Bianca replied with a shrug. 

“We used different identities at each airport; didn’t take a direct flight here, booked flights and didn’t get on, changed directions so if somebody was following us they had no idea what we were doing or where we were going.  We even flew separately at times so if anything happened at least one couple would get here to see what the hell was going on,” Steve shrugged. 

“After landing at Miami International we bought a used car without GPS or Onstar so we couldn’t be tracked.  We were careful and backtracked, avoided tolls, took back roads, stopped at small out of the way places to eat and one couple slept while the other drove and monitored the road behind us,” Ray said with a steely gaze.  “We know where the Packs are located, so we skirted around their base.”

“We even took the batteries out of our cell phones and bought a disposable in case we needed it.  We paid for gas, food and everything else with cash so we couldn’t be tracked using credit cards,” Mara smiled at her sons.

“We used standard protocols and did everything by the book.  Apparently it worked because even with the computer genius in there you didn’t know what we were doing,” Steve finished with a smile towards Paulo.

“That won’t happen again, I’m adding facial recognition into the search program,” Paulo retorted as his grandparents smiled. 

Without commenting, Frank and Joe got up returning with Todd, Carmelo, Mr. G, Vinnie and Mr. P.  Rose introduced Todd to the grandparents and Ray and Steve smiled.  “I’ve heard about your family and glad Vin and Dom found their mates,” Steve said in a sincere tone.

Todd smiled, “They probably haven’t had time to tell you since it only happened a couple of days ago but Lorenzo and Damian are intendeds to my daughters Erin and Caitlin; my second oldest set of twins.”  The youngsters filed into the room and began to get things ready for the arrival of the food.    

“Luna has truly blessed our family,” Bianca said as she smiled at her grandchildren.  Her gaze settled on Ant and Alberto and her expression changed instantly to one of steel, “Are you treating my granddaughters well?”

“Yes, ma’am,” both boys visibly swallowed under her gaze.

“Bianca, our granddaughters would never let a man treat them bad,” Mara said as she smiled at the boys then narrowed her eyes.  “And if they did, Sophia and Maria know how to put them in their place.”

“And if they didn’t, we would,” Ray added in a menacing tone as Ant and Alberto swallowed nervously while Sophia and Maria smiled.


Teaser #2:

Victor and Sal returned and as they were getting ready to enter the box Victor put his hand on Sal’s arm, “Listen...”

“Do you remember what I said when you and Sal almost got into a fight the day after the Full Moon Ceremony? I’m gonna expand on it… If you embarrass me one more time, I will come into your room while you’re sleeping, tie you to your bed, chop off your twig and berries with a dull rusty knife, grind them up in the blender and spoon feed them to you,” Gabby hissed as she calmly adjusted her chiffon skirt making sure it wouldn’t wrinkle.

“Oh come on Gabs, all I did was mention how long it took you to get ready for your date… I didn’t say anything about you being so nervous that you didn’t eat all day,” Angelo said with a laugh before he grunted as Gabby turned around and hit him in the stomach with her pocketbook.

“Not. One. More. Word. I swear I’m not playing around and I brought backup just in case,” she opened her pocketbook removing several items.

“What kind of backup would you have?” Angelo said with a snort.

“These,” she stated handing him several photos. The loud sound of Angelo’s gasp was heard as Gabby smiled evilly. “That’s right; I brought your baby pictures. I think the boys would get a laugh at you getting a bath in the kitchen sink and laying on the rug bare-assed naked with your little teddy bear.”

He ripped the pictures into small pieces and shoved them in his pockets. “Now you don’t have anything to show,” he said triumphantly.

“Ah ah ah. I have extras,” Gabby replied in a sing song voice as she took another set out of her pocketbook.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he hissed.

“Don’t try me,” she whispered as Sal and Victor entered the box.