South Mountain Pack Ch. 11

"Vinnie," shouted Hope with a big smile on her face as he picked her up. He brought her over to the fridge and got a juice box out for her and he scented the air to make sure there wasn't any threat to the little one before they sat back down.

"Dommie," shouted Jackie as Dom picked her up. As they were walking back to the table, his eyes scanned the backyard for any threat and his wolf started pacing back and forth, protective over his little charge.

"Damian," shouted Toni as she ran towards him, he laughed and picked her up settling her on his lap. He felt the hair on his arms elongate as his wolf neared the surface, ready to do battle to protect the little one.

Abigail Whitmer grabbed hold of her daddy's pants leg and held tight because Anthony wasn't there. Joel leaned down and whispered to her and she shook her head, her lips formed a pout and her eyes turned glassy. Seeing this, Enzo moved quickly to kneel in front of her and said quietly, "Anthony is very sorry he couldn't be here, but he's at his house getting ready for the meeting and he asked me to watch over you tonight. Is that okay with you?" Abby looked up at her daddy and seeing him nod his head, she shyly smiled at Enzo and put her hands up for him to pick her up. Enzo held her tight to his chest and patted her back while she put her head on his shoulder. He looked at her father and said quietly, "With my life." Joel took a deep breath and nodded his head knowing Enzo spoke the truth.

"Sorry we're early," said Jerry as he watched Enzo carry his niece to the table and give her some dessert. "We wanted to make sure the girls were okay since we knew Vincent, Dominic and Anthony were going to the meeting. We left their booster seats on the porch and their dance bags too."

"Are you sure it isn't a problem?" asked Barry as he smiled at his daughter whispering in Damian's ear as she pointed to his slice of apple pie.

"It's no problem," said Joe as laughter was heard from the youngsters. "Anytime you need them to watch your young ones, they'll be happy to do it."

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink? We have lasagna, meatballs, sausage and salad, and apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert," said Rose as she got more plates out. "You have plenty of time before you need to leave."

"If it's no problem," said Joel as he moved to get some lasagna. "You make the best lasagna, if you wouldn't mind giving Veronica the recipe, I'd appreciate it."

Rose smiled as she said, "I don't have a recipe, but next time I make it I'll have her watch and your family can come for dinner. In fact, it would be a good idea to have all five of your families over so the youngsters can continue to bond."

Five minutes later, the boys were putting the booster seats in the third seat of the two SUVs'. Brooke, Toni and Abby would be in one SUV with Lorenzo, Damian, Enzo and Salvatore. Jackie, Hope and Sophia would be in the second SUV with Gianni, Marcus, Gino and Victor. Maria and Michael would be with Paulo in his truck.

As soon as they started down the driveway, Brooke started to cry and Toni and Abby were tearing up and Salvatore started to panic, "What's the matter? Please stop crying, tell me what's wrong, I can't help unless you tell me what's wrong. Damian, what's wrong with her, I mean with all of them?"

"Lorenzo, we weren't rough, why are they crying?" asked Enzo as he looked like he was going to have a meltdown any second.

"What's wrong, Brooke?" asked Damian as he turned from the front seat, his eyes wide with concern. She continued to cry, her little shoulders heaving up and down and pointed at her head and Toni and Abby's lips were starting to quiver as tears slowly fell down their face. He turned towards Lorenzo and said in a panicked shout, "WHAT DO WE DO? WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH THEM? ARE THEY HURT? DO WE NEED TO BRING THEM TO DOC?"

"Does your head hurt? Do you need to go potty? Do you need something to drink?" asked Lorenzo in a terrified voice as he looked at her in the rearview mirror.

In between sobs she said brokenly, "You didden put on my teearwah."

"MARIA, WHAT THE HELL IS A TIARA? WHERE CAN I FIND ONE?" pleaded Lorenzo in a panic as Damian was shifting his ears and nose into his wolf form, Sal was playing peek-a-boo and Enzo was shifting his eyes from green to amber as they tried anything to distract them and stop the tears.

"Oh, they're crowns, the little ones wear crowns or tiaras to class and they should be in their dance bags," said Maria with a giggle.

"CROWNS, CROWNS, GET THEM OUT OF THEIR DANCE BAGS," screamed Lorenzo pointing to his head. Enzo and Sal dove over the girls into the cargo area and almost tore the bags apart to get the tiaras for the girls.

"Here, please stop crying now," pleaded Enzo as he held the six tiaras he found.

"Here's some more, please, please, please stop crying," said Sal as he held another five. The girls picked one and put it on but Brooke was still hiccupping and started to tear up again. Sal was starting to panic again, he looked at Enzo and trying to get the girls to stop crying he put a tiara on Enzo's head. Toni and Abby started to giggle and Brooke stopped crying but didn't smile so Sal put one on his head. She pointed to Lorenzo so Sal put one on him and she finally started to giggle and clap her hands.

"Hey, what about me? Don't I get one?" asked Damian pretending to be angry as he started to pout making the girls giggle louder. Sal picked one out and gave it to Damian and Lorenzo looked at the girls in the rearview mirror and asked, "How do I look?"

Abby giggled and said, "Pretty but Enzo and Sal are prettier."

"Noooo, Wenzo wooks pwettier, he's bootiful," said Brooke clapping her hands.

"Nuh uh, Damian is the prettiest, he looks the bestest," Toni said with a giggle.

Damian started laughing and said, "You can't argue with that. Even little girls know I'm the prettiest and the bestest. I've been telling the bunch of you that for years, now maybe you'll start believing me."

"In your fucking dreams. Lorenzo is your IDENTICAL twin, so how are you better looking then him? And you look exactly like the rest of us, even our fucking dimples are the same, the only difference is you have a fatter ass," said Sal as Lorenzo and Enzo started laughing harder.

"Leave my ass alone. Besides, it's not fat it's grabbable," said Damian with a grin.

"Maybe for somebody who has monster sized hands," replied Lorenzo with a smirk as the boys continued laughing.

As their laughter died down, the boys took a deep breath, thankful the girls were giggling as they pulled in front of the dance studio. Lorenzo, Damian, Enzo and Sal got out and scented the parking area while they scanned it before getting the girls out. Still on alert, Lorenzo, Damian and Enzo held the girls while Sal got their dance bags out of the back and relaxed as they scented their family approaching. As they turned around, they were blinded by the flash as Sophia and Maria took a picture.

"Lorenzo, that tiara looks fabulous with your outfit," said Maria giggling. "I'm gonna have mom frame this." At his scowl, the youngsters burst out laughing and Brooke pushed the corners of his mouth into a smile before she started clapping her hands again.

"Paulo, could you make this my screensaver on my computer?" asked Sophia with a big grin. "I think mom and Aunt Annie would like it for their work computers too."

"Whatever," said Damian with a smile. "We know how jealous you two are because of how pretty and beautiful we are, right girls?" Abby, Toni and Brooke nodded their heads and started to giggle louder, agreeing with Damian even if they didn't quite understand what he was saying.

"Gabby's here," said Sal quietly as he watched Gabby, her mom and her grandmothers pull into the parking lot.

As Gabby walked towards them she saw the tiara on Sal's head and burst out laughing, "Let me guess, they were crying and you were cheering them up?" A slight blush covered his face and he nodded as she said, "You are so sweet, I could just ki..." When she realized what she was about to say, her face flushed bright red and she ran into the dance studio as Sal's jaw dropped.

As Rita walked past Sal, she put her finger under his chin to close his mouth and said, "Maria is coming for dinner Sunday, why don't you come with her as one of her escorts?" Without waiting for an answer she went into the studio followed by Gabby's grandmothers who looked at Sal and smiled.

"Alright, time to get inside," said Gianni as they followed the Moretti's. They went in the building past the reception area and into the observation room and put the little girls on the bleachers to change their shoes.

Hope looked at the other little ones and nodded her head before saying in a pleading voice, "Gini? If we is good gihrls and dance good and don't cwy will we get ice cweam? Vinnie would gets me some and Dom would gets Jackie a double scoops."

Gianni knew he was being manipulated, he could see the little wheels turning in her head but he couldn't stop himself from smiling. "Yes, if you behave yourself and if we have time, then we'll get ice cream. If we don't have time, we'll get ice cream another day, okay?"

Hope sighed loudly and said, "Okay Gini, but you gots to pinky swears, Jackie says it only countsess if you pinky swears." He could hear the little girls giggling and knew he had been had by five munchkins, but if it kept them happy, then so be it.

"Damian?" Toni whispered leaning close to his ear as he changed her shoes. "Can I get my ice cream cone dipped in chocolate? Daddy won't let me sometimes cause he says I'm too messy."

Seeing the pleading look on her face, he didn't care how big of a mess she would make and said, "Of course, you can have it any way you want. In fact, I'll get mine dipped in chocolate and we'll both make a mess." Toni started to giggle as Damian continued, "But it might be better if we put one of my shirts on you so we don't get your pretty leotard and tutu thing dirty and we won't have to worry about it, okay?" Toni nodded her head and smiled brightly and Damian wondered how it would be to have his own little ones, particularly a little girl who would wrap his heart around her little finger. First though he would have to find a mate and an image of Caitlin popped into his mind which caused his wolf to tilt his head to the side, before he started pacing back and forth on guard again to watch out for his little charge.

"Wenzo, see my new dance shoes? They's bwack with a wittle heels. Daddy boughted them for me and they're big gihrls shoes, like Marwia's and Sophia's," Brooke said with a big smile on her face.

"I see that and it's because you are a big girl now. Let me take your sweater off so you don't get hot," he said and he put it in her bag. He glanced at Maria and said, "What else does she need before she goes in the room?"

"That's it, come on girls time to warm up," said Maria as they walked to the door on the other side of the observation room. The dance studio had been designed so you had to go through the observation room to get into any of the other rooms, so there was no direct access to the girls while they were there except through the hidden door leading to the basement and the safe room. The boys took a deep breath and started to relax as they watched the girls and started to talk amongst themselves.

On the other side of the warehouse building, the men were starting to arrive for their meeting. Fifteen years ago, seeing the potential to consolidate their training facilities into one large building, SMI bought the warehouse from a company who outgrew the building. Triple C completely gutted the building, adding a basement and safe room, reinforced the outer walls and added security upgrades. They had subdivided the building into a girls dance studio, two large training rooms both with observation rooms, a weight lifting room, changing rooms for the men and women, and several other smaller multi-purpose rooms. From the outside the building looked as it had since the 1970's when it was originally constructed with ribbed stainless steel siding.

Carlo, Frank and Joe were standing in the middle of the room in front of two dry erase boards and two corkboards that had The School House plans on one and the Safe room on the other. Concerned voices could be heard from the men as they sat in the bleachers because it was unusual for their Alpha to call a special meeting of all the men. Anthony, Vin, Dom and the Moretti's joined Matt, Phil, Todd and Papa Mike who were sitting in the front row directly in front of Carlo, Frank and Joe.

At exactly 6:15 Carlo called for quiet and instantly the men fell silent. As he looked over the crowd, he took a deep breath and said in a firm voice, "I want everyone to be quiet and listen carefully to what we are going to discuss." At their nods he said, "But before we start, I want to bring out some visitors who are here to help us."

Frank opened the door of the men's changing room where Dante and his Pack had been kept since the strong odor masked their scents. They had changed out of their suits, but still looked like they stepped off a runway in their pleated shorts, polo shirts and Italian loafers. As they followed Frank into the middle of the training room, they were met with stunned silence as the men glanced to Carlo then back to Dante several times as if they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing. Dante and Carlo embraced and stood side by side, with Frank and Joe on Carlo's right and Dante and his men on Carlo's left. It was done deliberately meaning that no matter what, Frank and Joe were Carlo's right hand men and nobody misunderstood the meaning.

"I'm going to start by saying its bad men, really bad, it is our worst nightmare coming to fruition," said Carlo with a grimace. The men sat up straight their attention focused entirely on their Alpha. "We learned we are going to be attacked in the next twelve to eighteen months..." He paused as he looked at the assembled group of men and said, "They are coming after our girls again."

The men reacted as Carlo had predicted, low feral growls erupted from their throats as they shifted into their wolves. Almost all of them moved to the training room floor as they paced back and forth, snarling and throwing their heads back while they bared their teeth. Anthony, Vincent, Dominic, the four Millers and the Moretti's stayed seated and didn't move but kept staring at Carlo, Frank and Joe.

He saw a group of wolves bolt towards the doors and knew where they were headed, to their daughters dance class. "STOP," he commanded and the wolves stopped in their tracks, unable to disobey their Alpha. "Your daughters are safe, their mothers, brothers and protectors are with them. Your job is to stay here and figure out ways to protect your Pack and thus we will protect each other as we have always done." One by one they shifted remembering they weren't alone in protecting their daughters and families, the whole Pack was here and would protect them. Unconcerned with being naked, the men returned to their seats. Once they were settled they became quiet and focused on the men commanding their attention in the middle of the room.

"Alpha Carlo contacted me invoking the ancient marker, but we didn't accept it... because we protect our own," said Dante in a clear firm voice. He looked at his Pack members and then at his cousin and his top Beta's before looking over the men in the bleachers. "That hasn't changed in over two hundred thirty years of South Mountain Packs existence and the two thousand years of Rossi Packs existence. Even though only half of you here today are related to us by blood, we consider all of you family. My men and I are here to help prepare for your time of trouble and we will be here fighting alongside of you when it comes." The men nodded their heads; they knew exactly what Dante was talking about and knew if Rossi Pack needed help, they would be there for them.

Their attention shifted to their Alpha as Carlo cleared his throat before he started the story with the Millers arrival and the reason behind it, the Alpha Council's raid on the three Packs responsible and finishing up with what he learned from Aldo. When he finished the room was again engulfed in silence as the men took in the information.

Todd looked at his father and brothers before standing up and walking to the middle of the room, Carlo looked at him perplexed as Todd whispered, "We talked it over and feel this is something we must do." Carlo had a feeling he knew what Todd was going to say and motioned for him to proceed.

Papa Mike, Matt and Phil joined Todd as he sighed deeply before saying, "When we found out what was going on and my daughters were the primary reason we would be attacked, we told Alpha Carlo we would leave. He along with Frank, Joe and Carmelo told us we would be fools to face this on our own and the Pack was now our family and would fight to protect us." He looked to his father and two brothers as he stopped and gathered his thoughts.

"But in all good conscience we feel the best thing would be for us to leave, and hope that by our leaving it would spare the Pack from the upcoming war," finished Todd.

One of the Elders, Marvin Whitmer, Joel and Jerry's great-grandfather stood up and said in a firm voice, "Is it true that you have developed a family bond with Matt and Phil?" Frank and Joe looked at each before looking at Carlo knowing the men's gossip vine had been busy just as they thought it would be since Joel and Jerry hadn't even been there when the other men found out.

"Yes sir, we have developed a family bond," said Matt, bowing his head as a show of respect to the Elder.

"If you are Matt and Phil's family, then you are our family," Elder Marvin stated as he stared at Matt and Phil, then Todd. As he went to sit down he paused and said, "Plus, I think those two young men sitting in the front wouldn't think highly of you taking their mates away. There will be no more talk of you leaving our family young man." The other men on the bleachers nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yes sir," said Todd as he bowed his head to the Elder. The four men reached out to each other and held hands, finally feeling as if they belonged. For Matt and Phil it was a confirmation of the acceptance that had been offered to them from their first phone call to their Alpha; for Todd and Papa Mike it was because even though these men didn't know them, they knew the problems they had brought with them and were still welcoming them and willing to protect their youngsters.

"Before we get started on finding new ways to increase our security, I want to make it clear the family bond they have created is to be kept secret. Our enemies won't know they can communicate through the bond and it gives us extra protection for them," Carlo stated and he looked at the men who nodded their heads as the Millers took their seats. "Now, is there anything else you feel we need to discuss before we get started on security?"

"Yes Alpha, do you have any idea beside that other man, Charles, who could be behind this threat?" asked Thomas Bellucci.

Frank whispered in Carlo's ear and he nodded his head before saying, "Frank will answer this question."

"Joe and I thought about this, and we wanted to clarify something with Aldo," Aldo stood up as he stared at Frank. "Yesterday, you mentioned the feeling was one of revenge that had been festering for years. Can you tell us anything more?"

"Give me a minute Frank," said Aldo as he put his head down and closed his eyes tightly. "I'm getting anger, deep deep anger, hurt, resentment and a feeling of satisfaction." He put his head back and said, "I'm sorry but that's all I can tell you."