South Mountain Pack Ch. 10

Gina smiled at the women and said, "We'll start planning on Tuesday at our women's lunch meeting then the next week we'll start training. The men are going to get our help whether they want it or not." The women nodded then turned back to pay attention to what was happening on the field.

"The first thing you're going to do is run the length of the field, we need to get your times for comparison," said Frank as Joe lined the youngsters up.

Anthony finished first for the boys and Gabby finished first for the girls. As Carmelo called their times, Carlo wrote them down and then Frank and Joe went over them. "Here is how we're pairing you: Anthony/Sophia, Alberto/Maria, Vincent/Brianna, Dominic/Morgan, Angelo/Gabby, Lorenzo/Erin, Gianni/Aislin, Marcus/Kelly, Paulo/Shannon, Michael/Fallon, Gino/Fiona, Enzo/Maeve, Damian will be paired up with Caitlin when he can run. Victor, you will be point man and Sal, you will watch their six. Everybody get their partner and line up for a shoulder carry."

Lorenzo stood and stared at Erin, until with a huff she walked over to him and said angrily, "Don't say a thing." He started laughing quietly and before she had a chance to say anything he threw her over his shoulder and bounced her one time to position her. "Was that bounce necessary?" she hissed as she squirmed around to get comfortable. He didn't answer her so she poked him in the back and asked again.

"Oh, am I allowed to talk now?" he responded as he bounced her again, not because he had to, but because he wanted to.

"Stop that," she hissed as she poked him in the back again.

"Stop poking me and I'll stop bouncing you," he said with a snarl even though he was smiling, she didn't respond but did stop poking him.

The boys walked to the line and waited for Matt to holler 'Go'; as soon as he did they took off. Carmelo called out the times as Carlo wrote them down and showed them to Frank and Joe. "The boys times haven't changed much, they only slowed down a step or two, even with carrying the girls," said Frank with a smile. "And they're still faster then the girls."

"We're going to try Piggyback style, this will allow them to use their arms as they run," said Frank. Each boy squatted down and placed the girls on the ground and waited for them to climb on their backs. Joe told the girls the best way to hook their arms, one over their shoulder and one under and then holding their hands so the boys wouldn't choke. When Joe told them to wrap their legs around the boys above their hips and hook their ankles together, the girls started giggling at Maria and Gabby who couldn't get their legs around Alberto and Angelo.

"Gattina, put your legs around me as much as you can and hold tight, I won't let you fall or leave you behind," said Alberto as he tried to reassure his intended.

"Gabs, you'd better hold on tight because I won't hesitate to leave your ass behind," said Angelo, as everyone started to laugh Gabby head-butted her older brother which made everyone laugh even harder.

The boys stepped up to the line and Matt shouted 'Go', Carmelo and Carlo repeated their routine and Frank and Joe waited for the results. "Their times are the same as the first run," said Joe as he smiled. "That's the way they should run if they can, having both of their arms free gives them the extra speed needed."

Damian looked at Caitlin and bumped her with his shoulder, almost knocking her over and laughed as she glared at him. "Don't worry if the time comes, I'll be able to haul your ass to safety," he said as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

She continued to glare at him and said, "Maybe when the time comes, I'll have to haul your ass somewhere." She stepped back and looked him up and down before saying, "If I could lift your ass that is."

"Ooh, feisty, I like that," he said as he bumped her with his shoulder again as she tried not to smile.

Frank called Todd and Papa Mike over and asked, "Have the girls ever gone for a run on your back when you've been in wolf form?"

"When they were really little, but that was mainly to get them used to our wolves," said Todd as he shrugged. "As they got older and things in the Pack changed, we had very limited access to them and when we could manage it, I did try to teach them how to fight, but that was very limited."

"Boys, go in the pool house and shift into your wolves, girls over here," Joe said. "The boys are going to take you on a walk around the yard. As you feel comfortable, they'll increase their speed until at the end of this drill they are running flat out." The Miller girls looked at each other with a mix of fear and excitement on their faces.

Frank looked at the girls and smiled as he said, "Once you get comfortable your job will be to help them monitor their surroundings, basically an extra pair of eyes and ears to detect if anybody is hunting you. You won't always be able to verbalize directions so you'll learn to give directional instructions using pressure on their forechest and squeezing your knees on their chest."

Their attention shifted as the boys came out of the pool house in wolf form. Each boy went to their partner and sat down as Frank started to talk, "Girls climb on. Millers watch how Sophia, Maria and Gabby hold onto the fur on the forechest and see how they are gripping their ankles behind the ribs. This allows the boys lungs to expand fully and with the girls in a 'tuck' position they won't get hit by branches. Matt, please go shift, so Caitlin gets some practice." Matt ran to the pool house and came out moments later in his dark grey wolf with beige speckling and ran up to Caitlin.

The boys stood up and let the girls get their balance before they slowly started to walk as the men made adjustments so they felt more comfortable. "Sal and Victor, I want the two of you to run around and get more comfortable with your wolf," said Frank as they started to chase each other around the yard.

The sound of several sneezes echoed across the yard followed by a thud as Erin fell to the ground. "YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE," she shouted as she got up and shoved Lorenzo. He didn't budge and instead turned his face towards her and tilted his head staring at her intently. When he didn't respond, she shoved him again.

"Dad, tell her I didn't do it on purpose, the flowers in her hair are making me sneeze," said Lorenzo as he threw his head back and sneezed again.

"Erin, please stop shoving my son. The flowers in your hair are making him sneeze, so please take them out," said Joe quietly but in a firm voice as the other boys stopped walking and turned around to look. "I know you can shift into your wolf so you know a wolf's nose is more sensitive then a human one."

Carlo looked at Erin and the other girls and said, "I'm only going to say this one time, the boys may tease and pick on the girls a lot, but they would never do anything to cause physical harm. They're brought up and trained to protect you and keep you safe even at the cost of their own life if needed."

Erin put her head down, tears silently falling down her face as she listened to her Alpha reprimand her. She didn't know what was the matter with her; she kept trying to get Lorenzo to notice her but when she opened her mouth to say something it came out wrong and she lost her temper. Seeing his daughter cry, Todd moved towards her but Carlo stopped him and pointed towards Erin. While she was lost in her thoughts, she felt something wet brush against her. Looking down, she saw Lorenzo's muzzle brushing against her hand and heard him whimpering. She leaned down whispering in his ear, "I'm sorry, I thought you did it on purpose because you were mad at me with the horrible way I talked to you earlier."

Lorenzo inhaled deeply trying to smell her strawberry shortcake scent and instead got a nose full of the lily of the valley that was in her braid. He tried to back up but she was holding the fur on his shoulders and the most he could move was a step back which put her face six inches away from his. "Dad, tell her to let...I've got to..." he started to say and then he couldn't hold back anymore. He sneezed right in her face, twice in quick succession. She looked at him her eyes wide and before she could say anything he sneezed again.

She was gasping and her eyes looked humongous as she brought her hand up and wiped it across her face. When she saw the mucous she screamed "EWWWWW," and took off running as she continued to scream, "MOMMMAAA."

As Todd watched his daughter run across the field he said, "We should have timed her now, she's definitely faster then she was earlier. Maybe that's what she needed to motivate her...a face full of snot." Everyone started laughing and the Miller girls quickly removed the flowers from their braids and threw them on the ground.

Joe looked at his son and shrugged before saying, "Well, I did tell her to take the flowers out." The men started roaring with laughter, and the boys were chortling and throwing their heads up and down.

Lorenzo watched as Holly cleaned Erin's face and said, "Dad, I'm going to make sure she's okay." Without waiting for an answer he headed towards the pool house.

The boys started walking and increased their pace as Gabby gave the Millers advice on how to hold their hands to get a better grip and keep their balance.

Erin watched as Lorenzo walked out of the pool house clad in only board shorts which hung low off his lean hips. She was holding the clean t-shirt Miss Annie had given her while she waited for her Mom to finish cleaning her face. Lorenzo stared at her for a couple of seconds and said, "I'm sorry I sneezed on you, but when you were talking to me, the flowers were up my nose. I tried holding it in and telling Dad for you to move, and then I tried to move and you were holding my shoulders and..."

"I'm fine, I'm more embarrassed by the way I reacted," said Erin as she blushed.

Lorenzo leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Yeah, that was a total girl's reaction and yes, I have noticed you are a girl." He walked away without looking at her and when he was halfway to the pool house he shouted, "Hurry up, we've got more practicing to do, and don't forget to take the damn flowers out of your hair."

Erin gasped as she realized the flowers were still in her hair. The quiet laughter of the women on the patio made her turn around and she blushed again. "Go ahead Erin; don't forget to change your shirt first. The bathroom is down the hallway, first door on the right," said Annie with a smile. Erin went running into the house and came out minutes later and ran to the field where Lorenzo was waiting.

"You're bad, Annie," said Rita laughing as she noticed what Erin was wearing. The baseball t-shirt had the school logo on the front and 'Gianni C' on the back, with a '9' underneath.

"Why did you give her Gianni's shirt?" asked Holly with a look of confusion.

"I want to see Lorenzo's reaction to her wearing Gianni's shirt. You know how possessive the males are, and it's pretty obvious Erin has been trying to get Lorenzo to notice her," said Annie with a laugh. "He doesn't quite understand what is going on yet, so I figured the shirt would be a little push in the right direction."

Rose started to laugh and said, "Is it at least clean?"

"Yeah, I got it out of the laundry room, but it still smells like him," said Annie as she started laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes. "Oh, he noticed."

The women turned to the field as Erin ran up to Lorenzo who was deeply scenting the air. He walked around her and seeing whose t-shirt she had on, he turned towards Gianni and growled loudly. He lay down so Erin could climb on his back and as he walked around he said to Gianni, "Why is she wearing your shirt? I don't like it."

"Hold on there, Rainbow Dash," Gianni answered. "I didn't give her my shirt, I've been out here the whole fucking time, so don't blame me."

"Calm yourself down, Princess Sparkle," said Damian with a laugh. "If you don't like it, you could always sneeze all over her again, you may have missed a spot."

"Stop with the names," grumbled Lorenzo. "Wait until later and then I'll show you how fucking funny the two of you are."

"We want you to start guiding by pressure. Talk to them and tell them how much you want them to turn. Start off with light pressure and then progress, remember the harder the pressure the harder the turn," shouted Frank. They watched them run around the field changing directions at random and Todd, Papa Mike and Phil would flinch when the girls would fall off. The boys would immediately stop and nudge their hands to make sure they were okay and they would be off again.

"Alright, that's enough of that for now, in the next couple of weeks we'll practice more and start doing more drills. We're going to practice some protective formations for now," said Frank as Joe had them line up in different formations to see which worked best. "This is only for practice right now since Damian can't run, we'll figure out the final formations later."

"I know everyone is wondering why the girls aren't in wolf form. There are several reasons, the Millers don't know how to fight so the most important thing is to get them to safety; not all of them can shift yet and they need to learn to depend on each other. In the upcoming weeks, the drills will get harder and we will incorporate your wolf form into the drills," said Carlo as he looked at the youngsters who nodded.

"I think we're done for now," said Joe. "That's a lot for one practice, boys go shift back, and girls go do whatever you were going to do." The boys ran back to the pool house and shifted coming out in their board shorts and dove into the pool. The girls got drinks out of the patio fridge and then went to the pool deck, pulling up several chaise loungers so they could sit together and talk.

The men got beers out of the fridge and sat down with the women on the patio. They talked about the upcoming weekend at the Rossi's cabin and when Holly asked about what foods they should bring Carlo told her not to worry about it since there was a Rossi's grocery located nearby.

Nana Ellen asked when they would serve dessert and Frank smiled and said, "The boys will let you know."

Carlo looked at Matt and Phil and said, "I want to hear the story about how your bond grew, but we'll talk about it at the cabin." Phil smiled and nodded his head as Holly grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Talk centered on school, football and everything else but the crisis facing them, they seem determined to keep their last night before the Pack found out as normal as possible.

Talk among the girls soon turned to the start of school the following day and Maria said, "Gabby, you didn't tell them the good news."

The noise from the pool got quiet as the boys anxiously waited, since they knew what was coming. They glanced at Vin and Dom and could barely keep their smiles hidden as they waited for the upcoming explosion.

Gabby looked at the Millers and said with a big smile on her face, "The cheerleading squad would like you to join us. I meant to tell you earlier but we got sidetracked."

Excited squeals could be heard from the Millers while Vin said, "OH FUCK NO." Dom echoed him by saying, "NO FUCKING WAY." The rest of the boys were trying not to laugh at the disgruntled look on Vin and Dom's faces and Anthony and Alberto had big grins on their faces as they looked at each other.

Morgan looked at Dominic and said quietly, "Why don't you want me to do it? Is this part of that possessive thing Momma was talking about? Or do you think I'm not pretty enough to be a cheerleader?"

"Oh fuck," he said quietly as he got out of the pool. He looked at her and sighed loudly saying, "Let's go to the other side of the pool so we can talk in private, okay?" She nodded her head and followed him.

Brianna looked at Vin as he got out of the pool and said, "I don't care what you say, I'm gonna do it." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

Vin stared at her and said, "Do you realize how many guys are going to be staring at you? And you're going to be in a little skirt and top showing your pom-poms off to them? I don't want other guys around you or staring at you."

Brianna glared at him and said, "Everything you said sounded like your problem, not mine. I'm sure the skirts aren't that little and I'm sure my pom-poms will be covered just fine." The boys couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing at the look on Vin's face.

Brianna continued in a firm voice, "I AM doing this; you can either suck it up and take it like a man or continue to whine like a little boy." The boys were laughing hysterically at Vin who was standing there with his mouth hanging open.

"Fine, but I don't like this at all, and the first guy who comes up to you and asks you out or makes a pass at you, I'll knock his ass out," he said angrily. "And I want you to wear my hoodie or my jacket to the games."

Brianna looked at Sophia, Maria and Gabby with a questioning look on her face. Sophia in her eagerness to help her brother said, "I'm going to wear Anthony's hoodie and jacket to the games."

Maria chimed in saying, "I'm wearing Alberto's even though it looks like a dress."

Gabby looked at Sal before she said, "I'm wearing Sal's hoodie even though we're not dating yet." Sal's face flushed as he realized she put 'yet' on the end of her sentence, as if she thought they would be dating eventually.

"Fine, I'll wear your hoodie or jacket, but you better not get in any fights. I can't prevent anybody from asking me out, but you have to realize I don't want to go out with anybody else," Brianna said as she glared at Vin. "You're my mate why would I want to go out with anybody else?"

"I've got no idea," Vin shouted as he waved his hands in the air. "I don't even know what the hell we're arguing about anymore." The boys continued to laugh at the look of frustration on Vin's face and Anthony and Alberto smiled at each other both thinking that maybe Vin would give them a little slack now.

Dom and Morgan sat facing each other on the lounger and he looked deep into her gray eyes and said, "The first thing I want to say is I think you're beautiful and you take my breath away when I look at you. The second is, yes I'm very possessive of you and I don't want other guys looking at you. You're mine, and I'm yours." He took a deep breath and said, "If this is something you want, then I'll support you, I'll do anything to make you happy Zenzero, that's all that matters to me."

Morgan smiled at him and leaned in so he could scent her neck as she said, "I'd like to try cheerleading. I think it would be fun but I'm not sure I'd be good at it, I'm not as outgoing as the other girls."

"You'd be a wonderful cheerleader, even if you stood there and did nothing. I have confidence in you and I think once you get over the initial shyness you'll enjoy yourself," Dom said as he smiled to himself wondering how things turned around so he was trying to convince her to be a cheerleader,

"I liked it when I was holding you earlier," she said shyly as she leaned in to scent him. "It made me feel safe and protected, even with the news Alpha Carlo told us, I knew you wouldn't let anybody hurt me."

"Never, I will never let anybody hurt you," he said quietly as he pulled her closer and rested her head on his shoulder.

*****

A slip of paper was included on his dinner tray, hidden within the folds of his paper napkin. Charles looked around the large holding area and felt hundreds of eyes on him and he nodded his head before turning his back so the security cameras wouldn't see him as he started reading the note:

'The second payment has been sent and delivery will be within eighteen months as per our agreement. We now want both Carlucci's as well as the rest of the girls and are prepared to offer an additional 20 million dollars American for their delivery.'