South Mountain Pack Ch. 11

"Welcome everyone, please look at the chart on my desk for your assigned seat," the teacher said with a smile and looked at the Miller girls before she continued. "In case you didn't remember, I'm Mrs. Di Franco, Aldo's mate and this is our oldest son, Alonso, he's going to be joining us for homeroom." She nodded her head towards a scared looking boy sitting in front of her desk.

Alonso walked to Victor and Sal and greeted Victor with a fist pump. "Hey guys, glad to see you two, I thought for sure I'd be in with a bunch of older ones and wouldn't have anybody to talk to," he whispered. He turned to greet Sal with his fist extended and noticing the bruises and almost healed cuts, his eyes got wide and he opened his mouth saying, "What the...", then his expression changed to one of admiration as he noticed Gabby standing close to Sal. He stood up as straight as he could before he cleared his throat and said, "Hey Gabby, how are you doing?"

"She's doing just fine," Sal said with a hint of anger in his voice as he moved even closer to Gabby in a territorial way as Alonso continued to stare at her. "I'm fine too, thanks for asking."

Gabby noticed Sal was upset, so she placed her hand on his arm and said quietly, "Come on Salvatore, let's find our seats." Sal gave Alonso one last glare before turning and following Gabby to the teacher's desk to get their seat placement.

Victor waited until they walked away before he said quietly, "You'd better stop staring at Gabby or Sal will throw a fit. They kinda have a thing going."

"That is so friggin cool cause she's like two years older then us and she's on the Varsity cheerleading squad," whispered Alonso as he stared enviously at Sal. "How about the rest of the girls? You think I got a chance with any of them?"

Victor stared at his friend and said, "Are you nuts? You'd better not even look at Sophia, Maria, Brianna or Morgan because their intendeds will tear you apart in a second." He hesitated as he watched Lorenzo and Damian deliberately ignore Caitlin and Erin and added, "You'd better add Caitlin and Erin to that list too." Before they could talk further, Mrs. Di Franco was motioning them to get into their seats.

Carlo, Frank, Joe, Carmelo, Aldo, Todd, Matt, Phil and Papa Mike walked into the room and looked at the youngsters. There were five rows with five seats in each, and the girls were placed in the center nine seats with the boys on the outer rows.

"Millers," said Todd and his daughters turned their heads to look at him. "I talked it over with Alpha Carlo and we decided you're going to skip dance class this week. With the men at the meeting and the Carlucci's looking after the little ones, there just aren't enough protectors for you." Though clearly disappointed, the girls nodded their heads.

"Are you okay Anthony? I've got to make sure the other youngsters are okay, but if you need me, I can stay," Carlo said looking at his son.

"I'm fine, Dad," said Anthony as he blushed slightly and squirmed in his seat. Carlo nodded to his son and went out in the hallway to talk to Principal Richards.

Damian started to laugh quietly and turned towards Anthony as he said, "Aww, is Daddy afwraid his wittle boy is gonna be scaered if he weaves him awone?"

The boys in the room, except for Alonso, started laughing at the murderous look on Anthony's face. Seeing their fathers glance at them, they put their heads down and pretended to read the information in the binders Aldo had given them while their shoulders shook with suppressed laughter.

"Fuck you Damian, in fact...fuck you all," thundered Anthony. The boys glanced at each other as they started laughing even harder.

"Is there a problem, boys?" asked Frank in a firm tone as he looked around the room.

"No, Sir" was said by every boy in the room as they straightened up in their seats and wiped the smiles off their faces.

Joe looked at Damian and said, "You'll sit the drills out and come with us down to the safe room and stand by your bunk, Enzo you're partnered with Caitlin." Enzo nodded his head and looked to make sure where Caitlin was.

Aldo walked to the front of the classroom and said, "Go to the section in your binders labeled 'Safety Drills' and memorize the diagram of where your bunk is located. Our goal is to have everyone in the safe room within two minutes, so as soon as the alarm sounds, grab your backpack if you can and run in an orderly manner. When you enter the sleeping quarters you will go directly to your bunk and stand silently. The top bunk stands to the left, the bottom bunk to the right. Older ones look out for the younger ones and as always, the priority is getting the girls to safety."

The sound of Aldo's radio startled some of the youngsters and they jumped and laughed nervously as one by one his security people checked in and reported the instructions had been given to each homeroom. Aldo responded, "Okay, have the Dad's move to the basement so they can monitor the progress. Frank will be stationed in room 1, Joe in 2, Carlo in the rec area, the rest of us know what we are to do. Principal Richards, give us five minutes and pull the alarm."

Sounds of heavy footsteps echoed in the hall as the men moved to the west stairwell to go to the basement and Sophia asked Anthony, "Are all the Dad's here?"

"Yeah, the first day most stay till after lunch," he said with a shrug. "For some of the younger ones, it's the first time they've been away from their families and the Dad's stay to make sure they are okay." He noticed the rest of the girls staring at him while he answered and smiled before he continued, "Its part of the male nurturing thing we talked about at the Full Moon Ceremony. Even though they know The School House is safe, they want to make sure their youngsters know the safety drills and feel secure enough to be left alone..."

Before he could continue Aldo interrupted him, "Before the drill sounds, does anybody have any questions?" The youngsters shook their heads as they anxiously awaited the alarm. When it did come, the younger ones jumped in their seats and before the girls even knew what was going on, they were literally pulled out of their seats, slung over the assigned boys shoulders, out the door and going down the steps. Sal, Victor and Alonso were roughly placed with Alberto and Gino in front of them and Paulo and Michael behind them.

"Put your hands on Alberto and Gino's back," instructed Michael to the three young boys as they were running down the steps.

"Don't look around, just keep an eye on the person in front of you," Paulo added as they increased the pace down the steps.

"Damnit Erin, stop squirming around," Lorenzo barked as he tightened his grip.

"I want to see," she responded while she continued to move her head back and forth while pushing on his back to raise her head.

"It's a fucking stairwell, you'll see it up close and personal if I end up dropping your ass," he snarled as he tightened his grip further.

"Erin, stop being so contrary," said Caitlin as she turned her head looking at her twin, being careful not to move her body as Enzo carried her. "You said last night you were going to try and get him to like you before he felt the mate bond, so why are you continuing to provoke him?"

As soon as the boys feet hit the basement floor they ran into the safe room and into the sleeping quarters. They put the girls down at the separation between the boys bunks and the girls and Vin said, "Go to your bunks and don't talk until the all clear is given." The girls moved quickly to their assigned bunks and remembering Aldo's instructions stood where they were supposed to.

"I can't help myself. The only time he seems to notice me is if I get him upset," Erin said looking at Caitlin while her eyes filled with tears. "And I want him to notice that I'm his mate so bad. What am I going to do Cait?"

"Maybe if you were nicer, he wouldn't ignore you and...what the heck is he doing?" Caitlin asked as she looked at Damian who was making kissy faces at Sal who was glaring back at him. "I understand what you mean though; Damian doesn't take anything serious and if he pushes me with his shoulder one more time, I swear I'm gonna kick him. Anyway, ask Maria later what kind of dessert he likes and bring it in to share at lunch. He would notice you then, but in a positive way."

"Oh, Caitlin that's a wonderful idea," said Erin happily. Without giving it another thought she whispered to Maria whose bunk was across from her, "Maria, what kind of dessert does Lorenzo like?"

Lorenzo rolled his eyes as he heard Erin whispering, but even with his advanced hearing he couldn't distinguish the words due to the other noise in the safe room. He turned to look at her and said loudly, "Shut the hell up Erin, do you have to be so obstinate that you can't even follow a simple instruction not to talk?"

Seeing the crushed look on her sister's face, Brianna had enough. She stepped away from her bunk and put her hands on her hips as she said, "Stop talking to her like that you arrogant ass. Can't you see that she's ..."

"BRIANNA, DON'T," shouted Erin interrupting her. "Please don't, he's right. I should've known better and it won't happen again." Caitlin glared at Lorenzo and turned around to hug her sister who had started to cry.

Lorenzo took a deep breath and opened his eyes to find the boys staring at him. Vin glared at him as he asked, "Do you feel better now that you made her cry again? What the hell is the matter with you? And you made my intended upset."

"No, I don't feel better, I feel like shit," Lorenzo responded as he ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know what it is about her, but my wolf gets agitated every time we're around her and it makes me lash out at her without thinking."

"For fucks sake Lorenzo, either ask the girl out or ignore her. I can feel your emotions going all over the place and it's driving me nuts," said Damian waving his arms in the air as he stared at Lorenzo. He noticed his Uncle staring at him, so he stopped waving his hands and glanced down and admiring the new boots he had on he said, "Do you guys like my new Doc Martens, or do you think I should've worn the Timberlands? They're comfortable though, and I like how they look with the khaki pants." When he got no response, he looked at the other boys and seeing the disgruntled looks on their faces he said, "What?"

Anthony shook his head and said, "You have the attention span of a three year old...and you act like one too."

"We were discussing Lorenzo and his problem, not you and your fucking shoes," added Alberto as he tried not to laugh. "I do like them though, I wonder if they come in my size? What size do you wear?"

Damian pulled up his pant leg so Alberto could see the whole boot and said, "I wear 12.5, but they run a little big. So they should fit your ginormous ass feet."

"Will the two of you shut the fuck up," Dom said angrily. "Save the fashion show for later, we're trying to discuss important things here."

"My dear misguided cousin, besides ensuring the safety of the females, what could be more important then looking good?" Damian asked as he raised his eyebrow. "As far as the important things, don't worry about it. Lorenzo is going to continue to act like an ass, Erin is going to continue to cry, they both will continue to piss the other off then get upset about it, Erin will bring in food for Lorenzo, he will eat it and say something nasty, Erin will cry...and the cycle will continue until HE MANS THE FUCK UP AND EITHER ASKS HER OUT OR IGNORES HER."

The boys stopped talking as Carlo strode into the room along with Aldo and the youngsters stood at attention. "Everybody in the rec room now," said Carlo in a firm voice. The youngsters slowly filed out, the girls sat on the couches with their brothers and intendeds around them. "Our time was a little over six minutes, not bad for a first drill, but unacceptable for your safety. Aldo will go over what needs improvement, and then we will run it again."

Aldo stood with his security staff in front of the youngsters and proceeded to breakdown what needed to be done. Fifteen minutes later, the youngsters and their Dad's were back on the second floor in their homerooms. Once they returned to their seats, the Dad's gave more pointers and told them to think like a pack, to follow the leader and let their wolf guide them. Once they made sure their youngsters were comfortable, they went back to the basement to supervise the next drill. Phil and Matt said goodbye to their nieces since they had to open the store and reminded them they would be back to pick them up at 3:30 to take them to see Doc.

The drills continued for the next several hours until their time was two and a half minutes and Carlo called a halt so they could have lunch. The noise in the cafeteria was loud as the youngsters talked excitedly and the Dad's stood watch making sure their youngsters were okay. Frank looked at Joe and said, "We've put it off long enough, you ready to eat some crow?" Joe reluctantly nodded his head and Frank said, "Anthony could you and Alberto come over here."

"Yes, Mr. C, be right there," replied Anthony as he and Alberto got up from their table. "What do you need Mr. C? Is it something about the girl's protection?"

Joe looked at Alberto then Anthony and said, "This is extremely hard for us to say, but we're sorry for not respecting you enough as our daughters mates to tell you of the Council's plans in private. It wasn't something that should have been thrown at you the way we did it."

Alberto and Anthony nodded their heads accepting the apologies and smiled. "We know it's been a difficult adjustment with the girl's being so young," said Anthony. "But we also understand your family dynamic, you do everything as a family and we didn't take any offense to what you did."

"If anything it made me feel totally accepted," said Alberto with a shrug. "You treated me like you would one of your youngsters, you explained the situation, we talked about it and you said we would decide as a family. You even gave us votes."

"We were going to take you to dinner one night to apologize and talk things out a little bit more, but if you're comfortable with the way we treat you there's no need for that," said Frank with a smile.

Alberto laughed as he said, "I didn't say we'd turn down dinner, we'd never turn down dinner. I think we need to sit down and talk man to man, it'll do us good." The four men laughed and shook hands agreeing to go out to dinner once the Italians left.

Frank and Joe watched Anthony and Alberto go back to their lunch table and then motioned with their heads that it was time for the men to leave. One by one they said goodbye to their Alpha who assured them their youngsters would be safe. It was a tradition on the first day of school for the fathers to gather at The Diner for lunch and the back room started to fill up as they filed in.

"I didn't realize how hard it would be to leave them," said Todd as he sat down at a long banquet table. "I've left them before to go to Council meetings and when I've had to work, but I've never taken them somewhere and dropped them off."

"I was a wreck the first time I left Vincent and Dominic. I stayed the whole day in the security office in case they needed me," admitted Frank with a smile. He looked at his brother and started to laugh before saying, "Joe was even worse with Lorenzo and Damian. He not only stayed, but he sat with them at lunch and followed them around all day. Every time they moved a foot, he was right there with them asking if they were okay." Joe put his head down as Frank continued, "He even followed them into the bathroom." The men broke out in laughter as Frank finished the story.

"I couldn't help it. I had separation anxiety, I wanted to make sure my little boys were fine," Joe said as he shook his head. "Now, I have no idea where they are half the time and I'm scared of the half I do know about and terrified of the half I don't."

"You should be scared if Damian is involved. He'll either end up as President or on our Ten Most Wanted list at the FBI. Every time we talk about adding someone to the list, I hold my breath to see if it's him," said Ed Giovanni with a straight face as the men laughed even harder.

"One thing is, it's never boring when he's around," added John Benedetto with a smile and then he got a serious expression on his face. "Dean and Reggie said he's a hell of a fighter though. They hate sparring or training with him. Well, in all honesty they hate training with any of your boys."

Frank smiled and shrugged his shoulders before saying, "They give no quarter, if you beat them then it's an accomplishment and not many can beat them."

Matt walked in and sat next to Papa Mike and said, "Hey Dad, how did my nieces do after we left?" The table got quiet as the men absorbed what Matt had said.

"Dad, nieces?" questioned Vinnie looking at Matt, Todd and Papa Mike while the men listened intently.

"Yes," said Matt with a smile and didn't say anything else. He knew how much the men loved to gossip and knew it was killing them not to know what was going on.

Vinnie narrowed his eyes and said, "Oh no, you aren't going to leave it at that. I want details and I want them now." The other men nodded their heads in agreement and leaned forward even more to see what was going on.

Frank, Joe and Matt started to laugh and Todd told them the story, minus Phil's part, about how they developed their family bond. Silence ensued for several minutes and then the men got up and hugged Matt and patted Todd and Papa Mike on the back offering their congratulations. They knew how much Matt and Phil needed this and were happy for them.

After they quieted down, Frank said, "Carlo will tell you this evening, but we don't want it to become known outside of the Pack that they can communicate through the bond. It enables another level of protection for the Miller girls and we don't want to jeopardize that." The men nodded their heads in agreement, anything that dealt with Pack security they followed their Alpha's, Frank and Joe's lead.

As the men were discussing the upcoming football game against The Shenandoah Pack, two of Frank and Joe's work crews came in led by Joel and Jerry. "Hey bosses," said Jerry as he sat down next to Frank. "Are you sure it won't be a problem for the boys to watch our young ones?"

"Actually, I think they're looking forward to it. Vin was giving them pointers as to the correct way to hold Hope and Dom was hoping to get back in time to see Jackie before you picked them up," said Joe with a laugh.

"How are things going at the site?" asked Frank as he turned to look at Joel.

Joel took a deep sigh and said, "I can't wait until Papa Mike is able to supervise the electrical crew. The group from Eastern Shore is good, but damn are they slow. They were holding us up, so instead of us stand around waiting on them, I left three guys to supervise and the rest of us went to that addition we're doing in Sharpsburg. I knew we were two days behind schedule because of the delay with getting the foundation inspected and approved, but we're caught up and in fact we're a day ahead and we've got this afternoon yet."

"The home owners were surprised when fifty guys pulled up, but once we started working and they saw how fast things were going, they were happy," added Jerry with a smile. "The walls are up on the first and second floor and we're getting ready to put the roof on this afternoon. Joel called the building supply company and they're delivering the trusses at 2, so by the time we get back they should be ready for us. The plywood, shingles, tar paper and roofing nails were delivered so we're good."