South Mountain Pack Ch. 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.