South Mountain Pack Ch. 05

I would like to thank hcsd1719 for his 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.

Please remember to vote and comment, I appreciate all comments and feedback. Thank you.

*

The rest of the week was a marvelous time for Sophia and Anthony. They rode to practice together every morning in Anthony's new truck and sat together at lunch. During this time, Anthony would talk to Sophia, Gianni and Marcus about training, movies and normal teenage topics. His father had stressed to him to make sure he maintained his friendships and since he was best friends with Sophia's brothers, this wasn't difficult.

Their time spent at lunch was entirely different. They sat close together, hip to hip and shoulder to bicep, laughter and giggles could be frequently heard from the two as they whispered quietly back and forth learning each others secrets and dreams that they had never shared with anyone else.

Anthony had discovered that Sophia had a wicked sense of humor and could laugh at anything, even him when he made an ass out of himself when he gets jealous; they found if Anthony started getting upset, all Sophia had to do was touch his arm and he would calm down. Sophia also had an unknown jealous streak that surfaced after one of the Varsity cheerleaders looked at Anthony and said he was cute. Sophia hollered, "Back off Bitch, he's mine," and the boys had to intervene because Sophia wanted to tear her limbs off.

She was loyal and loving, never really saying a bad thing about anyone. Loved mystery thrillers, John Sandford and Vince Flynn being two of her favorite authors and she also shared her mom's interest in reading historical romances. She liked all kinds of music, except banjo music, it was too twangy and hurt her ears. The biggest surprise he had to "Double Pinky Swear" to keep secret forever was her secret crush on Chuck Norris and her obsession with "Walker, Texas Ranger." He teased her it wasn't Walker, but the old guy CD whom she liked.

Sophia was making discoveries about Anthony too. He was definitely the Alpha-Heir; he had a way of commanding attention even when he wasn't saying or doing anything. When he spoke it was usually with a firm tone in his voice and made you pay attention to what he was saying. His dark brown eyes were constantly moving and he didn't seem to miss much, stopping arguments on the field before they started, helping one of the other players adjust his stance, helping the J.V. squad with their positions on the new plays and he seemed to know where everybody was at all times. He was elected Co-Captain of the Varsity football team unanimously and he led by example, being one of the first to arrive at practice and one of the last off the field.

But with her, he was different; he was more open and more prone to laughter. Though his eyes were constantly on the move, they focused on her. He listened to everything she said, and made her feel her opinions and feelings were the most important thing in the world to him. His thoughtfulness showed when he included Maria in many of their conversations as he knew how close the cousins were. He also made her "Double Pinky Swear" to keep secret forever his love of 80's music, and when he was alone he watched reruns of "Matlock" and "Murder She Wrote".

For lunch during Friday's practice, Sophia made sure to bring him some Peanut Butter Blossom cookies and he whispered in her ear, "Did you bring in sweets for your sweetie?" which made her giggle and blush. He knew it was a corny line, but he would say or do anything to make Sophia laugh. He also heard Maria giggle and looked at her and winked. Looking around he noticed Alberto glaring at him and he smiled back, he was happy and he didn't care who knew it.

Anthony grabbed another cookie, glanced around and noticed Scott focused on Sophia again. He then looked the other way, scented Sophia's neck to calm down and used his bond to say to the male members of the Carlucci Clan, "Is it just me, or is Scott staring at Sophia again? I have Sophia right next to me and we've made our declaration about the mating pull, what more do I need to do? It's taking ALL of my control not to growl and go over and beat the shit out of him. I DON'T want to do that in front of Sophia again, so tell me what to do before I lose control."

Looking at the Carlucci's you could not tell that anything was going on, nobody looked at Scott, and they continued to eat.

Vincent glanced at Anthony and noticed his tightly clenched fist and his eyes had taken on an amber glow and knew he was on the edge of losing control. "Scent your intended to calm down, think of something pleasant you and Sophia have done. Eat your damn cookies and if you don't calm the fuck down, I'm going to come over there in two seconds and remove Sophia from your side."

The boys glanced over, ready to remove Sophia from harm if needed and noticed Anthony had his nose buried in Sophia's neck, his left arm around her shoulders and his right hand buried in her hair. He was taking long deep breaths and they could see the tension easing from his shoulders. Sophia looked at her brothers to see if something was wrong as Anthony generally scented her, but not this deeply. Seeing them continuing to eat their lunch, she figured Anthony just needed more reassurance for some reason.

She whispered in his ear, "I like it when you do that, it gives me goose bumps." Anthony growled low in his throat and replied quietly, "You have no idea what you do to me." Sophia scented his neck and said shyly, "I can't wait until the day you can show me." Anthony took several deep breathes before he said, "Three years until I make you mine, then I will show you everything." He then pulled her against him as close as they were allowed, scenting her neck and hair while he tried to get his unruly body under control.

Dominic waited several minutes and said, "Glad to see you are calmed down now, in more ways than one. Scott isn't staring at her anymore, but I'm curious as to his motive. He never showed one bit of interest in Sophia until the night of the birthday party and I bet he knew why you were following her around. I think this may be more about you, then about Sophia. Have you done anything to anger or annoy him?"

Gianni, Marcus, Lorenzo, Damian and Anthony all looked at each other as they all came to the same conclusion, but nobody said anything.

Anthony leaned towards Sophia to scent her neck again and replied, "Yeah, but we had talked it over and he said that it didn't bother him. It's too much to get into right now, how about if we meet up after practice at your house, we may need to get our dad's opinion too. I don't want Sophia to hear about this though; it's not exactly something I want my intended to hear if you know what I mean. I'll contact my dad, Gianni can you contact yours?"

Anthony contacted his father through the bond asking him, "Dad can you meet me at Mr. C's house at 4:30, we need to discuss something concerning Scott and I don't want to get into it right now. Don't worry, Sophia and I are both okay." Carlo replied, "I'll be there." Anthony looked at Gianni and nodded his head.

Gianni contacted his father, "Dad, we need to meet with you and Uncle Joe at 4:30, an issue came up with Scott and we need your opinion. Don't worry, everybody is fine, oh and Alpha Carlo is coming too." Frank replied back, "I'll tell Joe and order the pizzas, I have a feeling it's going to be a long night. Don't worry about your mom and Sophia; they are going over to Aunt Annie's for some type of Tupperware party or something."

"We're all set, dad is ordering pizzas and mom and Sophia will be out of the house. They are going to Aunt Annie's for some women's party or something," said Gianni.

The Coach signaled lunch break would be over in five minutes and the boys gathered the trash together while Sophia and Maria gathered the Tupperware containers to be put back into the two coolers Rose had provided for their lunch. Maria walked over to Vin, Dom, Paulo and their friend Alberto, and shyly asked if the boys would like the rest of the brownies before she put them away. The boys took the brownies, but only Alberto said thank you and then winked at her. Maria felt like her face was on fire, as she giggled and turned away. Maria thought to herself, "You could have at least said your welcome, you simpleton, instead of giggling like an idiot." Lorenzo noticed the wink and looked questioningly at Alberto who just shrugged while a slight blush covered his face.

The coach announced instead of drills they were going to go over the playbook for the rest of the afternoon and to go to the locker room and clean up. The Carlucci's were glad; they didn't think they would have been able to stop Anthony from planting Scott in the dirt. They didn't realize this change in practice was being done under orders from Alpha Rossi, though they did notice several more security officers show up. Anthony smiled, he knew his Dad well.

When Sophia came down the stairs and saw all the men assembled in the kitchen, she asked why everybody was there. Alpha Carlo said, "You women are going to a party, and we decided to order some pizzas and watch some movies."

Just then, the doorbell rang and the pizzas were delivered. Frank had ordered twenty x-large pepperoni and sausage pizzas from Carmelo's for the sixteen of them and hoped it would be enough; he knew from experience each of his boys could eat a pizza by themselves. Carlo insisted on paying, telling Frank, "My boy, my problem, my wallet." Frank laughed and started bringing the pizzas into the kitchen.

Each man grabbed a pizza box, a 2-liter of soda, sat at the kitchen table and started eating right out of the box. No plates, no cups, no napkins; just a roll of paper towels in the middle of the table. Rose walked in and said, "You really are a bunch of barbarians, aren't you?" The men just looked at her and grunted with their mouths full.

Sophia stood there wide-eyed as Anthony ate, she didn't even think he was chewing his food as quickly as he was putting it in his mouth, then he looked at her and winked. Sophia giggled thinking to herself, but in her flustered state she projected the thought to everybody there, "He's got sauce on the side of his mouth, if I licked it off, would that be considered kissing?" Anthony was in the process of bringing his 2-liter bottle of Pepsi up to his mouth, he groaned loudly and squeezed the bottle so tightly the liquid shot out and hit the ceiling & rained down over the table, his head fell forward, eyes shut as he imagined Sophia licking his face and he groaned even louder. Meanwhile, everybody had stopped eating and looked at Sophia, then Anthony, back to Sophia like it was a tennis match.

"THERE WILL BE NO LICKING," Frank stood up and shouted, and Anthony groaned again, clutching the edge of the tabletop so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Sophia stood there and her face was scarlet she was so embarrassed; Rose came over put her arm around her and said, "I think its time for us to go little girl." Frank came over to Rose, scented her neck and said, "Don't worry, we'll make sure the mess is cleaned up, even the ceiling."

Carlo said to Anthony, "Son, aren't you going to get up and say goodbye to your intended?"

"Ugh Dad, I don't think it's a good idea for me to stand up right now," mumbled Anthony blushing and the boys started laughing realizing what he meant. Carlo looked at him as understanding came over his face and he said "Oh right."

Rose smiled and told Sophia to go say goodbye to Anthony. Sophia leaned down and whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry I projected out to everybody, I didn't mean to embarrass you."

Anthony whispered back, "Don't worry about it Babe, I'm fine and you didn't embarrass me, next time just project it to me, okay. Let me scent you so you can go and I'm not sure if I'll be here when you come back or not, but remember you're coming over for dinner tomorrow night."

After Rose and Sophia left, Anthony said to the room in general, "Can we just forget that whole incident happened?"

"Not a chance buddy, talk about shooting your wad early," said Dominic laughing hysterically.

"You didn't even last long enough to become a one minute man," said Lorenzo as he and Damian leaned against each other laughing.

"Talk about one stroke and done Ant," said Gianni laughing so hard he almost fell off his chair.

"I've heard of Quick Draw McGraw, but you've got him beat," added Marcus as he laughed hysterically.

"You're not even a two-pump chump, more like a one stroke and broke kinda guy," said Paulo.

"Now boys, don't make Anthony feel any worse. It's not his fault he has no control over himself," Joe said while wiping the tears from his eyes. Everyone was laughing hysterically at this point, even Anthony.

"I just want to thank everybody for all the support you have shown me and tell you I can feel the love," said Anthony continuing to laugh.

Frank said, "You should know better then to think the Carlucci's would let something like that happen without commenting on it. I'm just glad they waited until Rose and Sophia left. Now, finish your pizza, Rose and Sophia should be gone about two hours, and I'm not sure how long our talk is going to take."

Everybody hurried up and finished eating and Frank was glad he ordered the extra four pizzas, as the boys ended up arguing over the last couple of slices. The trash was taken out quickly and Anthony, Vincent and Damian got up on chairs and cleaned the ceiling while the other boys wiped down the table, chairs and mopped the floor. They knew better then to have their mom mad they hadn't cleaned up properly.

They all got more to drink and proceeded down to Frank's cave. Frank made sure the house was secure, set the alarm, and he went to join them in the basement, closing that door and setting the alarm. "Alright boys, start at the beginning and don't leave anything out," said Frank.

The boys proceeded to tell what had been going on with Scott the last week. His watching Sophia at dance class, his remark after Anthony's apology "Dude, all you had to do was tell me and I would have backed off, I wouldn't come between two people like some others would." They finished with what had happened at practice earlier today.

Vincent spoke up and said, "I'm sorry Ant, but there have been a few more incidents we didn't tell you about, before you say anything just listen to what we have to tell you."

The brothers and cousins related some more examples Anthony wasn't aware of: Gianni, Damian and Sophia were going into Rossi's and Scott watched her enter the store; Vincent and Lorenzo watching Scott stare at Sophia during the girls training class Wednesday night; Dominic noticing Scott narrow his eyes and clench his fists as he watched Anthony, Gianni, Marcus and Sophia arrive at practice.

"DAMN IT VINCENT, SOPHIA IS MY MATE; HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO PROTECT HER IF I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON. WE SAT HERE LAST WEEK AND YOU SWORE TO ME YOU WOULD PROTECT HER WHEN I WASN'T AROUND, HOW CAN I DEPEND ON YOU IF I CAN'T TRUST YOU. YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO KEEP THIS FROM ME," shouted Anthony as he jumped to his feet totally enraged.

No one, including his father had ever seen Anthony like this, but the possible threat to his mate sent him right to the edge and he was on the verge of shifting; claws extended, eyes pure amber and glowing, his breathing was harsh and ragged, his muscles expanding to the point his shirt was stretched to its limit.

"Nobody move or say anything" commanded Alpha Rossi through the bond.

"Anthony, calm yourself down NOW," stated Alpha Rossi using the Alpha tone which must be obeyed. Anthony turned and looked at his father, his amber eyes slowing turning back into his normal deep brown, claws slowly retracting and his breathing slowing down.

"After what happened at the dance studio on Monday, we said we would keep an eye on him, and that's what we've done. Our mistake was in not telling you, and I'm sorry," said Vincent sincerely exposing his neck in a submissive pose to his future Alpha and brother-in-law.

"Believe me Ant, all he did was watch her. If anything else had happened we would have told you and you know we would have protected her," said Gianni also exposing his neck to Anthony and then all of the boys assumed the same posture, exposing their necks in a submissive pose to their future Alpha.

Anthony closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He looked each boy in the eyes before nodding his head that he accepted their submission.

"I know you would have protected her, and for saying I couldn't depend on or trust you, I am sorry," said Anthony quietly, "but, I just want you all to understand what I am going through. If Sophia isn't within my eyesight then I feel this absolute gut-wrenching pain that almost brings me to my knees, and the only thing that helps is knowing she is with her brothers and cousins, my FRIENDS who I depend on to protect her and to help me keep control. Our fathers weren't kidding when they told us how hard it was to keep control sometimes. Vin, you saw how close I came today to losing it and the only thing keeping me calm was Sophia and the twelve of you."

"Thank you for explaining that Ant, I think we all understand a little better and will try a little harder to make things easier on you," said Dominic. "Can we keep teasing you, we really like getting on your case and you make it so easy sometimes."

"I know and I wouldn't have it any other way, that's why the thirteen of us are friends," said Anthony with a laugh. "So, are we good then?" All twelve boys nodded yes at their friend and smiled; glad he was back to the normal Anthony they had known their entire lives.

"After going through all this with you and Sophia for the past week, I am so not looking forward to feeling the pull," said Marcus. Several other boys echoed his statement. Frank, Joe and Carlo all looked at each other, thinking of the Miller girls and wondering if any of them were intended mates for the Carlucci boys.

Frank stood up and got beers for himself, Joe and Carlo, then sat back down and looked at Gianni, Marcus, Lorenzo, Damian and Anthony who were all sitting on one couch. He noticed Anthony had pulled the Sophia scented pillow up to his face again and was smiling.

"I agree with Damian, I don't think Scotts focus is Sophia, I think its Anthony. Looking back over everything he has only shown interest in Sophia since Anthony felt the mating pull and I think his intention is hurting him through her, which we will never allow." Frank watched as the five of them looked at each other and said, "Whatever is said or done in this basement goes no further, we will not judge or condemn anything but we do need to know what happened, everything that happened, no detail may be too small."

Everyone was quiet for several minutes while the five boys just stared at the carpet not looking at each other. "Okay boys, do you want to tell us the reason why you think Scott has something against Anthony and possibly the rest of you?" asked Joe leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees and staring at the five boys.

"Well, uhm uhm, I didn't mean for it to happen or the way that it happened none of us did," said Anthony while continuing to stare at the floor.

"Okay, that's a start so we know something did happen and it involved the five of you, now why don't you start at the beginning and look at us when you talk to us, your mother taught you better manners than that," said Carlo to his son. "Yes sir," said Anthony sitting up straight and looking at his father.