The Real Italian Alphas

by Bonnie Burrows

  “If he does, they’ll just think he’s really drunk.” Rico pointed out, making Gabriel and Betsy laugh.

  “Don’t look now, but we seem to have company already.” said Rico as he looked in his rearview mirror. The largest of the wolf brothers was loping along behind them. He floored it, easily keeping ahead of their would-be attacker, but only just.

  “I hope Lupo’s ready for a party.” said Gabriel.

  “He’d better be.” said Betsy. “I’m not giving up without a fight.”

  Gabriel nodded as he looked behind them. Then he said, “You may just get your wish, ma bella.”

  Betsy was certain that she would.

  *

  The tension in the car mounted as Rico continued to drive at breakneck speed out of the city and onto the highway towards Buffalo. They turned onto a long, winding road somewhere along the way, and the turns in the road slowly allowed the pursuing werewolves to creep closer. By the time the car crashed through an old, rusted gateway locked shut with a huge padlock, their pursuers were less than ten yards behind.

  “What are we going to do?” Betsy asked the others.

  “We’re almost there,” Gabriel told her. “With any luck, we’ll be able to make it inside before they catch up to us.”

  “No, I mean, what are we going to do about them?” she repeated, pointing ahead of them rather than behind. About twenty very large werewolves were standing there watching them approach.

  “They’re not attacking us.” Rico said. “That, at least, is a good thing. They must have been ordered to let us pass.”

  “Unless they’re simply waiting for the back-up group to catch up and pen us in.” Gabriel pointed out.

  “Bite your tongue.” Rico growled. “I think Lupo might have decided to grant us an audience. At least I hope so.”

  “Drive right into the garage, Rico.” Gabriel suggested. “If Lupo doesn’t intend to have us killed, these boys have probably been sent out here to keep our pursuers busy long enough for us to get inside.”

  “I think you’re right,” Rico agreed. He drove right inside the garage and then slammed on the brakes in quick succession. Since they were all wolves at the moment, none of them were overly affected by the impact.

  “Run for it.” Gabriel told Betsy. She wasn’t quite used to her legs in her current form, but she managed to figure them out quickly as he grabbed her hand and dragged her along behind him. Her heart pounded in her chest at they ran through a door and entered a fancy-looking and rather calm room. Several gentlemen sat around, reading newspapers. They only looked up briefly when the three werewolves entered.

  “Excuse me,” said the doorman. “It’s considered quite rude to come in here in your enhanced forms. Please be kind enough to transfigure, and I will lead you to your destination. I assume you’ve come to speak to the Master?”

  “Yes, of course.” said Gabriel as he took on his human form. Rico also transformed, but Betsy cast them all a helpless look. She had no idea how to return to her human form at will.

  “This is her first time.” Gabriel excused her. “I didn’t really have time to teach her the basics yet.”

  “Very well,” said the man in a long-suffering tone. “This way.”

  They followed behind the man as he led them further into the building and into an elevator. He pressed the down button as the doors closed. After a time, the elevator finally landed somewhere at the bottom of its long shaft, and the doors opened.

  They were deep underground in a huge cave. Betsy’s two companions seemed familiar with the place, but she felt a moment of panic upon realizing that should she displease Lupo the Wolf, there would be no leaving the place afterwards. Their fates were completely tied to the old werewolf’s whims.

  They stepped through a low overhang and moved on into a large cavern. A man seated on a raised area there, glanced over at the trio with slight interest. He leaned forward to speak with their escort as the man stepped forward to tell him what he needed to know.

  “Gabriel, you are late.” he said in a slightly stern tone. “And why is this woman still transformed?”

  “Forgive me, Signore, her powers are too new to her.” Gabriel explained with a slight bow.

  “Why have you come here now, when you must know how displeased I would be?”

  “My tardiness was the fault of your grandchildren, Signore.” he explained. “They appear to want my wife and I dead.”

  “Your wife?” he smirked. “I do not see your wife in this room.”

  “Excuse me, sir, but I am his wife.” Betsy told him in a scolding manner. “And I will continue to be his wife no matter what you say. Nobody is going to tell me otherwise.”

  “Betsy!” Gabriel gasped in warning.

  “So you feel that strongly about it, little one?” Lupo inquired, smirking even more. “You would really be willing to face my wrath rather than relinquish him?”

  “I would.” she said, though her voice trembled slightly in fear. “I know that you could kill me here and now if you wanted to, but I don’t believe that you will, sir. Surely even you understand that a man does his job much better when he’s happy at home than he does when he is not.”

  “So your argument is that you should retain your position in order to keep Gabriel happy?” he clarified, trying not to laugh outright since he could see how very serious she was in the matter. “That is a very noble thought, but why should I choose you over my own granddaughter. You don’t believe she could keep him happy?”

  “Lucretia doesn’t even want Gabriel.” Betsy scoffed. “Why should she care if he’s with me? It’s not like I’m after her job or anything.”

  “If I spare you, Betsy Russo, you will have to work for me from now on.” Lupo told her.

  “Work for you?” Betsy asked worriedly. “Doing what?”

  “Unfortunately, the Los Angeles family is as good as history now that Peter has died,” he explained. “I have need of Gabriel in a more useful capacity than to leave him languishing in that dwindling enterprise. And, as he has chosen to transfigure you, you might also prove of use to me. I’ll use you to pass checks, I think, at least for a start. I’ve seen a picture of you, child, and you look completely innocent. No one would suspect that you were helping to launder my money.”

  “Do you really think I can do it?” asked Betsy worriedly.

  “If not, I suppose I will just let Lucretia have you.” he said with a stern look. Then he said to the doorman, “You can let them in now.”

  “Wait, don’t!” gasped Betsy. “They’re trying to kill us.”

  “My dear, they know better than to attack you in this place,” Lupo told her.

  Lucretia and her four brothers stepped inside, all of them back in their human form. The woman sneered as she took in Betsy’s wolfish form. “She doesn’t even respect you enough to transform back? Why does this nuisance yet live, Grandfather?”

  “It suits me to let her live, Lucretia,” he said. “You and your brothers will cease trying to kill these three. I do not wish to lose their service at this time.”

  “But—“

  “That’s all I have to say on the matter,” he cut her off. “Andre, take the Russo’s and their servant upstairs and give them accommodations until I have worked out where best to use them.”

  “As you wish, Signore.” said the doorman with a slight bow. “This way, please.”

  Betsy gave Lucretia a disgusted look before she turned and followed the others out of the room.

  “One day, Betsy,” Lucretia called after her. “One day, I promise you.”

  Pausing, Betsy looked back over her shoulder to say, “Maybe you will, Lucretia, but it won’t be today.”

  Lucretia growled angrily as she watched them go.....

  CHAPTER NINE

  Betsy Russo sighed deeply as she leaned in to give her husband, Gabriel, a kiss good-bye. It was the last thing she wanted to be doing right then, but there was little that she could do about it. Betsy made a deal wit
h the devil, so to speak, and she was obligated to follow orders if she wanted to continue to live.

  “I hate that you’ll be gone for a whole week, and he won’t even allow me to tag along,” said Gabriel in his rich, Italian accent, as he backed away and looked at her with loving eyes. His hand came down to her abdomen, which still was not rounded, as they had just learned of their upcoming parenthood. “Keep yourself and our little one safe while you are in Switzerland, my love. I could not bear to be alone again.”

  “This money is making me sweat like a pig,” she mentioned. “I really should go.”

  “Betsy, the moon will come full while you’re over there,” Gabriel reminded her. “Make sure to lock yourself up tight. We can’t afford any mistakes, you know?”

  “I know, Gabriel, I have done this before,” she said.

  “But we didn’t know about the baby before,” he pointed out. “Somehow it seems harder this time.”

  “See you soon,” Betsy said firmly, and then she turned and walked away.

  Gabriel watched as his wife walked up the gangplank and into the small jet that was about to embark over the ocean and take her to Switzerland. This was about the fifth time Lupo had decided to send her there, each time packing illegally-obtained money around her body and expecting her to walk through customs so she could deposit it into the account she was using to write checks for the crime lord.

  When they were first coerced into helping Lupo with his money-laundering scheme, he had never mentioned the idea of putting Betsy into such danger. But, since she did so well at the task, which was writing checks for items using funds that had been placed in a Swiss bank, one day Lupo revealed the added task, much to Gabriel’s immediate protest.

  “You cannot make her do something like that, Lupo,” he had told the man adamantly.

  “You and your beloved wife are only alive because I protect you from the wrath of your ex-wife and her family,” Lupo pointed out. “Of course, if she would rather face Lucretia and her four brothers who want nothing more than to tear each of you to shreds, by all means do not allow me to send her.”

  “And you’ll guarantee that she won’t be harmed on these trips?” Gabriel had growled.

  “I’ll send her while the moon is fullest,” said Lupo. “She will make it through customs before moonrise, and then be housed somewhere during her transformation so she won’t harm herself or anyone else. It usually goes like clockwork, Gabriel. You’ll see, there is no cause for such concern.”

  In other words, damned if she did, damned if she didn’t.

  As for himself, his own job here in New York was far less daunting, as it was similar in some ways to what he’d been doing before. Lupo had given Gabriel a new group of werewolves to command. They were used to offer businesses protection and to take care of business. This was a fancy way of saying they were in Lupo’s pocket. Whatever the whim or fancy of the old werewolf hidden beneath the city, his team was expected to do it.

  Gabriel sighed when his cell phone went off. The cell phone that only Lupo called. His wife hadn’t even been gone fifteen minutes and already Lupo was calling. Gabriel had no idea what Lupo could possibly want this time, but it surely wouldn’t be anything pleasant.

  “Hello? Yes, she just left. The plane’s been in the air at least ten minutes, Signore,” Gabriel said in answer to Lupo’s questions. “Certainly, I’ll be down there as soon as possible.”

  Gabriel got into the back of his car and told Rico where he wanted to go. The other man watched him in the rearview mirror as he drove. Finally, he couldn’t help but say, “She’s going to be all right, you know. She’s done this half a dozen times now, and it’s always gone like clockwork.”

  “I know, Rico,” he said. “But that just makes it worse. I’m so worried that something bad could happen to her. You have no idea.”

  “Well, we’re here now, boss,” said Rico as he parked. “May as well keep taking things one day at a time.”

  A while later Gabriel entered the deep cave where Lupo resided, trying to keep the frown off his face and away from the keen eyes of the vindictive man. The thought had occurred, of course, that he was only treating them this way to see how long he would be able to use them before they rebelled and he could sick the dogs on them…literally. That was just the sort of thing this particular mobster was known for.

  “There you are, Gabriel,” he said as he entered. “It took you much longer than I expected for you to get here. I hope you were not dawdling along the way?”

  “Of course not, Signore,” said Gabriel, somewhat affronted by the accusation. He tamped down the surge of irritation resolutely. It would never do to let him know how much he hated this. “It takes time to get out of the airport, even from the private entrance, as I’m sure you know.”

  “Yes, I am aware,” he said as he stood and began to pace, his hands behind his back. “I’ve called you here for a special purpose, Gabriel. I understand that there’s a bit of trouble with a shipment I’ve been waiting on in Manhattan. Now I know it’s not your usual haunt of late, and it’s normally an Alpha job, but I believe you and your boys might prove useful to them this time.”

  “You want me to work with the Alphas?” asked Gabriel incredulously. “You know that they want to kill me. Why would you send me right into their den?”

  “It’s necessary,” he said. “I need to determine just how loyal they are—and how loyal you are as well,” he said, stopping in front of him to look at him with an accusatory eye. “I know that you are here under duress, Gabriel Russo. I don’t care that you hate me, but I expect you to obey me anyway. A boss is only as strong as his weakest man.”

  “I am not weak,” Gabriel answered, gritting his teeth.

  “I didn’t mean your strength, Gabriel,” he said. “I am questioning your honor, and your loyalty. I want to know that you will not betray my trust.”

  “When have I ever given you a reason to doubt either my honor or my loyalty?” Gabriel inquired.

  “You have not—yet,” Lupo agreed. “Now go. Rico has already received the instructions on where to drive you even as we spoke. I expect a report back from you within the day as to the whereabouts of my cargo, and exactly who was at fault for misplacing it.”

  “As you wish, Signore,” Gabriel said with a slight bow. He turned as if to go, but Lupo held out his ring hand. With a disgusted glare beforehand, Gabriel bent and kissed the ring on the crime lord’s pinky finger.

  Rico waited at the top of the elevator, the expression on his face somewhat grave. Gabriel raised a brow and shook his head, and the two of them waited until they were outside before they spoke.

  “I begin to fear Lupo wants to get me out of the way,” he told Rico then. “If anything happens to me, you must make certain that Betsy and our child are kept safe. Promise me.”

  “You have my word, boss,” Rico told him. “And I also have your back. I don’t trust the Alphas any more than you do.”

  “Good,” said Gabriel. “Then let us go.”

  Both men got into a small, dark brown, four-door car, Rico in the front and Gabriel in the back. Rico turned on the engine and slid one finger down the steering column to look for the bug he was sure Lupo’s men had planted while they were inside. He yanked it free with a smirk and tossed it out the window.

  “From now on, check the car before you start it, Rico,” said Gabriel. Rico nodded his agreement as they sped off onto the road.

  *

  Rico stopped the car near the docks in the shipyard. The large warehouse and a grain elevator beyond it nicely obscured any view of the area and the rows of cargo crates awaiting pick up and delivery to the customs area spread out before them.

  “Rico, help me see if the crates have simply been overlooked,” said Gabriel. “I’m calling in Vito and Desmond to help out. It shouldn’t take them very long to arrive, and considering the fact that the Alphas might also show up, we could use their presence.”

  “You got that right, boss,” Ri
co agreed.

  The two men stepped up to the first row of crates and began to check the small plates mounted near the lids which contained the shipment numbers. One by one and row by row, they checked for the missing crates, but to no avail. They weren’t even half finished when Vito and Desmond joined the search.

  Just as they’d checked the very last crate and regrouped to confirm they’d found nothing, the moon was beginning to rise in the night sky. It was full, and the men began to transform. They willingly allowed their bodies to do so, and as it happened, they did so just in time.

  “What are you four doing here?” demanded Lucretia, Gabriel’s ex-wife, as she stepped out into the light and transformed before them into a werewolf as well. “You know that this is my territory.”

  “Yes, we know, and believe me, I wanted nothing to do with coming here, but Lupo wants to know what happened to his shipment,” said Gabriel in a feral growl as he stepped ahead of the other men.

  “I’ve already told him it never arrived,” she practically pouted. “Why did he need to send you?”

  “Perhaps he does not trust you,” Gabriel pointed out. “You would not be the first person who ever went against the boss’s orders.”

  “If I was going to go against Lupo’s orders, stealing a shipment would not be my first order of business,” she pointed out. “What use would it be to send non-Alphas out to stop an Alpha, when Lupo knows such men could never win if there was a fight? No, Lupo must be after something else. Yes, he knows that Betsy is not here, maybe he’s trying to get you and me to interact.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Gabriel scoffed. “It’s much more likely that you would hide the shipment to get me out here than it would be for Lupo to come up with such a crazy idea.”

  “Do you really think I would bother with such a plan?” Lucretia asked, baring her teeth. “Since you’ve been out philandering with that so-called wife of yours, I’d want nothing more to do with you. You’re tarnished goods now.”

  “The only taint I suffer is the leftover taint of being with you to begin with,” said Gabriel as he began to walk away. “I don’t have time for your games, Lucretia. Tell Lupo where the missing shipment is hidden and leave me be.”