As usual, I came home from working at my family's diner, De Luca's. We had quite a few in the state, but I worked close to home.
I walked to the dinner table to see my family already sitting without me, of course, even my older brother and his pregnant girlfriend were there. This meant a serious situation. I took a step back to take a breath, but my dad heard my car door close.
"Rita, come join us for dinner," He said in his friendliest tone. I could already tell they were ready to give me yet another pep talk. They tried to do this every month or so, since I was the black sheep in the family. Unlike Tony, I didn't have good grade in high school or even go to college. I partied and drank and put shame to the De Luca family name, unlike golden Antonio. Even my younger brothers Marco and Joey are better than me. But none of them loves a human.
I put on my best warrior face and walked past the entry hall to the dining room again, where my mother graciously put out a feast for my brothers and future sister-in-law.
"Ma, why do you always make dinner for an army when Hannah comes around? She's only got one extra in her," I shook my head and sat between Tony and my mother, who immediately began serving me. Gotta love Italian mothers; we'll never go hungry.
"Why don't you be nice to her?" Tony swatted my arm. "She's probably been workin' all day on this!"
"Shut up, Tony," I scowled and kissed my mom's cheek before scooping a big bite of chicken. I didn't get to even go near my mouth, everyone was staring at me. "Jesus."
"You should watch your mouth, Rita," My dad said from his spot at the head of the table. He folded his hands and gave me a good stare, a harder one than even Tony gave me. "You know what we want to discuss."
"It's not even a discussion," I was becoming riled up. "It's gonna be you telling me I'm doing everything wrong and unnatural. It's not natural to turn into wolves, Dad."
"Don't be a smart ass," He scoffed and took a huge bite of pasta. He then gestured to the rest of my family, "We're lookin' out for you. You haven't found your mate, but you aren't even trying! Staying in this town, you probably never will. And do I need to remind you of our family shame? We were the Betas-"
"Until Papa Franco murdered our standings by marrying a witch-I know! But we're already so low, there's no point in changing me to keep everything else the same!" My father was a firm believer that one of us would find a higher rank to marry. Tony already made the first step with Hannah Coppola; she was a close cousin to the Rossini's, who were the Alpha's in our pack. She was fourth runner up to them and mate to bird brains.
My mother tsked at me, "Don't talk over your father like that."
"I just finished his sentence, so he had time to eat," I said, making my younger brothers laugh. I hastily scooped my forked chicken in my mouth with a smile, seeing my dad slowly breath because of how angry I made him.
"Rita, you cannot be with that boy any more!" He put his hand on the table. Hannah jumped a little, but the rest of us looked down. "You will not be with him. You know how dangerous it is, you could kill him! And then we would be exiles in our own home. Do you want that?!"
"Dad! I'm not going to kill him, ok?!" I put my fork down. "How do you even know if I have a mate here? Most of the boys are young! I'm already twenty-two-"
"Exactly! This is why you need to explore, like your brother did-"
"But he found Hannah here! He left for no goddamned reason!" My father glared at me.
"He got a degree, and now he can own the business. You, you did nothing with your life! Nothing! This is why you need to find your mate. You CAN NOT end up like the shame. You WILL end it with this boy-"
"His name is Zack and I will NOT end it with him! Maybe I'll even move out with him!" I ran from the table. We never had a fight so bad, because I never fought back too much. I was tired of it, though. Zack had this strong pull, it was possible that I could love him as much as any mate. But even more so, I didn't think I would have a mate.
"COME BACK HERE, YOUNG LADY!" I heard my dad shout from the table. I sighed and went back, despite how much I wished I could go to my room. Mom was shaking her head sadly, but the table was silent. My father was standing, taller than almost any man in the pack, and letting out his power. Being the family Alpha, he had power over us all. I hated him sometimes because of it.
"Why? So you can just yell at me again?" I grumpily sat back down.
"Rita, be quiet now," My mother put her hand on my shoulder. My insides were boiling but I nodded and clamped my mouth shut tight. My father began pacing the room, his dinner done with. The rest of ours was quickly growing cold.
"There's more to dating this boy than you think, Rita. Right now, the Irish are trying to take over East America," He took a deep breath. "We are fighting, but the war is coming home, quickly. If they know you are a traitor to blood, you will be the downfall of us all! Do you understand now?!"
I gasped. The Irish were a cruel pack of wolves named McClellan, and we were not the strongest pack. We allied, but if they were serious, they could kill or enslave us all. The McClellans were known for having raw power, coming from evil spawn of demons, way back in time. Back to the 1600's.
"But Dad-"
"No, Rita, this is final. Your options are break up with this boy, or we will send you to a college on the West Coast, with your Uncle Dom." He sat back down in his chair and folded his hands. "Choice is yours?"
"Be smart, Ritti," Tony said, trying to connect with me through my old nickname. It didn't matter to me, but I would not be sent away. I loved Zack. There had to be a way to be with him and not decimate my entire clan in doing so.
I nodded and looked at my hands in my lap. "Fine. I want to stay." I tried to make my voice hoarse and my lip tremble, but I wasn't sure if I had done it right. I must have, because my father nodded and smiled. I stood up again, feeling the urge to run. "Dad, I need to run. This is a lot of news right now."
He nodded again, now ignoring me. It was always this way. From being the center of attention to nitpick Rita on the side. I shook my head and stalked past my family and Hannah, back outside to the cold. It was only cold in my human form, but damn it was freezing. September always brought the coldest winds to Pennsylvania. I ran behind the house, past other homes until I got to the forest that was between our town and the next one over. Making sure no one was around, I took my clothes off and began to sprint until I felt hot blood course all through me. In an instant I was a small, black furred wolf, with claws and everything. I had all the instincts of a wild animal, but the mind of a twenty-two year old girl still.
I turned around to grab my clothes from the hardened floor with my mouth, before going back to running. I ran around the forest until I got near Zack's house. He lived nearer to the city, in a smaller house than us, but it was always nice to be away. Once I got close enough, I allowed my mind to settle and felt my paws become colder, until I saw pale hands on the forest floor. I quickly got dressed, fumbling a bit from being nervous. I was afraid Zack would be ok with leaving me. What would I do then? No love for Rita. I walked around his house until I got to the side door and knocked. It was a slightly slanted home, kind of falling apart, but Zack liked it enough. He and some of our friends rented it together.
The door opened to a blonde girl with a wide smile, my best friend Sarah. She was the only girl to room with three boys, a brave choice, but I supposed they were good roommates. I knew Zack was a gentleman.
"Rita's here!" She pulled me in and shut the door, giving me a quick hug in the process. She always smalled faintly of silver, which I had to get past when I first met her. I was afraid she wore silver jewlerey, but she never wore any jewels or silver of any sort. In fact, I don't think they owned silver dishware, just like us. Silver in any form can burn in the slightest.
"Hey," I waved to the boys, who were all gaming in the small living room. Zack gave me a quick smile but continued playing, which was another thing I got used to when around their house. They took gaming too seriously, but then again, it was a good distraction for me and Sarah to talk girl stuff without Zack making stupid jokes and distracting us. She took me to the join kitchen/dining room and smiled. It always perturbed me how their table had scorch marks. Sarah said she bought it like that for cheap, but it always seemed that there was one more after every time I came.
"What brings you to our side of town, Ritz?" Sarah asked, sitting across from me in a wooden chair. I picked at the wood on the table and looked down. "Dad again?"
"Worse," I replied with a sigh. "I really don't know if this will work. He;s serious this time."
"How serious?" Her eyes were wide. Sarah only knew my dad was temperamental, not the whole story. God, if I told them we would all be dead. Me first. By my dad.
"If I don't break up he's sending me to school on the West Coast," I said in a low voice. She looked down at the table, too, and thought. "I don't know what to do, Sarah."
She nodded silently, thinking hard before speaking again, "Well.... I mean, maybe you can talk-"
"Trust me Sarah, it's not the same any more, I can't explain it in words, but it's just not the same."
"What's not?" Zack came over and pecked me on the cheek. I shook my head. Zack was different from Sarah, as a human, not only because he was obviously a boy, but he smelled like pepper. It was kind of a sexy scent, something that went far into my carnal instincts, like eating a rabbit.
"Zack, my dad's serious this time," I said.
"He's serious every time, Rita," Zack sighs and sits on the seat next to me, giving Sarah a cautious look. "But aren't we together? And we're adults!"
"I know Zack and I still plan on being with you, but we have to be careful now," I said, trying to implicate the circumstances. He looked into my eyes, searching for something I couldn't say and nodded, agreeing with me. "Thank you."
"So what, now we have to hang out in hiding? Like in the damned woods?" He chuckled, leaning back in his chair.
"Well preferably not the woods," I muttered, thinking of the pack roaming passing by watching me and Zack kiss. I shuddered on the inside just thinking about it. First, that's creepy. Second, that's extremely dangerous.
"Or the diner or the movies," he began listing out places but I couldn't pay attention. That was a lot of sneaking around to do. And I'm not part fox, I'm a freaking wolf. I had to be cunning about it, but I couldn't think too much then. Not with Zack and his beautiful peppery smell lingering around, or his dark pouf of hair.
A/N: I write short chapters, this is my first werewolf story, thanks for reading.