“G-good morning boss…” Orlando said from the place where he rested, sitting on the ground after crashing into Jack and falling back.“Morning to you too, Orlando. You’re really early… Are you going to the camp?”“Yes, sir, I am…” he took the hand that Jack offered him to help him get up.“You’re kind of distracted today… is everything okay?”“Oh… Yes, sir. Just too excited to start my new job. I really hope I do well… I really appreciate the opportunity!” he said bowing, and when he stood straight again, he showed Jack a big, bright smile. The young fledgling looks nervous but full of hope.“That time when I found you near my house, you said that you had been looking for a job for a while… right?”Jack started walking and Orlando followed. Now that he knew they were going to the same place, it was, in a way, good for him, and would help him focus his mind. After all, going all the way alone and thinking why he hated werewolves, or if it was the right thing or not, was something he wa
“Good morning, Signor Adriano… I’m sorry, I always forget your surname. I’m not good with my Italian... Surnames from there are fairly uncommon up here too,” the man behind the counter of the small store said to one of his most frequent customers for the last few years, who happened to just walk in like he did every morning. “You’re right on time as well, we just got the delivery that is always of interest to you.”Even if he saw him every single morning, the man from the store, who everybody called and knew by ‘Tinio’ who he remembered perfectly even the first time that he saw the gentleman who was standing in front of him, he could never remember many details from him…“It’s okay, Signor Tinio. I have not spoken a word of Italian for the longest time. I actually appreciate that you try to use it with me,” he said, taking his groceries out of his basket and over the counter, including a medium-sized cake that looked incredibly appetizing. This admission made the older Tinio lightly c
Signor Adriano turned his head to look at the branches. The day seemed to eventually become quite a hot one, as he could see the first yellow bright rays filtering between the sea of leaves that were carpeting the ground. A few animals could be seen from the spot where he stood as he leaned against the kitchen counter. Still hearing it all as if it were all far away. And how the coffee machine loudly boiled and simmered with the last few drops of water into the brown powder that was turning slowly into his coffee.The smell of fresh coffee floating around the room... Spades meowed some more and looked at him, before turning to slowly walk back to his hiding place on one of the seat cushions under his dining table. And, with all that, the memory, clear as day, still played inside his head, even if his eyes were open and looking attentively - sort of - at all his surroundings.+++Antonio saw his surrogate son walk towards the front doorway until his figure was blocked from his view b
“Hello? My Star… Oh, it’s so good to hear your voice again. I’ve missed you so very much,” was the first thing that she heard that morning. Her mobile phone vibrating under her pillow had awakened a few minutes before. And she was glad that she wasn’t so deep in her dreams by then, or she might have missed this very important call.“How are you, love? It has been a while, hasn’t it? The kids miss you as well, but we’re all doing fine. The town has been really quiet lately, except for a few renewed rumors that I still haven’t been able to clarify, but I feel I’ll have an answer soon. Alpha V is not really pushy, so I think I can have a few more days before I really have to give my official report to him.” She got up, wrapped her scarcely dressed, slim body in her silky, flowery robe and walked towards the window, actually thanking her beloved one for starting her day early.“I’m very much okay, my Queen, I might be home in a couple of weeks, but that might not be great news… Right now
“I didn’t know that you sold your food to so many other places. I mean, it’s not surprising, since you’re a great cook, but… How do you find the time to do so much?” Eron asked, carrying a few cardboard boxes with cakes, tarts and assorted pastries that smelled so good that they were making him hungry again.“Well, yesterday night, after I felt watched and all that, I prepared most of them. The baking takes the longest time, the rest is quick and easy,” she said with a shy smile, not used to him praising her work. “Thank you for helping me with the deliveries.”“Oh, it’s my pleasure. Besides, I promised, remember? I told you that you wouldn’t need to carry so many heavy things on your own anymore. That’s also why we go to the lumber camp together… I’m glad you let me help you, especially since I don’t do much at the house…”“Oh, you do plenty… you might just not notice it.” The words escaped her mouth and made her heavily blush once again that morning.As he saw her face all red again
Virgil woke up suddenly from a strange dream. Lately, maybe because he had been thinking so much about their plans and what careful steps were necessary to reach their objective and get all of them out of it alive, he had been dreaming more and more often about his younger brother. Can he really think that I disowned him? … That I’m like Dad!?… Virgil said in his mind, loud enough to hear a sleepy voice inside his head answering him with a yawn.Well, you didn’t even bother to tell him he was wrong, did you? Kodan lazily expressed as he stretched the boredom away.“At that moment, I was in complete disbelief. I really didn’t know what to do, or say. And when I finally tried to reach him, he had completely blocked me, not only on the mindlink but in all the electronic ways, too. If that was not a clear 'leave me alone, I hate you' then I don’t know what that was…”You both have too much of a hard time talking to each other. If you stopped trying to protect him like a pup, and he stop
Virgil held himself against the wall, avoiding facing himself in the mirror. Every word in that memory hurt him, but the worst part most definitely wasn’t their fight about their job, or him taking full charge of the pack, and everything related to it…No, the hardest part was what they talked about right after that. Also, just as if he was trying to stop a train by huffing, puffing and blowing at it, the memories didn’t stop or even slow down.Quite the opposite, as they just stormed on him.+++Henkjan was walking towards the door, humiliated but not humbled. His head still raced around the thought of him being the one who was right… Hanging onto it as if his life depended on it.“Now that we settled that matter, tell me… Are you not even going to ask about your younger son?”The ex-Alpha stood frozen in front of the doors and almost out of the office. Virgil’s voice felt like acid in his ears.It wasn’t that he didn’t care… He didn’t forget about it, he just… didn’t think much of
“So, you need to hold the axe this way, otherwise you won’t be able to control it properly, you might miss the wood and hit your leg, or something on that same line of danger, okay? Now let me see you try.”Eron was taking the time to explain step by step the whys and hows of the first work he had done in the lumber yard when he first arrived. He thought that working with the axe would be the less dangerous option for the new kid among the many different jobs that they had in the yard. He chose that instead of taking him to one of the machines or letting him go with the team who cut or transported the logs. And the former city boy took his time working with Orlando.With determination, the still-tense newb followed step by step all his lumberyard nanny’s instructions. He carefully aimed, held the axe tightly in his hands and hit the first blow.“Good job!” The less new of the two celebrated newcomers enthusiastically praised as the kid smiled widely. “Now just remember well the posit