“Yes, Mama, he is quite the catch.” she agreed, casting Gabriel an amused glance as he reclaimed her hand and kissed it as well.
“Andare, andare,” he said to them then, indicating the living room. “Now that we have met, perhaps we might sit together and talk for a time. Your daughter has brought me to see the sights of your lovely little town, Mama. If it is all right, we will be here for a few days. The driver, Rico, will also need somewhere to rest if you are willing.”
“Yes, of course,” she agreed. “He can sleep in one of the guest rooms. And where will you be sleeping, Signore? This is a good, Christian home.”
“I will be sleeping with my fiancée, Mama, either here or at a hotel,” he said with a smirk at Betsy. “We cannot bear to be apart, you see.”
“Fiancée?” the woman repeated, the smile on her face frozen in place. “So you’ve decided to ask her that without meeting me as well? Signore, were you not raised in a proper Italian home as your accent and occupation would suggest?”
“I assure you, Mama, my upbringing was everything that it should be,” he said. “I suppose I have simply grown accustomed to having everything handed to me, you understand.”
“I understand very well,” she answered as she got back to her feet. “I understand that you think you can just take whatever you want with no consequences for your actions. And what happens to my daughter on the day that you have to face them? Are you hoping to get her arrested or killed right along with you?”
Gabriel was being extremely patient with her, but at the suggestion that he would cause harm to befall his Betsy, his face went up into flames. “I would never allow it,” he informed her, and the sincerity of his words was not lost on her even in her heightened state.
“Ah, you think that you can protect her with your love, do you?” she scoffed. “But love does not withstand guns, Signore. How do you intend to save her from them?”
“I will not pretend ignorance in this.” he said. “But neither should you. Surely you know that Betsy would not be near any place where the gunfire would happen. I do not tell her about my job, and she does not ask. That is how I will keep her safe.”
“And so neither of you has a care for me.” she complained. “You’re taking away my daughter, who usually has provided money to this home, and give no thought to how I’ll repair the roof or the bathroom without her.”
“If you need the roof repaired, I will of course help,” he said. “Remember, you are not losing a daughter, you are gaining a son. One with plenty of money to buy you a different home altogether if you wish.”
“I would not presume to ask.” she said, blushing now.
“You do not need to ask, Mama.” he told her. “Now, where shall your children be laying their heads tonight, eh?”
“Well, I suppose you can stay here.” she agreed then. “After all, you have promised to make an honest woman of her. And that means that we’ve got a wedding to plan. We certainly can’t get anything figured out if we aren’t in the same room, can we?”
Gabriel chuckled, and Betsy gave a little cry of delight as she surged forward and gave her mother the biggest hug ever. The woman tutted and tentatively gave one back. Then, with a shake of her head she also grabbed Gabriel and brought him into the hug as well.
“I never thought I could be so happy.” he said as the group broke apart. He wrapped his arm around Betsy’s waist and brought her to his side, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. “Let’s go online now, and we shall look for the perfect dress.”
“And he likes shopping, too?” Mama teased. “Well, with all that money I suppose it makes sense. Just promise me you won’t try to extort any money from the guests.”
“Mama!” Betsy gasped, but Gabriel was laughing. “And you, too? You’re both terrible.”
“I am sorry, Betsy, but you know what a visual person I can be.” Gabriel excused himself as he wiped a tear from one eye and then the other. “I will try to behave myself, I promise you, Mama. I will limit my extortion attempts to the priest and the flower girl, who I think I would like to be my niece. She always has my favorite candies in her pockets.”
CHAPTER SIX
The moon was due to be full in just one more day, and Betsy could become a werewolf. The couple had chosen to have a small wedding that day, prior to the second ceremony they would perform alone together afterwards. Of course, Betsy didn’t tell anyone about the second ceremony—she didn’t think it would go over very well.
Gabriel’s eyes had been caressing Betsy from across the room for almost an hour now. She and her mother sat arguing over the types of flowers that should go into her bouquet when his cell phone rang. Betsy could tell by the expression on his face that something must be wrong that only he could fix. She speculated that it was a good thing the man was a mobster, because he never could have made a living at playing poker.
Catching her eyes on him, Gabriel raised a brow at her as if to say ‘great…’ nodded his head, and then stepped out of the room. She was fairly certain whoever had just called him was about to get an earful.
“Where’s he going?” asked Mama.
“Work, I think.” she answered, and the other woman nodded.
“You would think that even a mob boss could get out of working the day before his wedding.” her mother complained. “I hope whoever it is has the decency to leave him alone after this.”
“It doesn’t really work that way, I’m afraid,” Betsy sighed.
When he came back into the room, Gabriel’s face was red. He was clearly upset, and Betsy sprang up and came to him, wrapping him into her arms.
“Mi amore, we must talk.” he said then.
“All right.” she agreed, and went with him into her bedroom. She knew full well her mother would listen at the door anyway, but Gabriel didn’t. She wasn’t going to bother to disclose the fact now. Once they were sitting on the bed she asked, “What is it, Gabriel? You seem so upset.”
“Because I am.” he said. “I have been ordered to New York immediately. They will not even allow me to wait another day. I must leave within the next two hours to catch the flight. And I want you to come with me.”
“Wait, what?” she gasped. “Who ordered you to New York, and how long are we supposed to be there?”
“Do you remember how I told you our family stems from the Gambinos?” he asked.
“Mm hm.” she answered as she kissed the back of his hand.
“Their boss has ordered a meeting in New York,” he explained. “I have been ordered to attend a meeting, and they refused to let me get married before I go.”
“Is it safe?” she wanted to know. “You know I still haven’t been bitten. Didn’t you tell me you didn’t want me near any of the wolves until I was one myself?”
“I did,” he agreed. “We can take care of it while we are there. I am more concerned that our wedding has been interrupted.”
“It’s okay, Gabriel, we can have it any time we want.”
“Let us have it now,” he suggested. “All of the guests are already here. We can call them up and do this thing. The license waiting time is finished, and we have all the decorations. And then we can fly off to New York, and none of them would be the wiser.”
“What do we tell them is the reason for the early ceremony?”
“We just couldn’t wait to begin our new life together.” he said with a grin.
“How romantic,” Betsy chuckled. “Let’s do it.”
*
About half an hour later, after a frenzied gathering of chairs and decorations, the wedding was held in the large backyard. Gathered together were about twenty of Betsy’s friends and probably a similar number of Gabriel’s. Among his, his brother and niece arrived dressed up in the wedding finery they’d intended to wear the next day.
“Wow, Gabe, when you call for a dress rehearsal you don’t mess around.” said his brother Vincent with a grin. “Just remember not to corrupt my daughter too much with your mobster ways.”
“Oh, you’re the white sheep,” Betsy giggled. “So, if you know your brother is a mobster and you’re a fed, how come you never have arrested him? And how come his accent is so much stronger than yours?”
Vincent laughed. “Unlike my half-brothers, I was born here in America to our father’s second wife.” he explained. “Does Betsy know the—family secret?”
“She does.” said Gabriel with a wink.
“Well, my father was already a wolf when he sired me, so I took on some of those traits.” he told her in a confidential whisper. “But I did not choose to be bitten, while all of these slobs did, so I make a perfect agent as a result. What do you say, Gabriel, how long would it take them to realize I was a werewolf if I’d decided to join them after receiving it instead of before?”
“Vincent is teasing you, mi amore.” Gabriel told Betsy with an indulgent smile. “He knows fully well that feds screen for supernatural traits before they decide on letting anyone in.”
“Seriously?” Betsy asked. “Why would they do that?”
“Can you imagine the chaos if they inadvertently allowed a vampire into their midst?” he pointed out. “Especially one who was more interested in harming the agency than helping it? Of course they’re going to be very careful. They know exactly who and what he is, as well as knowing about his father and brothers. They simply choose to—shall we say, ignore—all of us because they know how bloody a battle it would be if they did otherwise. There is a truce between us, I suppose you’d say.”
“And they also know that allowing them to operate is beneficial because they can call in favors,” Vincent added. “There are places no agent would wish to go. Sometimes we can send these guys instead.”
“All right, everyone, everything is ready.” said Mama from the front of the chairs. “Everyone sit down and let’s get started. These two have a plane to catch.”
Marco had agreed to give Betsy away, and now he came to stand at her side while Gabriel stepped up and took his place to wait for her. Maria sat at an electric keyboard they’d brought out in lieu of a piano and began to play the wedding march.
Betsy felt happy tears well up into her eyes. Here she stood in the most beautiful dress ever, ready to marry a man who was perfect for her and begin an entirely new life with him. Sure, there was still much about his world that she didn’t know, and she’d never even been on a plane before, and she was about to let him bite her and turn her into a werewolf, but all of these things paled in importance as she watched his handsome face just then.
Emotions welled up inside her as Marco set her hand in his, and she could see that Gabriel was feeling them, too. They had decided to make up their own vows, and Gabriel said his now.
“My beautiful Betsy, I will be proud to call you my wife.” he said. “You have made my life bearable again, and so I will do everything I can to make your life as happy as you’ve made mine.”
Betsy wiped a tear from her eye and simply said, “Gabriel, I will love you forever.”
“And I you, mi amore.” he told her, and then they kissed.
Rico, who was supposed to be doing the ceremony, laughed at the crowd and said, “Well then, I guess I now introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Russo.”
*
They couldn’t linger even an hour at their wedding before Rico took them all to the airport. Betsy and Gabriel flew in first class, while Rico sat near the front of second class. When Betsy asked him why he hadn’t booked a seat up front, he’d told her that he wanted to give them a little privacy.
“How much privacy do you think we’re going to have on an airplane?” Betsy scoffed. But when they took their seats she discovered that the entire first class cabin had been reserved only for them. She almost felt guilty, taking so many seats that could have been put to better use, but once Gabriel took her into his arms she found the guilt quickly melted away.
Gabriel was concerned about Betsy’s safety even during the flight, so he had brought a small carry-on bag which he opened as they sat down to reveal the loaded pistol inside. Betsy gasped and looked around nervously.
“How did you get this in here?” she wanted to know.
“I can do whatever I want, Betsy.” he explained. “And now, so can you. Keep this bag close to hand. And if you need that gun, don’t take time to pull it out, just shoot it. I’ve seen more than one person killed just because they were fumbling for their weapon.”
Betsy nodded as he set the bag near her feet and the two of them settled down together on a side by side at the very front of the cabin.
“Have you ever heard of the mile-high club, Betsy?” Gabriel teased her as he wrapped an arm over her shoulders.
“Gabriel Russo, you wicked, wicked man,” she teased him mockingly. “Who would have guessed my husband had such a dirty mind?”
“But if you know what it is, you must be at least a little naughty too, or you wouldn’t have been told,” he pointed out.
“Marco and Maria told me about it a few years ago.” she said, blushing.
“Let me guess, they told you they were members?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Um—yeah,” she said. “Not something I really wanted to know at the time, but—“
“But now you’re going to see what all the fuss is about,” said Gabriel with a grin. He kissed her soundly just as the loud speaker announced that they should fasten their seatbelts they were unfastening their clothes instead. Betsy wasn’t at all surprised that the stewardess didn’t say anything about it as she glanced in and saw what they were doing.
Once the plane was airborne, Gabriel pulled Betsy up into his lap. She chuckled when he said, “Want to talk about the first thing that pops up?”
“Oh, okay, what about the airplane? It’s big, and white, and round, and long—“
“Are you talking about the airplane, or something else?” Gabriel chuckled.
“Oh yeah, I guess it could be something else as well, couldn’t it?” she giggled.
“Maybe you should see if it’s got a nice, hardened exterior.” he grinned.
“How am I going to do that? I’d have to go out onto a wing or something,” she chuckled.
“We’re not talking about the airplane.” he laughed. Then he unfastened his fly and pulled out his cock.
Betsy grinned as she ran a finger along its top. “It looks like a helmet.” she told him.
“Right.” he smirked. “It’s a love helmet.”
“Shut up!” she laughed as her fingers closed around the shaft. “No, it’s a stick shift. No—maybe it’s a wolf-rider, since it’s attached to a wolf.”
“Oh, now who is being funny?” Gabriel replied. “How about if you actually ride it, then?”
“Is that why you wanted me to wear a dress?” she inquired with an amused smirk.
“Of course it is.” he answered, giving a short bark of a laugh. “Just slide those undies aside and put him in, and we can ride the turbulence all the way there.”
“Dirty, dirty man.” she chided, doing precisely what he’d requested even as she said it. When she mounted him, if felt so good she just had to moan for good measure.
“You like it.” he reminded her. His hands came up to grasp her hips, and then he thrust up inside her, setting a frenzied pace that had her biting her lips to keep from squealing in her delight. Fast and hard, he brought her quickly to her first completion, but he didn’t even pause before he began to work on her second.
The plane began to shake and shimmy a little as they moved, jostling her body so that she slammed against him. She couldn’t help but call out as he let go of her hips and slid her hands up to her breasts, his thumbs flicking over her nipples through the fabric of her dress and bra.
“I’d love to take these off,” Gabriel told her, making her moan again. “Then I could have those sweet nipples in my mouth. You like it when I take your nipples into my mouth, don’t you, wife?”
“Yes!” she gasped. He flayed her covered nipple wi
th his tongue, then took it into his mouth. Betsy thought she would go crazy if he didn’t uncover the things and taste them the right way. Without another word she pushed the dress upwards until she’d uncovered her bra, making Gabriel laugh.
“Impatient as ever, I see.” he teased her, using his nose to nuzzle his way inside the bra cup and taking the nipple into his wet mouth. She moaned louder as he flayed it with his tongue again.
“Gabriel, please!” she pleaded softly. “Now, please!”
He kept her nipple in his mouth as his hands returned to her hips. He grabbed hold and held her as he thrust into her again, faster and harder than he’d done before. Betsy groaned uncontrollably as her body practically exploded with wave after wave of pure pleasure.
When they’d finished this time, Gabriel slid an exhausted Betsy back onto her own seat. They each righted their clothes, and then curled up so that they were touching each other as they drifted off to sleep in their seats. Several hours passed before they woke as the plane prepared to land.
“Our hotel room is only a few minutes from the airport.” Gabriel explained as they rejoined Rico and all three headed for the exit. “When we get there, I plan to give you a bite for protection. It won’t have the full power that tomorrow’s bite should have, so it’s not likely that it will cause you to turn, but it should make it much harder to harm you, and it will prevent you from being turned by any other werewolf.”
“I understand.” she agreed.
“Keep this bag with you,” he reminded her as he strapped the bag with the gun inside onto her arm. “You never know when you might need it.”
The ride to the hotel was uneventful. They checked in and were each given a key, and then they left Rico and headed for their own room, holding hands along the way.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“I do not wish to leave you alone for the day, but I cannot possibly bring you with me to the meeting without putting you in great danger, mi amore.” said Gabriel as the pair of them headed for the door to their hotel. “New York is nothing like Nevada. The people here are much more vicious—and these people are related to my ex.”
The Real Italian Alphas Page 5