Releasing the Wolf (The Rossi Pack Book 1) Read online

  Releasing the Wolf

  The Rossi Pack 1

  Aimie Jennison

  Contents

  A Note For The Reader

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty One

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Chapter Thirty Four

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Other Books By Aimie Jennison

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  RELEASING THE WOLF

  Copyright © 2016 Aimie Jennison All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any other information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction, all names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  A Note For The Reader

  This book has been written using UK English and is set in Australia. I apologise if there are words or phrases you do not understand. Please feel free to contact me for further explanation, or to discuss the meaning of a particular phrase or word, via my author page on Facebook, website or email.

  Dedication

  To the best friend.

  Remember you mean the world to someone.

  This is for you.

  Prologue

  Seventeen years ago

  Jesse

  Placing the handset down, I stare at it in disbelief. Did I really just hear that conversation right? “Meet me in the back paddock, near the cemetery fence,” My Alpha said in a gruff voice. There is one order that the whole pack follow: pack are to stay away from the Alpha family’s cattle farm. The paddock is part of the farm. Giving the phone one last curious glance I turn on my heel and leave the office to meet my Alpha.

  I make my way through the woods and away from my home. I can’t help but think about how it almost wasn’t my home. It was the Alpha Couple’s home until one day - almost seven years ago now - Anthony Rossi found another Alpha in his home. Not only had he managed to enter the pack house he’d also been found standing over Rossi’s baby daughter’s cot. Needless to say the Alpha didn’t live long enough to leave. Rossi was so angry he didn’t feel that his family was safe under that roof any longer. So the next morning he offered to swap his mansion - the pack house - for my cattle farm. I immediately agreed, wanting nothing more than the Alpha family to be safe and happy. Once they’d moved out the whole pack had magically forgotten they even had a daughter. Being Beta, or the Alpha’s second, I was the only one unaffected by the voodoo magic that had been used to remove her existence from everyone’s memory.

  I spot Rossi leaning his back against the fence watching his daughter running through the field giggling as her mother, Maria, chases her. “She’s a little beauty, she’s going to have all the boys chasing after her when she’s older. You’ll have your work cut out for you.” I say as I approach. Expecting a growl to come out of his mouth at the idea, I’m surprised by his reaction.

  A grimace crosses his face as he turns to look at me. “That’s why I’ve brought you here. You may be the one scaring the boys away in the future, not me.”

  I can hear truth in his words and it chills me to the core. “Talk to me.”

  He sighs. “I’ve been invited to a hunt with Rick Maleny’s pack.”

  “Say no. It’s dangerous enough joining another pack to hunt, but a hunt two days from the full moon is suicidal.” He shouldn’t need me to tell him this, he knows it, but I can’t stop the words from leaving my mouth.

  “He knows about Rosa, he wants to talk,” he says referring to his daughter.

  I run a hand through my short hair. “I don’t like it. You know as much as I do it’ll be a trap.”

  Rossi paces away from the fence a couple of metres before turning back. “I know, but what choice do I have? He knows, I need to know what he’s thinking,” he says on his second time back.

  “He’ll talk shit about being allies. You can’t trust a word he says.” I catch sight of Rossi nodding agreement as I glance at the happy little girl in the field and my heart hurts. There is no way I’m letting Rick take her father away from her. He’ll have to kill me first. “So, who are we taking? Giuseppe will be staying to protect Maria and Rosa, won’t he?” I say referring to Rossi’s Father as I try to come up with the best plan of attack.

  “No.” The authority in his voice pulls me back to attention and I find him standing before me. “Giuseppe will be coming with me. He’s a good fighter and I know he’ll handle anything thrown at us. Maria is insisting on joining me too, I don’t like it but she won’t take no for an answer, and she’d never forgive me if I used my Alpha authority on her for something like this.”

  Knowing I’m the only person left that knows Rosa exists, I realise where he’s heading. “No. You need to take me with you. The three of you aren't strong enough alone.”

  “I’ll take Mark, Caleb and Bart with me. Any more and he’ll think we’re there to attack him.” Clearly he worked these details out before I arrived.

  I can’t be left behind. “Please, Ant,” I beg. “Swap me out with Bart. Surely the magic can be broken and he can be told about Rosa.”

  Rossi pulls me into his chest and thumps me on the back before quickly releasing me. “I appreciate your loyalty, and need to protect Maria and I, but Rosa is my daughter, my world. I need you to protect her with everything you have.” I nod my understanding, not necessarily my agreement. “If we’ve guessed Rick’s intentions right and I don’t return, you’ll become Alpha. If you came with me there’d be no-one strong enough to hold the pack together. Rick would try taking over what ever is left of it.”

  As much as I hate his plan, he’s right. We have to think of the wellbeing of the whole pack. This plan puts our Alpha Couple in danger, but it keeps everyone else safe. I sigh, feeing a little disgruntled at the hand we’ve been dealt. “Okay.”

  I watch as Rossi’s shoulders drop in relief. “Promise me you’ll protect her no matter what.”

  “I, Jesse O’Keefe, give my word to protect Rosa Francesca Rossi until my dying day.” The formal promise is made with a grim smile.

  “Thank you. Madre knows what’s happening and she’ll feel safer if you’r
e watching over the house while we’re gone.”

  Madre. She isn’t his mother in the biological sense, hell - he’s a hell of a lot older than she is but she’s been married to his father for the last sixty something years so she’s grown into a mother figure for him. He even named his daughter after her.

  “Of course. I’ll be right outside if she needs me,” I state with the sincerity I feel in my bones, hoping he feels it too. They’re Pack. I want them safe as much as he does.

  He nods and starts walking towards his wife and daughter. “We’ll be leaving at four this afternoon in wolf form,” he calls over his shoulder effectively dismissing me until four o’clock.

  At a quarter to four I make my way back across the paddock to the farm with three wolves following behind me, Mark, Caleb and Bart. When we come to a stop at the edge of the paddock, the wolves settling down next me in the long grass. We all suddenly stand to attention as we watch another three wolves make their way down the porch steps. Maria pounces up to me and licks my hand. I stroke my hand over her head and down her flank.

  “She’s insisting I tell you to look after our baby.” Rossi’s voice says in my head. As an extremely old and strong Alpha he has the ability to talk to any pack member in their mind, even if they aren’t in wolf form. His strength allows us as pack mates to talk to each other like this too but only with another pack member who is in wolf form. Not all Alphas or packs can do it, but the Rossi Pack is lucky.

  I put my hand to my heart. “I’ll protect her as if she was my own… always.”

  Rossi stops before me, cocking his head as he looks up at me. I drop my eyes thinking he must want my submission. Feeling a sudden nip at my hand and glance down to see he’s drawn blood.

  “As Alpha of the Rossi Pack, I leave the pack in your hands to control and protect as you see fit. May I not return, you shall be the new Alpha of the Rossi Pack.” The formal statement rings in my head as Rossi communicates with me. I can feel the power of the blood oath running through the bond. For him to do something like this makes me realise exactly how dangerous even Rossi thinks this hunt is. This is his contingency plan. He doesn’t think he’s coming back. There’s no need for me to give a formal response, his words are strong enough to ensure what he said happens. He’s Alpha after all.

  I feel the need to say something. “Make sure you come back.”

  I hear his laugh in my mind, mocking my authoritative tone. “You’re not Alpha yet.” I drop my eyes in submission once again. “You’ll be a great Alpha.”

  Shocked, I lift my eyes, watching as the wolves leave as one being – a Pack – and head north through the bush that lines the farm leading to Rick’s territory. The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach terrifies me. I know this may be the last time I ever see my Alpha pair and my four other pack members heading for the enemies territory.

  Hours pass and with nothing to do but pace. So I pace. The trench forming on the edge of the field under my feet doesn’t stop me from taking the repetitive steps. I was told to guard the house, and that’s what I’ll do until Rossi returns. It’s all I can do.

  Suddenly, there’s tugging in the pack bonds followed by an excruciating pain. One by one, I lose the connection to Mark, Caleb and Bart. Their bonds snap as they die, and now they cease to exist. I throw my head back and howl into the night. Feeling a pain that matches my own, other pack members in the vicinity join in the song, and I know the whole pack will be howling wherever they may be.

  “He doesn’t know Rosa is still alive. He thinks the other Alpha I found by her cot killed her. Keep her hidden and safe.” The words in my head pull me from the need to howl. Rossi has never spoken to me from such a distance. I didn’t even know he could. As the silence fills my head once again, a horrendous pain fills my chest as Rossi’s bond within the pack is severed. The Alpha is dead. My wolf bursts out of me and I take a moment to pray that none of the other pack members were in a public place right now. No one would be strong enough to fight this change. It’s just as powerful as the pull of the full moon – if not stronger. I release a howl and one by one pack members arrive in the paddock. My wolf knows what we must do, Rossi’s earlier blood oath in the front of our minds.

  We walk into the centre of the field and our pack mates form a circle around us. As the last wolf arrives they all drop into a bow - accepting me as Alpha. In any other pack there would be a number of fights for the title of Alpha but, as a pack, we have respect for each other and for Rossi’s oath of which they will all feel through the bonds. It helps that I’m the strongest and most capable pack member for the job.

  Chapter One

  Frankie

  I keep finding myself in the same place, stood staring at the four gravestones of my family - my grandmother’s, whose name I share, Rosa Francesca Rossi; my mother’s, Maria Sunshine Rossi; my father’s, Antonio Giuseppe Rossi and my grandfather’s, Giuseppe Lucas Rossi. Being here always takes me back to that day, the day my birthday turned into the worst day of my life.

  On the eve of my seventh birthday, way past my bedtime, I was pacing around the living room waiting for Madre, Papà and Nonno to return from a trip to a friend’s house. I’d cried for hours when they wouldn’t let me and Nonna go too, someone needed to look after the cattle. They promised me they would be back in time for my birthday so when there was a knock at the door I ran to it as fast as my little legs would carry me. I ran right into the sideboard in the hall causing a photo frame to fall with a crash. I didn’t stop to pick it up. I pulled the door open, disappointed to find a man I didn’t know staring back at me.

  Nonna walked up behind me and greeted him. “Jesse, is everything okay?”

  He ducked his head. “Can I come in, Mrs Rossi? It’s not something I’d like to discuss on the doorstep.” Even my seven-year-old eyes could see the sadness fall across his face.

  We entered the living room and the man looked at me. “Maybe little Rosa could go and play with her toys for a few minutes while we talk?”

  I only allowed my father to call me Rosa. “My name is Frankie,” I snapped.

  Nonna looked at the man, the uncertainty clear on her face. “It’s late. Go pick out a bedtime story and I’ll be up to tuck you in when Jesse leaves, okay?”

  I nodded and ran off to my room. After choosing a book I leant against the window and watched for Mamma, Papà and Nonno’s arrival. I saw the man leave and ran down the stairs. I found Nonna sat on the sofa sobbing quietly with her head in her hands. I sat down beside her and hugged into her side as the grandfather clock in the corner struck twelve. “Don’t be sad Nonna, it’s my birthday.” Her sobbing got louder with my words. It was the first time I’d ever seen her cry, unsure what to do I hugged into her side and let her cry.

  It felt like a long time before she pulled her hands away from her face and kissed me on the temple. She took what I know now to be a grounding breath before speaking. “Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry. Lets go get a bedtime snack and then we’ll have a talk before opening your presents.”

  She still seemed so sad so I didn’t question why she’d want me to open my presents before going to bed. I followed her into the kitchen and helped her mix up the cookie dough.

  Once we’d eaten and made our way back into the living room, she sat me on her knee and hugged me into her chest as she explained that Mamma, Papà and Nonno had gone to heaven after coming across a nasty wolf in the bush, so they wouldn’t be able to come and watch me open my birthday presents.

  That was the first and last time I heard her relate to wolves in a negative way, she used to tell me bedtime stories about a man who turned into a wolf. Every story was different but it was always about the same man, ‘Tony’ she called him.

  I lived on the same farm I was born on with Nonna until she died peacefully in her sleep a month ago. I’d inherited the farm when my parents died since it was theirs, but Nonna had control of it until she died. She did a great job and I wasn’t willing to step in while she was still here. N
ow she’s gone I still can’t step in. In fact, I had to move out because I couldn’t bear to live in the silent house. Nonna paid some guys to do the heavy work and now they do the same for me.

  A twig snapping behind me jolts me back to reality. I spin on my heels, coming face to face with a wolf as black as night. He’s frozen in place, staring at me. I’ve always had mixed thoughts on wolves since the explanation of that ‘nasty wolf’ being somehow involved in my parents’ deaths. But this wolf is far from nasty’. This wolf is my friend.

  He’s visited me many times over the years. He turned up just after the funerals and whenever I was alone I knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d join me. I haven’t seen him much since I left the farm, though I guess it’s not so easy for him to get into my fourth floor apartment. Whenever I’m here I can be certain he’ll join me. Sometimes I come here just to see him and enjoy his comforting presence.

  I hold my fist out for him to sniff. I can’t remember who taught me to do that but I do it with every dog, or in this case wolf, I meet. He rubs his snout along my hand not really caring to sniff me, and I scratch behind his ears the way I know he likes it. His coat is as black as night but that’s not what’s extraordinary about him – it’s his eyes. They’re just like a flame, his pupil has a ring of that bright blue - almost indigo - just like in the centre of a flame and surrounding it is a ring of yellow.

  “How’s it going, Tony?” I ask, sitting down on the grass beside him, “Have you missed me as much as I’ve missed you?”

  I called him Tony after the wolf man in my Nonna’s stories. As a kid I hoped he would change into a man when no one was looking. Maybe he even had a family that he went home to. Following my lead, he flops down on the grass and lays his head in my lap. I lay back and he repositions his head onto my stomach. I run my fingers through the fur on his head. “I guess you did.” I say answering my own question.