AllFreeNovel
Share Us
SIMONE
Bacchus Vineyard
Sicily, Italy
“How can you say you love me and sell me off to some guy in Alaska? Alaska….” GiGi wailed from inside her father’s office. “There’s nothing there but fish and bears and…snow!”
Simone had a cannoli in her hand and took a bite out of it. God, she loved the quintessentially tube-shaped shells of fried pastry, filled with a sweet, creamy ricotta filling—a staple of Sicilian cuisine. It didn’t come as a surprise to anyone that she loved cannoli; she pretty much loved all Italian food, especially the more indigenous to Sicily-variety where her pack had lived for more than two thousand years.
“Papa, please…” cried GiGi.
“GiGi, it has been decided. And please cease the dramatics. Arranged marriages are not uncommon, especially among the wealthy…”
“How do they count their wealth in Alaska? By how many polar bear rugs they have on their floors? You can’t do this to me.”
Simone stifled a laugh as she stood listening to her sister’s latest histrionics. GiGi throwing a temper tantrum was nothing new. In fact, it was an almost daily occurrence, and usually it got her what she wanted. If the wailing and crying didn’t work, she often employed her signature sultry pout that brought most men to their knees.
“I can, and I will. I am your father and alpha, and you will obey me.”
Those words and that tone did not bode well for most people. Their father could be an intimidating man. He was feared and respected throughout Sicily and around the world.
Simone didn’t fault her sister for her manipulative ways. They worked for her, but Simone had never been able to pull it off. She figured you had to be beautiful and willowy in order for people, mostly men, to be worried about your happiness. Nobody really worried about her happiness, but that was okay as Simone found a quiet kind of joy in her simple, peaceful life tending the grapes and making wine.
It occasionally rankled her that her father insisted that Aldo was the vineyard’s master vintner. True, Aldo tasted and sampled the wine on a daily basis—but that made him a drunk, not a vintner. Simone had been running the winery for years—even her father’s men looked to her for direction. She took some small comfort in that, but there were times it really annoyed her that Aldo took all the credit, never once mentioning to anyone that he relied on Simone’s nose and her palate, allowing her to make adjustments to ensure the best wine.
She often told herself that her father knew the truth, but just didn’t want to discredit Aldo, but she also wondered if he kept himself deliberately ignorant.
Simone didn’t like to think of her father as a mobster, but that’s what he was. He had a benevolent side, but he was not a man accustomed to being thwarted. Unlike GiGi, Simone knew that the last two harvests had not been good—there had been a blight on the grapes. Combined with that, one of her father’s illegal deals had gone south, resulting in an enormous loss that had required a good deal of cash to set right.
That’s where the Alaskan dire wolf had come into play. He had offered to bail her father out in exchange for a female dire wolf with an impeccable pedigree.
Finishing off the last of her cannoli, Simone licked her lips and wandered back down the hall to head outside. She wasn’t sure how GiGi would pull it off, but Simone was willing to bet serious money that the Alaskan dire wolf would go home empty-handed. And knowing her father, he would manage, somehow, to keep the bride-price.
Sighing, Simone wandered outside, calling, “Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.”
In response to her call, her beloved Eurasian Lynx—all 35 pounds of her—came bounding up from the manicured lawns and leaped into her mistress’ arms. Purring loudly as she rubbed her head against Simone’s, Kitty was quite content to be carried.
Simone headed down to the formal garden and maze, cooing and whispering to her beloved companion. As a child, she’d found Kitty half-dead hiding among the vines in the vineyard. Two of her father’s capos had tried to kill the poor creature for sport. Simone had nursed the beautiful lynx back from the edge of death, keeping her close until she was fully healed. When sometime later one of the capos had thought to wrench the lynx from Simone’s arms, Kitty had proved herself her mistress’ able protector.
The fact that Simone had threatened the man with a stiletto had made it clear that in this, she would have her way, and that Kitty would be treated with the respect and care of a beloved housecat. While most of the pack disliked the wildcat, those who worked in her father’s stables adored her—no one had seen a mouse or rat in years.
Bored and wanting to find the solace she often did at the center of the maze, she walked with Kitty, finally setting her down to run alongside her.
Her thoughts centered on her sister. Most people thought Gigi pitied her, but she didn’t. For all her vanity and beauty, GiGi did have a kind heart, and she was especially loving to her younger sister. The two couldn’t have been more different.
GiGi had the kind of blonde hair women paid hair stylists a fortune to achieve. It was a pale but rich gold and fell in a long, straight curtain. Simone’s, on the other hand, was more of a mousy blonde. In fact, she often joked that she and Kitty had the same color hair. But for all her beauty and accolades from members of the male sex, GiGi never seemed to be really happy unless she was madly in love. The problem was, GiGi spent her life falling in love, being in love, or falling out of love. Her dalliances rarely lasted long. Some because she became disenfranchised with the man in question and some because her father forbade it. As temperamental as her older sister could be, she rarely defied their formidable father. Simone often quietly defied him when she knew she was right, and the old man usually let it pass.
She loved these gardens; almost as much as the acres of grapes they had planted. Kitty followed along beside her, often weaving around and through her legs. She rarely tripped Simone up anymore.
Selfishly, Simone was glad it was GiGi her father had sold off like a prize broodmare. Bacchus Vineyards was their home, and Simone, for one, never wanted to leave. She trailed her hand along the maze’s walls, formed of tall boxwood hedges. She’d played in this maze so often she was fairly sure she could navigate it with her eyes closed.
There was a quiet rhythm to life here in the vineyard. While GiGi craved the nightlife, Simone preferred the vineyard, the rolling hills, the gardens, and her room, which was sunny and bright and looked out over the vineyards to where they fell away to the sea. Sometimes she stood on her balcony and watched the moon and stars reflect their shimmering light on the waters below. She found it comforting. She had been cast in her bolder, more beautiful sister’s shadow, but she was comfortable there.
She made it to the center of the maze, where a large, ancient fountain stood—the water cascading down its levels making their own kind of music. She sat on the stone bench, stroking Kitty’s soft fur, closed her eyes and tried to meditate. Only instead of finding her center, the dream came unbidden to upset the peace she sought.
“You are mine and there is nothing that will save you from your fate,” the large feral male growled as he tangled his fingers in her hair, closing them in a fist before tilting her head back.
His mouth covered hers and heat flashed through her system. It wasn’t the sweet, seductive kisses she’d experienced before. This was an outright assault—a declaration of possession as much as his words had been.
