Chapter 10F: The Cradle of the Pack

The call interrupted my thoughts on my wife and first daughter's relationship.

"Hello."

"David!" It had been a while since I heard from Helen. The new baby kept her up most nights.

"How are you?"

"The baby slept through the night," she said, "and the scale says I lost the last two pounds I wanted."

"Good for you."

"If you come down to the school, it could be good for you too." I laughed and adjusted, remembering how Helen looked with Brittany holding the wedding dress up while I fucked her ass.

"Anyway, David, I need you to come down here for the four-thirty advanced children's class."

"Why?"

"I have a new student who could solve the problems you're having with Rachel and Rain."

"Really?"

"I think... actually I know, you'll like his mother too."

I laughed before replying, "I won't be able to show up in that time frame until Monday."

"That's fine."

"Okay," I said, leaning forward to hang up the phone.

"David!"

"Yes?"

"Plan to stay late!"

"Of course." I hung up and sat back to continue thinking.

A few days after Rain's eighth birthday, Rachel tempted me with another of her yellow bikinis. She surprised me at the pool, and we ended up having an afternoon-long tryst in the pool house. Unfortunately, we did not know Rain was hiding from her brothers' in the pool house; the last stunt they convinced her to initiate had gotten them grounded 'forever'. She ran into the closet when Rachel and I crashed in. Rachel and I unwittingly gave our oldest daughter a very thorough sexual education in the standard sexual acts from oral to anal. I fell asleep, but Rachel witnessed Rain sneaking out.

Over the years, Rachel had become less caged, as if Rain's unfettered nature drew her mother out. Mandy, who taught psychology at the Alominos College, concluded the episode with Rain caused a backlash, driving my wife back to suppressing major portions of her personality.

Mandy was the only one who talked to both Rachel and Rain about the incident. Rain had been confused and excited by what she saw (at the same age Rachel and her twin began exploring their sexual nature). Rachel understood exactly what Rain was feeling; it brought the loss of her sister back while causing a great deal of motherly concern.

The two sides of Rachel, which alternatively viewed Rain as sister and daughter, came into conflict.

Mandy was doing a paper on the 'Smith strain' twins, as she called it; twins sharing part of their personality was her pet psych-theory to explain certain behaviors. Mandy thought Rachel had rebuilt those shared portions of personality, but the conflict over Rain forced my wife back to the time after her twin's death.

I did not care why the problem was occurring; I just wanted it resolved before my wife and daughter suffered any trauma. Mandy explained I had two related problems.

I had become the focus of Rain's immature sexual desire. Except for Marie, every important female figure in Rain's life was involved a sexual relationship with me. The boys did not think about that aspect of their lives, but Mandy assured me Rain did.

The second problem was the lioness wanted out of the cage. Rachel could not do it without accepting the death of her twin. Something she would never do voluntarily.

All the family women thought I should let Rain and Rachel deal with the issues between them and alone where necessary. It was a frustrating month, and then Esmeralda pit mother and daughter directly against each other.

My aunt had a powerful hold on her husband, a Smith & Callas Holdings executive.

The company name was Rachel's idea after several financial publications declared her the wealthiest woman in the country. She wanted to make sure every one of her Callas children understood I was building their legacy too.

My aunt decided to train her daughters, ten and eleven, to assist her in keeping firm control of their daddy, not mention their future husband(s). Part one of their training was proper obeisance to the worst of the family wolves. Our first encounter involved the oral pleasure of kissing, licking, and sucking me to their heart's content. They were enthusiastic students, each bringing me to orgasm with tongue and mouth.

Another of Esmeralda's goals was gaining additional leverage against her miniature thugs. The girls were getting out of control but had daddy wrapped around their pinkies. Esmeralda wanted sex added to the pinky-wrap so she needed the girls to recognize a higher authority. A week after their first lesson, Esmeralda brought them back. Neither enjoyed the bare-bottom spanking for bad grades. They got the message when I allowed them to suck me to near-orgasm, but it was their mother who enjoyed the seed of their labor. They were even further displeased to find they would be sleeping in separate bedrooms for a month and if they were caught playing with each other the next lesson would be delayed for an indeterminate amount of time. The girls, like good little wolves, did not argue but quickly modified their behavior to ensure I had no reason to keep them from their new games.

Rain witnessed both encounters.

Mandy and Brittany admitted they knew about Rain's new habit of sneaking into my bedroom. They decided allowing Rain to watch her mothers and me would direct her towards them for answers. I rarely spent time with a woman in my bedroom unless she lived at the mansion. Esmeralda thought my sexual involvement in her daughters' training was something she only needed to discuss with Rachel. Mandy and Brittany never considered Rain might see me in a sexual encounter with girls only a couple of years older, who just happened to be related to her.

It opened Rain to a new set of possibilities, which we only discovered she was considering because Mandy caught Rain interrogating her cousins about their lessons. Mandy sat with Rain for a couple hours and disclosed the general gist of the conversation with her lover-wives.

Rain was planning the seduction of her father. Rachel silence worried the rest of us, until it became obvious, mother was planning how to counter daughter.

They matched up well against each other.

Rain strictly controlled her generation of cousins, younger siblings, and children of family friends, like Samantha and Elizabeth's kids--even Helen's oldest son was not immune. The older children had some independence but all were a part of 'The Cult of Rain' as I called it. Her power resembled Rachel's without the sexual aspects, which I was sure would come later.

To combat Rain, Rachel would have to be the person who planned and executed my seduction, who made Esmeralda bend her neck to a female not of our blood, and whom I had not seen in a long time.

I looked at my watch; it was time for dinner.

Brittany had planned a dinner party at our favorite restaurant to introduce a Senatorial candidate to an old friend of the family.

Our second leg from my freshman year in high school had done well in the political arena. We supported his Congressional campaign and were eager to see him graduate to the Senate. His wife had died from breast cancer two years before, leaving him a daughter to raise. He was a likeable candidate but the tragedy, which he handled with pained honesty, made him an extremely sympathetic one too. He was the clear frontrunner, whose only problem was the constituency's swelling nervousness over his continued unmarried status.

Esmeralda, the Lees, Marie, Michael, Marisa, Rachel, Brittany, and Mandy joined me with the two people the sorority decided should get to know each other better. Our second leg's name was being passed around in certain circles as having Presidential potential, which would be a first for the Sisterhood.

It did not take Richard long to figure out the women sought an end to his bachelorhood.

"So I guess this was setup to introduce us," he said to Julie. Michael did a credible job of not snorting his coffee.

"Tonight is to find out if you're attracted to me," Julie replied honestly. "I already know I'm attracted to you."

I had always appreciated Julie's ability to floor it when necessary. The dinner participants were silent for sixty seconds.

"Hmmm," the victim said to fill the silence. "In that case, the more interesting question is how did we get here."

He was attracted, if only to the rumbling bass Julie's sexuality was pounding him with. She sat back with a smile of contentment.

"I'm the principal for the Regent's Grammar School," she told Richard.

"Yes, I know," he replied. "My daughter attends."

She put her hand on top of his and smiled gently, "Emily is a beautiful little girl. It broke my heart the first time she smiled at me!"

He smiled and did not pull his hand away.

"We had a new student join our school last week," she continued. "A headstrong young boy who managed to annoy a lot of his classmates."

He looked at her confused. She patted his hand, asking him to be patient.

"Unfortunately, he annoyed Rain Callas," she said with a touch of vengefulness in her smile.

"Your daughter," he said looking at me.

I nodded.

"Emily speaks very highly of her," he said. "Rain was Emily's favorite subject when she first transferred to Regent's. It helped Emily that her transition to a new school went so smoothly."

"Thank you very much," Rachel said. She gave me a look to ensure I did not express my opinion on Rain's attempt to expand her cult outside the pack.

"Anyway, the boy and Rain had a couple of childish spats," Julie said. "The last argument ended with him getting the far worst of it so he punched her in the face."

"Really?" he asked worried.

"Oh, shit!" Michael exclaimed. Richard stared at him. Michael had been in Japan on business for a couple of weeks.

"Brutus," Marisa answered the question in Richard's eyes.

"Oh!" he said, looking like he remembered something he heard recently.

"Exactly... Brutus is a BIG boy," Julie said. "Big enough to pick up a school table and use it on the puncher."

Richard's eyes opened wide.

"Rain gets up and tries to break most of the kid's ribs with some well-placed kicks. I have to say, Helen does a wonderful job with little girls."

Richard looked at the rest of us with some concern. Emily was Rain's best friend outside the family; both girls had been asking about overnight stays.

"I guess Brutus likes people messing with family as much as Ovaldo does," Richard asked with some political curiosity.

There had been an attempt to kidnap Forrest Jr. and his baby sister Rachel Forrest. Ovaldo was driving the Forrest children home for the night. The dogs harried the would-be kidnappers while Ovaldo cut their cars in half. The kidnappers did not plan for any of the Forrest-designed weapons Ovaldo used to violently end the attempt. A lot of people were curious about what happened and the tools Ovaldo was armed with.

Smith & Callas had no comment.

The government became quite insistent when I flew to Japan to meet the Chinese Ambassadors to the US, UN, Britain, and Japan. The words exchanged in the meeting were secret, but the demonstration of Ovaldo's toy cutting through a Chinese tank was not. The Ambassadors were infuriated to learn the British and Japanese government would receiving the dearly desired gift of access to most of the Smith & Callas government-only product lines. They got downright threatening when I announced the US Government would be handed over all of Forrest's weapon's research, like Ovaldo's toy. To make sure the point got through to them, I demonstrated the prototypes Ovaldo and Forrest had built and tested.

Their anger did not peak until I told them of the billion dollars set aside for the sole purpose of resolving any outstanding problems with anyone who we believed caused the death of a Forrest, Smith, or Callas family member. Handing the list of conspirators inside their country and proof of their plan made them take seriously the danger they would be in if swift action were not taken. The government had not been directly involved, but a few minor members of their leadership had known about the attempt. They directed many angry words towards me, but everyone in power around the world 'unofficially' knew the story of the one successful attempt to steal the design of an experimental Forrest chip.

The thief was found with twelve different shanks in him while awaiting trial. The company, which paid for the theft was fined millions and had to have its chip designs approved by the federal government for ten years. Three of the executive officers had been tried for treason and were serving long sentences in non-country club prisons.

There was some political backlash for S&C, but breaking my first political career reduced the noise to a manageable rumble. US competitors got the message to stay out of my territory unless they wanted me to play in theirs; everyone else got the memo when the Chinese government purged the conspirators. They took me at my word; I would have no problem with niceties, like leveling an entire city block, to get the person who harmed a member of my pack.

The British and Japanese governments sent official thank-you notes to the Chinese for getting caught red-handed.

Marie shrugged at Richard with a look, which said he was not yet cleared for the information... yet.

"Anyway," Julie said. "I have a hurt boy in the office with Rain, Brutus, and Roger. I made the mistake of telling Brutus and Rain they would have to be suspended. Roger pushes the kid to the ground, kicks him a couple of times, and says I have to suspend him too"

Richard shook his head; from the surprise on his face after he looked around the table, he must have been expecting disapproval at the violence from the women at the table. It took effort not to laugh at his expectations.

"An hour later, I have the boy's parents, Rachel, Brittany, and Mandy in my office." Julie took a sip from her coffee and braced herself. "The boy's parents were furious and insisted the Callas kids be expelled. All my questions about how a kid could be that obnoxious were quickly answered!"

"They were intolerably rude to you," Mandy told her.

"Thank you!" Julie replied. "I was trying to be reasonable. I informed them their tuition and fees would be refunded in full. They asked me what for, and they got even more pissed when I told them that obviously their child could not continue attending Regent's."

"Why?" Richard asked, looking worried.

Julie stared at Richard, "Why does your daughter attend to Regent's?"

Richard had the decency to look embarrassed but tried to fib his way through, "It's the best grammar school in the state, easily one of the best in the best country. All of its students are automatically on the Regent's High School entrance list. I attended both schools."

Julie gave him a look of disappointment. Richard sighed and shook his head.

"All right!" he said with a smile. "And every Smith, Forrest, and Callas child of grammar school age attends."

"Exactly," Julie said patting his hand to reward his honesty. "So does every child of S&C employees who work at the main campus. Jesus, Richard! If the parents want them to attend Regent's, S&C busses children in from Alominos and State "

"Employees can afford it?" Richard asked looking around the table.

"Money is not an issue if an employee wants to send their child to either Regent's school," Rachel said patting my hand. I shrugged; charity came after family, pack, and our employees were taken care of.

"I still don't get why you would basically expel this kid," Richard said quietly.

"The parents didn't either," Brittany said with a grimace.

"One third of the Regent's student body is a Smith & Callas Holdings child, Richard," Julie stated. "Most of the kids were looked down as 'scholarship' kids when they came in, which made them stick together."

"Ouch!" Richard said making the leap.

"Exactly!" Julie said. "Smith & Callas making multi-billions as their yearly net improved the lot of its employees, but the kids never unstuck. There's almost two schools at Regent's: S&C kids and the rest."

"You didn't try to break it up?" Richard asked.

"The separation was in place when Julie arrived," Mandy said, defending her friend. Richard nodded thoughtfully. It would have been difficult even for Julie. S&C rewarded its employees, but even our janitors took advantage of the Regent's benefit. A majority of the kids did not have parents who could have afforded Regent's without working at S&C.

"That's not too bad, except in the last few years the REAL Smith, Callas, and Forrest children arrived at our doorstep. The kids replicate the company. S&C employee kids form an outer ring, the kids from David's relatives an inner ring, and at the heart are Forrest's, the Smith twins', and David's children. The employee kids are easily the most protective of the social structure though."

Richard sat back and crossed his arms looking at Julie with more concern.

"Roger and Rain are the unchallenged school royalty," Julie said firmly. "Rain could walk into the lunchroom, decide she wants to sit at a table full of eighth grade S&C kids, and they'll move for her."

"Are the boys bad?" Richard asked. There was reason for concern since Emily's second favorite subject was Brutus, raising many eyebrows as Roger was usually the cause of little female hearts fluttering at Regent's.

"I guarantee there's at least a couple of female teachers who will want to be the Callas boys' first piece of ass," Marie said looking at Richard seriously. "People do stuff for Rain because she wants them to. They'll do the same thing for Roger and believe before, during, and after it was somehow for their benefit. Brutus..."

No one really knew why people did things for Brutus.

Julie blew air out of her mouth in affirmation of Marie's words. Richard looked a little wide-eyed.

"Don't worry," Julie assured Richard. "None of the kids use their influence, except in situations like with Emily. She didn't have to go through new kid problems because Rain befriended her."

"For the most part, our kids stay out of everyone's way," Mandy told Richard. "They've only ever played with family, so they're more comfortable with family members."

"If they stay out of other kids' way, what's the problem?" Richard asked.

"Other children stay out of S&C kids' way, and EVERYBODY leaves the family children alone. This little boy picked on Rain, which carries the second worst repercussions in the school."

"Second worst repercussions?" Richard asked.

"Well, Roger and Brutus are going to be satisfied with kicking the crap out of anybody who messes with them," Mandy said. "The rest of the school is going to leave it alone because they're boys."

"Rain is the school princess." Richard said, realizing where it was going.

"Yeah!" Julie said. "This boy punched Rain Callas; regardless of what happened to him, it would not end there. Two-thirds of the school would avoid him like the plague; the other third would be on him relentlessly. That's after the S&C family kids got through with him!"

"Like Forrest Jr.," Rachel said with a cruel smile.

"Which is what she said while I was trying to explain to the brat's parents why he had to be removed from the school immediately."

"Wait!" Richard raised a hand. "You said 'second worst repercussions', I would think that would be the worst."

"Oh God, no!" Julie said, shaking her head frantically. "Messing with Emily or either set of the Lee-Smith twins would be so much worse."

"What?" Richard asked.

"Rain is Rachel's daughter," Joanne Lee-Smith told to Richard.

"Sean and Patrick are Rachel's sons," Stephanie said, "Making Rain, my sons'..."

"And my daughters' aunt," Joanne finished.

"Roger and Brutus ignore the relationship since they're only a few months older than both sets of twins," Rachel said. "Rain is very clear that they are HER nieces and nephews, which means they are under her complete protection. Both sets love it, of course."

Joanne and Stephanie shrugged in unison. Their children had been the first of Rain's converts.

"But Emily?" Richard asked Rachel.

"Emily is Rain's bestest friend," Marisa replied. "She's also already planning the wedding."

"What wedding?" Richard asked.

"Brutus and Emily's," Marisa told him seriously.

"What?!?" he nearly bellowed.

"You didn't know?" Marisa asked humorously.

"Marisa," I said in a gentle voice. She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Don't worry, Richard," Julie said patting his hand again. "Emily has a big crush on Brutus. Rain is just being supportive."

Marisa snorted, but with Julie putting a smile on him to wake up any dormant hormones, Richard missed it.

"I still don't understand why messing with Rain wouldn't be worse," Richard said recovering well from Julie's smile.

"Everybody in Rain's life is family," Marisa said to no one in particular. "Emily's been through a lot in the last couple of years, and she wanted to be friends with Rain. My niece is as spoiled as I was growing up, but she knows the value of every one of her gifts, especially the ones that can't be measured with money. Rain will never stop if you hurt someone she cares for."

"We know a friendship between Emily and our children was what you hoped for," Rachel said to Richard directly. He waved her words away, almost embarrassed.

"Emily smiles a lot more since she met Rain," he said. It was obvious his daughter's well-being meant everything to him. Julie took his hand and squeezed it.

"I explained to the parents how absolutely brutal the kids are going to be to their child, and Rachel, like she just did, interrupts with a mention of the worst terror which will be visited upon this poor boy. How was it that you put it, Rachel?"

Rachel looked up for a moment at the ceiling and snapped her fingers.

"Excuse me," she said in a quiet voice a parent would use when trying to politely interrupt the principal of her child's school.

"Yes, Mrs. Callas-Smith," Julie said, getting into the role-playing.

"Speaking of family children," Rachel said. "Is anyone keeping tabs on Forrest Jr. and the James girls?"

Julie turned to Richard.

"She asked it with that exact same annoying innocence!" Julie said angrily.

"Julie immediately yells 'OH MY GOD!' and hits the intercom to the whole school," Brittany said.

The participants of the meeting broke laughing when Mandy made as if to press a button.

"Attention all faculty and staff," Mandy said authoritatively. "It is of critical importance Forrest Jr. and the James sisters be located immediately. If found, detain them, and call my office. I repeat; it is critical Forrest Jr. and his cohorts be found."

"You called my daughters someone's cohorts!" Esmeralda said with annoyance.

"Esmy," Brittany cut in before anyone else could speak. "Your daughters are smart enough to let Forrest Jr. do the thinking; they're happy as long as they get to do the punching."

Esmeralda and Marie smirked at each other.

Esmeralda's younger daughter had been skipped a grade to keep the sisters together; they were much easier to manage as a pair. Forrest insisted his son go to school with normal (his word) kids, an opportunity he was not afforded. Marie abided by his wishes but insisted her husband formalize his children's private lessons. For Forrest Jr., school was a place to be social with other children. Considering his intelligence, it would not have worked except for Marie and Esmeralda joining forces. The school wanted to skip Forrest Jr. through a lot of grades, but Marie stopped them when her son got to the James sisters' grade.

The James girls provided Forrest Jr. the necessary protection a child with his intelligence needed in school. Esmeralda looked at me and smiled; her planned beneficiary of the girls' sexual training was Forrest Jr. Marie looked at me and smiled to. The James daughters showed the promise of my family's good looks and were viciously protective of her son. Nobody crossed those two little girls without walking away the worst for it. Forrest Jr. would probably never know to question his fate; from the looks the girls gave him after their first lesson, he would never have a hard-on without a home inside of whichever one of them he wanted to relieve it in.

"So did you find them?" Richard asked getting into the story. Julie nodded with some reluctance. "They can't be that bad!"

"My daughters can't by themselves," Esmeralda said honestly.

"Junior, by himself, would probably never do a single bad thing in his life," Marie admitted.

"Together..." Esmeralda said. "They're probably worse than you can imagine."

Marie nodded; both mothers had plenty of experience with the three children's combined ability to damage the environment when left unsupervised for too long. The James girls loved to watch things go 'BOOM!', and Forrest Jr. liked pleasing them. The men in the family found it amusing, but for some reason, none of the women did.

"I got a call five minutes later from the school nurse telling me Junior and his female thugs are in the infirmary. They did not make into the same room as the boy, but they're looking guilty. I have the kids escorted to my office to my office and tell her not to touch anything in the infirmary."

"By now, the parents are freaking out," Rachel said.

"I try to question Junior and the girls, but they're not talking. Separating them doesn't help, especially after the boy's mother shakes one of the girls."

"SHE WHAT?!?" Esmeralda said, angrily sitting up in her chair.

"It was taken care of Esmeralda," Rachel said quietly. Esmeralda turned to look at my wife. She was angry but the look of cold assurance on Rachel's face satisfied her.

She was right to be satisfied; it was costing us enough in legal fees. I was not budging on a settlement for what Rachel had done though. The woman had been physically abusive to a child Rachel was related to. She had been lucky Brittany and Mandy were there before Rachel yanked out another handful of hair.

"It took another hour to get everybody talking," Julie said with a lot of amusement in her voice. "But now, the bigger problem was what the hell those three did in the infirmary."

"Come on, I know you're exaggerating now," Richard said trying again to get us to admit it.

"You've met my husband?" Marie asked.

Richard nodded warily.

"My son is as intelligent and has three advantages over his father," Marie said seriously. "Junior's father answers all his questions in a way he will understand and has guided our son's intellectual growth since he was a baby. Junior has me. Finally, he has friends his age who acknowledge his intelligence, don't make fun of him for it, and treat him like he is a valuable member of their group. How big a difference do you think that makes in achieving his full potential?"

Richard looked at Marie seriously for a minute before turning to Julie, "What did you do?"

"Only Forrest Senior would have been able to figure it out, but once he heard about Rain being punched he hung up on me," Julie said exasperated. "Roger or Rain could have gotten it out of them, but Roger said since it was Rain who had gotten punched it should be her decision."

"Rain said 'No!'" Mandy told Richard.

"Of course, David could have gotten the kids to sing," Brittany said looking at me. "None of us were going to call him to say Rain had been punched in the face though."

"Can you imagine it?" Joanne Lee asked.

"David getting yelled at by the parents of the boy who attacked his daughter," Stephanie added.

"All the while, Rain is crying in his arms because daddy was finally there," Esmeralda said adding more.

"Not to mention in the middle of her well-practiced alligator sobs, she would've been saying something like 'Daddy, it hurt... <sob><sob>... i was so scared!'" Michael finished the scenario.

The women shuddered when my jaw tightened.

"Yes," Richard said. "Getting her father involved would have been a bad idea."

"Which meant we had to replace everything in the infirmary," Rachel said.

"That's when the parents brightened up and started taking us seriously," Julie said, "They asked how many of Rain's relatives attended the school?"

Marisa snorted again; Richard looked at her and smiled.

"So how many do attend?" he asked turning towards Julie.

"Two nieces, two nephews, two brothers, Forrest Jr. who might as well be a brother, the James girls who might as well be her sisters, and twenty-four cousins. Before she moves on to high school, there will be another two set of twin nieces and nephews ala the second quartet of Lee-Smith twins, Rachel Forrest, Mandy Jr., Cindy, and another dozen cousins."

"Thirty-six cousins," Richard said surprised.