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Chapter Text

After breakfast with his family, Leone Abbacchio, was preparing for a big escape from his family, because there was nothing worse than a big family gathering. Leon's family lived deep in the woods, their pack's territory covering a large portion of the forest for decades if not centuries.Leone took his favorite hunting knife and fishing rod.

"Take care Leo, the river will be flooded after that storm and it may not be the only trap of the forest." Said his mother, who was already preparing lunch for the upcoming event. Uncles, aunts, cousins, they were all supposed to get together today. Leone never liked these gatherings, the younger cousins just annoyed him and the older ones kept trying to fight him just because they wanted to awaken his wolf in him.

"Don't worry mom, I'm always careful." Leone answered her as he prepared a pitcher of water and something smaller to eat. A booming laugh came from behind him, "don't worry Natalie, it's blood of my blood." Leone turned to face his father, he was a very tall man with brilliant white hair, a phenomenon that had been in his family for generations and Leone was no exception. Orso Abbacchio was a kind and strong leader, a great alpha and a wonderful father, he would do the first last for his family and Leone looked up to him and hoped he would be as good a leader as he was for the most part of the other packs, with the title of alpha he passed the packs from father to first-born son or daughter.

Orso ran a hand through his son's unbound white hair, which Leone hated and immediately started growling, trying to squirm out of his father's touch. "Come on my little wolf, I'll just treat you a little bit, who knows, maybe you'll meet your soul mate somewhere." He chuckled as he finally let his son go. Natalie sighed, "maybe he won't be as immature as you at your age." Orso's attention then turned to his wife. Leone took advantage of this, quickly saying goodbye and running outside.

Leone loved walking in the forest barefoot, adoring the natural softness of the forest floor, jumping over fallen trees, climbing over boulders and inhaling the scents. The air was always fresher and cleaner after the rain, his werewolf nose was better able to pick up the scents of both his pack members and wildlife. Although Leone was unable to transform even partially, his wolf senses were functional, but despite this fact, he received a lot of ridicule from both his family members and other magical beings. It excited him very much, and each time he became more and more irritated. And often his surroundings jokingly nicknamed him "Moody".

He had to admit that his mother was right, there was a lot of danger, for example unstable trees, especially spruces blown down by the wind. He climbed carefully down the smaller slope to the swollen river. Leone started preparing his rod and then started digging in the soil with his knife to find some earthworms for bait. With the rod ready and the worm on the hook, he cast and waited, humming one of the songs his mom likes to sing and letting his mind gradually clear. While listening to the "whisper" of the forest.

The last year has been difficult for his family, one of the supporting figures in his family, his grandfather, Lupo, was murdered, then not only his pack, but also other magical communities were thrown into the shackles of fear. They searched for the killer for a whole year, with a lot of help from humans and other races, but in vain.

By the standards of the rest of the world, Southern Europe was a utopian place for all magical and supernatural creatures and even humans, a great example of this was Italy, mainly an area called Campania, whose capital was Naples and where Leone lived with his family at the western tip.

Just as the South of Europe was a utopian place, the center and the North were a dystopia. Trials of monsters and ordinary unfortunates who fell out of favor were the order of the day, as were lynchings, murders, and torture. People influenced by the propaganda of the church, which told them that God wanted to exterminate all supernatural beings because they were impure and the descendants of Lucifer himself, chased all demons to the jaws of death or beyond the borders of the countries where they lived.

Although this whole theater was created only because the rich church officials had little wealth and wanted more, the People were blind, probably like the Moles, and the threats and scares of God's wrath and vengeance for disobedience, was reason enough for the generally feeble-minded Mankind to commit atrocities .

This was one of the many things his grandfather told him, he was incredibly well-read and had many stories from his travels around the world to help the human and supernatural communities coexist and he was one of the things that made Italy so beautiful the place as Leone knew it. But he didn't want to lie in his pocket... Everything has its ups and downs.

Leone was fully absorbed in his thoughts, watching the flowing river, listening to the singing of the birds and the rustling of the treetops, when an incredibly sweet and alluring scent hit him.

He had never felt anything like this in his entire young life. He secured the rod by a few stones and set off in search of the lovely smell. He was almost mesmerized as he approached the sweet smell of freshly baked bread sweets with the scent of the and salt water.

As he approached the source, the smell of stress, fear and blood mingled with the smell of fresh baked goods. To his horror, a tiny figure in dirt-stained white clothing was lying on the bank of the river, and to his horror, she was lying face down in a pool of water. Leone ran over to her looking for the source of the blood, he hoped the crumb didn't have any serious internal injuries, he didn't want to hurt him more.

He carefully turned him onto his back and his breath hitched, he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life, he looked down at the boy with jet black hair but his face was swollen and bruised, he was bleeding from his side where he had a deep gash and he was soaked to the bone . Leone snapped out of his trance and began to check if the boy was breathing at all.

He was breathing but very shallowly, he needed help. His eyes began to glow yellow with concentration and a howl came out of his throat, a howl for help, calling out to whoever was closest. That's all he could do in this situation, then just make sure the boy didn't stop breathing and press him to warm him up. Orso immediately ran out of the house with his brothers and ran towards where he heard his son's howl. He was panicking, afraid of what had happened, Leone was mostly cautious, this was the first time he had heard a howl for help from him. He ran as fast as he had ever run and followed his scent until they reached the river where Leone was wrapped around the still body of the boy.

"Leo! What happened?" Orso shouted as Leone released the boy. "I found him here dad, we have to help him, he seems to be stopping breathing!" The boy whined as his father scooped the little boy up in his arms. Leone clung to his uncle Martor for comfort. "Cane, please go to Avdol immediately, ask him for help." Orso said calmly, Cane just nodded and ran towards where Muhammad Avdol, the healer and shaman, lived. "Martora, I'll run ahead, you and Leon go home in peace." Orso turned towards Leon, "I'm proud of you…" he said and ran with the black haired boy back to their house.

Leone was in tears, worried for the boy's life, hoping for Mr. Avdol's miraculous abilities. “Don't cry pup, the crumb will be fine." Martoro said picking Leon up in his arms. "You just have to believe…" Leone pressed against his uncle, breathing in the comforting scent. Martoro grabbed his rod with the broken line and started home with it.

Chapter Text

Leone felt only anxiety as he sat at the kitchen counter where his mom made him tea. The other members of his family asked him various questions, but Leone just waited for the arrival of Mr. Avdol and listened to the heartbeat of the boy who was currently in bed in one of the guest rooms. His father changed his clothes and wrapped him in blankets and put him in bed to keep him warm. Not allowing Leon to see him, he concluded that he should rest alone.

That didn't calm Leon much. His aunt Sienna tried to get him to play with the others, but to no avail. Leone just focused on the boy's heartbeat until someone knocked on the door. Muhammad Avdol also came with his "medical" equipment, Leon's father immediately welcomed him and immediately led him to the first floor to the little foundling. Leone struggled to get into the room only to be stopped by a firm grip on his right shoulder.

"Non, non, non, non petit loup, you must let the adults work, the boy will be on his feet in no time, Avdol will take care of him." A deep voice with a heavy French accent said. Leone wriggled out of the grip and turned to Jean Pierre Polnareff, an acquaintance of his family and Mr. Avdol's partner. Leone liked him, considered him as his own uncle.

Leone glared at him exasperatedly, Polnareff just laughed and bent down to be on the same height level as Leone.

"Aren't you glad to see Uncle Polpol?" Leone just grunted in irritation and walked away from him. Polnareff stared at him in surprise before laughing and standing up, shaking his head and watching Leone for a moment as he looked at the top of the stairs. “Jean welcome, let me get you some tea." A voice came from his right, it was Leon's mother who was looking at her son with concern. “He's incredibly anxious." She whispered to him, "I hope he gets over it soon, he never acted like this." Polnareff decided to lead her away from Leone, who was standing stubbornly at the bottom of the stairs.

After that, no one even approached Leone and he was left in his wary and tense bubble. He listened to every rustle from upstairs, the muffled conversation between his father and Mr. Avdol driving him crazy. Finally, 15 minutes later, they both leave the room and go down the stairs to Leone.

"He should be fine now, his wound has healed and he's not bleeding internally, I got water out of his lungs and now just wait until he wakes up." Mr. Avdol said to Orso. “Thank you friend, I'm glad you arrived in such a hurry, I am in your debt." Avdol smiled and squeezed Orso's shoulder, looking towards Leone. "There is no need my friend, the greatest reward is this brave boy," Avdol walked up to Leone and handed something into his much smaller hands, "you are a gift to this family, I have never met a braver young man." Leone looked at what Avdol handed him, it was an amulet carved from bone with a rune, Leone wanted to put the amulet over his head, but Natalie stopped him, who took it, unfastened it and put it on his neck.

“You can go check on him, quietly, don't wake him up. Avdol told him and Leone nodded enthusiastically and ran up the stairs leaving behind the adults who were chuckling quietly.

*****

Natalie and Orso watched their son run up the stairs. “I've never really seen him act like this," Natalie said as she hugged her husband. "Natalie he is growing up, it was bound to come sometime." Avdol muttered as he moved with the couple to the kitchen, where Polnareff was in captivity of the small children he was "willingly" playing with. "Do you know from the city if there is a child missing?" Natalie asked, pouring warm tea into their cups.

“I don't think there were any missing child posters in town." Avdol lied a bit with this one because there were countless children who were missing, but he doesn't remember this boy, he just nodded gratefully at the clinking of porcelain as Natalie handed him the tea. "So he could be from an orphanage?" Orso asked, Avdol shook his head disapprovingly. "I don't think so, children from orphanages have much poorer clothes."

"I'll send echo to Speedwagon, he'll know what to do." Natalie and Orso nodded, knowing they could trust Muhammad Ovdol.

*****

Leone entered the lighted room as quietly as possible. He turned towards the bed where the boy was lying, next to him on the bedside table were some ointments and herbs that Avdol had left there. He approached the bed with creaking parquet under his feet and sat down on the chair next to boy. Raven boy looked much better, no longer looking so unhealthy bluish/greenishand he breathed calmly, deeply and slowly.

Leone watched the boy scowling unhappily from his sleep, he would have sworn it was the cutest thing he had ever seen, he looked like an irritated kitten. Leone couldn't resist, took his hand and slowly and gently stroked his thumb over his palm.

He was snapped out of this peaceful moment when the boy suddenly sat up and stared at him with bright purple-blue eyes. Leone jumped off the bed, the boy yelled at him in exasperation, "Where are my parents?!" Leone raised his hands in a sign of peace. "Please calm down, we will explain everything to you..." Before Leone could finish his sentence, the boy jumped out of bed at him, knocking him to the ground and taking the knife that Leone still had in the holster at his waist.

In the blink of an eye he pressed the blade to his throat, Leone tried to keep him as far away as possible, holding his arm, but for the boy looking more than helpless a few seconds ago, he was surprisingly strong. "Please... enought..." Leone rasped, the boy didn't dare to give in, but luckily Leon's father rushed into the room and grabbed the boy, he started to fight back as furiously as possible, Orso snatched the knife from his hand, threw it as far but the boy was not in the least defenseless, he started scratching and biting Orso's hands, chest and even tried to hit his face. It seemed like tens of minutes to Leone, but luckily Mr. Avdol came running and anointed the boy with some kind of dark green liquid.

After a few seconds, the boy was immobilized and could only growl. "Where's my dad?!" They put him back on the bed, the boy still tried to bite, but his own muscles wouldn't obey him. "Please calm down, we don't want to hurt you!" Orso yelled at him, the boy was clearly still not calm, that's why they called Leon's mother.

Natalie rushed over, the boy after wafting in the motherly omega scent that was more effective than any sedative. "We won't hurt you honey, you're safe." Natalie told him and the boy already knew there was nothing more he could do and streams of tears began to flow down his face. "Please, I just want to go home, please..." He whined brokenly and Natalie began to soothe him by stroking his dark locks. "We'll help you get home little one, we just need a little information, I'm Orso Abbacchio." He said to him calmly as he sat down on the bed next to him.

The boy stuttered with tears, Natalie wiped them away and they waited for him to calm down so he could speak, the boy took a shaky breath and spoke, "My name is Bruno." Orso glanced at Avdol, who was clearly deep in thought. "Do you remember someone with this name?" Orso asked and Avdol just shook his head negatively.

Hiding behind Avdol, Leone was still gasping for breath at the close encounter between the knife and his neck, watching the boy cautiously. He was surprised by his strength and ferocity, the boy was a head smaller than him but he surpassed Leon in his fighting skills, was he better trained in self defense or was Leone just unwilling or unable to use his full power?

"Did you catch him?" Bruno whined, when he was waiting for a positive answer as Natalie continued to stroke his hair. “No one will hurt you here little one, you are safe here." She repeated without thinking to Bruno, who was flitting around the room with his clear blue eyes, waiting to see what would happen next.

Avdol knew that the boy probably wouldn't do anything wrong, so he used the antidote and after a while Bruno could move again, Natalie helped him sit up, he pulled away from her touch, Natalie got up with all the sympathy on her face and went to Orso.

"This will be your room, Leo will lend you clothes." Natalie spoke towards Leone, he froze as his sunset-like eyes met the bright bluish pools, Leone felt like the boy was trying to drown him in them, how intense his gaze was and he'd bet that he could easily do it.

"The earth is calling Leone, come on boy, are you still shaken?" Avdol asked him with a wide grin as he watched Leone's face turn red. "N… No…" He stammered out, his eyes meeting Bruno's again. “I'm sorry for attacking you." Bruno said to him quietly, almost shouted with honest shame on his face.

Leone wanted to show his manners, "It's okay," he said, walking over to the bed and extending his hand to the smaller boy, "my name is Leone Abbacchio, nice to meet you." Bruno cautiously accepted Leone's hand, both of them feeling a tingling sensation that neither of them had ever known before.

"Stay here for now, just bring him clothes and food from the kitchen, I'll send the rest home, I think Bruno is up to his neck in new faces today." Orso laughed and Natalie just nodded.

Avdol stood in front of the two young boys and pointed to the bedside table where there were ointments and herbs, "use the ointments on your wounds and Natalia will make tea and decoctions from the herbs for you, hold on boy, we will meet again soon." He said to Bruno before saying goodbye to them and leaving the room with Natalie and Orso, only their heavy footsteps up the wooden stairs and muffled voices could be heard as they said goodbye to everyone and left with Polnareff then the rest of their pack.

It took a while for both of them to realize that their hands were in a permanent grip before they both flinched at once. A blushing Leone put Bruno back to bed, ran out of the room to his room where he rummaged through the closet looking for the smallest clothes he could, after a successful mission he brought them back to Bruno, then went to the kitchen where his mother had already prepared a bowl for him not just for him, but also for Bruno, he thanked her and carried the food back.

The dark haired boy sat at the end of the bed, he thanked him as he accepted the bowl of food and together they were thrown into a comfortable silence. Leone took a few loud breaths trying to start a conversation, but when he looked at the small boy he ran out of words. Bruno always gave him a quizzical look before letting it go, but after a long moment of silence curiosity got the better of him and he sheepishly asked, "Leone… Where am I?"

Chapter Text

"A better question is what is the last thing you remember?" Leone looked into Bruno's eyes as if he was looking for an answer in them. Bruno broke contact with him after a short while, lifted his shirt and looked at the wound, which was now healed and left only a large scar on his left side, ugly memory from night before.

"I live in a small fishing village not far from Naples..." Leone showed signs of sadness and took Bruno's hand, as an attempt at comfort and that earlier tingling sensation, Bruno, slightly surprised by the renewed energy between them, automatically squeezed it back. It wasn't until further physical contact that Leone realized how cold Bruno was. Fortunately, I brought the clothes, the young werewolf thought, before he could ask Bruno if he was cold, he spun around, took the sweater, turned back to Bruno and waited a moment for a clear signal to reach him, who after a while raised his hands above head and Leone carefully pulled the sweater over his head.

He felt extremely pleased with this and Bruno looked pleased too, Leone would say that his eyes were shining with joy.

If Bruno says he lives near Naples, that's a long way from home, since Naples is about a day's walk and two hours by car from Leone's own home. "... In the last month people and monsters started disappearing and dying in our area, then with the storm..." Bruno's eyes clouded with tears and then he did something that made Leone jump in surprise, Bruno pulled him close and pressed his face into his chest.

In a tight embrace, inhaling each other's natural scents and drifting on a wave of comfort, Bruno began to rub his cheeks into Leone's white shirt, which was already gray with tears. "You smell like citrus, lavender, and the forest after the rain…" Bruno muttered, his nose buried in Leone's shirt. Leone smiled, just like Bruno, he too was seduced by the delicious scent before one knew it, his face buried in dark curls. "You smell like freshly baked poppy combs..." With another breath he had to recognize a strong, familiar but untested sensation, "and salty... water."

After a few minutes, Bruno started to let out a soft purr, which startled Leone and he pushed Bruno away with a blush behind his ears. The smaller boy looked at him questioningly before Leone absent-mindedly searched for an excuse for his behavior and! Food!

Still blushing aggressively, Leone reached for the bowls, handed one to Bruno, and immediately began digging into the other with a spoon. “Sorry, we should finish it before it gets completely cold. The end of the spoken sentence was said by Leone, as he nodded vigorously to his own statement with a serious expression, Bruno in no way looked like he wanted to contradict him, but he had to hide his smirk behind the heaped spoon of goulash.

They both finished eating peacefully, Leone took a empty bowl from Bruno and handed him some clothes he brought from his room, he was warmly received and immediately put on another sweater and pants. "Thank you Leone, I would like to ask if I could take a nap now?"

Leone nodded hastily and basically shot out of bed before covering Bruno with the first and then second blanket, Bruno chuckling softly as he watched the young werewolf act. Leone gave him a confused look as he crouched over him, their faces only inches apart until Leone felt the dark haired boy's warm breath. "Never mind..." Bruno said as he pulled away and took the tea from the table which was almost cold by now.

Leone stood by the door ready to go with bowls in hand, Bruno's attention returned to Leon after a few sips and he gave him a very strange look one would say cold. "I think you can go now, thanks for everything, but I need to rest now." He took one last deep drink and placed the mug back on the table, then with a sleepy sigh he pulled the blanket up to his chin and closed his eyes.

Leone whispered "Good night" to Bruno, walked out of the room and in high spirits walked to the kitchen, where his father and mother were discussing something. "...I know Natalie, I've heard all about it, but I don't think this is the time to panic our pack about Him... It's nonsense, isn't it..." Orso gestured aggressively as he paced back and forth , Natalie instead sat at the kitchen counter nervously biting her nails before jumping out of her chair in alarm as she spotted her son and Orso immediately followed her actions. "Leone!" Orso shouted as he realized his son had heard their conversation, "how is our little guest?" Orso stammered out, Leone standing at the bottom of the stairs with a neutral expression on his face.

"He's sleeping." Leone answered, handing the dishes to his mother to wash. "Well I sent Capro with Avdol's letter to Naples... you know boy, I didn't want to talk about it earlier, but something dark and powerful is coming." Before Orso could continue, Leone asked him, "It's about the disappearances and the murders ?" Orsa's yellow-purple eyes widened in surprise, and Natalie also stopped washing for a moment and turned to her son.

"That's what Bruno told you? What else did he say?" Orso bent down and scooped his son into his arms, Leon was surprised by the action but didn't try to wriggle out of his father's arms. “Nothing… I overheard that from you." Orso sat his son down on the kitchen island, a look of anxiety on his face as he nervously scratched his bearded chin, he had to be more careful next time.

"The latest attacks are quite similar to the Gévaudan Beast, one of us who found fun in killing and maiming, the Monster from Naples is simply called Diavolo... He attacks at intervals of several days, weeks and months, he always has the same number of victims, the only thing what is certain is that he is a changeling and most likely a werewolf, because there were very specific marks of bites and claws and hair at the crime scenes..."

********************

Orso remembered his own sense of disgust and horror when he was summoned to Naples with other pack leaders to see if they could identify the tracks. Jonathan Joestar, Risotto Nero, Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli and his cousin Julius were there with him. That day was hot, almost forty degrees in the shade, and there on one of the main streets of Naples lay a body, but body is the strong word, it was more of a bloody mush. The officers who called them arranged for the street to be empty that day.

Jonathan held a snow-white handkerchief over his face, looking like he was about to throw up from the stench of blood, bile, and fear emanating from the boiled remains. Risotto was the most calm, walking around the "body" and examining it, looking for every little clue that would take them further. "Do you have any leads at all?" Julius, a long-haired blond, asked one of the guards.

"No, you know... People go out sporadically and he probably pissed off this poor man, we're looking for his relatives, but according to his clothes, he wasn't from Naples." Julius nodded in understanding as he turned to face Risotto, who was now crouched over the meaty mess, sniffing.

Orso approached the body and, with the permission of the guards, examined the shreds of clothing that remained on it. Searching, he found a pendant in the pocket of his torn coat, it was a sprig of dill covered in resin. He cleaned the amulet of the blood that remained on it when a voice came from behind him, "He knew what was going on here and wanted to at least tilt his luck a little."

It was Caesar looking at the amulet in Orso's hands, Orso nodded and handed it to him, Caesar examined it with interest. “I don't think it's just the dill… Honestly, nothing would have saved him from the beast. Risotto said as he surveyed the area. Jonathan finally decided to approach the body, having lived in Italy for barely a month, moving here with his wife, Erina, because of the lynching that cost his father and mother their lives.

Julius obviously couldn't contain himself and started laughing. "You probably didn't expect such a welcome in Italy, did you Mr. Joestar?" Julius chuckled as he walked up to him and patted the burly man on the back. Jonathan took a breath and put the handkerchief back in his pocket, hesitantly looking back at the body. “Honestly, I have encountered such atrocities before, but I did not expect that you would take me to the investigative division shortly after I moved. Jonathan was more than ready to help in any way. Everyone valued him as a great helper and friend, currently he was strongly connected to the Zeppeli family, who were very helpful to both him and his wife.

"You know, there are different ways of welcoming guests everywhere, in Central Europe it's bread and salt, and here it's a torn body to shreds." Julius chuckled at his own joke, Caesar sighed and rolled his eyes at his cousin's behavior.

Orso continued to search through the shreds of clothing but found nothing else until he opened the victim's hand which was clenched tightly into a fist. "You won't believe this..." Orso muttered in a low voice and everyone turned their gazes to him. "What did you find Mr. Abbacchio?!" One of the guards shouted as he excitedly ran towards him. All the alphas were leaning over him to get a better look at the find, Orso stood up and holding a handful of hair in his hands, dark black hair, he held it up against the hot sun, it had a pinkish color to it as the sun's rays passed through it.

"This is amazing, finally the first real clue!" One of the constables exclaimed, and his colleague immediately joined in the cheering. "I don't know if it will be enough to catch the killer, but we have the first clue." Caesar smiled at Orso, they all looked pleased, after months of terror they were a little closer to Diavolo, a little closer to ending the tyranny.

*************************

Orso snapped out of his memories when he heard Natalie yell, "Orso! The boy is gone!" Horrified, Orso himself ran into the room where the boy was supposed to sleep, but the bed was gone, empty, only Leone was kneeling next to it with a blank expression on his face as a shiny, purple creature materialized behind him and slowly transformed into a black haired boy. Orso and Natalie were scalded as they stood in the doorway, their son having his own Guardian.

Chapter Text

Bruno waited, listening to every single creak of the stairs as Leone descended. Then he quietly got out of bed, make a bed, took rest of clothes that had been brought to him. He pulled on whatever to keep him as warm as possible and grabbed the hunting knife Leone had left there from the duvet across from the bed.

Bruno did not know how to describe the emotion that filled him, he felt anger, gratitude, determination, sadness and fear, all of which led him to a single need, to take revenge, to take revenge on the animal that brought grief and fear to his home. Even before he made his way to the window, he took a deep breath of the lavender-citrus scent that enveloped every piece of clothing Bruno was wearing.

Bruno was grateful to Leon and his whole family for saving him, and with a heavy heart he just raised the window to climb onto the roof, from which he jumped down into the soft grass. The desire for revenge was stronger than his moral reasoning.

He took off and ran towards the river where they found him. It was slowly getting dark and orange sunlight cut through the branches. It was wonderful here, it's a shame that Bruno couldn't enjoy this beauty more in a peaceful spirit. He inhaled deeply the remnants of the scent of rain in the air, which threw him into a whirlwind of memories of last night.

*****************************************************

A storm was lashing the coast of Pozzuoli, Bruno watched the massive waves bounce off the stone shore through the downstairs window of their living room. It lasted all day, unfortunately everyone had to stay inside and this led to more than one argument, his parents had been together for two whole days, whenever Paolo just took a little louder breath Partenza immediately started screaming that he was just robbing her of her personal space.

It was known to Bruno that his parents are no longer in love and that his mother is trying to take him away from his father, for about 2 months she has a new partner named Vinc, he is a Shapeshifter, more precisely a fox a werefox... "Foxthing?" Bruno asked, his big blue eyes shining with innocence. Paolo always laughed at this label that Bruno had created, he just chuckled quietly in front of Partenza, which irritated her all the more.

Their arguments were never in front of Bruno, so they mostly took place at night in their bedroom, which was right next to Bruno's room, but the walls were like paper, so he could hear every word. Once, when Bruno had to listen to them again, he stood in the doorway, without saying a word, waiting for them to notice him. Paolo was the first to register the little boy, getting off the bed and walking over to his son, but then Partenza pushed him away and knelt down to look Bruno straight in the eyes.

"Bruno... My sweetie, would you rather stay with mommy? Vince and I could live together in Venice, he has a beautiful big house, you'll make friends there and you'll be able to go to the best school, wouldn't that be wonderful?" Her gray eyes sparkled as she promised her son mountains and valleys, "you love me don't you?" She said hopefully, but Bruno knew that she alone would handle all of this with ease, but what about his father? A kind man of few words, what was he trying to provide for his family?

No, Bruno had already made up his mind. “I'll stay with dad." Both parents were more than shocked by his answer, Partenza had tears in her eyes and Paolo tried to talk him out of it. "You have a better chance there than here, you should go with your mother." Paolo said as he stroked his son's shoulders.

"Bruno..." Partenza sighed, she knew that if her son was passionate about something, nothing would convince him. She stood up with clenched fists and said to Bruno, "Alright then... Please go sleep, I need to talk to your father."

Without blinking and without a word, Bruno went to his room, where with tears in his eyes he fell on his face on a fluffy bluish pillow, tried to block his ears so as not to hear his mother's screams, and after some time fell into a restless sleep. The next morning, his parents told him their "verdict", they would stay together until Bruno was 15 years old, so that his mother could still be close to him.

One way or another, his mother kept getting further and further away from him, their bond slowly breaking. She went to see Vince for longer and longer periods of time and came back "home" sporadically, so she didn't keep her promise. However, when she was gone, Bruno enjoyed his days with his father, helping him to fish, they started repairing the house together, everything indicated that everything was turning for the better, until that one stormy evening.

The monster called "Diavolo" has moved from Naples to new hunting grounds. People of Pozzuoli were paralyzed with fear for a whole month, that month Partenza didn't move an inch from the town, even though Vinc tried to get her out of there several times saying: "La mia bellezza, we have to get out of here, it's dangerous here!" But Partenza sensed her remaining motherly instinct and decided to stay before the Creature left.

"Bruno." A voice came from behind the black haired boy, snapping him out of his thoughts as his father spoke to him. "Yes papa?" Paolo looked devastated and the smell of anxiety wafted off him, the smell was so strong it was suffocating. Paolo hadn't slept for days, patrolling around house, Parteza was gone, in town at her friend... His blue, kind eyes were bloodshot, and he had big, dark bags under them. Papa?" Bruno asked before Paolo pulled him into a tight hug. "Mio figlio, mio figlio... Non sai evene quanto ho paura..." Bruno knew that his father was trying to be strong, strong for his little boy, but now it all came down on him, like a brick wall. Bruno reciprocated his sacrifice, repeating his father's movements as he stroked his hair.

They were jolted out of their relaxing moment by the loud sound of the door suddenly opening and slamming shut. "Paolo! There are four dead people in the square, i think it followed me, I was walking from Illaria's, we have to go right now..." However, before she could finish, the sound of shattering glass echoed through the house, coming from the upper floor. Paolo let go of Bruno and quickly uncovered the carpet, beneath which was a trap door, which he lifted up and, using less force, shoved the surprised Bruno into a hole in the floor. Bruno looked panicked at his father, whose eyes were already glowing red, "The corridor leads from the house towards the woods, run as fast as you can, boy." Paolo finished, dropping the hatch and covering it with a rug.

Now Bruno was in total darkness, he was scared. But he couldn't just leave them to the creature, he wanted to help so he pushed on the hatch, but it didn't budge. The rumbling growls of both his parents and the monster came through every little crevice and shook the walls of the tunnel.

"You have nothing to look at that animal..." Bruno's mother said, rather shouted, a throaty and very deep laugh was heard. Bruno's senses were now intoxicated not only by the smell of fear and anxiety, but also by the smell of blood and death... The monster was getting closer and closer, descending the stairs to his parents.

"You shouldn't be ordering me around donna, but you know who you have the honor with so I'd take my word for it…" The man who smelled like death said and Bruno's breath hitched when he felt movement right above him, luckily it was only his father who stood directly above the hatch. "Leave you monster... Wait when I take off your wolf mask, you will be hunted by us all... And the hunter will become the prey." Paolo said with a growl. The man laughed mockingly as he descended the final steps. "I would argue that Bucciarati..." He said in an almost snide voice. "How..." Now Paolo was even more flustered, the feral wolf was clearly trying to throw him off balance.

"I've been following you for a long time and I'm interested in something, or should I say someone…?" His lilting voice mixed with the sickening scent of desire that Bruno wasn't that familiar with, but somehow made him sick, together with the smell of death, the combination was something that made Bruno wants to vomit.

The man continued to move towards Paolo, making a small curve as he stood to Paolo's left. Bruno heard the man take a deep breath, sniff, then look at Paolo with red glowing eyes visible from under the mask. "And what I want is hidden under the floor." Shortly after his words there were growls, loud cracking of bones and screams.

"Partenza!" Paolo exclaimed as she lunged at Diavolo and he simply grabbed her with one hand and slammed her to the ground, she yelped in pain as he stomped on her ribs. "I wanted our meeting to be peaceful!" Diavolo yelled as he grabbed Partenza by her greenish dress as she struggled to get back to her feet and threw her against Paolo with all his strength, sending them crashing into the wall together where a hole was visible from the impact.

Paolo tried to recover as quickly as possible. He was out of breath and could feel the blood running down the back of his head. His attention quickly shifted to Partenza, he quickly listened to see if she was breathing, her ribs were definitely broken from her gasping breath. Paolo, like his ex-wife, was willing to lay down his life for their only child. Anger and adrenaline bubbled inside him now, lending him a newly charged strength. He carefully set it aside and faced Diavolo, who was smirked like a cat that had just stung a canary.

"Give it up... You are weak compared to me, Diavolo, give me the child and I will spare your poor life!" The storm outside grew stronger and so did the emotions in the house. Paolo raised his head, which had been bowed until then, and with his ruby eyes and fangs sticking out of his mouth, growled, "Only over my dead body." Diavolo grinned widely and then showed off his own sharp teeth. "Your fate is hereby sealed Bucciarati...!" It was the last thing heard before the two men engaged each other, Diavolo was bigger than Paolo and stronger, but Paolo was driven by his fatherly instinct, ready to protect his pup. So he was not an easy opponent.

The carving was bloody, both of them taking a fair amount of blood and deep gashes until Diavolo used dirty tactics and ripped the rug from under Paolo, also revealing the hatch that Bruno was still hiding under. Diavolo laughed triumphantly. “Your last moments are coming Bucciarati, you were weak, you failed to protect your loved ones and these will be your last thoughts before I kill you." Paolo kept trying to get back on his feet, but out of breath and exhausted, he always fell. Now he was literally kneeling in front of the Devil, his hands were placed near the hatch, he was hoping that his boy would escape, but that didn't happen.

Diavolo grabbed his hair and forced him to look into his face. "You know, I've been watching your little family for about a month and I've come to a simple conclusion..." He told Paolo, but by then he was holding him by the neck and crushing him with brutal force, clawing at his throat. Paolo was still trying with the last of his strength to free himself from the death grip. Diavolo snorted mockingly as he pulled the man closer to him so he could whisper in his ear. "... You are a disgrace to our species and an even greater disgrace to all Alphas..." Diavolo was about to deliver the killing strike when the hatch below him burst open and Bruno jumped out and bit Diavolo's arm. He didn't even scream in pain, but rather in surprise, when he let go of Paolo and took Bruno with his other hand and threw him away.

"You little…!" Diavolo raged as he walked towards Bruno who quickly knocked himself back and stood in a defensive pose. Diavolo stopped a few steps away from him as he looked down at his bleeding hand, a dark smile appearing on his face from a frown. "You don't even know how beautiful you are... Much more beautiful up close, your fighting spirit can't be denied either..." Diavolo almost purred as he licked the blood off his hand. Bruno watched him warily, waiting for an attack at any moment and calculating possible evasive maneuvers himself.

"You know little one, you're the only thing I came here for, you still have one last chance to leave with me for good and I'll let your parents live, as you can see I'm a very kind man so I hope I get something in return..." Bruno he was breathing heavily, he was thinking he was willing to save his parents life, he was listening to the heartbeats of both of them, his mother's heartbeat was erratic and very slow, his father's was as fast as a cart going down a steep hill. Protect them... You must protect the pack... A voice whispered to him, then Bruno slowly straightened up and a triumphant smile spread across the devil's face. "That's right boy... Come to me..." Bruno did as he was told, he was barely half a step away before Paolo jumped on the Diavolo's back and bit his neck, now Diavolo he screamed in pain. "Run Bruno! Into the woods!" he yelled at his son Paolo in his alpha voice as he sank his claws into the devil's bare chest.

Hardly obeying his father's command, Bruno jumped back into the hiding place under the floor and continued down the dark tunnel to the other end. When he was outside, he was about twenty meters from the forest, he looked shakily back at home,to get Beast from his parents Bruno was hoping that the monster would chase him, which was confirmed by the furious howl, and with that, he ran towards to the forest.

Even before him, he began to think furiously how to shake him off, he didn't know the forest that well, his father forbade him to go there, because so Bruno doesn't go into the forest alone and get lost, so he had to improvise.

The forest was dark, the trees swaying aggressively in the strong wind, making creaking sounds that were terrifying to say the least. Thinking quickly where to go next, Bruno only stopped for a second until he heard a heavy thump, instinctively running after the sound of water.

Diavolo growled and cursed furiously, Bruno could almost feel his breath on the back of his head forcing him to join in, the sodden forest floor was sliding under his bare feet, his lungs were aching and his survival instincts were running at full speed due to how small he was sliding under the logs and crawled through the thorn bushes without much difficulty.

"When I catch you, I'll tear your legs off!" Diavolo thundered as he had to fight his way through another thorn bush, his body pierced with thorns, bruised and full of wounds from the sharp branches, but the prize in front of him was too tempting. He was almost within reach, if Bruno hadn't suddenly changed direction, he would have been in his clutches.

Sensing the opportunity Mother Nature was giving him, Bruno ran towards the tree that clearly looked like it was going to fall at any moment and luckily for him it did, Bruno jumped and the top of the spruce tree swept Diavolo away like you swat a fly. Bruno was slowly retreating, Diavolo was obviously still alive, maybe he was stunned and so Bruno could add precious seconds to the good and so he turned and ran further towards the river.

The water was able to cover his smell, so it would be harder for Diavolo to track him down. Bruno was standing on a small slope just above the wild river, he needed to get to the other side... But how...

"You're a smart little thing... You almost killed me..." Bruno was startled, he was so absorbed in his own thoughts that Diavolo could have approached him unnoticed. His very special shattered pupils of his eyes were a strange combination of yellow and green and those glowing eyes were focused only on Bruno, now he was ready not to let him run away anymore, he walked towards the young boy and the boy took a step back.

"Now you have nowhere to run, little one... I got angry, but now I just confirmed that you are suitable material for the post of my mate... I promise you a pleasant life... Let's go home." Bruno shivered, covered in goosebumps, more from the man himself than the cold of the air, he kept backing up until he couldn't go any further, only the raging river behind him, if he wanted to get around the man he wouldn't be able to.

Bruno was determined, with the last step he fell into the river, Diavolo tried to catch him, but all he did was claw Bruno's side. He growled ominously and watched the current of the river, hoping the boy would surface. He waited, for minutes, he walked downstream for some time, but there was no sign of the boy, in a rage he began to destroy everything around him, he pounded the ground, literally tore up mature trees and bushes, then he looked back at the river for the last time and ran furiously away.

In the river, the little boy's body was further carried by the current to his fate.

****************************************

Bruno fell to his knees and began to sob, he was afraid and a sudden outburst forced him to leave the home of the people who saved him, he was afraid for their lives... Just as he was afraid for his parents, they were one hundred percent dead, Bruno did not believe that they would survive . No vendetta will take place. He was just a kid.

He was startled as a buzzing sound approached him, one he had never heard in his young life and alarmed he held his knife ready to use it. He waited until he appeared in front of him... He... He ran and fell to the ground, sobbing, Bruno realized that he was copying his recent actions perfectly. Fascinated, he examined the body of his copy, which had an arched groove with numbers on its forehead?

"Bruno!" There was a sound from the forest where his copy came running, but when he looked back at him... He was gone. "Bruno!" A call could be heard a little closer. It was Leone and Bruno felt his chest tighten with pain, not physical but mental, Leone walked through the bushes and when he saw Bruno he ran towards him with outstretched arms and wide teary eyes.

Leone grabbed the smaller boy and pulled him into hug. "Thank the gods you're okay! I was so scared!" He cried out shakily and pushed Bruno away a few times just to make sure he wasn't hurt. Bruno didn't know what to say, he was speechless at the moment, just enjoying the taller boy's warm touch.

Finally, Orso and the other members that Orso quickly summoned rushed in. "For God's sake!" Orso shouted as he lifted Bruno under his arms as he freed him from Leon's grip.

Bruno still had tears in his eyes, just looking at the little boy made Orso melt, he wasn't angry at him, he was just scared. "I know it's hard and you're worried about your parents, you're still too small to fight, don't do adult work." Orso said as he looked into the boy's eyes. Bruno knew that he didn't stand a chance on his own, the moment he ran away his own wolf's desire was to protect the pack, in the heat of determination and protective instinct he let himself be carried away.

Leone watched him with wary eyes, something unknown to him bubbling inside him, something his family tried to hide. He was thrilled that Bruno was with him and safe, he couldn't get enough of his scent that literally enveloped him. He was looking forward to home, to the warmth, where they would drink tea together and enjoy their own presence. Oh yes, that was on Leone's mind, thoughts with an unreal content of joy. But now he followed his father, still holding the boy in his arms, who was leading them all back home. "We'll be here for you as long as you need little one." Bruno trusted them as he had trusted just his father, he took one last look at Leone, who was also watching him and gave him a sad smile perhaps as a minor apology, which Leone returned with a smaller smirk.

Chapter Text

The next day, they set out for Naples early in the morning, thanks to the help of Polnareff and Avdol, they rode in a carriage. Natalie picked out selected clothes for Orso and Leone, she gave Bruno some of Leone's old clothes, which were already small for him. The white-haired boy was excited, but also nervous and at the same time sad, even depressed, because he might never see Bruno again. Bruno was calm after his escape, or at least that's how he looked on the outside, only supernatural creatures could sense the swirling emotions that flowed from him in waves. Just like from Leone.

Upon their return home, the two young wolves were hidden in Leone's room. The two young men talked almost until the early morning, they talked about trifles, like Leone's favorite hobbies and the toys that his grandfather had made for him, which he showed him appropriately, and about books, as he soon discovered that Bruno himself could not read very well, that he did not like it here and there he tried to teach dad, but there was not enough time, so Leone offered to read something to him.

Bruno heartily accepted the offer because Leone had more books than he did. The white-haired boy let him choose, and he chose according to the sonically pleasing title that Leone read to him. He finally chose Puss in Boots, Leone's sonorous voice lulled Bruno into a well-deserved sleep, and no sooner had one thought than they were both asleep, Leone with a book on his chest and Bruno pressed against his left side, sleeping like he hadn't in a long time.

That morning when the two boys got up, they dressed rather awkwardly and went downstairs to the breakfast that Natalie had prepared for them. Towards the end of their meal, the neighing of horses was heard, and with it, of course, Polnareff and his Silver Chariot, which was only partly silver. Leone gobbled up the rest of his food and ran to the door where he jumped at Polnareff who let out a startled yelp before realizing it was just Leone.

"Mais! Petit loup, you seem to have slept well." Polnareff laughed as he hugged Leone back. "I'm sorry Uncle Polnareff…" Leone mumbled as Polnareff patted him gently on the back. “It's okay Petit loup, everyone has their days sometimes. He placed Leone on the ground and smiled at him and then at Bruno as they entered the house together.

"Bon Matin, Little Man, hello Natalie, where's Orso?" Said the Frenchman with a permanent smile on his lips. Natalie greeted him, "Buongiorno to you too Jean, Orso is getting ready, he'll be here in a bit, do you want something for breakfast?" The blonde woman asked as she topped up Bruno's tea. "No, thank you Natalie, Muhammad literally prepared a buffet for me." He politely declined and his gaze shifted to Bruno who was sitting to Leone's right. "What about you? Are you feeling better?" He carefully asked the dark-haired boy, who was a little scared of his giant size and so hid behind Leone, who in that moment managed to sit back at the table and peeked from behind him. “Yes sir, thank you.

"You don't have to talk to me like that, just call me Polnareff, that'll probably be best for you, right?" Bruno just nodded softly and continued to hide behind Leone. Natalie watched her little boy with a warm expression as he whispered softly to the smaller boy.

"Uncle Polpol is harmless, he wouldn't hurt a fly." Leone declared confidently, Polnareff was of course pleased that the boy had such trust in him, he hoped that the new find would also build it for him.

"Well done Jean you're already here, punctual as a clock!" Orso said suddenly coming through the door. He was obviously fully ready to go, as evidenced by his choice of clothes and the amount of luggage he had with him. "Of course! I'm always on time." Polnareff shouted and went to help Orso with the luggage.

“Boys, we'll be leaving in a moment!" Polnareff shouted, grabbing some luggage and together with Orso they went to the wagon. “Well boys you'll have to go now I hope you're all right Leo,” the boy jumped off the chair helping Bruno down before turning to his mother to nod, Natalie satisfied with the answer then turned to Bruno “and I packed up for you Bruno, some old Leone's clothes, which are too small for him, at least you can use them." She said, pushing them a small bag of fresh pastries, poppy seed combs to be exact.

Then she caressed them both on the face, ruffled Leone's hair slightly, he grunted unpleasantly, which made Bruno chuckle, and she led them in front of the house to the carriage, there Polnareff and Orso were already at the coachman's place and they were dealing with something, most likely something serious, Leone could tell by the frowning brooding expression of both his father and his "uncle". His mother hugged him and kissed him on the forehead, "be polite Leo and listen to dad and uncle Polpol, I'll see you soon," she added and gave Leone an offering, then moved to Bruno. "It was pleasure to meet you Bruno, I hope we meet again sometime, be strong and believe that the people you meet will be more than willing to help you." She stroked Bruno's hair, he didn't know what to say, so he just took her hand. "Thank you very much and I also hope to meet again sometime." He whispered gratefully and Natalie stroked his hair one last time before he and Leone got into the Silver Chariot.

Orso also bid farewell to Natalie with a deep kiss and a warm hug before breaking away from her and sitting beside Polnareff in the coachman's seat, Jean just cracked his whip and the horses took off, heading towards Naples with a waving Natalie on their backs. Leone let out a loud breath, feeling the pressure of excitement, sadness, and a pinch of fear about leaving home, about being in an unknown place with unknown people, and what would happen to Bruno.

He looked at the dark haired boy who was fighting his own emotions, staring at the clenched hands in his lap. Bruno turned to face him, stray raven locks covering his face that Leone tried his best not to tuck behind his ear. "Thank you Leone, I am grateful to both you and your family." Bruno said pleadingly, but with an effort he smiled, the sweetest little smile, and took Leone's hand, his heart pounding in his throat at this point. "I'm sure everyone would do that..." He barely finished saying that, so he wanted to take one... The whole incident that happened to Bruno with that monster, a very bad comment.

"I'm sorry... That sounded wrong," Leone tried to save his skin, he closed his eyes in shock, he didn't want to look Bruno in the eyes, "it's okay, I believe that not every person is good and even self-sacrificing, but you are and your family too." Fortunately that calmed Leone down, he lowered his head to hide his blushing cheeks, but when he raised it again he saw that Bruno was "sleeping" and dangerously leaning his head against his shoulder and before he could move to the other seat, Bruno was on top of him he slid down, Leone wanted to make room for him, but before he could move an inch, Bruno wrapped his arms around his arm, "just stay, I don't want to sleep on the hard bench..." Bruno muttered to him, making Leone relax his stiffness slightly and he himself, after some time listening to Bruno's deep inhalations and exhalations, muffled sounds from the countryside and breathtaking views, fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

You wouldn't even think and they were already entering Naples.

The road slowly changed from a dusty field to a paved one, and everything around them became even more alive. The buildings were huge and beautifully decorated with various ornaments and gargoyles, some of them had shops on their lower floors with visible signboards with all kinds of offers of goods or services, between the buildings there were larger and smaller green areas where people of all ages, ethnicities and races were sitting, on the paved areas housed the markets, where vendors tried to shout over each other in order to attract as many people as possible to their stall. Carriages were constantly crossing the paved roads, or people on horses, or slightly suicidal pedestrians were crossing here.

The sudden commotion around them woke both boys up, Polnareff joining in the noise as he shouted from the front of the car. "Guys, we're here, be careful getting off!" Leone didn't even know it and Bruno was already out of the car, he sighed at the lack of warmth and got out himself, stretched and yawned, Orso also got down and took only a leather satchel with him. "I'll take the luggage to our typical place and then join you, good luck Little Man!" Polnareff finished with a smile and with a loud "hyyyaa" the cart started again.

Bruno and Leone waved at him for a moment before Orso led them towards where the assembly would be held. "It's a short distance from here, we'll sit down for a while to eat." Orso said as he led them down the street to a small park with seating, Leone pulled combs out of his bag, handed one to Bruno, who thanked him, and then slowly they each took their comb and exchanged a few words here and there.

Polnareff soon found them, he and Orso wanted to have some cold drinks, but the clock on the nearby tower struck noon, the assembly was held in ten minutes. “We have to go boys." Orso said making them all head back to the venue, which was an impressively decorated, rotunda shaped building, yellow in color, surrounded by an exceedingly large number of people... But not just people.

Leone's young and inexperienced nose also recognized the scents of other creatures, but he could not classify them, all he recognized was his own kind. In addition, there was a kind of demonstration going on, which they had to fight their way to the entrance, the protestors shouted various slogans, for example:

"Monsters out" or "Stop the murderous beasts" and "Beast less than Man". Some banners also had grotesque depictions of murderous werewolves and other mythical creatures.

There were a couple of bizarre people hanging out at the entrance who, judging by the smell, were werewolves. When they saw Polnareff and Orso, one of them hissed in annoyance, "Abbacchio! I hope you have a good reason for dragging us here!" Orso didn't even look back as he walked past the blue haired man, Polnareff spoke up instead, "come on Ghiaccio, don't be so hot-blooded, we don't want any bad blood..." The man named Ghiaccio was clearly not in the mood for making friends and stomped the heel of his shoe on Polnareff's foot, before Leone could see what was happening next, the door slammed shut behind them, leaving only screams and curses to be heard.

Orso led them down a corridor at the end of which was a huge oak door with the emblems of the supernatural groups of all of Calabria guarded by two men. "To all jumping werewolves! Orso, cheers!" One of the guards standing by the door shouted, "long time no see!" The blond man with the holey hat shouted and he and his colleague opened the door behind which the shouting was heard, Orso gave the two men one of his rare smiles in greeting and led the boy further into the room.

He finally let them go as the door slammed shut behind them and they found themselves in a huge silent room with lots of irritated… Men.

Leone finally got his bearings and looked around, he, Bruno, and his father were standing in the middle of the hall, and around them, on wooden benches arranged in a circle that rose like a terrace, were men who looked terrifying. At that moment you would have heard a pin drop, the silence was deafening, Orso bowed to all sides to show respect to all present and proceeded with the boys to the vacant seats just to the right of the elevated judge's bench.

Leone and Bruno could feel the burdensome, penetrating eyes of everyone present, therefore they both cursed each other why they couldn't be kanima's... Just for the sake of invisibility. Suddenly, the huge door burst open with a loud creak, and a man with long blond hair, decorated with a bowler hat with colorful feathers and a scar across his face, stepped into the hall with the clatter of high heels.

"I'm sorry my dears that I'm late, I still had to deal with the human baby abduction case, but it all ended well." The man said warmly as he climbed onto the judge's bench, where he remained standing and waited for the others to stand up, then, like a well-functioning choir, they all started at once:

"Non iurare praesidium, auxilium nostrum et species, ut in fidem, humilitatem et praeparati animi aedificare necessitudines inter interiorem et non erunt ducentae quinquaginta et ad praesidium in omnis Campania, sed etiam ad totam Italiam factam."

Then, as if on command, everyone sat down, except for the man from the "throne", who was still standing with a soft smile on his lips and folded hands. “I'm glad you all arrived so quickly, but let's not waste any more time...” The man looked around the room, all seats were taken but one, “Mr. Brando,” he said to the small blond man who looked like he would he wanted to be anywhere but here judging from his bored to irritated expression, he got up with a sigh and waited for what was wanted of him. "Mr. Brando, where is your brother? Did you tell him about the assembly??" He said to Mr. Brando, who rolled his eyes before snapping in annoyance, "Of course, but that's it, I'm not his babysitter… That's beyond my business."

Sitting back down after this, the scarred man sighed before leaving his questioning and continuing. "Okay then, but thank you anyway," he returned his soft smile as he turned to the huge dark haired man, "well next I'd like to welcome Mr. Jonathan Joestar who, like many of us, escaped lynching with his wife, here to Italy" he pointed to a burly man with a petite blond woman sitting next to him, they both stood up and Jonathan said, "Thank you for the warm welcome and I hope we can be as helpful as possible to this community and get along well.

He bowed and sat down together with his wife, and the man with the scar said happily: "We thank you for your kindling..." Then the man opened his own leather bag and took out a stack of parchments and spread some of them in front of him and motioned to the man to his right, who looked older than anyone else here and asked him to hand out the cards, "so let's continue," with that he too sat down and folded his hands on the bench, "there is a mass murderer among us," he said darkly and around the hall there were whispers and annoyed sighs, the man waited until they stopped so he could continue in peace," it's not just a problem for Naples, but now for the whole of Calabria, because Diavolo, like a tornado, has swept through the whole area and it can no longer be neglected , that's why we're here, mainly because of this boy who survived."

Everyone turned at once and looked at Bruno, who was almost unable to breathe with fear. "The child did survive? How?" Said a deep voice from the other end of the hall before another joined in, "that's impossible, no one survived!"

"What if the kid is making it up?"

"How do we know it's Diavolo?"

"I think this is just a waste of time!"

"Enough!" Someone thundered from the door, everyone turned in shock, the blond man from the high bench breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. "Mr. Nero, I'm sorry but I didn't notice you weren't here, thank you for coming." The blond said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with the handkerchief he had in his breast pocket, but the huge man with white hair and terrifying, red glowing eyes didn't even move, he just stood there, waiting. Before anyone wanted to shout something at him, he spoke up.

"The child is not lying, I helped the shaman Avdol, and went with him to the place of the boy's residence, the typical smell of the killer was all over the place, in addition, there were traces of a fight and a lot of blood with it and a seriously injured person, a man, his father,” bruno's breath stopped for a second and he unconsciously gripped leon's hand, both boys didn't even sulk as the giant turned to face the irritated man, “so the kid's not lying Brando...” After that he went to sit down in an empty seat without another word.

Then there was silence again, everyone looked either embarrassed, offended, or lost, the man from the high bench himself tried to stutter something out, ran his hand over his face to try and get rid of his nervousness. "Thank you sir Nero where is the injured?"

"At Avdol's, then me and my pack provide the treatment." The man then looked at Bruno, his face showing no trace of any emotion, adding to his terrifying appearance. The blond man himself didn't know how to proceed, he looked around, "so... The child is in danger, does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed?"

The hall again erupted into chatter, shouting and the occasional curse before Orso let out a loud whistle. "You know, I don't want to offend any of you anointed heads, and I know you'd rather see anyone here than me, but understand that this boy," he pointed at Bruno, who was trying to shrink as much as he could at the moment, and next to him, Leone sit with a bitter face from Bruno's painful grip literally crushing his hand, "he is in danger, his stubbornness and love for his family put him in danger yesterday," Orso had to take a deep breath as he himself was overcome with emotion.

"He has no one right now, he can't be with us, you all know that and now comes my proposal," he turned around the hall to look each individual straight in the eyes, "Bruno, he will be roaming the packs, until Diavolo is a thing of the past, one of you will have to be the first,” Orso found the strength and thundered out with an impressive echo throughout the hall, “Which of you has the courage to face the devil himself?!” Jonathan was already raising his hand before his wife stopped him as she whispered something in his ear and a dejected look spread across his face and he nodded.

Silence, not even a whisper of them communicating with each other, endless seconds passed and it was already looking hopeless, before with a loud sigh the terrifying... That is, Mr. Nero stood up. "You wretches," he barked venomously at all the bystanders, "I'm taking the boy." Suddenly everyone started protesting.

"Your pack of freaks can't take care of a child!"

"Are you out of your mind Nero?! You want that child to fall into one of your creeps… Laps?!"

“I think with that, we can throw the kid over to the Diavolo."

"ENOUGH!" A blond man who was more than dialed in suddenly shouted, his scarred face showing a deep frown and a swollen vein on his forehead that was barely covered by his crooked bangs. “Not only are lives at stake, but there is a child who is going through trauma and is in constant danger,” he turned to the giant, ”so thank you Mr. Nero, the boy will be with you, then as suggested by Mr. Abbacchio, he will travel further, so to make it harder for Diavolo..." He didn't even wait for anyone to protest, because they knew it was already a given," We will continue to plan, we have to get together, everyone, at the next assembly everyone will come, even your brother Mr. Brando, another absence will not be tolerate!" Everyone looked surprised at the sudden outburst from the harmless looking man.

The man then cleared his throat, readjusted himself slightly and turned to Bruno, who was still holding hands with Leone, but before he could say anything to him, there was commotion, shouting and more swearing from behind the door, then the door flew open and into the room began to roll, the smell of death so familiar to Bruno coming from the red-hooded newcomer cursing at the men from the doorway. "You dirty mutts! Don't touch me!"

"Mr. Brando..."

"Well, well, well.. Our royal highness has deigned to come down from his heavenly throne to us ordinary, dirty peasants..." Someone from the other side of the hall said singsongly. "To what do we owe such honor?" The man with the ornate top hat laughed disdainfully, to which the blond man immediately hissed, "Be careful not to choke on wine Zeppeli, I'm only here so I don't get threatened again..."

“Mr. Brando… You're late, again, as I told your brother I won't tolerate it next time." In the blink of an eye, another Brando moved in front of the scarred man and leaned toward him with a sickening sizzle. “Otherwise what Speedwagon, finish it." He bared a row of sharp teeth at him menacingly, the mood in the room had changed rapidly, already with his arrival, but now everything seemed heated, everyone was on edge, growling, hissing and being partially transformed.

Brando not looking intimidated, turned to everyone mockingly, Speedwagon with a more than bored expression, obviously having to deal with this theater all the time. “I said I won't tolerate it Dio Brando...” He told him slowly before he started to ignore the man and silence echoed around the room for the last time before he spoke.

"Let's keep our commitments, only here we are safe in the whole world, from hate, boy will go with mr. Nero, anyone who wants to help please contact mr. Nero, the next session is in two weeks, everyone bring news, watched for strangers or bizzare things and be careful, I decide like this!" Everyone's ears perked up and when Dio finally realized he was going to be ignored, he moved over to his brother.

"We will join forces, each according to his abilities will search for clues, more aggressively than ever before, whoever will be in charge of the boy will take care of him as a member of his own family," he continued, almost mentoringly, "he is still a cub, he needs training," Speedwagon quickly looked back at Bruno, who was frozen with fear and didn't even move, even Orso was already trying to calm him down.

"Doesn't he need special treatment when he's a Delta?" The hall echoed and Orso moved away from the now confused boy, the questioner realizing that this was not an appropriate question.

Speedwagon cleared his throat, "well Delta isn't anything special to worry about unless he's in his teenage years, but surely none of us need worry about that, the boy is young and by then we'll surely get rid of Diavolo and that way the boy can live again, his life...” For a change, an awkward silence now settled in the hall, all chatter again, before Nero himself stood up and walked over to the Speedwagon, placing his left hand on the counter and his right on his chest, over his heart.

“I, Risotto Nero, Alpha of the Western Calabrian Pack, give my conscience and my life to a boy named Bruno Bucciarati." Everyone was surprised, then Speedwagon spat out, "This contract is valid until your duties are over." With that the treaty was established, and the Assembly ended therewith, and the majority disappeared as soon as they could. Risotto chatted with Orso in private for a while, then only Risotto, Orso, and Speedwagon remained.

"Thanks for taking care of him Riz, that's very brave of you," Orso complimented him and Speedwagon nodded, "I think if no one had come forward he would have probably ended up with Jonathan or Will, but I was surprised how Will was reluctant.” Speedwagon said, the boys still sat in the same spot in silence in between, Leone blurted out something now and then trying to start a conversation, but Bruno didn't even flinch. So all Leone had to do was sit quietly with him, hold his hand and meditate before they had to say goodbye.

The three men watched them in silence, Orso wasn't worried about Bruno, Risotto's pack was strong and held together, but who knows what babysitting will do to them, luckily at least the boy's father was saved, the mother was missing, human guards can't do anything without supernatural senses, everyone involved knew that.

"He hasn't spoken since we sat down here, I knew there was no point in asking him if he saw the Diavolo's face." Speedwagon said as he pulled out a small notepad from which he tore a piece of paper and wrote an address on it before handing it to Risotto, "here is my new address, write if needed or if the boy will share, I have to go gentlemen, I promised Jonathan that I will help him with the work on the house," he slightly bent his bowler hat, "I will oblige." He spoke and walked towards the door, greeting everyone he passed.

Orso and Risotto then went to the two boys, as soon as Bruno felt Risotto's shadow, he instinctively clung to Leone. Risotto clearly knew that he was frightening the child , but the child was truly frightening him too, he never cared for one, he didn't know how his pack would react, but he felt the need, the urge to help him at all costs.

In order not to frighten the child more, he literally knelt down in front of him, although he was still huge compared to two children, but at least not so scary anymore. “I swear to you little Bucciarati that I will protect you, both you and your father, I swore on my life and I meant it." Bruno looked up a little, heard the man's heartbeat, strong and steady, without deviation, so either he wasn't lying or he was a great liar, then he looked into his eyes.

He didn't have the white of the eye, it was black, this dark backdrop only added clarity to his red glowing eyes, he was a wolf, Bruno could feel that, but couldn't he turn his eyes back? Were they like this permanently? The man was more interesting than scary to Bruno now, there was kindness hidden in those red embers, Bruno recognized it, the eyes were the gateway to an individual's personality, his father had taught him that.

"Thank you." Bruno said humbly as he released Leone from his grip and bravely stepped in front of the still kneeling man. They shook hands in agreement, Risotto startled by the smallness of the boy's hand in his. Orso watched them carefully, Bruno's childhood was over, he was now gradually becoming a young man, and he and Risotto knew that he would be a strong individual due to them, who would one day lead his own pack... With his mate.

"We should all get going, we've got a long way to go and the kids are sure tired." Suddenly Orso's mood changed, he felt that he had to get his son away from Delta as soon as possible, they were not allowed to have any kind of bond, that would only complicate things, so without hesitation he said goodbye to Risotto and walked out of the hall and then out of the building, leaving his confused son behind, who didn't know what was going on and ran as fast as he could after his father who was talking to Polnareff as if nothing had happened, Leone ran up to him and pulled his hand back towards the building.

"Dad! You didn't even say goodbye to Bruno," the boy shouted, but the father stood as if transfixed and didn't move or get any reaction from him, the boy sulked and ran back into the building, Orso yelled at him: "Don't make it harder for yourself Leone!" But his son didn't listen and ran into the hall where no one was... I didn't even see them leave, he thought, full of indignation and panic he ran out again in front of the building where Orso stood without a hint of pity for his son.

This was all simulated and he wanted so badly to comfort his boy.

"I didn't say goodbye dad..." With tears in his eyes, he tightly hugged his father, who stood stiffly, then Polnareff also joined in trying to calm the young werewolf: "Petit loup, one day you will meet again and it will be more magical than you can even imagined."

In this Polnareff was right, he knew it firsthand, Orso then took the dejected boy in his arms, they got into the wagon and drove to the hotel, where Leone spent a sleepless night before heading back home the next morning.

Leone, not understanding his family's carefree behavior, as if they forgot about Bruno from second to second, threw himself into the solitude of his mind, training his wolf powers and senses, waiting for the time to meet Bruno again.