ROMANCE: Meet the Parents (Alpha Male Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance) (New Adult Shifter Romantic Comedy Short Stories)

 
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“Do we have to go?”
Jared asked, dragging his feet.

Elena smiled, tightening her grip on her husband,
perfectly-painted red nails lightly digging into the skin of his forearm.

“Babe” Jared whined, sounding like the cute puppy he used to be.
Even as a fully-grown werewolf, it seemed some things could still make him
whimper like a poodle. The latest thing: his impending week-long visit to his
newly betrothed’s parents in Italy.

They had just landed in Pisa and were headed to baggage claim
where they would hail a taxi to Elena’s parents’ house.

“Stop being such a baby” Elena’s blood-red lips stretched in a
wicked grin as she began pulling Jared along faster. “I haven’t seen Mama or
Papa since the wedding, you can afford to see your in-laws every few months.”

“But baaaabe” Jared tried once more, “your father hates me and
your mother has her suspicions, it’s too dangerous.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “Oh please, Papa’s just protective and
Mama merely thinks you lack good hygiene.”

“Lack hygiene?” Jared asked, affronted. He self-consciously
lifted up his free arm and gave a tentative sniff. Reassuring himself that he
smelt fine, he straightened his shoulders, making a mental note to give Mama
Rosa a big hug so that she could smell just how hygienic he was.

Sensing her husband’s line of thought, Elena laughed. “It’s not
your smell dear, although it is strongly reminiscent of the outdoors and a
freshly-bathed puppy; it’s that you don’t shave. You have more hair on your
body than the average man, even the hairiest Italians my mom knows. She worries
you’ll shed.”

Jared stroked his beard proudly. “Shed? I’ll have her know that
my beard is perfectly trimmed, my back hair is nicely maintained, my underarm
hair is normal and my leg hair is manly.”

“Mhmm” Elena said, pulling them to a stop once they had reached
the luggage carousel. “And what about your forearm hair and your uncombed
luscious locks that haven’t been cut in a month.”

“You love my hair” Jared challenged, wrapping his arms around
her in a bear hug, “especially at night when you tangle your fingers in it and
scream-”

“Not now babe!” Elena said while clapping a hand over his mouth
and shooting an embarrassed and apologetic look at the disgruntled parents of
two young boys next to them.

Jared guffawed, removing her hand to place a loud kiss on the
back of it as he nodded to the dad of the family who had given him a covert
thumbs-up.

“Fine, fine, we’ll talk about it over dinner tonight.”

“Not if you value your life” Elena smirked, pointing out their
purple luggage set as it came around and Jared dutifully ran to get them.

Elena gave him a peck on the cheek in thanks when he returned
and made a show of taking the heaviest suitcase and handing Jared her purse and
zebra-striped carry-on bag.

Jared smiled good-naturedly, pulling the purse onto his shoulder
and holding his head up high. “You know, I think my mom did a fantastic job
picking out this purse. Great Christmas idea, I wish I’d have thought of it.
But if I had, I probably would have just snagged this gem for myself.”

“It doesn’t go with those shoes” Elena said over her shoulder,
exiting the automatic doors and raising her free hand to hail a taxi.

The taxi was small and Jared couldn’t understand a word the
driver was saying with his heavy accent. It took him a minute or two to realize
that it wasn’t the accent that prevented Jared from understanding him, it was
the fact that he wasn’t speaking English at all.

He quirked an eyebrow in surprise as Elena began instructing him
where to go in flawless Italian. He hunched his shoulders self-consciously in
the small vehicle as Elena ruffled his hair and said something to the driver
sending him into an uproar of laughter.

“What’d you say?” Jared muttered, huffing at the sly wink Elena
gave him in response.

The taxi was tiny, laughably so. Or maybe it just appeared that
way to Jared who was a hulking form of a man, standing at six feet five inches
and with shoulders as wide as three women of Elena’s stature. While it did make
him perfect for bear hugs and spooning, it was a rather unfortunate trait when
it came to sharing the backseat of a small cab with his wife and two
medium-sized carry-on bags. The door’s arm-rest was digging into his ribs,
Elena’s elbow was getting dangerously close to his crotch and every time he
shifted his head bumped the ceiling.

“How long until we get to your parent’s?” he asked.

Elena adjusted her seat, earning a quiet but pained grunt from
Jared as her elbow moved. “Get comfortable baby, the main road’s down and
there’s a bit of traffic. Normally it would take us forty minutes to get there
but Bruno says it will take us at least an hour and a half.

“Who’s Bruno?” Jared asked.

The cabbie waved a hand at the mention of his name, smiling at
Jared through the rearview mirror.

“When you say the main roads are closed…” Jared began, hoping
the answer wasn’t what he expected.

“It means that we will be on back roads, dirt roads and
cobblestone on the regular.” Elena shrugged, making Jared hiss in pain.

Jared groaned, already feeling the pain in his back. He settled
back, ignoring the slight ringing in his ears as he bumped his head on the roof
for the fourth time and shut his eyes; it was going to be a long ride.

-x-x-x-

It was dark when the driver pulled up in front of a large
yellow-painted house. The home was old but refurnished. The yard was
maintained, but wildflowers still sprung up sporadically, giving it a charmed
look. There were toys on the edge of the lawn from the neighbors’ kids that
Elena’s parents occasionally watched.

Bruno helped them with their bags to the front door, and after
Elena paid him in currency she had been smart enough to get in exchange at the
airport, he returned to the cab and took off.

While Bruno had seemed like a nice guy, Jared was glad to see
him go, happy to be rid of the reminder of the long and painful car ride.

It was dark out but the porch lights were on and Elena bounced
with anticipation as they waited for the response to the doorbell.

After a minute the door was thrust open and before Jared could
comprehend what was happening his wife was swept up in a hug from two pairs of
arms and she was lost to the exclamations of ‘how skinny you’re getting, you
need to eat more’ and ‘you’re as stunning as ever my beauty!’.

“Mama, Papa! I missed you both!” Elena said, breaking free of
their hug and stepping back. “And no I haven’t gotten any skinnier Mom, in
fact, I’ve probably gained a few pounds since you saw me last at our wedding.”

Elena’s mother Rosa took a step back as well, grabbing Elena’s
shoulders and looking at her scrutinizingly. “Oh my God” she drew out slowly,
“you’re pregnant!”

“Mama!” Elena said in astonishment, laughing it off, “Of course
not, it’s not even been six months.”

“Well, it could have just happened!” Rosa said defensively.

“Mama, we’ve decided to wait at least until we’ve moved out of
our flat and got a house with a picket fence in a nice neighborhood with a good
school, just like you said we should. So don’t worry, you’ll be the first to
know.”

“Second” Jared muttered.

“So you haven’t got my daughter a proper home yet I see” Elena’s
father said gruffly.

Jared offered a small smile, rubbing his neck sheepishly, “I’m
working on it sir.”

“We’re family now” Rosa said, waving her hands dismissively,
“you can call him Geo.”

“No, thank you honey but sir and Mr. Lucciani will do just
fine.”

“Giovanni” Rosa admonished, “go easy on the boy.”

Giovanni opened his mouth to speak but Elena cut her father off,
“Why don’t we go inside, it’s getting a bit chilly out.”
 

“Of course, of course” Rosa
chuckled, wrapping one arm around Elena and using the other to take her bag and
thrust it at Jared. “Let the two of them bring all the luggage upstairs, you
can help me set the table; I made lasagna.”

“Hold it” Geo warned, “which
bag’s Jared’s and which one’s yours bella?”

“Does it matter, they’re both
going to the same place Papa.”

“They most certainly are not!”
he said indignantly, “You can stay in your old room and the boy can stay in
your brother’s room or on the couch, his choice.”

“Really Dad?” Elena asked,
exasperated.

Rosa gently smacked her husband
on the back of the head, “No, of course not. You two are adults and you’re
married now, you have no reason to object Geo.”

Mr. Lucciani muttered something
under his breath but acquiesced to his wife, dutifully picking up one of the
suitcases and gruffly nodding towards the stairs in an indication for Jared to
follow along.

Jared shot Elena a pleading look
and, with a quick peck on the cheek Elena pranced off to follow her mother and
effectively seal Jared’s fate.

With a longsuffering sigh Jared
grabbed the rest of the bags and followed his father-in-law up the stairs.

-x-x-x-

“So, has Jared’s hygiene
improved any since you’ve made an honest man of him?” Rosa asked as she
 
put on her hot mitts and opened the oven.

“He never had a hygiene problem
Mama” Elena sighed, taking four glasses out of the cabinet and carrying them
over to the table.

“You’re married now so I know
you’ve seen him naked at least once. I remember when you two came over our
hotel to swim; there wasn’t an inch of his body that wasn’t covered in hair. I
bet it’s matted and tangled, it looked like it before, and that unruly mop on
his head that he calls hair hasn’t improved, so I have no reason to believe
that the rest of him has.”

Elena rolled her eyes, walking
back to grab plates as she spoke, “He was wet; of course his hair looked matted
to you. He is just as hairy as any other hot-blooded Italian man and is indeed
very hygienic.”

“Ah, but he’s not Italian baby,
so there’s no explanation for so much hair. It’s just not natural!”

Elena smiled at that. Being a
werewolf made Jared anything but natural and she could only imagine the fit her
mother would throw if only she knew the truth.

“Italians aren’t the only ones
with a little hair on them Mama” Elena chastised, carrying the dishes over to
the table.

“Perhaps not but still, I’m not
so sure. With him as the father, I suspect all your babies will pop out with a
full head of hair on them!”

“Perhaps” Elena sighed.
Honestly, she had considered the possibilities. She hadn’t ever confirmed
anything with Jared yet but she was always curious about whether any children
they had would be born as typical babies or hairy little wolf pups.

Deciding to put away the thought
for later she decided to put her mom on another topic. “So, how are things
going at the bakery?”

Rosa shrugged, bringing the
lasagna over and setting it in the center of the table. “It’s doing well, I’ve
talked to Geo about opening up another shop. Nothing big like those ridiculous
chains that sell their integrity with every increasingly cheap cupcake, but
just another source of income with as much love as we put into the first one.”

“Really Mama?” Elena asked in
surprise, “that’s unexpected. What’s Papa think?”

“Oh, that old man? He’s
concerned about the money, but we’re doing well. Geo likes to think he knows my
business, but the only business he knows is sticking his nose in my business.
We’re doing fine, and I have a good feeling about this new store.”

“Well that’s great then Mama”
Elena smiled, kissing her mother on the cheek.

“So” Rosa said, “are you and
Jared going on the moonlight gondola picnic?”

“The picnic?” Elena asked in
surprise. “They only do those on full moons.”

“Yes, I know dear, that’s why I
asked” she said, bringing over the salad.

“But there isn’t a full moon
this week, we checked.” And double checked. There was no way they were going to
let Jared change under the watchful eye of her father.

“Oh bella, you crossed time
zones, the full moon will be here before it gets over there to America.”

Elena froze, eyes widening
comically at the realization of the giant mistake they had made. She had to
tell Jared!

-x-x-x-

Jared sat anxiously on the edge
of his wife’s old bed, shifting uncomfortably at the look Geo gave him.

Giovanni Lucciani sat in Elena’s
old desk chair, one leg crossed over the other with an erect and dignified
posture resembling that of a king.

“Should we maybe go downstairs
for dinner, sir?” he asked, hoping that Giovanni would go easy on him and say
yes.

“If we go down now Rosa’s just
going to make me help her set the table. And while I love my wife, I think that
this is just a little bit more important right now.”