Seven mates for seven brothers

6- A new tradition!

Two days later found the guests and hosts taking a fond farewell from each other as they young boys struggled to fit all their luggage into the two mini vans taking the visiting alphas to the airport.  Apart from Alex there was one other alpha that was staying behind.  Last night the pack hosted a farewell dinner for them, and one of the girls turned out to be his mate.  He was going to stay on for about another week, and then the both of them would leave for his pack.  Alex had handed over his air flight ticket to her – they just needed to change the dates for their departure - as he had been told that he and Cassy were going to be leaving with a U-Haul truck. 

As soon as the mini vans were out of sight, Cassy got the boys to bring over some wooden crates and cardboard boxes and then she got stuck in.  She also had quite a few crates that were already packed and stored that just had to be loaded when they were ready to leave.  Alex was amazed at the amount of boxes that kept leaving the house in a steady stream.  Towards the end of the day when the boys were loading a van with the last load for the day, he stood to one side with Timothy and Gareth.

“Is there going to be anything left in this house when she is done?”

Both of the other men laughed, but it was Gareth that gave him his answer. 

“You saw how many bedrooms the house has?”

Alex only nodded; this was one of the largest pack houses he had ever been in.  The ground level was only living quarters, kitchens – there were two, a huge industrial kitchen that was used when they had a ‘full house’ and a smaller one for family use – dining rooms, living rooms, Timothy’s study and even a small conference room.  The second and third floors were bedrooms only.  The family had their own ‘wing’ on the second floor, and the rest were guest accommodations.  There were four guest rooms on the second and ten on the third floor, bring the total guest rooms to fourteen.

“Yes, and?”

“None of the guests had access to the walk in cupboards in any of the rooms.  That is where Cassy stacks all her stuff.  She had started collecting bits and pieces when she was about ten years old, more than half of what she has is gifts anyway.  The older women in the pack thought she was so clever starting a bottom drawer that they all started adding to her collection.  She makes do with the most basics normally, so after a few years, she started getting additions for birthdays and Christmas as well because nobody knew what to get her anymore.  And because she enjoyed collecting this so much.  You’d be surprised, but all the linen she has gets washed and ironed once a year.  Takes about a week or so to get through it all, but she is a diligent worker, so it all gets done.”

Alex shook his head in amazement.  And the bigger pieces I‘ve seen?”

“Mostly woodwork done for her on order by two of the men in our pack.  She loves wood.  If she had her way, this house would have been furnished in nothing but wood.”

“And glass,” Timothy added, “don’t forget the glass.  Might look like quite a lot to you, but you should keep into consideration that most of the crates have her glassware, and she packs carefully.”

“Yeah,” Gareth agreed, “most of what’s in the crates is probably bubble wrap.  Bought a huge roll of the damn stuff, if she is not packing in it, she is busting the darn bubbles.”

“Dinners up!”  Cassy called from the kitchen door as she watched Wes close the doors of the truck.  “You too guys. I called your homes to let them know you would be eating with us tonight.”

The boys walked back up to the house eagerly, and Alex could understand.  During the pasts two weeks, Cassy’s cooking had him waiting anxiously for the next meal, so as soon as the boys reached them they all walked into the kitchen.