Hi everyone. Sorry about the delay in updating. Just been busy! I appreciate the reviews and the reminders from you. Thanks mcs for getting me back to the keyboard. When I get a lot of responses I tend to stay excited about a fiction so please send in your comments. They really are important to me. Thanks. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Thanksgiving

Lucas picked at the hot chicken wings that were just placed on the appetizer table only to have his mom slap his hand.

"Wait until the company arrives Lucas. I'd like there to be something left for them," Vivian scolded as she turned and surveyed the dining room table. Eight settings were elegantly set with her best china and linens. She had hired extra kitchen help for today to make certain everything went without a hitch.

She turned to the mirror in the hall and primped herself one last time. She was satisfied with how she looked tonight, her hair, make-up, jewelry, nails, and clothing all emphasized her beauty, elegance and status.

"Don't worry so much Mom," Lucas grumped. "There's plenty of food, so much that you can feed the whole town for a week."

They both turned their heads to the front of the house at the same moment as they could hear a car approaching from a few blocks away. "Sounds like the Sheriff's truck," Lucas said with a smile. He was hoping that Sophia would arrive soon as this day seemed to drag on forever without her. All day he suffered the smells of cooking meat and was prevented from having any by Vivian. He even went out for a run and tried to catch a rabbit, anything, to satisfy his hunger. But he had no luck.

Vivian and Lucas went to the front door and opened it wide as Matt, Sophia and Paulo got out of the truck. A smiling Matt greeted a coy Vivian as he bent and gave her cheek a kiss, "Happy Thanksgiving," Matt said. Vivian batted her eyelashes and said, "Happy Thanksgiving to you too Matt." Lucas rolled his eyes and squeezed past them to get to Sophia. He threw his arms around her and hugged her tight. His hands felt the soft cashmere of her sweater and he held her back a moment to take a look.

"This is nice," he said, running a finger across her chest. She batted his hand down with a look towards Paulo.

"Be good," she flirted.

"Being good is not very fun," Lucas laughed as he put his arm around her shoulder and turned to Paulo. "Happy Thanksgiving Paulo," Lucas said as he held out his hand.

Paulo shook his hand and said, "Yes, same to you Lucas."

Vivian now approached Paulo and said, "You must be Paulo. I'm Vivian Cates. Matt has told me all about you. I'm happy you could join us tonight."

Paulo smiled politely and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Cates. This is my first American Thanksgiving and I'm happy that you have invited me to dine with you." Paulo looked at the enormous mansion before him and said, "Your home is fantastic!"

"Thank you dear," Vivian smiled proudly. "Please make yourself at home." She turned and led them all inside. When she stepped into the foyer she stopped and placed a hand on her heart in surprise. Sherman Blackstone was standing there grinning at them all.

"Happy Thanksgiving everyone," he shouted.

"Sherman! I didn't see you come in!" Vivian said.

"I came through the kitchen door. Just couldn't resist those good smells coming out from there," he smiled. "And speaking of good smells, look who's here!" He was looking past them all at the door. They turned around and watched as Ruby entered, followed by Tyler.

Tyler held up a bottle of expensive wine and said, "Happy Thanksgiving." Tyler's eyes landed on Paulo and his eyebrows shot up in surprise at seeing an ungulate here. "Vivian, you've outdid yourself this year," Tyler said smugly. "I never expected dinner to be so… fresh."

"Tyler, you will refrain from stupid comments tonight," Vivian said sharply.

Paulo opened his eyes wide, understanding now what Tyler had meant. Sophia saw his distress and said, "Tyler, this is my cousin Paulo from Florence. He's visiting us for awhile."

Ruby held out her hand to Paulo and said, "You'll have to excuse my husband's sense of humor. He's the only one who thinks he's funny. I'm Ruby, Lucas's sister. And this is Tyler." Ruby looked back at Tyler with a 'be nice' look and Tyler inclined his head grudgingly to Paulo.

"And I'm Sherman Blackstone," Sherman said as he took a few steps towards Paulo and shook his hand. "Four thousand year old History teacher."

Paulo smiled nervously at Sherman, obviously thinking that Sherman's jokes were worse than Tyler's. "Nice to meet you all," he replied. Paulo glanced at Sophia who was smirking at Paulo's confused look. Paulo relaxed a bit at her smile and grinned back.

"Well," said Vivian, "looks like everyone is here. Come on into the parlor and make yourself comfortable. I'll have Stanley make whatever drinks you would like and please help yourself to any appetizers." A man dressed in butlers uniform appeared and gave them a little bow.

They milled around getting plates of meaty appetizers and drinks from Stanley. Paulo knew by now that meat would be the main attraction at any skinwalker's home and he had secreted a small bag of pretzels in his pocket. Not that he didn't like meat; he just wanted other things too. Matt had considerately filled a cupboard with things that Paulo might enjoy, remembering what Sophia used to like eating.

Paulo looked around and noticed Lucas and Sophia holding each other, obviously involved in some intimate conversation that he didn't want to interrupt. When he turned back around Sherman Blackstone was standing next to him, picking the meat from a shish-kabob.

"So, Paulo," Sherman said, "how are you enjoying Wolf Lake so far? I heard your first day didn't go so well."

"The days have improved since that night," Paulo smiled. "I've learned to stay away from the forest."

"Probably a good thing," Sherman agreed.

"Yes, well, I've got a job now. I'm working at the pizza place in town," Paulo said. "I didn't want to just sit around and do nothing while Sophia was in classes and Uncle Matt was working."

"Yes, I've heard that you're working there now," Sherman laughed. "Small town you know. Guess it's a bit different than Florence."

"It's very different from Florence," Paulo smiled. "Wolf Lake is a beautiful place. Dangerous and wild, but beautiful, like it's women."

"Ah yes, it's women," Sherman smiled. Now this was his favorite topic. He slung an arm around Paulo to lead him to a sofa and said, "Let me tell you about the time I …"

And Sherman filled Paulo's ears with tales of his sexual exploits. Paulo listened raptly and sometimes even found himself blushing at the things the old man said.

Lucas looked over to Paulo and Sherman on the sofa and said, "Looks like Blackstone finally has found an ear to talk off." Sophia giggled and looked up to see Ruby approaching them.

"Sophia, I must say that you're mural is so spectacular. Whenever I go into the club I see more added and I'm really impressed with what you've done in such a short amount of time," Ruby said.

"Thanks, I'm almost finished," Sophia said, basking in the compliment. "I'll be done for sure before the grand opening of the club next weekend."

Matt overheard their conversation and said, "Grand opening next week huh? Guess I'll have to make sure to send someone to out to help with security."

"You don't have to do that Sheriff," Tyler said. "I have it covered."

Matt looked at Tyler and grunted, "Well, we'll see."

Ruby looked at Tyler who was already swigging down his third drink and said, "Tyler, slow down."

Tyler held his drink up and said, "Don't worry my dear. I can handle my liquor." Ruby knew better however. Tyler's drinking had caused so many problems for them in the past that she feared he would return to his old careless ways.

The small talk continued until Vivian came back into the room and announced that dinner was ready to be served. They followed her to her elegant dinning room and sat down at the place in which their names were displayed on little place cards. The food was brought in by the servants and offered to each guest in turn according to their status in the pack. Vivian and then Lucas were first served. Next came Sherman Blackstone, Sophia and Ruby, followed by Matt, Tyler and Paulo. Paulo did not mind being last as Sophia had explained to him that this was the way things were done. Tyler, however, did mind that he was next to last.

I'm considered just above an ungulate, he fumed to Ruby in his mind.

Don't get yourself worked up. Just enjoy your dinner and stop drinking so much, Ruby communicated back to him. Tyler glared at her and lifted his glass up to his lips again in defiance.

"So," Vivian began, trying to defuse Tyler's bad mood before it got worse, "you must be pleased with how nicely the club is coming along Tyler?"

Tyler looked at Vivian and said, "Yes, everything is just hunky dory." Then he felt Ruby stomp on his foot from under the table.

Behave! Ruby warned him.

"You should come by and see my new office," Lucas said to his mom, "it's really nice."

"Yes, it's even better than mine," Tyler said, his voice beginning to slur a little. "One would think you were the owner." Tyler looked at Lucas and tipped his glass, emptying the contents in one shot.

Don't take the bait, Sophia said to Lucas on their private link.

Lucas sighed and contained himself from saying anything back to Tyler. He wanted his first Thanksgiving with Sophia to be a pleasant one but he was beginning to regret inviting Tyler, even if it meant not having Ruby over.

"I'll stop by this week and take a look around," Vivian said pleasantly.

When the food was all set on their plates Vivian asked Sherman to do a prayer over their table. Paulo looked fascinated as he listened to the strange words of the shaman speaking over their plates. He glanced around at everyone's plate and saw that all of them were piled high with various meats. Luckily, he thought, they also had some mashed potatoes and some cranberry sauce, even though they all had drowned their potatoes under a lot of meat gravy.

"Looks wonderful Viv," said Matt as they began eating.

"Thank you," she smiled back, giving his knee a little squeeze under the table.

"Yeah, it's great Vivian," Tyler said sarcastically. "I'm surprised that us low status animals didn't just get a can of dog food. It's mighty charitable of you to give us the same things you're eating."

"What's you're fucking problem?" Lucas snapped. He couldn't sit here silent anymore while Tyler tried to ruin the holiday.

"Lucas! Watch your language!" Vivian said.

Tyler gave a drunken giggle and said, "You, you are my problem." He took a spoon full of cranberry sauce and flung it at Lucas, hitting the Alpha male square in the chest.

Matt stood quickly up, "Damn it Tyler! That was uncalled for."

"Oh boy," Sherman said as he rolled his eyes. He looked at Paulo and said, "Come with me my boy, I've a few more stories for you." Sherman stood up and pulled Paulo up to standing, taking him into the parlor before things got worse. You could almost see the rage forming on Lucas's face as he stared Tyler down.

Ruby stood up and said, "We'll leave! Come on Tyler." But Tyler wouldn't budge from his spot. He continued to stare at Lucas.

Lucas, please don't, Sophia pleaded. She knew that Lucas was on the verge of attacking and she was desperate to stop it.

"Well whelp?" Tyler challenged, "What are you going to do about it?"

Lucas could feel Sophia's pleading in his mind and her hand was on his arm trying to calm him.

He's just drunk, Sophia said.

Lucas took a calming breath and replied, "I know baby. But I can't do nothing." Sophia's presence had pulled him back from his initial rage and he shook his head and grinned. "This is what I'm going to do Tyler," Lucas said as he picked up his own spoon and dipped it into the cranberry sauce. He flung it at Tyler's surprised face and smiled at the picture Tyler made with the gooey red sauce dripping off his nose.

Even Ruby couldn't help but stifle at laugh that came bursting out of her at the sight of Tyler's face.

Tyler looked at her and growled, "Oh, you think this is funny do you?" He grabbed a handful of mashed potatoes and smeared it on the front of Ruby's dress.

"O.K. I think we've had enough," Vivian said, worried about things getting out of hand.

Ruby looked at the mess on her new dress and growled in shock and anger. She picked up a large turkey leg drumstick and swung at Tyler's head like a baseball bat. Tyler's chair fell backwards with Tyler in it. He flailed his arms for something to grab onto but couldn't find a thing and crashed into sideboard behind him, knocking his head on the sharp corner.

Tyler made a low whine and then rolled his eyes up as he passed out on the floor, legs still draped over the chair. They all looked at Tyler's unconscious form and then they looked at each other.

"Well," said Vivian, "Happy Thanksgiving."

Ruby wiped the potatoes from her dress with her napkin and said, "Yes, I think it will be a happy Thanksgiving after all." She sat down and scooted her chair into the table, ignoring her husband on the floor. "Well, let's eat," she smiled.

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Well that was a little tongue-in-cheek chapter. I guess I was just in the mood for it! Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know!