Sharkbait Down Under

Vicki Lawrence’s POV

*beep* *beep* *beep*

I reached over and silenced the alarm on my phone, searching for it in the unfamiliar room. Looking at it through eyes heavy from sleep, I could see it was six-thirty. I let the phone fall back and tried to sit up, but there was an arm around my waist, pulling me back to a muscled body. “We have to get going,” I said.

“My bag is in Amy’s room,” he responded. “So is yours.”

I sent out to Amy, who was already awake and dressed. She brought our bags stuff down the hall while I used the bathroom and came out in a robe. Nicholas went into the bathroom while I answered her knock. When I opened the door, she made a face at the smell. “I don’t have to ask how YOUR night went,” she said as I let her in.

“A lot like your first night with Kai, I bet,” I teased back.

Amy set the bags on the dresser and then pulled the robe aside to look at my mark. “He did a number on you,” she said as she looked at the scabs. “What are you going to do at the photoshoot?”

“Hide it,” I said. “I’ll say I scraped it on a rock while swimming, so I have to wear a wetsuit or a swim top.”

“Kind of hard to pull off unless you go swimming this morning.” We kicked around a few ideas, settling on the best one. “It will be fine; the twins and I will handle the bikini stuff.” She gave me a quick hug. “I’m so happy for you, Vicki. Nicholas seems like a good guy.”

“He is, and he took good care of me last night,” I said with a sigh.

“I know that look. You don’t have time, so get dressed and get downstairs. We have a lot to do before the bus leaves.”

Amy walked back out, and I walked over to the window to let some fresh air into the room. The resort looked beautiful in the morning sun. I opened my bag to find clothes to wear. Setting them out, I heard the shower going, so I joined him. “How are you feeling this morning,” he asked as I moved under the spray.

“A little sore, but it was worth it,” I said. We had fun getting each other clean, but Amy was right. We had to hustle out and dress to make it downstairs on time. I chose a dress with a closed neck to cover the wound as we held hands all the way down to the hotel restaurant. A few people recognized me, and I had to stop for photos or a quick autograph, so we were a few minutes late arriving.

Everyone was sitting at a big table except for the newlyweds and us. Mercedes had left early for the shooting site, so everyone there was werewolf or mermaid, and they all knew what happened last night. “Congratulations,” Leo said as he embraced me, then shook Nicholas’ hand. “Take care of her.”

“With my life,” he said, and their eyes met. This time, Nicholas’ wolf didn’t back down right away; he was an Alpha Mantle wolf now. We accepted congratulations, then went to the buffet line to strap on the feed bag. “Wow,” my mate said as I left with the plate piled high. “That’s some impressive plate management skills.”

“I’m active, and I like to eat,” I said. “These photoshoots are brutal; they don’t feed us anything, just water to keep us hydrated. I’ve learned to eat a lot before and after, and this buffet looked good.” Of course, after a bunch of werewolves went through it like Patton through Sicily, the staff had to refill everything.

We had just sat down when Susan and Hammer came through the door. We all stood and applauded the couple on their first full day as a married couple. No one had told them I’d found my mate, so Susan looked confused when I hugged her. She looked over at Nicholas, who pulled his shirt aside to show off his claiming bite. “You found your MATE?”

“And mated him. It will make it easy for me to remember your anniversary.” She laughed at this, then congratulated Nicholas before greeting the others.

When they sat down, Leo got our attention. “I’ve set up a conference room for ten, and we have a lot to discuss. Until then, don’t say anything out loud unless you’re in your room.”

“I’ll start making calls right away,” Ian said.

“What is your schedule today, girls?”

I answered first. “Bus leaves the lobby at eleven. We’re visiting a few locations with the photographers. At four is an appearance and signing at a surf shop on the south end, then at seven on Surfer’s Paradise Beach. We should finish around ten.”

Amy picked it up. “We leave at five tomorrow for the airport and a quick hop up to Gladstone. From there, we take a helicopter out to Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef and join a team from the University of Queensland for some research dives. We’ll stay overnight in Brisbane for an appearance the next day, then a travel day to Melbourne.”

Nicholas looked at me. “Am I going with you?”

I panicked, not knowing if there would be room. “Can he,” I asked, looking at Linda. She was in charge of the documentary shoots.

“Can you operate a camera?” He nodded. “Take Carly’s spot on the trip; she can drive up to Brisbane and have a day off. Using a camera topside is simple, so Fiona and I will do the dives with the team.” It made sense; a mate would be more protective than any bodyguard. “Slight change to the travel plans. I’ve changed tickets for me, Vicki, Leo, and Nicholas to leave after the Brisbane appearance, arriving late to Melbourne. There’s going to be a Corcoran family reunion on your Uncle’s land, Nicholas.”

“I’m calling everyone this morning to set it up,” Ian said.

“We need to go, Nicholas is going to teach me how to boogie board,” I said.

“I’ll get some tape of that,” Linda said. “It will go well with the surfing lessons from Hawaii.”

Thirty minutes later, wearing a long-sleeve swim top and bikini bottoms, I was making my way inshore on a wave. I tried to turn too hard and wiped out, staying underwater long enough to rip the fabric on my shoulder and use my nails to scrape off the scabs on the front of my shoulder from my mating scar. I swam back in, holding my shoulder as blood leaked between my fingers. “NICHOLAS,” I yelled.

He ran into the surf and carried me back to our chairs. He held a towel over my shoulder as a lifeguard ran up. “Scraped it on a piece of coral,” I told them.

“It looks worse than it is,” Nicholas said.

Another lifeguard arrived with a medical kit; lifting the towel away, they cleaned the wound with alcohol and taped a gauze pad in place. I refused further treatment, and they filled out an incident report before letting me go.

A small crowd had gathered, and plenty of phones recorded my walk off the beach with the bloody pad on my shoulder. I smiled and reassured people I was fine, even making a crack about how “shark diving is safer for me than surfing.”

We took a shower and changed the dressing before going down to the conference room to join everyone. I introduced Nicholas to my Alphas old and new, and then I found out just how much they had done while we were sleeping.

Ian started the reports. “I have contacted my brother and all the other compounds, and we will meet three days from now at his station northeast of Melbourne. The count is fluid, but I stressed how important it was and how we needed as many wolves from each family to attend as possible.”

“What did you tell them?”

“That Nicholas found his mate in an American woman. They knew what a mate was from Internet fiction and movies, even if none of them have experienced it.” He gestured for the next person.

“I did some research, aided by an archivist I know in the European Council,” Adrienne began. “I wish I had better news, but the priest was right. English troops wiped out the Wicklow Pack in the 1798 rebellion. Philip Corcoran was on the list of the deceased.”

“There were no survivors?”

“Three women escaped and joined other Packs, but none were blood relatives, and none above Omega rank.” I squeezed Nicholas’ hand as Dorothy comforted Ian, while Adrienne continued to read. “We were able to locate Philip’s aunt in the records of the Glenveagh Pack in Northern Ireland. She didn’t have children, however. You are the last of the line. I’m sorry.”

“Do we have any volunteers,” Leo asked.

“There are several interested, but there is a lot to work through before we send them. Two don’t have valid passports, and there are other concerns since we are in school now.”

“That’s our situation as well,” Steven said. “Lots of interest but many obstacles. How long will they be needed?”

I thought about what they would be going through. “A few weeks minimum, but it would be great if a few could stay for three or more months. We don’t need someone with each of the ten groups all the time.”

“Perhaps we could do some of the classes over secure videoconference? That would solve all the problems except the time difference,” Adrienne suggested.

“That would work for things like history, Pack structure, Pack law, and other topics,” I said.

“Wolfy Uni,” Nicholas chimed in. “I’ll go.”

We talked for another twenty minutes before we had to wrap up so we could catch the bus. I looked at the screen where Brent and Liv were participating. “Mom, you should fly into Melbourne, no point in coming here while I’m working,” I said.

“I’m getting it set up this morning,” she said. “Have fun at work. And congratulations to the two of you! I can sense how happy you are, and that’s all I ever wanted for you.”

“Thanks, Mom, Dad.” Leo ended the call as those of us that had to leave stood up. “We’ll be back late,” I said. “Can you old people behave while we’re gone?”

“We can’t behave while you’re here,” Susan teased. “Now go.”

By the time we loaded onto the bus with our bags, Mercedes was waiting and had seen the photos. “Are you all right?”

“I’ll be fine, but my shoulder got chewed up. Bikini tops are out of the question today.”

“We’ll work around it.”

I introduced her to Nicholas, my date here, and we loaded up. “I know your wolf is going to be possessive and not want people to see me touched or posing for others, but you need to keep him under control. Modeling is my job, and nobody is going to take me from you.”

“I’ll do my best,” he promised.

We started up at the iconic Surfer’s Paradise beach, shooting in the sand in front of the hotels and the breaking waves coming in. This section of the Gold Coast got crowded, so we hit it in the middle of the day. A good-sized crowd watched as the four of us posed and played around. We changed into brand sundresses, then went to the SkyPoint Observation Deck to take pictures from the 77th floor with the entire coast laid out under us. That was pretty cool, and I’m sure that the shot of the four of us in thong bikinis and high heels, our heads against the windows looking down, would be famous. We also did the climb where you go to a tower on top wearing a climbing harness. It was much more fun, but not as photogenic.

We got back in the bus, eating a light snack as we drove south to Burleigh Beach for a few shots, then further south to Coolangatta Beach. I had a healthy glow from the sun by the time we got to the surf shop packed with fans. There was a short program showing the four of us in action, including shots from this tour. We had a question and answer session, which was interesting. The twins were getting more interest than before, which was good, as Amy and I would likely retire at the end of our contract. After that, we set up three lines for autographs with the twins sharing one. The surf shop sold a lot of the stuff we signed, and we took a ton of photos with our fans.

Dinner was a ‘cut lunch,’ what I call a sandwich, on the way north. The second event was a lot more fun, with an older crowd. I’d had to calm Nicholas down a few times, especially during the marriage proposals and the ones whose hands started to wander. Fortunately, Fiona was there to stop things like that.

The next day, diving in the Great Barrier Reef, was a bucket list item for me. There was a lot of sea life, and we shot some great video, but there weren’t the number or size of sharks I’d hoped to see. “Overfishing collapsed major species since 2000,” our guide said as Linda filmed. Shark meat is called “flake” generically for things like fish ’n chips stands. “Shark finning is illegal, but when fins are worth $30 a pound, the meat at 30 cents a pound flooded the market. It took a few decades for the fishery to collapse, as the number of mature adults cratered.”

“How bad is it?”

“When my professor was diving here as a student, tiger sharks and hammerheads were everywhere. Helicopters, aircraft, and drones made it too easy to find and catch the big ones, and we’re still paying the price. Thank God we came to our senses and set aside underwater preserves in areas like this. Perhaps in twenty or thirty years, we’ll see those numbers again.”

“What about Great Whites?”

“The water is too warm up here for them now. They didn’t fall as far as other species, since Whites have been threatened species for decades. Once we came up with effective monitoring for beach areas, the pressure to cull the adults has lessened.” Crowded beaches now had sonar webs that could sense large sharks and give warnings.

That trip was epic, even if they wouldn’t let me fly the helicopter. Brisbane was nice too, a mall setting with a lot of people looking on. Linda was happy with all the footage we’d taken and headed for the hotel as soon as we arrived in Melbourne. The rest of us got into a van with Nicholas’ cousin, heading north to their station in Bonnie Doon.