Sharkbait Down Under

“Die?” My statement shocked the women in the room, and Sally in front was the first to speak it. “That’s necessary?”

“I’m looking at it from the perspective of his fated mate,” I said. “She’s only cut free to find another if your husband takes another wolf as his mate, or his wolf dies.”

“I’m sorry, but screw her,” Beverly said. She was a young woman, married only three years, with a baby girl almost a year old. “We don’t know her, and we don’t have any obligation to her. I don’t mind sending Hank’s shirt over, so she knows he isn’t claiming her, but I’m not taking away his wolf for anyone.” Many of the women nodded at this, and I understood why. They had to love their spouse enough to accept his wolf, and they knew how important it was to him.

“Letting her know that way has to be better than not knowing at all, which is where we were until you showed up,” Debbie said. “I’m less worried about his fated mate than I am about myself. I know you said you’d protect me, but we’ve also learned what the Councils think about humans with knowledge of your kind. They are going to figure it out as soon as they start digging into our family trees.”

Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. Tracing back the line of the Corcoran family would show all the branches that were grafted in by marriage. Since no other wolves were around, they’d have to be human. “They’ll have a list of you by nightfall,” I said softly. “The Councils can’t do anything about us immediately, except to learn all they can about your lineage. I bet the investigators are already digging into public records.”

“It’s all going to show up; marriage certificates, birth records, census records, property purchases, employment, everything,” Olivia said. “We have to assume they will have a list, and it’s not realistic to assume they don’t know. If you have children that shift, you’d HAVE to know.”

“Let’s say you’re gone, and one of these Council types shows up at my doorstep,” Sally said. “What are they going to do?”

My blood ran cold at this. “The Enforcers would kill you on sight to protect the secret,” I concluded. “That is Council law on the matter.”

“I don’t think this would happen right away,” Olivia said. “After all, you just found out about the Council, and they will give you some time to ‘do the right thing’ and take care of the problem. It’s when they conclude you won’t handle it yourself that they might send people to do it. It would be against Pack law to come onto our territory, but humans are not Pack, so killing them would only have recourse in the human system. They could even send other humans or vampires to do it for them.” She shook her head as she looked at me. “You’ll be under a lot of pressure to resolve the problems without your help.”

Sally stood up and faced me. “Harry and I talked about this last night, and we made our decision.” She pulled her shirt aside, showing the scab from his bite on her shoulder. “I want to be like him. I want to be able to protect our children, and I want him to be happy. Once I make the turn, Harry is going to take me as his mate.”

You could hear a pin drop. Louise stood up next, showing the bite on her neck. “I asked Ted to change me. I want to run next to my mate and feel the bond that you have.”

I looked between the two. “You’ve seen what a change looks like, and you know what the odds are, and you still want to proceed?”

They both nodded, and Louise responded first. “It’s the only way to make sure he is mine forever. If I stay human, there’s the possibility his true mate finds him someday and takes him away. All of you will be wondering the same, plus you’ll have to worry about people wanting you dead for what you know. Vicki hasn’t said it, but I will. Taking your husband’s wolf away won’t keep you safe from the Council; it just gives them two humans to kill instead of one.” She let that sink in; I couldn’t argue with her logic. “Even if you divorce him, the Councils will know who you are and what you know. You’ll still be in danger, but without the Pack to protect you. Ted and I went through all the possibilities, and the BEST one, the ONLY one with a chance for both of us to have a happy life, was to turn me. The mate bond is forever if I live, and the problem goes away if I don’t.”

The women in the room looked at me. “Can you protect us from the Council,” one finally asked.

“I can try,” I said honestly. “It would be difficult. We aren’t like some Packs with a small, defined territory and everyone living in the same building, or at least the same complex. We have families scattered across three states, and no groups larger than ten. If the Council decides to send in Enforcers to remove humans from my Pack right now, it would be hard to stop.” I wasn’t going to lie to my Pack, ever. “That’s why in the long term, we need to come together as a cohesive unit in one area.”

“Where?”

“I have no idea. I want access to the ocean, access to land to run in, and enough land to ensure our privacy. How we achieve that, we’ll figure out as a Pack.”

We talked for another half hour, stopping when Louise started to get the fever. I was shocked that the two went ahead, but there was nothing to do now but support them through their change. “If anyone else is thinking about this, please don’t take a bite now. I have to leave tomorrow morning for Perth, and I wouldn’t be here to help you shift.” I looked at the two. “Why didn’t you tell anyone before now?”

“It was always our decision to make,” Louise said.

Tonight would be a lot of work with three humans changing at the same time. Mom, as always, went for the practical aspects. “Joseph said to use the hot tub for the ice bath, but we’re going to need a LOT more ice. He’s sending some of the boys into town now.” The four-person portable spa was a better idea than more cattle tanks; it was insulated and big enough to submerge the three. “Take Louise and Sally, get them into suits, and bring them outside. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

That was for sure. Math told me that there was a one-in-eight chance that all three would make it through the change, the same chance as all three dying tonight. I couldn’t imagine the damage it would do to Susan and my new Pack if none made it. I walked outside on my own, finding a spot in the trees a few hundred yards from the house where I could think. “Luna, I need your help here,” I prayed. “You’ve given me all these humans, and I want them all to live. I don’t know if I can do this if half of them die, or the Council goes after the ones who don’t make the change.” I wasn’t a mystic or a priestess; I never saw Luna or heard her words, and I didn’t know what her answer would be. Luna gave me Nicholas as my second chance mate, and that meant exposing his family to the rest of the werewolf world. I had to believe it wouldn’t end in tragedy.

“Are you all right?” I smelled Nicholas before he wrapped his hands around my waist, pulling me back into his hard chest.

“I’m worried,” I confessed. “We opened Pandora’s box, and there’s no easy way to fix everything.”

“Events will have to run their course,” he said. “It’s like a viral infection; you can’t stop it or cure it. All you can do is treat the symptoms, and hope the patient survives. It’s not a reflection on you or your leadership, because there is nothing you can do to fix centuries of isolation.”

“I can’t help but worry,” I said. “When I was five, I was living with my grandmother and my Mom. My biological father was the werewolf who got Mom pregnant, and they didn’t know what I was. Leo was the one who found me and brought me into Pack life.” I snuggled back into him as I talked. “Mom was in the same situation as these wives are now. As a human, she would have to decide if she loved Brent enough to risk the coin flip of death. The attack took the choice from her, but I think she would have made it anyway. His love was that strong.”

“The lucky ones in this Pack are the ones who didn’t marry,” Nicholas replied. “I’m glad I didn’t allow myself to fall in love with a human. I’m finally seeing the wisdom of how our female wolves lived, rarely taking a mate, and only getting pregnant on random hookups they’d never see again. They are the ones who get to find their mates without entanglements, and experience what I have now.”

“I’ve been praying for the humans in our Pack,” I said. His arms on my body set my skin ablaze, and my desire for him was rising by the moment. I wanted him. “Let’s go inside for a bit and have some fun,” I said huskily.

“Let’s shift and run as wolves,” he said. “We haven’t done that yet.” He pulled my shirt off, setting it over a branch, then started to strip himself. A minute later, our clothes were hanging out, and we were rubbing our faces together as wolves. His wolf was slightly bigger than mine, the result of the Alpha mantle he now had. His glossy black fur was a contrast to my silver and white. “Our pups could have all kinds of interesting patterns,” I thought out loud to him.

“Blacktip reef sharks?”

I chuffed at the thought, then shook my head. It wasn’t the time for puppy dreaming. “I could use a good run,” I told him.