Sharkbait
Walk the Line

It was a tearful goodbye as the twins left the twins behind, and I said goodbye to Amy and Kai. “Don’t break the bed while we’re gone,” I teased.

“Welded aluminum frame,” Kai said as I hugged him. Everything on a yacht was strong and light, so there was a lot of aluminum tubing.

Fiona walked us out to the Tank, which Carly had waiting near the gate to the marina. Makani and Noelani were quiet, while Fiona and I were looking forward to heading back. “I can’t wait to let my wolf out,” I said.

“It will be nice to visit with family again before we head overseas,” Fiona agreed.

We had packed light for three days, while the twins had to pack for a week. If they found their mates, they had to be ready to leave for his Pack, and have enough to last until their things arrived. They were sitting close and needed to relax. “Focus on your breathing, like when you’re getting ready to free dive,” I said. “Let the nervous energy out with your breath.”

I did the exercise with them, helping them calm down. “Luna’s choice has already been made. You have to trust her.”

Makani looked at me with a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ look. “That’s YOUR advice after what happened to you?”

“Sure,” I replied. “Luna matches our wolves, but the human part is the wild card. Timothy has a good wolf: strong, proud, and a mantled Alpha, but his human was an asshole. He couldn’t stop his human from his stupid to criminal acts. I feel bad that he’s stuck with the two of them now.”

“Luna will replace you someone worthy,” Noelani said. “She owes you.”

“My life isn’t that bad,” I said. “I live on a yacht, I’m rich, and I’m chasing my dreams. I can live without a man, right, Fiona?”

Fiona’s face showed pain just before her professional mask slid back into place. She was still on duty until we got to Pack lands. “You can live, but it’s not the same,” she said softly. “I’d trade my entire life since I came of age for just a few years with my mate. Look at Amy or Susan. It’s that big a deal.”

“I’m sorry, Fiona. I shouldn’t have said that.” In trying to make the twins feel better, I hurt Fiona.

“It’s all right, Vicki. I’ve lived like this for a long time. Romance novels and BOB help me through.” Bob? Oh shit, BOB! Fiona smirked as she watched my face. “Get a rechargeable model; batteries are expensive.” Oh, Luna! I turned red as a beet.

“What do you recommend,” Makani asked.

“Yeah, I’ve just got a basic one,” Noelani added.

“The Hitachi is the gold standard, but you should never be without your Rabbit,” Fiona replied, and this led to an active debate I refused to participate in. I couldn’t believe we were debating the comparative merits of various adult toys with two girls about to come of age.

“Are we seriously talking about this,” I asked.

“It isn’t ‘we’ until you tell us what is in your bedside drawer,” Makani teased.

“Not going there.” I was thrilled when we got to the charter terminal and loaded onto the plane. I put my headphones on and listened to music while I worked ahead on my schoolwork. I encouraged the twins to do the same, knowing their week might turn upside down. Years of training had taught Fiona to sleep while in the air, so that is what she did.

I was glad I did my work early because Kaia dragged me into event planning and decorating for the party. I spent a lot of time on ladders, hanging decorations and lights for the party in the Pavillion by the beach. I begged off the day of the party to help the crew with the barbecue, learning how to do whole hogs over wood coals. With ten to work with, they varied the seasonings and flavors of each. I got to rub up and inject one of them my way, using the recipe I’d developed over the last ten years with Leo.

Guests were arriving all day. They all filtered through to say hello, and for some to get that sniff. I didn’t replace my mate, but I didn’t expect to. After all, most second mates showed up years later if ever, and it had only been eight months for me. It wasn’t all bad; three couples found each other, to the delight of the gathered crowd. I tended to my hog, talked and told stories, and watched the area fill up with Pack and guests.

At seven PM, everyone gathered in the back for the party to start. Alpha Steven’s direction was to have all the unmated males line up from the back door of the Pack House to the Pavillion. The remaining people stayed well back, between the Pavillion and the lake, giving the line space. Alpha Steven welcomed everyone to the coming-of-age party for Beta Heirs Makani and Noelani Steele, and then the doors opened.

I let out a gasp as I saw the two for the first time today. Their glossy black hair, worn up in a complicated twist, was held in place by a jeweled hair net and pins. Their makeup was perfectly applied, accenting their eyes and full lips, but it was their dresses that stole the show. The sleeveless dresses showed an expanse of tanned skin, the bodice showing the gentle rise of their breasts. The dresses tapered down to their narrow waists, flaring over their hips to end just above the knees.

They were visions in white.

It was a wave of disappointment as the girls walked down the line slowly. Males took a deep breath, smelling their hands, then letting them go when nothing happened. In a way, it was worse than the Scratch n Sniff because everyone was watching you! There was a groan as they reached the Pavillion, where their parents waited for them. Kaia embraced them both, thinking they would be unhappy, but they were all right with it.

“LET’S PARTY,” Alpha Steven said, and the band started up. The girls were in constant demand on the dance floor, and I was too. I barely got to eat around all the fun.

After ten, there were fireworks followed by a bonfire. The girls and I traded our dresses for casual clothes, as the stories and drinking began. Couples were starting to leave now, heading to the woods or the Pack House to continue their celebrations; I had multiple offers and turned them all down. I ended up sitting on some benches near the fire. “Alpha, why do some of our kind have such a hate for mermaids? I didn’t have any problems with them.”

“It’s a long story, and Elder Mildred tells it better than I can,” he said. He sent a call out for her, and she made her way out to the bonfire to see us. “Mildred is our historian; her great-great-grandfather died in the 1850s, during the last set of Troubles,” he said.

She settled herself in, pulling her light sweater around her. “Mermaids? Sneaky little bastards they are,” she said. I snorted at her language but listened. “There were mermaids along the coasts and rivers when our Pack first arrived here in Oregon. They had come over with the Spaniards, moving north from Mexico into California and the Pacific coast. The Packs came in later, mostly overland, escaping the wolf hunts and civil war that forced many to flee for new territories. It was inevitable we’d fight over territories; at first, it wasn’t bad because we settled in different kinds of places, and our numbers were small. As we expanded and Packs split, we started to contest the best hunting and fishing grounds.”

“Mermaids don’t have Packs as we do, right?”

She nodded. “Most mermaid settlements had between three and ten people in them, so they could never win a stand-up fight against even a small Pack. If we could get between them and the water, we’d slaughter them. But, if they made it to water, they would disappear.”

I sensed the next part. “And the mermaids would come back later,” I said.

“Yes. We’d burn settlements and smash their boats, and they would attack our weak spots. Patrols, juveniles, women, they didn’t care. They used guerilla tactics against us to great effect. You couldn’t reason with them; once they started fighting, the only way to stop them was to kill them. It wasn’t long before all Packs had kill-on-sight orders for any Mermaids.”

“How did it end?”

“The Gold Rush and the expanding human population made it impossible for us to hide the war any further. The Alpha Council put out an order requiring all Packs to stay at least twenty miles clear of any remaining Mermaid settlements. The attacks stopped within a few years, and that became the peace that has lasted until this day. We stay apart to keep the peace.”

I thought about this for a while; it had been three or four generations since that time. “What about today,” I asked.

“It’s been our practice for so long that most Alphas don’t know anything else,” Steven said as he pulled his mate close. “I believe that supernaturals should work together where they can, and the Captain and his family struck me as honest people. I think if you treat them fairly, they’ll do the same for you.”

It was a lot for me to think about. “I’m heading to bed,” I said. I thanked them for everything, then said goodnight to the twins before returning to my room.

I’d had my morning run and breakfast before the girls showed up downstairs, hungover and exhausted. I handed them some juice and went to get them plates while they moaned about how they’d ‘never drink like that again.’ Makani looked at her phone. “We only got three hours of sleep,” she groaned. “When do we leave, Vicki?”

“In an hour. You can catch a nap on the plane,” I said. I had to get back home to continue my work, so I’d scheduled my return flight before we came. Since the twins didn’t replace their mates, they were coming home with me. They slept on the way to the airport and the whole flight to San Diego.

They felt better by the time we got back on the boat, and we spent the rest of the week working hard so we could enjoy the weekend. Friday came quickly, and the girls were waiting when we returned with our SEAL trainees.

Both of the girls froze as the men came on board. I watched as their noses went high in the air, and their wolves pushed forward. “MATE,” I heard each of them growl, too softly for the humans to pick up on. Makani jumped from the stairs into Manuel’s arms, and he spun her around as he kissed her. Noelani had come down the other stairs, running into Ricardo’s.

They stopped kissing, and each girl took a deep sniff. I could see their faces go from confusion to realization to shock before they pushed their man away. Trading places, they ran into the other male’s arms and started kissing their lips and shoulders.

“Noelani? I’m dating your sister,” Manuel said as his brother looked on, confused.

“Not anymore,” Noelani said as she wrapped her legs around his waist. “You’re MINE now.”