Sharkbait

I froze. I almost spilled my tray, the glass of orange juice sliding towards the edge until I caught myself and saved it.

I took a second to compose myself, letting out a breath before I looked up again.

Amy was my best friend in the world.

She found her mate and had claimed him already.

She had nothing to do with the shitshow that my life became last night.

I pushed my heartache aside, smiled, and walked to her table. As soon as I set my tray down, she was engulfing me in a hug. “I’m so sorry, Vicki,” she whispered in my ear. “I should have been there for you last night, but Alpha made me stay and keep the mental wall up.”

“It’s all right, Amy. I couldn’t have made it through that without you by my side. I barely made it out of that room.” She stepped back and let me wipe the tear from my eye. “And you found him! Congratulations!”

Her smile broke through as she turned to the guy standing at her side wearing khaki shorts and a bright green Oregon Ducks T-shirt. “Vicki, this is my mate, Kai Steele,” she said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Vicki. Amy’s told me a lot about you,” he said as he shook my hand. I took a good look at Kai; he looked to be in his early twenties, with dark hair cut short and a face that showed a Polynesian part of his heritage. He wasn’t much taller than Amy, standing just under six feet tall, but his body looked chiseled in stone. Broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist, well-defined muscles, and a firm grip. He wasn’t a bodybuilder, and his arms were too big to be a biker, and he was too bulky to be a runner or climber. We all sat down at the table. “Kai is Hawaiian for ‘sea,’ isn’t it?”

He smiled at me as he pulled Amy to his side, where she was clearly happy to be. “Yes, my mother is full-blooded Hawaiian. She met my father when he was a Marine stationed at Kaneohe Bay. He knew she was his mate, but it took him two years to get her to fall in love with him and agree to the change.”

“Kai also means ‘food’ in Maori, ‘forgiveness’ in Japanese, and in Europe, it means ‘warrior.’ It fits him perfectly,” Amy gushed. He leaned down and kissed her deeply, his hand stroking her side and breast. No one minded; new mates were like newlyweds, but less inhibited. Packs were used to overt displays of affection.

“Your father was the werewolf,” I reasoned. There were no Hawaiian wolf packs.

He nodded. “My father is the Beta of Security for the Three Sisters Pack, near Bend, Oregon. For generations, our Alphas have sent their warriors and Betas to have training beyond what our Packs could give, so most of us spend time in the military or law enforcement. We even have a former Secret Service agent.”

It sounded like a good idea, and I wondered why more didn’t do it. “How does that work with your wolves?”

“Alpha Steve Dauntless orders us not to shift unless absolutely necessary, and they have silver-core chains for their dog tags. That keeps them from showing abilities or strength beyond what a human would have. It’s a risk, but the knowledge and experiences we gain are priceless for our jobs.”

I liked him. “Are you in the military? I mean, you’re in great shape, but that hair…”

Amy was running a hand along his bicep, and he was stroking her muscular shoulders as they sat together. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. I was happy for her, but I felt a stab of pain in my soul because that should be ME now, too. “I’m in my senior year at Oregon, in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. When I graduate, I’ll receive my commission as an Ensign. I have orders to report to SEAL training in Coronado.”

My eyes got wide; those boys were hardcore warriors. Then I realized what that meant; SEALs did a lot of swimming. “You like the water? Swim a lot?”

He laughed. “I love it. Amy and I were talking about diving, and I have my open-water dive card with me. I plan to join your trip if that’s all right with you. Diving in Oregon is much colder, and the waves are much stronger.”

Amy TOTALLY hit the Mate Jackpot with this guy. A pang of jealousy hit my gut, and I pushed it aside. “I’d love that. My Luna is coming along, so I’ll dive with her while you and Amy dive together,” I replied. Adrienne had figured she might as well tag along one day we went to lessons and found out she loved it. “Do you have a big family?” Would it be too much for him to have a hot brother who lost his mate and needs comfort? Come ON, Luna! You OWE me!

“Not that big,” he said. “I’m the oldest at twenty; my twin sisters are seventeen, and my younger brother is fourteen.”

Damn. “Three Sisters is Luna Karen Volkov’s old Pack, right?” He nodded. “Wow, that’s a beautiful area. She showed me some pictures once. I can’t imagine mountains like that.” It couldn’t be more different than the Minnesota prairie and lakes regions. After all of the drama with me being a mantled ‘extra,’ I hadn’t been brought along to many other Packs.

“We’re right next to the Deschutes National Forest, with thousands of square miles of wilderness in our back yard. You can run from the heat of the day by the river to the mountain snowcaps and back in one day. There are mule deer, elk, moose, and bears in abundance. Our Pack makes up a lot of the town of Sisters; we have almost three hundred members.”

“You HAVE to come out and visit, Vicki! I want to share it with you,” she said.

“You are always welcome at my Pack, Sharkbait. Leo and Alpha Steve have already talked about it, and Leo trusts us to protect you.”

I tried a mental send to Amy again and got nothing. “Are you still blocking my mind-link? Didn’t Leo lift the order on you?”

“No, I joined the Three Sisters Pack about twenty minutes ago, so you lost the Pack link to me.”

My shoulders slumped; she was moving on without me. I’d never again share those private conversations with her in boring classes or while swimming underwater. Now I had to panic. “What about school? Are you leaving the Zoo School?”

Amy looked up at her mate. “We’re still talking about it. Both of us are seniors, and we both want to finish up at our schools. We’ll figure something out.”

“I don’t want to be apart from her, but her education is important if she is to achieve her dreams. We’ll be apart plenty while I’m in the Navy, and I want her to have more to her life than a cheap apartment and a baby while I’m gone.”

My eyes got wide. “You two… um, you’re using protection, right? Or are you planning to have a pup right away?”

They both got nervous. “I’m going to talk to the Pack Doctor about birth control injections when we get home,” Amy said.

“Yeah. You can’t exactly roll a condom on with paws and claws.” Both of them cracked up, meaning they’d already done it Wolfy style. Hell, she had all night to make love to him while I was crying and sleeping. “Now eat, your food is getting cold.”

I went back to my breakfast while Amy told me about what I’d missed after I left. Thankfully, she didn’t talk about my useless ex-mate, just about what happened when Kai stepped in front of her, and their eyes first met. She was SO happy, and I let her have her moment. “I called my Mom and told her the news. She was thrilled for me, and worried about you,” Amy said.

I’m sure the news of my rejection went through the Pack like wildfire. “I’m happy because you’re happy, Amy. You’re my best friend. Don’t ever think you have to hold back because of me,” I said. Amy started to cry, I began to cry, and then we were hugging each other. “I’ll get over this and move on with my life.”

“I feel like I’m abandoning you when you need me most,” she said.

“No. Luna knew what she was doing when she put you two together. Right now, I need to feel like she has a plan for ME too. Let’s face it; last night kicked the shit out of all the plans we had made before coming down here.” I sat back and wiped my eyes. “Except for the trip. We’re STILL going diving.”

“Damn right,” she said. Most people knew, but Amy announced there was room on the diving boat for six more people if they had SCUBA qualifications and money. The group filled up fast, with another larger group planning to head to Navarre Beach to enjoy the warm weather and Gulf breezes. It was close to us than Pensacola, and we could drive to it after the scuba charter finished.

“Don’t worry about the beach, we’ll take care of everything,” one of the women said. “All you need is your bikini and blanket.”

That worked for me.

Something clicked. “Kai, how far is the University of Oregon from Sisters? Isn’t it on the other side of the range?”

“It’s a little more than ninety minutes to my school, and less than an hour to Bend, where Oregon State is. That’s in the summer; the mountain passes get shut down with snowstorms. Three hours of commuting is a lot, so my Pack owns a condo near campus where we stay. We usually have a couple of students staying there as they go to school.”

I looked at Amy. “I’ve already gotten my acceptance letter from the University of Oregon,” I said.

Her eyes got wide. “If I get in, we could….” She looked at Kai, then looked at me. “Do you think? Would you?”

“We have to talk to Alpha Steve, and you still have to get into the school,” Kai said. “There are online classes you could take while you’re with me as I train.”

It was the beginning of a plan. I took Amy’s hand. “Florida is cool, but I can’t see Leo approving me going there now. It’s too much of a security risk, and I was kidding myself to think otherwise. Oregon? With a friendly Pack to host and my best friend sharing a home with me? I think I can talk my Mom and Dad into letting me go there. It’s a top-five Marine Biology program.”

“We’ll work it out later,” Kai said. “We need to leave in thirty minutes.”

“Do you need your stuff out of our trailer,” I asked.

“Leo brought it to our room last night,” Amy said.

‘Our’ room. It just reminded me I’d always be the third wheel until Luna gave me another mate.

Life would go on; I’d cry, I’d rage, I’d sit quietly, but I’d overcome. Leo, Adrienne, Ivan, and Karen had all done it and found their happiness in the end.

In the meantime, I’d pursue my dreams.