Sharkbait

Thursday night was all studying. Friday morning, we had to take our afternoon exams before leaving school early to get to the airport. We picked up our luggage and headed out the door. “Do you have your PAADI open water card?” Without our certification card, we wouldn’t be able to rent the gear.

“Yes, Mom,” Amy teased. “I’ve got my phone and wallet too, and I’m wearing clean underwear in case the plane crashes.” I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm as I loaded my suitcase in the back seat. Both of us had more clothes than we would need for a simple weekend getaway. I didn’t want to, but my Mom insisted. We would need to have enough clothes to continue to a new mate’s Pack, and have enough clothes to last until our stuff could be shipped there.

“What suits did you bring?”

“My coral one-piece and the neon pink bikini,” she said. I rolled my eyes. “Hey, if I’m single, I’m going the turn some heads.” She would with that body and THAT suit. It provided just enough support and coverage to stay legal. “You?”

“Sharkskin one-piece and my green bikini,” I said. It was more modest in cut but still drew attention to my curves. It was less likely to come off during free diving, too. “It won’t matter, we’ll be in wetsuits more than swimsuits.”

“I’m just happy we’re in a warm place by the water. It could have been last year, in Vail.” Yeah, going from one winter to another wouldn’t have been as much fun, even if the mountains were fun to run in. We dropped our car off at Leo’s, moving our stuff into a van one of the Omegas was driving. It was a twenty-minute drive to the Red Wing Airport, where our charter business jet waited. It was well-appointed inside, with comfortable reclining leather seats, a flat-screen monitor, and a conference table with computer ports. We were wheels-up ten minutes after arriving, and after we climbed to altitude, the seats could swivel towards the table. Amy and I were near the back, and I was sitting next to Luna Karen and Ivan. Leo and Adrienne were opposite us, with the Stillwater Betas, Richard and Carol, on my right.

“Are you excited about your first mixer,” she asked. Karen was a good woman; her parents were unranked, and her Alpha’s son mate had rejected her for it. She didn’t go to the mixers due to her lack of rank.

Instead, Karen threw herself into her education and work after that, becoming a Nursing Supervisor at a hospital near Bend, Oregon. She had come to the Twin Cities six years ago for a conference, where she met John at a gathering of local Packs. The two of them, both veterans of rejection, found love in each other. A month later, they were married and mated, and she was now the Head Nurse at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater. Luna blessed her with a heat at age 46, and it took. They had twin boys, Keith and Kevin, almost four years old now.

Her addition to the Stillwater Pack had been the final step in stabilizing and reviving it. Ivan, who went back to his old name after the Luna of Marengo Lakes died, spent years clearing out the criminal elements and bad apples in his Pack. Karen was a compassionate and outgoing female, and her presence balanced Ivan perfectly. In the last five years, transfers had grown their back by almost half again to eighty members.

I’d liked her from the first time I met her, and I could see how happy she made my father. Somehow, I ended up a bridesmaid at her wedding. I took her hand and tried to smile. “I’m nervous, Karen. My whole life could change big time, all in the blink of an eye.”

“Whatever happens, you’ll still be the same young lady you are now. Luna has a plan for your life. Good or bad, you’ll be fine in time. I’m proof of that.”

“I wish I could be like you and not find my mate until I’ve got my education and career in place. I can’t take the idea of having to leave my school and friends and travel halfway across the country with a man I don’t know.” Amy took my other hand; she had the same issues.

“You know, nothing REQUIRES any of that. No Council ruling or Alpha can require you to complete the mating, and nothing says you have to move to his Pack immediately. If it happens, talk to him about it. Most likely, he’s a son of a Pack leader and is only the Heir to a leadership position. Tell him what you want and work it out.” She was the first person to tell me that I would have choices, even after finding my mate, and I loved her for it. “Your wolf may fight you on this; when it finds its other half, the pull to be with him is powerful. The longer you put it off, the tougher it is, especially when your heat arrives.” Heat was a biological pull to procreate, and it was days of hell if your mate was not there to make love to you.

“I could visit on weekends, and we could attend the same school,” Amy said.

“Exactly. You’re not property, and you’re not without choices. Work out something, so you still get what you want.” She squeezed my hand. “I’m sad you didn’t find your mate at your birthday party. I was hoping you’d stay in the area so we could see you more.”

All this talk about mates made me ask a question I’d not had the courage to ask, and no one discussed. “Karen? What happened to the man who rejected you?” Her face flashed pain. “You don’t have to tell me if it’s too painful.”

“No, you should know,” I said. “My fated mate rejected me in favor of another female he wanted instead, the daughter of his Pack’s Beta. The day before their mating ceremony, she found her mate and left him. His wolf became withdrawn over the next few years, wanting what he’d thrown away. He started to drink and get in trouble at work. He got drunk one night and drove home anyway; his car left the road and hit a tree, killing him instantly.” It takes a lot to get a werewolf drunk. “It took me years to get over him. Like Luna Adrienne, I threw myself into my work until the pain faded.” She wiped a tear away as Ivan held her other hand. “Of course, life is so much better now. I have everything I ever dreamed of.”

“I love you, Karen,” Ivan said as he leaned across the seat to kiss her. I turned to give them some privacy and think about what she said. I was a Mantled Alpha Heir; I brought power to my mating, and my dreams didn’t have to die.

I felt so much better as we stepped off the plane into the heat and humidity of the Pensacola afternoon. We’d gone from ten degrees to eighty, and I loved it. A van from the Summit drove out to meet us, and five minutes later, we were driving out past the palm trees towards the gathering.

The property was the winter retreat for a large, prosperous pack in the Northeast. A large central building held meeting rooms, dining facilities, and a conference room. Dozens of small cabins surrounded the central building, and dozens of travel trailers sat parked in lots designed for them. “Some of the closer Packs brought their recreational vehicles,” Leo said as we drove past the fancy rigs.

The driver stopped at adjacent trailers, one for each Pack. Leo took their stuff towards the Master Bedroom, while Amy and I hung up our clothes in the small closet next to the stairs for the queen-sized bed above the fifth-wheel hitch. It wasn’t long before we were back in the van for the short drive to the main house to check-in.

Leo and Adrienne were greeted warmly by the host Alphas and others, while Amy and I felt the eyes upon us. “Welcome to the Summit, ladies,” a young man in a white suit said. I took a sniff; he was Alpha blood and disappointed he felt no pull to us. “Tonight’s dinner is buffet style in the main hall, and here is your schedule of events. Enjoy the Summit.”

“Thank you, Daniel,” I said as I put the nametag on the light summer dress I was wearing with sandals. Leo must have made the call after our talk; my name tag only said Miesville Pack, not Miesville Heir. “Let’s eat and get out of here,” I sent to Amy as we walked into the dining room. Conversations stopped, and people stared at us as we walked to the line. “I feel like the rabbit at a greyhound race.”

“It’s like they’ve never seen a mantled female,” she replied.

“They’re looking at YOUR body like they look at tonight’s dinner,” I said back to her. Amy’s body was fuller than mine, and she looked amazing in her dress. The Cuban roasted whole pig at the carving table made just as many mouths water. I tuned out the crowd and focused on dinner, thankful that the plates were extra-large, so I didn’t need two.

We found some other young women and commiserated on the looks we were receiving as we ate a wonderful dinner. The pork was amazing, rubbed with Adobo spices, and injected with marinade with orange and lime juice. The cook told me it was buried in a metal box overnight with coals surrounding it. The resulting meat was tender and juicy and made fantastic sandwiches. It was AMAZING, and Leo agreed it was some of the best pork barbecue we’d ever had. He’d already gotten the recipe.

Our table grew as more unattached ladies arrived. The unmated males were kept on the other side of the room to avoid interaction before the Unmated Mixer. We talked about tonight and our plans for the weekend. Two of them were scuba qualified and gave me their phone numbers for tomorrow’s dive trip. A few others wanted to go to the beach. Few of us wanted to stick around if our mates were not here.

When one of the host females approached our table and asked if we had any questions, I had one. “I need to let my wolf out for a run,” I said. There were nods around the table; we still had a few hours until we had to be back.

“Meet me at the entrance in fifteen minutes, and we’ll have an all-female run,” she said. “There’s a good trail that takes an hour at a hard run.”

I told my Alphas about it, and all our women wanted in. “Let the males preen and posture, I want to RUN,” Adrienne said.

“Perfect,” I said. There was an enclosed area with lockers and a concrete floor near the trees. Our group stripped and shifted before heading out. The trail was fun but flat; the sandy soil let you kick up the trail through the trees and around the swamps and lakes of the property. I felt a lot better when we returned. “We better go get ready,” I said as I slipped my sandals back on.

We took a shortcut to the RV parking area, walking together since the older people had to go back to the main building. We were partway through the back end of the lot when I froze.

The most incredible smell came to me on the light breeze blowing from the trailers. “He’s here,” my wolf told me.

“Vicki?” Amy was looking at me, reading my expression, and she suddenly understood what was happening.

I raised my nose and followed the scent upwind. My wolf was going nuts, and when I got close enough to the trailer with my mate in it, I knew why. “OH yeah, yeah, FUCK! Give it to me harder, baby,” a woman said from the bedroom.

“Shit yeah, my love. You’re so fucking hot,” the man said.

I heard the sound of his hips slapping into her and the smell of their sex. I couldn’t move; I couldn’t think. Amy figured it out, wrapping her arms around me as my nails started to shift. I was going to kill that bitch. “Calm down, Vicki. Now is not the time.”

I stood there shaking as my mate finished fucking a woman who wasn’t his. My mind was going everywhere, and all I could do was listen. He started talking as they lay together. “After tonight, my father will let us mate. Six of these mixers is enough to convince him that my mate doesn’t exist.”

“I want you to claim me tonight,” the female said. “It’s finally time to make me yours. Make me your Luna, my love.”

Tears fell down my face as he agreed to give up my rightful place for her.

“Let me go,” I finally said.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“We missed the turn for ‘Okay’ five minutes ago,” I replied. “I need to get out of here before my mate picks up my scent.”

“Come on. I’ll take you back to our trailer,” Amy replied.

“Don’t tell the Alphas, not yet. Not until I decide what I’m going to do.” I let Amy pull me away from the trailers, moving down the line to where our place was. I closed the door and turned the air conditioning up.

Amy held me as I cried out my anger and pain to the Goddess as I steeled my heart for the rejection.