Chapter 43: Sleeping With The Sharks

February 11, 2020

When I purchased the tickets for Vicki to do the Sleep With The Sharks at SeaLife, she had just been that daughter of a friend. I gave them for Christmas because I knew how much Liv struggled to do things between school and work, and I thought it would be a fun party for the two.

I had no idea that Sharkbait was so crazy about sharks.

I never expected that Vicki would be a werewolf with an Alpha mantle, who had never shifted and was living unaware among humans.

I never thought I would adopt the two into my family, with Vicki as my heir.

And I never dreamed I’d be a mated Alpha, required to attend the annual Alpha Summit.

The incredible changes in the past five weeks created a schedule conflict for us. I had booked Vicki’s birthday party for Friday, February 14th. She couldn’t wait to go and to take her new Pack friends with her.

Vicki’s birthday party, however, shared the date with the opening night of the Alpha Gathering, held this year at the Augusta Pack in Georgia. Adrienne and I had to go, and she wanted the Chairman to perform our mating ceremony there. When she told me, I realized it was a brilliant move politically. We would have our binding and the recognition of the Miesville Pack at the same time, with all the North American Alphas and Betas in attendance. We would permanently resolve any questions about my status after being exiled by Todd. The Chairman, her closest friend, would perform the ceremony, and Anthony and Pamela would stand as our seconds.

I was a mantled Alpha, as was my mate, and we would show everyone our mantled Heir. All Packs would have to recognize that Vicki was mine by adoption.

We would all be there for the weekend, along with our Betas, Mike and Anita. I called SeaLife and moved her party to tonight, Tuesday the 11th. Of course, Vicki was happy that it would come faster. Since all of the children attending were in the Pack, and they were all homeschooled, it made it far easier to organize.

We took nine children ages three to ten, and six adults on the excursion in four vehicles. Olivia took Lois along with Vicki and Esmererda in her SUV. Maria Hernandez took Carlo, Juan, and Ernesta in her minivan. Adrienne drove two other children and me in her Lexus, while Anita took two children in her car. We all parked on the second level of the east parking ramp and gathered in the parking garage across the skyway to the mall entrance. The adults had bags with pillows and sleeping bags, while the kids carried small bags with their pajamas and stuffed animals. “All right, kids,” I said as we gathered together. “Does everyone have their buddy? Hold hands in the air.” Four pairs of two hands went up; Maria had Ernesta on her hip, and they held their hands up; she would buddy up with her youngest.

“Stay together, and don’t talk to anyone that an adult doesn’t talk to first,” I said. “Let’s go have fun!”

The kids were excited, and Vicki and Esmerelda ran ahead to the escalator while holding hands. Anita hurried after them, telling them to wait over the bond. My hackles raised when two young men changed directions and headed right for them. “Keep the others together,” I told Maria as I smelled the scent of other wolves. Adrienne was already moving to intercept the two, who turned and ran back to Anita.

“Anita, return the children to Maria. Be ready to leave on short notice if more are around,” I said. I cursed my walking boot, which kept me from responding as quickly as I wanted. As it turned out, it was not necessary.

The two warriors had bared their necks at Adrienne already and moved back from the children. The oldest looked to be around twenty, the younger maybe eighteen. “Our apologies, sir. We caught her scent, and it intrigued us.”

“Moving aggressively towards children from another group is never a good idea,” Adrienne said as I moved next to her. “Who are you?”

“Mark and Brian Farnsworth, from Little Canada,” the older man said. “Ten of us came down here after work with Alpha Carl and his mate. We’re meeting some friends from Prior Lake.”

“The Mall is open territory, so as long as you stay clear of our children, we don’t have a problem. Ask your friends to avoid SeaLife tonight; the kids have an overnight. Please pass along my respects to Alpha Carl.”

“Alpha? I’m sorry, I don’t know your name or Pack.”

“Alpha Leo Volkov and Luna Adrienne, from the Miesville Pack,” I told him.

His eyes got wide, and he stared at the scar on my face as he recognized me from the news. “You… they’re the ones. Stillwater?” I was sure the fact that the kidnappers and their shooter were all werewolves was common knowledge among the local Packs.

“Yes. Have a pleasant evening, Mark and Brian.” They couldn’t leave fast enough, the combined dominance of our wolves too much for them to withstand. “I should have sent someone in first,” I said.

“Give me the tickets. I’ll go ahead and check us in,” Adrienne said. My wolf didn’t like having her go ahead of me, but right now, she was the stronger fighter. I handed her the passes, and she went down the escalator to the entrance.

I walked back to where Maria, Anita, and Lois had the children lined up against the wall. “Vicki and Esmerelda, if you run off like that again, you’ll be going home. This mall isn’t our territory, and there are other of our kind here. That goes for everyone else; we stay together in a group. Pairs stay together, and pairs stay BETWEEN Pack adults. Does everyone understand?” All the children nodded at me; I’m sure Lois had already laid down the law.

Vicki had tears going down her cheeks, while Esmerelda was pale. “I’m sorry, Unky Leo,” she said.

“I’m sorry, Alpha,” Esmerelda said.

“You’re forgiven. I understand you are excited, but we need to stay safe, all right?” The girls nodded. “Let’s go downstairs and check-in.”

All of us got wristbands, and our things got put in a storage closet for later. We were taken to a party room to eat pizza. After the dinner, we met up with the guides for the behind the scenes tour. The tour was a blast; we saw where the meals for aquarium fish were prepared. I couldn’t believe they were using the same seafood supplier used by the Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory in the mall. We saw the medical facilities, then went upstairs to where the pumps, filters, and quarantine tanks were. The whole tour took over an hour, and Sharkbait was in her element. The other children were having fun by the time we took the nighttime tour of the aquarium.

Adrienne and I were holding hands and enjoying the time with the Pack children as we watched. Sharkbait kept pointing at things and asking her to look, which made me wonder when I lost my favored status. At ten, we took the children into locker rooms to change into their jammies, then brought their sleeping bags and pillows out. We set up in a section of the shark tank tube, putting three adults on each end with the children in the middle. “If you need to get up or go to the bathroom, you take an adult with you. One of us will always be awake and watching over you,” I told them.

They set up along one side of the tube, leaving the other to walk on. Maria took the first shift, each ninety minutes long. I put my sleeping bag down such that I was head-to-head with Adrienne’s, and we held hands as we fell asleep.

“Leo, it’s one in the morning, you’re up,” Anita told me as she shook me awake.

I opened my eyes, a little shocked to see a tiger shark above me in the darkness of the aquarium night. “I have it,” I said as I sat up. She went to her sleeping bag on the other end while I fished around in my gear bag for the thermos of hot coffee I’d brought along and the travel cup. I filled it up with the strong brew, then stood up and took a sip. It was quiet, almost eerie, with a few lights above the water simulating the moonlit night. The tunnel itself was dark, just some exit signs and LED lights marking the path with a dim glow. My wolf vision could make out all the details, and I took a deep sniff. My wolf was calm, my Pack safe. I took a drink and began to walk down to the other end. I was halfway there when I felt someone looking at me. “Unky Leo?”

Sharkbait wasn’t sleeping; her eyes were wide open as she watched the sharks swim over her head. “What are you doing awake?”

“Watching the sharks,” she said. “I’ll sleep tomorrow.”

“You have school tomorrow,” I said as I sat down next to her.

She pointed at the big tiger shark swimming over, its mouth open exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth. “I could stay here all week,” she said. “Sharks don’t have to sleep. They swim all the time.”

“But fish can sleep. Do you know why?” She shook her head, no. “Because they go to SCHOOLS.”

She smacked her head. “That was bad, Unky Leo.”

“Dads aren’t supposed to be funny. I’ll sit with you while you go to sleep, Sharkbait.” She finally closed her eyes as I held her hand, sipping my coffee with the other. My ninety minutes went fast, and I wasn’t tired, so it was four before I woke up Adrienne. A quick kiss and I was asleep until six.

The lights came back up, and it took a bit of time to get everyone to the bathroom and back into their normal clothes. Breakfast was juice and donuts, and I stayed with the group as the drivers went to get the cars and bring them to the end of the skyway. Adrienne linked me a minute after they left. “We’ve got a problem, Leo.”

“What?”

“Alpha Carl and some of his men are here.”

“I’m coming out,” I said.

“I’ll make sure they stay away as we load up the children,” my mate told me. She was staring down Alpha Carl as I emerged at the stairway. Adrienne stayed with her car while the others picked up the kids.

Carl was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against his Jeep. He and his men didn’t move while we got the kids out of the way.

I reached my mate and took her hand as the others loaded up our other cars. The two children we’d brought got buckled into Maria’s minivan, despite not having child seats for them. “Be ready to get them out of here quickly,” I told them.

“He won’t do anything here. There are too many cameras and too much security,” Adrienne said.

“Let’s find out what he wants.” We walked forward together, and Carl and his Beta came forward to meet us. The other four guys stayed by their cars. “Alpha Carl. It’s been a long time,” I said.

He stopped five feet from us, looking at the scar on my face. “When my men told me, I had to see to believe it,” he said. “You got banished after losing a challenge for the Welch Pack,” he said.

“Yes. It was a bad time for me.”

“Catherine was a good wolf. We all understood your struggle.” He ran his fingers through his thinning hair. “You’ve drawn a lot of press lately, bringing two Packs under scrutiny. It made me wonder.”

“Wonder what,” Adrienne said. I could tell he didn’t like being questioned by a woman, but Adrienne wasn’t any woman. She carried Alpha Mantle dominance and the authority of the Council.

“Whether you killed Todd to get your Pack back. Killing a fellow Alpha is a serious matter. Todd was a friend of mine.”

“That’s a serious charge, Carl.”

“I could understand you wanting to take back your Pack without a challenge. After all, you were banished.”

I just shook my head. “I formed a new Pack, Carl. Todd was an idiot; he tried to kill my heir and me, and he failed. It was his pride that drew the attention of law enforcement.” I pointed down at my ankle. “I would have loved to get my teeth around Todd’s neck when I healed up, but he died without me.”

“You had nothing to do with it?”

“How could he,” Adrienne said. “Todd died in jail. His mate is in our Pack; how could an Alpha kill his Beta’s mate?”

He didn’t say anything for a while. “Luna, the Council owes us a report on this matter.”

“The Council owes you nothing,” she responded. “The path Todd took led to his death among the humans. If he had an issue with Alpha Leo, he should have called for a Council Mediator.”

“You’re his MATE,” Carl said.

“I know. Leo didn’t need my help; he’s more than competent in running a Pack and defending what is his.” I loved the hanging threat she left him. “If you’ll excuse us, we have to get the kiddos home.”

“Don’t follow us, we’re already on edge, and you know I won’t hesitate to shoot,” I said.

“There’s no need for threats. I just wanted to talk to you,” Carl said.

“We’ll see you at the Summit.” We turned our back on him and walked away, knowing he would be upset that we didn’t consider him a threat. He drove away before our car started. “That was interesting,” I said.

“There’s more to it than just a friendship,” Adrienne said.

“We’ll ask Susan when we get home. Let’s join the others.” Thankfully, the rest of the trip was quiet, and we returned home safely.