Ducks

Any thought of college life like any other student was gone before we made it to the registration office.

Mercedes had been right when she called us last night to remind us of the terms of our contract. “You’re going to be all over social media,” she said. “Media, students, and even the faculty want to be seen with you. You’ll receive more attention than you are comfortable with, and invitations you should never accept. Conduct yourselves as representatives of our company, and ALWAYS be seen in Bodyglove merchandise. Even in your private rooms, people who visit will take and share photos of you.”

That was why we showed up with Bodyglove line dresses and heels for the first day of school. I was wearing a print that showed forty different species of sharks, while Amy’s dress was in an ocean pattern. We had security from our Pack, two male and two female warriors in black suits plus Amy’s ‘seeing-eye dog,’ and we needed them just to get away from our SUV. The press was waiting for us, along with a few dozen students. We smiled as we got out, the cameras clicking away as we waved.

The crowd closed in with everyone excited to see us. We must have spent twenty minutes signing autographs and taking photos with people, and we hadn’t gone fifty feet from the car yet. The group was friendly, and we got invited to every sorority, fraternity, and dorm party there was this week. The crowd continued to build as our presence hit social media, and the mood started to turn. I could hear shouting as a fight broke out in the back, and the crowd kept pressing in on us. Campus Security was trying and failing to keep the area around us open. “We’ve got to get out of here, Vicki. This isn’t a defensible position,” the lead warrior sent.

“Back in the car,” I ordered. The three warriors started to push towards the rear door of the car, where the driver waited with the engine running. Some members of the crowd saw what we were doing and moved to block us, but a loud growl from the dog stopped them. Hands reached out to grab us, and I heard a rip as the sleeve of my dress tore in someone’s hand. Amy pulled loose from another’s grasp, and our guards formed a wedge to make a path for us. Amy and I grabbed onto their suit jackets to keep up after we broke out of the people. The first warrior got the door, and Amy and I piled in the back with our guards. As soon as we were all inside, we were moving. I watched as our fans filled the street, watching us drive away. “Everyone all right?”

Nothing more than bruises with my ruined dress being the only damage. Since we were werewolves, we pulled out another dress from the emergency clothes we kept in the car, and I quickly dressed behind the tinted windows. The driver looked back as we stopped at a light. “Where to, boss?”

“Home for now,” I said. There was no point in us trying to go to orientation, not when the reaction was like this. No one said anything as we drove. The ten-minute drive took twice that, as we shook the paparazzi trying to follow us to the condominium the Three Sisters Pack maintained near the campus for Pack students. I just shook my head as we moved through the city, amazed at how things had changed. I’d been famous before, I’d hung out with celebrities, and I could handle crowds. My newfound wealth, and the scandalous manner I’d attained it, had the gossip rags out for blood.

We parked in the garage, letting it close before we got out. No one at the school knew where we were living, and we weren’t going to advertise it. “I need to talk to the Alpha about this,” the lead warrior said.

“I’m going to call the Dean’s Office and see what we can do,” I said. “It’s more than Campus Security should deal with.”

“I don’t think it will calm down that quickly, either,” Amy said. “Too many people want a piece of you, and they’ll go after me to get to you.”

“You’re pretty popular on your own,” I teased.

“I’m happily married, though. You’re the dream girl,” she teased as she went into her room.

I looked up the number for the Dean’s Office and had him on videophone a few minutes later. “I want to apologize for the commotion,” I told him as I closed the door to my room to talk.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Miss Lawrence,” he said. “I’ve already been briefed by Campus Security. We should have assigned more people to you knowing your celebrity.”

“It was more than I normally get,” I said. “I thought this would work for me, but it won’t. My presence puts the school and your security team at risk. I’d still like to meet you and the faculty I’ll be working with, but walking around campus won’t be happening.” We discussed some options and agreed to a new plan before I hung up.

“Are there any good barbecue spots around here,” I asked as I came back out.

“Way ahead of you, Sharkbait,” Amy said. She handed me the tablet, which had the menu for Bill and Tim’s Barbeque and Taphouse. “All of us have our orders in already.” I added a brisket sandwich and a full rack of rib plate to the list of food and charged it to my new corporate card. My accountant and investment lawyer knew I’d need more anonymity, so they formed two entities. The “Three Sisters Investments, LLC” card was for personal use, while “SB Fashions” was for business. It made it easier to separate things come tax time.

“We meet starting at noon, so there’s plenty of time for the food to arrive.” I explained the arrangement I’d come to with the Dean. I’d linked it to the warriors as I talked through it, so I knew the Alpha was in agreement too. “All of our course work is going to be online since it’s too dangerous for us to attend classes. We meet in the administration building with the Dean. He is arranging for all our Professors to stop by between one and four. We’ll get a chance to meet them, get our course materials, and ask questions.” I guess when you are rich and famous, the Dean assigns real staff to you. Our fellow freshmen would be lucky to see a professor, as graduate assistants teach undergraduate classes.

“So much for having fun as college students,” Amy said.

“We’re heading back to the Pack tonight,” the lead warrior said. “You can stay and relax for a few days while Alpha Steven works out a plan for your security. You saw what it was like here; it’s going to be like that everywhere.” I hadn’t seen it because we’d stayed home and flown a private jet up here. This morning was my first public appearance; I could just imagine the circus my next Bodyglove event would be.

“I should do an interview or something to get the media off my back,” I said.

“I bet Mercedes would love that,” Amy said.

I sent our boss a text, asking her for help in setting something up.

The import of what Alpha Steven wanted finally hit me. “We’re going to have to move,” I said. Amy groaned, she liked our place. “The cops won’t keep people away from our rental home forever, and it isn’t big enough for the security we will need.”

“I can’t live alone yet, and I don’t want to move in with Mom and Hammer,” Amy said dejectedly. Her vision loss meant she couldn’t live alone.

“I’ll start looking for a bigger place to rent,” I said. “Something with five or six bedrooms.” We’d need three or four for us, plus room for the guards.

“Call your investment guy. Real estate is a good investment, and he’ll probably want you to buy for tax reasons.” I did, and Amy was right about his advice. We spent the next hour looking at places for sale in Coronado; we liked being close to the base, and I wanted a house with a boat slip, pool, and hot tub. It was quickly apparent that the pool wasn’t happening, at least on Coronado Island. Real estate was too valuable to waste on a swimming pool. The houses were built as big as possible, right up to the zoning setbacks. The canals gave the most expensive homes private piers that could access San Diego Bay. I found a few candidates and sent them off to my investment guy to review. “We’ve got one other problem with buying a house,” I suddenly realized.

“You’ve got the cash and the roommates,” Amy said. “We just have to find the right one!”

I shook my head. “No. The Vampires.” Amy and the other warriors looked at me, not understanding the problem. “Part of our arrangement with the Vampire Master in Los Angeles when we came out was that we would be living there temporarily while your husband was in training. Luna Adrienne set it all up for me. It’s quite a different story to be buying a house there. Now your Mom and brother have moved in, and she might turn Hammer? Instead of four students, we could have a former Luna, a new Werewolf, an Alpha heir, four Beta heirs, and as many as four warriors living in two houses in Coronado. The Vampires will rightly see us as a Pack setting up in a major city.”

“You’d think you’d have some pull with the Vampires now,” Amy said. “You can work it out.”

I had to laugh. “I think I’m good with two of the Masters, but to the others? They have to know I poisoned and killed one of their strongest Masters and got away with it. I don’t know if they’ll be proud, scared, or pissed.”

“You need to talk to Adrienne,” Amy replied.

“Yeah.” I went back to my room to make that phone call. It took ten minutes to update her on everything happening to me.

Adrienne reminded me that Master Vampire Caroline Grey was over the Los Angeles region, but San Diego was a large enough city to have a coven of four vampires in it. Coronado was technically not within the San Diego city limits, but it was right across the bridge. “I can’t see the Vampires allowing a small Pack into their backyard, Vicki. You should think about moving elsewhere, and not just for that reason,” she said. “You’ve seen the properties in San Diego; there are no yards, no woods to run in, no place for your wolf to get out. Security is a nightmare there. Homes have no buffer zones to the property lines, you have access from both roads and water, and you are unable to shift with the people and surveillance around.”

“It hasn’t been that bad,” I said.

“There’s more. Land prices are insane, even with your wealth. Kai is only there for a year, then he and Amy might end up based on the East Coast. Susan and Luke are with Hammer now, and he can’t learn to be a wolf out there. Why would you go long-term on a short-term situation? Is this the place you want to set down roots? You could find your mate tomorrow, Vicki.”

I had to laugh at that, but she had a point. I was eighteen and not ready to tie myself down to anyone or anything just yet. “What should I do instead?”

She hesitated for a moment. “You need to meet with Master Caroline sooner, rather than later,” my former Luna said. “Susan, Luke, Kai, Amy, Makaela and Noelani are all one family; you and your security are not. Your mantle, your deeds, and your fame make it unlikely that she will let you stay in Coronado with the security detail you’ll need. Perhaps you can work something out for a more rural location between San Diego and Los Angeles, or up in the mountains.”

Wonderful. “You are right in that we have to meet,” I said. “I will call the Master tonight and set up a meeting,” I promised. “Can you be there?”

“I could, but I shouldn’t,” she said. “I’m not a representative of the Council, I’m not your Luna, and I’m not part of your group. You need to handle this, Vicki. Your reputation exceeds mine, and you should use it.”

“I suppose.” I heard the door open, and that meant lunch had arrived. “Thank you, Aunt Adrienne.”

“You left to make your way in the world, Vicki. So far, you’ve gone far beyond anything I dreamed. Be well, Sharkbait.”

“I love you.” I hung up and went back out, the smell of barbecue filling the room. It was all right for Eugene, never to be confused with a barbecue hotspot. Loading into the car again, we drove back on campus and pulled into the parking garage at the administration building. Out of sight of anyone else, Campus Security escorted us to a conference room where the Dean was waiting.

The meetings were a mix of logistics and solicitation. The faculty was helpful and supportive, thrilled to have us as Ducks.

The fact that we hadn’t started classes yet didn’t stop the Dean from pushing me for donations to the University.

Ah, the joys of sudden wealth.