Screening

The pace of activities never slowed. I liked the new marina, but we had a LOT to do. The new exercise equipment arrived along with The Tank, my new armored car. It was huge, but Fiona was happy with it. I don’t know how much stuff she stored behind quick-access panels or under the seats.

I kept Fiona and Carly on the payroll, bringing them onboard my boat as soon as they could get free. Both of them had SCUBA lessons five days a week with a dive company in the marina area, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. My goal was to get them open-water certified and get them some experience with using underwater cameras. One would also run errands while we were on the boat, at least for what couldn't be delivered.

Amy and I would alternate days on the treadmill and stair stepper in the morning while the twins did their high school coursework. After a late breakfast, we’d all go to the dojo for training, grab lunch on the way back, then the twins would work out while we studied. Amy and I were taking a full slate of classes, but since our schedules were the same, we could help each other study.

I’d finish up my classwork, then dive into my Sharkbait Productions work. Being a producer wasn’t easy; I had to make hiring decisions, do budget and payroll, buy equipment, schedule events, and plan episodes. I’d have gone crazy without Linda. She had a few weeks before her next commitment, so I moved her into the Hyatt Regency across the marina from us. I’d given her leeway in choosing her crew, and a week later, she had commitments from the people she wanted.

Makani and Noelani’s birthday was on October tenth, and we had to be back on Pack lands for the party. We were flying up Saturday for their party on Tuesday night. Amy was staying behind with Carly since the boys were coming over for the weekend, while Fiona was going home with us.

I didn’t envy the twins and what awaited them. As Beta daughters, there were a lot of young males interested in seeing if they were their mate. The party was going to be huge; in addition to the available Three Sisters Pack members, almost two hundred guests would be there. It was a lot of high-stakes sniffing.

There were financial considerations in play as well. I’d convinced Mercedes to offer them modeling and appearance contracts with Bodyglove, but her parents wouldn’t cosign for them so they couldn’t be signed until they were eighteen. I was planning on hiring them into my show, which would be a lot more fun with four subjects than two.

We’d all warned them about getting too close to Manuel and Ricardo Jimenez, the twin SEAL trainees on Kai’s boat crew. Young love didn’t allow for that, and every weekend showed how their feelings were blossoming for each other. It was too late to break up with them now. If they found their mates, their wolves would want their mates at the first scent. Their human side might love their sailors, but I doubted they’d give up their mates for them. They’d feel bad, but they’d get lost in the mating and never look back.

The Jimenez twins would be devastated if the girls left on Saturday, and everything was great, then they broke up with them the next Friday.

I had no idea if their mates would also be twins, but I could see them worry about finding them. Would they end up in different Packs? What would happen to their plans? The curse of the female werewolf was uncertainty; in a moment, your entire life would change. On the Alpha’s instructions, they were to have all their things packed and ready to ship to their new home if they found their mates. They wouldn’t even come back to the boat to move out.

The stress was wearing them down as the week moved on.

It was the same feeling I had when I went to the Alpha Summit back in February. I had a plan for my life, and it didn’t include being Princess Puppy Mill somewhere away from home. I let out a breath as I remembered how close I’d come to just that; without the rejection, I’d have been in a leadership mess at Killington worthy of a Werewolf reality show. I’d hoped to get through without finding a mate but didn’t.

The girls came down to the kitchen for lunch on Friday, and they could barely maintain focus long enough to heat their beef and rice. “You two need to relax,” I told them. “Whatever Luna decided will happen, you can’t change it now.”

“I know that up here,” Makani said as she pointed to her head, “but my heart prays that Manuel is my mate. I want what Amy has with Kai; we’ll get to see the world, and he’s busy while we’re on tour.”

“And if not, I hope I don’t find another. I want to see the world and have fun before I get tied down to a mate and a Pack,” Noelani said.

“I felt the same way when I came of age,” Amy said. “I found Kai, and Kai supports my dreams. I pray that you find a mate who loves you enough to let you fulfill your dreams.”

“I hope you don’t walk through the recreational vehicle area on the way to your party,” I said with a grumble.

Amy smacked my arm. “That’s not going to happen,” she said.

“I know,” I said. “No matter what happens, we’re going to eat well. Kaia told me they were roasting ten whole hogs in their pits.” I couldn’t wait.

They needed a distraction, so I pulled out the big board I’d made up of events for our trip. The calendar covered from the last week of October until Christmas eve, all set on a poster-size double-sided page. I’d filled in the events Mercedes had booked using a black Sharpie, along with the flight information between locations. The schedule had a travel day, followed by two to four days with appearances, then an off day or two before the next travel day. “I can’t do this all myself,” I said. “In each spot, I want to find a nearby dive spot or scenic spot. Research what the best places are, then find out who the experts are in that area. Bring me back ideas and phone numbers so I can start setting things up.”

“May as well, all my stuff is in suitcases already,” Makani said. “I’ll take Capetown, Rio de Janeiro, and the Bahamas.”

“Dibs on Brisbane, Melbourne, and the Maldives,” Noelani said.

“I’ll work on the rest,” Amy said.

That and schoolwork kept things quiet until I left with Fiona to go pick up Mercedes from the airport. Since Bodyglove was a title sponsor in the shark documentary off Cape Cod, she got an advance screening copy of the show. We were going to watch it tonight and discuss how Bodyglove could leverage the November premiere into boosting sales.

I waited in the armored SUV as Fiona stood outside, waiting for Mercedes to appear. We didn’t wait long, and she climbed into the back with me as Fiona went back to the driver’s seat. “Welcome to San Diego,” I said.

“It’s good to be here, Vicki.” We discussed the Bodyglove product line for 2034 the whole drive, one that I’d given a lot more feedback on since I signed. I was excited to see what else we could come up with under their proposed Shark Babe line.

Fiona dropped me at the marina, taking Amy and the twins to Coronado to pick the boys up at the base. Susan and Hammer were in my kitchen when I arrived, already working on dinner. “I’m so excited to see this,” Susan said as she greeted us.

“It smells amazing, Susan,” I said. “What’s for dinner?”

“Fish tacos,” she said. “Help me set the table.”

We had everything ready when the girls arrived with the guys in tow. Dinner was a relaxed affair, with the guys happy to just sit and eat for a bit. Susan even brought Key Lime Pie for dessert.

We retired to the salon for the documentary, closing the drapes and putting it on the big screen. “How long a show did we get out of it,” I asked.

“Two hours at the most, although the network could divide it into two one-hour shows, or even edit it down to ninety minutes,” Mercedes said.

Two hours of television time meant only 87 minutes of content, the rest going to promos and commercials. Susan set out snacks as I helped with drinks, then we turned the lights down and watched.

When the credits rolled, everyone started applauding. I had tears rolling down my face; it had turned out better than I thought. I knew we’d captured some amazing videos of sharks from the onboard highlights, but seeing it in a finished form was even better. I know not everyone agreed with bringing me onboard as a hostess, but the screening showed how well it had worked. I’d ask the questions people wanted to know, and the experts would answer. I didn’t look stupid; I looked like someone who loved sharks and wanted to know more.

Of course, the drama with Brian was a good fifteen minutes of screen time. The argument was shown in its entirety, using three different camera views. When I stormed out after the fight, the views toggled between me on the main deck and the chaos I’d left behind. I started crying, and Mercedes stopped the screening for me.

“I had no idea it was that bad,” Amy said. “All that got released on social media was the end of the argument and the fight.”

“Things were much better after he got kicked off the boat,” I said. “The other women rallied around me, and the administration did the right thing.”

“Nice chokehold,” Hammer said. “I can’t even get mad at him; you kicked his ass verbally AND physically.”

“I think we need a ‘THESE TITS’ T-shirt,” Noelani said. “I’d wear it.” I didn’t know if it would pass muster, but she was right; that would be the social media tag line for the show.

“Maybe a ‘Shark Babe’ line of those, swim shirts too,” Makani added.

“Let’s watch the rest, shall we?” There was more, including snippets from interviews with other women talking about the sexism they’d dealt with in their careers. You’d think that by 2033 we’d be past all that, but no.

The money shot for the special was the underwater view of a Great White attacking a seal on the surface. Breaches in seal attacks had been a staple of shark documentaries for years, but ours was the first where the camera caught the entire attack from below. There were screams and whoops from the others as they watched. “That was AWESOME,” Kai said as the credits rolled.

“That’s what our competition is,” I told everyone. “We can have more fun, but we do need to have compelling underwater footage. Without that, it’s just a travelogue.”

“We can do this,” Amy said. “You just proved it.”