Sharkbait Ch. 06-10

We did one last inspection of our gear as we approached the dive site. The divemaster pointed out the hazards, asked if we had questions, checked our gear, then let us hit the water. Adrienne and I went on air, checked our masks, set our dive watches, and let ourselves fall back into the warm Gulf waters.

As soon as I was under, I felt alive again. Staying next to my dive buddy, we kicked down to the sand bottom near the bow of the ship. The only thing I could hear was the bubbles from my breathing, and the sounds of boats driving by.

The next thirty minutes were a blast. The reef was mature, and we saw a lot of fish. The biggest was a Goliath grouper that must have gone two-hundred-pounds, with a mouth big enough to stick my head and shoulders in. Barracuda, snapper, amberjacks, triggers, redfish, and dozens of others swam with us around the shipwreck.

We saw a few sharks, too. The biggest was an eight-foot tiger shark that swam past without a care in the world. A nurse shark was nearly as big, with smaller blacktip reef sharks and a brown shark too. All too soon, the bottom time was up, and we made our way back to the boat.

We changed tanks and rested for a few minutes, then made our second dive. This time we explored some of the features near the stern, farthest from the boat. I saw bubbles coming up fast from divers just out of sight, and it was too rapid for normal breathing. "Let's make sure nothing is wrong there," I said as I pointed towards the shaded area.

Adrienne spotted them first and put her hand out to stop me. I looked over at the pair and almost spit out my regulator.

I could see Kai's white butt moving as he faced away from me, his swim trunks lowered to his thighs. He was holding Amy by the waist, her legs wrapped around his back, and her bikini bottoms clenched in her hand. They were too busy to notice us, and I didn't need to see the underwater conception of their first child. I shook my head to clear the image. "We should give them some privacy," I said. "Don't tell them we saw this."

"Wasn't Amy the one who wanted to maximize her bottom time," Adrienne replied. She took a few photos of them with her underwater camera. "I'll get it blown up and give it to them as a mating present. It will look great on their bedroom wall."

This time I did spit out my regulator. They were still going when we swam away.

After three dives, Adrienne was done and we didn't have enough time left for a full dive. I talked Amy, Kai, and Jennifer into skin diving near the stacks. Amy and I paired up and showed Kai what we'd learned in our time at free diving. We could stay underwater for almost a minute and a half longer than he could, and Jennifer gave up well before then.

All too soon, the dive time was up. I removed my swim shirt to get some sun and enjoy the feeling of it on my skin; after all, we weren't in frozen Minnesota now. No one was sitting by me when one of the other werewolves brought me a bottle of water and asked if we could talk.

Terry Foster was a nice looking man in his mid-thirties. He got right to the point. "I know the timing of this sucks, and I also know you aren't ready to think about this yet. I just wanted to meet you and tell you of my interest."

"Interest in what," I asked.

"In you," he said.

"I'm not EVEN interested in that," I said. "My mate was taken by another woman. I will never take a male from another, no matter how lonely and desperate I am."

"I understand. If I may, can I tell you my story?" I nodded as I leaned back and took a drink. "My father was and still is Alpha of the Clearwater Pack, on the Pacific side of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Sixteen years ago, I met my mate just after she turned eighteen. She was in a Pack in Idaho we visited. She was everything I dreamed of, but her Pack held to the Old Ways. We didn't mate immediately like so many do now. We had to save ourselves for the Mating Ceremony at the next Full Moon."

"That doesn't sound so bad," I said. "Kind of romantic."

"More like the world's biggest case of blue balls. It was eighteen days until the Full Moon. My father left me behind with their Pack, promising to bring my mother along when they returned." He leaned back and let out a sigh. "A week later, I joined her Pack for a run in the mountains. Her brothers kept us separated, and on the narrow trail, I was too far away to save her. A rockslide swept her over the edge, and she died instantly."

"Oh no," I said. Terry's mate had been taken from him as he watched helplessly. I couldn't imagine what that must have been like.

"I attended my first Scratch and Sniff at eighteen and was forced to come back the next year knowing no one was there for me. I'm the only child, so you can imagine the pressure on me to find a Luna has become overwhelming now that I'm thirty-five. My father is slowing down, and I need to step up."

I put my hand on his leg, and there were no tingles and no mating pull. "I'm not your mate, Terry."

"I know."

"My father and stepmother were both rejected by their mates but found each other when they were older than you. My Alpha and Luna were both widowed, yet they found each other. My Mom was human and found her mate in my Pack. All three pairs felt the mating pull." I patted his leg, feeling sorry for him. "Don't lose hope, and don't discount looking among the humans. I don't know what Luna has planned for me now, Terry, but I'm in no hurry to get a man."

He smiled and stood up as Adrienne was coming back. "I wanted you to know you have options. I would like to get to know you, and who knows? Maybe Luna will put us together." He shook my hand and went back to his seat, leaving me to wonder what would happen.

Adrienne sat next to me, pulling me into her side. "You handled that well," she told me.

"I think I needed to hear it as much as he did," I replied. "Thank you for being here with me. I don't know if I'd handle Amy's happiness this well without you around."

"Are you happy for her? Deep down?"

I closed my eyes and thought about it. "I'm happy for Amy. She got the man of her dreams. I just wish that he had a twin brother who was MY mate."