Sharkbait Down Under Ch. 31-40

"They have other ways of getting our compliance," I said. There were several gallons of drinking water and some Solo cups, and I took a long drink. "This is a good sign I was right. They don't want to harm us because they need us strong to provide blood. It doesn't make sense to harm the merchandise."

"So we're like dairy cows now," Amy muttered.

"Pretty much. Kept in the barn, fed, and milked often." The others dug in; we hadn't eaten in almost a day, so we were all hungry.

When the woman returned for the trays, I was shocked that they left two gallons of drinking water and the cups for us. I pointed at the water, and she shook her head, no. "Beber el agua," she said as she walked past the guards.

"Drink the water," I translated for the girls, as Amy and I had taken several years of Spanish in high school. Fiona had taken German, while the twins and Carla had taken French. "We're probably dehydrated, so it's a good idea." I filled my cup again as I listened to the guards head back upstairs. Escape wasn't in the cards; I couldn't even grab the bars of the cell door with the silver without using my clothes as gloves. Even if we left the cell, we wouldn't get past the gate at the bottom of the stairs and a heavy door at the top. Add in cameras and an unknown number of guards, and we had no chance.

The guards came back an hour later with their cattle prods. This time they brought a nurse with them. "We are going to take blood from each of you," the lead guard said. "You don't want to resist." He pressed a button on the prod, making electricity dance across the probes. "You'll be in agony after we shock you. Then we'll tie you down and take your blood anyway."

"We will cooperate," I said. The guard had us each lay in our beds; moving quickly, the nurse went from one person to the next, cleaning our arm and inserting a needle to fill the waiting blood bags. She took two pints from each of us, twice the usual donation amount. I was a little woozy when she finished up and removed the needle.

"Necesitan beber mucho jugo y descansar (They need to drink lots of juice and rest)," she told the guards.

"Toda lo que tenemos es agua (All we have is water)," I replied.

The guard nodded at her as she packed up her bag, the blood bags labeled with our names, and carefully packed into a case. "Me haré cargo de ello (I'll take care of it)," he replied. He sent one of the guards upstairs with the nurse. "Don't sit up too fast. You're bound to be lightheaded."

He was right. I was in the middle bunk on the right; I turned on my side and slowly moved until I was sitting on the edge of my bed. "What is your name," I asked him.

"Guard," he replied. The first guard came back down, carrying a plastic gallon of orange juice and another bottle of grape juice, and set them on the table with some snack bags. The guard took a small remote out of his pocket and handed it to me. "Enjoy a movie or something as you recover." With that, the guards walked out and left us alone again.

I hit power on the remote, and a large television came on in the hallway outside the bars. The first channel was in Spanish, but I opened up a guide and found Fox News in English. "They must be confident we aren't going anywhere," I said. "They don't even care if we know what's going on."

I slowly stood, helping the girls up before moving to the table where we could sit and recover. I downed a glass of orange juice, then refilled it as I munched on some pretzels and watched the news. Compared to my last kidnapping, this was Disneyland.

It wasn't long before a news story came on about our disappearance. I saw my parents standing with Luna Adrienne and the Steeles at a press conference. The Mexican police were 'working tirelessly to find the men responsible.' Luna Adrienne came to the microphone, and in fluent Spanish, offered a five-million-dollar reward for information leading to our recovery. I whistled at that. Five million dollars was a LOT of money, even for a vampire. Fox showed highlights of the press conference with subtitles, but it was clear they didn't have any leads. Hell, we weren't within a thousand miles of Adrienne right now. Hidden deep underground as we were, satellites would never see us, and no one was going to stumble upon the hideout. Vampires were smarter than that.

None of us had any energy, and soon we were getting ready for bed. The vampire who cleaned up after our dinner also had dropped off clean clothes and toiletries. I knew the guards were watching, but there was no privacy we could expect here. I stripped down and tossed the dirty clothes into a hamper on the other side of the bars. I quickly showered and changed into clean underwear, a T-shirt, and thin pajama pants before I got into bed. The other girls did the same. "Should I leave the television on," I asked.

"Yes," Fiona said from the bunk above me. "Just leave the volume down."

I got up three times with Fiona as she woke with nightmares about her rape. I couldn't imagine what it was like for her to go through that. Fiona spent her life in law enforcement, then as a warrior and my protector. She was the strongest woman I knew, yet it wasn't enough. Fiona was still moving slowly, her body bruised and battered, and the welts from the belts they used still fresh. She was more than twice my age, and she didn't need my assurances or advice. Fiona couldn't even get her revenge, as the vampires had killed all the men who raped her.

I just held her hand until she could fall asleep again, then I tried to sleep myself.

The lights coming on woke me up; Fox News was still playing in the background, and it was six in the morning. I sat up, and my stomach rolled. I jumped up and ran to the toilet, getting the lid up just before I started throwing up last night's dinner. I was still coughing up stuff when Amy pulled my hair off my face and started rubbing my back. "Are you all right?"

I'd stopped heaving, and I moved back onto my heels. Carla handed me a cup of water; I washed my mouth out and spat into the toilet, flushing it away. "I'm fine," I said as they helped me up. "I probably overate last night."

"None of us are throwing up, and I've seen you eat far more than that recently," Amy said. "Come on." She stayed with me as I brushed my teeth. "Any other problems? Are these tender?" She poked at my breast, and I turned and glared at her with the toothbrush still in my mouth. "When was your last period?"

I rinsed my mouth out and thought about it. "Just before we left for Hawaii," I said.

"That was eight weeks ago, Vicki!" Oh, shit. "Tell me you and Nicholas used protection."

"Of course, we did!" I thought back to those times that things got a little out of hand. "Mostly?"

Carla pointed to the table. "Go sit down." When I did, she leaned over and took a deep sniff of my crotch. She grimaced when she stood back up.

"Pregnant?"

"Yes. Four or five weeks along, I'd say. Your mate probably knocked you up when he took your neck."

"Of course he did," I said as I rolled my eyes. I'd hit the Luna Trifecta. I met my destined, mated him, and ended up pregnant the same day.

In the werewolf world, my pregnancy would be a cause for celebration. Sure, it was unplanned, but the Pack would have its heir, and the child would carry the mantle. Having an heir meant the Pack had a future, and stability would help our new Pack grow. I just had to shake my head. When I'd gone to the scratch 'n sniff after my birthday, I'd been afraid my mate would make me quit school and work to raise babies. Less than a year later? I'd dropped out of school, gotten pregnant, and was quitting my modeling job. I wanted to find Nicholas and tell him; I wanted him to pick me up, spin me around, and tell me how happy he was.

That wasn't happening. In an underground prison, it wasn't good news at all. Who knows what the Vampires would do when they found out? Would they kill it? Allow me to bring it to term, then sell the mantled child? Or would they keep the child to live its entire life as a blood slave to the Vampire Master?

The panic attack began as I imagined them hurting my baby, and I began to hyperventilate. "Relax, Vicki. Do the breathing exercise we do for free-diving," Amy said.

I tried, but it didn't work. My hands went to my waist as I imagined a vampire draining my child of its blood. Spots formed in front of my eyes, and I lost focus on their faces. Their voices seemed muffled like I was underwater, and then it all went black.

Ch. 36

Alpha Leo Volkov's POV

It had been four days now since the kidnapping, and I was out of patience.

I'd had many discussions on the encrypted video chat with Adrienne and Alpha Steven since Lawrence's death. His killing neither proved nor disproved his involvement, but Adrienne brought up one important point last night before I left Jamaica. "Leo, either way, we have to take on the Council."

"What do you mean?" If the Council wasn't behind it, shouldn't we leave them alone? "Shouldn't I find out the truth first?"

"The truth doesn't matter for Vicki and Amy," she told me. "Let's say the Council is behind this. What would you do?"

That was a simple question; I'd kill them all as my wolf had urged from the first phone call. "I'd kill everyone connected with this. If they tell me where the girls are, they might escape with their lives, but not all their body parts."

"And if it is the vampires?"

That was a tougher ask. "If the Vampires have them, the treaty is void. I'd gather an army of werewolves and wipe them out." The Volkov School of Diplomacy was pretty easy to learn.

"And which one should we go after, Leo?" I couldn't answer. "If the Vampires framed Leo, they did it to sow division amongst the werewolves. If they don't get it, they might harm Vicki or the girls until it happens. I'd rather not have them suffer because we don't take the bait."

"You're brilliant," I said.

"That's why I'm your mate, to guide you through things that will get you killed," she said. I growled a little at the implication, but I knew she was right. "We didn't know enough yet, and our one lead is a literal dead end. We're going to have to bluff them into action."

"How?"

"By being you, Leo. When you take Mary home, this is what I want you to do." She explained her ideas, and she was right. I was far more nervous about what she had planned than what I was going to do.

Alpha Steven would remain in Cancun and run our command post while we were gone. It was dangerous, and it might get me killed, but we had nothing else to go on.

Alpha Stan's POV
White Mountain Pack, New Hampshire

The entire Pack turned out for Lawrence's final trip home. They stood shoulder to shoulder, lining the perimeter of the circular driveway in front of our big Pack House. The mood of the Pack was somber; Lawrence was well-liked, and his death was senseless. I couldn't imagine what Mary had gone through over the last few days.

It was fortunate that Leo was there for her. Leo and I had been friends for decades, and I knew how close he had become to Lawrence since that Alpha Summit almost fourteen years ago now. Lawrence had defended Leo and Adrienne in front of the Council and had earned their respect and gratitude.

If Leo hadn't been there, Mary might have killed herself as soon as the police let her go. It was the way of things; Leo and Adrienne's work with the Council reduced the number of suicides, but it still occurred eighty percent of the time. Not everyone had enough courage to go on alone.

I saw the headlights through the trees, and with a mental command, every Pack member stood tall and extended their right arm towards the center. I'd sent two cars to the Boston airport to retrieve them, and a neighboring Pack supplied the hearse.

The cars took a slow lap around so each Pack member could extend their sympathy and support towards Mary. She and Lawrence did not have children; a virus took her fertility as a child, and they refused to use human doctors for aggressive treatments. Instead, they threw themselves into Pack life, serving and loving them all. No one had a bad thing to say about the couple, and there wasn't a dry eye anywhere.

The cars stopped in front of me, and my Beta opened the door and helped Mary out. She was crying, and my mate and I had to hold her up as the pallbearers took their places at the rear of the hearse. I nodded my thanks to Alpha Leo as he took his place behind the senior Pack leadership.

The pallbearers removed the coffin and followed our Pack Elder down the trail leading to our cemetery. Our group fell in behind them, followed by the entire Pack in rank order. The air was cold, and light snow fell as we walked the quarter-mile to the hillside overlooking the compound and the valley. When we arrived at the gravesite, the men set the coffin on a stand and stood back.

The service flew by. Lawrence's closest friends gave brief remarks, including Leo. I reminded everyone of Lawrence's long and faithful service and his love for our Pack and asked them all to support Mary as she adjusted to life without him. Finally, the elder said a prayer to Luna just as the skies cleared, and the moonlight illuminated the clearing. The detail lowered the coffin into its final resting place, and his mate was first to toss a handful of dirt upon it.

My mate and I sat next to Mary as the people filed past. They gave her hugs or words of encouragement after tossing a handful of dirt onto the coffin. When the last was through, we followed them back to the Pack House and stripped to make the change.

A Pack Run was how we celebrated and mourned; it was our expression of love for each other. We shifted and headed downstairs and out to the grassed area at the center of the driveway. Her friends brought Mary to stand with us, and as the last wolves joined, I howled to start the run.

I took off at a slow pace towards the short trail we used for ceremonial runs. Mary trotted in the place of honor between her Alphas. Behind us, Alpha Leo ran with my Beta pair, and the rest of the Pack followed. The circuit was about two miles in length, done slowly so even the smallest Pack members could keep up. When we returned to the Pack House, I let out a long, mournful howl. On my second howl, the Pack joined in, our plea for the Moon Goddess to welcome him to her presence.

We went back to the Pack House and changed back into our clothes, meeting downstairs for the wake. It went on until after midnight; my mate and others left, and I finally told everyone to wrap it up. "Leo, the guest room is open for you," I told him as I stood up from the chair I'd been using.

"I have to leave early, Stan. I was hoping you might have time now to discuss some important matters in private."

"Of course. We can use my office." I dismissed my Betas, telling them to get their sleep, and led him down a quiet hallway to my office. Walking in ahead of him, I headed for the bar I had built into a bookcase behind my desk. "Bourbon?"

"Thank you." I poured the amber liquid over ice and turned to hand his to him. His hand came forward, and before I could react, I felt something lock around my wrist.

It was a handcuff, a silver handcuff. "The fuck?" I dropped his drink and my own, but the silver was already working against me. I couldn't link anyone for help, and Leo pushed me into the bookcase. He got my arms behind me and locked the other wrist in place, and now I was truly fucked. "Leo? What the hell are you doing?"

"We're going to talk about my niece, Stan. You're going to answer honestly, or you'll die tonight," he said as he pulled a knife out of his back pocket. He moved me to my office chair, pushing me down into it. "Why was Lawrence down in Jamaica?"

"He was on vacation with his mate," I said quickly.

"Wrong answer," Leo said before the knife stabbed down into my left thigh. I screamed, and Leo covered my mouth until I stopped. "No one can hear you, and you can't link for help, Stan. You used to brag about the soundproofing in this room, and now it's to my advantage." He removed his hand. "Care to try again?"

"He took a job for the Council," I told him. "Chairman Carver called and asked me for a favor."

"When?"

"The day before he left. The Council wanted to deliver a message to Vicki, but the videoconference scared them off. They didn't think she'd meet with them officially unless they broadcasted it live. Lawrence was a family friend, and as a retired lawyer, it was off the books."

"What did he take to her?"

"I don't know." Leo's eyes got hard, and the knife hovered over my right thigh. "I swear on my mate, Leo! I passed along the offer, and it was Lawrence who agreed to do it."

I watched nervously as his eyes bore into mine and hoped he believed me. The knife moved away.

"Lawrence opened an account in Jamaica while he was there. Two deposits went into the new account by wire transfer, each of fifty thousand dollars. The first happened the day he met with Alpha Vicki. The second was the day after she disappeared." The knife came up towards my eyes as Leo gripped my hair in his left hand. "What did Lawrence do for that money?"

"I don't know!" The knife came close to my left eye, the point touching my skin just below it.

"Lawrence was a Beta; he didn't take a shit that wasn't approved by you," Leo said. "The left eye goes first."

"I don't know, I swear!" I was shaking, and I couldn't believe Leo, my friend, was doing this to me. "I told you everything!"

Leo stared me down, finally taking the knife away. "If I find out you are lying, nothing will stop me. I will attack this Pack and burn it to the ground. You will watch your mate die before you bleed out into the snow."

I saw his arm swing towards my head and thought it was over for me. Just before the butt of the knife crashed into my temple, I heard Leo say he was sorry. Pain exploded on my temple, and it all went dark.

Ch. 37

Luna Adrienne's POV

I came back down from my room with my travel bag, which contained enough for an overnight and the plane rides. "I need to talk to Alphas and parents, alone," I told everyone in the room. "Everyone else, take a twenty-minute break."

Alpha Stephen, Alpha Nicholas, Beta Brent, Beta Olivia, Beta Jack, and Beta Kaia stayed in the room. I waited until the door closed, then handed Alpha Stephen a flash drive. "If I don't return after two days, call a meeting of the North American Alphas and play this."

"What is it?"

"A video statement from Colleen with what she found at the kidnap site, and why I believe the Vampires are behind their disappearance. I can't tell the Council or the Packs what to do, but I will tell my friends and allies one thing. If I don't return, we are already at war with the Vampire Nation."

"Where are you going that I need this before you leave," Steven asked.

"New Orleans. I need to confront Supreme Master Pontalba about the kidnappings. If he is involved, I'm going to kill him."

They all looked at me, hoping that I was joking, but I wasn't. "You're serious," Jack finally said.

"As a heart attack," I said. "If Cyprian is involved, the entire Vampire Nation is our enemy. I'll gladly sacrifice myself to cut the head off of the enemy organization."

"You don't have to do this, Adrienne. Do you know what Leo will do if you die?"

I slowly nodded. "I've spoken about it with Leo. He will kill as many as he can before they take him down."

"By the Goddess, I hope he's innocent," Steven said. "This situation is beyond explosive; it's global thermonuclear war. We could have open warfare between wolves and vamps! Nothing would ever be the same."

Nicholas stood up, moving between me and the door. "You need to lead your Pack while Leo is out there, Luna. I'm the one who should be going to confront Cyprian."