Sharkbait Down Under Ch. 71-80

"I'm glad we built those escalators and conditions into the contract. I've had a lot of fun with the after show, too." The "Shark Tails After Dark" show only took a day to make but was a lot of fun to do. We'd even done live broadcasts from the Sea Scout. I loved talking to the fans and all the little contests we would do. It was making Sharkbait Productions and the Discovery Channel a boatload of money.

We partied late into the night, with the four of us invited to some of the better Hollywood parties. Two agents tried to convince me to get into acting, but I had no interest. "All I want is my mate, my Pack, and my sharks," I told Nicholas after one of them left us.

Our group met for a late brunch the next morning, and I had an announcement. "I'm moving Sharkbait Productions and the Sea Scout to Adelaide after this season finishes taping," I told my friends.

No one seemed shocked. "I expected that," Amy said. "It makes sense now that you, Linda, and Fiona are all living there already. Does this mean you'd be doing production on an Aussie schedule?"

I nodded. "The Scout will arrive in Adelaide in early November. We'll film from December through March."

"I won't be able to do that," Amy said as she rubbed her large pregnancy bump. "I won't be in bikini shape for six months to a year, if ever. Kai ruined me for modeling," she teased.

"You've never been more beautiful," Kai said as he embraced his mate.

I smiled at my best friend. "I still want you to be part of the show," I said. "We'll figure out something."

"It might be better for me to bow out gracefully and move on," she said. "Kai will be in training, and I'm not going to leave my babies for any length of time. We'll stay in Coronado unless he's gone for a while."

Dang. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Even if we stayed in North America to film, I'd still bow out." She looked at Kai and smiled. "I don't need the money, and I don't want to be gone from my babies. I'm going to take care of them and return to school while my in-laws watch them."

"Maybe I can find a cameo, or we can set something up closer." She nodded, but her mind was made up. "What about you two?"

Makani looked at Noelani for help. "It's going to be hard," she said. "We don't know what schools they will be attending, and then they join their Teams. I can't be gone for months only to get back before he deploys for a year."

Noelani agreed with her twin. "We're going to have to see what orders Manuel gets. We don't even know which coast we'll be on yet." Nothing came easy with a military wife, even a famous one.

As we said goodbye at the airport, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Life was pulling us apart; mates, children, responsibilities, all the real-life things that adulting brought. Nicholas could tell I was feeling down as we waited at the gate for our flight to Minneapolis; he didn't say anything, but he didn't let me go. I started nodding off as he was texting people on his phone.

The ding on my phone caused me to look down. It was a text from Unky Leo. "See you in a few hours, Sharkbait. I'm making ribs."

I smiled as I composed my reply. "I love you, Unky." Everything was going to be all right.

Ch. 79

Vicki Corcoran's POV
Deep Creek, Southern Australia
Friday, March 23^rd, 2035

"Relax, my love. The catering staff is ready to go, our home is amazing, and everyone is going to have a good time tonight," Nicholas said as he wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"I know, but?" I leaned back into his chest and let out a breath. We'd worked fourteen months to get to this point, and it was hard to believe our new home was ready for the housewarming party tonight.

"But nothing. The hard work is over, and now we relax and enjoy it."

I let out a breath and turned around in his arms, pulling him close and taking a deep sniff of his chest. "I love you," I told him. "You deserve all the credit. You worked your ass off to get this done." While I'd been busy with the Sharkbait Foundation, Sharkbait Productions, and Pack and Council business, Nicholas had stayed home and ridden herd on the contractors and inspectors. Thanks to my mate, we'd gotten the certificate of occupancy three months earlier than expected.

"It's your dream, and we are a team. Nothing would have happened without you. This wall is perfect; I can't believe how much it brings the ocean into the house." Nicholas took my hand and walked me forward to the windows. The original plans had a rectangular house, but I loved the view off the end of the point. I had our architect push the limits of the zoning setback, adding a curved southern wall that opened the room into the view. A bench with custom cushions followed the wall, letting you sit and watch the waves. With the windows opened, the sea breezes and smells made you feel like you were out at sea, not in a home. He sat down, pulling me into his arms and kissing me until I couldn't think straight.

Momma Dorothy walked in and stopped us. "Five minutes until we let people onto the property, kids. Quit with the snorgling and get ready to greet them." Dorothy was living with us, taking over the kitchen and helping me manage the Omegas we'd taken in as household staff.

"Oh, Luna," I said. "I lost track of time." I got up and led Nicholas through our home as we made the final checks. Our catering company had four bars set up with drinks and snacks; one in the great room, one in the basement Sharkbait-cave, one in the pool area, and one on the rooftop. The caterers brought in a trailer-mounted smoker to prepare the meats and all the side dishes onsite. The roast pork and lamb had been going since before sunrise.

The catering company owner was giving final instructions to waitstaff as we walked through the main entrance. The entry door, handcrafted from Australian timbers, showed sharks and creatures of the coral reef in its detailed carvings. The main home was impressive; two stories tall plus a full basement, each level over four hundred square meters of living space. Outside, a stone patio wrapped around the three sides, with stone columns supporting a second-floor deck. The shallow-pitch roof overhung them both and diverted the runoff into water storage tanks for later use.

A six-car garage was across the driveway circle, set into the hillside and painted to match the house. Our deal with the Coastal Commission required us to use rocks matching those on the native cliffs, helping the home blend seamlessly into the surrounding hills. Behind us and to our right, the Pool House extended at an angle, so its southeast side overlooked the cove. Tonight was a warm fall evening, so the glass panels were open to let the breezes through. Beyond that was the three-bedroom guest cabin, one our in-laws and friends had booked up through next Christmas.

Nicholas and I had kept our families in the dark during construction. We'd made a decision early on to move into the farmhouse, demolishing the former resort and that ugly starship. Only the contractor's people and the architect had site access; if we met with Pack or guests, we'd often do it in Adelaide on our yacht. "I can't wait to see their faces when they see it," I told my mate.

"They'll get a good view on the way down." The access road had moved away from the coast per the zoning agreement. It now wound along the hills until turning towards the ocean and running downhill to our home.

It wasn't long until a line of cars and hotel shuttle vans came into view, our security letting them through at exactly four PM. Parking attendants directed them to a marked-off area of grass, and our family and friend started to get out of their cars.

There were a lot of open mouths and shocked faces as they walked up. "Welcome to Corcoran Castle," Nicholas said as almost a hundred people gathered around us. With the scale and stone veneer walls, it looked like it had been here for centuries. "My wife and I will each take a group of people on a short tour of our property, and then you are welcome to wander about and enjoy our hospitality."

I let Nicholas take his group inside first while I talked to my group about the property and the challenges we had in building it. I took them around the outside first, walking them around the patio before entering on the other side into the great room. The kitchen was on the entry side, and a formal dining room overlooked the cove on the other side.

"These views are unbelievable," Mom told me as we looked out over the ocean.

"Just wait," I promised. I took the group downstairs, where the hallway opened up into the Sharkbait Cave. "It's like a man-cave, but better," I said as they filed into the room. It looked like a sports bar with a long bar, big-screen televisions, pool and poker tables, and a mini-kitchen. What made it a Sharkbait cave was the massive saltwater aquarium that took up the entire wall opposite the bar.

"Holy moly," Leo said as he looked at it. "That's three times the size of mine!"

"Four times," I said. "One hundred thousand liters, or twenty-seven thousand gallons. This baby is ten meters long, three meters deep, and three meters tall. There's access for lighting and diving via a hallway in the back. All the LED lighting, cameras, feeding stations, and controls connect to my phone." I pulled up the app and triggered a small feed, the tropical fish swarming the food pellets as everyone watched. "I can set daily cycles, set moods, even simulate storms with light and waves. What makes it unique is that it's a flowthrough system instead of using jumbo filter systems. We take seawater from an inlet deep offshore. Then we purify, sterilize, and heat it before pumping it in at twenty liters per minute. A separate pipe takes the overflow, and the backwash from the recirculation filters, and releases it back to the ocean."

"Amazing," he said as he looked in one of the two thick acrylic panels with a sturdy column separating them. The entire group was gazing in wonder at the artificial coral inside and the hundreds of fish swimming around. "How the hell do you clean this?"

"You dive it once a week," I said.

"It must have been tough to build," Ivan remarked.

"We poured the aquarium with the foundation and had a crane lower the panels in before we put the main floor on. After system checks, we had it drained for eight months until we got it running and stocked it with over four hundred fish in over eighty species last month." I loved my house, but I LOVED this aquarium. In the event of an attack, this room was the Pack Safe Room, and I'd still be able to watch my fish.

I showed them the rest of the basement. We had a twenty-seat home theater next door, then four small bedrooms for household staff. The rest of the basement held storage, laundry, and utilities. "We use multiple ground-source heat pumps to heat and cool the homes, the pool, and the aquarium. There is a sizeable solar farm hidden behind trees up on the hill that provides most of our energy needs. An emergency generator sits behind the garage."

"Those heat pumps are expensive up-front, aren't they," Leo asked.

"As isolated as we are, and as big as this home is, we wanted to be as energy-efficient as possible," I said. "We didn't cut corners in this project."

Leo nodded; as a general contractor, he knew just how well-built our home was. We headed back to the stairs, going up to the second floor. "It's all bedrooms up here," I said as I led them into the Master Suite. A California King bed dominated the room, centered on the bump-out and looking over the water. A spacious his-and-her bath suite had separate toilet/sink areas on either side of the deluxe shower and jacuzzi overlooking the cove. Two spacious closets and a sitting area/reading nook finished off the space.

I led everyone back to the hall. "We designed these rooms for the nanny and the nursery," I said. Mom stared at me, her eyes demanding the answer to her unspoken question. "Mom, it's too early," I sent her over the link.

"You mean you're late," she said with a smile.

"It's only the eighth week. After last time, I'm not saying anything until the first trimester is over. I haven't even told Nicholas yet."

"I won't say anything, but you need to tell him soon," Olivia said into my mind.

I turned to the crowd. "We have five more guest rooms on this level. Thanks to the location, each has a view over one of the coves and private beaches below. Now, if you'll follow me outside?" I led them onto the deck via French doors from the hallway and around to a stairway leading up. "Welcome to the Observation Deck."

The pitched roof extended up from the outside of the foundation until it was just over waist-high, then dropped vertically to the decking that covered the top of our home. The stairway exited into a flat, open roof area featuring unlimited views in three directions. A band played at one end, there were tables set up on the other side of the dance floor, and a bar was off to the side. Everyone was at the rails, the warm summer breezes in their hair.

Brent walked up to me and put his arm around my shoulder. "This is beyond anything I imagined," he said. "You guys did a great job with your home. Your Pack will congregate here, and that's what Southern Cross needs right now."

"Thanks, Dad," I said.

"All you need up here now are some cannons," Hammer said as he looked out at the ocean.

When the group had seen everything, I led them down a stairway and through a door to the indoor swimming pool. "We used a polymer, translucent material for the roof instead of glass. It is far more energy-efficient, doesn't collect moisture, and transmits the light without the glare. With low pitch and the walls extending higher, you can't see the panels from the ocean. Zoning rules limited the roof height, so we excavated the pool deck a meter below grade and dug it out from there. This upper level surrounds the pool area and provides access to the waterslides and lounge areas away from the pool itself. If you want to try the slide, go ahead; otherwise, follow me." We went down a stairway to the pool, which was divided into areas for multiple activities. There was a play area with deep water for diving off platforms and a three-meter board. In the middle was a chest-deep area for volleyball and basketball plus the waterslide exits, and on the right were full-length lanes for swimming laps. At the near end was a twelve-person hot tub surrounded by a shallow play area with bubblers for the little ones. Next to it was a snack bar and a few tables; lounges and chairs were in groups all around.

"I know where I'm going to be spending most of the party," Makani said as she looked at the hot tub.

"Maybe later. I want to watch the sunset from the party deck," Noelani said. The twins were here for three weeks as their mates were off at training assignments. Both had taken the change and were Beta-ranked wolves in the Three Sisters Pack now.

Amy looked over at me. "Then Sharks After Dark? I want to get a sleeping bag and crash by the sharks like the old days," she said.

"I'm not sleeping on the floor in this house at my age," Susan told her daughter. Hammer just laughed and pulled his mate closer. "We've got a guest room tonight, and we're going to take advantage of it." Both pairs were only in Australia for five days, not wanting to leave their children for more than a week.

I offered to show the guest house to those interested, but I'd lost many to the changing room or places they'd previously seen. Brent and Olivia, Ian and his mate Svetlana, Ivan and Karen, Leo and Adrienne, plus Masters Cyprian, Alessandro, and Emily all joined me for the tour. The guest house wasn't huge, but it had a small kitchen and living room, a master bedroom overlooking the beach, and two smaller rooms. "It's beautiful," Adrienne said.

"I never expected I'd live so far away from you guys," I said as I started to tear up. "I love you so much, and I miss you. There's plenty of room for you to visit and stay for a while, and you can have your privacy," I said. The tears kept coming. It felt like everything hit me at once; stress from the party, pregnancy hormones, and work pressures. Mom pulled me into her lap and comforted me, waving the others went back to the party.

I rejoined them when my emotions were under control again.

Ch. 80

Vicki Corcoran's POV
Deep Creek, South Australia

People say that all parties center around the kitchen, but no one at our housewarming wanted to be there. Not with everything else around; they'd take a plate and sit on the window seats overlooking the ocean. Others went to the pool or downstairs to watch the fish swim in the aquarium. I'd been circulating throughout our home all night, greeting people and socializing. It was after ten at night, and I was up on the roof. Nicholas was taking me for a moonlit spin on the dance floor.

"This night has been perfect," I told him as I leaned my head onto his broad shoulder. "The party went without a hitch, and we caught a break with the weather." It was cooling off now, just below 20 Celsius, as I got used to the whole Metric thing. There was a light breeze off the water and a few high clouds in the sky. The railing around the roof had downward-pointed LED lights that illuminated the edge gently without spoiling the view. There were only three other couples on the dance floor and a dozen more drinking at the tables. "I need to tell you something," I whispered in his ear.

"You're pregnant," he whispered in my ear.

I stopped dancing, stepping back from him in shock. "You knew?"

"For a week or so. The nose knows." He pulled me back in and started dancing with me. "I figured you'd tell me when you were ready."

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I just..."

"You couldn't say anything until you were farther along because you're afraid you'll lose this one too," he told me. Damn, he was good at this mate stuff. "You're right. Many couples don't announce it to their friends and family until they make it through the first trimester. I think in this case, you should announce it now before the party breaks up."

"Why?"

"First off, people already suspect because the scent is faint around you. Still, you'll never have this group of people in one place again. If you wait a month, they will never be able to congratulate you in person. Our Pack can use this, too. Heirs settle a Pack and give them hope for the future."

He was right. "How should we do this?"

"Our parents should hear it before anyone else. Ask them to come up here."

I sent them a mental summons and asked them to bring Linda, Amy, Makani, Fiona, Carly, and Noelani too. Those girls had helped me through my miscarriage, and I wanted them to be among the first to know. I led Nicholas to the edge facing the larger of the two coves; with the band taking a break, you could hear the surf below along with the noises from the party and the pool. Soon the group gathered around, and Nicholas held me from behind with his hands around my stomach. "I have an announcement to make," I said as their faces lit up in anticipation. "I'm pregnant. Eight weeks along."

The screams from the twins caught everyone's attention, and I got pulled from one hug to another as we celebrated the news. Only Mom stayed back since she already knew. Amy whispered in my ear when she got her turn. "Don't say anything, but we're pregnancy buddies this time around. I found out just before I left home." I hugged her extra tight; she was a great Mom, and I was thrilled for her and Kai.

The bartender poured champagne and sparkling grape juice, and they toasted my news. "I have to tell the others," I said. We repeated the scene in the great room, pool, and Sharkbait's Cave. My Pack was thrilled with me joining the worldwide WolfyBabyBoom. The new couples from the SWIM had wasted no time in adding to our numbers. Mates, transfers, and babies had swollen the Southern Cross Pack to over a hundred and twenty now.