The Porch Wolf Ch. 51-Conclusion

We walked back to the Pack House, exchanging greetings as we passed the others. Many were outside enjoying the warm Georgia weather. Few Packs stayed in the deep south, the heat and humidity challenging their wolf forms. As we walked in, we saw the doors to the Council room closed and a guard outside. "I guess we won't know tonight," I said.

"The worst they can do is fire me," Adrienne said as we walked to the stairs. "That's not the worst thing. I was thinking about quitting, honestly. I can't see how I can balance being a Luna again with a Council job that involves lots of travel." She leaned into my side and wrapped her arm around me. "I don't want to be apart from you, either."

"I love you, Adrienne." I opened the door to our room, and she was stripping off her clothes before the door closed again.

Naturally, my new cellphone rang. It was a TracFone that one of the guards had given me, so we had a number to go with the message the Council put out to help us find Vicki. I pulled it out of my pocket; I didn't recognize the phone number or the area code. "Leo Volkov," I said.

"Alpha Leo, this is Marge Johnson of the Atchafalaya Pack in Louisiana," the woman said. She sounded like a grandmother. "My mate and I think we say your girl and the others at the International House of Pancakes in Baton Rouge about seven o'clock this morning."

"Baton Rouge?" I waved to Adrienne; she opened up a laptop and went to Google Maps. "Are you sure it was them?"

"I didn't get a good look at the girl because her mom was shielding her from us. I could smell the mantle on her as they passed, though. How many five-year-old girls with Alpha mantles are there? When Marvin and I saw the picture our Gamma had, I knew it was them."

I had to know for sure. Looking over Adrienne's shoulder, I saw the driving distance. They must have driven all night to be there by then, but it was doable. "Did you talk to them?"

"No, but I talked to their waitress later. I told them I thought the mom might be my neighbor's daughter. The server said that little girl packed away a whole chicken-fried steak breakfast with extra pancakes on her own! Can you imagine? Her little belly looked like she swallowed a balloon!"

Now THAT was my Sharkbait. "Did you see where they went?"

"No, but the IHOP was right off Interstate Ten, east of town."

Adrienne was already moving the map, seeing where they might be going. "Marge, thank you for the call. You've been very helpful."

"I'm glad I could help. You bring that girl home safe, you hear?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Goodnight." I looked at the map. "If they were in Baton Rouge fourteen hours ago, how far could they have gotten?"

"No farther than Texas," she said. "I can't imagine they'll drive for days non-stop with a five-year-old wolf. They probably wanted to get far away from Augusta before they stopped."

I called Brent as she worked on a circle that represented that drive time. "Brent, we got a hit on them. This morning at seven, an IHOP off Interstate Ten near Baton Rouge."

"Louisiana? Why would they be down there?"

"Not many Packs, and a lot of open territories to hide in," Adrienne said. "They drove past the exit for New Orleans, so they are probably still going west. That means they are heading for Houston, San Antonio, or points further south. Worst case, they are going to head through New Mexico and Arizona to Los Angeles."

"Being on the road has risks; I don't see them driving for days," Brent said. "Maybe they are making a big loop to head back here? Interstate 35 goes right through San Antonio. They could head north there and come back to Minnesota in a direction no one will expect."

"They're going to ground with Sharkbait," I said. "If you were going to hide somewhere AND keep a little girl happy, where would you go?"

"Fogo de Chao for unlimited meat," Brent said with a laugh. "No, it would be to aquariums. Sharkbait LOVES aquariums. She could spend all day at one."

"Adrienne, look up aquariums in Texas. Brent, you look up aquariums farther West, all the way to southern California." That list was pretty extensive. "All right, to narrow it down, eliminate any aquarium without a large shark population."

Ten minutes later, we had our list. The most likely suspects were in Corpus Christi and Dallas in Texas, Long Beach in California, and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

We decided to split things up. I would go to Corpus Christi, Adrienne to Dallas, Brent to Las Vegas, and Ron Temple would go to Long Beach. Hopefully, their blocks would be down so we could contact them with the Pack Bond; if not, we'd smell them.

Either way, we'd bring them home.

Ch. 57

Alpha Leo Volkov's POV

As soon as we were off the phones, Adrienne got her clothes back on, and we went to find the Council. We found them in the common area, and one look at my mate had them moving towards the conference room with their Lunas. I let her take the lead because she knew them, she understood them, and because I wasn't going to get in the way of a Momma Wolf out to protect the young of her Pack.

"All of this is YOUR fault," she said as she laid into them in the conference room. "You silvered our girl. You said she'd be safe going to Atlanta. You faked Leo's death, and then you refused to tell anyone it was fake until the next morning."

"We did what we needed to do," Chairman Sanders said testily.

"You did, at the cost of my Pack. They spent twelve hours thinking their Alpha was gone, and four of them took off because they thought Vicki was the next target. They are out there somewhere, alone and vulnerable, because YOU wanted a dramatic moment in the morning."

"We didn't know how big the conspiracy was," Chairman Wolfe said. "Secrecy was needed."

Adrienne rolled her eyes so hard she saw her brains. "Really? They were TWO HOURS away, far out of link range, and TWO of your mates were with them. You don't trust your Lunas enough to tell them the truth, so MY people don't go through hell?" It wasn't just Adrienne glaring at them; their wives joined in. "They ran away, far from here. Leo and I need to find them."

"The Summit isn't over yet," Sanders said.

"We're buying plane tickets," I said. "We will stay for the required votes, but we WILL be leaving early. We can't wait around to get to where we think they are going, or we might miss them."

"How will you find them," Luna Carolyn asked.

"We put Pack members around and hope they don't have their blocks up so we can contact them with the bond," I said. "It's a long shot, I know, but Mike and Anita are well trained. They will think the Council and the Packs are after them, so they will go dark and deep until it's safe." I wasn't sure who to trust, so we didn't say where they were spotted.

"And that means they'll be vulnerable to rogues," Adrienne added. In the end, they couldn't argue with us. They agreed we could leave after the debate and votes in the morning, skipping the ceremonial portion at the end of the Summit.

We voted on the required measures after breakfast and left before nine. One of the guards drove us to the Atlanta-Hartsfield airport to catch our flights. I kissed Adrienne goodbye in the terminal as she caught her plane to Dallas. My plane to Houston left thirty minutes later.

I took an expensive Uber ride to the Texas Aquarium in Corpus Christi, using the time to talk with the Pack members I hadn't talked to in the morning. Everyone was doing well, and thankfully, none had left the Pack after the report of my death. I got a call from Adrienne, who had arrived at the SeaLife Grapevine aquarium. "Nothing yet," she said. "It's a lot like the one back home. Vicki would like it."

"What about the other aquarium in Dallas?"

"Dallas World Aquarium isn't near as big. Neither is the one in Austin or San Antonio. If they are looking for big sharks, they'll be here or at Texas State."

"I don't think they went to Dallas first, or they wouldn't have gone so far south before turning west. You might need to hang around a few days to see if they stop while going north."

"I agree. I just hope you aren't too late to get to them if they went to Corpus Christi. They could have visited the aquarium and left already."

I snorted. "Do you honestly think our Sharkbait would show up at ten in the morning and be ready to leave by four?"

"Ready to go eat, maybe," Adrienne said with a laugh. "Good luck, honey. I love you."

"I love you too," I said. I called Brent next. "How is Vegas?"

"Good, I arrived late this morning," he said. "I have to say, Mandalay Bay is a FINE hotel. It would be a hell of a honeymoon spot."

"Maybe she will show up, and you get your wish," I said.

"I can dream." I bet he could. Hell, I wouldn't mind getting Adrienne in a room there and seeing the show. "If they drove without many stops, they would take 28 hours coming the fastest way. You have to add another eight for the detour south to Baton Rouge. I don't expect them here until tonight at the earliest."

That made sense. "One other place they might go, but not until tomorrow. The Tanked guys have their retail store in Vegas. Sharkbait loves the show, and they might stop in."

"Good idea. I'll talk to the store when they open, give them a photo and ask them to call if they come in. I can say they are wanted for questioning or something." I heard slot machines in the background. "Sorry, I'm walking around, just in case."

"I'll let you go. Good luck."

"Thank you, Alpha. By the way, the room is on your credit card." With that, he hung up. I almost called him back, but it wasn't worth it to save a few bucks on a room. If they showed up there, he needed to be close.

I'd talked to Ron this morning; he was flying to Los Angeles now since they couldn't reach there before tonight. I looked up and saw Corpus Christi coming up.

I prayed to Luna that I was right about where they would go.

Vicki (Sharkbait) Lawrence's POV

I woke up before Mom, so I sat up in bed and watched Animal Planet she got her wake-up call at eight. "Baby?"

"Morning, Mom," I said. "Aquarium today?"

"Aquarium today," she replied. She stumbled into the bathroom, and I got dressed before she came back out. "I need coffee," she said.

"I need PANCAKES," I replied. Coffee was yucky.

"Are you two up," Anita sent to me.

"Ready to head down," Mom replied. "We'll get a table." She grabbed the room key and took my hand as we went out to the elevator. My tummy growled. "I guess you are hungry."

"Hungry like a Great White Shark," I said with a giggle. There was a breakfast place on the main floor, and we got a booth near the window. With the booster seat, I could see out to the water.

"Eat a big breakfast. We'll have a light lunch at the aquarium, then barbecue for dinner," Mom said.

"Barbecue?" Anita slid in across from me with Mike next to her.

"Yeah, there's a place a few blocks from here, they even deliver," Mom said.

We ordered, and as the waitress walked away, I laughed. "She doesn't believe that's all for me," I said.

"I'd never take bacon from those chompers of yours," Anita said. "I might lose a hand!"

By the time I was done with the tall stack of blueberry pancakes and bacon, I was full. "I can't move," I said.

Mike reached across and poked my belly, which was round and hard like a soccer ball. "I guess we go back upstairs instead of the aquarium," he teased.

I let out a burp, then said, "excuse me," while Mom glared at my manners. "Let's go," I said. Mom had to take me to the bathroom, but we were on our way and at the aquarium entrance with tickets when it opened up at ten. "YAY," I screamed when the door opened. Mom had the map and led us to the entrance to the Caribbean Sea exhibit.

"It's not a tube," Mom said with a little disappointment. "But this window is HUGE!"

"Sixty-eight feet long, over twenty meters," Mike said as he read the guide. "This is nice." Since we were the first in, Vicki took a spot in the middle and watched. The exhibit had several sandbar sharks, shallow-water predators between five and eight feet long. Barracudas, rays, and other fish swam by as I watched. Mom let me watch until I'd seen enough, then we went to the Islands of Steel exhibit. This one looked like an oil rig and had a pair of Sand Tiger sharks. Once I saw enough there, we went through the other displays until I had seen them all.

Mom got me a sandwich as we took a break. "What do you think," she asked.

"Not as good as back home," she said. "And Atlanta is MUCH better."

"Yeah, I think this whole aquarium could fit in that one exhibit in Atlanta," Mom said.

"It's fun. I like tiger sharks."

"Do you want to go around again, or do something else?"

"One more time, just the ones with SHARKS," I said.

"Maybe we could tour the USS Lexington, that's easy walking distance from here," Mike said. "Would you like to see some planes and go on the big ship?"

"OK," I said. It wasn't sharks, but it sounded fun. We went back through, then we left into the bright sun and walked onto the pier. "THIS IS HUGE," I said as we got up next to the carrier.

"As long as nine football fields and up to three thousand men lived on it during World War Two," Mike said. Everything was so BIG, so grey, and so cool. We went everywhere on the big ship. It had airplanes, a cool flight simulator, and other stuff on the big deck. Inside, we saw where people slept and ate, and even where they steered the ship from. My favorite was the theater, where I put on these funny glasses, and everything looked real. Mom said it was called "three-dee."

My stomach growled as we walked off the ship and down the gangplank to the pier. "Thank you," I told Mike as we walked back. He had carried me part of the time and helped me get through the hatches.

"I had fun too," he said.

We walked back to the aquarium where the car was. Everything was closing down, so a lot of people were coming out. I caught a glimpse of a man waiting on a bench by the entrance. "UNKY LEO," I yelled as I pulled Mom forward.

"Don't run," Mom said. She looked where I was going, and didn't see anyone. Mom got down to my level as Mike and Anita came around us. "Baby... Unky Leo isn't here."

"I SAW him, Mommy! By the door!"

"He can't be here, love. We got news from Atlanta. Alpha Leo had a heart attack. There was nothing they could do. I'm so sorry, baby, but Leo is dead."

Tears were flowing down Mom's face as I shook my head, refusing to believe her. "NO! He's here! I saw him!"

She pulled me into her arms. "I'm so sorry, Vicki."

"Hello, Sharkbait." Everyone turned to the man who had just walked up.

Mike took a step back.

Anita covered her mouth.

Mom fainted.

And I ran into Unky Leo's open arms.

Ch. 58

Alpha Leo Volkov's POV

I picked up on old scents as soon as I arrived at the aquarium, and I thanked Luna they were there.

Paying the admission, I went through the whole place. I found places their scent was stronger, all spots where you had excellent views of the sharks. None were fresh, so I kept going. I got to the exit and still no sign of them. Reversing course, I walked through again. The scents were the same, just fainter.

Walking out to the parking lot, I scented their car and went over to it. I didn't see their bags, which meant they had a hotel room. The scents outside were old and faint; I would have to wait. I walked back towards the entrance, finding a bench from which I could see the car while all those exiting the aquarium would have to pass by me. I pulled out my phone and made a call. "Adrienne, they are here," I told her.

"Oh, thank LUNA! Let me talk to them."

"I don't know where they are, but they were at the aquarium earlier, and their car is here. I'll call you when I have them."

"What do you want me to do? Should I rent a car and come down there? Fly home?"

I didn't want to fly, not until we were all together. "Don't do anything yet," I said. "I'm going to call Brent and Ron next." I got ahold of Ron first, telling him to head back home. I called Brent last because I didn't expect him to hang up for a while. "Brent, it's Leo. They are here in Corpus Christi. I found their car outside the Texas State Aquarium, but they aren't inside. They must have walked off somewhere."

He let out a relieved breath. "Any sign of foul play?"

"Nothing. I could tell the group spent time at the places I expected and walked through the rest."

"Sharks," Brent said. "Always the sharks."

"Exactly. The place isn't as nice as SeaLife, so I can see that she might have gotten bored. Maybe they went shopping or out to eat." It was a tourist area, they could be doing anything. "I don't want to miss them, so I'm waiting between the aquarium and the car."

"I'm kind of disappointed they aren't coming to Vegas," he said. "I guess I'll look for a flight."

"No," I said. "You two never had a time just for yourselves, not with all the things that have been going on. Let me talk to Liv first. Adrienne and I can take Vicki on an adventure, and I'll send your mate to you."

He didn't say anything at first, making me think he didn't like the idea. "I'm sure Vicki would LOVE to show her Unky Leo some aquariums between Texas and Minnesota," he said. "I bet you could stop at a half dozen."

I laughed; there was San Antonio, Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago... probably more if I did a real search. "I'll see what they think when they get here." The wind was blowing off the ocean, and I thought I recognized a scent. "I have to go, Brent. I'll call you when I have them."

"Take care of my family, Alpha," he said.

"You got it." I hung up and looked around; the scent was gone with the shift of the wind. I looked at the time; the sun was going down, and the aquarium would be closing soon. The flow of people went faster as closing time came, making it more difficult to watch the lot.

"UNKY LEO," I heard a child's voice yell from far away, towards the back of the lot.

It was Sharkbait.

I got up, joining the crowd heading for the lot as I looked for my family. Their scents hit me as I got closer. I spotted them a row away from their car; Olivia was hugging Vicki, telling her how sorry she was, as Mike and Anita stood behind her. "NO! He's here! I saw him!" Vicki was insistent.

"I'm so sorry, Vicki," Liv said as I walked up.

She must have told her I was dead. "Hello, Sharkbait." It was at this point that they all looked at me. Vicki ran towards me, and I picked her up as she jumped into my arms.

Olivia took one look at me and fainted.

Before anyone could react, she fell to the side and smacked her head hard on the pavement. "LIV," I yelled as I set Vicki back down. Anita was already by her side, rolling her carefully on her back. She was unconscious, and there was a gash on her forehead that was bleeding badly. "Here," I said as I pulled out a clean handkerchief.

"Apply pressure to the wound," she said. "Mike, run inside. Have them call 911, and see if they have any medics available." He took off running as a crowd formed around us. "What the HELL, Leo? You're supposed to be dead!"

"The Council faked my death to get proof Luna Brenda was behind the attacks. You guys took off before we could tell you the truth," I sent back. "The bleeding isn't slowing," I said.

"Keep the pressure on; head wounds tend to bleed. Vicki, I want you to sit here and hold Mommy's hand." She was crying, and this would give her something to do as a crowd started to gather around.

"What happened," a medic said as he set his bag down next to her head.

"She passed out and hit her head on the pavement," I said.