Nicholas

“We need to stop by a drugstore before we go to the hotel,” I said.

“Are you not feeling well?” Hammer looked at me, a little concerned.

“I’m good,” I said as I relaxed into Nicholas’ side. “A little too good, and I don’t want to risk pregnancy, so you’ll need a prophylactic or two.” I wasn’t going to be able to deny my wolf for long; tonight, unless Nicholas turned out to be a colossal mistake, I was going to turn in my V-card with my mate.

“Oh, a chemist. I’ll get a big box,” Nicholas said. He pressed the button, telling the driver to watch for one. “Stop at the bottle-o, too, so I can grab some coldies for the room.” He let the button go. “You guys need anything while I’m in there?”

“What?” This stuff was driving me nuts. I was going to have to get an English-Aussie Dictionary on my phone.

“Liquor store for beer,” Dorothy said. We stopped at the bottle shop first, and Nicholas went in alone. “What is it like for you to find your mate?”

“It’s my second time,” I said. “My first mate, I scented him and found him banging his girlfriend. He rejected me for her.” I still felt the pain and anger. “Luna gave me another. With Nicholas, it’s like we’re rare-earth magnets, pulled to each other, and almost impossible to separate. I feel calm and safe in his arms.”

“You don’t fall in love first?”

“Our wolves know we belong to each other. Our human sides will catch up,” I said.

“What would have happened if you and Nicholas hadn’t met,” Ian asked.

“I’d like to believe that Luna orchestrated our meeting,” I said. “If we never met, I’d be alone, or I’d choose a mate. Once a wolf mates with another, the link to the wolf Luna intended for him is gone. When Timothy chose Traci over me, it left a hole in my soul that only now is filling. Whoever Traci was supposed to mate with, I believe Luna will choose another for him." He dodged a bullet with that bitch. "I’m not the only wolf with a second-chance mate. My old Alphas found each other years after their mates died. Susan’s husband died over a decade ago, and now she found Hammer.”

Nicholas got back in with a bag, then we drove a few more blocks, and he got out again. I peeked in the bag when he got back in; he'd bought two dozen extra-large ones. I raised my eyebrow, and he just shrugged.

I was going to be so sore in the morning!

Amy was waiting outside the hotel for us when we arrived, tipped off by my warning. She handed Hammer a bag, then handed Nick and Ian their room keys. “Your outfit. Go change and be back down for pictures in an hour,” she told him.

“Use Nicholas’s room,” I suggested. Amy looked at me, wondering what was going on. “I’m not in the wedding party, so it won’t take long for me to change. We’ll use our room.” I stopped to link to her. “Don’t say anything, just go help your Mom get ready.”

She looked at the way he looked at me, and a light bulb went off. “He’s your MATE?”

“Not now, it’s Susan’s day. I’ll stay in Nicholas’ room tonight.” She got the hint and walked off. We got in the elevator, and I was thankful his rooms were not adjoining his parents. That might be a little embarrassing later. He opened the door, and Hammer walked in behind us. “Grab your stuff, and we’ll head to my room,” I told my mate.

Nicholas put the beer in the fridge, then set his bag on the dresser. “Mom said boardies and thongs are fine for the ceremony,” he said as he kicked off his sandals and grabbed some flip-flops.

“I’ll get you Bodyglove swimwear since you’re going to be in the ceremony,” I said weakly. “We’ll see you downstairs, Hammer.” I took his hand and led Nicholas down the hall. I knocked on Mercedes’ door, and she let us in. Five minutes later, Nicholas had signed a release for filming. He walked out of the bathroom dressed in a Bodyglove shark-pattern shirt and board shorts.

I opened the door to the room Amy and I shared, scenting to verify we were alone. As soon as the door closed, I jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his hips. He pushed me into the wall, our tongues dueling as we fought to get closer. My wolf wanted his, but I still wasn’t ready. “Come on,” I said. I led him to the bed, where I pulled his shirt off before laying down beside him, my head tucked on his shoulder. “I know almost nothing about you, and I can’t go farther until I do,” I said.

“There’s not much to tell,” he said. “I’m twenty-two, but I turn twenty-three in two weeks. I was born in Port Lincoln; as Dad said, we live with his brother and his family. I just finished my fourth-year exams at the University of Adelaide Medical School. I’m in the Bachelors in Medicine program there; two more years to go, then I can start my internship.”

That was different. “In the States, you would get a Bachelor’s degree, then go to medical school for two years.”

“It’s all the same program here,” he said. “I just started my summer break, and I return to school in March.”

I raised my head and looked at him. “So, you have the next three months off?”

He laughed. “Nobody has time off in my family,” he said. “Our family has a small aquaculture company that raises Southern Bluefin Tuna for the wholesale seafood market. The season opens soon, so we send our longline boat and a trawler out to the Great Australian Bight to catch our limit.”

“How many can you catch?”

“We’re not the biggest operation, so a total of fifty tons. We only have one vessel authorized for commercial bluefin fishing, and Uncle Cormac is the only one authorized to receive them.”

I didn’t know a ton about commercial fishing, but I knew bluefin tuna could be worth ten thousand a fish in the Japanese market. Mako sharks were the only ones fast enough to catch the nimble fish unless they were on a fishing line. I’d seen videos of a four-foot-long tuna cut in half next to a fishing boat by an opportunistic shark. “It’s that regulated?”

“It has to be. Overfishing almost wiped the fishery out last century. The government tightly controls the harvest now; every fish caught gets a permanent, barcoded tag, and its length and weight entered into a database. The tag remains in place through export and sale. Inspectors carefully check shipments to make sure everything is legal.”

“You said you use aquaculture.” It was like ranching, but with fish.

“Yes. Once the fish is caught and tagged, we place it inside a net put out by the trawler. Once we limit out, we slowly tow all the fish back home and transfer them to an aquaculture pen out we have in Spencer Gulf. We feed them through the summer and fall, growing them out before harvesting in the winter.”

“Huh.” I could imagine the sharks swimming around, trying to find a way to get to the fish. “You feed them pellets like catfish?”

“We catch and process baitfish for that. We feed the fish twice a day. We can put ten to twenty kilos on each fish between catch and processing,” he said.

“How do you get them back out in the winter?” I could imagine trying to catch these big tuna; even in the confined aquaculture pens, some of these fish were bigger than I was.

“Divers and nets. The fish have to be handled with care, as any damage lowers the market value. We capture, gut, gill, and freeze them for transport quickly and carefully.”

That had my interest. “You dive?”

“I’ve been diving since I was six,” he said. “It’s my favorite part of the job.”

That was good. Now for the Timothy question. “Any girlfriend, fiancé, or ex?”

“No. I’ve dated, but I’ve never had a serious relationship. My parents raised me to be careful with my heart. You can’t let anyone get too close unless you can trust them with your life. The consequences of getting a girl pregnant, or picking the wrong girl, are too great.”

“What do you mean?”

He let out a sigh. “From childhood, we know that we are different, and we must protect our secret with our lives. If you get a girl pregnant, the child will have the wolf. If the human can be trusted and brought into the fold, they are. If not? They can’t live. That’s why I’ve never risked it.”

There was NO WAY. “You’ve never?”

“I’ve never gone farther than oral,” he said. “I want to save lives, not take them. Staying a virgin until marriage was the only way I could ensure that.”

Wow. “I waited as well,” I said. “I wanted to save myself for my mate.”

“You’ve never had a boyfriend?”

I blushed. “I’ve had some good dates, but I haven’t gone any farther than you have.” I snuggled into his side, thrilled that he waited.

“What happens now,” he asked.

“We have choices, but this isn’t a normal situation,” I said softly.

He kissed my forehead, tingles spreading from where his lips touched. “If we were at your Pack and found each other, what would happen?”

I blushed. “We would have marked each other almost immediately, biting each other’s neck and shoulder to claim our mate and forge a mind-link between us. After that, we would mate physically. Some new mates don’t even make it to a room; they start going at it right there. Once the mating is complete, the less-dominant wolf would move to the Pack of the more dominant wolf.”

“You’re more dominant than me,” he said.

“Yes. Your wolf will gain an Alpha mantle and strength from the mating. Since none of your family are Alphas, we would instantly become the dominant wolves on the Australian Continent. That is another reason we need to talk; our mating will allow us to create a Pack, and that isn’t something to rush into.”

“You don’t want me?”

He was confusing my caution for something else. “NO! I do want you.” I moved up and kissed him deeply before returning to where my head lay on his shoulder. “I’m cautious because my first mate ripped my heart out, and this whole situation is so damn complicated now.”

“What do you mean?”

I ran my hand over his chest while I talked. “I turned eighteen during an Alpha Summit. It was a gathering of all North American Alphas, bringing along all unmated Alpha and Beta rank wolves. I was a senior in high school, with dreams of becoming a shark researcher and going off to college. My biggest worry was that I’d find my mate and have to move to his Pack, leaving my friends and my school. Then I’d have to give up my dreams to have babies.”

“You don’t want children?”

“I do, but most Packs don’t live near the ocean. I wanted to go to school first, not go to school part-time at night as my Mom did, and not to study what the Alpha thought would help the Pack. That probably would have happened if Timothy hadn’t rejected me; his Pack was inland, and his parents were pressing him to mate so they could secure the next generations. Instead, I pushed my shark tagging project, signed with Bodyglove as a model, participated in two documentaries on sharks, and now I’m producing a reality show about my life. I'm living my dreams, and now I've found you.”

“Timothy was an idiot to give you up. I’m sorry he hurt you, but if he hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here now.” I rolled on top of him, kissing my way down from his face to his neck. He tasted better than anything; my hands and mouth kept moving, following the hairs on his chest down to his stomach. My hands were about to investigate the warm bulge in his trunks when I was rudely interrupted.

“Mom needs everyone down on the beach for pictures,” Amy sent into her mind.

“Ugh,” I said. “I have to get dressed so we can go to the wedding.”

“How did you know?”

“Pack link. Susan, Amy, Fiona, and Carly can all talk to me mentally, just like you will be able to after you claim me.” I rolled off the bed, grabbing my bikini out of my suitcase before walking into the bathroom. I was used to quick changes from my job, so a few minutes later, I was back out with my hair fixed, light makeup on, and my shark-grey bikini that would match my mate’s shirt.

“Wow,” Nicholas said as he finished buttoning up his shirt. “You look fantastic.”

I blushed as I reached into the closet and pulled out a brightly-patterned silk beach dress. Nicholas’ breath caught as I pulled it over my body and let it fall around me. “Come on, my mate,” I told him as I took his hand. “You owe me dinner and dancing.”

“I did promise to show you a good time,” he said with a grin.