We arrived in Los Angeles without incident. Francisco arranged for Airport Security to escort us to the first class lounge to wait for our connecting flight. We were relaxing with drinks in a private area when I heard high heels rushing across the floor towards us.
“Consuela!”
“I can’t believe you’re here,” her identical twin said as she hugged me. “We can’t thank you enough for your help escaping from those men,” Makani whispered. “Consuela, these are my parents, Jack and Kaia.”
Her mother pulled me into a hug. “Thank you,” she said as she cried on my shoulder.
“Pull that table over and join us,” I told them after introductions were complete. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Alessandro called Steven, and Steven suggested we take a vacation down under since we missed the wedding,” Noelani said. “Mom and Dad came down to San Diego with us to drop our men off at the base.”
“We couldn’t turn down a free Australian vacation,” Jack agreed. “We’re your extra security.”
Four werewolves and a mermaid ought to do it.
We exchanged stories about what happened after I left them in the cell that last time. “I feel so bad that this happened,” I said. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”
“None of it was your fault,” Noelani said.
“You risked yourself to get us out, and you refused the reward,” Makani added.
“I don’t need the money; I have more than I know what to do with now.”
Francisco nodded at that. “There is something you could do,” he said. “Sue her.”
They looked at Francisco like he had two heads. Kaia spoke first. “What? Aren’t you supposed to be her lawyer?”
“I’m supposed to help her with what she needs,” Francisco replied. “You six sue Vespucci’s estate over your kidnapping. We settle the lawsuit quickly and quietly, so don’t let a lawyer bend you over for a percentage; pay them by the hour because legal fees aren’t tax-deductible. You six get millions in compensation, and I work my magic so the money comes out of assets that we may not recover anyway. I can work out a deal with the government to call it victim compensation, after all.”
“Will they go for that,” I asked.
“Of course. It will mean giving up claims on a chunk of your estate, but I doubt you’d see it anyway. As long as you aren’t personally profiting from the illegal activities, the government will be satisfied.” He looked over at the twins. “I’m sure you’ve been hearing from lawyers already.”
“Only a hundred or so,” Makani agreed.
“I’m sure there is a werewolf lawyer you can bring in on this, and I know Mermaid lawyers in Mexico they can work with on the lawsuit. Everyone wins.”
“I’ll talk to the others,” Noelani said.
Our talks had taken us to the boarding call. I thanked Francisco for his help, and we boarded the plane to Australia.
It was going to be a fun trip.
*********
Vicki Corcoran’s POV
“LEAVE ME ALONE!”
Everyone came to a stop in the narrow canyon we’d been running through, shocked at what Dorothy just shouted over the link. Ian tried to approach, causing his wife to growl and raise her hackles. Adrienne moved in front of him, growling low and instantly convincing him that continuing would be a bad idea.
“What is going on, Dorothy?” Ian was confused, as were the rest of us.
Nothing good would come from pressuring her, though. Dorothy was shaking, clearly intimidated by all the powerful wolves surrounding her. “You guys run it out. I’ll take Dorothy back to our room,” I told them.
“Good idea,” Leo said. “Link us when you’re ready for our return.” We were all figuring it out; we’d known this was a possibility but didn’t expect it here. None of the wives of the Southern Cross Pack wolves were their true mates. Hell, until we arrived in Australia, the werewolves didn’t know what a mate was. Isolated from the rest of the world, the descendants of Philip Corcoran had to adapt to survive, and that meant mating with humans. Nicholas’s ancestors learned to fall in love with and marry human women, holding their wolves back from biting them. If you bite your wife, you’ve doomed her to a painful death.
In the last month, my Pack members found out about both mates and turnings. Fiona found her true mate in Joseph; he and his wolf chose her, leaving his wife Margaret to divorce him. There were only a few options for a married werewolf, and none were good. If you were happy, you could leave things as is. The good part was that this avoided the coin-flip risk of her dying from a changing bite. The downside was that Luna had a fated mate waiting out there somewhere, and she wouldn’t know of the rejection. Then, if we could use scent to find the spurned mate, we could bring them together for him to reject her and hope his wolf didn’t claim her anyway.
Other werewolves chose to find their mates, quietly divorcing their wives and trusting them to keep the secret.