The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“You are a worthy female, Vicki, and we all think you are strong enough to be Alpha on your own until Luna brings you a mate. Leo, Adrienne, you know how we feel about you. We all hope you will agree to step up and seek the Council position,” Leland said.

“As my niece said, Mr. Chairman, it’s a lot to think about,” Leo replied.

I let out a yawn, which Adrienne caught. “I think we need to get Vicki home. She didn’t get much sleep last night, and this has been a long day,” she said.

Leland and Bonnie went to stand, so we did as well. “Of course,” Bonnie said. “We can speak more in the morning if you have any questions.” She led us to the door, closing it behind us as we walked away.

“That was interesting,” Leo said.

“You know how I feel,” I told them. “It’s Andrie’s birthright to take over Miesville, not mine.”

“But you could hold the spot for him,” Leo countered.

“It’s WAY too early to be discussing anything other than what is for breakfast tomorrow,” Adrienne said. “Let’s get her back to the trailer. Are you going to sleep or head back out with the younger crowd?”

“Sleep,” I said as we walked out the front door.

“I’ll stay with her, and you can do the politicking,” Adrienne said.

Leo looked over at her like she was punishing him. “Didn’t he just say how you were so much better than me at the political side?”

She giggled. “Yes, but you aren’t wearing three-inch heels and a tight dress,” she countered.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Sleep that night did not come easy. If I turned down the Alpha position, I’d ruin any chance of Leo and Adrienne becoming Regional Chairs for at least twenty more years, maybe forever. If I took it, my dreams of going off to school and studying sharks would come to an end.

Either way, dreams were going to die.

***************

I woke up and looked at my phone; it was six in the morning. My text messages had blown up, and I’d missed dozens of calls. I scrolled through the list as I laid in bed, stopping at a caller ID from WALA Television in Mobile, Alabama. She had left a message. “Vicki, this is Shannon Eckersly from FOX10 News in Mobile, Alabama. I was the reporter who interviewed you last night after the rescue? Our phones have been blowing up with callers wanting to know more about you and the rescue! I just got off the phone with Fox and Friends, and they want to interview you in the morning! Can you believe it? Millions of people watch that show every morning! I was hoping to talk to you, but please call the news desk back, and they will give you the details. The morning show would interview live in our studios here in Mobile. Call me back! I’m so excited for you!” She left the phone number and hung up.

I checked the other messages, mostly people congratulating me, and butt-scooted my way to the bottom of the bed. Leo was up already, sitting at the table with his coffee while reading the news on his tablet. “Morning, Sharkbait,” he said as I dropped to the floor.

I kissed Unka Leo on the cheek and went over to the fridge to grab a Mountain Dew. I needed caffeine, but I hated coffee. Sitting down across from him, I stole one of the donuts off his plate. “You were up early,” I said.

“I’m always up early, Sharkbait. That’s what happens to old men,” he said with a grin. “Your interview has thirty-seven thousand views on Youtube so far. I recommend you don’t read the comments; you’d think these kids had never seen a girl in a bikini before.”

I rolled my eyes as I pulled up the site on my phone and found the video. “I got a message from the news station in Mobile,” I said.

“I know. The station called your Mom, and Liv called me.”

I bit into the chocolate bismark, sucking the custard out of the center. “I’m not interested in being a celebrity, Leo. I just followed my training and got lucky.”

He nodded. “That may be the case, but you might want to reconsider the whole celebrity thing.” I looked at him quizzically. “Who is your hero?”

“Ocean Ramsey,” I said quickly.

“And how does Ocean get her message out to the world?”

“She’s famous,” I agreed as I figured out where he was going. “She used her looks and her diving to make videos and photos that went viral.”

“Exactly. Get people to watch, then teach them about sharks. It’s not fair, but it’s true. If Ocean hadn’t been hotter than Georgia asphalt in that wetsuit, no one would have heard of her.” He set the last donut aside for Adrienne as we each took another.

“You want me to do the interview,” I said.

“Yes. Face it, Vicki; you are young, smart, and beautiful, and people want to know about you this morning. By next week they will have moved on. Today you have a chance to talk about the sharks you love, and your plan to massively expand the tracking of sharks so we can better protect them. When else will you have a chance to reach tens of millions of people at once?”

He was right; I wouldn’t. “Strike while the iron is hot?”

Leo nodded. “Exactly. I already told the station you would do the interview. The helicopter will pick you up in,” he looked down at his tablet, “Forty-two minutes.”

My jaw dropped. “WHAT? I just woke up!”

“Get in the shower as soon as Adrienne is out, and wear something nice. Adrienne is going with you. Don’t worry about hair and makeup; the helicopter will ruin your hair anyway. They’ll fix you up at the station.”

“GAAAH!” I gobbled down the rest of the donut and washed it down with the rest of the can of Mountain Dew. I finished washing my hands as Leo walked back to the bedroom, giving me privacy as Adrienne exited the shower into the common area. “Aunt Adrienne! You knew about this?”

“Of course, dear. You needed your rest, but NOW you need to get in the shower. Chop chop!” She started to get dressed as I pulled off my jammies and headed into the bathroom. Ten minutes later, I was back out with a towel wrapped around me.

I didn’t have a lot of choices in clothing, as a ball gown and cocktail dress weren’t appropriate, and we’d traveled in comfortable clothes. I went with the shark-patterned blue sundress and white sandals, while Adrienne wore a patterned skirt and white silk blouse. “You look beautiful,” Leo said as he came back out. He was in a suit, ready to head back to the meetings that Alphas endured all weekend.

“Thank you,” I said. “For everything. I don’t know where my head would be right now if I didn’t have the two of you here with me.”

I got pulled into a group hug as the emotions hit me. “Don’t get snot on your dress,” Adrienne said after a few moments. I nearly choked as I pulled back and laughed. Leo handed me a handkerchief, and I dried my eyes. “Now come on, we have to get to the clearing behind the main house to meet the helicopter.”

I followed my Luna out the door, and we started walking towards the main house. “What about Luna Karen? She and Terry did CPR, so she was part of saving the boy too!”

“Karen doesn’t want to be involved,” Adrienne replied. “You’re the photogenic one.”

“And Terry?”

“He’s helping his mate at the hospital; the boy was kept overnight for observation, but they say he will be fine. You should talk about their efforts, though.”

“I will.” We had reached the back, and someone had spray-painted an X on the lawn for the landing spot. I could hear the helicopter coming. “I’ve never been in a helicopter before,” I said.

“It’s a rush,” Adrienne said.

The news helicopter flared out and landed, the engines spooling down. The right-side door opened, and a man in a flight suit came over to us. After telling us the obvious point that we should keep our heads down, we moved to the door and climbed in. He helped us get strapped in and put headsets on us to cut the noise. “Press this button, and you can talk to us,” the pilot said before he climbed into his front right seat.

I pushed the button. “Thank you for coming to get us,” I said.

“It’s our honor, Miss Lawrence,” he said said. He gave me a quick brief of the controls, which I could see from the seat behind the copilot. “Do you want a gentle or fun ride?”

“FUN!”

The pilot twisted the throttle with his left hand until the engines were at full speed, then he raised the collective lever to make us rise into the air. He used the pedals to swing us around as we accelerated forward; in moments, we were speeding across the lawn at head height. As we approached the trees, he pulled back on the cyclic. The nose went up and we rose quickly above the trees. Less than a minute later, we were cruising at two thousand feet and two hundred knots to the west. The flight didn’t take long, and when we touched down on the rooftop of the television station, I was disappointed it was over. “We’ll take you back when you’re ready,” the pilot told us as he shut the engines down.

“Thank you! That was SO fun!” I’d taken videos and a lot of photos on the flight, which was MUCH more fun than a plane.

Thirty minutes after we arrived, I’d been sprayed, combed, powdered, and buffed until I was ready for the three-dimensional high-definition cameras. A young woman led me to a studio where a producer sat me down on a chair. On the screen across from me was the feed from the network feed of Fox and Friends. The cameraman, producer, and Adrienne were the only ones in the room when the door closed. “You’re up next, after the commercial break,” the producer told me. “Lance and Nikki will tease the interview before they bring you in. The red light on means the camera is live.” The screen I was watching was directly under the camera. “Talk into the camera when you can, and relax. You’re going to do fine,” he said.

“You got this, Vicki,” Adrienne told me.

I used my breath tricks for diving to help calm my heart rate down as the commercials came to an end. The show came back, with Lance talking to the camera. “Welcome back to Fox and Friends Weekend. Yesterday, strangers on a remote beach near Pensacola, Florida, responded to a frantic Mom’s cries for help. Her seven-year-old son had disappeared under the waves, and time was running out. Thankfully, a hero was there to save the boy, and she is with us this morning. Please welcome Vicki Lawrence, from Apple Valley, Minnesota.”