The Alpha 7: Protect. Procreate. Prevail., page 21
“We’re in luck, brother!” he called out.
“I thought you’d say that,” I chuckled.
“Take a look at this,” Benji said as he stood from his seat. “It can hold twenty-eight passengers, which is perfect. It’s a charter, so it’s available in the Pacific Northwest and takes trips to Vancouver Island. And if they agree, then we could have the best week of our lives on this yacht.”
As Benji handed the phone over, I instantly noticed the price at the top of the screen.
“It’s over a million dollars for a week?” My eyes widened. “Yeah, it better be the best week of our lives.”
“Technically, it’s one million, three hundred…” Benji whispered behind his hand. “But don’t look at that, look at the pictures!”
I had to admit, the superyacht was beautiful to look at.
It was bright white with an elongated deck that gave the yacht a pointed look. The description on the website included all of the facilities the yacht came with, which included an infinity pool, lounging areas, a gym, spa, and a wet bar. I definitely saw the reason for the eye-watering price.
I could never have imagined dropping that much on a mission.
“Vacation,” Benji corrected me, and I realized he must have been eavesdropping on my thoughts. “I’m serious about this, dude. You’re the fucking Alpha. You’ve got the whole summer ahead of you at last, you’ve got a baby on the way, incredible omegas who love the shit out of you… your life is changing, bro. And now the motherfucker who killed our dad and your mom is right at our fingertips. We’re doing this right. Then we’re fucking partying on a superyacht to kick this summer off.”
I smirked at my half-brother, and his genuine excitement for me was contagious. Plus, he had a point.
This one wasn’t like the last alphas. And my schedule was wide open.
“I’ll be making back all this money and more once I kill that bastard anyway,” I said with a devilish grin. “Book the yacht.”
“Fuck yes!” Benji whooped as he punched the air. “Get your sunscreen out, girls!”
“We haven’t booked anything yet, Benji,” Aunt Eva replied.
“Yeah, but we will.” He rolled his eyes playfully. “Now, when do you want to leave, Jesse?”
“As soon as possible,” I said. “As in, I want us to be heading for Theo in a couple of days.”
“Yeah, okay, that might be a bit harder…” Benji mumbled. “Unless you’re willing to pay more than the going rate?”
“Honestly, pay whatever you want.” I shrugged. “That amount of money is pennies compared to what I’ll get when I take over Theo’s wealth.”
“Okay,” my beta captain sighed. “Let’s hope my drama class as a kid has paid off…”
Benji cleared his throat a number of times, and then he shook out his body as he raised his phone to his ear.
I could have heard a pin drop on the other side of the cabin. It was so quiet, and everyone paid great attention to the dial tone.
All of a sudden, a friendly-sounding woman answered the call, and she gave Benji her name and a well-rehearsed greeting before asking how she could help.
“Good morning,” Benji said in a deep, posh tone. “I’m calling on behalf of Mr. Jesse Rafe, and I was hoping to book one of your superyachts for a week’s charter.”
The lady then went through the basic questions. She asked Benji if he had seen a yacht in particular that suited our needs, how many guests would be traveling, and then she asked about our destination.
The only issue came when Benji mentioned I wanted this yacht to be ready in two days’ time, but the company needed much more notice than that.
“You see, Elizabeth,” Benji said in a sweet tone. “Jesse Rafe, you know, the famous musician, is getting ready for a solo tour across the country. This is probably the only freedom he’ll have for a very long time, so he is willing to pay double the regular price in order to take this much-needed break.”
I’m a famous musician now? I asked.
You are if it means we get to have this yacht for a week. Benji winked.
“We really don’t accept bookings without at least a month’s notice,” Elizabeth muttered into the phone. “I’m sorry, but our calendars are fully booked, and it takes time to organize a yacht in order to prepare it, so there’s not a lot we can do.”
“Then we’re willing to pay more,” Benji bargained.
There was a long beat of silence on the other end of the line, but then Elizabeth responded with a much more enthusiastic tone, and Benji silently offered me a fist bump.
Elizabeth even giggled a bit when she told Benji that this couldn’t be a regular thing, and they would need more notice next time, but Benji just thanked her profusely. He promised to be more organized, and then double-checked the port we’d be collected from.
As soon as Benji ended the call, the entire room became alive with laughter and cheers, and the excitement was clear on everyone’s faces.
“I can’t believe it actually worked!” Benji chuckled. “Money opens literally every door. Who knew?”
“Everyone,” I snorted and shook my head.
“I can’t believe you made her think Jesse was a famous musician,” Aunt Eva chuckled.
Benji hadn’t told a complete lie, because if I accepted Jack Nolan’s offer, then I would be going on tour with his orchestra in California. However, I wasn’t well known, and the money I earned definitely did not come from playing my violin.
“Oh, my God, I need to repaint my toenails,” Nikita gasped as she jumped as quickly as she could from the sofa. “Arielle, can you help me?”
“Of course,” the werecoyote replied. “And we’ll need to pick out our favorite swimsuits.”
“I’ve never been on a yacht before,” Hailey said with a giant smile. “Let alone a superyacht!”
“A drink by the pool… looking out at the scenery…” Blair held both hands over her chest. “We’re going to have so much fun.”
I grinned as my omegas carried on getting more and more excited, and as the other betas joined in, I clapped Benji on the back.
He was right. This mission was way more than any normal pack attack. It was the end of my parents’ murderer, and the start of a whole new chapter in my life.
We were gonna do it up big.
“And think about the wildlife we might come across!” Arielle squealed. “Do you think we’ll see any orcas?”
“Oh, imagine!” Hailey clapped her hands together. “I’ve always wanted to see them in the wild, and this might be our chance!”
The omegas’ excitement about seeing some orcas reminded me of other shifters we might come across during our little vacation.
Ever since I’d heard about the mysterious selkie omega, I’d always wanted to find her. I’d only heard about her once, and I hadn’t received any clues to help me find her, but that might have been because I hadn’t properly looked before.
This trip could finally be the chance I needed to come across the elusive omega, and hopefully I’d kill off Theo Finch and gather his land into my paws at the same time.
But before we could go anywhere, I had to be certain that Theo Finch was going to be on Vancouver Island on the day we ambushed his territory.
And I just hoped Hazel would be willing to assist me with that challenge, even if it meant turning her back on her job.
Chapter 13
Once everything had been organized, I told my pack members they were free to leave. They were to meet back here first thing Sunday morning in order to head to the port, so they had a couple of days to pack their suitcases. But they all mentioned returning to their patrol groups to continue working.
However, before Thomas left with the others, I took him aside and placed some cash into his hand.
“Can you run down to the store and buy a burner phone for Hazel?” I asked. “It doesn’t have to be overly fancy, it just needs to make and receive calls. And then she can throw it away once this deal with Theo is finished.”
Thomas opened his hand and counted the notes I had placed there.
“Dude, there’s over two hundred dollars here.” He frowned. “I’m sure I could get a phone for less than thirty.”
“Meh, it doesn’t matter.” I shrugged.
“Okay, and what if Hazel Wise doesn’t want to take you up on the offer?” Thomas asked. “Should I wait on getting the phone until she agrees?”
“I bet we can find a good use for a burner phone at some point in the future,” I chuckled. “But I’d prefer that I have everything ready to go if Hazel decides to help us.”
“No problem, boss.” Thomas smiled. “I’ll go there now and see what I can find.”
“Thanks, Thomas,” I replied. “I really appreciate it.”
The werecat beta gave me a two-fingered salute, and then he shoved the bills into his pocket as he ran from the house. Thomas and Hailey were the best people to go to when it came to sorting out phones and electronics, so I imagined he’d probably give me a full rundown on the phone when he returned.
I remained in the living area after everyone had left. My omegas were upstairs busy getting their suitcases packed, Aunt Eva muttered something about putting a load in the washing machine, and Benji stayed with me.
My half-brother was lounging on the couch with one leg over the arm of the furniture, and the second leg was draped over the side. He stared intently at his phone, and he let out an excited noise every time something caught his fancy.
Clarice’s phone, as well as the phones that belonged to the four dead betas, were sitting in the center of the table, and hopefully we wouldn’t need to use them that much.
“Look at this, Jesse!” Benji laughed.
Then my own phone vibrated against my leg, and I glanced at it to see a link Benji had sent me. It was a video of the superyacht we had booked, and there was clearly a bunch of actors pretending to be a loving family on vacation.
The video included scenes of a boy and a girl running up and down the corridors and jumping into the pool. But while the kids were doing that, the parents were enjoying the hot tub and wet bar. They stared at each other lovingly, clinked their glasses together, and then they continued to act like they didn’t have any kids to look after.
“It looks… great?” I frowned.
I wasn’t quite sure why Benji had sent me that video, especially since it didn’t show me anything new about the yacht, but there was always a reason behind his madness.
“No!” Benji groaned as he sat up properly on the couch. “Can’t you just imagine doing that with your kids one day? Hire out the yacht, or just fucking buy one, and then take trips to Vancouver Island. Your new home. Or rather, it will be in a few days.”
“And which omega am I sitting with in the hot tub?” I asked as I looked at the paused video.
“All four of them,” Benji chuckled. “No! They’ll be lined up out of the shot, so as soon as you’ve finished with one, they swap over until you reach the end of the line.”
“Excuse me?” Blair gasped from behind me.
“Gaaah!” Benji and I shouted in unison.
Neither of us had noticed her arrival, so we both jumped out of our skin when we noticed the unamused omega with her hands on her hips.
“Oh, hey…” Benji pulled at the neck of his t-shirt.
“Are you saying we’re nothing but show ponies that stand there and look pretty until we’re needed?” my omega asked.
“No, of course not!” my beta captain said as confidently as possible. “Say, have you done something to your hair? You look amazing!”
“Sit on this and fucking spin.” Blair rolled her eyes as she gave Benji the middle finger.
But Blair’s deadly expression was quick to vanish, and she curled herself up beside me with the sweetest smile on her face.
“It’s like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth,” Benji muttered.
“I’m only kidding, Benji,” my omega giggled. “In fact, I love the idea of leaving you guys to watch our kids while Jesse and I sit in the hot tub. I just wanted to scare you a little bit.”
“Well, it worked,” Benji sighed. “Has Aunt Eva finished with the laundry yet? Because I think I need to add some pants to the pile…”
“Fucking hell,” I laughed. “You just need to learn how to tell the difference between when Blair’s being serious and when she’s just messing with you.”
“Okay, so what about the other week when you threatened to cut my dick off?” Benji frowned. “I made a simple comment about how Nikita’s scary when she’s pregnant, and you said you’d make sure I never had any kids?”
Blair and I fell back against the couch as the laughter rippled through us. She grabbed onto my shirt, and I had to wipe the tears away from my eyes.
“Hey, it’s not funny!” Benji protested. “That’s why I sat at the opposite end of the table during dinner…”
“Benji,” Blair said through her roars of laughter. “Do you really think I would have done that?”
“I don’t know.” Benji shrugged. “You and Wednesday Addams are far too similar, so I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“Yeah, but she much prefers guillotines and poison.” Blair winked. “Also, no offense to Kiri, but I wouldn’t want to get that close to your dick.”
“I-I… You, uh…” he stuttered. “Just… leave Kiri out of this, okay?”
My half-brother slumped further down into the couch, and then he brought his phone up to cover his face. But I still noticed the blush that coated his cheeks.
“We’ll get the two of them together one day,” Blair giggled. “Just like Hazel Wise… Hey, maybe she’d like to come on the yacht with us? Do you think she wears a bikini or a one-piece? Because I get the impression that she doesn’t want to show off too much skin unless she’s alone with someone…”
“Watch it.” I smirked.
However, I couldn’t get that image out of my head, so I had to make sure my thoughts were for my mind only.
I pictured Hazel sitting on the side of the pool with a doe-eyed look in her almond eyes and her tiny little waist barely covered by a blood-red bikini.
Fortunately, Benji’s sudden explosion of laughter caused that vision to vanish, and I glanced over to see my beta captain curled over with one arm around his stomach. Neither Blair nor I had any idea what Benji was laughing at, but whenever he looked back at his phone, the hysterics started all over again.
“Ha-Have… Have you seen this?” he asked with his eyes squinted closed. “Ow, my ribs hurt from laughing!”
It turned out Benji had come across a video of wild animals, but someone had included a voice-over to make it seem as though the animals were actually talking. It wasn’t something I hadn’t seen before, but one particular scene had Benji literally rolling off the couch because he was laughing so hard.
“Th-The… the monkeys!” he cried out. “O-one of them… One of them is a dentist, and… Aah, I can’t stop watching!”
“One of them is a dentist?” Blair frowned.
But then she grabbed the device from Benji’s limp hand, and she tracked back a few seconds to watch the clip. One monkey was inspecting and cleaning the other monkey’s teeth, but the dude who made the video made it seem like a mundane dentist appointment. It was funny, and Blair and I both laughed at it, but we didn’t have the same reaction as Benji.
“How did he go from crapping his pants to pissing his pants in the span of a few minutes?” Blair asked.
“Because that’s Benji for you,” I chuckled.
“And the snake!” Benji roared from the floor. “Aaah, I… I can’t stop!”
It took him almost twenty minutes to fully calm down, and even Thomas asked if Benji was okay when he returned with Hazel’s potential new burner phone in hand.
“Yeah, he just watched a video about talking animals,” I said with a laugh.
“Oh, I love those videos!” Thomas grinned. “They always leave me in the same state, too. But enough about that, I managed to get you a phone, so I’ll set it up for you now.”
“Perfect, thank you,” I replied.
“And, like I thought, it was barely even thirty dollars,” Thomas said as he brought out the remaining cash from his pocket.
“Just keep it,” I said with a wave of my hand.
“Are you sure?” Thomas asked.
“Of course.” I smiled. “Use it to fill a car up with gas, or get some food for everyone.”
“Thank you, Alpha,” Thomas said quietly as he pocketed the money once again.
The phone Thomas purchased reminded me of the first cell phone Aunt Eva ever bought me. It had the tiniest square screen, a spongy keypad, and two large buttons to answer or end calls. It was barely the size of my palm, and I could tell how durable the phone was by just holding it in my hand.
“Oh, my God,” Blair said as she took a look. “Hailey will have a field day when she sees this. I used to be able to type so quickly using a keypad, but I bet I’m terrible at it now.”
“What, you mean pressing ‘2’ three times in order to get the letter ‘C?’” I snorted.
“Or holding down the button to get to the characters,” Blair chuckled. “Those were the days!”
For the next few minutes, Thomas messed around with the phone and brought the device to life. He installed a SIM card, double-checked that everything was working properly, and then checked the box to make sure it came with a charger.
“Okay, I think we’re good to go,” he said as he handed me the box with the burner phone on top. “I doubt you’ll need to explain to Hazel how to use it, but everything’s noted down in the manual just in case she needs it.”
“That’s excellent, thank you, Thomas,” I replied. “We’ll see you on Sunday morning?”
“See you then!” he said excitedly.
I placed the phone on the side table, and then I relaxed back as we waited for Hazel to get here. I didn’t know when she was going to arrive, so I took the spare time to relax while I had it.
Hailey, Arielle, and Nikita joined us after they had finished with their manicures and pedicures, and Benji brought up the animal video once again. He said he didn’t want the other omegas to miss out, but we all knew it was more because he wanted to watch it again.
