by Dawn Steele
She jerked her head to the back of the alley.
Violet followed the other woman. She was still bewildered.
“You’re lucky I was following you,” Kendra said. “I doubt you’d have dispatched those goons in that dress and those heels.”
A motorcycle was parked at the end of the alley. From what Violet could see, it was what you would call a classic Indian.
“You were following me?”
“Ever since you arrived in town.”
Violet was astounded. “Why?”
“Get on.” Kendra swung her leg over the bike. “You know how to get on, don’t you?”
Of course. Violet used to date a boy from Eton with a thing for Harleys.
“Nice bike,” she said as she got on behind Kendra.
“Thanks. It’s my father’s.”
“I’m bleeding on your cloak.”
“It’s an old cloak.” Kendra started the motorbike. The old engine purred to life. “Hold on!”
Violet clung onto her doppelganger.
And they were off.
*
It suddenly occurred to Violet that she had followed a total stranger. Her secret twin, to be exact. The motorbike wound through the town, down roads Violet was not familiar with, until they were out in the countryside. Corn fields sped by along with silhouettes of farmhouses and barns.
Violet tried to recall everything she knew of werewolves. Taran, in particular, was a strong champion of their community.
“They need human champions like every other minority,” he explained. “Ever since they were discovered in the sixteenth century, they have been wanderers. Their legends tell of the Great Sin that their ancestors committed. As a result, they were cast out of the garden and forced to wander forever among humankind.”
“Like gypsies?” Violet was only listening with half an ear.
“Yes, like gypsies. Werewolves used to live in caravans, but they have upgraded to camper vans and tents. But they still have archaic beliefs which are very patriarchal.”
“In what way?” Violet leafed through her magazine. She remembered going to a holiday retreat with her parents once and seeing a carnival banner proclaiming: ‘WEREWOLF EXOTICS ON PARADE’.
“Well, their society relegates their women to an inferior role. Werewolf females are not allowed to go to school or hold jobs. Their role is to take care of their families and make babies.”
“Ewwww.”
“Depending on where they reside, humans have been trying to integrate them into the modern world for years. But like the Amish, Afghans and Saudis, they still cling to their culture and beliefs.”
This got Violet’s attention.
“And you want to preserve them? Those Neanderthals?” She scrunched her nose up.
“Every minority culture deserves to be preserved. They don’t want to be like the Native Americans – integrated but relegated, and suffering everything from alcoholism to ennui. They made a choice to live their lives according to their history and beliefs, and we must respect that.”
“Who made the choice for them? Their wandering elders? Do their women even get to vote?”
Of course, when they argued, it had been largely rhetorical. And by the time they got there, Violet was already so wrung out by the tension between her and Taran that she barely had enough emotional energy to devote to the werewolf female cause. Not that it had been her cause in the first place.
But now that they were out in the country, all this came back at her in full force. Kendra did not seem to be a meek werewolf housewife.
Far from it.
They finally rode into some woods. A lone trailer home loomed in the dark, lit by only a single electric lamp hanging from a roof peg. The low hum of a generator permeated the background. Violet remembered how backward werewolf communities were supposed to be. Well, at least they didn’t live in dens.
“This is me,” Kendra said.
She slid the motorbike to a stop and killed the engine. There were no other trailers around. They both got off.
“I’m sorry. I really messed up your cloak,” Violet said.
“No problem. My clothes are in there anyway.” Kendra motioned to a storage compartment on the bike. “I wanted to get us away as soon as possible. That’s why I didn’t change. We werewolves are also not supposed to shift within town limits in the vicinity of the townsfolk, so I was technically violating a law that comes with a thousand dollar fine. One which I can’t afford to pay.”
“But you rescued me.”
Kendra shrugged. “You never know which way the cops are going to swing. We wolves get it tough from humans. I’m not even supposed to be riding out to town, or even riding at all, as a wolf female. The elders frown on things like that. Come on in.”
Violet entered the trailer.
It was a fairly standard trailer home, with a bunk bed at the end and a kitchenette with the prerequisite fixed table and two chairs.
“I know it’s not what you’re used to,” Kendra said. “Sit. Let me take a look at that jaw.”
She opened a cabinet and took out some first aid supplies.
“I don’t mind at all,” Violet said gratefully.
She sat still as Kendra cleaned her wound thoroughly and dabbed it with antiseptic.
“There,” Kendra finally pronounced. “Nothing permanently damaged. It would be a shame to scar that pretty face.” She grinned.
“OK,” Violet said. “Let’s talk about this. How did we happen?”
“You mean the fact we look alike?”
Kendra shed her cloak. She was quite uninhibited, to Violet’s chagrin. It was very strange for Violet to view her own voluptuous body in the flesh, not in a mirror.
Kendra said, “I was born in Oklahoma.”
“California. But my parents left America when I was three and travelled around the world because my Dad was an ambassador.”
“Oh, rich kid, huh? Well, none of that for me.” Kendra went to her bedroom to get some clothes. “I was born in the other trailer we used to have. Natural birth. My Mom was mated to my Dad, who was unfortunately the Omega of our tribe. So we got mostly scraps. I grew up with the clan, moving from town to town. Sometimes, we booked a show with a carnival. At other times, we booked darker entertainment diversions.”
She paused. Violet was curious, but thought it would be impolite to ask what these darker entertainment diversions were. Not at this juncture, anyway.
“Anyhow, my Mom and Dad died in a freak accident when a tree crashed onto their trailer in a thunderstorm,” Kendra continued. She came out from the tiny bed area in a T-shirt and shorts.
“I’m sorry.”
“I escaped because I was sleeping right around here in the old trailer we used to live in.” She pointed to a folded bunk bed by the kitchen cabinets. “I was fifteen years old, and it was considered a miracle. That’s why I’m so special.”
She said this last with a smirk.
“So you live alone now?” Violet asked.
“Yes. I’m twenty-two years old. Born August 18th.”
“I’m twenty-four. Born December 3rd.” Violet stared at Kendra. “So we’re not exactly the same age.”
“We can’t be secret twins separated at birth then,” Kendra joked. “Unless our parents weren’t telling us the truth.”
She pulled up a chair.
“Now tell me about you. I want to hear all about you.”
Violet said, “As a child, I went all around the world with my Dad because he was posted to different countries. Chile. Australia. Venezuela. Pakistan.”
“I’ve never traveled outside the US. It must be wonderful.”
“Not really.” Violet was surprised at how at ease she felt with her younger doppelganger. “It was frankly awful. I was always moving around, and I was home tutored, so I never went to a real school until I was older. I made friends, only to have to leave them after a while. My parents sent me to boarding school in Switzerland when I was fifteen. After that,
I went to Cambridge.”
Kendra’s face was wistful.
“I never got to go to college,” she said. “I never even got to go to school. The elders taught us werewolf kids some rudimentary language and arithmetic – anything they deemed would be useful for us. But I never got to study history or geography or biology.”
Violet listened, but did not make any remarks. She remembered what Taran had told her. So not all the female werewolves were OK with their society’s arrangements.
Kendra grinned. “But living alone has its perks.”
She opened a cabinet door and pulled out a drawer. Inside was an iPad.
“This is my portal to the world,” she said. “No one knows I have this. I taught myself everything through it. As a single female, the whole clan supports me until I’m of marriageable age.”
“What age is considered marriageable age?”
“Sixteen.” Kendra laughed. “I know. I’m well past that. But I’ve staved off all advances so far, and I’ve succeeded. Except for one. I can’t get him off my back.”
“Who is that?”
“The new alpha, Ronnie Williams. He’s a right pain in the ass.”
“How?”
“Well, he won’t take no for an answer. I’ve already told him I don’t want to be his mate. There’s so much I want to do in life, and that does not include being an alpha’s subservient mate.”
“But what can you do about it?”
“I don’t yet have a plan, but I’m working on it.” Kendra set her mouth in a determined line. “I’m going to leave the community.”
Violet was taken aback.
“Are you sure?” she said. “But they are your family, your people. Can’t you work it out with them?”
Not to mention that it was extremely difficult for an uneducated shifter girl to get a job outside.
“I don’t know,” admitted Kendra. “But I won’t know until I try, right?”
“What will happen to you if you leave?”
“Ronnie, as the alpha, will hunt me down and make an example of me,” Kendra replied matter-of-factly.
Violet was surprised at how barbaric the werewolves seemed.
“What kind of example?” she asked.
“Well, the only werewolf I know who tried to run away was Caleb Feldspar, fifty years ago. The alpha at that time, Dominic, caught him and put him in the pit.”
“The pit?”
“Yes. He was in there for forty days. But I don’t plan on being caught.” Kendra’s eyes gleamed.
An idea was unfurling in Violet’s mind.
“Kendra, listen to me,” she said, suddenly excited by the enormity of it all. “What if there was a way for you to experience the outside world before you make a final decision that you cannot take back?”
THE PLAN
Kendra listened, incredulous, to Violet’s suggestion.
At the end of it, she said, “But what’s in it for you?”
“I get to have the adventure of a lifetime,” Violet replied, her eyes shining.
Kendra could see how carefully applied the older woman’s makeup was – all hues of purple and violet on her smoky eyes. Violet was sophisticated and beautiful – everything Kendra could only hope of becoming.
“But how?”
“All my life, I’ve been closeted and cosseted by everyone I know,” Violet said bitterly. “First, it was my parents. Then it was the teachers in that awful finishing school I went to. I went to Cambridge to read English literature because my parents wanted me to, not because I wanted to. I never got to do anything meaningful with my life.
“Then finally, I start an online shoe company, and my parents don’t want to have anything to do with it. I can’t touch my trust fund until I’m thirty. My first investor is my boyfriend’s mother, and now she wants to run the company and my life!”
All this about finishing schools, online shoe companies, and investors sounded like paradise to Kendra. It was all she had ever dreamt of.
Violet placed a well-manicured hand on Kendra’s forearm. “So I want to do this. That’s the plan. For one month, you’ll be me and I’ll be you. I’m going to try to change things around here for the better for you and all the werewolf females. I’m going to call this a social experiment.”
Kendra gaped. “You’re going to try to change things? But how?”
“I don’t know yet,” Violet admitted. Kendra could see how strong and determined the other woman was despite her soft appearance. “But I’ll get a month to try. If I don’t change things, then it’s status quo. You lose nothing. As for you, you get a taste of the world outside with all the trappings of a privileged existence. Think of it as a vacation.”
Kendra couldn’t help smiling. “I’ve never taken a vacation before.”
“There you go.” Violet gripped Kendra’s forearm. “You know, I’ve been moping around lately, feeling depressed. Now I’m all excited about life again. I think this is kismet! We were meant to meet, and we’re meant to trade places!”
“But only for a month, right?” Kendra couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to give up the life Violet had described for all the excitement in the world.
“Yes. Only for a month. At the end of the month, you’ll find some excuse to come back here, and we’ll make the switch again.”
“But don’t you have a boyfriend? Taran is his name, right?”
“Yes. But we’re on the verge of breaking up anyway. Tell him you need time away from him to think. Ask him to give you a month. We don’t live together anyway. When you get back to London, you can stay in my flat.”
Violet sketched the details out, and Kendra listened, awed. All her life, she had never done anything like this, but her own excitement grew by leaps and bounds as Violet prattled on. Could they do this? Could the two of them really pull it off?
They spent the rest of the night talking and planning and asking questions of each other. Then Violet’s cellphone rang.
“Oh, shit,” she said. “It’s three in the morning. Taran is calling. He’ll probably send the cops out after me now.”
Kendra had never owned a cellphone before. There was no one to call. She stared at Violet’s phone. “Are you going to answer that?”
Violet hesitated. Then she smiled and handed the phone to Kendra. “You answer it.”
“Me?” Kendra’s heart leaped. “But I don’t even know him. What do I say?”
“If we’re going to do this, it starts now.” Violet’s eyes gleamed mischievously.
She was right, Kendra decided. If she couldn’t pull this off, this stopped now.
She took the phone from Violet and pressed the ANSWER button. She didn’t own a cellphone, but she was no country hick, having taught herself everything she thought she should know about the world.
“Hello?” Her voice betrayed a slight nervousness.
Violet looked on, her fists bunched.
“Vi?” said a cultured English voice. “Where are you? I know you’re mad at me, but I’ve been worried sick. I wanted to call earlier, but I knew you needed some space. This isn’t Mayfair. Please come back to the hotel.”
Kendra locked eyes with Violet.
“I’m all right. I’ve met someone,” she said.
“Oh.” Taran’s voice was crestfallen.
“It’s not like that,” Kendra quickly said. “She’s a very interesting local woman. We got to talking and lost track of time. I’m OK, really. She’ll give me a ride back.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
Kendra’s heart pounded. She was pulling this off. “Yes. You go back to sleep. I’ll come back soon.”
“I’ll leave a light on for you. We can work this out. I love you.”
Kendra rang off. She was afraid to say ‘I love you’ back just in case it was not what Violet wanted.
“You did it!” Violet’s face shone. “You really did it!”
“I know.” Kendra was just as elated.
“So what do you say? Want
to go back to the hotel as me?”
THE FIRST NIGHT
There were other ways to get to town other than by motorbike, though not as convenient. There was a 24-hour private car service you could call, and Kendra was as connected to the world as any alpha werewolf male could ever be – albeit secretly so.
“Remember, email me if you’re not sure of anything,” Violet said, hugging her newfound friend.
“Email myself. Sure.”
They laughed.
It was almost dawn.
“Got everything?” Violet asked.
“I don’t know. It’s all in your cellphone, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Don’t forget my password now.” They chorused together, “0123.”
Still, Kendra was apprehensive as she arrived in front of the hotel. The Hilton was the best hotel in Shipshank. She felt like an imposter as she swept in through the revolving doors of the entrance. She was in Violet’s dress. Violet’s shoes.
“Good morning, Ms. Turner,” said the doorman respectfully.
Ms. Turner? Violet Turner? Oh, right. One of the little details Violet forgot to mention – her surname!
“Good morning,” Kendra replied.
She made her way steadily to the elevator bank. As steadily as her shoes would allow her. She wasn’t used to walking in heels, so she almost tripped on the plush carpet once or twice. But because she was a wolf, she had natural balance and agility. She caught herself in time.
A wolf in Jimmy Choos! If only Ronnie could see her now. He would have a fit!
Once inside one of the elevators, Kendra pressed the top button. Presidential suite, Violet told her. The key card felt special, like a golden ticket.
The elevator doors hissed open and discharged her into a plush corridor. Kendra had only been in the Hilton once or twice in her surreptitious explorations, and always in the dead of night. She knew that Ronnie and the elders would not take it lightly if they knew that a she-wolf had been traipsing around town, unaccompanied by a male.
She made her way to the end of the tastefully lit corridor to a set of double doors. Wow. The Presidential suite. Violet mentioned that Taran was a self-made billionaire. How did one do that – make a billion dollars all by themselves?
