by Dawn Steele
“Yeah, of course.”
“But you know, what happened to your Mom could have happened to any human being. Not just her because she was a wolf.”
“I guess so. But there are other things.” He shook his head. “Well, you’ll find out. Stick close to me. I’ll protect you, OK?”
“That’s very sweet of you, but you can’t protect me all the time. I have to protect myself.”
He glanced at her and smiled. “You see, that’s why I like you. You’re different. Marissa wouldn’t say something like that.”
You must not know many girls then.
“Sometimes, people are a certain way because they’re products of their environment. That’s why we have to give everyone an equal opportunity to take care of themselves. You can’t segregate half your community in the interest of keeping them safe. The world has moved on. What floated in our parents’ era might not be applicable today.”
“How would educating our females make them safer?”
“The term ‘safety’ is not just protection from physical harm. It also means protection from ignorance – from being cheated by the world in one way or another. Education gives a person perspective and a more varied ability to think and reason. It challenges someone to go beyond themselves and what they’re comfortable with. It gives our women self-worth beyond what they mean to their husbands and children.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Have you been talking to someone?”
Not someone in the camp.
“No.”
“Have you been going out by yourself, Kendra?”
I assumed so.
Violet feigned innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. Even though I’m the alpha, I’m not going to rat on you to the elders. They’d probably want to cleanse you or something.”
Cleanse me of impure reasoning, more like.
“I’m not admitting to anything,” Violet said airily.
“Fair enough.”
The RV drew in front of a ranch called ‘LOCKE AND SONS’. Are we going to ride horses? Violet wondered. Or put nose rings in bulls?
Ronnie powered the RV through the gates.
“Are we going to stay here?” Violet said.
“No. We live in the RV. They don’t let the likes of us stay under their roof.”
Violet still didn’t have a clue what they were doing here.
They stopped in front of a large farmhouse. Beyond the farmhouse, a red barn stood with its doors shut. Several farmhands looked up from whatever it was they were doing.
“Showtime,” Ronnie said.
They got out.
One of the farmhands approached them.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m Ronnie Williams. I’m here for the fight.”
Fight? Violet had to keep her eyes from popping out of her head. But of course! It all made sense. That was what the first aid kit was for. Did she think Ronnie was going to play wolf doctor?
The farmhand eyed Ronnie up and down.
“You’re not what I was expecting.” He didn’t hold out his hand.
The other farmhands started to mill around.
“Were you expecting something a little hairier, bro?” called out someone.
“He ain’t look like much.”
“Too pretty, if you ask me.”
Guffaws all round.
Ronnie’s face did not change. “I’m looking for Mr. Caleb Locke.”
“That’s my Pa. He’s right inside.”
“Thank you.”
Caleb’s son mockingly stepped aside. “Don’t forget to wipe your feet when you go in. My Ma won’t like you tracking dirt all over her clean floor.”
Violet bridled.
“No more than you’ll be tracking dirt yourself,” she snapped.
“Ooooh. This one’s feisty,” said the son.
“I heard them wolf women are real wild in the sack.”
“Hey, sweetie.” Smacking noises. “Want a real man to show you how to fuck?”
The others laughed.
POW!
The guy who had made that fuck remark was on the ground. Ronnie reeled back, his fist still clenched. He had been so quick that Violet could hardly register that he had moved.
“If you talk like that one more time to the lady, I’ll do worse than floor you,” Ronnie said between clenched teeth.
Violet was stunned. So was everyone else.
The main door of the farmhouse opened. An older man stood there.
“What’s going on?” he roared.
“Uh, Pa.” Caleb Jr. looked uneasy. “This here is Ronnie Williams. The werewolf.”
Caleb appraised Ronnie. “If you have reflexes that quick, you might stand a chance against the Black Wolf. Come on in, son. Let’s talk money.”
Ronnie held his hand out to Violet.
“Come on,” he said. “It’ll be all right. I’m right here.”
A funny feeling went through her. She knew she was an empowered woman and that she could stand up for herself. Nevertheless, there was something very gratifying about Ronnie’s old-fashioned stance where she was concerned.
She took his hand, just to show those louts that they were a team, and went into the farmhouse with him.
LONDON
London! They were going to London!
Inwardly, Kendra was jumping up and down like a frog on a lily pad. Outwardly, she was the very epitome of sophistication. Or so she would like to think.
She had never flown first class before, and she had to refrain from oohing and aahing at everything.
“Can I make your bed for you, Miss?”
Bed? You mean this compartment folds out into a bed?
“Of course. Thank you,” she replied calmly.
I knew that!
Of course, what if she got into that bed, and it suddenly folded up on her? It would snap her in two! It had happened before with Milly Gotlieb’s bunk.
Then:
“Would you like lobster as your entrée, Miss?”
She couldn’t stop gazing at the menu.
“What are the other choices?” she whispered.
“Lamb, beef tenderloin, and a vegetarian lasagna.”
“Can I have all four?”
Werewolves had very large appetites. She was glad that Taran was in another compartment, so he couldn’t fully see how all this was affecting her in the most delightful way.
When they finally arrived in Heathrow airport, she couldn’t stop looking out of the window.
“Miss home?” Taran asked.
“Yes.”
He clasped his hand over hers. She didn’t take it away.
*
London was exciting, frenetic, and everything Kendra thought it would be from Google Images. She could scarcely contain her excitement.
“You’re particularly stoked today,” Taran observed.
“No, I’m not.” She hastily pried her face from the window of Taran’s chauffeured Bentley. “I’m just glad to be home, that’s all.”
He smiled. “I haven’t seen you like this in a long, long time. Do you remember when we first met?”
She didn’t say anything.
He went on, “When I first met you, we were at Julia’s.”
Which might be a person or a restaurant, she couldn’t tell.
“You were this bright spark. I saw you across the room. You were laughing and infecting everyone with your energy. There were these young blokes around you, hanging on to your every word. You wore a blue dress with shimmery highlights, and your hair was done up in a chignon.”
Kendra wasn’t sure what a chignon was.
“I knew I had to go to you right away. So I picked up a martini and sauntered across the room, trying to look cool. Inside, I was very nervous. You were the belle of the party, and I knew that I had very little chance of attracting your attention.”
You’re a billionaire, and you were nervous about me
eting me? I mean Violet?
“You were so confident. So sure of yourself. I always had a self-image issue.”
No way! Taran was the epitome of English aristocracy. The only thing missing was a title. Lord Taran. Earl Taran. Kendra could certainly picture him in a double-breasted suit, chatting with the Queen in Buckingham Palace. Which they were passing by right now, so her eyes were drawn to it.
There had to be a reason why Taran had a self-image issue, but Violet hadn’t clued her in on it. She had hardly told Kendra anything about Taran because it was assumed that Kendra would already have asked him for space.
Taran went on, “But I plucked up my courage and walked over anyway. The other blokes around you looked up as I came over. They must have thought I was out of my mind. But you appraised me with those marvelous eyes of yours.”
Kendra’s heart expanded, and she held her breath.
“I thought you were going to ask me to go away. But you didn’t. Instead, you looked at me, and you said –” He paused, as though waiting for her to complete the sentence.
“I said,” Kendra began.
Taran’s blue-green eyes met hers through his glasses. He had such earnest, beautiful eyes.
“Don’t you remember?” he said softly.
“Not the exact words,” she replied honestly.
He did not seem disappointed.
Then he said, “You said, ‘I’ve noticed you watching me. You have incredibly kind eyes’.”
Kendra exhaled. Violet’s observation was spot on.
“After that, I asked you out, and you said ‘yes’. That was two years ago. It was the beginning of a great love story.”
What happened then? Kendra wondered. What did you do to each other?
Taran cleared his throat. “I’d like to rekindle what we had, go back to those times when we were happy. Can you do that . . . for us?”
Yes!
(But you’re supposed to ask him for space. This is not your relationship. This is not your problem to mend or break.)
Kendra blinked but did not reply. She honestly had no words.
But . . . what if she could save Taran and Violet’s relationship? What if she could heal their rift? After all, wasn’t Violet trying to save her community?
An idea slowly began to unfurl in her mind.
“OK,” she said. “I think we owe it to ourselves to try.”
Her heart was beating very fast.
Could she pull it off?
THE BET
“The stakes are easy. I’m betting a whole lot of money on you,” Caleb said. “I’m giving six to one odds against you. You win, I win a shitload of money.”
“I’m putting in my money, too,” Ronnie said.
Violet shot him a surprised look.
They were in Caleb’s kitchen. The dining table had been transformed into a negotiation table. Caleb’s son, the shifty-eyed Joseph, watched from behind. Now and then, his greedy eyes lit upon Violet.
Violet’s skin crawled. She would like to think that she could take care of herself. But still –
And look what happened to you the last time.
“Who are you betting on?” Caleb’s eyes narrowed.
“Myself.” Ronnie took out a wad of cash. “This is clan money. There’s fifty thousand dollars in there. Count it.”
Caleb licked his lips as he took the stack of one thousand dollar bills and started counting.
“Ronnie,” Violet whispered urgently. “May I talk to you alone for a second?”
Ronnie and Caleb exchanged glances. Behind them, Violet could see Joseph grinning.
“Sure.”
Ronnie got up. They walked to the living room.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Violet said. “Betting clan money on yourself?”
To be honest, she wasn’t too comfortable about this whole fight thing. She had never seen a werewolf fight before, but it had to be brutal. She didn’t know Ronnie too well, but from what little she knew of him, she thought he was a very attractive and decent guy. She would hate for him to get hurt in any way.
The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became.
Ronnie said, “Relax, Kendra. I’ve done this before.”
Did you win the last time? Violet wanted to know but was afraid to ask. It should be common clan knowledge, right? But he was still here, so that had to count for something.
He went on, “What happened to my father was just plain bad luck.”
Her eyes flew open again. Something happened to his father during a fight?
“I can win this,” he assured her.
“But why are the odds six to one against you?”
“Because I’m fighting Grant Carter.”
Who is?
“The most ferocious werewolf on the East Coast,” he added. “The Black Wolf.”
Violet’ jaw dropped. “And you expect to win?”
“Yes.” Ronnie smiled. “And I’m going to make our clan a whole lot of money.”
*
To say that Violet was skeptical about this was to say that the ocean was a little salty.
Back in their RV, she squeaked, “Aren’t you a little overconfident?”
“I have to be confident,” Ronnie replied. “It’s the way we win battles. Besides, I’ve got you by my side. You’re going to be my lucky charm.”
Violet was astounded. “Ronnie, you can’t take me as your lucky charm.”
The words ‘lucky charm’ resounded in her head. The blood in her ears pounded. It was too uncanny. She had been called someone’s lucky charm before, but that was a long time ago and a whole different story.
She hadn’t exactly been lucky since.
“Of course I can. You’re the miracle girl. The tree crashed onto your parents, rest their souls, but you were spared. That’s the greatest miracle there is.”
Oh. Violet had almost forgotten about Kendra’s sad story. Then another thought struck her. Was that why Ronnie wanted so badly to mate with Kendra? Because she was some lucky talisman? If that were the case, she felt peeved for her friend’s sake.
“Don’t count on it,” she warned him. “Once you’re out there, you’re on your own.”
“Nah. I’ll have you in the sidelines. That’s powerful. Powerful enough for me.” His handsome face shone with undisguised zeal. “Don’t you see what a great team we’ll be, Kendra? You and me – the alpha pair. Touring the whole country. Me winning the fights with you by my side. We can take our clan out of oblivion and make everyone rich!”
Violet couldn’t fault his ambition.
“Yes, but there are still many mountains to climb,” she argued. “We’re still in the dark ages where cultural beliefs are concerned—”
She halted.
An idea had just occurred to her.
She said slowly, “If I become your lucky talisman throughout this tour, not just your handmaiden, would you consider trying to convince the elders to let the wolf women be educated?”
“You mean reverse our culture as we know it?” His mouth twitched.
“Isn’t it time?”
He couldn’t help smiling, “You’re really persistent about this, aren’t you?”
“So it’s a deal?”
“It’s a deal.” He chortled. “I can’t lose now.”
Trouble was – how did one become a lucky talisman when one was an imposter?
And what if Ronnie lost?
THE FLAT
If she was to mend Violet’s relationship with Taran, Kendra decided that it wasn’t as simple as making nice with Taran. She had to lay the foundations. She had to find out what went wrong with their relationship in the first place.
And she had to do it without Violet knowing about it.
So much for asking for space! But it was the least she could do for her new friend.
Taran brought her back to her flat. Only it wasn’t just a flat, Kendra discovered. It was a spacious four-bedroom apartment on the tenth floor of a ritzy So
uth Kensington building. There was more space in here than forty Shipshank trailers combined.
She couldn’t help but be dazzled by the crystal lamps, brocade curtains, plush armchairs, and everything else. Every inch of this place was interior-designed.
“Looking for cobwebs?” Taran asked, coming in with her luggage.
“Uh, maybe.”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve arranged a little surprise.”
He stepped aside.
A deliveryman came in with a big vase of flowers – azaleas, marigolds, and red roses. Kendra stepped back.
“Oh!” she said in surprise.
Then another deliveryman came in with another vase of flowers. And another. Kendra could only watch, her jaw on the floor, as the whole sitting room was festooned with flowers of all sizes and colors.
Taran’s smile was contagious.
And she’s giving this guy up?
“For you,” he said. “A welcoming back present.”
He walked over to her and took her in his arms. The room was redolent with contrasting and dizzying scents. Kendra was not the type of girl who swooned easily, but she was ready to swoon now – primarily because of the heady smell of the flowers, she told herself.
Taran took his glasses off. His eyes were amazingly beautiful.
Then he kissed her, despite Kendra’s misgivings.
She gave in to the kiss. She couldn’t help herself. He was her dream guy – so far – and he was everything she had ever wanted in a man. His lips were soft and gentle, and his breath smelled of the mint toothpaste from the plane. Her mind whirled. She wanted so much more than a kiss.
But he wasn’t hers! He was someone else’s. She was just borrowing him.
Then something else crept into her mind.
If you don’t want him, Violet, can I have him?
But that would be wrong. What if Violet just needed space to figure out things on her own? What if she decided – at the end of one month – that she really wanted this wonderful, handsome, extremely cultured, young billionaire back at the end of it all?
He’s not yours. But you can mend this for someone else. That would be the most selfless gesture she could do.
