The Hot Alpha Switch: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (2 page)

The men retreated.

“A wolf?” one of them said incredulously.

“Maybe it’s a big dog.”

“You’re fucking drunk if you think that’s a dog, Gorky.”

The wolf took several steps forward and growled.

“I geddit,” Deke cried. “It’s one of those werewolf things. They live somewhere around here. Get away, you vermin.”

Werewolves! In particular, Shipshank werewolves – the very community Taran had been trying to save and raise into the modern age.

The wolf snarled and leaped at Deke. With yelps, the men bolted. Their footsteps rang in the clear, crisp night.

Violet kicked out at the homeless drunk.

“Get your hands off me!” 

Pain lanced through her hands and chin where she had struck the road. She touched her jaw. Her hand came away with blood.

“Ohhh,” she groaned.

Her head spun as she tried to get to her feet.

The wolf turned. Before Violet’s eyes, it swiftly transformed – fur receding and bones rearranging themselves – into a crouching human form. A very naked female form.

The she-wolf stood up, and Violet gasped. She blinked, wondering if she was dreaming.

The young woman that stood naked before her was her spitting image – dark hair, flashing blue eyes, curves and all.

SHE-WOLF

Violet’s jaw dropped.

For a moment, she wondered if she had had too much to drink, like the homeless man over there.

Then the homeless man spoke, “Hiya, Kendry, you got some spare change?”

The she-wolf smirked. She did not seem to be perturbed by her nakedness.

“Slumming again, I see, Harry,” she said, walking towards him. She picked up a cloak from one of the half-rotting boxes. “Mind if I borrow this?”

“You never pay me back,” Harry howled.

“I pay you back plenty,” Kendry said. “Who left that pot of soup over there? You’re just too drunk to notice.”

Violet took in Kendry’s breasts, waist, everything. She was her spitting image! Even her straight, dark hair was almost the same length.

Violet’s jaw was still on the road as Kendry donned the cloak.

“Hello,” Kendry said, holding out her hand. “I’m Kendra.”

“Violet.” This came out as a squeak.

Kendra’s grip was strong as she pulled Violet firmly up.

“You’re bleeding.” She pointed to Violet’s chin and palms. “Let me patch you up.”

“Wait . . .”

“You don’t want to stick around here just in case those goons come back,” Kendra advised. “I’ve got my bike over there.”

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 18
th
.”

“I’m twenty-four. Born December 3
rd
.” 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?”