The Hot Alpha Switch: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (4 page)

THE MORNING AFTER

When Kendra finally woke up, it was well past noon. The other side of the bed was empty, but there was a note:

‘GONE TO THE WOLF COMMUNITY. YOU WERE SLEEPING SO PEACEFULLY I DIDN’T HAVE THE HEART TO WAKE YOU. DINNER TONIGHT? WE’LL TALK.

WITH ALL MY LOVE,

TARAN.’

Something stirred within Kendra’s chest. No matter what Violet said, Taran seemed like a genuinely nice, conscientious guy. Perhaps he was
too
conscientious for someone like Violet?

But wait. What was that about going to the wolf community again?

Kendra sat up in bed.

Uh oh. Violet said he was here to do charity. Apparently, charity extended to visiting the community in question and getting his hands dirty.

She had to warn Violet!

Violet’s MacBook Air was in her computer case. Kendra took it out and hastily powered it on. She typed Violet’s password in:

0123.

Then she logged on to Violet’s email and hastily typed the message:

‘Taran is coming to the wolf community. Stay out of sight!

Best of luck,

Kendra.’

She pressed ‘SEND’ and prayed that Violet would log onto the iPad and see the message.

What a pity Violet didn’t have a cellphone anymore.

THE TOUR

Violet’s jaw dropped. Her eyes popped out of her head.

“Your handmaiden?”

Are you fucking kidding me? The only time I’m going to lay my hand on you is to smack your smug, silly face!

“That’s right,” Ronnie said. “You’ve never been a handmaiden before. So I’ll show you the ropes. It pays better than the usual cooking and cleaning stuff.”

Violet’s mouth was still agape.

“And what does a handmaiden do?” she spluttered.

“Don’t you know?” He furrowed his brow.

Careful.

“Remind me,” she said acidly.

“Well, you’ll have to assist me when I go on my fighting tours. Which begins tomorrow.”

Fighting tours? Kendra never mentioned those. But of course, Kendra didn’t mention a lot of things concerning Ronnie because her advice was to ‘avoid him as much as you can’.

“Don’t you have someone for that?” she said.

“Marissa dropped out.”

“And why is that? Because you pawed her to distraction?” Violet could tell that Ronnie was that type.

He shot her a glare. “No. Because she kept pawing
me
. You should know that, Kendra. I only have eyes for one woman in this clan, and that’s you.”

Violet was rather taken aback. Passion and purpose emanated from every pore of this young man. He meant every word he said.

“Then perhaps I shouldn’t be your handmaiden,” she said.

“If you become my handmaiden, I promise on my honor that I won’t lay a hand on you,” he remarked. “Unless you want me to.”

Violet’s head churned. If she wanted to change things around here, she had to start with the boss – which meant the young alpha of the clan. Then she had to get him to work on the elders.

“You promise?”

“On my father’s grave,” he replied solemnly.

“All right then.”

“Great.” His smile was genuine. “One day, Kendra, I’ll show you that I’m worthy of you. Now we have to go. There’s some guy who wants to visit the clan. I have to make nice with him to secure more funding. Your first task as a handmaiden is to come with me.”

“Fine,” Violet said. “I’ll get dressed.”

“I’ll wait outside.”

Violet closed the door on Ronnie. He wasn’t that bad, really. He was certainly nice to look at. One couldn’t deny that. And that possessive ‘I must have you even if I have to drag you by the hair’ Neanderthal thinking was kind of flattering.

Taran was too gentlemanly. Too cultured. Too British.

But oh, what was she thinking? She wasn’t going to be here for keeps. Her job was to keep Ronnie at bay but make him malleable enough to change his caveman-style thinking.

Kendra’s clothes were mostly a mishmash of sweaters, T-shirts, and jeans. There wasn’t a single girly item in her meager wardrobe. She might be taking the tomboy thing too far. She wasn’t a lesbian, was she? Violet frowned. Nope, she didn’t get that vibe from Kendra, and she had a pretty good gaydar.

Once she got dressed, she opened the door again. Ronnie was waiting patiently for her, as promised.

“Ready to go?” he said.

“Lead the way.”

He had to. She didn’t know where the hell the rest of the trailers were, if there were any at all.

*

“Why the vow of Deferment now?” Ronnie asked. “I’ve known you for a pretty long time –”

“Since we were kids,” Violet put in. Kendra had filled her in on that little detail.

“— and you’ve always been against Deferment.”

Kendra believed in preserving the purity of what she essentially was – a werewolf who could shift at will. She merely resented the archaic establishment of her patriarchs.

“Well, people grow up and change their minds. It’s time I purified and detoxified myself.”

They were walking towards the encampment. Violet had to pretend that she absolutely knew where she was going. When they drew near, she was surprised to see a large cluster of trailers and RVs in a clearing.

Several women were washing clothes in tubs. Clotheslines were strung everywhere. Other women were roasting a large pig on a spit over a fire. They looked up as Violet and Ronnie came up.

“We always need the woods nearby,” Kendra had mentioned. “And yet, we have to be mobile so that we don’t stay too long in one area, deplete the reserves, and outstay our welcome with the local authorities.”

One woman who was poking at the fire with a stick threw the stick aside. Then she sauntered up to them.

“Admit it, you made a mistake,” she said to Ronnie, her eyes flashing.

“No, I didn’t.”

Violet looked from one to the other. Aaaaand this was . . . ?

The woman glared at Violet. She was a pretty blonde
with deep blue eyes and a slim, toned body.

“You said ‘yes’, didn’t you?”

I’m supposed to know this person
, Violet thought.
But then, I’m supposed to know everyone.

“Excuse me?” she shot back.

“He asked you to be his handmaiden and you said ‘yes’!”

Ah, this must be Marissa.

“Only because it pays the bills,” Violet said.

Marissa’s mouth twisted into a sneer. “You play so hard to get, Kendra. But you really are a slut. Don’t think I buy your wilting maiden act for one second.”

“Hey,” Ronnie said.

“It’s OK,” Violet interrupted. “I can take care of myself.” To Marissa, she retorted, “You don’t get to say that to me. Not the ‘S’ word.”

Especially when Kendra was a paragon of virtue, from what little Violet knew about her. If anything, her new friend deserved to be applauded.

“Oh, yeah?” Marissa said.

Violet drew herself to her full height. She was taller than Marissa by several inches. “Yeah.”

“You want me to challenge you?” Marissa rose a couple of inches herself.

Um, a werewolf challenge? Not a good idea.

“Grow up,” Violet said disgustedly.

“You can’t challenge her,” Ronnie said. “She’s taken a vow of Deferment.”

“Oh, that’s convenient. But I guess she’ll need it to clean out all the skankiness in her bloodlines. Her mother was a slut, too. Everyone knew that.”

That was it. No one deserved to insult her doppelganger like that.

In finishing school, Violet had been taught self-defense classes. Muay Thai, karate, jujitsu – she knew a smattering of it all. Right then, she gathered all her strength, bunched her right fist, and laid a hook against Marissa’s jaw.

POW!

There were gasps all around. Everyone looked up.

Violet was a big woman, and she packed a lot of force in her punch. As a result, Marissa went down.

Marissa cried out, nursing her jaw. Several people rushed to her.

“What the hell did you do that for?” someone yelled at Violet.

“She called my mother a slut,” Violet replied. “It was well deserved.”

Marissa pointed a finger at her. “I’m going to challenge you. You may have taken your Deferment, but I’ll challenge you all the same. I’m going to name the time and place, and you’re going to be there.”

Uh oh. One day here, and she had already made an enemy.

“Looking forward to it.” Violet’s eyes blazed just as brightly as Marissa’s.

Marissa was led away.

Ronnie turned an amused face to Violet. “That was gutsy.”

“Thank you. But no one calls my mother a slut.”

Ronnie’s eyes shone with admiration.

Uh oh. That wasn’t the effect Violet had intended either. Never mind. She’d rectify that soon enough.

A commotion was happening somewhere in the periphery of the trailer park. Several people were gathered. There were news people filming with their cameras.

“The visitor,” Ronnie announced. “Looks like he’s right on time. I like that trait in humans. Let’s go.”

They headed in the direction of the visitor.

As they approached, Violet started to get a funny feeling. Wait. Taran was supposed to be on a ‘save the werewolves’ mission. She didn’t know his agenda and hadn’t even pretended to care about it. She had thought that it was mostly fundraisers, charity fetes, and press conferences.

But –

Then she saw him! Taran! Or rather, his back – immaculately clad in a Savile Row bespoke suit, as always. Press conference! Of course he would do it in the encampment of the people he was trying to save!

She didn’t need to feign the wave of nausea that suddenly hit her gut.

“What’s wrong?” Ronnie said.

Violet’s hand crept to her midriff. “Ugh, cramp!”

Taran turned.

Arghhhhh!

Violet dropped to the ground and swiftly curled her body into a ball. She averted her face from Taran’s gaze.

“Owwwww,” she moaned. She wasn’t completely faking. She did feel awfully nauseous for failing to connect the dots.

Ronnie put his arm around her.

“What’s wrong?” He was clearly distressed. “Do you need a healer?”

“Yes!” Violet gasped.

Footsteps approached.

Taran’s voice: “Is everything all right? Is she OK?”

No! Don’t come any closer!

“It’s OK. We’ll take care of it.” Ronnie knelt by Violet. “We’ll get you to Sienna.” To Taran, he said, “So sorry. I’m Ronnie, the alpha of this clan, and I’ll be right with you.”

Violet kept her head down and averted as Ronnie scooped her up in his strong arms. She was surprised by how effortlessly he lifted her, because she was not a small woman. His body was very warm, almost like a furnace. She wondered if this was a werewolf thing or if it was just Ronnie.

Cameras clicked. Oh, God! The press was lapping this up.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you away from those vultures,” Ronnie murmured. She could feel his voice vibrating through his chest.

She hoped Taran wouldn’t become suspicious as she let Ronnie carry her away in the direction of the trailers.

*

Ronnie was like a mother hen, fussing over Violet as he laid her in Sienna the healer’s RV. Sienna had a compartment that was used as a sickbed.

“Give her whatever it takes, please,” Ronnie told Sienna. His handsome forehead was creased with worry.

He was really concerned. Violet was touched.

She waved him away. “Go on. You don’t want to keep your benefactor waiting.”

“You’re going to be OK,” Ronnie affirmed, still hovering at the door.

Sienna shooed him away. “Go on with you. You need to make nice with that British gentleman to get us funds now, you hear?”

Ronnie lingered, then reluctantly walked away.

“I’ll be back soon,” he promised.

Sienna shook her head as he left.

“Such a nice young man you have there,” she said. “Now let’s take a look at you.”

Violet lay on the bed. The cramp had unsurprisingly disappeared. “I think I’m feeling better now. It was just a wave.”

She hoped Sienna wasn’t a quack. Well, without formal medical training, she would have to be some sort of a quack. But hopefully not
too
much of a quack.

“You can never be too sure,” Sienna replied. She was a forty-something woman with grey streaks in her otherwise dark hair. She raised Violet’s shirt and unbuttoned the top of her jeans.

“He’s not my young man,” Violet said as Sienna’s fingers probed her abdomen.

“And why not? He’s a perfectly strapping young specimen of wolfhood. You could do far worse.”

“I’m not interested.”

“You have to be, soon. You’re already well past your prime. Ronnie can’t wait forever.”

“Well, I don’t want him to wait. I want him to move on.”

Even as Violet said that, she had to admit she was more than a little intrigued by Ronnie. She found his very obvious dominance a turn on. He was indeed very different from Taran’s solicitous gentlemanliness.

“He won’t move on. Once a wolf latches onto you, he won’t let go. He’ll be like a dog with a rubber bone.”

Violet wanted to ask “Why?” but she remembered that these were werewolves, not humans. Obsession had to be a werewolf thing.

“Why me?” she asked Sienna. “He can have his pick of females,
or so I’ve heard.”

“Werewolf chemistry is a funny thing. The boys don’t get to pick who they have the urge to mate with. Especially now that Ronnie is the alpha. His father was that way, too, bless his heart. Gregory chased Ronnie’s mother, Daia, till she succumbed to him.”

Violet wanted to ask about what had happened to Ronnie’s parents, but she figured she was already supposed to know. It was something she could ask Kendra later.

“Do you know what being a handmaiden is like?” she asked.